If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
15. Have fun!
(Thanks to Nigel Hanrahan for writing these up!)
$120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
... In no way am I defending what happened, but it was Trillium's money and they apparently consider the matter closed. I don't see how you could demostrate anything other than (un)ethical behaviour if the OCA is the perceived victim, and the average OCA member was not a direct victim since it was never their money in the first place, nor was it intended for them. Steve
I agree with you, Steve. The purposes of an OCA/Ontario chessplayers' investigation into the matter should be substantially along the lines noted by Eric Van Dusen on the CFC's discussion board, namely:
Originally posted by Eric Van Dusen from a post dated December 19, 2009, at the CFC's discussion board
...6) The underlying purpose of the exercise was not to assign blame, mete out punishment or retrieve the lost money, but to identify weaknesses in the OCA governance structures and make recommendations to st(r)engthen those governance structures. ...
The OCA directors who eventually completed the investigation/report into the matter weren't up to the task. The question is, where do we go from here? It's clear that Chris Mallon has no interest in completing a proper investigation himself and he can't be replaced until the 2010 agm. My suggestion is that the OCA appoint an independent committee of people to investigate the matter thoroughly by using Van Dusen's statement of purpose as the basic term of reference for the committee's mandate.
Thoughts?
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
Who were the OCA executive/directors over the period that this transpired?
Surely somebody here knows :-)
Have you ever considered to read chessontario.com annuals? :D (using archive.org for this purpose.)
OCA Executive
President : Barry Thorvardson
Vice President : Hal Bond
Secretary : Mark S. Dutton
Treasurer : Alice Laimer
Youth Co-ordinator : Patrick Mcdonald
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
I don't know why anyone who still thinks the OCA has any relevance would want you leading it if that is your honest attitude. There is absolutely no doubt that the OCA president should be investigating such a big ticket project that went sour.
How many OCA projects this year have 6 digit revenue numbers ? How many sponsors does the OCA currently have that are on par with what a Trillium represented ? What new projects have you created to fill the void that losing Trillium represents ? Or, alternatively, will you be imminently be announcing a new Trillium based project you have negotiated recently ?
As president these should be easy questions to answer.
I missed the part where this was part of the job of the President. ...
Sigh. Poor Chris. Life is so hard. Regarding any organization that is making an effort to operate in an ethical manner, and whether it says so in the job description or not, it is part of the president's duties to uphold and protect the integrity of the organization. I know...you just don't get it, do you, Chris?
Regarding my suggestion that the OCA form an independent committee to investigate the matter, you replied:
... We already tried that. Didn't work out so well.
Michael von Keitz is vice president of the OCA, is he not? That doesn't sound independent to me.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
We know that money was taken in contravention of OCA rules.
We know the OCA can't afford to sue to get any of it back.
The OCA AGM of 2009 voted (unanimously if I recall correctly) that there should be no further contact with Trillium over this issue - no need to keep it present in their minds.
So what is left to investigate? We already KNOW that the money was not spent properly. Short of Barry admitting all his sins and returning all of the money what do you hope to accomplish by having ANOTHER investigation?
Given that the OCA has never had a yearly revenue in the six digit range I find that particular question to be pretty stupid. Given that the OCA has never had a sponsor before or since that matches up to Trillium that question is pretty stupid too - you already know the answer I would hope. As for the void of "losing" Trillium - it was a two-year grant, which ended, it wasn't "lost" - and given where most of the money was spent, the only "void" is in Barry's bank account, which I'm not rushing to fill.
As for your last question, the Windsor CYCC team applied for a Trillium grant for this year, so it's not like Trillium has been completely written off.
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
The OCA has been operating in an ethical manner since I took over. Before that, it is now common knowledge that it was not. So as I asked Duncan... what is there to left to investigate?
The OCA has been operating in an ethical manner since I took over. Before that, it is now common knowledge that it was not. So as I asked Duncan... what is there to left to investigate?
Wasn't it Bones on Star Trek who said "this horse is dead Jim, dead"?
(Calm down trekkies... I know that isn't an accurate quote).
[list][*]We know that money was taken in contravention of OCA rules. [*]We know the OCA can't afford to sue to get any of it back.
So what is left to investigate? We already KNOW that the money was not spent properly. Short of Barry admitting all his sins and returning all of the money what do you hope to accomplish by having ANOTHER investigation?
the only "void" is in Barry's bank account, which I'm not rushing to fill.
.
Doing some 'investigation', a quick 5 minute yahoo search yielded some material which may or may not prove useful. This is all from the public domain, and i make no accusations, so take it for what it's worth. What are you afraid of Mr.Mallon?
Cybersolutions hosts websites for Vgalaxy Corp., and Barry Thorvardson, the President of Cybersolutions, is the largest investor in Vgalaxy Corp., which plans to develop 3D business applications to enhance e-business efficiency and marketing processes.
President & CEO
Barry Thorvardson, BA
Barry holds a Bachelor of Arts with a Commerce Major & Computing Minor from Simon Fraser University, B.C. He worked for the federal government for 10 years in a variety of positions ranging from a senior troubleshooter to implementation coordinator for the merger of two government departments. He concluded his government career as regional manager of planning for Correctional Services. In 1981, he founded his own software firm with a focus on point of sale systems & accounting. In 1996, Barry established a business ISP and consulting firm for Web design and e-commerce applications. In December 1999 he became CEO of Vgalaxy Corp., a 3D development company, and currently remains a director of the company. In January 2002, he re-established Cybersolutions as a private family run business, and he is now President of Cybersolutions.
The Annual General Meeting of the Brampton Chess Club had taken place on October 21st, 2008. The new 2008-2009 Executive Committee is as follows:
President: Nicolas Giurgiu
Vice-President: Ravi Venkataraman
Treasurer: Alice Laimer
Doing some 'investigation', a quick 5 minute yahoo search yielded some material ...
Juicy. Bravo. That man is imbibing ginkgo biloba.
I don't know, but maybe there's enough material to persuade somebody to make an annual donation to the OCA (or perhaps a tax-deductible donation to the CFC in favour of the OCA), in exchange for which everybody would keep quiet and the thread archives would be retired out of the reach of search engines. They used to call it moral suasion, albeit sardonically.
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
We also know that the current OCA President (and past CFC President) Chris Mallon was at Barry Thorvardson's side in an official capacity, through much (if not most) of the period that the Trillium file was being developed. For reasons of his own, then, Mallon would very likely not like to see this investigation taken any further, along any possible channels. He is also the moderator of this board, so if he doesn't like this post, he will likely simply delete it, as he did with another of my posts on this thread earlier this week.
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
I've never deleted one of your posts Frank.
In fact I don't think I've ever deleted a non-spam post on Chesstalk period.
A quick glance at the moderator log shows that nobody else has deleted any posts on this thread either.
Your attempt at a conspiracy theory involving me isn't really working too well Frank. By the time the ball got rolling on the Trillium project application, I had already informed Barry I would not be continuing on the OCA Executive, so he worked with other people.
After we had the Barry-Bash session at the 2008 AGM I considered the matter to have gone basically as far as it could go. Others wanted to investigate it more, and so I allowed them to do so. I suggested having one person from each league so that it wasn't just an EOCA thing, and gave a few names to consider. I'm obviously disappointed in the results, especially after it took about four times longer than it was supposed to.
Just because I see no use in further investigation doesn't mean I have something to hide.
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
For the conspiracy theorists, weren't club buds Ferrier and Laimer both OCA executives during BT's Reign of Error? :)
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
I never said that Chris Mallon has anything to hide, nor did I infer that he is part of a conspiracy with Barry Thorvardson on the OCA / Trillium file. Certainly, as OCA President, he acted correctly in ordering a more thorough investigation of the matter.
But, with the many other serious problems which have taken place around Chris when he was acting in an official capacity (while he was CFC President: the 2006 CYCC Kitchener financial disaster; the firing of Peter Arseneau as CFC Executive Director in July 2006; Peter's replacement by the disastrous David Gordon, also in July 2006; Chris's resignation as CFC President when the problems with Gordon became apparent, later in the fall of 2006), this is one more on that growing list.
SOMEONE certainly deleted my post on this site from earlier this week. I posted it and then checked it a few minutes later. A couple of days later it was gone.
Re: $120,000 disappears into thin air and no questions asked!
Chris lacks management skills, it seems it is almost by default that the OCA made him their president. Chris seemingly has no idea why a failed project with a 6 figure budget ( how many of those does the OCA have ? ) should be his concern as president.
It doesn't matter how minor his own involvement was in this ever growing list of chess politician related issues and mediocrity this decade. At some point the president has to manage more the the OCA chess sets or setting up a new bank account. Maybe in a lesser role Chris would be a major asset, with the caveat of course that maybe no one credible wants to be OCA president.
The whole political system running Canadian chess needs to be blown up, simplified, and scaled to match the current size of operations. The new CFC president is clearly not an asset he is even more secretive then his predecessors. This is not what the CFC needs now, tinkering with old standards and lacking any transparancy at all.
Otherwise, membership will continue to find projects outside of the CFC and the OCA.
There might be an opportunity right now ( if they want ) for the CMA to expand to be an organization catering to chess players of all ages.
Tweet
Comment