[mattshan]

Thoughts from an infrequent poster –

I am a follower of the posts on this site, a daily RDSS user and a lover of the game of handicapping thoroughbred races. I found this site as well as the Sartin Methodology after nearly 45 years of handicapping with other resources. This “find” was some 6-7 years ago. For me this site has been a valuable and consistent contributor to my learning, re-learning, and helping me find new perspectives that have made the game so much more fun than my previous efforts. I have read much of the literature in the Sartin library, watched many of the videos and have benefitted most from the teachings and sharing of the community members and their online posts. A rich sharing of perspective, counter point, and a reminder that there are more than a few different ways to find value in this game. Thank you to all of you who have shared your perspectives and given guys like me the opportunity to push ourselves and to more fully tackle and appreciate the intellectual challenges that the game presents daily.

I have been casually following the TS thread and have watched, along with many of you as the “conversation “has evolved in its emotionality, critical thinking, and intensity. While it is true that I rarely post on this site I felt it appropriate to add my “two cents” to the thread and share what I have been thinking.

My first thought is to verbalize (as others have done here) my genuine appreciation and respect for Ted. Whether helping my own technically challenged self-load RDSS on to my computer, giving one on one attention to my own (as well as many others, I am sure) various technical challenges over the last 6 years, solving problems like TS data or sharing his own teachings to the community he is obviously and resolutely committed to making the RDSS experience positive for each of us. This level of consistent commitment to customers is more and more difficult to find with companies and I see Ted as a model for customer care and service. I have no doubt that (as he has said) that Ted, with help from others will figure out a solution for this current issue (TS Data) or find an even better solution.

My next thought is to express fully my love for RDSS. I have not tried all the software out there, but I did spend real money on three other software packages before finding RDSS and, for me, they were not useful. I use RDSS as a stand-alone tool. That is how I started with it, and I never found the need to use other data or software resources (other than Trackmaster) alongside RDSS. After reading the posts in this thread I am reminded again of how many ways there are to utilize RDSS whether with additional resources or without. For some it is a stand-alone, for some it is a portion of their toolkit. Whatever an individual chooses to put together, the option is there. What I love the most about RDSS is that it works if one brings a genuine mindset of hard work, continuous learning and experimentation then continuous improvement is inevitable. I personally cannot imagine taking on the daily challenges of handicapping without the efficiency, accuracy, and capability of RDSS. Once again, my regard for RDSS takes me back to Ted and my appreciation for making it core to his business life to develop a tool that can do what RDSS can do. Thank you.

The last thought that I would like to share is a selfish one. For me this community has been a place to go for learning, reading, listening, and finding stimulating material about the handicapping of horse races. It has represented the opportunity to learn from many who are more experienced and capable than myself when it comes to finding value and refined methodology. It has been a rare community in its willingness to share and challenge perspectives. And then………As I sat periodically reading the TS thread it was difficult for me to tolerate the operational nature of the conversation. Difficult because it struck me as a major departure from my previous experience on the site. Difficult because Ted will fix the issue or find a better solution for users because he does that. Difficult because as I reread the full thread there was an emerging critical nature to many of the comments and the choices of words in some of the posts. To put it simply, the conversation has seemed to drift away from the focus on sharing and learning, that brings more skill and better results to all. The selfish part for me is that I hope the community continues to be a forum focused on learning and sharing and continues to benefit the many of us who appreciate that focus. My lesson for myself in this thread is to reach out and express myself otherwise go in the corner and be quiet.

Thoughts expressed.