Uberdude wrote:Bantari wrote:John Fairbairn wrote:Speak up, pros!
The overwhelming majority of go professionals in any country are what the Japanese call "lesson pros" - teachers, and not in the sense of Kitani training a stable of future champions. Their daily bread is earned by teaching little kids, guys trying to relax after a hard day at the office, women who do lunch and go instead of flower arranging, and so on. A lucky few can coach those with real talent. The number who can be matadors and get in the ring with real bulls can be counted in tens worldwide.
It therefore stands to reason that, until a blue moon comes along, all European (or American) pros will have to be teachers. In that light, their almost total lack of engagement with their potential clientele baffles me. L19 offers them maybe the best chance to engage.
Instead they prefer to act like mountebanks peddling the three-card trick on the pavement, hoping that some sucker will walk by. Totally unprofessional.
Somehow I missed this post.
But when I read it, it was like "Yeah, spot on!"
Excellent point, fully agree.
Who is John complaining about? Those people already with professional status in Europe? I think Dinerstein does a perfectly good job of promoting himself and doesn't lack for work, similarly with Guo Juan. Taranu I know less about, but I got the idea he did a lot in Romania, and also decided Go wasn't the purpose of his life. Or perhaps the new AGA pros (Andy Liu and Gansheng Shi)? I believe they are focusing on their university education which seems an eminently sensible thing to do. Or those (mostly young) people aspiring to be the new Euro pros (e.g. Zeno van Ditzhuijzen) or studying in Asia (e.g. Mateusz Surma)?
As much as we all love the sound of our own voices so it seems quite busy here on L19, we are actually quite a small community and a tiny fraction of Western Go players so if you want to advertise teaching, I think promoting on a server like KGS (as Gansheng Shi did a little a while ago) or IGS (as Cornel Burzo who's not even pro does) is probably more effective. Heck, I even got quite a few requests from people for teaching without ever advertising just by being highly ranked on OGS. And there's national Go associations (some even have their own forums too). Of course promoting through many channels is a good idea.
Lol.
We all like the sound of our voices, don't we?
But seriously...
We are a small and struggling community, true, but we can grow and a more active involvement of the existing pros or potential pros can contribute to that greatly. In their capacity as teachers or simply contributors.
As it is, the way I see it, the times when we see any of them post is often when they want to sound the community's reaction to increasing top prizes or something like that, which apparently is enough of a motivation to find this group and write something. It would be nice if the range of topics was wider, even regular contributions maybe. Or is that too much to ask?
It might also create a secondary (or even primary) channel of information and advertising for them, rather than relying on singular servers. And I don't necessarily mean advertisement in the sense of ads which are currently being blocked, but in the sense of 'brand making'. When many people know you from L19 as a nice and reasonable person, who is making nice and reasonable posts, and who involves him/herself with this community, you might bet more students than an unknown teacher.
This forum has potential to reach a much wider audience than national forum or a singular server.
And you have an opportunity to showcase yourself much better than by a short ad on IGS.
Come to think of it, many of the asian pros and organizations profess their undying dedication to popularizing Go in the West. Well, why not then get some pros to start posting here. Can you imagine how much different it would be if we had a few pros contributing, answering questions, analyzing games, or just regularly posting their opinions in here? It might not be a second HnG effect, but it might be close. I think it would do wonders to the community and to Go in the West in general.
However - they do what is best for them, and that's that. What do I know...
Just tossing ideas around. Feel free to disagree.
PS>
I have no clue what John is complaining about, but what I wrote about is part of what I got from his post.
Or at least - this is what resonated with me when I read it. Hope this answers your questions.
