Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Roger de Coverly
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:23 pm

John Upham wrote: I gather that the feedback from the CD was met with the "*u*k off" response from the DoHC resulting in the suspension.
Perhaps a more polite response would have been "you termite", as it reminds me of the spat between Raymondo, Steveg and Eric against the rest of the world over the (lack of) coverage of the Staunton tournaments in London a few years ago.

But there is a lack of strategic or perhaps tactical thinking by the ECF. Whilst a tie-in with chess24 is going to deliver more international audience to the British Championship Congress and thus a wider footprint for potential sponsorship, the other side of the equation is the need by the ECF and the Congress organisers to meet the expectations of the new increased audience. If the budget or expertise isn't there to deliver, the initiative is liable to be a failure.

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Michael Farthing
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Michael Farthing » Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:31 pm

As it was a commercial undertaking one might wonder why responsibility for its delivery was not undertaken by the commercial director himself.

Angus French
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Angus French » Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:45 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:But there is a lack of strategic or perhaps tactical thinking by the ECF. Whilst a tie-in with chess24 is going to deliver more international audience to the British Championship Congress and thus a wider footprint for potential sponsorship, the other side of the equation is the need by the ECF and the Congress organisers to meet the expectations of the new increased audience. If the budget or expertise isn't there to deliver, the initiative is liable to be a failure.
Roger's post reminds me of something I've been curious about:
Finance Director's Report to the April 2015 Finance Council meeting wrote:The Board agreed to invest a further £5,500 in equipment to improve the presentation of the British Chess Championships. This will be reflected in future years’ depreciation charge.
If the money has been spent, what was it spent on? And if it's not been spent why is that so? (Source document here - see fifth bullet point in the Executive Summary.)

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:55 am

Angus French wrote: If the money has been spent, what was it spent on?
DGT Sensory Boards would be my guess, they had 100% coverage for the British at Warwick. The spectator coverage at Warwick also reinstated live demo boards, in other words displays of the DGT output. These had been present at Torquay in 2013 and earlier Congresses but had been missing in 2014.

If the earlier ones had been borrowed, perhaps the Warwick ones had been purchased.

One achievement that the ECF should be congratulated upon, is that it captured almost every game played and made it available for download within a day or two of the Congress ending. Chris Ward, commentating at the chesspublishing.com site was able to gauge the relative popularity of the Dragon and showcase some games from juniors to a wider audience.
Last edited by Roger de Coverly on Fri Sep 04, 2015 9:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Sep 04, 2015 9:09 am

OK, I'm still confused about this, most likely missing something. AH reads out the content of his email, prior to sending it, to a roomfull of people, is that right? And none of them make the slightest objection, is that right?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Mike Truran
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Mike Truran » Fri Sep 04, 2015 9:53 am

That is wrong.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Sep 04, 2015 10:35 am

May I know in what particulars?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Roger Lancaster
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Roger Lancaster » Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:04 am

I'm as confused as Justin but Mike's denial seems to leave just two possibilities - the contents of the email, in part or whole, were either (a) read out aloud and then sent despite protests or (b) read out aloud after the email had been sent. The latter seems to me more likely but that's guesswork.

Michael Flatt
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Michael Flatt » Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:13 am

Roger Lancaster wrote:I'm as confused as Justin but Mike's denial seems to leave just two possibilities - the contents of the email, in part or whole, were either (a) read out aloud and then sent despite protests or (b) read out aloud after the email had been sent. The latter seems to me more likely but that's guesswork.
We shouldn't discount that the Commercial Director may have been in the in the room at the time. I assumed he wasn't but we just don't know.

By the way, on the other channel I comment on seeing the CO at the event amongst other things.

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:21 am

The Commercial Director was not in the room at the time.

Brian Towers
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Brian Towers » Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:39 am

JustinHorton wrote:OK, I'm still confused about this, most likely missing something. AH reads out the content of his email, prior to sending it, to a roomfull of people, is that right? And none of them make the slightest objection, is that right?
I'm guessing that AH is a youngster who has grown up in the digital age. That Facebook and Twitter are multi billion dollar successes is a reflection of the extent to which an emotional tourrettes syndrome has reached epidemic proportions amongst the latest generation. Emotions have to be immediately expressed and to a wide audience. Green spidery handwriting in a spiralbound notebook hidden away in your bedroom is no longer enough ;-).

I was first exposed to and used email in my job in 1989. It was immediately obvious to me that this was, amongst other things, the successor to the numbered memo which I had come across during previous work as a software engineer on defence projects. Numbered memos were what you used when a superior made silly demands / promises based on zero technical knowledge which you produced 6 months later when it had all gone pear shaped and you had been proved right to make sure you didn't get the blame. Or not, as the case may be. They provided a semi-permanent audit trail.

The thing is that audit trails cut both ways. In the decades since I have often been in the position of being infuriated by some decision or judgement to the extent of writing a withering, perhaps abusive (although never stooping to the Anglo Saxon) email but I always click on "save" rather than "send". I then review it a few hours or perhaps a day later and either rewrite it to make it less of a petard, more emollient, or just delete it. Always think before you hit the "Oh f*k" button.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:42 am

If you reread this thread
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7642
it's apparent there were tensions surrounding the live broadcasts, the use of technology and who has the responsibility for identifying and resolving problems.

Covering the British Championship is always going to be more difficult than Gibraltar, Hastings or the London Classic because of the different venues every year. Decent quality audio is a prerequisite for the commentary and it appeared the chess24 audience wanted video as well.

It would seem a portable studio and someone to run it is now necessary. The earliest live coverage at a British that I can recall was at Great Yarmouth in 2007. That used a video camera recording and broadcasting Andrew Martin's use of traditional demo boards. It also required a member of the audience to periodically change the angle of the filming as Andrew changed games. The College at Great Yarmouth used its own expertise to assist with the broadcasting.

So what are the options for 2016?

Continuation of the coverage through DGT boards seems obvious enough as it can then be followed on chessbomb and other sites. These boards can also drive display screens at the venue and for the commentary room. I'd be inclined to conclude that unless the video feed of the commentary can be done properly, approaching the standards established by Gibraltar and others, it would be better to discontinue it, or only make it available by a back door route for those "in the know". If, as it probably does, come down to money or resources, make sure the sound quality is both good and monitored for quality.

Using a laptop with a webcam and microphone will work for Skype, but the verdict has to be that it's not good enough for chess live coverage if you seek a wider audience who are intolerant of shortcomings.

Richard Bates
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by Richard Bates » Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:56 pm

Clearly the commercial director received/read out the email when in the company of a potential sponsor!

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by LawrenceCooper » Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:04 pm

Maybe the f word that caused offence was forum :lol:

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David Shepherd
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Re: Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials

Post by David Shepherd » Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:38 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:The Commercial Director was not in the room at the time.

This is starting to remind me of Cleudo ...

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