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Blacklist of USCF Sales

Taylor Kingston is involved with USCF Sales and is the perpetrator of the blacklist. Naturally, he will deny that it exists. However, it is easy to veryify that there is auch a blacklist. Just call USCF Sales and try to order a book by any author on the blacklist. You will find that you will not be able to order the book. Yet, call Barnes & Noble or any reputable bookstore and you will find that you will be able to purchase books by these authors.

Sam Sloan Sam Sloan 19:08, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

This is clearly not true. For some of the listed authors all their books are simply out of print, and you will not get them directly from Amazon or Barnes & Noble (Sam Sloan is clearly one of them). And at least one author (Keene) is listed in the catalogue. There might be other reasons why there are no books of these authors deliverable by USCF Sales, you are just assuming that there is such a blacklist, you have no proof, and it is definitely not an established fact. Rook wave 04:42, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

Please stay to proven and verified information. You really should have a look at this page: Misplaced Pages:Verifiability. Rook wave 23:14, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

The "Blacklist" seems to be more of a theory than anything else, perhaps the article can be re-written to reflect this. --DaiTengu 04:22, 28 December 2005 (UTC) The issue of this blacklist was debated at the USCF Executive Board meeting in Minneapolis in May and again at the USCF Delegates Meeting in Phoenix in August. It is being debated again on the chess politics and email groups. There is no serious doubt that the blacklist exists. The issue is whether Hanon Russell who took over USCF Sales last year has the right to blacklist authors for political reasons.Sam Sloan 04:30, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

On 27 Dec 2005 20:20:37 -0800, "Louis Blair" <lblai@blackburn.edu> wrote:

>Sam Sloan wrote (Wed, 28 Dec 2005 04:00:51 GMT): > >> Louis Blair has just tried to delete this entry from Misplaced Pages >> eight times. I have no idea why Louis Blair is doing this. > >_ > "Misplaced Pages should only publish material that is verifiable"

A Misplaced Pages Administrator has just solved this problem by posting {{POV}} which means "The neutrality of this article is disputed."

I have no objection and am quite satisfied with this solution. Naturally, Taylor Kingston and Hanon Russell are going to dispute that they have blacklisted some of the most popular chess authors, even though it is obvious to everybody else that they have.

What mystifies me is why has Louis Blair objected so strongly to the inclusion of the name of Anatoly Karpov on the list. A search of Amazon shows that Anatoly Karpov has written 63 chess books. (This includes books that are just in the process of publication and are not out yet.) If a former World Chess Champion has written 63 chess books and NONE of them are for sale on chesscafe.com aka USCF Sales, it is obvious that Karpov has been blacklisted.

Sam Sloan Sam Sloan 17:43, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm a chess outsider here, I play occasionally, but I don't know anything about the politics that go on inside the "Chess Community", nor do I care to get in to it. The only thing I'm concerned about is Misplaced Pages. I posted the nutrality link for 2 reasons.

1. Mr. Sloan is on the supposed "blacklist", and therefore is not a nutral party to this argument. 2. I'm concerned that the blacklist is not verifiable. If it's not, it has no place on Misplaced Pages. --DaiTengu 21:31, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

Thanks to DaiTengu for his observation that gets to the heart of the matter. Not only are Sam Sloan's claims unverifiable, but he uses false information to justify them. It is, for example, false to claim that no Anatoly Karpov books are sold by USCF sales. Most Anatoly Karpov books are out of print and/or out of date. Chess 4 Less (another seller of chess books) currently offers Elista Diaries by Karpov & Henley, a 1996 book listed by Amazon as out of print. Apparently, Chess 4 Less still has some copies remaining in stock. The only other Karpov book that I can find at Chess 4 Less is The Semi-Open Game in Action, a 1988 book that Chess 4 Less is now trying to sell for $7.50 ("MASSIVELY REDUCED"). No "blacklist" theory is needed to explain why the USCF is not currently selling these items. Can Sam Sloan identify a single specific Karpov book where it can plausibly be argued that the USCF should be selling it? Can Sam Sloan identify a single specific person other than himself who believes that Karpov is being "blacklisted" by the USCF? -- Louis Blair

Responding to Louis Blair above I am in contact with ALL of the authors on this blacklist, with the sole exception of Karpov, and they all state that they have been blacklisted. Eric Schiller even made a presentation on this subject at the USCF Executive Committee meeting in Minnesota in May, 2005. This entire matter is currently under consideration by the USCF Executive Board. Louis Blair has debated this issue extensively with another blacklisted author on rec.games.chess.politics . By the way, nobody seems to know who Louis Blair is or what his interest is in this subject. Sam Sloan 09:19, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

My current objection is to the listing of Karpov. Sam Sloan says nothing about his misinformation about Karpov. He does not identify even one specific Karpov book that the USCF should supposedly be selling. He does not identify even one specific person other than himself who believes that Karpov is being "blacklisted" by the USCF. He does not dispute any specific statement of mine. My interest in this subject is the same as that of DaiTengu: If a statement is not verifiable, it has no place on Misplaced Pages. Recently (from Wed, 28 Dec 2005 17:31:48 +0000 (UTC) to Wed, 28 Dec 2005 18:29:45 +0000 (UTC)), an instructive exchange took place at rec.games.chess.politics between Sam Sloan and Taylor Kingston (mentioned by Sam Sloan above as "the perpetrator of the blacklist"):

"I have had no involvment ever with USCF Sales, except for buying the occasional book." - TK
"kindly explain why when I look at the chesscafe.com website I see the words 'Taylor Kingston
& Hanon Russell' prominently displayed at the top." - SS
"It's the 9th Annual ChessCafe Holiday Quiz. I wrote most of it, Hanon Russell the rest. Been
doing that for eight years now. Has nothing to do with USCF Sales." - TK

To those trying to make a judgment in this matter, I suggest looking at www.chesscafe.com and seeing that what it actually says there is "Holiday Quiz by Taylor Kingston & Hanon Russell". Apparently, as Sam Sloan tries to defend his unverifiable claims, we can expect more unverifiable supposed information. -- Louis Blair