The June supplement files are available for download. These are the one month update files, for events rated since the May supplement files were prepared. A new Gold Master file, with over 663,000 current and former members, is also available.
Traditionally June was the month in which we issued a six month printed supplement.
Should we make a six month set of update files and a six-month PDF available in addition to the one-month update?
No, you should replace the one-month file with the six-month cumulative that people were expecting.
Look further down the list of files, we now have the June file plus a six month file, which is cumulative for everyone who had events rated (or rerated) in Jan-Jun 2007, plus a complete Gold Master file.
Why both? Isn’t this just going to confuse people?
While it might confuse some, it might be a great thing for others. The current system of monthly updates is a real chore for those that fall behind. Making things easy for those TDs (if possible) sounds like a win-win to me.
Tim
My point was, why the one-month version? If you’ve already installed the earlier supplements, the cumulative will simply overwrite with the same information. If you haven’t, and install the wrong one in June, you’re going to have a problem. (Especially if you don’t notice it until after the tournament starts.) The only advantage I can see is a slightly smaller download size. Does anyone still use dialup for these things?
People do things other than load the files into their pairing programs, the smaller monthly file might be beneficial to them. That’s probably true for those who are printing out the PDFs, too.
Moreover, it also gives a chance to see whose rating changed THIS MONTH as opposed to sometime in the last six months.
Is anyone else having problems with the Gold Master file? I’ve downloaded it twice (just in case something went wrong there) and am getting new error messages for me. When trying to reindex with Tournament Administrator, I get a “Corruption Detected” error message. And when I try to open the file in Paradox 8, I get a “Unable to Open Table” - “Write failure”.
It looks like the DBF file is corrupted. A similar thing happened last month, I’ll have to check with Darrell when he gets in, I don’t recall what caused it the last time around, but he’ll have to recreate the file.
Is the Gold Master file still in the old format, where certain information (such as the number of games for provisional players) is missing?
Bill Smythe
Yes, it is still in the old format. When a new format is available, the pairing programs will need to be updated to accept the new format anyway.
A corrected Gold Master has been uploaded.