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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Is this forum dying? (Read 86920 times)
RoleyPoley
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #161 - 05/12/19 at 13:16:51
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MW wrote on 05/12/19 at 02:41:57:
ghenghisclown wrote on 03/21/19 at 06:09:12:
How the hell am I supposed to decide on a purchase??


I agree that there are far to few book reviews these days....not sure what the reason for this is...whether publishers aren't prepared to risk a bad review or whether reviews simply take so long to write that it is old news by the time it turns up on a website and hence publishers see no value in providing review copies.

I would say that I have found this forum useful and if you followed the discussions on Modernized the French it gave some pretty good insight into the book and certainly resulted in me buying it and I haven't been disappointed.

And recently GM Tony Kosten has shared some of his analysis as he has worked his way through Modernized the Reti....again good stuff.

So perhaps as members we need to make better use of sharing info to grow this forum.

I dont think it has anything to do with publishers not wanting to give away review copies. The cost of doing so with a well placed reviewer will be worth more than the cost of that book (most books these days are fairly good, so it should be fairly straightforward to get a reasonably good review if sent to a reviewer).

It's probably more to do with a cost/time requirement on behalf of those writing or publishing the reviews and the decline of websites that used to publish them (they were often tied into magazines or shops trying to boost sales of books & DvDs etc that have either since closed or restricted the reviews to their print/digital formats as paid content).

For example, British Chess Magazine used to publish the reviews online as well as in it's magazines (I think New In Chess used to do the same)- now they are only in the magazines. The week in chess used to have reviews by John Watson - but they lost their sponsorship from Chess & Bridge and so probably couldnt afford them any longer (all though they had become fairly sporadic even if by then).

Silman hasnt updated his website in a couple of years - and I'm sure if the likes of Silman, Donaldson & Watson asked a publisher for a review copy then they would be likely to get one.

@Proustiskeen writes reviews, and is probably one of the few reliable reviewers out there.

In short - there isnt much money to be made from writing/publishing reviews - and some books require deep knowledge of the subject to review well.
  

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MW
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #160 - 05/12/19 at 02:41:57
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ghenghisclown wrote on 03/21/19 at 06:09:12:
How the hell am I supposed to decide on a purchase??


I agree that there are far to few book reviews these days....not sure what the reason for this is...whether publishers aren't prepared to risk a bad review or whether reviews simply take so long to write that it is old news by the time it turns up on a website and hence publishers see no value in providing review copies.

I would say that I have found this forum useful and if you followed the discussions on Modernized the French it gave some pretty good insight into the book and certainly resulted in me buying it and I haven't been disappointed.

And recently GM Tony Kosten has shared some of his analysis as he has worked his way through Modernized the Reti....again good stuff.

So perhaps as members we need to make better use of sharing info to grow this forum.
  
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ghenghisclown
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #159 - 03/21/19 at 06:09:12
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I posted sometime ago about how this place is slow....only to have Tony Kosten think I was complaining about server speed. LOL.

Some of the comments are doubtless correct, like the same questions over and over, lack of credit for analysis, no interaction with GM contributors, database and engine proliferation.

But.....at least for me this place was just over moderated. Too much nitpicking over things like font and keeping things "positive" ...lol. We're chess players... Then there's the over complicated board format. It was much simpler and better before. Much ado about nothing, really.

I couldn't really get my questions answered readily and I always felt like I was pulling teeth. But yeah, lots of space for the King's Gambit!! lol

It's a shame really. Good book reviews and independent analysis seems to be in very short supply. There used to be Bauer, regular Watson, Silman, Kenilworthian, Chessvibes, Sverre Johnsen, free master videos from chessvideostv, ....now it's practically down to an occasional youtube video from a master and John Elburg's reviews.

How the hell am I supposed to decide on a purchase??

  

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TopNotch
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #158 - 10/18/18 at 02:47:46
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If the section columnist other than Tony interacted with the forum from time to time it could rekindle interest maybe, who knows. Some columnist such as Mikhalevski have never posted in the forum as far as I can tell, and if his monthly updates are anything to go by, I suspect he has never read anything in it either.

Moreover, I have observed that many of Chesspub's formerly prolific posters have migrated to the Quality Chess Blog where there is much more interaction from all the Q.C. staff.

Another obvious point not to be overlooked is that lots of the theory related posts have long been answered and beaten to death, at times ad nauseam, so one gets tired of answering the same queries time and time again. I wish I could tell posters try using the search function first before posting questions, but lets just say say the search function is unimpressive and leave it at that. 

The loss of email notification of new posts in threads one has been following certainly hasn't helped boost forum activity.

Lastly the forum used to be a simple place with a simple layout, but now the forum has sub-forums and the sub forums have sub forums, its a hot mess to navigate and often when I post something and a week goes by without a response or it drops off the last 25 posts lists I have usually lost track of the thread. I suppose I could use the members search to track my own posts, forgot what the number limit is, but do remember becoming frustrated with this function at some point as well. 

So yeah, the forum is dying, has been for some time. Recommendations to revive it in a nutshell:

Layout needs to be simplified somehow.
Restore notification function to track threads. 
More Columnist interaction couldn't hurt.
Chesspub forum is free advertising for Chesspublishing Theory Site, so offer incentives for quality posts. Chances are a vibrant forum is good for business Wink

Good luck.
  

The man who tries to do something and fails is infinitely better than he who tries to do nothing and succeeds - Lloyd Jones Smiley
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GMTonyKosten
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #157 - 09/12/18 at 18:45:10
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gsgs wrote on 09/11/18 at 08:06:53:
The problem is low traffic


This ebbs and flows, the Forum is always less popular in the summer.
  
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fling
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #156 - 09/12/18 at 05:35:49
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gsgs wrote on 09/11/18 at 08:06:53:
some being "rude" and such is not the problem.
We are used to it in internet, at least it creates reactions.

The problem is low traffic, no responses at all.


I have basically stopped posting here. I guess this is one of the few this year. Just read the thread linked by LeeRoth e.g. And think about what you just wrote. At least you created a reaction from me...
  
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gsgs
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #155 - 09/11/18 at 08:06:53
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some being "rude" and such is not the problem.
We are used to it in internet, at least it creates reactions.

The problem is low traffic, no responses at all.
  
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LeeRoth
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #154 - 09/09/18 at 17:14:27
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Agree.  We could all be better about making people feel welcome here.  Smyslov Fan used to be especially good at this, but hasn't been active lately.  And if members aren't going to be welcoming, the least they could do is not be rude.  This thread http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1525937984/0#0 for example.  Question from a new poster is met not by a cheery welcome, but a scolding.   Angry
  
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Pingudon
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #153 - 09/09/18 at 14:24:51
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Well May english is not very good but I will try to explain myself. Some people get angry when you make “silly” questions. What opening is better, how can I get better, caro vs sicilian etc. Most people (including me) we’ll make that type of questions. When you troll them you are killing the fórum. May humble opinion.
  
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Olivia_Chess
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #152 - 05/12/18 at 17:55:53
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No, I actually enjoy many responses Smiley
  
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GMTonyKosten
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #151 - 10/03/17 at 10:01:33
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trw wrote on 09/02/17 at 18:04:04:
I guess it was due to a particular author who took a ton of analysis I produced on this very website and made an entire chapter of his book out it. I was never credited.


Really, please say who it was, or at least which opening, I'm really curious.
  
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #150 - 09/10/17 at 19:28:51
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trw, I would very much like to read anything you have to say about how to go beyond blindly following engine lines and becoming a better correspondence player.

Also, if you recall which threads and conversations led to your rapid improvement, I would very much like to read those too!  Wink
  
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #149 - 09/05/17 at 10:04:30
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What was most important for me to post were my thoughts about training and psychology. There was good feedback and what's new now in my mind are only details. Additionally the critics of the Kotov model of move generation are common knowledge and in the books written by far stronger players.

This was in the general section. In the openings I could not contribute good stuff. There I'm a grateful reader what holds for several members in the general section too.

Then there are some health issues taking a lot of power.
  

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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #148 - 09/03/17 at 00:59:17
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I think trw makes some good points, and could very well inspire the focus of some subsequent discussions to take 'where can we find something different to the engine' with the appropriate explanation. Also, welcome back to the Forum!
  

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trw
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Re: Is this forum dying?
Reply #147 - 09/02/17 at 18:04:04
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barnaby wrote on 05/16/17 at 21:12:31:
In addition, and more specific to the uniqueness of this site, the advent of powerful engines owned by everyone renders every thread moot once someone posts the BEST LINE BY SILICON and there is really nothing more to discuss there, is there?

OTOH, the main strength of the site, I really feel, has always been the HIGH LEVEL ANALYSIS in the individual sections. 


First of all, I think engines have improved at such a rapid clip that it is getting much harder to correct them then it used to be. Back when I started posting here, very little effort was required to find holes in the engines. These days, I can spend days often to find tiny improvements over what the engine recommends.

This has led I feel to an increase in people even top level GMs blindly follow the engines. Indeed, the reactions I get from class players and masters alike at the reaction to my playing high level correspondence is: "Why? Like you just follow the engine right?" Indeed, I do not. Which brings me to my point, perhaps there is a way to engage the other high level correspondence players that don't follow the engines blindly. A way to make the conversations focus more deeply on spots the engines have yet to understand (which is usually the opening!). And most importantly, bring deep verbiage to explaining ideas and concepts in openings within our community which is something the engines can never do.


ErictheRed wrote on 07/03/17 at 00:31:19:
I think the question, Lee, is why members aren't posting enough.


I am guilty of this myself. I went back and read this entire thread. It took me awhile to pin point why exactly I drifted off. I guess it was due to a particular author who took a ton of analysis I produced on this very website and made an entire chapter of his book out it. I was never credited. I certainly didn't receive any monetary compensation. Sure, I have an easy lawsuit but I am not one interested in that. Yes, in the front of the book under sources, he listed "Chesspublishing.com and forums" which is as close as he got to admitting an entire 40 pages of his book was written by someone else on this forum. After this, I pretty much lost my taste for posting my analysis. Not consciously mind you, I wasn't really aware this incident was affecting me so much... but truly why would I post if my work will be lifted for commercial gain of another with zero credit to my hard work and years of testing my ideas in correspondence? This is different from the argument Nakamura and Kamsky regularly make about someone publishing a book about the players. They are not able to get the player's comments, analysis and thoughts without those players. Here, the author did just that. Anyways, the end result was I became fairly inactive and took roughly a 3 year break from posting (tho not moderating and silently lurking).

As to what eventually brought me back, the issue is two fold. First, I am interested in making a strong push again to improve myself and largely considered my discussions here with MNB and Markovich (RIP) to be a large part of my rapid improvement.

Second, I met an individual while traveling that I got into several interesting discussions with over the course of a tournament. I forget which night it was but perhaps the 3rd or 4th night with this man, we got to talking about external free resources of high quality. I mentioned chesspub forums. He said he already used them and asked my username. When I responded, he said "Oh! I have been reading your posts for years! They have helped me so much! Let me buy you a drink!" Tbh, this caught me rather flat footed. Undoubtedly, I would not be shocked to hear such a remark about Markovich but about myself... I hadn't really thought it possible and this was high praise indeed.

Keano wrote on 08/23/17 at 01:46:27:
I think in this day and age a lot of the "professional" stuff produced is simply drivel.

99% of chess books would be better off in the bin. And much of mine have gone that direction.

@Brabo makes a fair point.




Agreed!!

  
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