English Chess Forum

I read a post on the other forum (http://www.englishchess.org.uk/Forum/vi ... rt=10#p106) which led me to believe that I might get a response concerning the ECF's commitment to provide an opt out for unwanted emails, which I believe has never been implemented.

I am concerned at the possibility the ECF may resume sending emails with no opt out option.

I therefore posted this:

Bill Porter wrote:

Chris Fegan wrote:It is part of a package of communication improvements that are being worked on- a general website review, twitter changes, direct e-mail, etc,etc

In http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 60#p109914 on Sat 9th Mar, 2013

Sean Hewitt ECF DoMM wrote:For those interested in the actual legalities rather than opinion, the ECF would need a 'soft opt in' option if it wanted to market other chess related products to its members. This would be the case if, for example, the ECF wanted to sell chess books or equipment to members.

The ECF does not need such an option for it to be able to tell ECF members what the benefits of the membership they have already purchased are.

Nevertheless, as I said in the email, we will be offering the facility to opt out of receiving emails from the ECF and that's work that's being done as we speak. The ECF does not have to do this but is doing so because it's good customer service. Of course, the ECF has to email its members to tell them about this possibility.

I am very pleased that I have received a number emails which have said how pleased they are that the ECF is trying to do something positive for them though, of course, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

As far as I can tell without actually joining the ECF, there is still no possibility of opting out of receiving unwanted emails.

From the above and other posts by Sean Hewitt ECF DoMM it seems the ECF's policy is that until there is an opt out option, it can send unwanted emails including advertisements, provided it does not obtain any financial benefit.

I would appreciate a clarification of the ECF's direct e-mail policy.

The following post by a moderator ( which may or may not have been a response to mine) included the lines

Bill Phillips wrote:I think that the engagement of the directors of the ECF and others that are involved in chess organisation in England is very important to the individual success of this forum. It will not become "sticky" unless they engage with the discussions and answer enquiries.

There has been no direct response of any sort to my post.

It's clear that at present the best way to get the attention of the ECF is to post on this forum.

Bill Porter wrote: I am concerned at the possibility the ECF may resume sending emails with no opt out option.

There's a straightforward workaround for this. The paysubsonline system used by the ECF doubles up a userid with the email address. This has the advantage that you have a better chance of remembering your userid from one year to the next if it's your email, but the disadvantage, as suggested, of receiving unwanted email.

For an organisation that demanded universal membership because of the supposed communication advantages, it makes very little use of its email addresses. Anyway I suspect you would find that a false or unused email address would work just as well. You wouldn't get a membership reminder, but being as it's always 1st September, you might notice given the start of the chess season.

I believe you also asked the question on the "official" forum, I wouldn't know how well geared up they are to answering. On the face of it, being able to sell the ECF's mailing list is a commercial advantage, balanced with the possible or probable annoyance of chess related spam or UCE.

The thing that really annoys me is that the ECF's mailing list would be a real commercial advantage if proper safeguards such as an opt out option were available.
The necessity of a small hack to protect my email address is hardly a P.R. triumph for the ECF.
Only an effective monopoly can get away with such things.
There doesn't seem to be any mechanism at all for the ECF to respond to questions about itself on its own forum.

Bill Porter wrote: There doesn't seem to be any mechanism at all for the ECF to respond to questions about itself on its own forum.

They've got it up and running, but are now finding problems that need to be addressed, such as your point on responses and validating names.

I'm not sure how Carl now deals with the "real name" problem. At one time I think he wouldn't allow new posters until he had approved and in some cases validated them.

The official forum is claiming that it has a real name policy and the ecforum is full of nom de plumes. I believe that is not so, not least because of this forum's habit of looking people up in the ECF grading site and querying those it doesn't find.

They seem to be adopting a mud slinging policy which is a shame.

Roger de Coverly wrote: The official forum is claiming that it has a real name policy ....

Although not for moderators, it seems.

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

Roger de Coverly wrote: The official forum is claiming that it has a real name policy ....

Although not for moderators, it seems.

Though Carl's let one of those in!!

Michael Farthing wrote: Though Carl's let one of those in!!

It appears to be a shortened version of a real name.

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/menu.p ... ile=player

Roger de Coverly wrote:

Michael Farthing wrote: Though Carl's let one of those in!!

It appears to be a shortened version of a real name.

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/menu.p ... ile=player

Sure. It’s just a bit strange to see somebody using a shortened name asking people to register under a full name.

I can't actually recall the last email I got from the ECF.

What sort of unwanted email might I expect if I do register online this year?

Michael Flatt wrote:I can't actually recall the last email I got from the ECF.

What sort of unwanted email might I expect if I do register online this year?

The ECF will only send you emails it has decided you want.
You should be grateful the ECF saves you the trouble of having to decide whether or not to opt out.

It might be this Mahou Negra but the spam postings made me smile been as we are mostly aliases.

Roger de Coverly wrote:

Michael Farthing wrote: Though Carl's let one of those in!!

It appears to be a shortened version of a real name.

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/menu.p ... ile=player

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

Roger de Coverly wrote:

Michael Farthing wrote: Though Carl's let one of those in!!

It appears to be a shortened version of a real name.

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/menu.p ... ile=player

Sure. It’s just a bit strange to see somebody using a shortened name asking people to register under a full name.

To clarify, my full legal and professional working name as represented on my passport/other legal identity documents is 'Kay Joslin'. Since legally omitting my previous second surname (Partridge), I include the initial for clarity during the transition period. I believe this is common practice, however my ECF membership details will be updated accordingly.