Ryan Taylor wrote:There were times when I genuinely spotted a word just before the time but didn't write it down.
Yeah, but if the rules were that you had to have it written down, you'd have written it down, wouldn't you...
Ryan Taylor wrote:Then there was a time I did spot a word after the time but being me, I couldn't just ignore the fact I'd spotted an 8 when I had a 7 written down, and so would decalre "8 not written down".
...and you wouldn't have written this one down, because you spotted it after the time, and as such it shouldn't have been valid anyway. So having a rule of "your words have to be written down, pens down on 30 seconds but you can finish writing a word if you've started" takes care of both of these situations satisfactorily. The idea that people would deliberately pretend to be writing a word on 30 seconds to gain an extra second just isn't worth worrying about.
Ryan Taylor wrote:I suppose what causes these decisions is morality, as I'm sure you once said to me that you spotted DOLOMITE after the time but did't declare it.
Not quite - in my game against Charlie I declared seven first, and as soon as I heard him declare the 8 I spotted it (annoyingly, I love the word and I don't think I've ever missed it other than in that game!) Had I declared second though, I wouldn't have changed my declaration. I probably would have made a point of saying that I had now spotted it but was sticking with seven, just to make myself look good, because I'm like that
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Of course, you only have my word for all this.
Ryan Taylor wrote:One possible way round this is if you do indeed spot a longer word than you have written down within the time, you could press a button (1-9) to declare the length of the word you have just spotted. These buttons would only function in the 30 seconds (eliminating a contestant's declaration being based on what they hear there opponent say). Seems like a lot of work though for a situation that doesn't happen often.
...or, just make the rule that all words have to be written down. You haven't come up with a situation yet that it doesn't catch which your buttons would.