September Chess Life wastes space with block ad

#11 August 20th 03, 06:27 AM

Kevin Croxen wrote:

CL continues to offer ample evidence of why the TLAs, at least, should be
moved out of the print magazine and onto the web. Nothing can possibly be
a greater waste of space and organizer/publisher money than print TLAs (or
block ads) that arrive in the mail two or more weeks after a tournament
has taken place. (Our household September CL arrived 18 August as did
yours.)

This merely demonstrates that organizers should be placing
their TLAs in earlier issues.

#12 August 20th 03, 06:38 AM

Recmate wrote:

You're right, but there have been even worse things that have happened since
the very unwise firing of Debi Sherry:

[snip 10 cases of incredibly bad performance!]

In my opinion, getting the TLA section done correctly and
in a and timely fashion should be the Number One Priority
in each issue. The mistakes listed in Bill's post point
to a fundamental misunderstanding of Chess Life's mission.
If Chess Life were a commercial publication, people would
be losing their jobs as a consequence of such a poor
performance.

#13 August 20th 03, 07:36 AM

This merely demonstrates that organizers should be placing
their TLAs in earlier issues.

Which means it costs more.

John Fernandez

#14 August 20th 03, 01:20 PM

"Recmate" wrote in message
...

You're right, but there have been even worse things that have happened
since
the very unwise firing of Debi Sherry:

Having heard the other side of the story, I'm not so sure you're right here.
I'm just guessing, but, I think you're gonna he real happy with the
direction TLA input takes.

StanB

#15 August 20th 03, 01:27 PM

"Bruce Draney" wrote in message
...

Everything else that you pointed out in your post however, I agree makes
her resignation just another disaster in a long line of foolish
decisions and actions dating back over the past eight years (at least).

The office has been operating in a state of anarchy for the past year. If
Debi couldn't follow orders and get along with her superiors, we're better
off without her.

Frank came in doing a lot of good things and then... just...I don't know
what...but...well, he hurt us pretty bad. He started out as the best ED
since Lawrence and ended up being the flat out wurst. It is hard to see how
Sam Sloan could have been any worser.

StanB

#16 August 20th 03, 02:23 PM

In article , John Fernandez wrote:

This merely demonstrates that organizers should be placing
their TLAs in earlier issues.

Which means it costs more.

John Fernandez

And doesn't alter fact that the organizers still won't be getting a
substantial portion of what they're paying for, and that magazine space is
still going to be wasted not only with TLAs, but with the same quantity of
late (and therefore useless) TLAs.

#17 August 20th 03, 06:25 PM

In article ,
Joechess145 wrote:
Subject: September Chess Life wastes space with block ad
From: Kevin Croxen
Date: 8/20/2003 9:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

In article , John Fernandez
wrote:

This merely demonstrates that organizers should be placing
their TLAs in earlier issues.

Which means it costs more.

John Fernandez

And doesn't alter fact that the organizers still won't be getting a
substantial portion of what they're paying for, and that magazine space is
still going to be wasted not only with TLAs, but with the same quantity of
late (and therefore useless) TLAs.

What is so radical about getting a publication out on time all the time?
Advertising agencies use traffic managers, newspapers are published daily, so
why can't CL go out when it supposed to go out? What other magazines tolerate
this kind of pernicious tardiness?

Time sensitive ads are not a reason for CL to drop advertising; they are a
reason for CL to arrive in my (and other members') mailbox at the appropriate
time.

Joe Sparks

Joe

But the USCF has amply demonstrated over a stretch of several years that
they are not much interested in print timeliness and are not capable of
causing magazines to arrive in mailboxes at the appropriate time.
Therefore, alternatives can be proposed which may eventually be within
their capabilities.

Moreover, since CL is not self-sufficient in any event, but is subsidized
by the USCF and membership dues, does it matter if TLA income to the USCF
accrues from putting TLAs on the USCF web site, rather than from TLAs in
the magazine?

Consider one hypothetical scenario where the web final TLA deadline time
is one month or less before a tournament date, rather than four months or
more, as is now the case with print TLAs. With quick turnaround times for
web TLA processing and appearance, _every_ rated tournament, even the
local club occasional varieties that frequently aren't submitted for print
TLA treatment because the events are not organized that many months in
advance could appear in web TLA's which were posted, say, three or four
weeks before the event begins. An affiliate's representative could fill
out a web form, pony up an appropriate payment for X-weeks to X-months of
the TLA being available, and the web TLA generated by the form appears the
next day.

One outgrowth of this scenario might be a policy whereby a web TLA posting
(and payment) of, say, three weeks minimum would be a requirement for the
tournament to eventually be rated. This could lead to every USCF rated
tournament anywhere, not just the early-organized ones, appearing in TLAs
and appearing soon enough to be useful(i.e. before, rather than after the
event). This would also mean that every USCF rated tournament anywhere
would generate at least the minimum web TLA fee, whatever that fee was
eventually set at. Plus, the USCF member would always have an
up-to-the-minute and comprehensive listing of absolutely all upcoming
rated events in his local area (and everywhere else), a situation unlikely
to occur ever again, if it ever occurred before, with print TLAs.

--Kevin

#18 August 20th 03, 07:07 PM

StanB wrote:

"Bruce Draney" wrote in message
...

Everything else that you pointed out in your post however, I agree makes
her resignation just another disaster in a long line of foolish
decisions and actions dating back over the past eight years (at least).

The office has been operating in a state of anarchy for the past year. If
Debi couldn't follow orders and get along with her superiors, we're better
off without her.

I think that for the most part that rehiring Debi Sherry to work in a
hostile environment after what has happened would probably be unwise.
It's kind of like an employee who wins a wrongful dismissal case against
her employer. Winning the case is one thing, but returning to the work
environment as if nothing has changed is nearly impossible.

In order for Debi to be an effective employee now, in my view all of
her former supervisors would have to be dismissed. Even then, other
employees might feel deep resentment towards her for causing trouble or
even feel like she is trying to gain attention and power for herself
rather than helping the company. I agree that putting Debi back into
her former position would probably be a mistake and that everyone should
just move on. Organizers should just accept the fact that TLA's are
dead. USCF managed to kill them off over the past six years and most
organizers now wisely bypass TLA's, recognizing their ineffectiveness
and the problems necessary to submit and pay for them.

Frank came in doing a lot of good things and then... just...I don't know
what...but...well, he hurt us pretty bad. He started out as the best ED
since Lawrence and ended up being the flat out wurst. It is hard to see how
Sam Sloan could have been any worser.

It seems like Frank may have knocked over his king after his health
problem back in the early part of the year. He began to be absent from
the office a great deal and while he was gone, lots of little wild fires
turned into conflagrations because of his frequent absence. I also feel
like Frank started to see so many holes in the boat that he just decided
to let them go rather than to try to bail or plug the ones he could.

Recently there were reports also that Frank had been doing things
without the approval of the Board, such as the extended contract with
Games Parlor and the reported failure once again to meet as scheduled
with the ICC folks.

In retrospect, it is really hard for me to see how Niro was any better
than George DeFeis. In fact some could argue that the losses under
Frank were greater than the losses under DeFeis. I'm convinced however
that the position of ED needs a serious reexamination. We have not
gotten decent money's worth out of ED's for a long long time,
considering the salaries we have paid out to hire and keep them.
Although your comment about Sloan being possibly just as good, is
somewhat of a joke, I think that flying on auto-pilot might have been
better than the money we spent foolishly on the last three permanent
ED's.

Under Cavallo and Niro, the office was often on autopilot anyway with
disastrous results. The only difference is we were expended large
amounts of money to have an office that was unattended to, by both
Cavallo and Niro. DeFeis I view has having been clueless, more than
anything else, meaning that the office was on autopilot even while he
was present because he didn't have a clue about what he was doing.

StanB

Best Regards,

Bruce

#19 August 20th 03, 08:07 PM

Subject: September Chess Life wastes space with block ad
From: (Kevin Croxen)
Date: 8/20/2003 1:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

In article ,
Joechess145 wrote:
Subject: September Chess Life wastes space with block ad
From: Kevin Croxen
Date: 8/20/2003 9:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

In article , John Fernandez
wrote:

This merely demonstrates that organizers should be placing
their TLAs in earlier issues.

Which means it costs more.

John Fernandez

And doesn't alter fact that the organizers still won't be getting a
substantial portion of what they're paying for, and that magazine space is
still going to be wasted not only with TLAs, but with the same quantity of
late (and therefore useless) TLAs.

What is so radical about getting a publication out on time all the time?
Advertising agencies use traffic managers, newspapers are published daily,
so
why can't CL go out when it supposed to go out? What other magazines
tolerate
this kind of pernicious tardiness?

Time sensitive ads are not a reason for CL to drop advertising; they are a
reason for CL to arrive in my (and other members') mailbox at the
appropriate
time.

Joe Sparks

Joe

But the USCF has amply demonstrated over a stretch of several years that
they are not much interested in print timeliness and are not capable of
causing magazines to arrive in mailboxes at the appropriate time.
Therefore, alternatives can be proposed which may eventually be within
their capabilities.

Moreover, since CL is not self-sufficient in any event, but is subsidized
by the USCF and membership dues, does it matter if TLA income to the USCF
accrues from putting TLAs on the USCF web site, rather than from TLAs in
the magazine?

Consider one hypothetical scenario where the web final TLA deadline time
is one month or less before a tournament date, rather than four months or
more, as is now the case with print TLAs. With quick turnaround times for
web TLA processing and appearance, _every_ rated tournament, even the
local club occasional varieties that frequently aren't submitted for print
TLA treatment because the events are not organized that many months in
advance could appear in web TLA's which were posted, say, three or four
weeks before the event begins. An affiliate's representative could fill
out a web form, pony up an appropriate payment for X-weeks to X-months of
the TLA being available, and the web TLA generated by the form appears the
next day.

One outgrowth of this scenario might be a policy whereby a web TLA posting
(and payment) of, say, three weeks minimum would be a requirement for the
tournament to eventually be rated. This could lead to every USCF rated
tournament anywhere, not just the early-organized ones, appearing in TLAs
and appearing soon enough to be useful(i.e. before, rather than after the
event). This would also mean that every USCF rated tournament anywhere
would generate at least the minimum web TLA fee, whatever that fee was
eventually set at. Plus, the USCF member would always have an
up-to-the-minute and comprehensive listing of absolutely all upcoming
rated events in his local area (and everywhere else), a situation unlikely
to occur ever again, if it ever occurred before, with print TLAs.

--Kevin

This sounds good in theory, but my experience with the USCF--I cannot remember
who mentioned this point earlier in another thread--is that if the office makes
changes that involve accepting a disadvantage (such as eliminating TLAs in CL)
for a "better" advantage (prompt, lower cost TLAs on a web site) the office
will ably implement the disadvantage and fail to deliver on the advantage.
Please keep in mind that I do not consider cutting out TLAs in CL to be an
advantage.

Right now, I expect that the USCF will try to cut costs but not raise dues on
the scholastic majority. If TLAs are cut out of CL, then there will not be the
revenue from the TLAs. On the other hand, there will be no extra money to hire
additional staff to make sure that the web site gets updated.

If the USCF could get its managerial act together, it would not go in search of
"stranded costs." For example, the USCF builds up a web site, but fails to
charge or get additional revenue from it. If the USCF charged for print TLAs
and then charged separately for web TLAs, this would make sense. Instead it
charges for only one item but fails to deliver on both.

Joe Sparks