Well, F/G started off very strongly, and took Tunis, whilst there was more 'balance of power' play in the East, meaning that every Eastern power was alive. A Grand alliance of the four Eastern powers formed to stop the F/G, all voting for a draw, to indicate that they wanted F/G to split before they would. Then Germany voted for a draw when he was stabbed, and because Austria got a unit behind France's lines, France voted for a draw before anyone was able to withdraw their vote.

who cares?

Well, what leads to certain things happening can be very interesting, which is the point in the game.

yeah, but the game was already very interesting as it was, and was far from decided

more interesting stuff would have ensued if it went on

Yes, but most people were scared of what would have happened if it had gone on...

taking risks is the funnest part in a good game of diplomacy

it would be a boring game when I don't suddenly get out of the bed at 4 am to double check orders

Yes, but in this instance, the only person who actually voted for a draw when the draw past was France you see. The rest of us didn't expect a draw.

when you didn't expect a draw, then why did you vote for it ?
once 5 of 6 people voted for a draw, the last person would give into peer pressure easily

I did - I expected it!
The eastern nations voted for a draw a long time before in the hopes of pressing myself (germany) and France into breaking our alliance to break their defence. However, we didn't accept it. Some time later Germany stabbed me after I missed a turn (which is understandable).
I had been stabbed and so lost the security of the stalemate line. France had a lot of other games going on, I had made clear I would suicide against him and an Austrian unit had retreated behind his lines. All in all, he and I agreed to rush through and accept their draw request which they had forgotten to remove.
Oh, and that was one tough game! Was it the pick of the draw or was the tournament just a lot harder this year?

the harder the better

Let's not take THAT out of context. <_<

Chris reckoned that it was the hardest game in the draw.

There was a purpose to not withdraw the draw vote. I used the fact that here you have a draw voting system in which people post votes sequentially and in the open to
1. Use the Draw vote to rally the unity of the Grand Alliance and put pressure on F-G
2. Secondarily by getting everyone in the Grand Alliance on the vote it then would be obvious to any party that things were breaking apart if they withdrew their draw vote,