It's time to renew my CFC membership!

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  • It's time to renew my CFC membership!

    I received an email from the CFC informing me that it's time to renew my CFC membership. Fascinating. Let's see; here's a list of things I get if I renew:

    - The promise that someday an ezine will be published. When I paid for a membership last time, I was promised to receive six editions of a magazine, which was changed to four without informing me, before being scrapped altogether. Cool!

    - The ability to get a rating. Sounds neato! I wonder what my current rating is?

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    Awesome!

    - The option of purchasing books for prices greater than those offered on several other websites. As I enjoy wasting money, this intrigues me!

    - The satisfying feeling of supporting Canadian chess programmes. Yes, please continue to send players worse than me to the Olympiad on my dime!

    - Access to online tournament listings. The BC page lists three tournaments of which I was already aware and provides a link to a website I help manage. Thanks for this pertinent information, CFC!

    The CFC has lost a lot of members this year, I'm sure. Congratulations. I will not renew and will recommend the same inaction to others.
    everytime it hurts, it hurts just like the first (and then you cry till there's no more tears)

  • #2
    Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

    Originally posted by ben daswani View Post
    I received an email from the CFC informing me that it's time to renew my CFC membership. Fascinating. Let's see; here's a list of things I get if I renew:

    - The promise that someday an ezine will be published. When I paid for a membership last time, I was promised to receive six editions of a magazine, which was changed to four without informing me, before being scrapped altogether. Cool!

    - The ability to get a rating. Sounds neato! I wonder what my current rating is?

    Provider error '80004005'

    Unspecified error

    /xlist.asp, line 3


    Awesome!

    - The option of purchasing books for prices greater than those offered on several other websites. As I enjoy wasting money, this intrigues me!

    - The satisfying feeling of supporting Canadian chess programmes. Yes, please continue to send players worse than me to the Olympiad on my dime!

    - Access to online tournament listings. The BC page lists three tournaments of which I was already aware and provides a link to a website I help manage. Thanks for this pertinent information, CFC!

    The CFC has lost a lot of members this year, I'm sure. Congratulations. I will not renew and will recommend the same inaction to others.
    I cannot find too much wrong with your analysis (unfortunately for the CFC). I too had to renew my CFC membership recently, and when I got my Visa bill, my wife casually asked what I got for my membership... {sigh} As a CFC Governor, I had little choice but to renew (resigning as a CFC governor would have saved me the $43 I suppose).

    Too bad there isn't a "Governor Membership" - akin to "Tournament Membership" - of (say) $1 per vote...

    I *am* worried that a lot of CFC members who felt especially stung by your point #1, will do the same analysis and just delete the reminder email and disappear into the Internet black hole (for example).
    ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

      Originally posted by ben daswani View Post
      I received an email from the CFC informing me that it's time to renew my CFC membership. Fascinating. Let's see; here's a list of things I get if I renew:

      - The promise that someday an ezine will be published. When I paid for a membership last time, I was promised to receive six editions of a magazine, which was changed to four without informing me, before being scrapped altogether. Cool!

      - The ability to get a rating. Sounds neato! I wonder what my current rating is?
      I got my magazine in the mail the day before yesterday. I spent the evening reading it and played through a couple of the games.

      Oh yeah, it was the magazine from the Canadian Correspondence Chess Association.

      The association has progressed from the years when I was the tournament director. These days they have a ladies championship which starts next month. We didn't used to have enough female players back then.
      Gary Ruben
      CC - IA and SIM

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

        For those who would like a monthly chess subscription I would suggest getting a US Chess Life membership, its not a bad deal and the magazines show up monthly on time.

        The CFC membership is truly a bad deal but what else can you do if you want to play rated chess in Canada with a real opponent sitting across from you.

        To quote Kevin O'Leary from BNN "Someone should take out the beating stick and get wacked from the CFC".

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

          Originally posted by ben daswani View Post
          I received an email from the CFC informing me that it's time to renew my CFC membership. Fascinating. Let's see; here's a list of things I get if I renew:

          - The promise that someday an ezine will be published. When I paid for a membership last time, I was promised to receive six editions of a magazine, which was changed to four without informing me, before being scrapped altogether. Cool!

          - The ability to get a rating. Sounds neato! I wonder what my current rating is?

          Provider error '80004005'

          Unspecified error

          /xlist.asp, line 3


          Awesome!

          - The option of purchasing books for prices greater than those offered on several other websites. As I enjoy wasting money, this intrigues me!

          - The satisfying feeling of supporting Canadian chess programmes. Yes, please continue to send players worse than me to the Olympiad on my dime!

          - Access to online tournament listings. The BC page lists three tournaments of which I was already aware and provides a link to a website I help manage. Thanks for this pertinent information, CFC!

          The CFC has lost a lot of members this year, I'm sure. Congratulations. I will not renew and will recommend the same inaction to others.

          :( Goodness, so negative. Please allow me to retort:

          Book prices - perhaps you are not aware of our new CFC Amazon associate store. You get Amazon pricing and you can support the CFC by buying thru the CFC website. We also still have old stock of books and software at 50% off. So we now have the best prices ;)

          Your rating is 2112. And yes, we still need to upgrade the system to eliminate the error messages. It's on the 'to do' list !:o

          Magazine - did you really expect the CFC to continue publishing a magazine and go bankrupt in the process ? The online version is coming !:D

          Olympiad teams - Not one dime of your membership dues are used to finance the Olympic teams. The CFC raised over 15k from member donations directed specifically to the Olympic teams. (118 donors and some directed to the womens team specifically):D

          Tournament listings - are you complaining that we are linking to other websites for tournament listings ? It seems like a good idea to me. And yes, we have created a self serve tournament listing service for our TD's to use. ;)

          Lost members ? - We most certainly have lost some members with the loss of the printed magazine, no question. Other reasons too. :o However, overall membership numbers are up in the last 7 months.:)

          Still lots to do, but you can't fix everything first !!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

            "- The satisfying feeling of supporting Canadian chess programmes."

            perhaps he would feel better if you specified what chess programme(s) his dime was spent on. Maintaining an office and office staff doesn't count as a chess programme. Maintaining ratings is allegedly paid for through rating fees so doesn't count either.

            Personnally, I dislike this appeal to charity in the membership message. I know it has been a prominent part of the message for many years but really, membership should be promising something more direct than charity.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

              Originally posted by Roger Patterson View Post
              "- The satisfying feeling of supporting Canadian chess programmes."

              perhaps he would feel better if you specified what chess programme(s) his dime was spent on. Maintaining an office and office staff doesn't count as a chess programme. Maintaining ratings is allegedly paid for through rating fees so doesn't count either.

              Personnally, I dislike this appeal to charity in the membership message. I know it has been a prominent part of the message for many years but really, membership should be promising something more direct than charity.
              I would not describe "Maintaining an office and paying office staff" as a chess programme, rather as administration/overhead costs. Nobody likes overhead costs, but unless someone is willing to do it all on a volunteer basis, somebody has to pay for it. :(

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

                you know Bob, my post was supposed to be a straight line for you to list some chess programmes supported by CFC membership dues. The only one that comes to my mind is paying FIDE dues which not everyone would agree is a good and worthy programme.

                You're right, nobody likes overhead costs, especially when they amount to 100% of revenue. And such large overhead makes appealing to charity somewhat of a dicey proposition.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

                  Roger: Are you aware that it was Ben who used the phrase "supporting Canadian chess programmes", not Bob? It is true that the CFC Membership page does say "Your membership dues support all these activities to help ensure chess prospers in Canada."; this follows a list of things which are supported.

                  I too received an email reminder re my CFC membership a few days ago. After some hesitation I have renewed again, for at least one more time.

                  John

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

                    If the e-magazine is more up to date and timely than the old magazine then that would be a plus. When I received the magazines previously, they covered stuff that happened two or more months earlier. Perhaps it should focus mainly on Canadian tournaments and players as the international stuff is pretty well covered by other publications and on many websites. The ratings are usually available on the website although I have experienced that error once or twice, but I like the fact that they are updated once a week.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Well Roger, I really wasn't sure.......

                      if you were giving me a straight line, or just setting me up for criticism. So here it is:

                      What benefits do I get as a member of the C.F.C.?
                      When you become a member of the CFC, you join a fraternity of chess players, enthusiasts, teachers, and organizers from across Canada devoted to promoting chess. The CFC represents Canada to the world as a member of FIDE, the international chess body. The CFC sends teams to the Chess Olympiad, World Youth Chess Championship, and other major international events. The CFC holds national championships (including the Canadian Open, Canadian Youth Chess Championship, Canadian Closed, Canadian Women’s Championship) to showcase Canadian talent. The CFC website keeps players informed on is what happening including tournament listings, tournament reports and news items, listings of local chess clubs, and so much more. Your membership dues support all these activities to help ensure chess prospers in Canada. As a member, you are welcomed at CFC events across Canada, including national tournaments, weekend swisses, and local club tournaments.

                      Other benefits of membership include:

                      A national CFC chess rating,
                      Subscription to Chess Canada online magazine (watch website for 1st issue),
                      And discount prices at the CFC online store.

                      I added this to the website a few months ago when everyone was asking "what has the CFC done for me lately".

                      ps. Thanks for renewing John.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Well Roger, I really wasn't sure.......

                        Originally posted by Bob Gillanders View Post
                        The CFC sends teams to the Chess Olympiad, World Youth Chess Championship, and other major international events. The CFC holds national championships (including the Canadian Open, Canadian Youth Chess Championship, Canadian Closed, Canadian Women’s Championship) to showcase Canadian talent.
                        More to the point, the CFC sends but who pays? I was of the impression the Olympiad was from donations and the youth events more than paid for themselves.

                        I thought the CFC did not "hold" those events but they were farmed out to organizers from the provinces. The Quebec federation held the last Canadian Open if I recall correctly.

                        I do hope you'll correct any errors I might have picked up from what I've been reading.
                        Gary Ruben
                        CC - IA and SIM

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Well Roger, I really wasn't sure.......

                          Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
                          More to the point, the CFC sends but who pays? I was of the impression the Olympiad was from donations and the youth events more than paid for themselves.

                          I thought the CFC did not "hold" those events but they were farmed out to organizers from the provinces. The Quebec federation held the last Canadian Open if I recall correctly.

                          I do hope you'll correct any errors I might have picked up from what I've been reading.
                          Well Gary, are we going to debate semantics ?
                          There are no errors to correct ! You are absolutely right.

                          Olympiad - What is your point? My CFC includes the executive, governors, staff, organizers, volunteers and membership. So, yes the CFC did "pay", and thru the efforts of many volunteers did "send" 2 Olympic teams.

                          WYCC - Financed by entry fees to CYCC.(ie. the parents) The kids love this event, and it involves a lot of volunteer from the CFC youth coordinator.

                          Both of these programs are possible because of the national organization and the efforts of the CFC staff, executive, organizers, and volunteers.

                          National championships - The CFC is responsible for awarding these events to local organizers. Maintaining standards and coordination. A lot of work goes into running these events. Our many thanks goes to those volunteers, many of whom are often CFC executive and governors. So, with my broad definition of the CFC organization as stated above, I think the statement that the "CFC holds these events" is appropriate.

                          Is there anything else you need clarified ?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Well Roger, I really wasn't sure.......

                            Originally posted by Bob Gillanders View Post
                            Is there anything else you need clarified ?
                            The question Roger asked could use a clear reply. Here's the question.

                            "my post was supposed to be a straight line for you to list some chess programmes supported by CFC membership dues. "

                            Now I'm curious. What CFC chess programs do you spend the membership dues money to support?
                            Gary Ruben
                            CC - IA and SIM

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: It's time to renew my CFC membership!

                              what we want to know is where Exactly does the money go. all the 'reasons' for renewing amount to alot of 'warm fuzzy' feelings but not alot else. We want details.

                              Olympiad - by donations. Yes there were volunteers but I don't see how the
                              fees were used.

                              WYCC - sounds like the entry fees paid by the parents covered this event. The money involved by the CFC seems to be for a CFC youth coordinator (administrative).

                              National championship - once again this sounds like the CFC runs the administrative end of these tournaments. the 'standards' is simply the ratings? or do you mean the quality of venues etc?

                              What you seem to be saying is that the CFC mainly go towards administration so why not just come out and say that?

                              Comment

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