I remember this club being formed about ten years ago in response to some of the very things I have been reading on this discussion board lately and someone drafted me into it. I imagine that any of the players still using BrainKing might move regularly.
****** HerculesBeast *****
It was a dedicated bunch at the time and it was not a fellowship so that all members of BrainKing could join it.

I just looked at this club. It seems it is not maintained any more since 2006. Perhaps some of you that want regular or quick moving opponents without having to set short time controls might be interested in doing something similar? And this is the issue, right? Wanting fast moving opponents without setting short time control parameters? I ask this, because it is quite easy to set short time controls or use the Fischer Clock, so what else is all the complaining about? The Fischer Clock has the tremendous advantage of having the game end eventually. Its big disadvantage is when you are going to be away from the computer for many days or weeks. It'd be nice if there was a way to freeze the game while this happens, say something that would require both opponents to agree to it, and then pick up the game when you return, but we don't have that option. As for the other timing method, I know I have 45 days of vacation and weekend days off too and I could take over a year to make 2 moves in a 7 day per move game depending on when my opponent moves.

I only have 15 running games at this moment. Yes, I am a Life Rook Member and I could choose to play hundreds of games. Each of us uses the site in the manner that leads to our enjoyment. My way is different, and it'd be very presumptuous of me to say it is better than someone else's way. Each game site has certain benefits and parameters built into it that might change over time. No matter which site a person is a member of it is up to that person to use the site as he can within the workings the site owner sets up. Fairly obvious, but it seems to get lost in the arguing of what we have as compared to what we think we have. I am no fan of people that use the clock as part of their strategy for winning a game, nor those people that have hundreds or even thousands of games who are more or less forced to let the clock almost run out as they race to move before the time out occurs are aggravating to me for different reasons. So I avoid playing both of these types of clock users. I drop out of joining a tournament when I see one or more of these types of players on the list and the tournament is not timed with a Fischer Clock. Even with just these few games running I often make over one hundred moves in a day, though it is obviously not just me that must move. So if your opponents move too slow, get different opponents or stop playing and do something else.

As for what's wrong with BrainKing. It is easy to spot its decline in fun, especially for those who have much fun using the discussion boards. The creation of the Global Moderators and powers that Fencer gave them. These boards used to be very lively places of discourse and humor, but not since that happened. Stifling self-censorship has made people just not write any more, let alone moderator censorship. This is something that completely changed how I went about posting to these discussion boards. Having one of these people just delete a post of mine without any recourse or remorse. Yes, I'm chancing that with this post, but them's the breaks. With the rise of Facebook and Twitter, I imagine that the writers of us won't be coming back here to this limited audience any time soon.

I suppose the other thing is that Fencer has changed, but we all have things in our lives that change. If I had the money, I might buy the site, but then what? I do not program computers and it'd be a mess until I learned how to.

DeaD man WalkiN:get over it gone with your gamrs

alexlee: I understand now thank you.

crosseyed:
He means they are multi-nics

Bwild: Do you mean someone paid for their membership?

I tried for years to get people to make a big thing about slow players and I was just told that they are playing with in the rules. So, I made my mind up to start playing like them. And now I still see the same talk about slow play. Like I was told just get over it. My games will run out some day. But I understand that this site is up for sell. So, I hope all the pay members don't have to start over and that goes for the forever membership. Well that my say so back to my corner.
Oh, this i my first post in over a year. Hope everyone don't start jumping on me. This is from a passed member but the site did not want to help out and they know what I'm talking about. And I know this will get removed so no biggie to me...

Bwild:

???

most of the free players are also paying members...lol

JerNYC: That was a pretty "snooty" post coming from someone complaining of a "snooty" membership base.
And sorry, but EVERY turn based site has people complaining of "the slower players". Even at the sites you list.

I, along with most of the paid membership base, certainly do appreciate the free players as well. It's only common sense that the base of available opponents would be pretty small if only paid members could play here.

JerNYC:
I apologise for using the emotive term freeloader.

I was specifically attacking those individuals who try to get something for nothing, by complaining about people not moving fast enough, thereby enjoying increased benefits for themselves to the detriment of others.

If you play in an over the board chess tournament, for example, you don’t get your opponent complaining that you are not moving fast enough. If you play so slowly you run out of time you lose the game. It is the same here.

I was not attacking those who simply play their games and have the common sense to chose clock times that suit themselves, rather than expect others to adhere to there terms.

Again, I apologise for using the term which was overly emotional.

crosseyed: hear, hear...I agree with what you have said :)

JerNYC: As I stated in a previous post each to their own. I still think this site is the best to play in for layout etc. IYT no longer have discussion boards and runs very slow for me. and I can't understand Goldtokens layouts so don't bother with the discussion boards. Granted Goldtoken is upgrading and improving the site and if things do fail the owner does extend membership sometimes. If this site is losing members it has to be because Fencer has shown no interest in this site anymore which is a pity.

Some of you people crack me up, you know that? As if all non-paying players are somehow beneath you and warrant contempt. I have never seen a snootier membership base on any board game site. As if Brainking is soooo much better than all the other sites. Well, it's not and the declining numbers bear that out. BK falls behind IYT and GT in many aspects. Since 2008, I have played regularly at all three sites and I also used to frequent Little Golem and YourTurnMyTurn. Same name, same person. So, I'm not just speaking off-hand here. I know all these sites very well and I have always felt that BK offered the least value to me. In terms of tournament play, I get a lot more competition on IYT and at a much faster pace. Same with the ladders. It's become a running joke that BK has the slowest players around. I can face the best competition in the world on Little Golem (in Go Moku and Connect 6, anyway). If what I want is a real sense of community with down-to-earth and humble people then I know GT is the place for me (and I have been a paid member there). Not only that, but GT innovates more than anyone else. They are constantly introducing new games and variants and updating site features. My intent here is not to belittle BK but to make some of you understand that it's not worth it for some of us "freeloaders" to join your fiefdom. However, I am happy to be exposed to as many advertisements as can make money for Fencer in exchange for a few free games of Frog Finder. The funny thing is I remember when everything on the internet was free in the early 00's and nobody was calling anyone names then. ;)

What we need is a new feature: CTRL, ALT, Zap! Then we can send a slight shock to the slower players and help them along! j/k ! I don't like playing slow players either. When I had lots of games it didn't matter but now it shows. However, I do recognize that I have choices and I shouldn't impose my play preferences on others. So my attitude has changed. I can choose to play in faster tourneys only. Guess what? It works! ;) Even an old fart like me can learn something new!

beach: It is often the case that people will not sign to a tournament starting, say, in 3 days but they would sign on one that is about to start as soon as the minimum number of participants sign up.
I've had most of my tournaments starting up while past the starting up time.

I think the waiting period before deletion is a good thing.

Justaminute:   it would be nice to have different people creating different tournaments not everyone likes the same games.  As for having one auto generated tournament (similar to IYT)  the tournament set up here is the one I like the best I like the option of being able to create a tournament when I want to.  The situation on the current board was discussed several months ago with fencer on here.  I thought he was going to make some changes.  There are less and less people playing on this site which I think is part of the problem with the tournament section.  I used to post tournaments with different variations and games (although always 3 day limit) but found I couldn't get 8 people to sign up so the tournaments could run.  A problem with the current board is tournaments staying on after scheduled start date.  My personal opinion is that when a tournament is supposed to start it either starts or should get deleted, it shouldn't be able to sit on the board for another 30 days waiting for people to sign up. 

Aganju:
I do agree the tournament system is one of the weaker parts of Brainking, and it seems to be a case of the inmates running the asylum. The plus side is that you can create an endless variety of tournaments, but right now there is an endless list of the same tournament. Some sites simply set up a fixed number of tournaments each week, or there is only one open one at a time. I would prefer this as you would probably get more people entering each tournament if there was only 1 to enter. It does limit the variety on the time per move, clock type etc which is Brainking’s strength and well as its weakness.

Aganju: Once again I agree with you totally What I did like was your suggestion about Backgammon variants tournaments. I don't really like playing single games as it can be too one sided sometimes and over very soon. I like playing 3 and 5 or more points games too. How about you setting one up then for us?

beach: I generally agree. Everyone is free to join in a game or tournament, and if you do so and not read or understand the time settings, it is your fault, and you should not blame others for it.
Yes, I do not like to have 100 or so games hanging around from 2012 and earlier, which move every 29.9 days only, but if it really bothers me, I should not have joined them to begin with. It is like in real life - if you buy a broken car that is advertised as such, you got a broken car, so nobody to blame except yourself.

Regarding beach's point to the tournaments (which I find much more interesting and fruitful to discuss): I have the feeling that the tournament list has been taken over by an enormous amount of numbered the-same-all-over-again tournaments, that nobody ever signs up for. I often spent half an hour trying to find a tournament to join, but all of them are the same, and have only one or two players waiting. I think we should target quality before quantity, and then people would join again. But again, yes, I understand that a paying member bought the right to create a gazillion useless identical tournaments. So be it. I hope you get happy with it.

One side note: I would join a lot more Backgammon-variant tournaments, if they would not be created as one-pointers. Any serious backgammon player knows that the game needs the cube, and playing only one single game is too much random winning. So please, when you create backgammon type tournaments, use at least 5 points (or more), and allow the cube, and you will get more players.

beach: Again I agree with you totally.

For my 2 cents worth here, I too play against paying and non paying members.  I pay for a membership and I play a lot of games that is the purpose of my membership.  I play usually only 3 or 4 day time limit games I rarely take 7 days tournaments because for my liking they are too slow and I always play those games last.  Time limits are a personal choice.   To those that only play a few games and want moves made several times a day I suggest you post games in the waiting room or choose game from there with a 1 day limit.  The beauty of this site is there is a time limit that suits everyone.  This is one of my favourite sites, I play several times a day, but sometimes real life effects how many moves I make a day.  There are several of us that play lots of games and again that is our right with a membership.  There are less and less fellowships now that post tournaments not like in the old days.  I used to post new tournaments in the tournament section where everyone could join, and found there are fewer and fewer people here that wish to play, as a result when someone else posts a tournament I join.     I have never had a problem with anyone who plays within the time limits.  So to those that complain, I suggest buy a membership if you can, if that is not possible post really quick games in the waiting room.

ThunderGr: I treat everyone the same whether they are non paying members or paying members. I move as fast as I can within the time limits if not sooner. If I am losing I don't slow down and sometimes if I am losing badly I resign the game to save wasting time. Each to their own we all have other commitment in our daily lives that can mean we sometimes can't play for some reason or another.

badgerboy78: I find it unreasonable to *complain* about your opponent moving within his time-limits.
I do not think this has anything to do with membership level. And a simple, I move within my time limits, please do not complain about that, would suffice, in my opinion.
There are questionable behaviors, though, like players that move reasonably fast but, when they see they are going to lose the game, start moving at time limit, which is really unsportsmanlike but the only thing you can do about that is just stop playing against those players.

ThunderGr:
I think this is a sensible proposal, 1 board that I can ignore if my blood pressure can't take it any more like the politics board.

Justaminute: What you propose does not sound unreasonable to me. When I was a non-paying member I was wondering whether I could post to discussion boards or not, before I post my first ignorant question that some very helpful paying members bothered to answer.

The creation of a board specifically for non-paying members to post and the reservation of the others for paying members would help a lot, I think.
This way, those willing to help could check that board while those like you, that are bothered by those posts could avoid the "nuisance".

I think that complaining is as much human as possible and that it is not confined to either paying or non-paying members.
It is in anyone's discretion to misinterpret a complain if they so wish, but this does not make the interpretation right.
Complaining is a form of interaction and posting a complain in a general way *may* result in the improvement of someone's situation(or it may get them flamed, of course :P).
I am one of those that prefer even flames to stay in the non-condescending spectrum of discussion :).

I've received more than a few complaints from members (usually non-paying but sometimes not) about slow play My usual response is "buy a membership so you don't have to beg for moves". It's illogical to me that someone selects a game with a 3 or 5 day move limit then complains if the opponent uses most or all of that limit. Especially if a player is only playing 20 games, they have more than enough opportunity to select only games with a 1 day limit. Leave the others alone. Of course, then they would probably complain if their opponent wasn't moving 3 or 4 times a day.

ThunderGr:
I think posting to discussion boards should be a privilege of paying members only.
20 moves is an allowance for people to determine whether they want to join the site or not. If they want to spend years as non members playing only 20 moves then that is their decision. but I don’t see I should have to listen to their complaints that they are getting less than they want when they have paid nothing for it.

Justaminute: It is understandable that when you have just 20 games allowance to play, the delay in moves gives you a harder time than when you have dozens, hundreds or thousands.
Instead of initiating a rivalry, it is best if you explain it to them and help them find games with better time-controls for their preferences.
As for the contribution, I was a non-paying member a few months back, as well.
Several of my games are against non-paying members because most paying members...do tend to move slowly for my liking, even in time-controls like 2dpm-no days off.
If people like the site, they can bring other members as well, which could either become paying members or contribute with their participation, ideas and, yes, even whining.
If paying members are being condescending instead of understanding and helpful, those people will, most likely, leave and the site loses with them leaving, as well.

Last, but not least, I think it is best to behave to non-paying members with the same respect you would want to be treated if you were a non-paying member.

ThunderGr:
And yet we have to read endless posts from non paying members complaining about paying members playing too slowly. Time to fight back. Personally I think they contribute very little.

Justaminute: Condescending attitude towards a person is hardly justified. The site would be much less without the non-paying members. Please, consider that when you express this kind of opinion.

crosseyed:
I likewise get tired of hearing freeloaders whining.

speachless: I agree with you totally. This guy only plays 8 games. We as paying members take advantage of our membership and perhaps take on too many tournaments because I like to support people who take the time to set them up. I like to play fast but I cannot makes moves for every game everyday.

Hrqls:

this is an open forum which is intended to be about brainking

we allow a few off-topic posts, but when there are too many then we will gently ask to continue elsewhere

both the posts of aaru and of dice cheater are within the topics of this forum, so they are both allowed

however it shows of respect of the original posted to leave his thread on his topic, and not hijack it for your own topic

therefore dice cheater could best have started a new thread instead of posting his opinions about slow players as a reply on a post in the thread of aaru

aside of that : the subject of slow players have been talked about a LOT already and there are many opinions about this .. the site offers many ways to setup your games and tournaments, so you can always find a game with a time limit which you like best ... and if you somehow do get stuck with a slow player you can always ask him gently in a pm to move faster (i am not the fastest player, but i can move faster against specific opponents when asked)

about the problem with the timeouts of aaru .. i have no idea as i hardly use the fishers clock, and i am glad speachless is looking into them as well :)

Marshmud: i understand what you mean. but if someone comes in an open forum here to complain about people that "should learn to play faster" as he say, then this might be same humiliating for them "who doesn't play as fast DC think they should" ....so i think if people cant manage temperament and direct reactions on their complaining against people that play for fun in another speed, then they maybe shouldn't complain over other players in public.... so if any opinion is allowed, maybe also mine is...

i don't think it's ok to shoot against players that use their possibilities given by brainking.com as standard possibilities

Universal Eyes: yes, you're right about the time tracking, i agree totaly

ThunderGr: a little bit of temperament doesn't hit anyone - i think. and i don't think either this board is ALL about aaru. i can stand behind what i wrote 'cause i hear this complaining a lot around all boards and i just had enough for a while :-) that is how my temperament went from 0 to 50 :-) i think dice cheater is old enough to reply to my thread how he thinks he should.

speachless: I think you are being too harsh on the person.
It is true, his issue is not related to aaru's problem but this board is not about aaru's problem either. It is a general board. Everybody can post an issue at their discretion.

I agree with you that the complain is not justified, but a simple pointing out of why it is so should be enough, IMHO.

Dice Cheater: seriously? here we are speaking about an issue and you take the chance to complain about slow playing users? come on!!!! we have here options given, that are used from players as they are, no more no less.
so tell me, if players like you that complains about opponents that only uses the options set by the game-opener would it not be better for you only to join games with "no vacation days" set to maybe 1 day or 5 hours or whatever you think is fast enough?

there are players here that enjoy playing on another way as you use to do, they enjoy playing "move by move" without having the stress to play a game fast till the end.

if i have the possibility to join 1500 games at 1 time, 'cause i'm paying for that possibility, i can't see why i should be wrong, just because i enjoy playing differently as you do!

it's very annoying, you didn't very bring any input that matters the issue of aaru, you just came in and complain about "slow playing players"... i don't see the fact... why don't you ask for a new forum board and call them "slow players on brainking"... if it helps

Universal Eyes: If only some people played a little faster, there wouldn't be any need for Fischer's clock and we would all have more fun. Between Fischer's clock, weekend days and the ultra generous Vacation days settings playing here sometimes feels like watching paint dry.

speachless: Game notation board makes it hard to determine anything when it keeps the same date and time for every move which would be the last move made.

Roberto Silva: Maybe it is more related to aaru 'cause in one of my games aaru went time out too.... ?

Fencer: What seems weird is that this sequence of errors seems to always happen between the same 2 players...

Fencer: Thanks a lot for your infos Fencer, I appreciate the fact that you verified the code. I will still use Fischer's clock as it works pretty fine to me.

speachless: I don't think we have a general problem. Mostly because:

1) Fischer's Clock had been introduced many years ago and nobody ever complained about any suspicious behaviour. Yes, there were some complaints but they had been caused by misunderstanding the concept of this feature.

2) No problem of this kind ever happened to me, not even during the test phase. I am sure that a serious anomaly would have been discovered a long time ago.

3) Although I don't have time for a serious and thorough investigation, I've had a quick look at the source code. Everything seems to be normal and as it should be.

So, my best guess is that aaru was unlucky to find a specific combination of parameters that causes the issue he described. Unfortunatelly I cannot provide more information at this moment.

Fencer: Dear Fencer, do we have a general problem with Fischer's clock? Aaru is loosing lot's of them 'cause of time out, but in all of them the bonus time didn't work.... i use to set Fischer's clock on my new games/tournaments, but if it doesn't work in general or is it a singular error that occured several times to aaru?....... (aaru posted here various issues on his time-outed games)

thanks for taking care

It is very difficul.
+1000 games
It is not possible to notice all details.
Other thing. When you play on Android, you have no idea about time per move...

aaru: You are right, of course, but if you had noticed, it could help pin down the bug. If it was showing correctly the incorrect time limit then it is a calculation bug but if not then it would be a more difficult bug to find.

ThunderGr: I have no idea. Even it was 1 minut -> still should be 18 hours & 1 minut