Hrqls: The name SMIRF is an abbreviation for: "Strategic Game Program with intelligent recursing Facilities". If there would be too much jokes on it, I will give it a real name - maybe "WoW" (Wrath of Wotan), that would produce real fear and trembling.

Sumerian: all names are fun :) on another board where i am posting (and moderating) i am being called hrgls because most people didnt see the q when it was underlined .. hrgls made them think of hourglass ... so now i once in a while yell 'its a Q!' ;)

Aboiut Sumerian and programs, I am fairly certain that I announced programmers from the Gothic Chess Computer World Championship were all invited to participate.

I don't see the logic in the posts that say "once one engine is allowed, all must be allowed." This was a special tournament. I believe disallowing engines by default, unless so specified by the tournament director, is a good policy.

Suppose players have a collection of chess engines and they want to see how they perform against one another?

Why not have an unrated tournament where all of the engines can bash it out?

That might be something of interest to the whole community.

I will try and find my post(s) about inviting the computers in the event.

*nod* the main point of protest though is that it was a prize tournament and not unrated

Why unrated? If I beat a darn good machine, I want my rating to reflect that... And if I loose, well I probably won't mind it going down either since I lost in the first place... As a matter of fact rated games are probably more chalenging, since there is a motive to try and win against the machine - there will be a reward in the end.
The only thing I ask is to know if I'm playing againsta an engine or not. Even though it may bias a little my way of play, it will go a long way against the possibility of me feeling defrauded when I find out about it later on in the game (if I find out, that is).

About the user agreement... Well, in my oppinion it should be changed though maybe not right now (the subject is too hot for most people to think about the big picture and abstract from this particular case). But in correspondance chess (and other games) usually the help of books, move databases or even computers is not forbidden. Some of those (if not all) are even good ways to learn how to play the game. And since it can't be controlled anyway...
Maybe BK's user agreement could say something in the lines of "everything is allowed however it is common courtesy to warn your opponents of any outside help you may be using" (I won't suggest a proper sentence... my english just isn't good enough to detect all possible side interpretations, I'll leave that to others).
Oh, and would everyone stop calling it "the rules"? The word guidelines is written all over that page. It means (even according to my bad english) that there can be exceptions to what is written there.

Since this post is getting huge (at least as seen in this tiny message box) I've highlighted some of the key words in it. Just to sum it up.

[Hrqls - I had the opposite problem. People used to call me pauloaquia in another site, preciselly because of the underline ]

of course you can always ask a machine to play a rated game ;)

everything can be done 'in overleg' (i dont know the right english word right now ... 'when talked about' :))

My list of favorite boards and fellowships on the right side of my screen is wider than it used to be causing the red numbers to dissapear off the right side. The boards and fellowships with longer names used to be broken up and shown on 2 or 3 rows now each one is shown only on one row. Is this a change in BK or a change in my puter?

pauloaguia: "But in correspondance chess (and other games) usually the help of books, move databases or even computers is not forbidden. Some of those (if not all) are even good ways to learn how to play the game. And since it can't be controlled anyway..."

This is exactly,what I have said many times before.In addition,I would say this is even the reason, why a correspondence chessplayer plays the game so slowly: He wants study his moves in the books,in the databases and in his engines to decide about one move rightfully. Which other reason should he have to suspend his games over and over?

And if I hear people saying :I want not play against a computer!
Perhaps you have played many times against a computer in the past without knowing it?
But mostly it is a mixture between human and machine.

volant: youll be lucky to get an answer...as this seems to be the computer programme discussion board now

volant: For me the longer names are still broken up.

Stevie: Robot Wars rather than computer discussion!

cariad: For sure LOL
nomatter what the name...its hiding and gonna hide legitimate questions / comments about Brainking

Look how many of the last 100 posts have been about anything other than the "robot wars"

volant: It is because of the fellowship named: "**<*>**SLUMBERPARTY**<*>**" - I believe it is too long without a space in it's name.

You may want to ask Mindy to see if she can change the name - or at least add a couple of spaces - one before & after the "slumberparty" name.

Luke Skywalker: BIG BAD WOLF Thank you both for your help.

we used to get a little thing telling us about the player/sex/location
Its not working for me today?? is it ok for the rest of you?

Stevie: Still working for me

[Stevie, England, Brain Rook, Male]

Works for me!

Stevie: youll be lucky to get an answer...as this seems to be the computer programme discussion board now

Ok, you're lucky. It is working for me now.

Thanks :o)
It seems to be intermittent for me now LOL

If you move your cursor over the smilies.. they will show the numbers .. just noticed that.. haha

Is refreshing to read a few posts that aren't related to engines, cheating and chess. That subject has been discussed for days and is quiet boring!

Dolittle: go on the jokes board some web pages are there if you want to talk to me about them then speak on 'general chat'.

volant: When the screen is too wide for me, I hit "Control -" (control and the minus key). That shrinks the fonts a step down and everything fits again.

Eriisa: thanks that's a great tip. I didn't know you could do that.

you can also do it if you have a wheel on your mouse also by using ctrl and roll the wheel

oops, i did it but want the wrtiing slightly bigger agian, hows that done? lol

oo dont worry done it

And if you do the same thing (The Ctrl + wheel thingie) using the Opera browser (don't know about Firefox) the zoom effect applies to the entire page (pics included) making it a nice feature for those bigger boards to fit whole in the browser window

pauloaguia: It's the same with Firefox.

Stevie:
Ok I did that! Now tell me how to get it back, it is too small LOL!

Mousetrap:
Never mind, it was in browser options lol!

Mousetrap: What's Too Small?? LOL

Mousetrap:
LOL! My tail fonts of course!

Will someone help me to get this picture into my fellowship please?

http://www.crossstitchkeepsakes.com/images/ED-CS01_Bee_Hive.jpg

Czuch Chuckers: Send it to Info@brainking.com...

Daniel Snyder: Thanks. Does the size matter?

Czuch Chuckers: I am not to sure... but when you send it ask if it is Ok how you would like... Most pics that are on fellowship pages are close in size to yours... if that is the range that you want it...

Czuch Chuckers:
120 x 75 pixels jpg fellowship flag

volant: Thanks... I was not to sure...

Is something weird going on? A pond game was due to be ready for a new turn 1 hour and 40 minutes ago, and for some reason wont go into the games waiting to be played ?

To skinny dip or not to skinny dip 3 -2 hours 50 mins

i guess the script isnt running

Easy, guys.

Fencer: I guess that is your way of saying something weird is going on? Take your time, only curious :)

Czuch Chuckers: It's my way to say "fix in progress".

Interview with.........

ERIISA!!!!!!!!!

You should know how it works by now!
Send me any question you'd like to have included in Eriisa's interview. State if its ok to put your name with your question. Send as many or as few as you like, and any question you like! Easy as that!

harley: Oh yes! This is going to be fun! I almost feel sorry for her.

red dragon: Good to know that, you'll be the next one.

Fencer : Next one , will be meee meee meee :D

Red next after me? ha ha ha ha hee hee hee hee. How do you spell relief? R E V E N G E !!!! *making list ready for the sacked one*