WellyWales: I do not believe there are any site holidays anymore. Instead of site holidays (since many people celebrate different holidays), most members have plenty of vacation days to use if needed.

http://brainking.com/en/Settings?p=1

(I'm not 100% sure since I have Tuesday set as one of my weekend days, but if it was a site holiday, it would not give you the option to set a vacation day.)

Eriisa: Pbarb was the person before MadMonkey - so I believe that is in the "answer" stage - that is if she goes to that page, she should be able to add the answers.

Kunoichi: Yea, I did that - I had close and sometimes over 1,000 games at one time - WAY too many (for myself). I have finally got the total closer to 300 - with my goal of under 200 getting closer and closer.

Tip 1: Stop signing up for tournaments - I see a whole list of them in your profile HERE - go and remove yourself from them.

Tip 2: If there are certain games you don't like more then others - just resign those. I figured out there is no point in playing games you don't like - this is a game site, and you should only play games you enjoy playing.

Tip 3: If you see yourself about to lose in a few moves, resign early - no point in making a few pointless moves - get those games off your game sheet right away.

Tip 4: Remove yourself from Fellowship teams in which you don't want to be signed up for games. I'm mostly only in my own fellowship teams - mostly since I know I will not sign myself up for more games which I don't need. If I do join another fellowship for a site team tournament, I try to make it clear to the captain I don't want to play in fellowship vs. fellowship matches, and I remove myself from the team as soon as the site team tournament starts.

I did the above 4, and that is how I've gotten my games down - even though I still sign up for (1) prize tournaments, (2) site team tournaments, and a few (3) Frog finder tournaments since I do really enjoy that game. But if you do the above 4, you should get your game count down pretty quickly to a more easy manageable level.


Tip 5: Make sure you choose games with a good enough time limit & allows for vacations. You should never feel like you HAVE to play a game - sometimes it is nice to just stay away for a day without having to worry about the games.

** edited to add tip 5 & and other minor correction

puupia: That is correct. Every January 1, your vacation days are reset to the max. So you could have fun and set the rest of December as vacation days since they will be reset to 35. (and of course you can still be here and play your games)

And as noted, vacation days do not work with Fischer clock game, or fixed weekend only games (games with red dot next to time).

Andersp: Well with that, that will give them more loses then wins. I know myself, I'm always more impressed by people who have more wins then loses. I myself am shooting for a 66.6% win rate (win 2 out of every 3 games) - I'm currently at around 63% right now.

That is Statistics are just that - stats. Nothing to put too much stock into in my opinion.

Andersp: If you are talking about Snoopy, they are leaving the site for awhile and just letting their games time out. Even though that will add some finished games to their stats, he is not starting any new so people should be able to "pass" them soon enough

Jules: No, you misunderstood - I'm not asking for holidays to be placed back on the site - what I was saying was because of the site being down, there is a good possibility that players did not get a chance to catch up their games, or set vacation days to cover the days they will be gone since the site was down - and that in the US, there is a big holiday which many leave town. (one of the biggest travel weeks of the year in the US) So I'm not asking for holidays to be added back to the site, I just want to make sure that no one times out on games because of the site being down. The site being down should not be a reason anyone should lose a game in my opinion.

Fencer: Well I just worry about some people who had planned a vacation. My plan was to catch up on all my games, and then get my few remaining vacation days set just right to cover me until I got back. (And if I did leave, with the site down - I would have been behind with hopefully my auto-vacations saving me)

What you need is a tool to "reset time on all games" - so if something like this happens, before the time-out is lifed, all game times are set at the max. (So if it is a 5-day move game, the game is set to 5 days (for whoever turn it is waiting for), then time-outs turned back on). (Same with Fisher clock game)

I guess we can see what others think - but this week is a very busy travel week in the US, so I can see many not being on until early next week.

Fencer - Thanksgiving holiday is this week in the US, and many people may be on vacation already (I was planning to be out of town starting today until next Monday, but those plans feel through)

But if they did, I would be in trouble with my games and such.

Since there might be many already on vacation for the holiday, since the site was down for awhile - any chance to keep time-out's off until next week (Tuesday, 27th would be good)

I can just see a lot of people in trouble if the time-outs are turned on too soon.

Ohh... something you don't see often: "Yesterday's most active player: (0 moves)"

redfrog: Not everyone can make the team - first they have to know about it - which includes reading this board, which there are many that do not - plus there are others who possible don't understand how to mess with the URL of a page. So to make it sound like "well since I heard about it - everyone must have heard about it" does not really work.

Plus I'm not arguing about it - I was just adding my input that I hope Fencer clears it out before it is officially put out... that is all. What people want to do is of course up to them, I was just adding my suggestion on what I would like to see done.

Hrqls:Well hopefully when a random team is added, Fencer will just erase all current ones to make it fair to all fellowships in the chance to get people to join theirs - without having a few fellowship get a big head start in getting players to join - and in turn putting other fellowships at a disadvantage to get players to join their team.

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.

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.

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.

Mighty Orion: Well Fencer I'm sure will continue to say that is not his problem - since it is up to the ISP's of the world to update their DNS list. (which the change was caused when Fencer moved the site.)

But going to the IP address, it takes you directly to the site - unforntatly the site is configured to show images to the hard coded address of brainking.com - instead of the IP address.

I did some quick looking, but my memory about this is bad. (Maybe someone else can find something and help) - but I remember you could at once hard-code it in your PC (in a file like lmhosts or something) to always go to the IP address 89.187.130.22 whenever brainking.com is called for - but I can't remember the instructions (nor is it something you would want to do if you don't have to - since if the site ever changes again, things would be messed up.)

Again, maybe someone else can help.... I can't seem to remember much right now.

Fstop: If you talk to your friend, tell them to go to : http://89.187.130.22

That is the IP address of the site, and if they are having a DNS problem - the IP should work. (if the IP is not working, then it is possible a site problem)

Czuch: Well this is not really a place to talk about specific issues like this, but is a good time to remind everyone about the User Agreement, which everyone on this site should follow. This user agreement covers the whole site, even fellowships. Fellowship do allow for "relax the foul language rules", but does not allow the rest of the user agreement to be ignored.

Read the user agreement here: http://brainking.com/en/UserAgreement (A link can be found at the bottom of every page.)

Purple: When you ban, the posts are not all deleted. So a Moderator has to be careful to also hide them (so the bad posts are not seen), or remove the bad post. (would not be good to ban without doing something with the bad posts). Most moderators do a good job of coping the post to the event log - which logs everything that is done - - - and is recommended when a moderator does take action, to just copy & paste the offending posts so there is a written record.

Czuch: It could also be that a person is hidden on the board by the moderator - still able to post, message shows up as new red number, but post is hidden from everyone except moderators.

Andersp: Oh, I also agree - but there is little that we can do since apparently it is not the site, but many many many users problems.

But a long time request that I would still love to see - a very very basic all-features striped off version of BrainKing - that is when playing a game, all the comes up is the game - none of the unnecessary things loading on the page. Yea yea yea... all those unnecessary things suppose to only take 1/24th of a second to load.... but something slows things down.

I wrote this back in March, and doing these things helped me a lot with the speed of the site:

Computers (coan.net, 2007-03-12 20:16:01)

Play with the different settings - find out what works best for you.

MadMonkey: I would love to see random team tournaments also - but that of course would mean extra work for Fencer - since he would have to make it so you can join a "random game" team for a fellowship like you can for each game type. And would probable have to do some extra coding to the team tournament code.

But I would also love to see it.

Czuch Czuckers: Plus make sure you picked the right option.

ICON = the little picture next to your name

PICTURE = this is the "bigger" picture that is in your profile if they click on the icon.

pauloaguia: I've updated the information above - you might need to remind me to update it from "send suggestions for new person" to "send questions for XXX" when the time comes.

On the interview page, it still lists the last coordinator - but Fencer will have to change that once he has some time.

OK - Well pauloaguia volunteered to be the Interview coordinator below - if he still wants it, I say it is his!

Once he confirms he wants it, I can update the information above.

So rather then continuing to put a lot of posts on this board, here is what needs to be done.

1. PRIVATE PM pauloaguia with who you would like to see interviewed next (or even if you would like to be interviewed next - I guess you could "vote" for yourself)

2. pauloaguia will pick someone. (FIRST Making sure that person wants to be interviewed) At that point, he will announce here who will be interviewed next.

3. At that point, people need to send pauloaguia interview questions for the next couple of weeks. Plus if he want to expand the interview a little more, he could always re-use basic questions from past interviews - like the common "Why did you choose that username" and "How did you find BrainKing" questions. Heck I can think of 10-15 questions which could be "Standard" questions on every quiz - and then after those "standard" questions, put the other user questions in.

4. After he has enough questions, he can organize the questions them to the interview person. They will now have some time to answer the questions - and send them back to pauloaguia.

5. pauloaguia can quickly look over them to make sure they are OK (no answers that are baiting, insults, foul language, or against any site rules) - then send them off to Fencer to post with the other interviews.

6. The last person interviewed can then suggest someone new to be interviews to pauloaguia. He will then start the process over. (If they can't think of anyone who they would like to see interviews, then pauloaguia should post that he needs some new ideas.)

side note: pauloaguia does not need to wait for 1 interview to be finished before starting the process of the next. If he wanted, as soon as he sends off 1 set of questions, he could start the next interview process - this is completely up to him.

Any other suggestions or ideas?

The task of interviews was always a user started and ran "job" which harley started as a way to find out more about some of the other users. After about 2-3 interviews, Fencer then made a place on the site for them.

The job tasks:

Choose who you think should be interviewed. (make sure they are OK with it.)

Accept questions from people for a set amount of time.

After you get the questions, try to "Orginize" the questions if possible. That is if there are 5 "why did you pick that name" questions - you can remove 4 of them so they are only asked 1. Plus any other type of "ordering" you would want to do - may put BrainKing related questions first, and "personal" questions towards end of interview. Also edit out "mean" questions and foul language.

Send questions to person being interviewed.

Once the questions are answered, they should send it back to you.

Do any last editing if needed - possible make sure no foul language or personal insults are hidden in the answers.

Send a copy to Fencer, and he will post them where they need to be.

Start over with new person

Tuesday: .... it is also WAY TOO EASY to accedently remove a post also. So not always is someone trying to be mean - but might have been an accedental hit of the delete button... and sometimes without even knowing..... since how this site loads, it is "funky" how the page will shift over while loading different parts - and if you line up your mouse to click on someting, and the page shifts and you then press the button - it could then be over the delete button..... and if the person is not paying attention, may not even know then done it. (I'm sure I've done that before on accedent) Of course only the moderators & global moderators see that option - but a request to have a second "confirm" page would be very helpful.

If the moderator does not know what happen to it - you could always try to repost it.

Tuesday: Yes I'm a global moderator, but I don't take issues here in the public boards.

If you have a question about something being moderated, you need to first talk to the moderator of the board.

If you feel they are wrong, or something else is wrong - a private PM to me (or another global moderator) can help by stepping in and trying to help resolve the issue.

If you feel you need my help, send me a private PM - let me know what you posted (if you remember exactly) and I can then see what I can do to help.

Tuesday: Did you pay for a 6 month rook membership - it is already in there in your profile - but is set to start after your knight membership expires.

If you want it to do something different, then you will need to send Fencer a private PM and let him know - since the automatic system will only "add on" the extra time to your existing membership.

Tuesday: You will probable want to ask the moderator of that board - no one on this board will know, the moderators of that board should know.

Pbarb2: For the time, it like you said it goes by server (Fencer) time - here in the USA, Central Time zone that I'm in - 5pm is midnight for the server.

So if I have a game use an auto vacation at 4:50pm - it will use todays auto-vacation. If I then have a second game use an auto vacation at 5:10pm - it will use tomorrows auto-vacation (since the server is already on "tomorrow")

redfrog: Good catch - I think that is it. For example, I look at regular battleboats - I can remove a player - but in Battleboat Plus where I already have a team signed up, I don't have that option any more.

MadMonkey: I think it can do either - but I don't think that is setup in the automatic payment process that works for 95% of the users, so the person might need to let Fencer know what they want to do and have him manually fix it.

bouncer: The only thing you can currently do is just remove them before the tournament starts. That is wait about 10 minutes before the tournament starts, then manually remove them. They will not get a message - so hopefully they will not re-join with 5 minutes to go.

tippyc: The next round will always be at the stated time.

So a 3 day pond, everyone has to make a move within the 3 days. Even if everyone makes their move in 1 day, it will still be 3 days before the next round starts.

Well I was just playing a game of Triple Dice Poker, and thought I would share how I went from having 2 rolls to it being my last roll. After my first roll, I selected a dice to re-roll and I accidentally double clicked on the "roll dice" button, and it went strait to being my last roll - skipping 1 roll. (I can hit "back" on my browser, and says I have 2 rolls left - hit forward on my browser, back to all rolls already taken)

Anyway, I wanted to mention this because I remember others complaining at times that they "lost" their rolls while playing - and double clicking on "Roll selected dice" can explain that issue.

Binabik: The only thing that I can think of is if they did have vacation days set (which of course we can't see now because that time has passed) - but you said they did not.

As of almost 4 hours ago, the server time in on "Saturday" - which is that users weekend days, so if they are still gone when Monday comes around, and I can see they have no vacation days set - nor auto-vacation set - I would like to watch to see if their games then start to time out or not. (And if not - then a bug is the only thing I can think of.)

... not that I don't believe you when you said they did not have vacation days set - but I always like to see it myself... and I did not look at the profile until "Saturday" flipped over.

AbigailII: I think some card games would work on a turn-based game site, but I think it would need to be tweeked and such to get it to work well.

I would like to see a couple card games put on this site like how the ponds work - like Black Jack.

For example, each round, you try to get at close to 21 as possible - if bust, you are out of the game. Then the "dealer / computer" does their hand. If you beat the dealer, you stay in - if not, you are out. Continue to do that until either 1 or 0 players are left as the winner of the BJ21 game. (or no winner if all bust/lose) - maybe make it that bust "fall" out of the game first, and lose falls out after the bust people. [edited to add - actually might be better to have it that you are out of the game after 3 times getting beat or something similar, instead of just 1]

Plus I have an idea for Strategy War - a War like card game that would be perfect for a turn-based game site: http://www.coan.net/strategy-war.html


Plus a simple high/low guessing card game, also would work nicely on a turn-based game site: http://www.coan.net/high-low.html


Other card games that might work well: Uno would be interesting. no-limit texas holdem might work - start each player with 100 brains to "bet" - but quickly raise the starting anti's (or whatever that is called) so to make sure the game does not last forever (or have longer game version starting at 250/500 brains) (and I say "brains" as in fake money - don't think you would want to call it money so the site does not get confused for a gambling site.)

Well I wrote up the following awhile back - changes I made which I believe helps out in the speed for me. You can find it here:

Computers (coan.net, 2007-03-12 20:16:01)

Plus it's not in the above, but I believe the nofont option is also a little quicker then the castle theme - but if you want to had additional fun, there are other external .css files you can try.

In setting, in the External style URL: area (plus make sure you check Activate external style right next to it), here are 3 that I've made (Just enter the http... address in the box on the settings page.):

http://coan.net/coannet.css - an "old" style look of BrainKing
http://coan.net/coannet2.css - same as above, with addition of "move" button near TOP!
http://coan.net/coannet3.css - same as above, with addition of dice poker dice choices near top (covers some of the screen, not pretty - but beats scrolling down for every roll)

Anyone is free to try those 3 out - and if you don't like it, just uncheck and use the any of Fencer's choices.

Czuch Czuckers: Even though I know I explained this before, I'll do it again.

I never stopped playing ponds when i got to the top of the Ponds BKR list - Many ponds last on average 2 months. I stopped playing (and showed you the proof back when) of when i stopped joining new ponds - and with the remaining ponds, ended up doing good and only at that point did my ponds BKR raise to the top. (Which I never stopped playing - but I limited myself about around 5 at a time - instead of the 30+ at a time) Again, I know I explained all of this to you before, but for some reason... it just never sticks.

Yes, when the rule that Rooks could have a limit of 2 fellowships, i had 3. But guess what, I gave one of those up (the frogazons / Swamp Frogs Fellowship) - so I was back within the limit of 2. But maybe you did not know this. Black rooks have a limit of 3, so after that time - I did start a 3rd fellowship - well within my limit - nothing "grandfathered" in.

And also, I had at one time removed myself from all of the moderating positions on the public boards. Since then, I have been added for one reason or another (like no other moderator, the main moderator wanted me, etc....) Again, I know I explained this to you before also, but.....

As for the "title" in my profile, I'm sorry that it is still there. That part of my profile, I never have changed for a long time and just did not pay attention that it was still there. There are also other things in my profile that are also out of date, like the names I use in some of the other game sites (which I've changed) - but to make you happy, I will sit down and update my profile here in the next few days - will that make you happy?

Czuch Czuckers: ??? You are confusing. Aren't you the same person who was upset with me because I was not playing enough Ponds? I know I explained it before to you, but you being what you are - I'll explain it again. I at one time had around 800-900 games going - games I could easily keep up with, but then outside projects (real life) slowed down my game playing, and that is why I no longer try to start many games - and have been doing good, having below 400 now and by the end of the year will be under 200 hopefully (150 would be nice). Plus I always pick time limits which work for me - longer time limits that is, so for players who like to play the faster games I hopefully do not slow them down. That is what is great about this site with many time limit choices - I can choose what works well for me and my some-what slow play - and others who like faster games can easily avoid the longer time limit games.

And you are wrong - I'm the BIG BOSS to 3 fellowships - moderator on the public boards don't really count since my global moderator job covers all that also - and customer service does not really do much anymore... well I've don't nothing with that "title" for years now.

So anyway, I'm sorry that you think spending 10 minutes every 2 months is too much extra work for me. I'm sure if Fencer finds me not able to do that extra 10 minutes of work, the other site team tournament creator can take up the extra 10 minutes of slack, or Fencer would easily be able to find someone else. But don't worry, I assure you that I can handle the extra 10 minutes of work every 2 months.

emmett: Yes - that is my thinking also. Of course I'll try to pick a couple popular, but also pick games that there has not been a team tournament for yet. I have my eyes on Nackgammon, and Dark Chess so far - which Dark Chess has not had a tournament yet. (but don't quote me on that - I may change my mind once I do create them) (AND AT LEAST 1 CHECKERS GAME)

nabla: Yea, there are all kinds of things that I need to keep in mind - like double cube - and time limits. Most time limits are 4 days (which is a good number in my opinion), but once we get into making regular tournaments monthly - I can see throwing in some faster 2 day tournament - or no days off - or other settings that can be changed. Goal would be to get a good variety to hopefully please many players.

emmett: The one posted earlier was just playing / testing - to make sure it did work - I guess before Fencer made this function, he was manually entering the tournaments into the database.... which was more work, and probable why he did not make that many often.

It's still 90 days before the "next" set, so I will probable wait awhile before I add more tournaments. I believe that me & Tanein will take turns - one creating a set each month. I will AT LEAST create them 30 days in advance, but probable closer to 60 days in advance - to give plenty of time to get teams together. I don't want to make them too soon - or a new game might get added to the site where I might want to create a tournament for.

(And if a time comes that we slow down on creating tournament, feel free to give me a friendly nudge to create more.)

Eriisa: .... plus I would try to spread tournaments out - so I would probable pick 1 gammon game, probable Nack since that past tournament is already complete.

But that list is also misleading - since "short" game which do not last very long will of course have less active games - where Ludo (for example) takes awhile longer - so has a higher amount of current games.

emmett: I believe the ability to create site team tournaments were given to 2 people - myself & Tanein.

One thing I would hate to see is that the site team tournaments become so common like regular tournaments, that they lose their "special tournament" feel.

Currently, I think our plan for the site team tournaments is to have around 6 start each month. (that way hopefully enough to keep site team tournaments always going, but not enough to overload anyone).

Even though I have not set down to see which tournaments I would start next, the idea in my head is to have something like:

popular games = Current running games ( http://brainking.com/en/Statistics?p=2 ) is a good guide on how popular a game is... not a perfect indication, but again - just a good guide.

2 tournaments from the top 20 popular games

2-3 tournament from the 21-50 popular games

And at least 1, if not 2 tournament from the bottom 50 (well bottom 54) games

Again, that is just a rough outline on how I will try to spread out the games, so we can keep the popular tournaments going and include the not-as-popular games into the mix (which of course I'm happy to take suggestions.)

Pbarb2: A tip for everyone who has PayPal, Banking online, etc...

If ANY place sends you an e-mail saying they need updated information, like PayPal, etc... DO NOT - EVER - follow the link that is in the e-mail.

For example, if PayPal send you a message saying something needs updated, DO NOT click the link. - Go to your web browser and type in http://www.paypal.com - and go to the site that way and sign in.... and once you sign in there, if there is something that needs done - it will there let you know. Otherwise, it was probable a scammer where the link in the e-mail might look real - but sends you to their own page to collect information that is entered there. (Same with ebay, any bank, or really - any account you have.)

Take an extra 30 seconds and go type in the address yourself rather then follow links. And if it is your bank or something, call them on the phone. I don't know of any bank that will ask you to update information over the web - they will call you, or want you to call them.

"Snoopy": Yes - you will continue. As long as a person is there for the start, even if they are a pawn or even no longer with the fellowship or team - they will continue and finish what was started in the team tournament. (At least I'm pretty sure of that.)

nodnarbo: It might have to do with 3 of the games have under 4 moves - so may not "count" towards the rating - even though you have a rating. So probable just one of the "loop holes" in the coding. Probable will take a few more games before the graph shows up.

Oceans Apart: Lets wait until Fencer has a chance to fix it. Most people are OK with it, and will only test it with unrated games and such - but there are a few on this site who will do anything to gain rating points - which some would call cheating, but they would probable say something like "Well the system allowed me to do it so it must be OK" or something like that. So sometimes it takes Fencer a little bit to find the problem and fix it.

Number of my best BKR shown on the main page: NONE

That will take it off both your main page, and fellowship pages. There is no separate setting for each.