English Chess Forum

Here's an entirely praiseworthy idea but why can't someone in the ECF office at least bother to proofread it. Check it out on ECF -What's New. How many people does it take to spend 5 minutes reading something and think oh that's not not quite right - never mind, cut and paste saves working.

A number of excellent candidates spring to mind : BR Eley is, however, top of my list.

A new post?

Those who have been in jail: Claude F Bloodgood, Fischer, Alekhine, Kasparov ..

James Pratt (Basingstoke!)

Sorry James - I wasn't looking for chessplayers who have been in prison - otherwise it would have been in General Chat - it was the usual incompetence from the ECF office - sorry Office but I don't suppose you look at this Forum.

I could do a list of English players who have been in prison - Willy Winter of course,

John Moore wrote: I could do a list of English players who have been in prison - Willy Winter of course,

You could break this down into English players who have been, who are currently and who might be if justice was done?

Maybe the latter category should best be published in "Private Eye"...?

Bit tricky with rehabilitation of offenders - need a lawyer!

The original notice on the ECF website has now been amended to something sensible - well done, maybe someone in the Office does read the Forum.

John Moore wrote:The original notice on the ECF website has now been amended to something sensible - well done, maybe someone in the Office does read the Forum.

John,
I believe CM monitors the forum and provides feedback to the Office.
I suspect the Office are recommended NOT to read the forum in case they are offended.
AFAIK, none of the office staff are either chess players or have any interest in chess but I hope to be proven wrong : maybe we will find out shortly!

I'm sure it's true that some members of the Board read the Forum, but in this case I had spotted the mistake myself and mentioned it at the ECF Board meeting on Saturday.

Andrew Farthing

Andrew Farthing wrote:I'm sure it's true that some members of the Board read the Forum, but in this case I had spotted the mistake myself and mentioned it at the ECF Board meeting on Saturday.

Andrew Farthing

Anything of interest (that can be reported...) from that meeting?

Carl,

I have to respect the confidentiality of the meeting, so I can't really say much. With the ECF Council meeting coming up on 18 April, you can imagine that much of the discussion was about topics that will need to be covered there, such as the ECF budget, next year's business plan and, of course, Chess for Schools.

The one specific thing that I will mention is that Duncan Burbridge, the new ICT Manager, outlined some ambitious and exciting proposals for improving the ECF's online presence, which were received enthusiastically and approved. Don't expect change overnight, but I came away feeling very optimistic.

Andrew

Andrew Farthing wrote:I have to respect the confidentiality of the meeting, so I can't really say much. With the ECF Council meeting coming up on 18 April, you can imagine that much of the discussion was about topics that will need to be covered there, such as the ECF budget, next year's business plan and, of course, Chess for Schools.

Fair enough, let's hope for a report sooner rather than later?

Andrew Farthing wrote:The one specific thing that I will mention is that Duncan Burbridge, the new ICT Manager, outlined some ambitious and exciting proposals for improving the ECF's online presence, which were received enthusiastically and approved. Don't expect change overnight, but I came away feeling very optimistic.

Yes, I am surprised if that is the case, after speaking to Duncan at length most of the ideas were good (one I didn't like...) but they were a little leading edge for the ECF and so can only be welcomed

Watch this space

Carl Hibbard wrote:Fair enough, let's hope for a report sooner rather than later?

Sure, just bear in mind that much of the discussion would translate into documents (i.e. budget, business plan) to be presented to the ECF Council for approval, so I wouldn't expect the detail to appear in a meeting report ahead of that.

Carl Hibbard wrote:Yes, I am surprised if that is the case, after speaking to Duncan at length most of the ideas were good (one I didn't like...) but they were a little leading edge for the ECF and so can only be welcomed

Do you mean that you're surprised that the proposals were enthusiastically received? I certainly didn't pick up on any reluctance at the time. Perhaps it just needed someone with the right ideas - and the energy and expertise to implement them - to come along. I think Duncan impressed everyone, and we'd be daft not to give him a chance to give the ECF website a bit more 'oomph'. I can't blame you for being cautious, but I'm glad that overall you're positive about the suggested changes.

Andrew Farthing wrote:Do you mean that you're surprised that the proposals were enthusiastically received? I certainly didn't pick up on any reluctance at the time. Perhaps it just needed someone with the right ideas - and the energy and expertise to implement them - to come along. I think Duncan impressed everyone, and we'd be daft not to give him a chance to give the ECF website a bit more 'oomph'. I can't blame you for being cautious, but I'm glad that overall you're positive about the suggested changes.

Surprised, yes I would say so!

Not even slightly cautious (apart from one idea...) and so I welcome Duncan without hesitation

[quote="John Moore"]The original notice on the ECF website has now been amended to something sensible....[/quote

Well as of my reading today it says,

"There are more people on prison now than ever before."

I'm assuming this is not exactly what they meant to say but perhaps it's a comment about prison overcrowding and the necessity for inmates to play chess on the roofs because there's nowhere else to go?