Brits "Members-Only" Website Move Sparks Debate
Tony Collman | Published on 7/21/2013
A plan to move previously public material into a "members only" section of the British Go Association's (BGA) website has sparked controversy. BGA president Jon Diamond recently announced that the the Association's policies, minutes, and ratings would be moved to the new Members-Only section of the site, which would also include material not previously available on the site, including online versions of recent editions of the quarterly British Go Journal (BGJ) and annual accounts. The announcement of the plan to increase the value of BGA membership was made in an article in the BGJ's latest issue, sparking a heated discussion on Gotalk, with the ratings move clearly the most hotly-debated. One poster characterized making the ratings list accessible only to members as "counter-productive," another appealed for the Organisers' Handbook to remain public, while another pointed out that much of the data about British players is already readily available on the European Go Database. Others, however, thought the move didn't go far enough, suggesting that full tournament results should be available only to members. The "explosion of correspondence" prompted BGA Treasurer Toby Manning to appeal to participants in the debate to send him a brief summary of their views so that he can prepare a condensed report for the BGA Council's consideration. Diamond tells the E-Journal that he expects to have a final determination this week about what will be moved to the Members-Only section. While American Go Association currently has no similar plans, AGA President Andy Okun says that the question of how to maximize membership value has been discussed previously, noting that, for example, game commentaries are distributed only in the E-Journal's Member's Edition. - Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal