rod03801: Oh, I agree 100% - like TarantinoFan said - just a way to turn if off. So for those who do like it can just simply not turn it off.

For me, any time I can get the page to not do another database lookup (like to see how many games against friend is waiting), the happier I am since I look at things like that as extra time for the page to load. (along with my original thought of it also being distractive to myself)

But yes, optional of course.

Dolittle - if you delete a person from the friends list, they will no longer be in any friends list.

rod03801: Maybe it's kind of a duplication but it sure does no harm.

rod03801: I like it too and for those that don't, can't they delete the friends on line list and those names would still be on the Friends list?

If anything, it should be an option, and not just taken away. I, personally, like the red numbers there.

TarantinoFan: I second that suggestion - just something that keeps grabbing my attention when it does not need to be.

I think it would be nice to have the numbers next to the friends in the friends list (http://brainking.com/en/Friends) - then you can easily see it for friends that are also not on-line.

Is there any way to turn off the little red numbers that have just been added to our friends online list? At a quick glance I go to click on them mistaking them for new messages in my favourite boards.

I thought the filter was fine to use if I wanted to see how many games I had with my friends. I really don't need those new little red numbers and would like to turn them off please.

it appears that timeouts have been suspended... seems like that has been happening a lot lately

Christoph Daum: I dont think Fencer likes that anyone "Feeds the Troll"  so why dont we just agree that you have your opinion about him and i have mine...ok?

Jason: Awww that's cute. Good idea too.

Christoph Daum: So is it appropriate to come in here and offer to answer questions and then when asked a valid question suggest that the person is unintelligent and constantly annoying while filling posts with wink wink smilies .?

That is what brought out my sarcasm Christoph. I didn't appreciate the way the man who took my money was speaking to other paying customers so I spoke up to let him know of my discontent. Now I am being vilified by members like you who seem to think that personal bias and unhelpful comments are quite ok.

Read thru all of the posts and try to forget your bias. If you are going to ask people to stop being rude then you best ask Fencer to stop first.

Well, Fencer is like the cardiothoracic surgeon in full action. His hands are not allowed to tremble the tension is huge .. increasing. The patient is a dude called Frankenstein .. ehh I mean Brainking .. huh? I lost my threat to the thing. Nevermind. Let's autopass to the next operation. Is it an option to have a real effective backgammon-autopass for the impatient and fast players of that game anyway?

Andersp: I don't see him treating people different. At least not based on "computer smartness". Maybe based on how they "ask" their "questions"? The people complaining about his sarcasm are the same that begin every post with blaming Fencer of not doing anything useful about BrainKing. I don't think that

Fencer, do you feel like your time has been wasted when you spend the effort and energy of writing a blog entry only to find that it can't be accessed????

Oh I'm sorry I forgot you were busy adding little incidentals to the site that no-one really knew they needed but it looks like something has been done so it may quiet the masses.

is an appropriate start to ask what's wrong with BrainKing or what to do about it. It is clearly meant to be sarcastic and rude in itself. So what do people expect when they beg for a rude response?

Tuesday: Retired my ass. I am just more careful but still plan to restore Camalot in all it's glory. LOL

LionsLair : it will go normally as time go to zero , another round start as usually :)

For putting so much time into this site.. give Liquid a huggy too.. :)

LionsLair: There is nothing to fix, the game time is stopped and it applies to ponds as well. The time will be restarted tomorrow.

Jules: I don't think people have the expectation that he should drop everything and answer each question individually. The problem is that he mostly gives no information at all or as seen in my case earlier (Keep Trying) he gives totally inane responses that are so unhelpful they become frustrating.

If he posted a short succinct explanation that probably took him 30 seconds to compose and post then most people would be ok and he wouldn't have to deal with the so called "constant annoying complaints". And if there was the occasional complaint after his post I am sure others who had already read his explanation would update those who missed it therefore leaving him available to do what he needs to do.

Andersp: ?? Oh it did go down, but I just went and did other things. It ain't like the big crash a while back when nine months of playing got lost.

joshi tm: Yes.

aaru: Today is BETTER.
Thank You

Fencer: Owkay, the site now works properly again? Thanks. Finnaly played half of my moves in short time without any stange evil screen of overload.

TarantinoFan: Hardly slow here not even when people have been complaining, and if it is there is always the option of doing something else.

I think it's the expectation that Fencer should drop everything just to answer questions to which the answer is obvious and the indignation of peeps who don't get the reply.

.. He's trying to fix things, if he keeps having to answer every time someone posts it'll delay the fixing. Quite frankly I'd rather have him sort out the problems.

Hrqls: The site has been pretty good apart from yesterday. Some minor glitches but nothing fatal or end of the world

TarantinoFan: Fencer, such a bad bad boy

Hrqls: Well my feeling is that so many people post the notice in the hope that many voices will be heard because lately it feels like no-one is being heard. The service for the site over the past few weeks has been absolutely terrible and people don't know from one day to the next if they are going to be able to access the site or not.

And as for insults and attacks and non-destructive messages then you best aim your comments at one of the worst offenders. Someone comes in to offer a little positive feedback and he still can't resist a dig in response.

I say again. Pot calling the kettle black!

TarantinoFan: its annoying that the site isnt accessable ... its not annoying when its mention on a board and brought to fencers attention ... it doesnt have to be brought to his attention by everyone though .. one or 2 posts mentioning it would be enough ..

if worded as if to mention it to him, you might get a response, if worded with an attack/insult/.. in the post as well .. then its likely to be ignored or sarcastically answered

i think its always best to post a building non-destructive message, that way there will be a faster response and better response as well

usually the site can be accessed perfectly by me, but not this weekend (i was away for 4 days, came back on sunday, and the connection to the site was a mess) .. this was caused by a failing harddisk though which shouldnt happen too often :)

Jules: Well I am still trying to work out which one's are the annoying complaints and which aren't. Recently all the complaints have been the same. Site crash follows crash follows slow load after no load. They are all exactly the same. So why is it annoying when one person says it and yet not annoying when another says exactly the same thing. And why get so indignant and sarcastic with people when all they want is a valid explanation???

Jules:
im just that we have a fast site again yeahhhh

TarantinoFan: Maybe if people just stopped with the digs in the first place Fencer wouldn't need to reply to them.

Oh yes, he doesn't need to.

Bernice: But he still couldn't resist a veiled dig could he. Pot calling the kettle black if you ask me.

Fencer: whoopee, an explanation......thanks

gogul: Thanks. For those, who want to discuss normal things without negative emotions, there was a hardware failure on one of the hard disks and since the replacement and data restoration is not an easy process (especially on weekends), BrainKing has been temporarily moved to the backup server which is, of course, much slower and more overloaded. But everything is switched back to the former configuration now.

Have not been online about 6 days, and now ... the performance is fast! Much faster as it was!

And by the way. I had to access the site thru brainking.cz to post this message because brainking.com is not responding again!!!

Fencer: This response is exactly why people on here get frustrated with you and as you put it "constantly post annoying complaints"

There is no explanation as to why it is not working and no hint of when it will be working again. "Keep Trying" is not generally considered an appropriate response to a valid question. We pay you the money you asked for as a fair price for a working game site and it constantly breaks down. If it were a car it would be called a "LEMON" and returned to the dealer quick smart and a refund demanded. However it is not a car and it can't be returned. All we can do is ask that it be made to work properly in a timely fashion. And when that request is constantly ignored, people get frustrated.

coan-net: Thanks, got it.

Ok, the negative time limits appeared again. Had BrainKing's clock stopped again? When will it be ticking again?

TarantinoFan: take no notice of Fencer.....he is becoming well known for his ignorance and arrogance......I also havent been able to access the blog site, but then I live happy in the knowledge that I probably won't have to spend anymore money to access this place, unless there are vast improvements.

Coan.net's suggestions sound like a damned good idea.

coan.net: That's, of course, a good idea, and it is definitely planned to be added. However, it's not a change which could be implemented in 5 minutes while doing important system changes, so it could be done later. But it won't be forgotten.

The BrainKing is slow.
VERY SLOW!!!

Fencer, awhile back I suggested to make a “basic” game page that should help speed up page load, and I would like to suggest it again. This is a game site, and the majority of the time – I like to concentrate on the game and not about all the “extra” junk (which is a nice addition – but not needed most of the time.)

Basic game page:

Main Page (link back to main page)
Game name (link to game rules) (don’t need separate wording)
Opponent name (link to profile)
Points (backgammon and such)
Score / Match (backgammon and such)
Captured pieces (chess, checkers and such)
Game Board
Captured pieces (chess, checkers and such)
Points (backgammon and such)
Submit / Draw / Resign – along with input box for in-game chat & notes

That is all. (I might be missing something since some games have different information - but there is A LOT of information that is not needed to play the game that can be removed.)

What we don’t need:

Separate link to game rules (just make the tournament name a link)
Links to discussion boards – along with the need to have it check the database to see if there are any unread messages
Flags & (news) links for either player
Pawn/rook icon
Mailbox next to name (I can click on name to go to profile or just leave an in-game chat)
Player icons – nice, but not needed
Last move by either player
Information about myself – I know who I am, why list it?
Tournament info with link & scroll-over information
Expected BKR change – along with the need to have it check the database for this info
Finished games between players
Time per move
if it is a public game
if it is a rated game
layout change
board size
weekend days change shortcut

Also make it so the submit button will be ABOVE the board (so for large board & small screens, you won’t need to scroll down to hit submit. I have this working using my own .css file, but would be nice to the “basic” board also.)

Then have the addition of 1 more link: “Expanded game page” – which takes you out of “basic” and back to the expanded page if you need some more information which is not included in the basic page.

I see I will have solved my problem of too many games. Around 60 of them have timed out. and I still keep getting connection errors.

I tried to read back the 87 messages, but I can't get those pages to load either.

TarantinoFan: Keep trying. The rest of your would-be-funny sentences is not worth answering until you start to think before posting something foolish.

Fencer, do you feel like your time has been wasted when you spend the effort and energy of writing a blog entry only to find that it can't be accessed????

Oh I'm sorry I forgot you were busy adding little incidentals to the site that no-one really knew they needed but it looks like something has been done so it may quiet the masses.

I would like to know why I haven't been able to access the blog site since 11am this morning. It is now midnight and we are into a new day and I still can't access it to read the suggestions you spoke about earlier. I can't implement the suggestions if I can't even access them!!!!

Fencer: