Is Irish Chess in Tatters ?

chesstity

I find it very hard to see a way back with so much mud slinging from both sides before this campaign. If the act doesn't get cleaned up and remain clean I can only see a decline in Irish Chess and not a growth.

shoveltooth

chesstity wrote: »

I find it very hard to see a way back with so much mud slinging from both sides before this campaign. If the act doesn't get cleaned up and remain clean I can only see a decline in Irish Chess and not a growth.

It can't get any worse.....

LorcanOToole

chesstity wrote: »

I find it very hard to see a way back with so much mud slinging from both sides before this campaign. If the act doesn't get cleaned up and remain clean I can only see a decline in Irish Chess and not a growth.

One side has thrown so much mud that guys like yourself can't see where its coming from. This board is supposed to be for fair comment and to be honest I think the mods do an excellent job of keeping it clean. I don't see any "mud" here. Have you seen the new executive cast mud? I haven't.

Remember its not mud if its the ugly truth.

Retd.LoyolaCpt

chesstity wrote: »

I find it very hard to see a way back with so much mud slinging from both sides before this campaign. If the act doesn't get cleaned up and remain clean I can only see a decline in Irish Chess and not a growth.

We will do our best - JMM

zug_zwang

I think we should look on the positives. One thing the AGM highlights is that Chess players are passionate about their sport and while they have differences of opinion we should avoid letting these become conflicts.
I wish the new executive well, and I thank those in the outgoing executive and look forward to all in Irish chess working together to develop and promote our sport.

Meloc

I'm completely optimistic that the new exec will done a fine job. I haven't seen them engaged in mud slinging, and those that I know personally are forward-looking and will want to work for the betterment of Irish Chess. The people who run outrageous blogs will continue to do so, but they are best ignored. None of them have a role in the current exec, nor are they likely to.

RQ_ennis_chess

Meloc wrote: »

The people who run outrageous blogs will continue to do so, but they are best ignored.

I agreed with the rest of your comment but not this. Why should it be ignored or somehow seen as acceptable. Why would an organisation accept as members people who seem to be publically trying to damage it?

must have a jest

chesstity wrote: »

I find it very hard to see a way back with so much mud slinging from both sides before this campaign. If the act doesn't get cleaned up and remain clean I can only see a decline in Irish Chess and not a growth.

It's sad really. If you call people mudslingers often enough, it tends to stick (ha ha).

Chesstity, it might seem to you like there is an on/off civil war in Irish chess between two camps. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. A web of disputes has just spiralled out of control. One of the speeches made at the AGM contained some cynical rhetoric that left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe others heard the same guy and thought he was spot on. What can you do? The guy is clearly a decent person and the only sensible option is to let go of that stuff and move on.

Meloc

RQ_ennis_chess wrote: »

I agreed with the rest of your comment but not this. Why should it be ignored or somehow seen as acceptable. Why would an organisation accept as members people who seem to be publically trying to damage it?

You're right, it's not acceptable. But taking disciplinary action against anyone is fraught and time consuming. And even if we silence Barry Boswell, his doppelganger Bobby Billhook will start his blog and we're no better off.

reunion

RQ_ennis_chess wrote: »

I agreed with the rest of your comment but not this. Why should it be ignored or somehow seen as acceptable. Why would an organisation accept as members people who seem to be publically trying to damage it?

It depends on what you mean by damaging it and who it applies to.

If you mean a establishing a blog and spreading lies and threatening people? Yeah maybe, but what happens when it's an anonymous blog? No one is saying it is acceptable but where do you draw the line for the ICU's reach here?




What we should have is a policy that if you apply to be on the executive committee, you agree to cease any discussion about chess in Ireland via social media and online. This way you don't have a fight between the development officer and the Munster Delegate or publishing private letters/emails to prove a point. This just looks bad for chess and helps no one. The PRO should be the only person publishing material (with approval).

For our Olympiad players, we could get a sponsor which could be lost if a team member starts a blog mocking team mates (or something similar). We should also have rules in place for attendance at one of these events - no drinking the night before a game, in bed by a certain time, etc. These are standard rules applied to any other professional organisation.

Anyone in the Irish Championships is a potential Olympiad player (it has restricted entry already) and should be held to a similar high level (Though not as high!) as the Olympiad players. These players simply can NOT be publishing garbage.

Disciplinary processes don't have to be expensive, they can be quick and cheap. Have a meeting once a month after or before an executive meeting regarding disciplinary matters. The committee could be formed by individuals elected at the AGM with an appeals committee also elected at the AGM (though they would hopefully never meet). Then it costs zero as the room is already booked for the day for an executive meeting.

These individuals are role models for other aspiring chess players in Ireland. This just encourages future great players to adopt an attitude we should not encourage (and discourages people from getting involved). This would also have a trickle down effect by reducing this in our weaker but aspiring players.

DmanDmythDledge

Meloc wrote: »

You're right, it's not acceptable. But taking disciplinary action against anyone is fraught and time consuming. And even if we silence Barry Boswell, his doppelganger Bobby Billhook will start his blog and we're no better off.

The best way to treat such blogs is to ignore them and try and remove the attention seeking element that they are. Whether that would work is a different thing...

mikhail

Meloc wrote: »

You're right, it's not acceptable. But taking disciplinary action against anyone is fraught and time consuming. And even if we silence Barry Boswell, his doppelganger Bobby Billhook will start his blog and we're no better off.

I agree. I would also fear that disciplinary rules around regular members' posts could be abused to silence critics.

mikhail

reunion wrote: »

What we should have is a policy that if you apply to be on the executive committee, you agree to cease any discussion about chess in Ireland via social media and online.

That seems like overkill to me. One of the problems the exec had last year was communication. I recall when icu.ie went down - no one seemed to know what was happening for a long time afterwards. I would welcome a little engagement with social media. It just needs to be respectful.

pawntof4

A twitter account would be nice. It could publicise events and let us know if the ICU website is down.

reunion

mikhail wrote: »

That seems like overkill to me. One of the problems the exec had last year was communication. I recall when icu.ie went down - no one seemed to know what was happening for a long time afterwards. I would welcome a little engagement with social media. It just needs to be respectful.

I agree just so long as it's respectful (which is more what I meant) - basically the ICU has been missing an active PRO for quite some time.

I think there should be 2 PROs, 1 for social media (twitter, facebook, etc) and the other for papers, news items on the site, etc. The task is way too much for just 1 person.

rob51

mikhail wrote: »

That seems like overkill to me. One of the problems the exec had last year was communication. I recall when icu.ie went down - no one seemed to know what was happening for a long time afterwards. I would welcome a little engagement with social media. It just needs to be respectful.

Actually I don't see any reason why members of the Executive shouldn't interact with members here. It could be very useful in gaining peoples opinions or suggestions.

The issue is when members of the executive use discussion groups inappropriately. So issues to do with discipline of individual members etc and leaking allegations would clearly not be appropriate. By the way both the old and new disciplinary procedures stated that!! So rules don't actually prevent abuse.

RQ_ennis_chess

Meloc wrote: »

You're right, it's not acceptable. But taking disciplinary action against anyone is fraught and time consuming. And even if we silence Barry Boswell, his doppelganger Bobby Billhook will start his blog and we're no better off.

Well if a person posts an anonymous quote on a site they are running then they are responsible for it. Its why boards.ie has moderators.

I'm not suggesting taking disciplinary action against anyone now but maybe comments on social media etc is something the exec should look at going forward. It presents a really bad image of Irish chess and cant be helpful with trying to find sponsors etc.

I dont understand why people say that yes the majority of ICU members find this unacceptable but we wont do anything about it because it is too much hassle? Surely it is something the executive should at least consider.

uck51js9zml2yt

In the event of blogs which are inflammatory and abusive, could the EC not deal with that persons club to provide some local pressure in getting the offensive posts removed.

2bts

In a year where the Irish teams come top in three of the four Glorney/Gilbert competitions (winning two), where Irish schools win both sections at the Millfield International for the second year in a row and the size and playing strength of the Irish junior cohort is bigger and stronger than ever, I suggest the answer to this thread's question, at least in the lens of future prospects for Irish chess, is no.

sinbad68

chesstity wrote: »

Is Irish chess in tatters ? .I find it very hard to see a way back with so much mud slinging from both sides before this campaign. If the act doesn't get cleaned up and remain clean I can only see a decline in Irish Chess and not a growth.

Just had a look at "Irish chess" facebook account and it states that kevin o'flaherty had been added as admin over there, *mod snip* so the answer to your question is, NO, Irish chess is NOT in tatters, it is on the mend .

reunion

*mod note* No discussions about someone's ban here. People are banned for a reason, if their ban has since been lifted (for whatever reason), it has been lifted. If it was lifted incorrectly, it will be reapplied.

Tim Harding

Let's close this thread as was suggested above. The election is over. Positive forward-looking thinking, please!

reunion

Tim Harding wrote: »

Let's close this thread as was suggested above. The election is over. Positive forward-looking thinking, please!

While I believe in the new executive, the last executive also had positive forward-looking thinking when they took over.

If the thread has indeed run it's course, no one else will post in it and it will move down the list of open threads. If however it gets overrun with non-sense (please don't post non-sense) it can be closed.