This is a dumb question to be asking by the ICC.  Why can’t you have both?  Why do you have to have one or the other?

Many people are used to the 3 0 pool and would be very upset if it was changed. It’s not a good idea to make members upset!

It would be better to add a 3 2 pool. But the problem with this is that it would split the players up into two pools, and it would take longer to get a game in either of the pools than it does now to get a game in the 3 0 pool. It would also add yet another rating to the player profiles, which isn’t so great.

By the way, this was done a couple years ago, changing the 3 0 pool to 3 2. So many complained, that it was put back to 3 0.  Not sure why it’s being brought up again.

It was brought up again because we have seen a lot of requests about a pool with increment, and specifically 3+2. Now, reading all the comments, it seems that the membership is divided. Some would hate to lose the 3 0 pool, some would love to get a pool with increment. Many suggest we add a new pool. We can’t add a new pool, for the reasons you rightly list in your first post. We will give the pool some more time, and then publish the final results, so that members can again express their opinion. Due to the fuss that it generated two years ago when we tried to change the 3 0 pool into a 3 2 pool, we don’t want to do it before being reasonably sure that people really want it.

So given these comments, could we not include the 5-minute pool in this voting, and vote to either replace the 3 or 5-min for a 3 2. The 3-min is just the right amount of time for a short break from work imo and for sneaking in those games inbetween watching the kids!

Hello,
Here are my personal impressions on this topic:

Official FIDE time control are 3+2 for blitz and 15+10 for rapid. I would suggest to change the “5-minute” and “15-minute” cadence respectively, hoping 5-minute and 15-minute folks won’t get too upset by this major change…But to adapt ICC pools to the Official FIDE time controls seems to me the best option.

The actual “3-minute” pool has many hardcore aficionados… But I myself have noticed this pool has quite cannibilized the normal “Blitz” rating category(I mean by launching seeks on the server), which is quite an annoying fact too.

But well, maybe people now are too used to this pool, so… give the dog a bone

People who are unhappy with the change will be far more vehement than those who approve of it. How many active 3-min players are there?

I’m a little confused how this works.  I was simply trying to vote for the 3+2 option and it seems to require a comment.  OK, like many I’d prefer to have both 3 0 and 3+2 but if it divides the user base too much I would vote for 3 + 2.  I get tired of playing with people whose chess ‘strategy’ is to play some off the wall stuff that doesn’t work but has a good chance of flagging their opponent in 3 0.

Poll is rigged. I just logged on to vote against change, and was told I had already voted. I had not!

i think its time for icc to add a blitz pool with increment. i would love to see finally a 3+2 pool.
best option would be to add it without deleting any other one, but if this is too difficult to accomplish, then maybe we can make a poll and vote for a 3+2 instead of 3 min or 5 min! but the addition in my opinion of this increment pool is important so please keep considering it!

i think 5+3 is better to fight all those runners in here!!

It’s a bad idea to change the 3+0 pool into 3+2. Like last time for every person that votes yes there are 50 who didn’t read about this poll and don’t want it to change. No matter how thorough you think you investigate people’s opinions you can’t avoid a lot of negative feedback if/when this comes into effect. 3+0 is for hardcore players. I think users of the 5+0 pool would be much easier to convince to change their pool into the official FIDE time control.

I dislike this idea. I play usually 3-min and 5-min, but I absolutely don’ want to play blitz games with increment.

Just add 3 2. Do not exclud 3 0

ICC 3 min pool is very popular, even at the top level. It is very strange that you are considering to change it. It would be better to create a new 3+2 pool or change 5 min pool into 3+2.