Is GoBase.org Membership Worth It?

[Katharsys]

Anyone familiar with this website? I've been messing around with it today and I went to go sign up for it so I can access the playback feature (which is where you can upload your own games and GoBase will review them for you) and you submit an application and then it says as long as you've made the required donation (a minimum of 20 euros), your application will be accepted. Can anyone vouch for this?


http://gobase.org/

I think it's kind of a neat study tool. I've been working through some of the problems and I find it "cathartic". other people have been poking jokes at my name so why not, right? Haha

[Kirby]

I'm old, so I have an account from before when they started charging - so I can't explain whether I think it's worth it to pay for the service.

That being said, it is a nice website.

The feature I use the most is the pattern recognition feature, which searches games for a pattern that you specify (they have a java applet).

[Knotwilg]

I'm also an old free user. But I thought it was basically out of service.

[Uberdude]

I too have an old free account. I'm not aware of this playback review feature, what is that? A human reviews it? A computer? I suspect it could just be pattern searches (which are useful but just a tool to aid self-study; you should be clear you aren't going to get unlimited free reviews by a mystery pro for €20 (and they don't have AlphaGo yet!)).
I used to use it a lot for the online pattern search (GoGoD and Kombilo when at home), but now I use http://ps.waltheri.net/. Gobase does have some nice articles (though Charles Matthews' Shape Up! is now available at http://cdn.online-go.com/shape_up.pdf, not sure about the On Your Side series or Peter Mioch's articles) and the game gallery is nice enough, but the pro games haven't been updated for years so I rarely use it now. I would also warn that at some point the owner (Jan van der Steen?) seemed to be uncommunicative so some people made the 'donation' but then didn't get the account for ages so I would ensure you can contact him first that he is active before sending money, though I do see updates about AlphaGo so that is promising.

As for is it worth it, we can't answer it as that depends how much you value your money/time, the answer would be different for Bill Gates versus a penniless beggar

[Calvin Clark]

I have an old free account too, but I rarely use it. I did very much enjoy the articles of Charles Matthews and Pieter Mioch as well. One thing I liked is that they incorporated player rank advancement history and (more importantly) win rate history, so you could see when a player was at his/her peak. I still use that feature maybe a couple of times a year.

I just checked and it's still kind of alive. The first 3 AlphaGo games against Lee Sedol are there and it includes John Tromp's page on the number of legal go position.

[Katharsys]

As far as I can tell you can still get the said articles without having to be a member. And there are better sites out there for tsumego and whathaveyou.

The articles are nice though and I'm looking forward to reading them and working through some of the Graded Go Problems books that I just ordered. I haven't even heard anything back from them so I'm sure my next course of action is an even better alternative...

[Charles Matthews]

Gobase does have some nice articles (though Charles Matthews' Shape Up! is now available at http://cdn.online-go.com/shape_up.pdf, not sure about the On Your Side series or Peter Mioch's articles) [...]

On that point, I did float the idea of reformatting more of my articles, with guys who helped getting the current Shape Up! PDF together. No sequel project emerged then. I'm open to suggestions. On Your Side has garnered some kind words - it's 15 years old, but probably is better for the club player than ancient books on the Chinese style, for example.

I would also warn that at some point the owner (Jan van der Steen?) seemed to be uncommunicative so some people made the 'donation' but then didn't get the account for ages so I would ensure you can contact him first that he is active before sending money, though I do see updates about AlphaGo so that is promising.

One should note that volunteer-led projects such as Sensei's Library and Gobase aren't enterprises that start from a business model.

[jenson]

I have a paid account with them though it's still live but it's not as lively as other sites. I hopes this can be improved. I do like their go problems and articles there.