sLaMdAnCe: Maybe you should try to play as well

Czuch Chuckers: Probably the reason for that tournament to have been announced in the server news is because the prize is a Maharajah membership. Since Kaoz's membership expired we haven't had another Maharajah member around (I think).
It doesn't bother the least to me that it is restricted to checks only, I know it doesn't bother you as well (you stated it) and mostly nobody else... so why stirr up things?

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

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 ]

Stevie: That's easy: try another glob mod...

Look at the address bar and copy paste the address of the game page here. The game ID is contained in it

But this is autovacation: it only kicks in on timeouts, so you only start spending vacation days on your first timeout...
At least that's how I understood it when it was first explained in this board a few months ago. And it will still be how I see it working until Fencer corrects me (after all, he was the one who implemented the system, so who better to clear any doubts about it?)

Maybe I didn't explain right:
Imagine he has only one game, and that he last moved on 6-Jan. If that is a 5-days-per-move game then he would timeout on 13-Jan (because of weekend). Now, he times out on 13-Jan the first time, so that will be his first vacation day. He is given an extra day, so he timed out again on 14-Jan, being his second vacation day. and so on (excluding weekends) till he times out for the 31st time, on 24-Feb, this time for good.
So, to know exactly when his vacation days are over, you need to find out the fastest game he has and start calculating the number of vacationed days from there...

Of course, it's easier to just wait another week

Stevie: Don't forget to include the days he had to move in the first place. For instance, if all his games were 5-day-to-move games then you need to had 5 days to those numbers...

All I know is that yesterday I finally got rid of my opponent that was autovacationing since the begining of this year :)
You'll get your turn soon as well ;)

oldhamgirl: not all... many people already said that they don't experience any problem... I have no problems accessing the site. There can't be a problem if many of us don't experience it

BIG BAD WOLF & Fencer: yes, I know that. I was just replying to Vikings comment and trying to point out that my concern about this question was not regarding brainking staf... It was just about it being linked to in the main page and used for content that is out of date now.
Oh never mind, it really isn't that important!

Vikings: Yes, I know about the BK staff link at the bottom of the page. My main question was about the reason for BrainKing.info to exist and not the particular information that exists there or not (though I think the list of representatives could use a link to it in the payments methods page).

Is BrainKing.info still maintained? it seems a bit out of date and that link right on top of the main page may cause a lesser good impression for newcomers
The only thing there I can't seem to find anywhere on the site is the list of customer service members and representatives... which I think should be on BrainKing.com anyway.

Chessmaster1000: To find out what these interviews are all about just follow the link that says Interviews! at the top of this page where you'll find previous interviews...

Maxxina: hmm... including weekends or does the count start only after a weekend?

bwildman: I don't think so. I've got a game where a certain player has been autovacationing for the last couple of weeks now...

I see some new smiles have been added

Ikkon: Just use an image editor. All of them have those functions (the resize results may vary depending on the quality of the editor). Photoshop and PaintShopPro are nice ones and I now that at least the later as a demo version workable for 30 days.

Or else just send me a PM asking for my mail and I can fix them for you tonight

Hrqls: Yes, if someone had answered 3 I would have mentioned HyperBG as well ;)

But now that I think about it there was montion of a couple of chess games that actually ended in 2 moves (fool's check). So, it means no BKR change for those?

the game in question was in a tournament... So I guess it applies to tournaments as well (at least here at BK).
Thank you both (should read the FAQ more often )

Is there a minimum number of moves for a game to count for BKR? One of my opponets timed out without even starting the game and no BKR change... at least in the message... (I'm not complaining: I don't think I should be awarded for a game that didn't even happen).

If there's a minimum how much is it?

Czuch Chuckers:Some time ago there was a talk about limiting autovacation to 5 consecutive days. Maybe it's already implemented?

well, I couldn't get for a while either... but seems to be solved now.

harley: actually i can't because the discussion started as fast / slow games from all types, not just chess games.
But I'll refrain from posting more on the subject.

(2 moves! wow)

For those interested, this was the game

Atomic chess: wins in 3 moves is the fastest I've ever seen... I actually lost my first game that way

Fencer: No, a bit anoying some times but I was just wondering the reason that's all...

Fencer: hmmm... so it means it's been getting more overloaded, because it's getting less rare

Thanks for the info.

Latelly it happens to me to have notification of new messages on boards and when I go and check them out it just shows me messages I had already read.
For instance, as I'm writing this, Szirak's message has a "New!" symbol on it even though I had read it before. But when I read it the first time harley's and Szirak's previous messages were marked new as well and now it's just this last one so it can't be a cache issue.
This has been happening ever since new year and I think (but not sure) it has something to do with the fact that the messages in question were posted just about the time I was reading them.
The first time I just thought it was a fluke, with me having hit the board at almost the exact same time of the post. But it's happened 6 or 7 times in the last few days so now I start to think it's just too much of a coincidence...

Are you still doing experiences with time-travel Fencer? ;)

Kevin: Thanks, that was the mixup (I just call them listings or ratings that all - must be my english).
But everything else I said still holds :)

Then I must be making some confusion... what charts are we talking about?

Szirak: pawns already can't see any ratings on any charts because they don't have access to them ;)

Which brings me to another suggestion: maybe (just maybe) on the PaidMembership Detail page, there could be a link to a snapshot of the so said charts. So that we pawns know what we're missing (a few of the other functionalities could use some examples or better explanations too).

Purple: Inactivity has nothing to do with payment. If they don't want to play a certain game type, then that surelly means they probably don't bother their rating in that game either.
Take a look at Fencer's profile. It's been ages since his last Horde Chess game so, naturally, he'd fall off the ratings. He probably doesn't bother that much since he's only playeda few games anyway.
Besides, you can allways come back to the ratings as soon as you finish another game of that type, nomatter how much time there is left in your membership.

(Sorry to use your profile Fencer, but Purple had no suitable example in his )

Purple: I think it goes for inactive dormant rooks as well

Fencer: 30 days for pawns? No more playing with slow movers then
Anyway, excelent idea! That'll boost some of my ratings for sure (especially when some players constantly refuse to play to keep their first position safe in the chart)

There is one thing I'm not sure I got: pawns already don't have access to charts. When you say remove us from the charts you mean remove us our rating position with relation to others. We just get to keep a ranking, not a rating, is that it?

Pawns will also loose some competitiveness. Comparing yourself to others is a very big incentive to try to play better. So you'll risk diminishing the number of pawns on this site that are here just for the competition and that usually make good opponents.
Also, I bet some paying members would prefer to compare their position in a universe of 10000 players rather than in one of 1000.

Another thing: what will happen when a paying member stops paying? disappear from the charts? Or when a pawn that has already an established ranking finally decides to become a paying member? Suddenly show up?
Ratings might become a bit more unstable then what they are already today...

Of course, it would also diminish the time I spend on the rating listings, comparing myself to others ;)

Happy New Year to BrainKing and most of Europe by now.
Hope the first half of the world is having a great year so far (especially that part that has been through a lot these past few days)
Votes for the other half to have a great year as well.

As for BrainKing votes of lots of new games, lots of new features and lots of things... except bugs

And now, off to prepare for my own New Year which will be in about an hour

15 sec / move over a 24h period... ouch!
sometimes I take just that to completelly load a page with my overloaded network 8|

Congratulations beaupol. Have a good night sleep now :)

I just tried it with both your profile and harley's. When I click halery's icon picture a bigger different one appeared.
When I click your icon picture in your profile, a bigger version of your icon appeared...

or not...
try clicking the small picture in your profile. It enlarges...

Oh, I see :)
I think you need to have javascript enabled to see those...

Funny... for me that text reads:
"Only paying members can have icons and photos associated with their BrainKing accounts. The required size is 40x50 points (icon) or 200x300 points (photo on a Profile page) in jpg format. If you want to add or change your pictures, please send them to info@brainking.com along with your user ID."

oh, thanks for the info.

what just happened? It says 10 new messages here and I just see a blank page? Is it a bug or a lot or someone just got deleted? (Why do I allways miss the fun parts?)

I know only you can see them. I never expected me to

Smiles, groovy...
I already don't understand what you people are talking about, now I have an excuse not to (I wonder if this will be visible).

I've used up all my days for this year but it still says I have 5 days left when I switch it to January... and I can only assume it would say 30 if I was a rook ;)

Radiant: Last 2 times I checked (1 month and just 10 sec ago) I could specify my vacation days for next year... Just select the month you want in the combo box and click the checkboxes...

Why do you say you can't set the vacations for January?

yep

yeah, I see it now... I had only looked for it near the discussion link! *shrug*