Kimberley

Yes, thanks Bill, that was a typo. I was actually thinking about the half price affiliation for dual clubs when I typed that, which was $25, but I meant regular club affiliation of $50. Which, remember, covers both USPSA and SCSA now. Sorry about that and thanks again for pointing it out. Kim

As to the classifier issues, his will be going up on the USPSA.org website very shortly: The recent USPSA report to the membership stated that the policy concerning how many classifiers a club could run at a match had been removed. While both USPSA and Nifty Bytes are working to modify EzWinScore and PractiScore to handle this change, until a new version is released in the next week or two, the workaround in both programs is to select Level I Special when setting up a new match. Currently, the maximum number of stages is limited to six, and the same fee schedule for Special Classifiers will be followed. USPSA has established an ambitious agenda for this year, so we ask the membership to be patient with us as we build the necessary infrastructure to achieve these goals. There are many aspects to be dealt with, and we may not be able to think of all of them at once. Please be assured that USPSA is working hard to prepare for the future, and that we need your input as we go. We appreciate your input and positive feedback as we work toward our goals. Lee G, we're working on it. Slowly but surely. It's one of our goals though, rest assured. Chills1994, club affiliation gains clubs participation in the classification system for both organizations, access to our scoring software, access to our match calendar and results listing for your matches. We have a current click count of about 50 unique visitors per second on the USPSA website, that's a lot of exposure for your club rather than going it alone. In the coming months we'll be ofering dedicated club portals on the USPSA site for clubs to build club pages without any coding experience. These pages will integrate nicely to the USPSA main page and PractiScore for ease of use. There will be tools implemented to aid clubs in club management such as a Range Officer finder and course design software. We offer club program manuals detailing how to effectively manage your club, NROI seminars to train your members and safe handgun safety check for new members. We're adding additional support as it is developed. Not too shabby, in my humble opinion, for $25 per year affiliation fee. Thanks again for the great questions and feedback guys, we appreciate it! Kim

Hi all! The response from this statement has been overwhelmingly positive and as a part of our commitment to better communication we hope to issue regular such updates to keep the membership informed as we progress through these changes. Thank you all for taking the time to send me your feedback, suggestions and encouragement. I'll try to address your questions from this thread. If I miss something, please let me know. 1) All these changes are effective immediately, including the end of the classifier limits. 2) Thomas H, I'm sorry you're unhappy with our decision, but I'm sure willing to work with you. As a benefactor member of USPSA you have the option of a benefactor varsity-type jacket and a $700 tax write off or no jacket and a $1000 tax write off. If neither of those things are acceptable to you, I understand. Just let me know and I'd be happy to refund the SCSA Life Membership for you, no problem. We try to be flexible, so if you have something else in mind, please do email me and I'll do what I can to help. 3) The slot changes are confusing many people. The two biggest changes in the policy: We're not giving slots to clubs and sections for credit outright and we won't be issuing slots to returning area champions. Instead, clubs & sections may choose if they want to spend their credit on slots or other items from the budding catalog or a combination of the two. As to the Area Championships, we have found over the years that fewer and fewer of those members are accepting those slots, but we still must invest hours and hours of staff time contacting the winners to get that rejection. Therefore, members who want to compete may seek out the application and those who aren't interested won't be called, emailed, texted, Twittered and Facebook messaged to death trying to see if he wants his slot. Once club, section and returning nationals champ slots are issued we will simply place a link online where all members may register for the match(es) directly through PractiScore. If it turns out that the match fills, PS has wait list functionality built-in. We'll start a wait list and as drop outs are processed, we'll move slots to those on the wait list, automagically. I believe it will continue to be as it has been in the past in that anyone who truly wants to attend won't have an issue getting a slot through the myriad of possible avenues: club, section, previous champion, wait list, walk on. I think I covered everything, but if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to sing out. I'll try to keep an eye out here. I'm monitoring FB and several other forums as well, but I'll do my best. I'm also available via email at kim@uspsa.org. Please be patient with us. As you can see, we've undertaken a huge workload and committed to some serious changes. We'll need your patience, support, and understanding more than ever. Thanks again guys! Kim

Hi guys, The CRO/RO and GM/M lists will be back in the next issue as Paul said. We ran into some technical issues with our database and due to the tight schedule for the new layout we had to skip it this time. We'll print the list that was supposed to be in the this issue as well as the next issue's list in the September/October edition. Thanks for all the great feedback! Kim

If you have story ideas you'd like to pitch, please send them to us at frontsight@uspsa.org. We've got staff who can help with editing if you're interested in writing for us. We're also working on an e-version of the mag as well, so stay tuned! Kim

Glad you guys like it! We've still got work to do, but we think we're on the right track. We're working on the spine, but ran out of time this issue to get all those little details worked out. Stay tuned for more developments and please continue to give us your feedback. Thanks! Kim

Hi Brandon, We fully expect it to fill, yes. Between the slots we have received in office (approximately 250) and the number of requests on the wait list we anticipate it being right at capacity. Does that help? Thanks, Kim

Hey y'all, If you signed up for the wait list for any of the three matches please keep a close eye on your profile this week and next. I'm going to start releasing a bunch of slots and you'll only have three days to claim it if you're offered one so don't delay. Let me know if you have any issues. I'm available at kim@uspsa.org. Thanks! Kim

Earned slot = $275 Wait list slot = $295 with a $10 deposit, collected at time of sign-up. If offered a slot you will receive a credit for that $10 toward the rest of your entry fee. Walk-on = $295 at the door This price has been in effect for at least a few years now. See complete details here: http://www.uspsa.org/waitlist/ PLEASE NOTE: the wait list date has changed due to some issues with our server and the webmaster's ability to be on hand for a smooth launch. The list will now open on June 5th at 10 PM, EST. Thanks, Kim

I don't want to burst any bubbles, but we went to 12 shooters on some squads because we overbooked the match. There's not going to be 56 slots just arbitrarily available for the first 56 walk-ons. The LPR in particular is worrisome because a hundred thousand people have said they're walking on. Of course everyone is more than welcome to give that a try, but I do want to reiterate what I said earlier: there is no guarantee and we will turn people away if we have to. Thanks, Kim

If you were just offered the slot this past week then you have until Tuesday to respond. After that it automagically falls off your profile. Kim

Hey guys and gals, I just turned on self-squadding for both HG matches so be sure to hop on and get yourself squared away today. I'll be monitoring this topic throughout the day so if you have trouble please shoot me an email or leave a message here and I'll help where I can. If you go to squad and find your name locked that probably means you got a wait list slot and have not yet returned your paperwork. I need the liability waiver completed before I can unlock you. You'll find it on the Nationals page at www.uspsa-nationals.org. You can scan and email to me today and I can go in and unlock you. That's all for now, happy squadding! Kim

Just released 20 slots to each match today. If you're on the list be sure to check your profile. Also, don't forget self squadding opens Saturday, September 8th at 9 A.M. PST and the deadline for refunds is September 14th. Thanks! Kim

Those who earned wait list slots are now added to the self squadding list and the equipment survey has been added to personal profiles for completion. You should also receive a confirmation packet in the next week that confirms your details for registration and includes a liability waiver along with other match details. IT IS VERY, VERY important that you do the following when you receive your packet: 1) Verify information on registration sheet. 2) Notify us of any changes, errors, etc. Email is fine, but notification must be in writing. 3) Sign and date liability waiver. 4) Return waiver IMMEDIATELY to USPSA HQ at: 872 North Hill Blvd, Burlington WA 98233. You're not officially registered until we get that waiver back so please make sure it gets returned to us ASAP. We need them by the time squadding opens on the 8th of September so you'll be eligible to self-squad without delay. I don't have any slots to distribute to either match at the moment. As we get some cancellations in advance of the deadline on the 14th of September I'll have more to distribute, I'm sure. Please email me with any questions: kim@uspsa.org Thanks! Kim

Yes, there is absolutely a chance that you'll make it. I can't guarantee anything, obviously, but chances are very good based on past experience that you would be offered a slot at that number. Kim

@Jared, that was actually the reason for the delay in releasing the wait list slots. Rob was tweaking the system so I could catch the necessary information when you paid for the slot rather than having to wait for US mail turnaround time. Once he tells me the reporting module is done I'll be able to export the latest additions to the database and update the list for equipment surveys and squadding. I expect it to be done within the next week or so at most so keep an eye out for the notice when you're added. It'll be pretty hard to miss as it is a bright yellow message posted to your profile. Thanks, Kim

@Mitch: Squadding will open on September 8th. We've posted the contents of the confirmation packet online for wait list folks so you can plan accordingly. You can find it in pdf form here: 2012 HG Nationals Confirmation Packet I think around page 8 you'll find an informational sheet regarding the self squadding. @noypi916:I have approximately one hundred twenty slots to distribute to each match at this point --but that includes the 30 or so invitations I just sent out. Note that I will not be releasing all 120 slots at once, but rather a batch a day for the next couple weeks. This is necessary so as to not overload the staff here. Hope is not lost if your magic number is higher than 120 though; there are often many fluctuations in the number of slots available. There will still be numerous cancellations between now and the match as well as the removal of those folks who signed up on the wait list and then decide they aren't able to attend. That will allow me to release more as time goes on. Hope that helps. Please let me know if I can be of further service. Thanks, Kim

Okay, we're in business! I just invited a bunch from the wait list and you should see regular movement from here on out until I reach the bottom of the barrel. Thanks again for being so patient while we worked out our kinks and please be sure to check your profile regularly. Thanks! Kim Williams USPSA kim@uspsa.org

We're getting there. Rob got a the system running the way we need it to to make for faster a registration process for the wait list folks, but we've now got a small bug that should be an easy fix. I'm not going to give a date again because as sure as I do something else will pop up but I can tell you it will be very, very soon. Thank you all for your continued patience! Kim

Yes, power is back on and he thinks it's all ready for prime time. He's asked me to invite just 2-3 to start to make sure it's doing what we want. As soon as I hear the okay back from him I'll go ahead and release the rest. Thanks again for your patience! Kim

I know, I know, you've heard it all before. Rob is without power so the fixes still aren't in. He hopes to have it done tomorrow, provided they get power back. I'm going to shoot for then and will keep you posted if that changes again. Sorry for the delay, we're working on it, I promise! Kim

Just a quick update: as you are probably already aware, I did not release the 120 slots yesterday. Rob said he should have the problems fixed by the end of the weekend so look for those wait list invitations on Monday. I'll let you know if anything changes again. Kim

Never doubted it. Will they be served before those who have already submitted their paperwork and payment? No, not exactly, although it may appear that way to someone who isn't aware of the process. A pre-registered competitor could go through the registration line probably at least 3 times before one walk-on is done with his/her registration. The process starts with any interested walk-ons signing up on a clipboard, at the beginning of registration. Then, they wait. And wait. And sometimes wait some more. They're waiting for an opening -- confirmation that someone isn't coming or a drop-out. When their name is called they then have to fill out the paperwork and pay the match fee and then there's more waiting while we get them squadded, print their score sheet labels, make up a dummy badge and then send them through the "normal" registration process of filling out the waiver, equipment survey, etc. At the end of the registration period we void any no-shows and then give those to walk-ons still waiting to get in so, yes, there have been years that we've had walk-ons who have had to sit through all of registration before knowing if they would get in. Compare that to a pre-registered competitor who has completed the equipment survey online, in advance: they walk in, sign the liability waiver, verify class, division, and category is correct, grab a t-shirt, shooter bag, name tag and labels, walk out the other side, done. We try to make the process as quick and painless as we can for everyone, but there's a limit to what we can do. Either way, it's definitely a quicker, easier process if you earned a slot and are pre-registered. I would also like to say, for the record, that I am ever-grateful for our membership and how patient and understanding they are with this process. I've never had anyone snap or even get surly because of the amount of time and effort it takes to get in, even if they've had to sit on a conference room floor for 4 hours. Anyway, hope that helps! Kim

That is correct, there is a separate line entirely for walk-ons. Kim

Sorry, I should have been more clear. That's 120 EACH match. I'm home now and don't have access to the exact number, but I think the match cap is something like 400. I've subscribed to this thread, so please let me know if you have further questions. Thanks, Kim