KotDB heavenlyemma: And I'd like to repeat that I like the border as it is. I did suggest that Fencer enable the settings so each player could change the border for each game. Then you could have your pink border and I could have it as it right now.

rednaz23: It should be possible. There is a Bavarian flag, so why not a Texas or California flag?

I would like to see a column on the main page for how much time I have left while it is my opponent's turn. This would be really helpful in a game timed with a Fischer clock or a game without vacations allowed.

I think just to the right of the "Time Left" column would be a good place for it. It could be headed with "Your Time Left" or something similar. For the standard move time limit, the column would just have the time per move in it. The colored dots would would still be there to help you know what's going on without having to visit each game to check. This would be really helpful for planning on leaving for the weekend or a business trip.

MadMonkey: Two columns. One with opponent's time left and the other with your time left when opponent moves. This would be very handy for Fischer clock timed games.

hexkid: Thank you for the pictures. It appears that I have the Java scripting turned on as Reza's post directed me to the link. Would the Computer Discusion board be the place to ask you about the imagine hosting?

King Reza: That's slick. Now I know how some people have been changing the font, color, and size in their posts.
Thanks.

Baked Alaskan: What's Rich Text Editor?

grenv: Where are the banner ads? I don't have them as I shut them off a long time ago. Perhaps you need to check your settings page.

skipinnz: Ah, so you want to save one click out of your life, do you? Just click their handle in the invitation page. This sends you to their profile page. Next to their handle is a link that says "Send Message". Fencer might just add what you've requested. It seems like he's added those envelopes in other places for sending messages. It's hard to imagine this particular use coming up often, but I have had some Pawn members write me saying that they would like to play when space becomes available and this is how they did it. I've also written to others from the invitation page because of game choice or time limit parameter questions that I might have had.

skipinnz: Sure, just send the person a message without declining or accepting the game invitation. Explain to them that you want to play the game and will accept as soon as you have the free space. Assuming they don't delete the game, accept it when you have the free space.

BIG BAD WOLF: As I recall, Fencer did change the color of the Extinction Chess border not too long ago. Those of us that play it regularly didn't like it and he switched it back. How can the color of the border around the board make a difference? It says right next to the board what game it is. I'd rather have them all the same color with the name of the variant as it is, right next to the board. I've never had a problem telling the games apart. It says the game clearly in bold lettering. How could you miss it? Let alone from how the game develops or where the pieces get placed.

I agree with you that a victory won from my opponent's bad move is not as rewarding as when it is I that makes a good move, but it comes with the game in either case. This is one of the reasons I don't like the kanji or Japanese marked pieces. I'm at a severe disadvantage when forced to use them as compared to someone that knows them well or is Japanese. The directionally marked pieces put the game on equal footing and I only have myself to blame if I make a bad move, not the pieces that I can't tell apart. And my opponent can use the set that he prefers. Should be the same thing with the borders around the board. Let the player color it as he likes. It is still important to have the game type name next to it. If there are people that can't read or have grown dependent on having the border colored, then my suggestion of having the player himself choose the board coloring and border should work well for them and the rest of us can keep it as it is or add some color to the game as we'd like.

joshi tm: I like the Extinction Chess board as it is. Why not allow the individual player to color his board and pieces as he likes?

plaintiger: That option exists already. It's called "Stay here".

nabla: I'm against private games, especially in Dark Chess. That is why I almost always decline invitations to play Dark Chess privately. Sure, you can follow my games and figure my plans, good for you. Hmm, maybe that's why I've dropped so far lately? :) Dark Chess is completely hidden while the game is in progress. If I play privately, I can't easily share the game with someone else when the game is over. Believe it or not, there are people that won't play me Dark Chess because of my not playing privately and yet these same people will enter Dark Chess tournaments and those games are always available for viewing when the game is complete!

I request the end of private games too. nabla's two reasons are good ones. Especially for rated games. There's been enough scandal and pointing of fingers over cheating. Having the games available for public view makes it more likely that cheating can be detected and it certainly can act as a deterent to cheaters.

One option would be to have the games private until they are complete. This would help cut down on outside help for a game in progress. Add that as a third option when creating an individual game: private, public, and private until complete.

Fencer: Cool. :) As wild a Chu Shogi can look, it's not the wildest one, nor the largest one of the Shogi variants. I've never played any of the other games, but I've read about them. I think I'll just stick to Shogi and Chu Shogi. Chu Shogi is a fairly large and complicated game. The pieces seem fairly balanced for the board, though the starting placement of them can make it take a lot of moves to get the back row pieces into action.. I've only played three games and have seven going at the moment. When you add the games, could you have the directionally marked pieces? Just like you've done for Shogi with the two choices of game displays, kanji or directionally marked? The kanji, symbolic, or pictorial ones that I've seen are too much trouble for me. I suppose Japanese players might like the kanji marked ones, but I can't make head nor tail of that writing. Especially for the much larger Chu Shogi with its many more pieces. I'm not sure who would like the other kind of markings though, but there might be some that do. Are you familiar with Richard's PBM Server? He has a few of the Shogi games on his site. Here's the link.
http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/gamerz.php
It looks like he only has three Shogi variants, Shogi, Chu Shogi, and Tenjiku Shogi. I've heard of Dai Shogi, Dai-Dai Shogi, and Small Shogi. I bet there's more. Anyways, I'd go with Chu Shogi. His Tenjiku Shogi doesn't have the directionally marked pieces, just kanji and pictorial, so that's probably why I haven't played it. Tenjiku Shogi has fire breathing monsters in it that can kill the opponent's pieces even when it's the opponent's turn! It doesn't sound balanced, but I won't know until I get a chance to play it.

KotDB: I'd like Chu Shogi on BrainKing too. I play it now on a play by mail server and it's just not as good as playing a game on Brain King. At least I can play it there. Crazy game. Takes a few moves to get going and then all sorts of things happen. I play with the regular rules, but the site has drop and Lion handicap options too. If you'd like to play a game or two KotDB, we could play there until Fencer adds it here.

grenv: That'll work too. The thing is I normally accept invitations and do not enter a message as it won't appear until Fencer fixes the first message of a new game. I declined these invitations and found the need to write something.

Fencer: Ah, Then it is as it is.

BIG BAD WOLF: I'll try that the next time I have a longer message to type.

grenv: Yes, I can lengthy at times, though I'm surprised you didn't say my refresh rate was too short.

I recently was sent a game invitation which appeared on my Main page as usual, but with a dialog box for accepting or declining the invitation with it. That makes it easy to take care of, but there's a problem. How do you type a message into the box when your page continues to refresh? Could it be made to stop refreshing while you're typing into the box, but continue to refresh when you haven't typed anything into it?
Just imagine how hard it'd be to type in a discussion board if the pages refreshed.

onigoroshi: But your waiting games already appear on your main page. Would having your opponent's desired BKR range listed there help?

I'd like Chu Shogi on this site. Where I play it now is way too much trouble. Brain King would make the playing of it very easy compared to the play by mail service I use. I'm sure the other players on that site would come over.
I'll need the directionally marked pieces to play it though as I can't read the Kanji marked ones.

*BOB*on*Bush*: Isn't it called "in passing" in English? No other move in Chess is spoken of in French when speaking English. I keep a copy of the rules to regular Chess with my Chess set. For some reason this rule about a Pawn capturing a Pawn in passing is one a lot of casual Chess players and bar patrons do not know. The other rule that seems to come up for disagreement often is promoting a Pawn to a Queen when you still have your original Queen on the table. Yes, you can have two Queens at one time in regular Chess.

mctrivia: What you say may well be true, but I like the idea of having some type of speed rating or average. The amount of games a player has going at one time is not a consistant indicator of how often they make a move in a game. A speed rating would at least give you an indication of how often they move if it is something that is important to you that your opponent moves regularly in a game with you. People that move at a slower speed than a person wants to play at would be avoided in this manner. The slow person loses nothing when their opponent moves fast, but the fast person does if they want the game to progress everyday day or so.

As for the "clearing your games each day" bonus that pgt thought up, this would incourage those interested in the action points to move at least once in each game that day to get the bonus points. One move a day is a pretty good pace on a turn based site and I think the idea warrants looking into.

pgt: I like this daily "snap shot of waiting games" idea. Awarding a bonus for moving in every game that it was your turn at the start of the day would be a neat way to get a move in each game. I think a point for each game so moved in would be a good bonus. That way those with 15 games would get 15 points and those with 900 would get 900 if they could make at least one move in every game that day.

Nothingness: Maybe you should take up a new game? In Dark Chess, I and most of the top players play each other regularly and also enter many tournaments. I also play just about anyone that moves regularly.

I do not understand people that become so worked about their rating that they'll deny themselves the chance to play a good opponent. A lot of times a well played game that results in a loss is more fun than pasting a patsy without trying very hard. When it comes to Dark Chess, I don't even worry about my opponent's rating. Good players are challenging and new players like playing me. Dark Chess has one advantage over regular Chess, even a beginner can beat an experienced player. It ain't likely, but it does happen.

I think that the rating system should reflect the way the game is played. The rating system used on this site for Backgammon is not fair to people that worry about their rating. It seems OK for Dark Chess. I don't know about regular Chess as I don't play that game.

Games that favor one side over the other (As is Horde Chess)should have a requirement that two games be played, one from each side. The games could be attached to each other so they'd both have to be played and a player couldn't resign the disadvantaged side before making two moves and having the game not count in his ratings.

KotDB: Why don't you just turn them off? That's what I did. It's in the setting part. Or has this whole discussion been because Pawn members don't have the option? You certainly have pointed out a contradiction. They used to be something for the paying members to "enjoy" and now the smileys are being used to annoy the non-paying members. How'd this sea change come about? I see no reason for there to not be a setting to switch them on or off for every memeber.

I would like the current and final record for team matches displayed on the fellowship's page. Just the total win/loss/tie record would be good. If I need details or want to check a certain game I can still go to the challenge page.

Cartesian: http://www.chessvariants.org/other.dir/ultima.html

Your link has a bracket on the end of it and messes up where it sends you.

Utlimamen versus Chessmen is just that. One player gets Chessmen and the other plays with Ultimamen. Chessmen are very strong against the Ultimamen. The Immobilizer is an exception. Even though it can't capture a piece, I feel it is stronger than the Queen. Chamelions are pretty strong against the Chessmen too, though you have to agree to whether they can take Knights or not. It seems that the few times I played this game we didn't allow them to capture Knights as they couldn't move like them. IF the game was played more often and win and losses got too onesided in favor of the Chessmen, you could allow them to capture Knights as one way to attempt to balance the game. We also played that the Ultimamen could move as far as they wanted too, like in the original version of Ultima.

KotDb, Cartesian: Do you guys turn a Rook over for the Immobilizer, or do as we do and put a bottle cap on it? I have thought up a good design for some of the pieces, but we always have used a Chess set. If Fencer was to add Ultima to the site, I have some ideas for the icons that could be used. Though I suppose the Chess icons would work fine and a bottle cap or upsided down Rook would work for the Immobilizer.

Did you ever play Chessmen against Ultimamen?

Cartesian: That's how I originally joined IYT and then this site, looking to play Ultima. I believe I did request it a couple of years ago too. Have you seen or played the Roccoco version of it? I haven't but it looks like it'd be a good game too.

alanback: That's not how I remember Backgammon requests. True plenty of them show up on this board, but the Backgammon board gets its share of Backgammon related requests. Considering it wasn't that long ago that Fencer consolidated the boards, doubt if he'll be adding discussions just for the purpose of making requests for individual games. The Chess discussion boards get game requests all the time on the various variant pages, why should Backgammon be any different?

alanback: There already is such a board.

http://brainking.com/en/Board?bc=26

Just as the heading says on this board.

I would like to be able to see which fellowships have teams without my being the captain. As it is now, only the captain can see which teams are available to be challenged. I want to be able to view the teams, not challenge them. It's way to cumbersome to go to each fellowship and see who has a team for us to challenge.

I would like the link button of each post to have the surrounding posts on the board shown too. Just as if you had scrolled back to the post. Then I could read all the posts, whether or not they're in the thread.

Mr. Shumway: See, I simply updated your suggestion and there it is. :)

Fencer: I like this idea I just made up for the managers in fellowship. I think it'd be one way to fix the out of control moderation on some of the boards too. The main moderator could have a check list like this too. If he has other moderators on board with him he could choose which reponsibilties to delegate.

For this co-moderator it requires my approval to:

[] Ban someone
[] Hide someone
[] Edit a post
[] Hide a post
[] Delete a post
[] Add a moderator
[]....

The main moderator could leave the checkmarks blank for full reponsiblity and check those he wants to retain exclusive control over.

And you need to make it so an individual post may be hiden without hiding everything else that this person has posted.

Fencer: Aside from creating more ranks, you could give the Big Boss a check list of powers and responsibilities for each manager.

Also, with this structure in place it would be easier for you(site owner) to add or delete features or change them without having to create more ranks.

For this manager, allow him or her to:
[] Create tournaments
[] Offer fellowship invitations
[] Message all fellowship members
[] Hide a member
[] Create teams
[] Be a captian
[] .....

Doing it this way would allow the Big Boss to keep all duties if he chooses, or to delegate them to the various members of the fellowship. If a manager decides to leave the fellowship it shouldn't be to disruptive to adjust some of the other duties either.

Summertop: I went to your link. This Farkel is very similiar to Dice. I clicked the next link a couple times and it had an Australian 5 dice game called "Keepers" This game is exactly the game I described except that it counts a straight as points. Both Farkel and Keepers count the straight or run. Farkel might be the better game. I haven't played Dice in a long time. I might just add an extra die to my five and give it a go the next time we all want to play something that even drunks can play and have fun. Though I still think Chess and Beer is a good game. :)

furbster: Kismet is a Yahtzee type game played with fived colored dice as in Yahtzee that used play years ago. It had flushed in addition to the usual Yahtzee hands. Multiple bonuses too. I haven't played that in over twenty years.

Another dice game I know by the name of "Dice" is a pretty good game. Aces are 100 points, 5's are 50, a three of a kind rolled at once is 100 times the number with aces being 1000. You play until 5,000 or 10,000. The first time you score has to be 500. After that you can score any amount and keep it or continue to roll. Keeping your turn as long as at least one die scores points. If all five score points you get an extra turn to roll all of them and keep adding the points. Always at risk if you fail to score. Knowing when to stop and collect your points scored so far is the key to winning. It's mostly a lucky game too.

And there's the dice game of "Poker" that I've seen played in taverns from time to time.

playBunny: Just a couple weeks ago, eh?

I like your idea. A comprise of sorts. Let the paying members see the information and the free members not see it. Sounds good to me. Fencer says there's no problem with his computer being overworked either.

I would like to be able to view a Pawn member's daily move activity. Perhaps you don't want the Pawn members being able to view this information, but I find it sometimes helpful in deciding to accept an invitation or to send one myself. I thought there was a time in the not so distant past that paying members could see this on a Pawn member's profile page. Or am I remembering it wrong? In any case I think it's be nice to have the information available.

WhiteTower: I found it on the Paid membership page. Click the type and it will show. It appears that prepaying ten years membership in advance will get you a life time membership.

mctrivia: Even something as putting two lap tops back to back, or a lap top and CRT and just hooking them to a computer.

mctrivia: I'm not sure that I understand your use of it. I was thinking of a stand alone set up that would not need the internet to work. Two people, two monitors, and a computer with the program.

andreas: I didn't say there wasn't others way to do it, but that's not a very practical way and it'd cost a lot of money to do it. You could get by with one monitor if you shut the screen between moves.

As for logging on to the game site at the same time and playing, I tried this with my brother on IYT a couple years ago. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but it does work. It also means you need internet service and two accounts on a game site that has Dark Chess. And kibitzers still can't follow the game in progress.

I'll just keep asking anyone that can program if they can do it. Eventually someone will, or I'll have to learn how to program it and do it myself. Such a set up would have other uses besides the playing of Dark Chess. I'd be surprised if roll playing games aren't done this way. I've seen arcades that have car racing games hooked together in a similiar manner.

jurek FriendJosh: But imagine a home version with three monitors hooked to one computer. The two people playing could face each other across the table with a monitor in front of each of them back to back. The third monitor could be placed away from them or in another room. The computer wouldn't play Dark Chess, it would just keep track of the game as is done on this site. Each player would have his view on his screen. The third monitor could show the player's views from either side and also the whole game at once. I'll buy this program if someone has it, or please direct me to a place that gives it away. Pythagoras said he might create one. Dark Chess would be lots of fun played live. Speed Dark Chess would be real crazy too.

alanback: No offense taken. As I have the smileys shut off I had to look up the number four one to see that you were winking when you typed that. So you went down the vortex too, I see? Pull up a chair, what do want the barman to pour you, it's on me. Yes, that'd be an appropriate name. That's an interesting theory of compromise, but it has a ring of truth to it. If someone likes the compromise, they got the better of it. :)

playBunny: Dark Chess is one such game too. There's no way to let the board be seen without it ruining the game. I've requested in the past that after a game is over that all three views of the game be shown. As it is now you see the whole board after the game is over and sometimes the moves make no sense and it can be hard to understand what someone was planning by making what is obviously a poor move until you realize that they couldn't see the whole board.

alanback: The little dictionary does indeed have pedantic in it. The extra "n" makes a big difference. You're all making sense now, but I'm not sure about the reference to nearsighted mankind haters? I like you just fine. Yep, a cold draft cures what ails. Perhaps I'll survive to the knockout round yet.

As I sit contemplating the nature of beer foam and how it adheres to one's glass I have to wonder why Fencer wouldn't just rename the game and be done with it? The torus side has convinced me of the correctness of their point of view, but I'm against the display of intelligence in a pedantic way.

There's a flag on the play. The refs are reviewing the post and just might have Walter pulled out of the vortex. Stay tuned after the commercial break.

playBunny: I'll quaff a few. Maybe it'll help for the post game discussion. My dictionary doesn't have pendantic in it, so I'll have to get the big one out.