There’s a rumor that KGS Plus will no longer require subscription starting next month. All lectures will be free with voluntary donations.
(What I gather here is that probably KGS is dying.)
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KGS has been dying for years. Its outdated, and does not have the requered funding to upgrade itself. Really it needs to go in to private ownership who is able to take it forward… because right now, and correct me if im wrong, but its owned by the AGA?
Actually, it’s owned by the AGF.
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Forgive my ignorence but is there is a difference?
I’m told there is… I know at least that they are wholly distinct organisations, despite their extremely similar interests. But to be frank, I don’t fully understand it. At a guess, the AGA handles playing Go and the AGF handles promoting Go… But that is purely a guess.
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I see, seems to me that if that is the case as you say it, then it would make better sense to simply merge the two organisations?
unless one of them promotes go over the USA, and the other is promoting GO on the continent of America as opposed to just the US.
That would make sense to me too, but I think American organisations are structured such that insanity like this is necessary 
they are registered as different types of corporate structures so that would make merging hard.
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Yes but to be fair America is huge so perhaps there is an advantage to having seperate organisations for seperate goals? Makes no sense to me personally, better to merge and use the funding to really create the impact that they want. Thats what i would do. Merge, then combine resourses that htey already have, then streamline for efficiency… then use funding to really make impact.
But far be it for me to comment further on that, im no buisness/ organisation expert.
But back to the main topic, it would make more sense if they just let KGS die in my opinion. Its a sinkhole for funding, and as a server it hasn’t got the reach it really needs to be successful in the long run, especially as its using, in my opinion, outdated site mechanics to run a server. Look at the difference between OGS and KGS, there is no comparison in terms of games being played, community activity, and indeed the fact that OGS is constantly improving, and its the community that is helping to improve it.
The one sad thing i can think about with KGS dying is the loss of game records and such, but im sure they can be converted to SGF, and uploaded or saved elsewhere? im no expert in this field either to be fair.
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