Aganju:

Marshmud: that's what my boss says all the time, but he must be talking about someone else... ;-)

Aganju: To me there is no site better then BK. It just needs attention and someone devoted. Thanks Aganju for your offer. I have learned you programmers make good salary's. lol.

Marshmud: I am a programmer but not in Java or C#, I only know languages that are probably not in use here, and I have no web-related experience, that's why I didn't answer. I am willing to help if you ever need help (as much as I can), and I am not interested on making money out of it - I'd love to be able improve the site :-)

Aganju: Never even gave that a thought. I did however ask someone to go in half but I decided to go alone as its a good investment imo. My fear was the technical side of BK. But solutions have been discussed and Im cautious but optimistic that BK can once again be the best again.

I did ask on the features board for any programmers, code readers etc to message me if there was anyone interested in working on the BK code and I had no responses. I even offered a percentage of BK revenue but no takers. Luckily I found someone interested in the BK site and not the money itself for now. I even have fencer to thank because without his ideas and advice Id never be able to pull this off.

Marshmud: are you looking for shareholders?

ThunderGr: And I received your reply. Thanks for all your advice. I hope to move this forward over the next 4 to 6 weeks. I only hope for a little patience from the BK family and that the nasdaq market doesn't collapse in the next month...lol

Marshmud: I got one message only now.

BGBedlam:
It's quiet in here. Anyone got any thoughts on slow play! ;)

We are ready for your next question.

ThunderGr: Dang I sent last week. Will get it to you now. I also wanted to go over fencers latest offer for technical support.

Vikings: Thank you Vikings.

Taken care of,
Just a reminder to all, speaking on a subject is fine, just please do so with out getting personal

Marshmud: Thanks but It did not upset me. He has shown his true colours now. I see all his posts have been removed now.

Marshmud: No message in my message box since July, Marshmud. I hope it is everything for the best :).

crosseyed: Sorry Mary. That was uncalled for.

ThunderGr: Did you get my message Theodoros? It explained that fencer would stay on a year and help with technical issues. I want to go over some new details this week with you. Do you see what your getting yourself into? lol.

The Col: He got his wish. He is not upset with the game limits but the site and he has to have his way and be rude. He needs to be banned.

crosseyed: It crossed the line, no question.

The Col: It feel ashamed to think he comes from the UK. I hope he never takes ill and has to have a colostomy. Thankfully I am in good health and do not have colostomy bag.

crosseyed: It did seem like an unusually strong reaction to a pretty tame emoticon.

Dice Cheater: You are acting like a spoilt child because you can't get your own way. I am hoping that a moderator will delete your vile posting.

Dice Cheater:
I have just got back from two weeks camping holiday with the family with limited internet access. I've just played a move in all my games. I would have lost them all with no holiday allowance. I want to win games by out playing ( or out lucking) my opponent not by time default. There is a life outside brainking.

Marshmud: Reading on, do you still wonder 'why would you be heckled?'. Just glad no-one branded me a nazi, yet :-)

Walter Montego: Well that's exactly it, well put, Walter. The time control 'doesn't stop us from playing and finishing a game much faster'. It shouldn't. Time controls for board games were invented to maintain a good dynamic play, that holds true for live games as well as internet games. Now, had this website retained its early dynamism then all would be good but it didn't and I dare venture that it's the abuse of what are clearly over-generous time controls and holiday settings which one of the main reason for this loss. That's my opinion.

Aganju: Though my time controls might leave more time on the clock than you or I would use, it doesn't stop us from playing and finishing a game much faster. I try to set the time parameters for the maximums that I'll tolerate.

Another proposal for extending time on a Fischer Clock would be to allow both opponents to stop the clock if they both agreed and let either of them start it again.

happyjuggler0: This is a very good way for getting the time parameters and most of the other things about a game that you prefer. There is one thing that an accepting player can do that I do not like. He can shut off the auto-pass even though you created the game. I have never understood why Fencer set it up this way nor does he have an option to let the game creator decide to allow the auto-pass by turned off or left on.

ThunderGr: Oops! Wrong name. That is what I get for casually reading the posts.

I'll just leave the suggestion out there for anyone with open slots for games. Use the "waiting games" feature to find time controls you like, and use the "new game" feature to create your own open invitations.

happyjuggler0: Excuse me? I do not have any complains whatsoever. Why would you refer to me?

ThunderGr,

Have you ever considered setting up game invitations for the "waiting games" list? You can set up your own time controls and other parameters, and if it is a commonly played game you are likely to get some acceptances in a day or two (or much faster).

Walter Montego: I agree that Fisher Clock is the way to go.
However, I would prefer if it allows to use a bit of vacation, because it happens sometimes during the year that you cannot play for some days. For example, I do often international business travel, where I am on the road with colleagues for several days, often without internet access except late at night in the hotel. So, I play around 8 to 12 times a day all my moves in all games, for maybe 340 days a year, but there are maybe 5 periods of 3 - 5 days where I cannot play. I prefer an even tighter Fisher Clock than you proposed - for example initial 3 days, 6 to 12 hours bonus per move, max 3 days. That forces both players to move 2 to 4 times a day (I understand that this is not good for everybody), and I never even get near the timeout, except those periods described above, where I lose many games. So I wish there would be a way to have very tight Fisher Clocks with 10 days vacation per year, that would be perfect.

Walter Montego: The "Limit to Time" is actually "Limit for one move", as it was explained to me by aarou here

moistfinger: OK, I have sent you the same game invitations that I sent Dice Cheater. Good luck!

Dice Cheater: I have sent you two match invites and the first paragraph of this post.

Here's a couple of 5 point matches. The time parameters are about 3 moves per week. With the maximum time set at 8 days 1 hour, the game will time out if someone doesn't move in a little over 8 days. With the Fischer Clock in use, the amount of vacation time I or you have left does not matter. The clock keeps running. I usually move everyday and sometimes all day. You and I have played before, though it has been awhile since our last encounter. I only have 11 games currently running, so you won't have to worry about me making hundreds of moves trying to keep from timing out in a multitude of games with other players. Though I like to chat while playing, I also observe radio silence. Just depends on what's happening.

If you turn off the chat feature, I will not play any more games with you. Same thing if you shut off the auto-pass if we play Backgammon.

If others would like to play with similar time controls or longer matches let me know. Though I do not play a lot of different games, I like Dark Chess, Embassy Chess, Backgammon, and a few other games that are listed in my finished games list, if you're interested. I am against what I consider slow play, but I have room for many games and certainly do not want an opponent to time out in a game. It is easy to set up the Fischer Clock as Fencer has the game invite page set up. I always wonder why more people don't take advantage of the Fischer Clock. Especially those that do not like endless games that never end. It takes awhile to get a feel for how you like the time parameters, but it works well for me. My favorite time controls that work well for my life situation and also leave me time to be on extended work assignments are these time parameters:

Initial time between 4 and 7 days
Bonus time 1 day 18 hours
Limit to time 11 days 1 hour

I could play a standard time of 30 days and vacation allowed and I'd still move nearly every day. I won't play with those time controls because I want the game to either be over or to be played.

El Cid: Well put again.

Dice Cheater: This is what you need

Dice Cheater: So, you can't stand that the other players impose their playing velocity to you, but you want to impose yours to them...
Like it has been said, no one here is forcing you to choose 7 day normal vacation games (in fact you have some games that have smaller time controls). If a player has a time gap to play, (s)he can use it. If it uses more time, it starts losing vacation hours, if even then he uses more time the game will eventually timeout. Yeah, it's kind of frustrating when you see a player with 50 games that connects everyday and it usually has +40 in his turn, but he plays within the time gap he is allowed to, so I can't blame.
Moreover, if you have only 7/20 possible games you can have, it is less likely to have a game in your turn. Like it has been said every time this matter comes up, this is not a realtime game site, so it is expected that the games last. Even so, there are countless time gap controls so that each player can use the ones that best fit his play style.
And this is not defending slow play... it is just remembering that each of us has the possibility to choose which games we want to play, so we got to face the consequences of the opponents we choose (especially if you are not playing tournaments)

Dice Cheater: Yep, I second that.

crosseyed: Why defend slow play? Slow play sucks.

Dice Cheater:

Roberto Silva: Well put.

Dice Cheater: You only have 7 games running, so it must seem like an eternity when you are expecting players to make a move and they have not done so. Perhaps if you played more games it would not be so bad for you. There are no rules that say players must make moves when you expect them to. If you can't take the heat you should leave the kitchen as the expression goes.

BGBedlam: You're alright m8

Dice Cheater: boy oh boy, I really started something there. It was only a joke. I.ll keep quiet in future.

Roberto Silva: You have 10 hours vacation days left so your post is quite clearly about defending your own lethargic playing style. Indulge me, crawl back under that rock.

Dice Cheater: " I'm simply not interested in playing matches that last a year or more."

Then DON'T join games with time controls that allow that to happen. You've been told that plenty of times. Why do you keep blaming players for your inability to understand the site rules?

If a player has 7 days to make a rule, he's entirely within his right to take 7 days to make a move. Whatever else he does during those 7 days is his business. Why should he have to interrupt his personal and professional life to come here and indulge you?

Dice Cheater: Why would you be heckled? I suggest you join quick playing tournaments and stay away from the endless tournys. You know you have the control to play at your own time limits.

"given free membership then start games with a generous time control"

You seriously believe this?

Dice Cheater: You have just 7 games out of the 20 that is your limit. I am pretty sure you could, if you wanted to, start games with faster players.

ThunderGr: Not naming names but I'm currently playing two of these ghosts.

BGBedlam: I haven't been entering any new tournaments for six months now (except team tourneys), so my game count is down considerably. But I still see enough opportunities and have enough moves to make.
It's coming back to finding the group of people that want to play fast, and make tourneys within that group - that should fix this issue.

Dice Cheater: Well, I do not know where you find your opponents, but most of my backgammon games go through blazingly fast. To me, the site bustles with life :P.