Anybody who is wondering how Susan Polgar achieved such a sweeping
election victory has not seen her blogspot. Not only was Susan elected
but all of those elected were candidates she supported on her
blogspot.

Actually, she has two blogspots. They are at:

http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
http://www.uschess.blogspot.com/

These are by far the best chess websites on the Internet. They are
vastly better than the USCF website at http://www.uschess.org

Every day, Susan updated her blogspot with news articles, chess
problems and puzzles and commentary. An average of 10 to 15 new
articles were added every day.

There was always a place to post comments and there were always many
comments.

In addition to problems and puzzles, there were personal attacks on
chess personalities she disagreed with plus there were daily articles
praising her running mates.

One of her favorite terms was "Destructive Chess Politicians". Just
about everybody was a destructive chess politician other than the
candidates she was supporting. At first, Sam Sloan was her favorite
target as a destructive chess politician. Later she branched out and
started attacking Bill Goichberg, Don Schultz and a host of others
every day.

The proof that it was her blogspot and not anything else that got her
elected lies in the fact that her campaign was conducted entirely on
her blogspot. She prepared no fliers, did no mailings, made no
speeches and in fact did not campaign at all except on her blogspot.

More than that, she carried on her coattails the other three
candidates who were elected, none of whom did any real campaigning
either. Other than postings to the USCF Forum (which has a small
readership), Bauer did not campaign at all. Neither did Truong. Berry
sent a mailing but only to Oklahoma residents.

Originally, Polgar backed Korenman on her blogspot. However, after
questions were raised about his background and when he did not
campaign at all, Susan gradually stopped supporting him and shifted
some of her support to Berry, who had donated money to her and had
financed her New York Mayor's Cup. Korenman still got a lot of votes
due to her limited support and finished sixth in the election.
Otherwise, he was considered to be the weakest candidate.

This is a new era. The old traditional methods of going out and
meeting the voters no longer work. This election proves that a
campaign conducted entirely on the Internet can win.

Sam Sloan

samsloan writes:
http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
http://www.uschess.blogspot.com/

These are by far the best chess websites on the Internet. They are
vastly better than the USCF website at http://www.uschess.org

I didn't look much at her uschess blog but her main blog is great.
I think you do it an injustice by only saying it's much better than
the USCF web site. The fact is, it's much better than Chess Life
as well, and there's no reason for anyone who reads Susan's blog
to have to read Chess Life.

Every day, Susan updated her blogspot with news articles, chess
problems and puzzles and commentary. An average of 10 to 15 new
articles were added every day.

And as she mentions:

What is our budget to bring chess enthusiasts all of this? ZERO!
Just the love and passion for chess and the desire to make a
difference by a team of 2 people! My question then why can't the
same be done for US Chess? I receive the same Google News alert as
everyone else. I know the same chess news source as any other
chess organization. So why can't our federation improve on this?

(http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2006...nal-chess.html)

One of her favorite terms was "Destructive Chess Politicians". Just
about everybody was a destructive chess politician other than the
candidates she was supporting. At first, Sam Sloan was her favorite
target as a destructive chess politician. Later she branched out and
started attacking Bill Goichberg, Don Schultz and a host of others
every day.

I noticed a few about Bill G but missed the ones about Don Schultz.
However, I don't read it every single day.

The proof that it was her blogspot and not anything else that got her
elected lies in the fact that her campaign was conducted entirely on
her blogspot. She prepared no fliers, did no mailings, made no
speeches and in fact did not campaign at all except on her blogspot.

Originally, Polgar backed Korenman on her blogspot. However, after
questions were raised about his background and when he did not
campaign at all, Susan gradually stopped supporting him and shifted
some of her support to Berry, who had donated money to her and had
financed her New York Mayor's Cup. Korenman still got a lot of votes
due to her limited support and finished sixth in the election.

Ehh, that is spin, she kept supporting Korenman.

Otherwise, he was considered to be the weakest candidate.

No, Sloan and Goodall and maybe Lux were obviously the weakest.

This is a new era. The old traditional methods of going out and
meeting the voters no longer work. This election proves that a
campaign conducted entirely on the Internet can win.

Being a celebrity helps too, of course. But one thing we've confirmed
is that sending people crap through the snail mail is a useless waste
of trees and postage. That would include CL...

On Jul 26, 9:04 pm, samsloan wrote:

The proof that it was her blogspot and not anything else that got her
elected lies in the fact that her campaign was conducted entirely on
her blogspot. She prepared no fliers, did no mailings, made no
speeches and in fact did not campaign at all except on her blogspot.


I think Mr. Sloan is underestimating the power of
name recognition here. Many USCF members may
well have voted for Ms. Polgar, not because they
frequented her Web sites, but because they were
familiar with her family name. I for one have never
even seen these Web sites, described by Mr. Sloan
as the best there is. Susan Polgar is well-known on
account of Chess Life magazine, so even those
members who don't own a computer or who never
use the internet could have voted for her. This is
not to suggest that the Web sites had no impact,
but the term "proof" makes no sense in this context.


-- help bot

SUSAN'S MANDATE

Susan Polgar is the obvious choice for president,
given the election results. She has a mandate.

Sam Sloan is correct that the only issue is
whether she wants the job.

Frankly, I hope that she does not. Let her
concentrate on building chess, not on trying to run
the USCF. The job of president will poison her life.

I dissent from Sam's implication that Susan would
not have won without the blogspot. She would have
been elected in any event, though perhaps not her
entire ticket.

My first choice for president would be Paul
Truong in the hope that he would GROW after assuming
the position. With his energy and promotional
competence, he could be a great asset if he can
also put aside vengeance.

Yours, Larry Parr


Paul Rubin wrote:
samsloan writes:
http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
http://www.uschess.blogspot.com/

These are by far the best chess websites on the Internet. They are
vastly better than the USCF website at http://www.uschess.org

I didn't look much at her uschess blog but her main blog is great.
I think you do it an injustice by only saying it's much better than
the USCF web site. The fact is, it's much better than Chess Life
as well, and there's no reason for anyone who reads Susan's blog
to have to read Chess Life.

Every day, Susan updated her blogspot with news articles, chess
problems and puzzles and commentary. An average of 10 to 15 new
articles were added every day.

And as she mentions:

What is our budget to bring chess enthusiasts all of this? ZERO!
Just the love and passion for chess and the desire to make a
difference by a team of 2 people! My question then why can't the
same be done for US Chess? I receive the same Google News alert as
everyone else. I know the same chess news source as any other
chess organization. So why can't our federation improve on this?

(http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2006...nal-chess.html)

One of her favorite terms was "Destructive Chess Politicians". Just
about everybody was a destructive chess politician other than the
candidates she was supporting. At first, Sam Sloan was her favorite
target as a destructive chess politician. Later she branched out and
started attacking Bill Goichberg, Don Schultz and a host of others
every day.

I noticed a few about Bill G but missed the ones about Don Schultz.
However, I don't read it every single day.

The proof that it was her blogspot and not anything else that got her
elected lies in the fact that her campaign was conducted entirely on
her blogspot. She prepared no fliers, did no mailings, made no
speeches and in fact did not campaign at all except on her blogspot.

Originally, Polgar backed Korenman on her blogspot. However, after
questions were raised about his background and when he did not
campaign at all, Susan gradually stopped supporting him and shifted
some of her support to Berry, who had donated money to her and had
financed her New York Mayor's Cup. Korenman still got a lot of votes
due to her limited support and finished sixth in the election.

Ehh, that is spin, she kept supporting Korenman.

Otherwise, he was considered to be the weakest candidate.

No, Sloan and Goodall and maybe Lux were obviously the weakest.

This is a new era. The old traditional methods of going out and
meeting the voters no longer work. This election proves that a
campaign conducted entirely on the Internet can win.

Being a celebrity helps too, of course. But one thing we've confirmed
is that sending people crap through the snail mail is a useless waste
of trees and postage. That would include CL...

"samsloan" wrote in message
ps.com...
Anybody who is wondering how Susan Polgar achieved such a sweeping
election victory has not seen her blogspot. Not only was Susan elected
but all of those elected were candidates she supported on her
blogspot.

Actually, she has two blogspots. They are at:

http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
http://www.uschess.blogspot.com/

These are by far the best chess websites on the Internet. They are
vastly better than the USCF website at http://www.uschess.org

How come Sam Sloan didn't do something about it while in office?

Every day, Susan updated her blogspot with news articles, chess
problems and puzzles and commentary. An average of 10 to 15 new
articles were added every day.

Pretty good - and USCF adds 500 words every 3 or 4 days, and pays $40,000 a
year for it.

There was always a place to post comments and there were always many
comments.

In addition to problems and puzzles, there were personal attacks on
chess personalities she disagreed with plus there were daily articles
praising her running mates.

There were often impersonal comments on how others were behaving, and only
when the most eggregious ideas were thrown about was there direct response.
This is not normally called an 'attack'.

One of her favorite terms was "Destructive Chess Politicians". Just
about everybody was a destructive chess politician other than the
candidates she was supporting.

Is this written by Sam Sloan who has not written anything in 12 months that
hasn't blamed someone else? 365 x 6 instaqnces a day, is um, almost as many
votes as Susan Polgar got in the election! A coincidence for sure.

At first, Sam Sloan was her favorite
target as a destructive chess politician. Later she branched out and
started attacking Bill Goichberg, Don Schultz and a host of others
every day.

The proof that it was her blogspot and not anything else that got her
elected lies in the fact that her campaign was conducted entirely on
her blogspot. She prepared no fliers, did no mailings, made no
speeches and in fact did not campaign at all except on her blogspot.

More than that, she carried on her coattails the other three
candidates who were elected, none of whom did any real campaigning
either. Other than postings to the USCF Forum (which has a small
readership), Bauer did not campaign at all. Neither did Truong. Berry
sent a mailing but only to Oklahoma residents.

ALL of them were interviewed by Chessville, which BTW, also gets more
traffic, and puts up more news than CL ! And since these pages got LOTSA
hits, people had a good idea of how the candidates were - I don't think
anyone wrote less than 1,500 words on ISSUES.

I remember Sam Sloan saying he was too busy to do that - O What A Shame! Now
look what happened! Sam Sloan can't beleive these other people got into
office because they did no 'real campaigning', and instead wrote about
issues important to American Chess in the C21st at an independent website.

[btw, i took out a vietnamese and a hungarian newsgroup from the
distribution of this post - since scandal-seeking season is officially over]

Originally, Polgar backed Korenman on her blogspot. However, after
questions were raised about his background and when he did not
campaign at all, Susan gradually stopped supporting him and shifted
some of her support to Berry, who had donated money to her and had
financed her New York Mayor's Cup. Korenman still got a lot of votes
due to her limited support and finished sixth in the election.
Otherwise, he was considered to be the weakest candidate.

I now this man. I could say I also know Susan too. But I don't know them
very much, beyond having their cell phone numbers, and an occassional
message. So its always interesting when I read when others, with somewhat
slighter acquaintance, say what they consider.

The pity of Dr. Mikhail Korenman's application to the board, is that he
would have been the most likely board member ever to have successfully
acheived a sort of holy grail for chess in the usa, by which I mean the
mainstream federal education budget. No one for a long time has had the
creds to do that. But maybe that is one bridge too far. I certainly hope
that on way or another his interest's and skills can be engaged.

This is a new era. The old traditional methods of going out and
meeting the voters no longer work. This election proves that a
campaign conducted entirely on the Internet can win.

Sam Sloan makes a minor point, but I think he misses the massive one that
just fell on his toe.

And that's what happened in this election
Its not about business as usual, though for some, they don't understand what
else there can possibly be. How bewildering this must all be for them!

Phil Innes

Sam Sloan