Att: all UK Judoka

The BJA forum just launched, for anyone interested.

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/british-judo-members-forum

Unfortunately this is not for all UK Judoka. I think you'll find even BJA affiliated members from the BJC and AJA will not be able to join the forum.

Carlo wrote:Unfortunately this is not for all UK Judoka. I think you'll find even BJA affiliated members from the BJC and AJA will not be able to join the forum.

That's not fair. If it's everything British Judo as it claims, everybody interested in talking about British judo should be allowed to be a member.

Do like the "Introductions" forum.

We shall see how their new, exclusive forum goes.

I am a Life Member and I cannot access it......

It's early days; not many members and not much content yet.

Jonesy wrote:I am a Life Member and I cannot access it......

Wow. That's truly FUBAR.

I am a WJA member and unable to set up an account.

still learning wrote:I am a WJA member and unable to set up an account.

so, who exactly is eligible? No wonder there seems to be only 4 users at this point. So much for a place for people to discus British judo - guess you must be a very select group of people. Hope they change that soon so that they can live up to their billing. Alienating people doesn't boost confidence or create a reliable base of contributors let alone interesting conversation.

still learning wrote:I am a WJA member and unable to set up an account.

My Life Membership s WJA......but it says on the licence BJA too.....

Been a BJA member over 40 years so I bomped onto the BJA forum yesterday, registered and logged in without a hitch. It’s new so not a lot happening.

Hopefully the present exclusion of everyone else is just a glitch and will be addressed soon, however it must be quick otherwise (and understandably) people will figure that they are not wanted and the forum will wither on the vine.

I don't think it's a glitch, as you need to have a BJA licence number when you register.

My apologies; when referring to “excluding others” I should have made it clear that I meant WJA and SJF members. It has always been my understanding that both of these organisations are constituent members of the BJA unlike the BJC and AJA and therefore have the same rights as all BJA licence holders, including access to the forum.

Limiting participation in the BJA forum to members only causes me concern as it denies the input of many views such as this forum enjoys. Restricting access further and only opening it to BJA members registered with an England based club begs the question what is the point of having said forum?

sydvicious wrote:The BJA forum just launched, for anyone interested.

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/british-judo-members-forum

I am an affiliate member through the BJC and am unable to access this new forum. I hope indeed that this is simply a glitch, and that soon ALL judoka will be allowed access to the new site. If not then I'm afraid it's the same old them and us situation that many have tried to rectify. Time will tell if they really are interested in everyones opinion, or simply a select few.

It wont let you register unless you have a valid and in date BJA license number which corresponds with the name and address that it asks you to enter.

I am a WJA member(Welsh Judo Association) and have been for nearly 30 years. I was a member of the old BJA forum and it was a nightmare logging in everytime (not that I used it much). I came to the international judo forum before the old BJA forum and found that it was much more accessible and better in terms of content when Judosensei was hosting it. Now this forum is the only judo forum that really matters to me.

LeighJudo wrote:It wont let you register unless you have a valid and in date BJA license number which corresponds with the name and address that it asks you to enter.

Idiots. They are deliberately disenfranchising 3/4 of the so-called membership base - WJA, NIJF and Judo Scotland. Any competent organisation should have thought of this and any competent IT designer would have picked it up too.

So stupid it is beyond belief......

It seems to me that any judo discussion would benefit by having input from as wide a range of people as possible. Everyone, even people who don't yet do judo but are considering it, should be able to learn about judo and the BJA without having to go to another site. You could always restrict access to certain discussion areas so the BJA membership has an opportunity to talk about internal politics or sensitive issues, but it does not make judo look very inviting if the entire judo community cannot participate in general.

Even when there is criticism, complaints or comments that could be of concern to the leadership, it is a learning opportunity. You can't address problems if you don't solicit opinions.

Jonesy wrote:

LeighJudo wrote:It wont let you register unless you have a valid and in date BJA license number which corresponds with the name and address that it asks you to enter.

Idiots. They are deliberately disenfranchising 3/4 of the so-called membership base - WJA, NIJF and Judo Scotland. Any competent organisation should have thought of this and any competent IT designer would have picked it up too.

So stupid it is beyond belief......

Have you spoken to anyone at head office to see why? or to ask what is being done about it?

Probably not, much easier just to jump to conclusions and throw your teddies out of the pram....

Secret Squirrel wrote:

Jonesy wrote:

LeighJudo wrote:It wont let you register unless you have a valid and in date BJA license number which corresponds with the name and address that it asks you to enter.

Idiots. They are deliberately disenfranchising 3/4 of the so-called membership base - WJA, NIJF and Judo Scotland. Any competent organisation should have thought of this and any competent IT designer would have picked it up too.

So stupid it is beyond belief......

Have you spoken to anyone at head office to see why? or to ask what is being done about it?

Probably not, much easier just to jump to conclusions and throw your teddies out of the pram....

So easy to assume what forum members are doing, rather than ask a polite question.

I've already contacted both the WJA and BJA on this issue and despite the exchange of numerous e-mails nothing has been achieved.

From personal experience I know any contact with the WJA is a waste of time.

I have now managed to gain access. The membership number I needed to gain access was some 30 years old, and my very first BJA membership number dating from a time before the WJA started issuing their own licences.

Just if anyone is interested there is pretty much zero content on the BJA Forum. My access was sorted by Alex Rainforth, BJA Membership Officer - alex.rainforth@britishjudo.org.uk

I've not looked at any sites recently. Don't think I will bother to get involved with the BJA site. Will pop back here every so often, just to see if people think the new administration is living up to the promises made during the BJA election campain.

I found the BJA facebook page to be a hive of activity. Lots of intereting discussion going on there and certainly more active than this forum