coan.net:
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the the site is completely clean. Yesterday I pulled up brainking.com with internet explorer on a different machine (this time at work... one with commercial virus protection) , navigated around to my messages and back, and eventually was hit with ErrorSafe and WinFixer.

TheJazzCafe: Thank goodness, I thought it was just me. When I check my cookies I see one from PC turbo Pro. When it happens it tries to download an .exe file and tries to loop so that you cannot avoid it. It's becoming very annoying.

Thanks :O) I just wasnt going far enough...

JadiesMomma: Hello and welcome. If you look at the left u will see a list Click on" new game" link then u can create a game from there, or go to "waiting games" and u can pick up a game from there.

Enjoy!!

Just click on 'new game' under the games menu (it should be the near the upper left hand of your screen).

Select the game and then you'll be presented with a lot of options. Just hit 'continue' (it explains this on the page as well) and your game will go into the waiting games pool for others to see.

Hi, I just joined and cant figure out how to start a new game for anyone to play. Can someone please help me???

I've done that, and I've installed the ad on. Puffins rule, ok!

TheJazzCafe: lol .. shh .. dont tell anyone .. but i am helping the puffins to take over the world :)

have a look at fencer's blog (brainking.info) to see what he writes about adblocks

I do have good virus protection, and I never download links, but this thing is persistent, and is even bugging me when I'm on my Mac. It won't allow me to close it down. Is it coming from one of the banner ads? It's just happened again in my game with Hrqls. Maybe it's him.

srnity: i think rook members can disable all banners and ads on this site .. i think they shouldnt have a problem anymore then

(i just disabled all yesterday, so its too early for me to be sure :))

not sure if pawns can disable anything

Thanks for the info MM & Jason

srnity & TheJazzCafe: There has been a conversation on the Feature Board (until they were asked to take it elsewhere(Computer Board)) last couple of days. Could be linked to the same problem, sounds like Spyware, something called Errorprotector there though & also banner ads that have been showing up.
If you have a decent Virus protector, Firewall and pop up Blocker you should be fine. I know AVG (grisoft.com) do some good free stuff & if you use Firefox you can get an add-on called Add Block Plus.

srnity: If you use norton or other anti virus software then you shouldnt have any problems , dont download what the links send you too though because it is just a scam

TheJazzCafe: Yup, your not alone...the Drive Cleaner hit me twice as I was logging onto BK just now...this is the third time for me in about five days Only happening here tho - anyone know how to make it go away for good?

Four times in the past few days my browser (firefox) has been hijacked by something claiming to be called Win Anti Virus Pro trying to make me download something. It is always when I've been making a move in backgammon. Is this happening to anyone else?

Fencer: thanks goody gumdrops

MadMonkey: Oh yes. Sure. Soon. When the time comes.

Fencer, when do you think you will set some more Team Tournaments ?

Eriisa: and its a good point he makes in that blog - the global moderators and individual board mods do a great job keeping this site family friendly - thank you all!!

Fencer's blog entry today addresses this discussion.

i really like the vid option - but i heard it said once that - no good deed goes unpunished - so i guess trying to improve the sight is backfiring huh?

TexasToest: Fencer told us Global Moderators when he was implementing this, that the HTML validator only allows tags linking to YouTube. Unless this has changed since he told us about it.

It is true that  embedding code is available on sites other than YouTube.  Is YouTube's the only code allowed here, or is it wide open for any video to be uploaded?

Family Man: Its possible to the music board, your profile and your notebook..not only music videos

Question? Are video up links only allowed on the music board and only for music related clips?

Andersp: Well they could yes, but I could post a bad video of me singing very very badly but it does,nt mean to say I want too lmbo!

jadarite: You just repeated Moustraps earlier post ..."since they can watch the videos somewhere else, why stop them on BK"

coan.net: You are probably correct, and this is much ado about nothing.

Its just that when you allow minors on a supposedly family friendly site watch videos that even the originating site says is not appropriate for kids under 13, then you obviously risk losing your endorsement as a family site.

Andersp: Bad videos are the videos i dont want my kids to watch,

So, Fencer is suppose to know what you find appropriate for you kids? How about my kids? How's Fencer supposed to know what I find appropriate for kids to watch? And for the other millions of parents out there? There's no universal rule of what is considered 'bad'. In the USA, it's consider 'bad' (illegal even) to have a beer a week before your 21st birthday, and if a nipple is show for a fraction of a second on TV all hell breaks lose. In many countries in Europe, it's considered bad to drive a car if you're 16, or for everyone to be able to buy a gun.

If you think your kids should not have the smallest chance to be exposed to certain materials you find questionable, don't let them lose on the internet without you watching over their shoulders.

Andersp: No, that would be a problem. The board system will remain as it is. Including the Music board and videos.

If a Youtube video is not good here, it shouldn't be good on Youtube either. Many videos slip through the cracks, but Youtube has done a responsible job to remove them when spotted (even though I am an adult and would like to see them LOL). I understand the need to filter and remove. I think that is the best compromise. Personally, I don't want to see any Youtube videos on here, but it should be an option. If you don't want your kids to see them, hire a real babysitter to monitor your child's actions and don't leave up to a big box on a desk. Be a responsible parent, block .swf file media content. Use email programs to filter. There are solutions if you don't want your child exposed.

Oh, and by the way Mom and Dad, I saw that video you blocked on the computer when I was on the bus. You see, my friend has one of those nano ipods and you can play anything. Computers are not babysitters. I don't know why people want turn it into some chastity belt for communication.

coan.net: If you expect it to be only a handful of user who are posting, why is it so difficult if Fencer or a mod approve the videos before they are posted?  Fencer approves the pictures we are using in our profile. I dont understand why this should be such a problem.

Andersp: Thing is, where do you draw the line. The thoughts and posts of other people can be very unappropriated for kids, so should Fencer & mods also approve all posts?

The moderators of the Music board is doing a good job in getting a few extra moderators to help watch the board, along with the global moderators who will also be keeping an eye on the board. And I can tell you as a global moderator, if someone does try to push the limits of posting bad videos - we will not have to think twice to take away the rights to post to any board. So hopefully no one will try to push the limits, but if someone does - it will not be long before they will not be heard from again. And since pawns can't post video's, we also don't have to worry about someone creating a free pawn just to continue to post their bad videos.

But this is a fun interesting new feature... which in a few weeks, I would guess it will be down to a small handful of users who will be posting video's regularly.

AbigailII: Bad videos are the videos i dont want my kids to watch, and even if Moustrap prefer to not belive it im sure there are people on this site who could post such videos

Mousetrap: I agree. I have not seen any inappropriate video links posted in well over 2 years.

Andersp: Could you define "bad videos"?

Andersp: I think most people on this site are good people and I cannot understand why you would think anyone would want to post bad videos anyway.

Mousetrap: So you mean that Fencer doesnt need to stop 'bad videos" because kids can watch them on other sites anyway?

Family Man: If kids want to go to utube and watch the videos they are gonna do it anyway. They don,t have to come to a game site to do it.
The only way to stop them would be to close the internet down altogether.

This is a continuation form a discussion on the music board, where the moderator asked us to move it to here instead.....

With the recent talk about this site being designated as a "family oriented" web site, and the recent edition of music and other videos being uploaded to public boards from youtube et al, some are wondering if this is appropriate for such a family oriented site?

Some parents do not allow their children to watch any music videos at all. So even with them being moderated, is it even possible to not offend someone? I mean even talking about bear hunting was considered an unacceptable topic, so how long before videos will cause a stir?

Linda J: I am not sure it is possible since the recent style change. Although it is possible to write your own script to do it, I dont think that is possible with your WebTV.

How do I change the format to rows instead of columns on my main page? I have looked in settings to no avail. I'm on webtv. Thanks

coan.net: I had that same one come up on mine the other day too. I ran my Spywear and found 4 trackers out there. It did only pop up when I logged into BK tho.

kirsten: Yea, all outside ad's have been removed from this site I believe.

So if you are still having problems, it is probable some sort of spyware that is on your PC and has nothing to do with this website.

kirsten:
funny has i thought all those kind of banner ads had been removed from BK

The drivecleaner problem is back again (almost certainly from banner ad(s)). It took over the brainking tab - highly annoying.

Rose: hey, thats great, i miss the guy. He taught me all i know about programming (hmmmm well most of it lol), i want to get my Firefox extension working before he gets back.
I know mctrivia called him a few weeks ago and he is ok, but no news when he will be back. I had to stop the auto player a couple of months back as it was hardly playing any moves for some reason. I think from what mctrivia said that Fencer must off changed some of the code and it was not picking up certain(well most) games.
Say hello from me

MadMonkey: I'm in touch with him I can let him know