As you know, the voting community is ISML’s most valuable asset, because without it and without you there wouldn’t be an ISML at all. We, the Staff, do our job as organizers because your participation and your excitement motivate and inspire us. We want to host the best saimoe tournament we can, and that means representing your voice and your will as we stucture and execute this contest.

About a week ago, we made a decision regarding character eligibility: Restrictions were added such that characters from Touhou Project would not, in their current state, be eligible for the 2010 main event. This particular decision has had no issues, but it caused a conflict regarding the validity of 2009 Relegation, and we had to make another decision.

At the time, we believed the fairest resolution was to void 2009 Relegation in its entirety. We did not want Reimu’s exclusion to have caused regret from voters, who would have otherwise voted for other characters and thus changed the outcome of the tournament. To clear up the potential “what-if” situations, we elected to drop Relegation completely and start fresh.

However, you have voiced your concerns, and we have been listening. Over the last two days the Staff debated the issue again, and our conclusion now is that we were wrong. Rather than Mikoto, Mai, Sayuri, and Ayu having unclear futures as a result of Reimu’s disqualification, you have voiced instead that they are still winners and should advance to the 2010 Preliminaries.

Because our original justification for the first decision was fairness in your best interest, we don’t have any reason to deny this recent concern when your interests are different than we had thought.

In the 2010 Charter**, we have restored Statement I.C. which states that the “Top 5 finalists of the ISML 2009 Relegation Tournament”, pending eligibility (which only prohibits Reimu), will be given automatic entry to the 2010 Prelims. Statement I.E., which was added to void Relegation, is now removed.

You will still have 12 nomination slots for your benefit.

We apologize again for the mistake and the confusion it caused, but we hope that everything is on the right track now as the new year approaches. Just like you, we are very excited about 2010, and we want to make sure it’s done right. Thank you for all your input and feedback.

** The Charter is still in draft status, so we are still making modifications and additions. We promise to complete the entire document by Jan 1, so you are clear from Day 1 of the tournament what all the rules are. And any modifications since that day will come in the form of an amendment.