Dear FT friends;
Steve in CT (Forum owner), has asked me to become a Mod.
I'll do my best to keep the FT section clean and up to date. I cannot check every day, especially during weekends, so bear with me, a little patience is greatly appreciated.
As for SOP's: PLEASE:
1.- If I miss a programmed shoot/match, call it to my attention. Shoots that are IN THE FUTURE, will be "stickied" meaning that they will hold their top place in the roster
2.- As soon as the report for the shoot is ready, PLEASE, PLEASE, post it to the ORIGINAL thread. After a week it will get "unstickied"
3.- Whenever possible, please post the report in full. Links are always a bit cumbersome.
4.- I know it is more work, but please remember that FT is a VERY technical sport, so posting just the placement table is not as interesting as putting in all the details of the shoot, from equipment used to environmental conditions, everything you can add will add "views".
Thanks, keep well, and shoot straight!
HM
Thank you for all your efforts Hector. Your input is always welcome.
Congratulations Hector, I totally agree with your thoughts about posting match reports. Years back there seemed to be more feedback on all matches. Now a days, sometimes a match report is never posted on a FT forum. We do have a few Match directors like Greg S in Boone County, Leo G from Rockville, Ct do an interesting writeup of all their matches and usually in a timely fashion. The bigger events always seem to take a little longer and that is understandable. Many clubs now seem to post their match report to their clubs web site. This makes it rather difficult for all that attended or not, to read it as we always did on the old yellow forum. It takes a lot of work to pull off a good FT match and if it happened the match info should be available for all to view. That creates the interest in our game that keeps us all marching on and coming back. We have clubs in Ohio, N. Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Texas, California, Oregon that usually always put out great match reports for their GP's and some also do at their monthly matches. Overall, it seems a lot quieter on the FT forums than it use to be, and I'm not sure that is good for our game. JMHO
Thanks for your kind words, Bill.
We'll try to be as helpful as we can. If any MD has problems posting, they can contact me through the PM section.
Again, thanks!
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
Back during the Carolina Classic days we found that the results were out on social media before we even got home from the match to sit down and write a match report. It got to the point where we didn't write a match report for the last Classic.
Times were changing even back then & I don't have a problem with that.
MD's also had to submit results to AAFTA & that became a headache due to the format. My point is that MD's work like one armed paper hangers meeting the requirements and it's nice to get a break when it's done.
I admit i haven't kept up but I would hope that those things have changed for the better, but I digress.
The rimfire world uses Practiscore to automatically report results to a standard format that everyone uses. Perhaps we need to set up something similar, but until that happens it's probably a good idea not to expect an immediate match report, especially when it can usually be found on FB or other media formats.
K
The issue here is the "user", the "provider", and the "public".
AND the "audience".
Different things are geared towards different purposes.
I know that Clubs are required to file a formal report with AAFTA, I did it even remotely from Mexico over two decades ago. That is ONE purpose.
There is no established format for the report, so each MD puts in his own "flavour" of data organization, picture policy, and "texture" (of the text).
Perhaps a good proposal to AAFTA is to setup a "circuit" in PractiScore and use that as a technical report.
Now, what would we be loosing?
Personally, I enjoy reading all the reports because there is always a personal aspect that cannot be conveyed in an excel file.
EVEN, if the "PractiScore" style of score reporting could accommodate observations as wind, its changes; temperature, and its changes; even shooter moods and its changes (whoever said that FT shooters are not moody!), I do not think it would reach the "human-quality" aspect of a good MD report.
I understand there is a ton of work, yes, and I am not wanting a novel for every match. Just some personal notes to keep the sport in the way (I THINK), we all love it: A personable, kind, human, social, sport/hobby.
For example: take a Miniature, SMALL SLIVER, of what happened at the just finished WFTC's in Phoenix:
The scores already posted do not tell of the two shooters that had scopes loaned by the exhibitors because their scopes failed, and the shooters from three different nations that were trying to help.
In the rare occasions where this happens in ANY other sport it's news worthy, to us, it is just "par for the course".
So, I really think that a good report is the "crown" to a good match.
It IS, JMHO, and is worth what you paid for it. LOL!
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear.
I'm advocating for the immediate posting of results and patience in the publication of a match report.
The reason for my position is that, AFAIK, there is no requirement for an MD to submit a report.
Notwithstanding the fact that I also enjoy reading match reports, applaud your willingness to help collect them into one location, and agree with what you've said, the Yellow forum enjoys no official status as part of AAFTA.
The main thing that we can't say loud enough about WFTC2024 is that it ran like a swiss watch. The courses were well covered by Marshalls and there were hardly any cold lanes. Over the three days of the match my squad was never called cold.
K
Under AAFTA requirements, each club, to be considered "In good standing", needs to post at LEAST ONE official Match report to AAFTA per calendar year.
So, there is a SMALL requirement.
I've been looking at the Practiscore system and it WOULD seem like a good idea to propose this to AAFTA.
Have you considered talking to Jeff Cloud about it?
About your very accurate comment on the WFTC's 2024, I would think it would be wise to give the "Organizators" a few more days to see what comes out. I would imagine that the photos need to be collated and shared, and the comments by the MD need to be put into paper once all the adrenaline rush has passed and he has managed to get his life back on track. In that sense, a separate thread would be more than welcome and I would invite you to start it.
As usual, thanks!
HM