I would be willing to give a dollar or two. Cant do much more right now, but would if I could an would if it would help.

In light of many email complaints I have received today and Myself only just gaining access to the site now (12:45Pm Friday EST) after trying for 4 hours to get in, I would like to seriously suggest a drive for money to help Fencer get the new server.

Fencer this has been brought up a few times and after discussion with a few people we wonder why you made no comments to this discussion?

IF everyone on the site sent one dollar, Half a £ or something to the equivelant wouldn't that be enough to kick start the new server?


There have been many suggestions which all seem fair to help out.

Today another thought was that since the site is seemingly worse to access any time of day that we cease any new tournaments and limit all DB discussions so that would possibly free up enough room to just let people play their games.

For those that have gained access to the site today let me hear your thoughts on this and hopefully we can get Fencer to join in with this discussion and give us his thoughts on the ideas that have been bounced around.

i am in total agreement with harley and medic, this is a great place to be, yes the site does have its problems, there are only 2 people running it! you cannot expect miracles.. it is not their livleyhood, they have to work too...
so please everyone, be patient, It will get better!!!!!!!!

Thanks MidnightMedic :-)
Just to make it absolutely clear, it's more than two weeks ago when Liquid had gone for his vacation in Norway, so it's only me who runs it now. He'll be back on Sunday, I hope.

Yes, the site has its problems, but as Harley said, they are just two guys running it and one of them is out of town. I personally think Fencer does a wonderful job of keeping us up to date on what is going on and not leaving us hanging. He (or they) set up the alternate webpage that tells what is going on with the server and that helps. I realize its frustrating, believe me, but hang in there. I have found no other place that I enjoy near as much!!!!

Keep up the good work Fencer and Liquid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it should not be forgotten that until summer 2001
average two catastrophical crashes per year took out
also IYT peridodicly ... that's why iyt-town was founded mainly ... ;)
so we could stay in touch during the continueing mess ...

even after that it took them more than a year to get a new server
that still messed up daily then, yet for many weeks ...
still once per day their maintainance casts drop-outs, remember !

reminds me that my club@yahoo indeed is no iyt-club from the principle ...
it's for board-games players in general and, perhaps a good
option to exchange also reports about access problems here ...
whining a bit is understandable and, granted there. :D

even the known iyt-bullies are welcome as long
as they keep their language children-proof ... okay ? 8)

feel invited to visit us not only when BK is down ... :")

Harley founded a special club for the Fellowships-BigBosses -
so we have yet another pivot to stay informed ... ~*~

harley: Thanks :-)
Radiant: I've already done it yesterday.

I was just trying to avoid complaining so much, but since a tourny game timed out, I couldn´t just stay silent anymore..

You say: "Fencer restores games that time out.."

then I repeat my question: Fencer, could you please reset/restore this game for me - Game ID: 79002 - its a tourny game.. which i would realy like continue playing. :-)

Many thanks again for your updates, your efforts and your hard work on this site.

And thanks harley for your positive note :-)

I think this site is well worth putting up with the faults. We know they won't last forever. Fencer restores games that time out, he keeps us informed of progress and is ever patient in doing so. He can't do much more than he is.
I have had faith from the start and continue to do so. Access WILL improve. Don't forget, this whole wonderful place is created by just two guys, and those same guys have to maintain the site. It can't be easy. I think support (even just verbal) would be far more constructive than complaints. If I was running a site and received nothing but criticism I would be more tempted to wipe the whole thing than to spend hours of my time fixing it!

indeed I got an explicite guru from the sql server in between too
not sure to remember well but I think it was a 500 or 505 ...

good luck ~*~

1) Something's wrong with database server.
2) Liquid's on vacation, he'll be back on Sunday.
3) Until then, I play so often to monitor the site activity and keep it alive when I am on-line. Of course, I must sleep sometimes.
4) I've just added extra 3 days to all games.

I cannot believe my previous message got through... because my system showed me a hanging site.

Anyway, i sent Fencer and email about this as well.

Fencer, could you please reset Game ID: 79002 I just ran out of time.. :-((( I especcially woke up, to check in and see about the game.. but i was just too late and its in the middle of the night for me!

Could you please give us some additional time, so we indeed can play our games on regular hours?

Many thanks in advance,
~*Radiant 36 9*~

it only took me 5 or 6 hours to get on here again !! now its time for my bed without managing any moves , i am at work again for twelve hours tommorow . if i cant get on again tommorow i could end up timing out on some games as i may not get time to access the site for two days after tommorow ;~(

Usurper..I hade the same faith when i joined in march but no improvements at all since then..same "excuses" ..more money..more time..be patient..who will give him the money when the site doesnt work? I've invited people but they come back and tell me they couldnt access..dont think they will pay anything :)

The issue here for Fencer seems to be money rather than time, Gubbe. As such, cutting down on his playing time addresses nothing of importance. And from a positive standpoint it helps him get to know some of the members. I believe this site will improve. All things take time. Especially good things.

Seems to me that Fencer has a lot of time he is on "top 10" for most active player almost every day. Maybe more fun to play games than fixing the site? :)

Probably true. I have a heck of a time getting on too and I hate it but I like to be optomistic about the future. IYT has hundreds of thousands of members, years of experience, severe restrictions on non-members, advertising and fancy prices and they still have glitches. I like to think Fencer will do better given some time and support.

Chief..not sure that so many now paying members will pay when the membership expires if no improvements are made..at least i know one who wont :)

The irony is the solution is more paying members. Not fewer. Then we get new server.

This week its terrible! Everytime I try to logon, I have to keep trying and trying to get access the site and once I am on it takes me 30 minutes to play 1 game.. :-( After every move, I most of the time I get the "BrainKing.com - Please wait" site... And this also count for sending/reading messages... *big sigh - It looks like it only gets worse...

I thought the paying members got priority in access?

Anyway.. would it be an idea to get time added, everytime you cannot access the site?? Games are running out of time, because I cannot access and/or play them..

Its not our fault that we cannot sign in, so could you please consider to give us back any extra time, Fencer?? :-)

In good Fellowship,
~*Radiant*~

This week its terrible! Everytime I try to logon, I have to keep trying and trying to get access the site and once I am on it takes me 30 minutes to play 1 game.. :-( After every move, I most of the time I get the "BrainKing.com - Please wait" site... *big sigh - It looks like it only gets worse...

I thought the paying members got priority in access?

Anyway.. would it be an idea to get time added, everytime you cannot access the site?? Games are running out of time, because I cannot access and/or play them..

Its not our fault that we cannot sign in, so could you please consider to give us back any extra time, Fencer?? :-)

In good Fellowship,
~*Radiant*~

Yeah..think Mr Fencer has to do something soon if he wants the site to survive, people are leaving

you're right - yesterday and today - a pain in the butt ...
worst ever - even with only 30 players online I was not able
to play 3 moves in row, from 4 pm to 10 pm on wednesday,
today similar ... just 60 players and loading takes decades ... :( ... ~*~

Any idea when this site will be fixed?, today was worse than ever to acces it!!..No improvement made since i joined...(PAID!!!!) in march.

UIL and Tactician-- I think the number of games played by an opponent should be irrelevant. Why does it matter? Once a player is established, who cares? I think ti is absurd that I gain more opints winning a game against a 2000 player with 50 games than against a 2000 player with 45 games.

Nope. BKR is always calculated with the same formula, regardless on the game ending type.

Is it true that if you lose a game by letting the time run out it effects your BKR less than being checkmated? I ask because one of my opponents (munwest) has realised I have got him in such a position that he can't avoid being caught in checkmate next move, so he tells me he's going to let the time run out rather than let me checkmate him. Does this effect my BKR aswell?

You just have to fish around ;-) Better DB system will be added later.

Thanks again BBW! BTW, while I'm here, does anyone know a good way to follow the thread of a message on these boards, or do you just have to fish around?

Yes, that link works good!

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

For that you're right, but they don't count the 10 or 20 year old games played by Kortsnoi or Karpov in there actual rating

Well, its not in the formula, but FIDE marks players like that to keep their rating list up-to-date. They don't recalculate the rating or anything just remove it from their Top 100 List. Bobby Fischer still has a 2700+ rating, he just isn't shown on the list.

It is also in the Elo, they mark ratings from player who did not play enough games in the last year with an *, anyhow the FIDE (The world chess federation)does so, I am not familiar with the USCF way to handle this

That isn't in the Elo system which is what the USCF uses, which is what we use. A ratings system that takes into account dates is Glicko and Glicko2.

Fencer, normally ratings are only calculated over the games played in the last 12 month (older games does not count anymore) Are you planning to do so also in the future?

lol...
It seems for me that there is one time a day (approximately the same time every day) in which i cannot log on at all. But other than that, it works great for me! (There might be more times when it's crowded, but i wouldn't know of them ;-) )

yesterday i had problems getting in :(
This AM....I could only play about 6 games from 25?? in 30 minutes
I have just played 25 games approx in an hour and a half....are we having problems again?
FENCER.....could you please tell me approximately how many games are current on this site at any given moment..approximately :)
would it help to speed up the site to shorten the times before moves?
Maximum of 7 days....I cant beleive that there are people that can only log on once a fortnight/month...perhaps I'm out of touch with the real world LOL

The true Elo system's provisional system (25 games) is +400 on your opponent rating for a win, -400 on your opponent rating for a loss, then that is added to (your provisional rating times the number of games you've played). Then divided by your new total of games. This site has a rating catch that prevents you from gaining points with losses and losing points with wins. Therefore, it is not a true Elo rating system. For a tie you just take your opponent's rating no adjustments made and add it in.

Your rating certainly can drop from a win...only if it's provisional. Ratings can do very strange and unexpected things if they are provisional, which is why i sometimes think ratings should not be shown at all until 25 games have been completed. But I'm not saying it should be changed. If your rating it established, it will never lower for a win.

Thanks for everyone's input. I understand it now, but still disagree with it. Have good games all!

Joe

Its not very often draws occur in the usual run of things, which is why people can't really boost their ratings by drawing all the time.
Of course its not the object of playing the game, but if I play a much higher rated player, then a draw is much better than an outright loss! Dano describes it well, a 'little loss', or even a 'little win' for the lower rated opponent!

that's not correct ... a tie against somebody whom
you should defeat due to your much higher rating is a loss.

chess grandmasters have to make average 66 % against
international masters, or they'll lose their rank after a while ... ~*~

PS - thumbrule: don't tie against somebody with ratings
400-500 lower than yours - that's considered being a 'little' loss

NO no no, the object of playing a game is not to get a draw.If that were the case you's see alot of people with high BKR's! A TIE is a TIE...nothing gained, nothing lost.

Oh no, if you win a game, even if your opponent has a much lower rating, your rating will not drop. If you draw or lose, however, then that will affect your rating.

A Provisional player on GoldToken can lose a TON of ratings points and really crash in the ratings by WINNING if it's against the wrong opponent. (much lower rated) but I don't think it's the same here.

Well it does make sense really. If I have a draw against a much higher rated player than me, then I must have worked hard to pull off a draw. Therefore my rating should go up. Just not as much as if I'd actually won the game!

can't be, ive had draws before and not lost any. and besides, a draw is a TIE. I didn't lose, thus shouldn't lose any bkr at all. that mean my opponent GAINED bkr for not beating me? makes no sense.

ps. theres nothing about draws and BKR in the FAQ.

Have a look in the FAQ's, CannibalJoe. It has a full explanation of ratings there. But I think basically if your opponent was quite a bit lower (rating wise) than you, and it was a draw then you will lose points.

I dropped 6 pts in my BKR today after a DRAW. Someone explain that one to me.

I am glad to hear that they aren't restricted from moving the tournament along... but it also sounds like another incentive to remain a pawn...

my suggestion to try to encourage non-members into buying a membership and to free the server for the paid members .... (and I know no one will like it) .... is too limit the number of moves per day for pawns... that way they still have all the features they have now.. and perhaps there would be a more positive response to a message saying you have reached your limit of moves for today .. instead of the server has reached capacity check back later...