I too feel sad at the loss of Chequers. Neal & Marty were two of the cyberchipping pioneers along with people like Marv Weaver at CompuServe and Michael Knapp on Prodigy. As more and more people started to own computers, the online services and the internet became more and more popular. They were some of the first to realize the possibilities of what we now pretty much take for granted, things like email for trades, online auctions, quick access to chip news, etc. So, although Chequers will be no more, at least we'll still have our friends Neal and Marty around to interject their wisdom and unique sense of humor into this great hobby that we all share.

I don't know the actual costs involved with operating Chequers but I imagine that with the exception of JC, who is employed by Neal, the actual server space and internet fees are very similar and probably a little less than what mine are for the CyberGuide and it's associated features. I say a little less because the CyberGuide is very graphic intensive and with nearly 3,000 chip photos I have to purchase quite a bit of space.

I have no plans to discontinue my CyberGuide or any of it's features, including the bulletin board, the chip links pages, etc. I currently sell advertising in the form of the display ads you see at the top of the various pages as you move around the site. I would be lying if I said that the current level of advertising is paying all the expenses, but at this time I'm comfortable that it will in the future and I can live with that.

Chequers provided some valuable services to us as chip collectors and I would be more than happy to help see that those things don't just disappear. I have the software nearly ready for a free, post-it-yourself classified advertising page and you will see that in the near future. I invite everyone who was writing the various news stories for Chequers to submit new articles to me and I will set up a place for them. Likewise, anyone who isn't already listed in my Chip Link pages please click the "Free Offer" button on the main CyberGuide page and I'll get a link put up for you.

Greg Susong