Oh... I guess 1300, not 1500. :-)

I think unrated are actually rated 1500 (but just shows unrated at first.)

Plus is also has to do with how many games a person has played also. The more games that have been played, the less the rating will go up and down (since it is more established).

As I understand it, draws are suppose to affect ratings. I don't think many usually see it since it affects it less then a win/lose, and if the rating are some-what close to each other, you won't see any change.

But for example you have a player rated 1000, and another player rated 2000 - for the 1000 rated player to not lose and get a draw will get them some points.

I'm not sure of the exact formula, but I was thinking it was posted somewhere.

Well one of the reasons I'm asking is my sister plays here, and she might be put on bed rest. They planned ahead and put a computer next to the bed, but I guess that computer is not working now - so i'm now watching her games on here (and Dailygammon & Pocket-Monkey). But if I know that she will get more vacation days on January 1st, I'll just stick her on vacation that way I don't have to play any of her games.... (Which I would rather not play unless they are getting ready to time out.)

Well if could also be that you get 30 days from when you signed up. (So if you signed up for membership on June 15th, then on June 15th would be the day you vacation days are reset)

As for vacation day roll-over, that is also a good question. :-)

Question for Fencer: Does the number of vacation days reset itself on January 1st?

(So no matter how many vacation days I use now, I'll have 30 on january 1st?)

To create a backgammon Tournament.

1) In the "Select a team" section, choose Backgammon and click "show"
2) Once the Backgammon "team" comes up, you can click on the "create a tournament" there to create a backgammon tournament.

I'm not sure what had happen before, but my guess is that you created the Backgammon team, but the team still showed the "Chess team" and that was how a second chess tournament was created.

So the best solution is just to delete the extra Chess tournament you have now, and try to make the Backgammon tournament again.

I'm able to sign up for the "backgammon" chess tournament.

To me, it looks like possible you that you did not change the game type to "Backgammon" before you made the game. (And just clicked "Add Tournament" under the Chess area)

I'm not sure why so many people believe Gothic, and I can't believe it keeps making it's way to this board after it has been requested to keep it off of this board.

Fencer: Will your "old" interview be archived somewhere so players (who may not be here yet) can get a chance to view some of the "older" interviews?

[it might already be there, i have not looked that hard yet]

LindaJ - The link worked for me. Once you get to that page, try to hit Refresh or Reload of the page and see it that will bring up the "new" interview.

to get a link to work for everyone, just use the last part of the address - like:

<A.HREF="/game/Board?bc=576"> link <.a>

And depending if the person has www, new, or blank - it will work for everyone, like this:

World Of Sports

Actually I think eddie after the crash resigned all the battleboat games (giving him many many loses) which lowered his rating that low.

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

I believe that e-mail is a hoax - more information about it HERE

But always be carefull when any message contains an .exe attachment since any of those could be viruses.

Well another thing to remember is not everyone is at the same skill level (I'm not a good chess player) - so even if I know I'm going to lose a chess game, most of the time I may try to play it out to learn more about the game.

What do you mean, not resign.

Do you mean just normal games - well some players like to play games out.

Do you mean games that were "brought back" after the crash, well some player may not know if they won or lost the game before (I know I don't know)

If you use the http://new.brainking.com - you are on the "new" BrainKing

If you are using http://www.brainking.com or http://brainking.com, you are on the "old" brainking.

When you make a link to somewhere else inside BrainKing, you should always try to use the "short" version.

For example, this will bring people to the BrainKing.com discussion board (and will work for people using the "new.brainking.com, "www.brainking.com", AND "brainking.com")

<A.HREF="/game/Board?bc=1"> LINK <./A>

I would have to have over 2 months more vacation days added to my account to take in to account the server "time warp"

... and with the site still going slow (move is waiting in different window as I type this), and I'm now stuck with many more games then I can handle - I would at least like the site to add 3-5 days to each "0" game - then I could use my vacations and stuff to help me play my games without timeing out. Right now, my vacation days would do no good with the games at "0" time - only other games that are getting close to the "0" time while I try to get through all the extra games I have now! :-(

The point is that it is the site's fault that I have too many games now - I planned ahead and got my game count down as I started a new job, but because of site problems, I need a little more help to get going again. That's all i'm asking for... a little more help! :-)

May i make the suggestion that you wait a little longer before turning back on the time limit, or at least turn all "0" time into 3-5 days before you turn back on the time.

Back in Septermber (before I had a new job & had more time), I could keep up with my 500+ games - in late October when I had less time, I was doing good with getting my games down to around 300 - but now that I'm back stuck with 500+ games, It's taking me awhile to get my games back off "0" time.

I would hate to time out on games when it is a site problem that got me with so many games with zero time! :-(

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Well there are many different cost to running a game site like this.

1. Hardware - you can look on BrainKing.info to view what hardware is being used now (which is actually too small of machines to run this game site.... but will give you an idea of what it would cost to get hardware like that and/or better.

2. Connection - you need to have the game site connected to the internet with a quick connection (T1)

3. Software - Software that will be on the game site (OS, database, etc...)

4. Programmer (or programming skills) - you will need to know how to program and/or hire someone who can do it for you... someone to "make" the games and trouble shoot them.

5. Database Admin - either you need to know how to run the database, or hire someone who knows how.

6. Other support staff. For a site like BrainKing, Fencer takes care of most of this - but if this site was to grow even larger, sooner or later he would have to get someone to help answer request, e-mails, etc...

... those are the cost that come to the top of my head - I'm sure there are others, I just can't think of them right now.

Well give us at least a few days warning when the time will be turned back on - I have aprox 400 games with 0 time, and with the site going slower then normal, plus less time myself - it will take me awhile to get my games back to where they were a few days ago! :-)

Well I don't think anything else is actually being restored. What we see is what they were able to get back.

BUT - what I think fencer is doing is if a user knows what ratings they had before the crash, he is changing (restoring) the rating to what the user says it was.

... and possible if a user knows the outcome of certain games or tournaments, Fencer may also be changing (restoring) those also???? I'm not really sure. Hopefully once Fencer logs back on, he will let us know what he is doing - and if he would like us users to slow down with new games/tournament, or to start going full speed again! :-)

* and I come here and read the past few message right after I just created 7 more of the "Fast start" tournaments! * :-)

How much is Fencer restoring? I understand that if someone knows what their previous rating is, or things like that, he will change it for him - but for me (and probable many others), I'm not going to worry about having him do that for me - since some of mine have went up, some down - and I don't know exactly what they were before the crash.

BUT - I know many users (and new users) and quickly trying to get some more games going because they may not have much anymore - and new tournaments are a good way for them to start playing again.

Won/Lose games: I for one could not tell you which games I won or lost. I know a few tournaments I won, but I have no idea which games inside the tournament I have won or lost, so I think it is a bad idea to "ask" someone to resign because they lost the game before. I do like the suggestion of just wiping out all current games and starting from scratch - it would solve the problem above! :-)

Money back for Membership: By giving back your free 3 months does not really put money back into Fencer's pockets - except for the fact you would later on renew your membership 3 months earlier. Another idea might be to take the money you saves (by the 3 months free), and either create a prize tournament for pawns, or do the "sponsor a pawn" thing that the KM does - since that would get more pawns as members (hopefully the new pawns then get hooked and pay for their own membership)

Question: I do have the tournament results for some all of my finished "Fast Start" tournaments (Some that I have not even created yet!) - would you (Fencer) want a list of who won those tournaments, or should I just forget about the list? (Just the tournament winner, not any info on any game within the tournament).

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Check out this page: HERE!

There may be a person closer to where you live where you can send money, and they in turn PayPal it to Fencer.

Or you could send cash to Fencer - I've never had a problem sending cash in the mail as long as you hide it well. (Don't let it look like there is money in the inside of the envelope)

hope that helps - if not, I'm sure Fencer will be able to help also! :-)

The order is in the order that the other person played the game. So the "oldest" game in the list will be first to be played.

It is on the list to be able to sort the "next game" in other ways, but nothing will probable happen until there is a new server here.

tonyhawk2004: You could just change your name and then don't talk to the person who is bothering you. If the other person does not know your name here, then he could not contact you here.

Just a thought...

Nevermind - I just found the answer on a different board! :-)

OK, lets see if I understand the "hide" button.

If you are a Moderator, you have the option to "hide" a users message.

Now does it hide ALL messages that the user post (so he can keep posting and no one will see them), or does it just hide that one post?

Oh, I guess you are right - I do see some "public" holidays - but I don't see anything for Labor Day.

ellieoop: This site does not have a holiday schedule. This site does it better!

You can take your own vacation / holiday days by picking which days you want as your vacation/holiday in the "Settings"

.... I think that is what you are asking?? :-)

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Good luck with your decision, and thanks for sharing it with everyone! :-)

Doesn't the "swap dice" disappear when you have a piece on the bar and can only bring that piece out with one of the dice? Could that be what you are seeing?

Yes, your rating should change for a timeout.

Here are 4 resons as listed in the FAQ:

- Both players did not perform at least two moves. It can happen when one player loses the game by a timeout at the very beginning.

- You won a game with an opponent whose BKR is significantly smaller than yours. If we would apply the formula exactly, your BKR would have to drop. But BrainKing.com uses the rule that your BKR cannot drop after you win the game, therefore it remains unchanged. The similar rule applies if you lose a game with an opponent whose BKR is significantly higher than yours.

- The game have been defined as "unrated game". Such game is not calculated for BKR.

- The game is a part of a match which is not finished yet. The match is treated as a single game which consists of several sub-games. The statistics (number of won, drawn and lost games) and BKR of both players is changed after the whole match is finished and the result is based on the match result itself, not on the results of its sub-games.

You know I was wondering about that also awhile back. There are plenty of regular tournament, and some people call their tournaments "Championship", but I think it would be cool to have anouther OFFICIAL BrainKing tournament - hopefully get some of the best to enter the tournament. (Possible have about a month to sign up so pawns will have some time to get through current tournaments before it starts)

Hey Fencer - want to start another "Official" tournament? :-)

Easy way to be removed from this site: Stop putting "brainking.com" in your web browsers address bar! :-)

COOL! I'm tied (with 0) with the most moves yesterday! :-)

Wait a minute - what buckwheat said is true - many games were put back on the board that were already played - so it is possible the 8 games I timed out on had been played, but reset?

I just notice that tournament that I already started are now BACK in the tournament list waiting for players - and new tournaments that I created are gone! Seems like they had to do a restore of the database or something and a lot of "older" data got put back! Hopefully Fencer will be on soon to explain some of this!

eddit spaghetti: yea, 2 of the games were mine! (out of 8 total I timed out on by less then 1 hour)

The site seems to be running really good when you are able to get on - I had a problem getting on the site last night to play games (and with a new job that started today) - So I'll only be able to play during certain hours during the week - and if the server is down during that time... UGH! (hopefully Fencer will reinstate my games - all 8 Battleboat games which droped my rating from 1st to ... well, not 1st anymore) :-)

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Yes, Fencer is one of the owners of this site.

You can find out more about the site WITH THIS LINK

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

p257: why? many rooks (like myself) paid for the rook level because there is no limit - Fencer would be stuck with a lot of unhappy people wanting refunds of what they already paid!

One of the few things I really do not like about IYT is that they do limit you to 100 tournament games.

Normally you can go to your profile, and in the tournament area - check your "waiting" tournaments (which I see none for you)

I have had that happen to me also, and it was a bug that Fencer had to fix - guess we can wait for him to see your message and see what he has to say! :-)

In a recent game, I lost 68 rating points with a tie in reversi. I under stand that I should lose points since I was ranked higher then the other player, and since I did not win - I lose points.

My questions is would I have lost more points if I actually lost, or would I have lost the same amount of points either way?

Plus I think it might have been posted before, but isn't there a website I can checkout that explains in detail how the ratings here are caculated?

Thanks!

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Well it depending on how you look at it I guess. There are people who like to play and there are people who like to win. Eddie is a person who likes to play. I'm guessing Dmitri is the type of person who likes to win. (I'm in the middle - I like to play and my current goal is to at least get a rating in each type of game here - win or lose .... but I like to win, which is why a major amount of my games are Gammon and boat games - 2 that I believe I'm best at!)

"Board for everybody who is interested in BrainKing.com" -- I myself belive this is a perfect subject for people who are interested in BrainKing.com, which include the players who play here!

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Well the only reason I really have over 400 games is because I have been unable to play all my games like I use to - or it would be around 200 games - which is a good number for me. And actually I think there should be a limit for rooks - but it should be around 400-500 games - way more then *most* will even get too.

If I were to do things, I would probable make 2 different "pawn" accounts and leave everything else the same.

Free Pawn: 5-10 non-tournament games, 1 tournament at a time (which at most would be 7 additional tournament games) - total 17 possible games at a time, and possible a high move limit like 50 moves per day - way more to play many of their games, but still a limit to make sure they don't use too much of the system.

Super Pawn: A smaller fee - say $6 for 6 months, or $10 for year. 20 non-tournament games, and 1 tournament (with max 7 more tournament games) - for a total of 27 games possible. Very high more limit - like 100 moves per day - again, way above what most pawns use, but will stop the few that may take too much from the server. Also maybe let them enter 1 Fellowship as a guest where they can view/post in their message board, join tournament, but NOT join a fellowship team.

CaissasDream: I like that the only thing you don't propose to change is the membership that you have! Just find that kind of funny!

Anyway, to limit pawns to a year a free membership might get a few user to pay something so they don't lose their stats, but a majority of the pawns you just delted their account and create a new account. That in my opinoin would cause more of a pain to everyone involved, it would not be worth it. (System having to register new account, other users having to figure out what their new friends name is, etc...)

And as was pointed out about rooks with many games - they can only play so many games per hour - so if they have 500 games going or 150 games going - they are still only going to play XX games per hour. And depending on what opponents are on-line, they can easly still make the same number of moves and using the same amount of the "system", that it really would not matter. (Take up a little more disk space holding the game, but I'm pretty sure that with how cheap disk space is, that is NOT the problem with the current server).

lullobear: These new options that are added do not slow the server down. Fencer has many ideas of things to do for the server THAT WILL slow the server down, and he is holding back on doing any of those until the server issue is fixed.

Way to go Eddie

... and it looks like you will be hitting 2,000 losses soon also! :-) Possible the first user on BrainKing to hit the 2000-2000 club! :-)

I like that the time is suspended because I had 4 games with 0 hours since I was unable to connect much yesterday.

BUT maybe something could be done differently - maybe instead of just turning off the time - add an extra (lets say 5 days) to each game. I know that this site can be hard to get on for a day or so, but if a player can't get on in 5 days (plus the regular time of the game), well ????

Not sure if that is possible - or even a good idea, just throwing something out there! :-)

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Well one of the things I keep reading in Feature request board is people talking about how this site is a business - and I don't believe that this site is really a business..... just a hobby / side project that is ran by a couple of people who would like to possible have the site pay for itself. (or at least not pull too much money out of the pocket of the owners)

-- and I don't mean to talk for Fencer, so I may be wrong in my thinking --