CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

[Bob Armstrong]

Today, CFC joined the proud world of social networking of Facebook!!

A private CFC member, Ugo Alexandre, of Montreal, had started a group page for CFC some years ago, but then did little with it. CFC had nothing to do with it. A few CFC'ers had found it, but then stopped visiting it when nothing was happening. He and CFC have now agreed to be co-administrators of the page ( he says he will have no time to do anything though, and is happy to hand the reins over to CFC ).

Its URL is :http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sfr...id=10564098798 ( I'm not sure if this will work - there are a few technical issues still to sort out - like I'm currently having to use my own persoanl page, and I'm not sure about privacy concerns - let me know if I should just delete this link )

So CFC is now going to revive the page, with daily posts about the CFC, facts, politics, opinion, chess events, etc.

Here is the first post we've made on our " wall ":

CFC is today reviving this page, and starting its daily posting of Canadian chess facts, information, opinion, etc.. We encourage all members to also post and share their thoughts with the rest of us patzers.

# 1

Today at 7:00 pm EDT, at Toronto’s Annex CC, 981 Bathurst St ( north of the Bathurst Subway station at Bloor/...Danforth ), Canadian Open Organizer, and chess historian, David Cohen, will lecture on The Most Famous Game in Canadian Chess History

# 2
.
37e Championnat Ouvert de la Mauricie: Ouverte – Trois Rivieres, Quebec – March 18-20 - GM Anton Kovalyov won the $800 first prize in the Open section with 4.5/5. He drew GM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon in the last round. There was a 4-way tie for second ($175 each): GM Roussel-Roozmon, GM Sambuev, IM Hebert, and expert Louis Robichaud.

So go check out our new page, and join facebook, and then join the group - that way you will get the daily news on your own " news feed " facebook page each day.

Wish us luck - CFC is working hard to communicate with members, and to implement one of our core objectives: chess promotion.

Bob, CFC Public Relations Coordinator

[Roger Patterson]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

well, for starters, you have to be a facebook member and log in. Too bad for those of us who are not facebook members. Perhaps you could review the privacy settings.

[Peter McKillop]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

... So CFC is now going to revive the page, with daily posts about the CFC, facts, politics, opinion, chess events, etc.
...

So go check out our new page, and join facebook, and then join the group - that way you will get the daily news on your own " news feed " facebook page each day. ...

I don't get it. Why don't you just put the daily news on the CFC's website? Are you worried that people might actually use the CFC's website for something other than finding out the latest change to their rating? If people have an opinion on an item and want to expose themselves to ridicule and verbal abuse, they'll still come here, won't they?

[Peter McKillop]

Peter McKillop likes this.

:):):):):):):):):):)

[Roger Patterson]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

I don't get it. Why don't you just put the daily news on the CFC's website? Are you worried that people might actually use the CFC's website for something other than finding out the latest change to their rating? If people have an opinion on an item and want to expose themselves to ridicule and verbal abuse, they'll still come here, won't they?

me neither and ditto the Twitter feed. But it's probably a generational thing...

[Kirk Gornall]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

I concur. The CFC website is a bit of a shambles compared to those of many other national chess federations. Sorting that out should be the priority.

[Fred McKim]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

Geesh, I would expect all of Bob's good news will be on the NEW website, guys.

Along with my daily international news quickie, for those who don't have the time to go looking. It's on the CFC Forum now.

NO CHANGES to the existing website !!

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

Geesh, I would expect all of Bob's good news will be on the NEW website, guys.

Along with my daily international news quickie, for those who don't have the time to go looking. It's on the CFC Forum now.

NO CHANGES to the existing website !!

Hopefully the NEW [CFC] website will at some point provide a complete and continually updated listing of all CFC committees and sub-committees, if they are not listed already. I did a recent chesstalk search of last years AGM results, and I saw that the idea for a long-term planning committee was tabled. I don't know if that committee has since been formed. It sounds interesting in theory, and I'd be tempted to join such a committee if they'd have me - moreso if one need not be a Governor to be on that, or any, committee (the policy [if brief] on who can serve on what ideally should be posted together with the list of committees & sub-committees).

Your daily international news quickie on the existing CFC website board is a good idea, but I'd prefer that it was spread over fewer threads (as close to one thread as practical), since having one such new thread a day pushes older threads off the first Forum page a little too quickly (with Bob A. at least also being an active poster), IMO. Perhaps use one thread per week, then start a new thread. Chesstalk has a similar thread pushing issue, in a worse way, IMO, although at least there is usually more thread subject variety on its first Forum page than including, say, several international news quickies.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

The general thought, AFAIR, from the AGM was that short-term stuff needed to be dealt with first before long-term stuff should be thought about. There were also some chuckles about some of the ideas that have been suggested as potential targets (ie. a WYCC or Olympiad).

Personally I think that if you never "dare to dream" as they say, the dream will never happen. There's nothing wrong with seeing what it would take to host an Olympiad and working towards that. Even if some people (Governors) don't want to participate, it doesn't mean you should make fun of or hold back those who do.

As for the website... we're now at almost April with no new website. While I understand why it's taking so long, and I do believe we will see the new site, surely the 5 minutes could have been spent at least to undo the terrible changes that were made to the site last year? Instead we have a "NO CHANGES to the existing website !!" mantra.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

The general thought, AFAIR, from the AGM was that short-term stuff needed to be dealt with first before long-term stuff should be thought about. There were also some chuckles about some of the ideas that have been suggested as potential targets (ie. a WYCC or Olympiad).

Personally I think that if you never "dare to dream" as they say, the dream will never happen. There's nothing wrong with seeing what it would take to host an Olympiad and working towards that. Even if some people (Governors) don't want to participate, it doesn't mean you should make fun of or hold back those who do.

I hadn't pictured planning the hosting of a world event as one the purposes of such a committee, but I suppose that could be included as a purpose, rather than forming yet more [sub-]committees. The purpose I had imagined was to (at least primarily) plan the long-term improvement of the CFC's capabilities as an organization in any way possible, although I suppose building towards the greater realization of all of the CFC's stated goals (see Section 2 of the Handbook) could be of at least equal importance.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

I hadn't pictured planning the hosting of a world event as one the purposes of such a committee, but I suppose that could be included as a purpose, rather than forming yet more [sub-]committees. The purpose I had imagined was to (at least primarily) plan the long-term improvement of the CFC's capabilities as an organization in any way possible, although I suppose building towards the greater realization of all of the CFC's stated goals (see Section 2 of the Handbook) could be of at least equal importance.

On second thought, maybe a seperate [sub-]committee for planning the hosting of a world event wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Examples of planning for long-term improvement of the CFC's capabilities would be step-by-step planning for the eventual re-establishment of a physical office that the CFC owns, or having a print magazine. Restructuring the CFC's governance could be looked at in detail.

Planning for a membership drive could not only improve the CFC's capabilities financially (since it could gain many members), but it would also build towards the greater realization of the CFC's goal of increasing the popularity of [organized] chess. Such planning could be part of the planning mentioned in the first sentence of the previous paragraph.

[Bob Armstrong]

CFC Facebook Group Page - Access to Non-FB'ers?

Hi Roger:

I had assumed that to view a facebook page, you had to be a member. And that CFC was just looking to network with fb members with this initiative.

If that's not the case, then we'll certainly find out how to open it to non-members. I'll look into it. If anyone knows abouit this issue, could they drop me a line ( bobarm@sympatico.ca ). Thanks.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

New Daily CFC Chess Postings - CFC News Forum

Hi Peter:

I fully expect that when the new website is up and running, then we will have a daily news post there from CFC.

But in the meantime, in fact, what I will now do, is make the daily news posts on the CFC " News " Forum, starting right now ( as Fred has indicated, there will be no changes to the existing CFC Website - but the News Discussion Board is currently duplicated on the existing CFC website in the News Heading - so our posts will get to the existing site without any format changes being necessary )! I had been using the News Forum sparingly, only for things that were getting national coverage ( my press releases; articles on chess in mainstream media, significant CFC events, etc. ). But if the members feel we should use the board for more, I'm quite willing to do that.

But the problem with the CFC website, is that it requires movement by the watcher. They have to get up and go somewhere. The advantage of the social networking system, is that our CFC posts go right into their living rooms - they get them without lifting a finger. We communicate more effectively.

So even with a new website, I will be recommending that we still post daily as well on facebook and twitter. And we should do both, because there are some different members in the two different social networking systems.

So........go to the CFC News Forum now to see today's daily CFC post ( the posts are not just news, but CFC facts, events, history, opinion, etc. - whatever there is about CFC or Canadian chess that might prove interesting to members and the public ).

Bob, CFC Public Relations Coordinator

[Kerry Liles]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

The general thought, AFAIR, from the AGM was that short-term stuff needed to be dealt with first before long-term stuff should be thought about. There were also some chuckles about some of the ideas that have been suggested as potential targets (ie. a WYCC or Olympiad).

Personally I think that if you never "dare to dream" as they say, the dream will never happen. There's nothing wrong with seeing what it would take to host an Olympiad and working towards that. Even if some people (Governors) don't want to participate, it doesn't mean you should make fun of or hold back those who do.

As for the website... we're now at almost April with no new website. While I understand why it's taking so long, and I do believe we will see the new site, surely the 5 minutes could have been spent at least to undo the terrible changes that were made to the site last year? Instead we have a "NO CHANGES to the existing website !!" mantra.

What would the point be? Undoing the stylistic changes made last year would serve no purpose if we are that close to having a new site to criticize - I mean appreciate :)

Having meaningful content on the site has to be most critical item - one can argue about the presentation layer until the cows come home. If the information is timely and relevant, arguments about the presentation quickly fade.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: CFC Enters FACEBOOK Era !!

I wouldn't mind being able to more easily find stuff. I know where most of it is now, but someone new to the site might never find some things.

I suppose it depends on your definition of "close to having" - and I do wonder how many potential new members we lost because they took one look at the website and ran away screaming. Even the old site wasn't that bad (other than the Google Warning era).