I have been a long time Caissa member and so I feel like I am losing a friend. I'm not casting blame, just stating a fact: there are so few people on here anymore since the upgrade. I can barely play a live game. I haven't given up but I am looking around. I checked out Red Hot Pawn and Chess Maniac but I thought I'd see what the rest of you are thinking about. Any suggestions? (Even better, talk me off the ledge, tell me I'm wrong, there are enough die-hards here to keep this site going.)
 
Steve

Steve: My sentiments exactly. Waiting 15-30 minutes for 1 person to show up and play blitz is on the bizarre side - even for here. I'm playing on ICC now, where at least people are playing chess. Want to know what caused the numbers to drop here? - The temp handles are gone - and what's left is all they have for paying membership. It's that simple.
 
John

One of my usual correspondence friends just bailed out. Without the ability to participate in correspondence tournaments, I'm seriously considering bailing as well. My subscription is almost up, and I am very reluctant to pay for functionality that does not exist at a site that seems to be imploding on itself. Shame to, I've been a member for years.

I am out of here too. You can't mess up something this bad without trying. Back in the late nineties this was the best place to play until the Admin. totally screwed this place up. Where are all the real people?

After reading these messages, while waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for a LIVE game I AM NOT A HAPPY CAMPER, when my current membership is up I WILL NOT BE BACK. I WILL MISS WHAT WAS A GREAT WEBSITE.
 
 
P.S. AFTER 15 MINUTES STILL NOT A SINGLE HIT SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
LONG CAISSA

Well, add my name/account to the list of unhappy campers. What a great place it was to play chess and interact in a community. After years of neglect and apathy from MediaWest, admin at large seem to be genuinely surprised that the membership at large have not embraced the new site and renewed administrator involvement. I have been here since early 1997 and when my time is up in mid August I will not renew. I will miss the small remaining cast of old timers.

I always liked this site, even though it didn't have as many people as other places. You got to recognize the names, play the same people several times. A little bit more 'real' than playing a random name you'll never see again. I've been to the new Caissa, but I just don't like the format there. Does it even have the same functionality? Can you filter quickpairs by rating, for instance? It's great that the admin is taking an interest in the site, but I think this seismic change was a bad idea. People like what they're used to.
 
I'm glad they kept the old site at least. I'm still playing here at caissaclassic. 30/15 is my game of choice: I can still find people, most times, but the wait is often longer than it used to be. Much fewer people playing here. After about 1 in the morning (Eastern Time), it's hard to find anyone. Didn't used to be that way.
 
They eliminated the $25 membership, too. From now on there's only a $50 option, and for me, that's what settles it. My Standard Membership expires in March; I won't be coming back. I'll miss you, Caissa.
 
PS: What did MediaWest want with an online chess-server? I've never understood that.

I like this site. Once the close down the old site people will start coming back. Little by little it will happen because in my opinion this is still the best chest community out there. As for your questions about filtering... yes. All the features are almost up to par with the old site. The Corr Chess is running great now and I'm pretty happy wiht how that worked out. If people can't get used to change then I wonder how they go through life at all. Give me a break... it's not that big a deal and the price is still right.. what is it, a couple of bucks a month? Give me a break. Anyway, I've decided to stay if only for the Corr games.
 
It's just MHO :)

greetings....... what is troubling me is the lack of feedback from management. I think if I were in
 
charge I would give up the new interface SAP. It is not ready for prime time.
 
 
wayne mcnally

Good morning. I'm Steve. I started this post a few weeks ago and I hope I didn't add to the negative feelings towards the new site. Especially now: while it's not perfect (mainly because it's hard--but not impossible-- to get a live game going) I am finding the site more and more usable. The corr games are great. So I'm going to try and stay with caissa and hope you guys do, too.
 
Steve

I have been a very long-time Caissa member. I must be one of the originals from the 90s. This is all very sad. This site was robust for a very long time and the upgrade seems to have completely gutted it.
 
I would suggest that the Administrator shut down the new site and redirect everyone back to one site. Then the Administrator could add additional features in an evolutionary fashion, rather than with a swift change.
 
I agree that this is really unfortunate. This site is not viable without a large portfolio of active members online.

I have been a very long-time Caissa member. I must be one of the originals from the 90s. This is all very sad. This site was robust for a very long time and the upgrade seems to have completely gutted it.
 
I would suggest that the Administrator shut down the new site and redirect everyone back to one site. Then the Administrator could add additional features in an evolutionary fashion, rather than with a swift change.
 
I agree that this is really unfortunate. This site is not viable without a large portfolio of active members online.

Hey Lucifer... I don't doubt you are a long standing member but you are not even in the top 100 (that I can see) I'm sitting at #46 or so and I can say that it would be more disastrous if they shut this site down over the old one. All the time and money spent on this one they might as well just deal with this site. I still can't get my head wrapped around how people just immediately reject change. Man, technically speaking this site blows the old site away! The core features, graphics... I even like the layout... once you get used to it. I think that is key. They need to shut down the old site for this site to have a chance. People will come back because it's simply the best community based chess site out there. I think they are just going through a weird re-birth is all. I won't leave and for like 25 or 50 per year... well that's peanuts. I would pay that just for the Corr features alone. Again... just my opinion.
 
MMP.

Howdy Jodie,
 
First off,I will address the item on change. Long standing members and others have been literally SCREAMING for change on the old Caissa. They were complaning about no updates, no upgrades and no communication with Admin. Well when Caissa finally address everything that was requested and created this totally new interface... well I guess that just wasn't good enough either. Give me a break! They went the extra mile and totally attempted to provide everything everyone wanted and are STILL doing it! Communications have been great and a deliberate effort to make things right has been iniated. What more do you want? I'm not sure if you were around in the early 2000 when everyone was really upset with the way old caissa was being run! This is why I make these posts... so I'm of the opinion now that those who wanted change got it and now they are complaining about it. It's annoying and if you don't believe me ask any of the true longstanding members and they will tell you the same. They might not be happy with the new site but it was Reqeusted!
 
Ok as for the list of longstanding members, you can only find (as far as I know) on the old site on the main page.

If you've been a member for that long then how can you say that the general desire for change wasn't evident?? You may not have wanted change but the majority of people on this site (old caissa) couldn't stop b!tching about not having any upgrades and how the site was going down the tubes and how Admin never responded etc... etc.. Now they finally do something and everyone just freaks out. I'm not saying it's perfect by any stretch but folks aren't even giving it a chance and then they have the nerve to say that there was nothing wrong with the old site so why fix it??? Man that is just crazy. Again... I'm not refering to you here and I certainly don't want to argue. I was just making a point and no matter how much you disagree with it... it's still reflects the truth.
 
Anyway... I won't comment any further on this. Enjoy your chess.

Mario is correct. There were a lot of people bitching at the old site that things weren't working right, admin was never around to fix it and just ignored the members when they complained. Then when admin finally decided to do something about it, all most of the people did was bitch about how they didn't like the new BB that they had setup. Of course, not one of them used the BB to make suggestions of what they wanted on the new site, and that leads us to them bitching about the new site.
 
If Caissians didn't have anything to bitch about they'd invent something to bitch about.
 
pazuzu

Yea well i'm alittle pissed that you pointed this out.
 
 
D

Well, my clock reads one day and counting to renew my membership. I have been on this site for 12 years, and today is the last time I will log onto it. The way this site handled upgrade (downgrade) was an insult to its customers, from making a site that could not be connected to without unneeded browser upgrades, to overcharging me for wanting to just have what I used to have.
 
I am saddened by the turn of events that has soured my last few months here. As a loyal supporter of Caissa, I deserved better than to be forced to live through this painful, unfriendly situation. I wish Caissa's Web had handled this by respecting its members, and the low participation both here and on the new site is a testiment to its ultimate demise.

Some will reply (either to me or others) that I should just shut up and accept it. Well, when I am paying my own money for a service that is not provided to me, I get upset and I stop paying. But to those people who want to defend Caissa, feel free to tip your cab driver extra for running up the fare, pay double when your steak comes to your table overcooked, and throw money at anyone who will take it without delivering what they promised. I, for one, have too much self-respect to just take bad service and bad product when I know they were capable of so much more.
 
Good bye Caissa. It was fun while it lasted. Shame on you for forcing me and so many of my chess playing friends out!
 
Gameplayer
 
PS, one final comment on those who think that the "majority of people" on the old site were complaining that it needed upgrading. Perhaps a number of people were on the boards complaining, and when you read a board like that, my guess is that the majority of people on the board were actually complaining. But that was not the majority of people on the site. Most everyone I knew loved it as is, including me. I will even concede that some upgrades were forthcoming, but it was the manner in which they were performed that was so poorly handled.

Normally, if one is greatly 'put-off' by something of a
commercial nature..{whether it be this Web site, or
even a restaurant, etc. etc.}.. along with their 'parting-
shot', a person will logically quite often point to how a
competitor in the same field, is doing something better{!}
 
..Considering that glaring omission..{to me, at least} of this
non-renewing, now former member's post, of where he has
presumably found his distinctly 'greener pastures,' of a chess
Website nature, I can only conclude, that he hasn't found
any better 'live-game' chess site!; the moral perhaps, is that
if anyone wants to 'bail-out' of here, which.. incidentally, is
their 'perfect-right' to do; blaming it on someone else, will
Always be more satisifying to many a persons' Ego, than ad-
mitting that, while Every thing in life has its' negatives, {as
in, the annoying paucity of players, to be found here}..
who's to say that that will always be the case{!?}.. and if
the 'blindman's-alley' type-of-interface for finding a live-
game opponent, at the I.C.C. Website, doesn't represent
a real problem to the unhappy 'campers' at this site {of
which I was once one}.. then, all that further needs saying,
is: 'good luck', have fun{?!}.. and, 'be-my-guest'!
 
Ps. Lest some people think, that I have a bad case {perhaps}
of being 'in-denial'; whether one considers themself a 'happy'
versus, 'unhappy camper'.. is, like many things in life, a matter-
of-degree; and the fact that I regret the lack of both Misc. 'BB'
posters, plus the somewhat-to-considerable, annoying lack
of spontaneous 'live-game' players, Are negatives to be taken
into account; but.. overall, I grade this place as, at worst, a
"C-plus."
..Though it's seldom if ever mentioned, keep in mind, that one
of the main reasons for the "New Caissa" Web site {aside, from
the "Chess-960" offering}.. is to allow players with "Mars"-
engine compatibility, to Not be bothered with playing against
the slower clocktime, of the 'dial-up' Web players, who are
barred from that "new" chess {Web} site!

If the admins can't manage a decent reply to a loyal longtime-member, who loved this site for 12 years - and at least apologize about all lost corr-games in the badly performed switch of www-addresses - I don't think they deserve you as a friend and member.