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Thread: CFC Webzine - A Bold Experiment...but....

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Mississauga ON Canada
    Posts
    509

    Default lol

    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Ficzere
    The key word here is "free".

    I like the word free. I will use it in a sentence.

    Since I resigned as CFC governor, I am free of all the ?!#@&!

    Unfortunately Tony, the ?!#@&! continues unabated... if anything, the CFC has become a factory producing nothing but.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    1,560

    Default Webzine: Reply from Vincent Chow, former editor

    Vincent asked me to post this for him.

    I would like to apologize to Lawrence Day. It was an injustice to an excellent article. In retrospect, I should have edited his article even if I had to do it for free.

    I didn't ask to be editor of the webzine. I found out when David Lavin sent me an email which said I was the new editor.
    I wasn't even asked. Anyways, I thought this could be a good thing.
    The problem is that the magazine used to be outsourced for about 20K, but it was added to workload of the office personnel with ZERO compensation, just extra work.

    I want to compliment Bill Evans on his adjectives. You might want to add two-faced, back stabbing and short sighted.
    David's reply is a good example of his Machiavellian two-faced methods. He says "did his best" and mentions my name 3 times.
    He wants to imply that I somehow screwed up the webzine.
    Are we supposed to work for nothing? We've already done too much of that!
    The webzine was doing great before we left, but since then it hasn't been updated with articles or features.
    David has managed to antagonize many of our Olympic team and potential authors. Please leave my name out of your backhanded compliments!
    The webzine has great potential to add members and create a community. I was going to add a submit game to Grandmaster section and a video section. I guess that won't happen now.

    Short sightedness:
    A little know fact is that David Lavin moved the CFC bookstore to Amazon. In the first 6 months it made less than $100. Maybe you should get some book reviews. Good work!
    He has managed to antagonize many of our top players; good work.
    The equipment store has been contracted out; good work.
    Is the webzine next? What remains of the value of membership to the CFC now?

    The goal of creating a balanced budget is good. You can do it by cutting costs or increasing revenue.
    However, cutting costs and cutting services and value will result in lower memberships and eventually its demise.

    Vincent Chow

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Victoria BC
    Posts
    694

    Default Webzine

    Why couldn't the CFC make a deal with one of the more mature online chess websites such as chess.com or chessgames.com? Many Canadians belong to the latter and it has excellent user friendly graphics, an openings database that is easy to search, lots of interesting daily features, links to major tournaments with live games and game collections.

    It could work something like this: A CFC membership would include a membership in chessgames.com (value $25 US per year for premier membership). I imagine chessgames.com would give a very good discount to the CFC for 2,000 new memberships.

    Chessgames.com would have a Canadian page with content consisting of interesting articles contributed by Canadians paid a stipend by the CFC.

    No fuss involved setting up and editing the webzine, just send a portion of the CFC membership fee to chessgames.com and submit periodic Canadian input.

  4. #24

    Default

    Vince's post speaks volumes of how the CFC has been administered under David Lavin and crew.

    It appears that when signing on with Amazon, he forgot to buy a paddle, so I guess the CFC is up that river without one. There were other options on the table and this one was certainly the easiest one, and the least profitable.

    Yes, fine work Mr. Lavin! Can't wait to see what you have in store for your next year.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Victoria BC
    Posts
    694

    Default Amazon Deal

    Tony, can you elaborate on what went wrong with the Amazon deal? I hadn't heard that there were problems.

    cheers,

    Paul

  6. #26

    Default

    Hi Paul,

    I don't know about the problems with the Amazon deal with the exception that the CFC isn't making any money on the deal. According to Vince's post, the CFC has only made $100 or so since the deal went through. There was another offer on the table that the CFC didn't take that would have insured we receive more money for books & equipment.

  7. #27

    Default

    In GL 6, David Lavin estimates that the revenue from Amazon will be $500 for the next year. Doesn't seem like very much money.

  8. #28

    Default

    Dear Paul:

    I'm happy to answer any question or issue that is raised in a civil manner so please let me respond to your comments.

    While the revenue from the Amazon deal looks small you need to compare it to the model it was replacing. In fact, the CFC was losing significant amounts of money on it's book business. As well, it is clear that it is impossible to compete on either price or service with Amazon or Chapters, both of whom have huge buying power and who wield that power aggressively. I received my copy of Fischer's 60 Memorable Game well before the official publishing date and I also received a 30% discount. Making some money is much better than losing lots of money. On the other hand, the equipment business is flourishing and will provide the CFC with guaranteed revenues.

    While some people may say there was a better deal on the table, I disagree.

  9. #29

    Default

    Any deal with the CMA would have been better for chess.

  10. #30

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Craft
    Any deal with the CMA would have been better for chess.
    I totally agree. A deal with CMA would have meant considerably more revenue then the deals made by the executive.

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