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From	Message
stalhandske 10-Nov-12, 05:41	easy19 is no longer available as boss Dear Club Friends, First of all, I think this Club serves a good purpose, i.e. mainly an interaction between players at quite different levels. It is based on a humorous idea of lower-rated players "talking" about their achievements, but suddenly having to test them by "walking" (i.e. playing against members with much higher rating). As a "price" for that test, they are asked to annotate their game, which may then be commented by others, too. To the benefit of all members. All of this has been the idea of easy19 (Freddy), for which we are very grateful. But at this time Freddy has been clear that he won't continue as chief of this Club because his current interest in it is not high enough at this time. As far as I've understood, a premier membership is required to lead the club, and there may be an additional annual charge (?) I am now asking whether anyone of the Moderators would be willing to take over Freddy's position?
stalhandske 10-Nov-12, 15:22	further..... The immediate reason for my concern, and request, is that there seems to be no mechanism to promote someone new to be moderator. Apparently, that can only be done by the "boss".
shamash 10-Nov-12, 15:44	talking to the Founder Freddy and I were discussing this issue 30 days ago, and I see he is at least checking in, having been on the site 11 hours ago.
shamash 10-Nov-12, 15:45	. . . and like a good parent, he is not going to abandon his baby without seeing someone is there to steady the crib.
stalhandske 10-Nov-12, 15:46	yes, but Freddy told me that he cannot do the "promotion"
shamash 10-Nov-12, 15:52	the way it works GameKnot and I discussed this issue in July of 2011 in regards to another Club, here is my understanding: If the Club Founder wants to do it and writes GameKnot of his choice, and if the chosen moderator wants to do it, and informs GameKnot, GameKnot can then make the transfer. Furthermore, considering how Freddy's endorsement of the GameKnot site is prominently displayed on the landing page seen by any potential new member, you would think GameKnot owes him a quid pro quo.
stalhandske 10-Nov-12, 16:01	....or actually does not work Freddy wrote me a couple of days ago, when suggesting to him promotion of a new Member to become Moderator: "Still impossible. Please subscribe to a premium membership to be able to participate in GK Clubs. I can give the foundership to someone else but nobody is willing to take the job" Whilst I think we all agree that Freddy's success with this club should make GK owing him, the direct reply I received from GK earlier was something like: premium membership and the extra for running the club is very cheap; no change in rules about premium requirement.
hogfysshe 11-Nov-12, 06:05	Deleted by hogfysshe on 11-Nov-12, 08:15.
hogfysshe 11-Nov-12, 08:15	re club fee due to a double-payment this year, the annual club fee (about 20 USD) is paid thru early July, 2014. So, if I read the above two posts correctly, all that is needed is a person (presumably 2000+) with a premium membership who is willing to take over. If no one is "willing," then at least we can limp along to 2014. And if we can't add "mods," then we can at least recognize the "masters" in the forum. but since there isn't too much work involved (adding or removing mods mainly; mods being able to add or remove members), hopefully someone will be found to wear that hat. club info gameknot.com
stalhandske 11-Nov-12, 08:37	thanks to hogfysshe (and perhaps others).... the club founder's fee has been taken care of for nearly 2 years ahead, so that problem was solved. The remaining one is exactly as stated by hogfysshe above: we can function as before EXCEPT not promote new members to "mod" status. This is why I wanted all mods to consider taking over as "chief", especially since that has been Freddy's explicit wish!
jotheblackqueen 11-Nov-12, 12:23	I have a Platinum Lifetime Membership! Hi everyone! Just to let you know that I am willing to fill the breach if this is possible to keep this club going even though my rating is south of 2000 and I have only managed to draw one of my 50 odd games against The Master Mater. Freddy, along with Coach Ion has been one of my main mentors for many years and has been very willing to challenge much lower rated players. I am not averse to playing much higher rated players and am now playing in another Jo against The Titans MT in which one of the players is GM Cyrano! So I am an avid supporter of the Walk the Walk challenges. I am glad Freddy is enjoying his Scottish hikes and I do hope that Freddy will one day be ready to resume playing again and getting his rating north of 2200 even hopefully north of 2300 if he plays at the top of his game! Anyhow, I hope you have all had a nice weekend. Bye for now all of you! Joanne
stalhandske 11-Nov-12, 22:35	Support for Joanne I warmly support Joanne (jstevens1) for the position as Club Chief. I don't think it matters the least that she is (just a little) south of 2000.
brigadecommander 12-Nov-12, 02:57	i second that She could do the job!!!!
stalhandske 12-Nov-12, 21:52	message from Freddy This is what Freddy (easy19) wrote me yesterday: "Jstevens is my lifetime chess friend, and i think she is a good choice. I thought about it before but i din,t want to give here a extra load to carry so i din,t ask. If she contacts GK staff i will do the same"
jotheblackqueen 12-Nov-12, 23:39	I have contacted Gameknot ..... ...... and am waiting to hear from them. Kind regards Joanne
jotheblackqueen 15-Nov-12, 15:13	Gameknot's reply Hi everyone! Bad news I'm afraid - here is their reply:- Message from GameKnot customer support: Hello, jstevens1, Sorry, unfortunately it is not possible to transfer the status of a club founder to another player. We simply do not have such functionality available at this time. Thank you for choosing GameKnot as your premier chess battlefield! Best regards, GameKnot.com
brigadecommander 15-Nov-12, 15:26	that's too bad. you would have done a great job Joanne!!.So what happens now?
jotheblackqueen 15-Nov-12, 15:42	Maybe this could happen.... If the worst happens and this club does fold as a result of Freddy giving up the reigns, I guess it might be possible for me to resurrect the Club in its current name and become the founder as a life member. I am certainly a strong advocate of players of huge rating disparities playing against one another and I thank you Expert and Master guys for your time and patience with us U2000s. At least the underdog has everything to gain and little to lose and if he or she gets the chance to bite, his/her teeth can be very sharp indeed. After a bad game against Coach Ion I was given a welcome boost today when an Expert rated 2136 accepted my draw offer. That game will be annotated in the very near future and posted up here. I am doing this to show you guys that even if you do have some very bad games where you have walked into that knight fork or left yourself in Old Matey's shadow, there is always a chance that in your next game you may get that half-point, or even a full one if you can keep your head. Anyhow - thank you for your support. Have a nice evening everyone! Kind regards Joanne
stalhandske 15-Nov-12, 23:18	stalemate So now we are in a real stalemate situation. The clubfounder fee has been paid for 2 years ahead, but Freddy (easy19) cannot promote new members to mod status even if that would be his only clubfounder function (which I'm sure he would not mind doing), because he no longer has a premium membership (GK rules). And GK technology does not allow transfer of club founder to someone else. Two options remain, I think: (i) we continue under Joanne's leadership without promoting new mods (or rather, Joanne promotes them "unofficially" in a special forum set up for that purpose) (ii) we close this club and join Joanne for a new one with the same name and purpose It would be good to hear the opinions of as many members as possible on this matter. I kind of favour (i) for the next ~2 years (clubfounder fee paid), but I can also go for (ii) if that is what the majority wants
king_0_nothing 15-Nov-12, 23:43	The benefit of option (ii) is that the active members will follow and perhaps there will be a renewed interest. However, I'm not a fan of wasting money, even if it is someone else's   As long as Joanne can moderate the posts from her position, then the club is fine for the time being. And the added benefit is there can be two clubs in the final months, making moving an easier task at a leisurely pace
stalhandske 16-Nov-12, 01:16	moderating posts jj414 brings up something I had neglected: The club founder is indeed responsible for the posts (according to GK rules), and Joanne won't be able to remove or alter them not being a moderator. I suggest that the current moderators (who are able to remove posts) would take this responsibility collectively
hogfysshe 16-Nov-12, 05:29	also prefer option one... but am not opposed to option two. I agree with jj414 re wasting money, though not to an extreme degree in this case. but the related issue of there being no allowance for this sort of situation, all club eggs being in one basket, brings up a small issue of right and wrong. seems like there should be some means to transfer functionality to a new leader if the "founder" is not (for whatever reason) able to continue. but again, preference for i, happy with either. we should send our suggestions to gk so that others may perhaps be able to avoid this problem in the future. thank you to Joanne and stalhandske, and to Freddy for establishing this fun and helpful club. H
elyhim 16-Nov-12, 08:14	for what it is worth I know I am new at this club but I bring a lot of experience around hosting and leading online gaming clubs. I am also part of a online gaming clan called Ancient warriors which has over 300 members and has been around since the early 80s. What I can say about this club is that in it's current form it is dead. In order to survive this club does have to move on. Now option #1 is that it is a quick fix and will pro long this club's death painfully slow. As for option #2 if this club is going to survive afterward then this is the only way it is going to do so.
jotheblackqueen 16-Nov-12, 13:58	I have now started this club Hi everyone! After reading your posts I thought I would make the following decision and start a similar club, but with an outlook to improving play and causing those upsets! Here is the link and I hope to see a few faces! gameknot.com Anyhow, I hope you all have a nice evening. Kind regards and bye for now. Joanne
stalhandske 16-Nov-12, 14:58	I applaud Joanne's decision elyhim's point was well placed & I am persuaded that a new club is the clearer and more straightforward alternative I have myself no other responsibilities with Freddy's club than ongoing games with ineedaname and elyhim. I am hereby transferring them both to be analyzed in Joanne's new club. Consequently, I am signing off here and want to thank Freddy for the excellent idea, which will now continue in Joanne's care

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