Kentucky Chess Association

                

                         USCF Affiliate

Once the state individual is over I intend to step down as the webmaster a few months early.

Over the past year, I have not felt any support from the community. Despite regular posts on what has been done to improve the site and despite major improvements over the previous webmaster I have yet to feel like I've done a good job. Perhaps I have done a good job -- but no one has made me feel that I have.

One issue I am having is that several key people in the chess community consistently tell  me, despite my efforts to explain to them the procedure, is that they have no idea how to submit an event. It says under "Events" an e-mail for submitting an event.

I have approximately a 3 day turn around with the exception of the past 2 weeks because my computer had to be reformatted twice. I am sorry for this inconvenience but I did make a post indicating the issues I have been having.

Finally, I will say that I personally feel I have done a good job despite any sort of recognition. I do feel most issues people have had with the site I have solved. However, I am quickly learning pleasing everyone is very difficult. Therefore, I will step down once the scholastic season is over in March. Perhaps someone else will be willing to take up the job who is better equipped than myself.

I will still, obviously, remain very active in the chess community and continue to run my business website www.ChessPerformance.com as I have nothing but positive feedback from that site.

As stated before, I will continue to run this website through the scholastic season's end in March.

I'll see everyone at Quad B and all of the state events!

--Ryan

Sorry to see you go.

It would be appropriate to recruit a replacement rather that leave a void.

I 100% agree. However, my attempts to find a replacement have failed. Also, I have posted this information 2 full months before I step down. Hopefully someone will step forward. If no one does, I will still run my business website www.ChessPerformance.com which will be kept up to date with all tournaments in the area.

Ergo, the chess information people want will still be available if no one takes over the webmaster position for the KCA. I am willing to leave a void if  no one steps forward because I feel this position is a source of stress for me that I should eliminate.

--Ryan

I guess President Brennan will find someone.

Before you leave, could you post the 2011 scholastic state champions on the website? And none of the All Grade State Champions are listed. You should either recognize them or stop having the All Grade state championship if they aren't worthy of remembering.

Hi Dave,

I have not posted 2011's champions yet. But I posted the rest of the information several months ago.

Thanks,

--Ryan

Ryan,

Yes, good job in keeping up to date on what you mentioned. And I'm no rocket scientist so I'll tell you where I'm looking and you can correct me on how to get there. I've been to the "Champs" link at the top of the KCA website, then at the bottom of the page that comes up I click on "Scholastic State Champions". I see the "Kentucky Scholastic Individual Champions" and the "Scholastic State Team Champions", both from the Spring State Championship. But I don't see the "State All Grade Champions" from the fall state championship. There should be 13 of them each year that you've had it. I think that link used to be up on the bluebook, but I don't know how to find it. I'm sure I must be overlooking it, but other parents have told me they can't find it either.

Thanks for your help,

Dave

Hi Dave,

You are correct. I am incorrect regarding grade level champions. There should indeed be 26 listed. I will allow the next webmaster to achieve this goal. It is not a priority for me unfortunately. My main goal is to ensure tournament information is posted and accurate through the end of March.

If you see this is a failure on my part then I will accept that failure. I know you, and Ken McDonald, see this failure on my part as a big issue. For me, my main goal in becoming webmaster was to create a new website with an interface that would enable anyone to do the job. I can train anyone to take over this position in 30 minutes or less. So I have achieved the goal I set out to achieve.

In general, I am constantly told by various community chess leaders that the website is difficult to use. Despite my many efforts to make it simple it remains the case these same people feel the site is too difficult. For example, someone recently asked me to post an event that had not been posted. They informed me they checked several times for the event. All they had to do to find the event was click "Events" and "Feb." I don't think that was very difficult. However, since many people continue to tell me that the 'finding a tournament' process is too difficult, I must be in the wrong. Therefore, I am stepping down once the main responsibilities of this website are completed for the scholastic events for this half of the year.

Again, I am sorry if my priorities do not match up with yours and I believe you are right to be annoyed. However, my goal has been achieve: to make the Webmaster position something anyone can do.

I respect you and Ken McDonald as well as the other people who have said how difficult this site is to use. Your concerns should be directed to the next person. My goal is to get through March with up to date tournament info: nothing more.

--Ryan 

Ryan,

Sounds good. Knowing me as you do, you can be sure I'll mention any improvement opportunities to the next webmaster. I would just like the kids recognized for all eternity.

In a side note,  I find it easy enough to find tournaments on the website.

Dave

Actually, I hadn't even paid attention to who the webmaster was until your post. So I didn't see you as a failure at all. It could be anyones fault all the way up to the president, scholastic coordinator or whoever for not supplying you with that information. Someone should have made it a priority to get the kids names up though. On the older website I posted the request as well some time after the first all grade state championship.

Dave

The webmaster position seems to require a lot of time for a volunteer position. Good people hold and have held that position. I imagine that most of them get either burned out or become discouraged despite their good intentions in the beginning.  If this is true, maybe it’s time to consider making changes to this position. I’m thinking that number of qualified people willing to step up into this position is limited.

Maybe I’m misreading the situation. I just know that Ryan is a good guy that had lots of energy and ideas to put into this position in the beginning. It’s sad to see good people take on this position and then become discouraged.

I would like to say two things:

1. Ryan, thanks for working to restore the KCA site. The previous webmaster left the KCA in a difficult mirror” of our site which kept things afloat until we could find a more permanent solution. Robert Amback also created a blog to serve as a source of content during the interim. Ryan offered to create a new website, and offered a disclaimer, which was basically: “I don’t know how to program, but I can create a basic website using Webs.com. It won’t be amazing, but it should suffice. The biggest benefit is that it would simplify the technological demands and enable almost anyone to serve as Webmaster.” And those present at the 2011 KY Open voted Ryan in to serve a term as webmaster. At the Board Meeting, then-President Fugatte offered to pay Ryan a small fee for the time he invested (this ultimately came to $200.00 total, which isn’t much when divided across his hours worked). Though the layout might need tweaking, and some of the content does need updating, we do have a functional site, courtesy of Ryan Velez. It seems to me that the biggest source of stress for Ryan has been the issue of event submissions. One organizer might give him a PDF, another a word document, and another might hand him a physical flier. Converting these disparate sources into one unified event list takes more work than one might expect. Solving this issue is possible, but would require a degree of technological savvy that very few people have. I think Ryan feels as though he has taken the KCA site as far as he is able, given the fact that he is not a technological guru. He puts in a lot of hours running a business, and when the time demands of being Webmaster compounded his schedule further, he probably found himself spread pretty thin. Being on the KCA Board can be thankless at times, and perhaps that element got to him. If he feels that serving as Webmaster is adversely affecting his quality of life, I’m not going to be the one to ask him to stay. I will however, express my gratitude for the things he did do. Lastly, I will be leaving the usernames and passwords the same, so that if Ryan finds himself re-energized in the future, he has the option of contributing to the website in a smaller, less scrutinized capacity. The more help we have, the better.

2. I have been scouting the terrain for a suitable replacement at the Webmaster position. I have three prospective candidates lined up. One in particular – a recommendation from Johnny Owens and Stephen Dillard – seems especially promising. I conversed at length with this gentleman last week; he seems intelligent, enthusiastic, and technologically skilled. I am not divulging his name yet only because I don’t want him to feel undue pressure – I more or less said, “The KCA would love to have you as Webmaster, so take a look at our set-up and see if you feel inspired to contribute.” At present, he is addressing my main concern and creating a Google Calendar reflecting all of the upcoming chess events. This calendar is easy to read, color-coded, and filterable to show things like “only scholastics.” Perhaps best of all, this calendar would enable Moderator-status members of the KCA website to directly input events. This means that we could enable many organizers to post their own events in a uniform fashion – thereby eliminating much of the frustration affixed to the Webmaster position. The calendar is also easily downloadable and may be displayed by other websites. This might enable all websites relating to KY chess to share - and contribute to – a single master calendar. My hope is that I will be able to announce our newest Webmaster in the near future. I will consult with the Board and keep everyone posted.