An Unsettling E-mail from the USCF

Two or three days ago, I received an e-mail, apparently from the USCF, saying that Life Members (I am one) had to choose between getting Chess Life in hard-copy or instead taking the "Green" option and viewing it only online, and that we had until February 28th to reply, in any of three ways, before having our memberships inactivated.

I suspected this of being fraudulent, and I wrote to the USCF, but it's genuine.

First, I chose to stop getting Chess Life in hard-copy years and years ago. That choice suddenly doesn't count?

Second--and alarmingly--how can someone who has paid for a Life Membership and who plays rated games every month have his membership inactivated?

Have other people gotten this e-mail? What should we think of it?

I believed they explained that they were trying to flush out Life Members who are not actually alive anymore or have fallen of the face of the planet, and even if one gets inactivated it's simple enough to re-activate. The idea is save money by culling the rolls. I don't think there is anything sinister behind it.

My initial thought is that they are doing some membership "cleanup" (possibly due to members that pass away).  If they publish or maintain a list of members it could be awkward if they are publishing names of deceased people.  If this is the case, perhaps they could have handled it better.  Such as defaulting each member to online versions (unless requested otherwise) and asking for confirmation to keep account active.

i wouldn't think too much of it... otherwise ask them what's going on.

I should think that playing rated games every month would be a pretty good sign that I wasn't dead.

Just in case my joke is taken the wrong way :-)

Mindwalk is not dead.

Rumors to the contrary being greatly exaggerated.

I called them myself, and they seemed genuinely happy that I was alive...

You're not fooling anyone, you know. You'll be stone dead in a moment.

I always regretted not paying for lifetime membership when it was $100 ...it went to $600 soon after and that was too expensive at the time.

so, instead of attempting to contact members that have paid dues, they send correspondence to all, regardless if they have already made a choice. in addition, they apparently send the message to all members, even if they play games daily?

doesn't sound to me like the right way to do what you state. i'd wager that some members may be pissed off enough to quit.

I'm trying to remember the last time USCF did something "the right way to do" it, but nothing's coming through.

@minealk yes, I agree the fact you play live games should be obvious enough.  I think it could be done differently, it's also about how much thought and effort they are putting into it.  Is it possible some living lifetime members don't play rated games?

i don't think it's sinister.  Give them a call and find out.

I don't think it's sinister, either. Just...well, to be kind, let's say it's just not the best-thought-out way of doing things.

I'm still mystified as to why my years-ago choice not to get Chess Life in a hard-copy somehow had to be reiterated. Did they have a fire and lose some records?

Anyway, yes, I agree, it's more strange than nefarious.

I wonder how many people are going to look at it as I did--possibly fraudulent--and fail to reply for that reason?

Not true in some cases.  In fact, I know of one guy who went from 1400 to 2200 by holding "tournaments" with deceased players.  It's not hard to do.  They need some sort of protocol for tying off this sort of loose end.  I don't think this is the way to do it, though.  

such a shock to the system uscf gave its lifetime members , mindwalk has any chess player suffered heart issues due to uscfs shock em see if they move policy ?