jr wrote:
Mr. Channing, I have praised your willingness to appear
on this forum and answer questions as a breath of fresh air.
Lately, however, you seem to have vanished here -- and
you are sorely missed.

As you know, there has been a lot of controversy about
decisions made by the new editor who is still wet behind
the ears. I will not rejoin the USCF and I'm sure many others
will follow suit unless he reconsiders some rash decisions.
I would hate for this to happen to a game that I love.

While we have your ear, why can't we all see the Chess Life
redesign report prepared by Paul Hoffman for a reported fee
of $25,000? Apparently this report is the reason given by the
editor as the basis for his decisions.

Thank you for the kind words, jr.

I really think we're on the right track with ChessLife, but I don't
want to discuss it here. There is a preponderance of unhappy and
unhealthy people here which takes away too much of the fun of honest
discourse. I'm restricting my dialogues to the USCF Forum. Mike Nolan
is a decent guy who has to err on the side of caution because, as of
this monent, we have not been able to find liability insurance for a
moderated forum (hard to believe, but the sponsors of unmoderated
forums have no liability), but at least he does censor the nut cases
who make this place so unpleasant. You can contact me there and I'd be
happy to tell you all I know about what's happening.

Joel Channing

Polling current members is probably not worth the bother for several
reasons:

(1) Does not provide any help in determining what might attract new
members;

(2) Does not provide any help in determining what might recapture
former members;

(3) Provides little help in determining what new features might
increase appeal of magazine to current members:

(4) May be biased towards a status quo that is not presently working
very well.

How much does it cost to do such a poll?

Larry,

You write that "my sources say that FIDE has complained about the
criticism of its corruption by Larry Evans." The current state of
USCF-FIDE relations is at an all time low. Nobody on the USCF side
cares what FIDE says. In my opinion, Kirsan will probably prevail in
the FIDE Presidential election, and the USCF will be shut out of all
FIDE decisions. What Larry Evans has to say in Chess Life or anywhere
else about FIDE is meaningless. Right now, all FIDE cares about is the
Presidential Election and a few housekeeping chores (like admitting St
Kitts and Nevis.) FIDE has no influence in the USCF. The USCF has no
influence in FIDE. I probably have as much influence as the USCF in
FIDE, without a vote.

I say this to people who are actually interested in how the USCF makes
decisions within FIDE.

Marcus Roberts
Permanent Delegate of St Kitts and Nevis to FIDE

Larry Parr wrote (9 Apr 2006 07:25:46 -0700):

I seem to recall Randy Bauer saying that Larry
Evans was a true man of chess.

_
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 13:27:53 GMT, Randy
Bauer wrote that GM Evans was "much closer
to a real man of chess" than Sam Sloan. This
was in response to a 24 Nov 2004 06:02:08 GMT
statement of Larry Parr that LP regarded Sam
Sloan "as a real man of chess, warts and all."

Yeah, because you are not a USCF member and have no
voice in this matter. Same with the rest of you who are not
USCF members.


"Ray Gordon" wrote in message
...
The last thing in the world that the politicians and especially
a political creature such as Randy Bauer wants is to
ASK THE MEMBERS WHAT THEY WANT IN CHESS LIFE.

They know GM Evans, GM Soltis and a couple of others
would win hands down.

Not with this reader.

Vince Hart wrote:

"Polling current members is probably not worth the bother for several
reasons:

(1) Does not provide any help in determining what might attract new
members;

(2) Does not provide any help in determining what might recapture
former members;

(3) Provides little help in determining what new features might
increase appeal of magazine to current members:

(4) May be biased towards a status quo that is not presently working
very well."



Good points -- I agree 100%.

One possible "measurement" of the success of the new format would be
to first give it a chance, and then see if you can determine any effect

(positive or negative) on membership numbers. Of course, this approach
may not be acceptable for a few who have a predetermined agenda, with
its top priority being say, to help Larry Evans -- not the USCF.


-- help bot

Yeah, because you are not a USCF member and have no
voice in this matter. Same with the rest of you who are not
USCF members.

So, Chess Freak, your solution is to make everyone on this newsgroup be
quiet and pay your US Chess Federation money to participate in a
newsgroup moderated by the Chess Nazi Mike Nolan?

I think you represent the world view of the American Cowboy: Bully
everyone into submission to the American way (we have no voice because
we do not pay your political leaders money), extort money in the form
of USCF dues for participating in a "moderated discussion", and
threaten to kill anyone who disagrees with the USCF?

Chess Freak, I would like to meet you. One day you might get to meet
somebody differet from you and learn something about this world in
which you live.

Marcus Roberts

THE OFFICIAL LINE

So, then, we now have the official line. There
MUST be no survey of the readership regarding the
contents of Chess Life.

A survey is just, don't you see, a "plebiscite."
Kind of like asking the Germans in the Ruhr whether
they want to be part of France or Germany.

TRANSLATION: There must not be a survey of the
readers about the popularity of Larry Evans. No, no,
no. That's because these politicians know that Evans
will score highly, and they want him gone.

Some of you wondered whether the political class
was against surveying the readers. You now have the answer.

GREG ALSO OPPOSES SURVEY

We get more crap from those few who hate and envy Larry
Evans and, in the case of Greg Kennedy, Bobby Fischer.

We must not have a survey of the readership to
find out what it wants. Instead, the idea is to have
a redesigned magazine based on ... well, based on what?

A survey of the membership and a marketing survey?

Nope. Certainly not.

The basis is simply to try something new, minus
a major dissenting voice.

Greg, Vinnie and the rest understand that Larry
Evans will score very high in any reader survey. They
hate that likelihood, and the actual customers of the
Federation must therefore NOT be surveyed.

More anon.