fredsf: Only thing I read in Yannis' words is use your common sense if you have any and let the opportunity to someone who would love to have his chance to go play the game in Abu Dhabi if you're not interested in it.
Eight people are going, no matter how many withdrew this would still be true. If some of the suggestions here were followed through all it would mean would be someone who didn't qualify by the score they got would have the chance to take a place away from someone who did. How fair would it be if someone was knocked out by a provisional score or whatever?
There probably are a few exceptions but I'd reckon most withdrawals were players that started their round and at some point thought their chance had gone, surely that's up to them but would be very unfair if their opponent then has to beat someone else as well (in the same round).
The idea that players informing wgt they are going to wd, wgt seeing this and sending out invites to others and those people seeing them in the time there was between qualifying and the bracket is supremely optimistic, especially if you imagine not everyone is on 24/7. Do you think they'd even not include/replace someone who by their rules couldn't go to Abi Dhabi? When they only had one person covered by this rule. I'd not be surprised if he hadn't even been informed he wasn't allowed in any more untill after qualifying.
We can all make scenarios to prove a point but this thread was started specifically to punish people that withdraw from the bracket as that seems to offend some others who think to wd is somehow morally wrong. Lol, they wd a bracket guys, eight people still won the trip.
I absolutely am not pointing the finger at anyone here. I could start a thread about how sandbagging is morally wrong, the sort where players avoid rr's except in the big money tourments, how this takes credits from people genuinelly at that tier etc etc and how these players should be punished. It certainly seems more wrong than a wd. There are probably more things that could be mentioned but I don't believe it anyway, if it's not against the rules it's allowed. We may not always like it and we can even rant a bit if we like..
Seifvai; I reckon you should follow the example of STB a couple of posts above (the deleting bit) although it doesn't always help.