(Frank Niro) wrote in message . com...
Thanks, Tim, for your kind thoughts. I can already see that your
contribution to the EB will be positive.

I have to find humor in the notion that cutting back from 80 hrs/wk to
70 hrs/wk has earned me the reputation of absentee ED. In reality, the
many trips to Florida and Tennessee have indeed taken their toll...but
mostly I just have stopped posting on rec.games due to lack of time.
For some, that apparently means I've stopped functioning.

Good luck & best wishes,
Frank N


I evaluate the performance of people not by the number of hours that
they work, but what they accomplish during that time.

From my point-of-view, it appears that you are either too busy or
simply not interested in becoming involved with the problems
experienced by your costituency. The general concensus is that unless
your last name ends with Schultz or Mcrary, you simply ignore the
emails and voicemails that are left for you.

There are many USCF vendors, contributors, customers, tournament
organizers and the like with very serious problems that have tried to
reach out to you. And you don't even give them the courteousy of
acknowledging them. You just ignore their pleas for help.

Am I wrong people? Please post your stories about how Frank Niro has
ignored you!

Dear "pawnstormca" (Roger),

Heil Dubya!

I am not the most enthusiastic backer of the USCF -- which I consider a stone
racist organization and, essentially, in the control of organizers of monster
Swiss systems -- AND my " ... last name ... (does not end) ... with Schultz or
McCrary ... " BUT I have found that Frank Niro DOES try to respond to me as a
USCF member. He doesn't always succeed as I would like him to, but he does
seem to try.

From my point-of-view, it appears that you are either too busy or
simply not interested in becoming involved with the problems
experienced by your costituency. The general concensus is that unless
your last name ends with Schultz or Mcrary, you simply ignore the
emails and voicemails that are left for you.

There are many USCF vendors, contributors, customers, tournament
organizers and the like with very serious problems that have tried to
reach out to you. And you don't even give them the courteousy of
acknowledging them. You just ignore their pleas for help.

Am I wrong people? Please post your stories about how Frank Niro has
ignored you!

Heute Uhmuhrikkka, Afghanistan und Irak. Morgen die ganze Welt!

Uhmuhrikkka, Uhmurikkka uber Alles!

Fraternally,

Jerome Bibuld
gens una sumus

Roger wrote:

(Frank Niro) wrote in message . com...
Thanks, Tim, for your kind thoughts. I can already see that your
contribution to the EB will be positive.

I have to find humor in the notion that cutting back from 80 hrs/wk to
70 hrs/wk has earned me the reputation of absentee ED. In reality, the
many trips to Florida and Tennessee have indeed taken their toll...but
mostly I just have stopped posting on rec.games due to lack of time.
For some, that apparently means I've stopped functioning.

Good luck & best wishes,
Frank N


I evaluate the performance of people not by the number of hours that
they work, but what they accomplish during that time.

From my point-of-view, it appears that you are either too busy or
simply not interested in becoming involved with the problems
experienced by your costituency. The general concensus is that unless
your last name ends with Schultz or Mcrary, you simply ignore the
emails and voicemails that are left for you.

There are many USCF vendors, contributors, customers, tournament
organizers and the like with very serious problems that have tried to
reach out to you. And you don't even give them the courteousy of
acknowledging them. You just ignore their pleas for help.

Am I wrong people? Please post your stories about how Frank Niro has
ignored you!

It has come to my attention that USCF has once again screwed over the
folks at ICC, by setting up a meeting with them and not showing up, even
though ICC's people called to confirm that there was supposed to be a
meeting the day before and were assured there was indeed a meeting.

Apparently the USCF must have decided that there was no point in
meeting with ICC since they had once again cast their lot for another
three years with Games Parlor. I guess that they must have made their
decision on the day of the meeting and just neglected to mention they
weren't showing up to the ICC folks. One can rest assured that the ICC
folks will probably NEVER touch USCF with a ten foot pole in the future,
should USCF ever need or want them to partner on anything. For those
who feel this is just Frank however, DeFeis did the same thing back when
Redman was still President. So they've never been better.

Jim Mitch had to wait months to be paid for his chess tutoring
materials and would probably still be waiting had it not been for
grousing about it here on RGCP.

In person I found Frank to be pleasant and a nice person to talk to,
but my understanding is that he can be quite duplicitous when it suits
him. If you're one of Frank's close friends, you're likely to not have
to watch your back, but everyone else take note of where the left hand
is, while you're shaking the right.

Best Regards,

Bruce

"Tim Hanke" wrote in message ...

(big snip)

It is practical objections like these, that Richard Haas ignores and has no
answers for, at least none that I have seen. Because he repeats his
Mensa/Metro District idea ad nauseam, without providing any plausible
arguments to support it, whereas there are many plausible objections,
reasonable people on this newsgroup have learned to turn a deaf ear to him.
Which is too bad, because on other subjects, I find him interesting.

Tim Hanke
____________________________________
What other subjects? All I recall from Richard is: the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; related claims that parts of Florida are "chess
dead"; and Crossville/southern hick type jokes. If there was
something else, I missed it.

KidDon

"Sorry, but I'm a capitalist, and I believe that individual organizers should
have to compete against each other for chessplayers rather than share in a
wealth of largesse from a national body." (Mike Nolan)
==============
Ha!! You got rich running adult chess tournaments, huh? Name one
entrepreneur of adult chess tournaments that got rich since I first joined in
1963.
When you come up with a cheap substitute for oil. please call me first with
the entrepreneurial opportunity. Adult chess is on its way to becoming the
sport/recreational analog to the market for orphan drugs. (RSHaas)

"I, too, have been a member of organizations that had a national/state/local
structure with the national body handling dues collection for the state and
local chapters, and I found that such a system encourages local units
that lacked any competitive drive." (Mike Nolan)
==============
Just curious, Mike... what were those organizations of which you were a member?
(RSHaas)

"Bruce Draney" wrote ...

It has come to my attention that USCF has once again screwed over the
folks at ICC, by setting up a meeting with them and not showing up, even
though ICC's people called to confirm that there was supposed to be a
meeting the day before and were assured there was indeed a meeting.

Bruce,

I don't know about this alleged incident, but it seems true that USCF has a
problem communicating with people. That includes members, vendors,
everybody.

Several months ago when I was trying to get USCF to respond to me about my
Chess Trivia Game, *nobody* ever got back to me despite repeated attempts on
my part. OK, maybe Mike Nolan was right, and it wouldn't be worth USCF's
time and trouble to stock my game (which was never produced, by the way, so
now it's moot). But someone at USCF should have taken the trouble to *tell*
me they didn't want the game. Because they wouldn't even *respond* to me, I
became very irritated. I would rather have heard a "no" so I could forget
about it and move on, than been ignored completely and left twisting in the
wind. It's my understanding that the office sometimes treats even major
vendors this way. Honestly, I don't understand it. Something is screwed up,
but I don't know what it is.

I have volunteered to serve as Board Secretary, even though everyone assures
me it is a no-prestige secretarial-type role, precisely because I want to
help improve communication between USCF and the ROW ("Rest of the World").

I first got the idea of becoming Secretary, when George John suggested it on
this newsgroup some months ago. Later George turned against my candidacy and
voted for other people, if I'm not mistaken, but his suggestion stuck in my
mind (and I have no hard feelings about his change of heart; George has a
lot of positives to contribute to USCF even if he isn't my biggest fan).

Tim Hanke

(RSHaas) writes:

Just curious, Mike... what were those organizations of which you were a member?

Most recently, the National Association of Parliamentarians.

"Tim Hanke" writes:
I have volunteered to serve as Board Secretary, even though everyone assures
me it is a no-prestige secretarial-type role, precisely because I want to
help improve communication between USCF and the ROW ("Rest of the World").

Hey, why not. In the Soviet Union, "General Secretary" became a very
important post. And the UN's Secretary-General is its highest ranking
official.

Tim.. obviously a national chess federation would have to generate a free
cash flow of $300,000 to $500,000 in order to finance the kind of Mensa styled
scheme that I favor. The USCF cannot do that now nor will it be in shape to do
that in the next several years. If it ever reaches that stage you'll be long
gone from the EB..
As I have said many times, I discuss the idea only in theoretical or
hypthetical terms. It has never been a formal proposal so I don't feel
uncomfortable if I've not answered the many challenging questions that have
come my way. Frankly, I don't have all the answers and would welcome some help
from the few who might like the idea in the broadbrush.
As for the would-be funding, your figures are a wee bit low. For example,
if I may traffic in a would-be Tampa Bay Metro Distirct there might be 300
adults and maybe 100 juniors. That would result in about $3500 for the Tampa
kitty. Suppose the Tampa org used that to front only four quarterly opens per
year, each time risking only $2000 to stay a bit on the safe side. OK.. if
each one just broke even.. Tampa would still have $3500 in their kitty. OK, in
year 2 another $3500 would arrive. Now they'd have a $7000 war chest for
chess, etc.
OK.. go back to year one with $3500. Suppose Tampa misjudged their market
and the four events lost $500 each time. Boohoo.. they'd only have $1500 left
in the kitty. If the typical private promoter were doing all this, he'd be
gone after just two loser events... and chess would shut down in Tampa for
years until another fool took a shot. But not the good old Tampa Bay District,
battered as it might be. With only $1500 on hand at the end of the year, in
comes a new funding of $3500 to be added to the $1500 remainder. Now Tampa
would have $5000 on hand for year two. Now.. you see.. a private promoter who
lost part of his original $3500 and who fled the scene in year one... is not
going to come back in the second year with a new sum of $3500. But the Mensa
type system would do that. It would stay in place, refresh the local kitty..
and if the local faces changed from time to time, they wouldn't take the org's
money with them.
In other words, a funded Tampa District would have more staying power as
well as the possibilty of building up more working capital over time than you'd
see from just a so-called individual chess promoter. Tampa hasn't had many of
these in the past 25 years anyway. Its been a real stinker of a chess town
most of the time.
I'd be thrilled to see $10 of my $49 dues show up in the Tampa Bay
District.. if it brought me an enriched nearby chess environment...
tournaments, activities, etc. If after best efforts, the Tampa Bay District
lost half its money in one year, it would mean to me that only $5 of my share
of the operation was lost. I got a rich chess experience and it cost me only $5
extra to make it happen. I'd willingly go for another $10 forced contribution
in year two. Bring it on!! I accept the fact that it takes money to promote
chess. I'd much rather have that kind of scenario than have a would-be local
promoter pack it in after two tournaments and leave Tampa Bay chess dead for
another three or four years.
Now, Tim... tell me you have a better use for that $10 part of my dues that
you'd not want Tampa Bay to hold in its hot little hands. You're such a bright
boy, .. come up with a better idea. (RSHaas)