Just blundering through....

[Steve Douglas]

(Accidentally posted this on the moribund CFC discussion board first. Oh well.)

At this point I really have to hand it to the CFC. It essentially no longer exists except for a "temporarily offline" message. That is the smile that is left of the Cheshire cat. If you disagree, try to prove me wrong.

Once upon a time, only a few year ago, the CFC was a troubled organization to be sure, but you could still see the cat, throw shoes at it and know that it existed. It had an office with real people in it. It published a magainze late 4 or 6 times a year. It had a website that was rarely updated for news. It rated tournaments out of order and the ratings were published in the aforementioned fishwrap or on the website.

Now look at it, and particularly the progression:
- a magazine that shrank from 6 to 4 to 0 issues without a word to the members
- no more office
- a "webzine" that was still-born because of um, er, "expert management"
- a website that has been saying it is "temporarily" offline for well over a week and there are at least 3 regular Chesstalk posters who could have fixed it within a day

Can anybody currently demonstrate that the CFC actually continues to exist?

Right now it looks like the website message is the smile that's all that's left of the cat. Remember folks: the CFC is smiling on you.

Steve

[John Coleman]

Re: Just blundering through....

I was chatting with four players after the chess club last night. They all agreed they could get a generic website up and running an hour...

- a research programmer at the university
- an IT manager
- senior programmer of an industrial design company
- another guy, don't know what he does

I was the techno-peasant. It seems strange that the CFC doesn't seem to be able to get anything up on the web.

Ah well, as Shakespeare said "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Or was it in the bible?

[Peter McKillop]

Re: Just blundering through....

Okay, but at least the CFC is issuing regular updates to let their members know that they're working on the problems and to provide an ETA for recovery ... aren't they? .................oh

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Just blundering through....

Indeed. Simply putting a timestamp on the message would be a valuable (if embarrassing clue). I actually have a very good idea how long it might take to sort out this type of issue, but that is not the point.

Peter's reaction is, unfortunately, perhaps typical of people who simply expect decent service.

At least it is now pretty easy to answer the question: "what do I get for my $43" (in Ontario). There is an exact answer at the moment.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Just blundering through....

The problem is that every time we get information it seems to suggest that the people trying to solve the problem are in way over their heads and don't have a clue as to what they should be doing.

This may be God's way of punishing the CFC for its treatment of Bob Gillanders.

It is also a testament to the fact that running your business based on the lowest bidder can have a significant downside.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Just blundering through....

I was chatting with four players after the chess club last night. They all agreed they could get a generic website up and running an hour...

- a research programmer at the university
- an IT manager
- senior programmer of an industrial design company
- another guy, don't know what he does

I was the techno-peasant. It seems strange that the CFC doesn't seem to be able to get anything up on the web.

Ah well, as Shakespeare said "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Or was it in the bible?

The other guy is a Phd candidate/lecturer in computer science unless you are counting him as the research programmer. It is kind of amusing how many chess players or parents of chess players in our local area are involved in IT work.

Actually a generic website would take a few minutes though it wouldn't be terribly useful. Recreating the old website should take a few minutes assuming backups (I tend to back up any sites I am responsible for every time I make any significant changes). Without backups it still should be possible to download the site and fix the problems within a few hours assuming that you have an internet connection to download the required tools.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: Just blundering through....

I don't have any inside info so I'm not sure what's going on.

It seems, from the outside, of being a case of misplaced priorities. It looks like they have a priority of getting the site back fully operational, which might be some work (the first infection was reported quite a while ago, not sure if that was ever fixed?)... but it could be brought back a bit at a time fairly easily.

So what's more important, a fully functional website vs. none at all, or an increasing web presence? (Hey this is starting to remind me of the Cdn Closed debate!)

[Eric Van Dusen]

Update foe CFC site

While I do not understand the nuances of web site mechanics, the CFC site has been cleaned up by EKG.

The last step is to get google to give the site a clean bill of health in order to eliminate google generated warning messages.

Regarding prospective volunteers, please send me a message and let me know what your interests are with respect to giving your time and effort in promoting the game of chess.


Eric Van Dusen

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Just blundering through....

ChessTalk is the CFC - lets call it the CAC (chess Association of Can)
We replace the governors by posting polls.
We replace the webzine with a page of links. (to live FIDE ratings, Susan Polgar, Kevin Spraggett, etc and anyone else with a useful and entertaining blog)
Someone would have to do ratings and post them on a link.
And MEMBERSHIP IS FREE! :):):)

[John Brown]

Re: Update foe CFC site

While I do not understand the nuances of web site mechanics, the CFC site has been cleaned up by EKG.

The last step is to get google to give the site a clean bill of health in order to eliminate google generated warning messages.

Regarding prospective volunteers, please send me a message and let me know what your interests are with respect to giving your time and effort in promoting the game of chess.


Eric Van Dusen

How can we promote chess when if we try to show people how good the CFC is and all we can show them is a site that is shut down due to assumed viruses?

[Craig Sadler]

Re: Update foe CFC site

While I do not understand the nuances of web site mechanics, the CFC site has been cleaned up by EKG.

The last step is to get google to give the site a clean bill of health in order to eliminate google generated warning messages.

Regarding prospective volunteers, please send me a message and let me know what your interests are with respect to giving your time and effort in promoting the game of chess.


Eric Van Dusen

i can't access the Ontario tournament link site at www.chess.ca/ontario.htm like i used to. it gives an old fashioned 404 error.

[Craig Sadler]

Re: Just blundering through....

I was chatting with four players after the chess club last night. They all agreed they could get a generic website up and running an hour...

- a research programmer at the university
- an IT manager
- senior programmer of an industrial design company
- another guy, don't know what he does

I was the techno-peasant. It seems strange that the CFC doesn't seem to be able to get anything up on the web.

Ah well, as Shakespeare said "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Or was it in the bible?

as a fancy IT person, you don't need to be a fancy IT person to make up a website...if you just want to put *something* up...word should be sufficient

i'm trying to imagine an IT manager getting *anything* done in an hour ;)

[Ken Craft]

Re: Just blundering through....

Given this thread, what do members want from their Federation?

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Just blundering through....

"Currently waiting for Google to re-scan and clear our site."

Can somebody explain this? For me it makes no sense as there is nothing to scan (The system cannot find the file specified.)

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Update foe CFC site

While I do not understand the nuances of web site mechanics, the CFC site has been cleaned up by EKG.

The last step is to get google to give the site a clean bill of health in order to eliminate google generated warning messages.


Eric Van Dusen

Hi Eric:

I'm not sure I understand this on two counts. First, since the public exposure of the site presently seems to be a single page saying that the site is down, there won't be much for Google to scan, certainly not the actual set of web pages that are supposed to be the site.

Second, if the site is cleaned and ready to go, why wait for Google to update its "bad site" list, since the warning message in Firefox (it's generated by the browser, not by Google) can be bypassed either by clicking a link on the warning, or by disabling the security check in the first place. Older browsers aren't affected in the first place.

At the moment the CFC's web presence is about the same as the Ottawa Chess Club....

Steve