Future of ChessForums.org - Page 2 - Chess Forums

buti_oxa · 08-06-2007, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by Greg

I can confirm ChessForums has been sold, but I can assure you its in the forums best interests. Mark, the buyer, has greater chess knowledge and experience and will be developing the site to see its full potential with the members interests in mind.

Isn't it great that the highest bidder happened to be chess lover!

buti_oxa · 08-06-2007, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Perseus

Selling, advertising, premium services. I hope I'm not the only one disturbed by that kind of words. Regardless, it's the pricetagging that really ticked me off.

You mentioned ICC, that hit many people. ICC and FICS used to run team league together - wonderful thing it was. Money lead to a rift, and FICS (free) part was almost killed as the resulst. League had to be rebuilt from the ground up. (League barely survived, but, thankfully is OK now, thanks to fernbap, mekk, and many others: FICS Team League.)

Fromper · 08-06-2007, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by buti_oxa

You mentioned ICC, that hit many people. ICC and FICS used to run team league together - wonderful thing it was. Money lead to a rift, and FICS (free) part was almost killed as the resulst. League had to be rebuilt from the ground up. (League barely survived, but, thankfully is OK now, thanks to fernbap, mekk, and many others: FICS Team League.)

That's just the recent history. It sounds like you aren't aware of how FICS started. ICC used to be free. When they started charging for membership, FICS was created as a backlash by those who wanted a free site. This was all around 15-20 years ago or so, before I started playing, so I don't know all the details there. But that's why ICC and FICS are so similar in functionality and features - they're both originally based on the same source code.

About this site, I don't blame Greg for "selling out" or anything like that. He started a great site, but he doesn't have time for it, and this is a good way to get some cash for all the time he invested. Honestly, when I first came to this site and read that Greg was a beginning chess player, I kind of wondered if he would really stick with it (both the game and the site) over the long haul. A lot of people (myself included) have a tendency to get completely addicted to a new hobby for a while, then later move on to other things. I would have had more faith in this site all along if I knew it was run by someone who had been playing chess for years and already had a long term commitment to the game.

But as others have mentioned, I'm a little nervous about what the new owner expects to get for his $1800. How is he going to make that money back? I can live with an extra ad banner or two, but if he starts charging for services, I think it's a safe bet that he'll lose all the current members.

I'm also wondering why he hasn't posted to at least introduce himself yet. If he's the type of person who would post to a site like this, why hasn't he done so?

--Fromper

FinFangFoom · 08-06-2007, 04:33 PM

I just don't know about all this. I feel I have one foot in the door and one foot out right now. I don't want to give up reading the posts by the folks in this forum but if this site gets messy with advertising FLASH & pop-ups or other slop then the simple charm of this Forum would be lost.

Perseus · 08-06-2007, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by thetruth

if you are looking for a real chess community just search for "chess" in google and pick the #1 result

Err, there is a flaw to your reasoning, behold:

Homepage van Chess is my first result (below two adds).

Second in line is a site about the musical "Chess" which is on stage.

Third is the Wiki page on the subject Chess.

Fourth would be Chess.com - Play. Learn. Share. the site I assume you meant.

Keep in mind not everyone uses the same browser/language/google prefs, this for instance was the produced url of the search:
chess - Google zoeken

I hope that proved informative

...
I would recommend two other links:
N.J. Chess - Login
That's a more direct link to a board dedicated to openings, we recently had IM John Watson chip in for the Caro-Kann..

Susan Polgar Chess Blog
GM Susan Polgar's blog. I rarely have had time to read it properly, but it's quality.

Endeavour · 08-06-2007, 05:08 PM

It's undoubtedly true that it all feels very awkward at this present moment but it really doesn't mean that just because Greg has officially sold the website, the new owner is unable to create new and refreshing ideas. In fact, it's actually very healthy if a new owner possesses a good knowledge of the game. We must all conceed that it was at all times Greg's prerogative to treat Chess forums as a business idea, he is definitely not the only person out there doing it. Many members have surprisingly deemed the fact of finding out about this event in another website, to be disappointing. I think there's absolutelly nothing wrong with it, great emphasis goes once again towards business roles, Greg was under no obligation to inform any members about future events regarding the forums. To all of those that regretfully decided to leave the forums, I feel they need a lot of growing up to do, in fact guys, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD. All kinds of business models, let it be a real model or indeed virtual (like Chess Forums), they are all susceptible to being involved in the business market.

Phobetor · 08-06-2007, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by Greg

The new owner will be along in the next few days, and hopefully, we, as a community, can move on in taking Chess Forums to a higher standard.

That's what surprises me most. I would expect a real chess lover who spends 1800$ to the site to at least show his face here once, and see how the site is doing. How can someone who buys the site, love the site if he isn't even a member here? Or has he been here before?

If anyone would buy the site I would expect it to be either a member who just loves the site so much, or a non-member and business man who just wants to make money with it.

Endeavour · 08-06-2007, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by Phobetor

That's what surprises me most. I would expect a real chess lover who spends 1800$ to the site to at least show his face here once, and see how the site is doing. How can someone who buys the site, love the site if he isn't even a member here? Or has he been here before?

Perhaps you should give him a chance and wait for that moment, Phobetor. As Greg just mentioned, the new owner will be introduced in a few days. There could be many reasons behind this, but I suspect the most logical reasons are either personal or quite simply Greg and the new owner are following standard conditions stipulated in the contract.

Phobetor · 08-06-2007, 08:51 PM

Maybe so, but if you're buying a book, wouldn't you at least read the text on the back of the book, or see how many pages the book is before you bought it?

How can the new owner know ChessForums is a great site with great members and alot of potential if he hasn't checked it out yet? He can't! So that makes me wonder if he really cares so much...

But sure, I'll give him a chance when he gets here.

Fromper · 08-06-2007, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by Phobetor

Maybe so, but if you're buying a book, wouldn't you at least read the text on the back of the book, or see how many pages the book is before you bought it?

How can the new owner know ChessForums is a great site with great members and alot of potential if he hasn't checked it out yet? He can't! So that makes me wonder if he really cares so much...

But sure, I'll give him a chance when he gets here.

Maybe he has come and looked around, without actually posting. Anyway, we'll see what's up when he gets here and takes over.

--Fromper