URGENT:WUDC 2008 registration update

Dear All,
We have hit our team cap of 360 as announced two or so weeks ago. There are no more adjudicator slots now available. We have around 50 teams on the waiting list. We have a few adjudicators on waiting list also. Ladies and gentleman, we really appreciate all your excitement and support. We ask for your patience as the organizing committee clears out important matters. We are working hard to enforce policies which will ensure the quality of this tournament.

I am receiving hundreds of request from institutions each and every day. I cannot entertain any request till I am given a clear signal from the adjudication core. We have to come to an consensus. We have to make sure the adjudication core can accomodate all these teams, the logistics can support all these teams. If the budget is there for accepting more teams etc? We are sticking to our cap of 360 as of now. There is no moving away from that. Please try to understand our situation as an hosting institution. We ask for your support and cooperation. I have a lot of people very stressed out and angry people emailing me, please just be patient. The waiting list is very long and I cannot confirm anything till I am sure about which teams have dropped, which teams are changing their number of teams and adjudicators and what the adjudication core decide.

I would like to apologize to certain institutions that communicated with me in mid August regarding payments. They asked if it was ok for them to transfer money 3rd week during Late registration phase. AT that time , based on the number of teams that had been paid for, I estimated we wouldn't hit our cap by then, therefore I inform them they would have a good chance to get slots. I did not confirm to them their slots. My emails from last week of August all the way till announcement of late registration did clearly warn people that slots were being taken fast.

During the last week of August and between September 1- 5, the number of teams multiplied two folds. Number of teams were increasing by 20-30 per night. Once late registration open, within a few days, all slots were grabbed. We hit our cap way sooner than I expected. A lot of teams continued to register and transfer funds, a lot of them without my consent even after two emails clearly warning them to confirm with me first then they can proceed with payment. People were transfering funds that were extremely hard to trace , no messege, no institution name, no institution rep name to match the fund transfer to institution. To control the situation we shut down the registration system. I apologize for any inconvenience. Once we clear out all these matters. We will re open the system to allow registered teams to enter their details and team combinations etc.

We are doing our best to help all of you and give everyone a fair chance to participate.

It is impossible for any new institutions or adjudicators to register now. If we accept more teams and adjudicators, it will be purely from the waiting list.

We have no intention to create any inconvenience to any of you. Thank you for your time. Take care! Hope to see you all in Bangkok!

regards,
Tarique