22-07-2013, 09:26 PM
I should state here that I'm responding only as a poster - I'm currently playing chess in Andorra (lost to Bremner today; nightmare) and very much on holiday, and my internet access is intermittent. During this period, I'm leaving moderating duties to my (far more qualified) colleagues.
The forum is currently being 'moderated to death' because it is more contentious than I can ever remember. I've been posting on various incarnations of the noticeboard since 2006 (I think), and taken part in probably more than my fair share of dust-ups. I was an involved poster for a long time before I was a moderator. I've always striven to be polite, but I couldn't deny that I've posted in anger before. Nevertheless, the extent to which rancour and division is currently dominating the discourse is something new.
Andrew and Andy have an incredibly hard job. I moderate as well, but I kind of drop in and out, and unlike them I don't also take responsibility for administering the board. All of us have other things in our lives as well, and we each get emails or messages on a fairly regular basis, from multiple people, complaining about the content of noticeboard contributions. Perhaps we err on the side of caution in removing things too much. I just wish it wasn't like this.
The Chess Scotland Forum isn't meant to be contentious. It's not really a place for 'political' debates either, or at least it's not exclusively for that - that's what the AGM is for. It's meant to be somewhere we talk about chess. I understand that plenty of people have serious grievances about various matters, but I just wish that wasn't all people wanted to talk about. At the moment we've got various Scots playing chess - you know, that game we're all allegedly interested in - abroad. Yesterday Neil Berry beat a 2600, and Iain Swan had by far the better of a draw against the Andorran Open's top seed. Elsewhere, our Seniors team are putting in the usual strong performance, and thanks to Alistair White's excellent reports I've found out that we drew with Italy, which is awesome. We've also got a good few players in the Czech Republic, where Alan Tate has turned in at least one terrific performance. Not that anyone seems to be paying attention.
I'd love it if that was what people were interested in talking about, but instead we've got day after day of accusations, counter-accusations, 'explanations' and public statements. I entirely understand that a lot of people on various sides of various issues are unhappy, and want to have their say. I'm not under any kind of illusion that the problems which have arisen over the last year will dissipate if everyone shuts their eyes and pretends fairies are real. This also shouldn't be taken as any kind of statement from on high that posts about CS issues are forbidden - like I say, I'm posting 'off duty' here and am not threatening any bannings or deletions. I just wish it wasn't like this. As someone who has a lot of respect for various people on different sides of recent contentious issues, it's just really depressing to log in and read nothing but what we've seen for the last month or so.
To address the general thread topic: if things continue as they currently are, I can't imagine why any of us who support chess in Scotland would want the general public reading this forum.
The forum is currently being 'moderated to death' because it is more contentious than I can ever remember. I've been posting on various incarnations of the noticeboard since 2006 (I think), and taken part in probably more than my fair share of dust-ups. I was an involved poster for a long time before I was a moderator. I've always striven to be polite, but I couldn't deny that I've posted in anger before. Nevertheless, the extent to which rancour and division is currently dominating the discourse is something new.
Andrew and Andy have an incredibly hard job. I moderate as well, but I kind of drop in and out, and unlike them I don't also take responsibility for administering the board. All of us have other things in our lives as well, and we each get emails or messages on a fairly regular basis, from multiple people, complaining about the content of noticeboard contributions. Perhaps we err on the side of caution in removing things too much. I just wish it wasn't like this.
The Chess Scotland Forum isn't meant to be contentious. It's not really a place for 'political' debates either, or at least it's not exclusively for that - that's what the AGM is for. It's meant to be somewhere we talk about chess. I understand that plenty of people have serious grievances about various matters, but I just wish that wasn't all people wanted to talk about. At the moment we've got various Scots playing chess - you know, that game we're all allegedly interested in - abroad. Yesterday Neil Berry beat a 2600, and Iain Swan had by far the better of a draw against the Andorran Open's top seed. Elsewhere, our Seniors team are putting in the usual strong performance, and thanks to Alistair White's excellent reports I've found out that we drew with Italy, which is awesome. We've also got a good few players in the Czech Republic, where Alan Tate has turned in at least one terrific performance. Not that anyone seems to be paying attention.
I'd love it if that was what people were interested in talking about, but instead we've got day after day of accusations, counter-accusations, 'explanations' and public statements. I entirely understand that a lot of people on various sides of various issues are unhappy, and want to have their say. I'm not under any kind of illusion that the problems which have arisen over the last year will dissipate if everyone shuts their eyes and pretends fairies are real. This also shouldn't be taken as any kind of statement from on high that posts about CS issues are forbidden - like I say, I'm posting 'off duty' here and am not threatening any bannings or deletions. I just wish it wasn't like this. As someone who has a lot of respect for various people on different sides of recent contentious issues, it's just really depressing to log in and read nothing but what we've seen for the last month or so.
To address the general thread topic: if things continue as they currently are, I can't imagine why any of us who support chess in Scotland would want the general public reading this forum.