Open Letters To ChessBase SYSOPs

[Marc Greenhaw]

Harvey

You have locked Kevin Frayer's account on playchess and the reason given was far from the truth. You sent him an email which said “Locked by Harvey Williamson constant clone user and renamer telling all on Rybka forum.” I will add on this post your personal email to him and the post that he made on Rybka forum, that like always your buddy Felix the moderator of Rybka moved to the super secret part of the forum known as “The Edge."

By Frayer Date 2010-12-28 19:46 (Rybka Forum)

A report from the clone war front:

Hello everyone, this is your clone war corespondent embedded with Imperial forces in the engine room.

An all out offensive continues this week in blitz play. Many top players have had their positions overrun by Rebel forces using an insidious new weapon, renamed engines.

Within the last 12 days the Rebels have deployed the newest escape artist into the field. This new engine was simultaneously released in three different camouflage motifs Rybka 4, Stockfish, and Critter, it has been devastating traditional Imperil forces.

Intelligence from from the Imperil Clone Police tell me it is now impossible to distinguish a renamed engine from a genuine one.

The sophistication of these new renames is extraordinary. One intelligence officer told me “Well, what do you expect, you have a guy that got a four year degree from MIT 10 years ago going up against prominent PHDs from Moscow University and Cal Tech.”

But in this reporters eyes the real question is, will imperial SYSOPs round up large numbers of players and send them to the detention camps, or will they see the futility of their present course and go back to free and open engine play.

More later from your embedded reporter here in the PlayChess Engine Room:

Harvey, you also replied to one of my posting on the rybka forum that instead of crying saying they are clones I need to go find proof that they are clones. Looks like you contradicted yourself on the email you sent Kevin Frayer.

From: <sysop@chessbase.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 3:02 PM
To: <Kevin@frayerchess.com>; <Harvey@Hiarcs.net>; <info@chessbase.com>;
<gaby.assmann@chessbase.com>

Subject: Account sandspider locked on playchess.com

Hello sandspider,

Your account has been locked until 26.2.2011.

Reason:
Locked by HarveyWilliamson constant clone user and renamer telling all on
Rybka form

Best Regards, HarveyWilliamson, Administrator on playchess.com

I can assure you that Kevin does not use clones or ever owned one. I know Kevin very well and it just amazes me how you sysop on playchess just throw your virtual ego power around like you guys are some kind of hotshots. You personally accused Kevin Frayer of using a clone and banned him with no proof whatsoever. You gave a two month ban and also banned his other nick. Harvey if you did this kind of crap here in the United States Chessbase would be sued so fast it would make your head swim. Harvey, I think you owe Mr. Kevin an apology and you should re-activate both his accounts. They are paid accounts that you decided to ban with no reason, on top of that you accused him of something he totally did not do or say on the forum like you stated in your email to him.

So I guess it’s that easy to ban someone you dislike or don’t agree with. Harvey, do you really feel comfortable with your actions and can you look at yourself in the mirror every day and say you’re an honest and a person of good character? I really don’t expect you to apologize to Kevin Frayer because that would go against your self proclaimed narcissism but at least everyone is getting know who the real Harvey Williamson is and what he is all about.

Marc Greenhaw
Dallas Texas USA

[thorstenczub]

harvey williamson, felix kling, conkie, sam hull, peter skinner...
we should make a list so that we do not forget them, and
put this list on a website.

so people are warned.

[orgfert]

harvey williamson, felix kling, conkie, sam hull, peter skinner...
we should make a list so that we do not forget them, and
put this list on a website.

And call it two-minute-hate.com.

[John Doe]

harvey williamson, felix kling, conkie, sam hull, peter skinner...
we should make a list so that we do not forget them, and
put this list on a website.

so people are warned.

They are only trying to protect their business. Free and strong chess soft is a murder weapon for them.

[Prima]

They are only trying to protect their business. Free and strong chess soft is a murder weapon for them.

Well why didn't the sysops,chessbase & co. just outright say so rather than makeup clone-stories that, to this day, is not substantiated with facts? Is this why they trample on people's right to use any chess engine software of their choice (as in PCC server) or censor its name & people (as in certain forums), since "the clone claim" made could not be proven?

Anyway, this has been debated extensively. I said it before and I'll say it again: until pcc /chessbase customers consciously & actively refuse to renew their licenses and any financial string-based services operated by chessbase/pcc, chessbase & its so-call sysops will continue to "protect" their business - at the expense of customers' rights and paid memberships/their money. At some point, sensible customers would have to say enough of the oppression and opt out.

Should current customers really stop their memberships with pcc/chessbase, I'll like to see who the pcc sysops can abuse. Maybe they can still abuse & censor people in their forums. It will also be fun to see chessbase keep protecting their business.

[Harvey Williamson]

Yesterday 6000 people online on Playchess. 100 of them in the engine room. I doubt CB will lose any sleep if you do not renew your membership because of their policy on what engines are allowed. As for me if they close the engine room I wil get some of my free time back

[ThinkingALot]

What about the legal aspect?
Does banning customers who use the so called "clones" violate European consumer protection laws?
Does banning customers who use the so called "clones" violate European competition laws?
If someone says that an engine is a "clone", can it be considered slander?

their policy on what engines are allowed.

By the way, is this policy included in the license agreement? With the list of "forbidden" engines?
Have you considered the possibility that, for instance, there's much less (ideas, not code) from Ippolit in Houdini 1.5 than in Houdini 1.03?

[Jeremy Bernstein]

They are only trying to protect their business. Free and strong chess soft is a murder weapon for them.

Well why didn't the sysops,chessbase & co. just outright say so rather than makeup clone-stories that, to this day, is not substantiated with facts? Is this why they trample on people's right to use any chess engine software of their choice (as in PCC server) or censor its name & people (as in certain forums), since "the clone claim" made could not be proven?

Anyway, this has been debated extensively. I said it before and I'll say it again: until pcc /chessbase customers consciously & actively refuse to renew their licenses and any financial string-based services operated by chessbase/pcc, chessbase & its so-call sysops will continue to "protect" their business - at the expense of customers' rights and paid memberships/their money. At some point, sensible customers would have to say enough of the oppression and opt out.

Should current customers really stop their memberships with pcc/chessbase, I'll like to see who the pcc sysops can abuse. Maybe they can still abuse & censor people in their forums. It will also be fun to see chessbase keep protecting their business.

I've never had any trouble with ChessBase at all, but I I barely use PlayChess, and never use the Engine Room. I've had personal contact there with Steffen Giehring, who has always been very polite and very helpful. My biggest beef with them is that their software crashes from time to time (which is merely inconvenient -- I've never lost data), and that they don't publish changelogs for their maintenance updates.

Strategically seen, if you have problems with a part of their operation, it's probably best to focus your complaint on that specific part, rather than taking on the company as a whole. Did Michael Diosi's campaign ever get off the ground?

Jeremy

[Harvey Williamson]

What about the legal aspect?
Does banning customers who use the so called "clones" violate European consumer protection laws?
Does banning customers who use the so called "clones" violate European competition laws?
If someone says that an engine is a "clone", can it be considered slander?

their policy on what engines are allowed.

By the way, is this policy included in the license agreement? With the list of "forbidden" engines?
Have you considered the possibility that, for instance, there's much less (ideas, not code) from Ippolit in Houdini 1.5 than in Houdini 1.03?

If you join a club you have to obey its rules, Playchess is no different. They could close the engine room and just leave the server for Human games if they wanted. They could decide only CB native engines allowed.

[Harvey Williamson]

they don't publish changelogs for their maintenance updates.

Jeremy

One of my beef's is also that they do not publish changelogs.