Posted by CoachSpud on 2/26/2016 10:13:00 PM (view original):
It appears to be an extremely difficult thing to decide.
(1) WIS itself permits and even encourages a user to have more than one team in a world. Managing one team you will see things and learn things that you cannot subsequently un-see or un-learn when you manage your other team(s).
(2) WIS permits and even encourages mentoring. Mentoring another's team you will see and learn things that you cannot subsequently un-see and un-learn when you manage your own team. Some of the things you see and learn you would not have become aware of simply by managing your own team.
Seeing and learning things in an officially approved or even encourged manner yet outside the scope of managing one's team clearly gives a user exactly the type of information he could gain through collusive practices. The argument can be made that WIS is inconsistent (to use the most diplomatic word I can think of, although I think much stronger words could apply).
Just two cents from a relative newcomer.

i dont think that you are quite pegging the mentoring bit right. wis does not encourage mentoring where players are exchanging recruiting info, especially not if they are in the same world/location. i think someone sharing FSS data on a couple recruits and asking a question, if those recruits are in a different world at least, and probably division, or even like high d1 vs low d1 in different parts of the country - i think there is really nothing to gain for the mentor, from that info. its not like you are logging into the account of some guy 300 miles away and looking at all his FSS info.

now, you could say that by the nature of mentoring, the guy getting mentored (and maybe both) learn more about the game itself, and maybe that shouldn't happen or something. but that is a very different set of info than that which you could gain colluding.

the two teams per world bit is tricky, i guess know that 1) that policy came about before FSS and potential existed - so there was no info you gained from scouting or anything. the only risk of overlap was if you had say two d1 teams, and you saw a guy was in a battle on one school, and then used that info to your advantage on the other school. that info is public to everyone, but still, more chance you notice it playing two schools at once. also, there's the advantage that, for example, there is no way both schools would attempt to go after the same international. so, there was a small moral hazard, and also, there used to be fewer worlds, with only 1 2/day, so stacking up in a world had more appeal. with the moral hazard being so slight, even in the severe case (two teams per division), and with no hazard in the normal case (two teams in different divisions), multiple teams were reasonably allowed to exist. tons of folks, like me, would move up and take over their old program on a new id, so they didn't have to give it up, and stuff like that. i had 3 real teams in tark - 1 per division - and it offered exactly 0 advantage in any way. two were even in the same state, for a while.

so, then FSS rolls around, and suddenly multiple teams per world matters, but what do you do? people have invested in many cases, hundreds of dollars into each team, that they have in a world. making them give them up, its pretty rough. trying to walk that line, has not gone so well for CS, they just have not communicated the rules clearly or enforced them consistently over time. the admin changed and interpreted the written rules differently than the old admin, without any notice to the users. it really is kind of a mess, but i think understanding the history, makes the mess more understandable. it is a sticky situation, but its not exactly seble's fault, sometimes, its just a product of the situation. now - i think its been handled terribly. i think the rule should have been changed to, no having multiple teams per world, period - but with a VERY graceful transition plan - where nobody had to immediately abandon the program they spent 3 years and 300 dollars building. rather, 5 years ago, seble should have said, look, here's how it has to be - everyone has to comply moving forward, as they pick up new teams. existing teams are OK, but when you move, you have to ticket for a "resume transfer", so you basically get one of your resumes moved to another world. by now, nobody would have multiple teams anymore - except the folks who are intentionally trying to cheat and who hide their user names, who are most likely breaking the rules today anyway.