MadMonkey: My first Bishop finally read GC and not confused anymore.He had no idea what was going on.

Foxy Lady: They dont know, i havent found one yet that found it without being told. Admitted this sort of situation does not arise often that Members are willing to pay for a Pawn to try out a membership.
I would imagine alot of Pawns dont read the General board(like alot of Members), because thats exactly what it is General. How often do you go the to find someone has just put a smiley or link to another site.
I guess this board would be better in future as at least things here normally relate to Brainking.
I just thought a Pawn board would be good as it would be a place where things relate to them only.

MadMonkey: I think the Pawns think the News is only for paying members and remove it.

Fencer: So, if a knight buys a Bishop membership for himself what will happen?
* His knight membership will automatically be given an extra month
* At the end of his current knight membership it will automatically turn into a Bishop
* The membership extension will have to be manually made, because the automatic script doesn't contemplate this situation
* Something else

And what if a Rook buys a Bishop memberhsip to himself?

pauloaguia: c) is correct and when I finish coding of the agent, b) will take place.

MadMonkey: I doubt it. It cannot be better visible than in Server News on the Main Page. If they don't read even that, you can hardly expect they would read a new discussion board.

Fencer: Someone mentioned this on General Chat, and I think it is a good idea - a way to get pawns more involved in the site.

By default, I think all pawns should have Brainking.com & General Chat board added to their favourites list. That way when the see the red (X new), they will start to read it - which in turn may get them more interested in the site - which in turn may help the site membership grow also.

First, all current pawns, I would put those 2 boards on their favorites list. Then make it so whenever someone new signs up on the site, those 2 boards are there by default.

Of course pawns can at any time take the boards back off their favourites list if they don't like it. You might get a little negative reaction from current pawns if you put those boards on their favourites automaticly, but I think the benifit would be worth it.

BIG BAD WOLF: It would be better to add the language specific version of BrainKing.com board (not everyone speaks English).

Fencer: dont forget to add the english as well though as the language specific board might not contain the same information

BIG BAD WOLF: I'm not sure if GC would be a good 'default' board. Unless it has changed quite a while in these past few months I haven't read it ;P

pauloaguia: I'm not sure what you mean about it changing - basicly I would say both so if let say a new pawn wants to say "hi" and only sees the bk.com board on his list, they may be tempted to start a general conversation there. If they see both bk.com & general chat, hopefully there will be more of a chance to go to the chat board to have a nice chat.

BIG BAD WOLF: *nod* i agree, or we point them there
(btw i dont have chat on my favourites either, but i have this one there of course ;))

BIG BAD WOLF: lol,
I agree with pauloaguia who is a Pawn so whose opinion we should take note of. He doesnt read the GC board, and i am sure there a alot that dont (members as well). I think if Pawns had a board where everything there was relevant to them, they would have a place to look for stuff and be kept up to date with things,that would be a good default board.
IMO, If the feeling of Pawns on the site is not taken into account, the chance of getting new members must surely be harmed.

MadMonkey: they cant turn off fencers news messages cant they ?
they can count that as a board with messages for them .. the only problem might be that its only available in english

Hrqls: I know they cant, and agree the English is a problem for some.
Being able to read something is different to having an opinion though, Pawns do have them and should be allowed to put theres across.
A lot of people do not read or post on DB's as you know for numerous reasons, even less Pawns.
When a Pawn does mention something it is just pushed to one side, like below, how about listening to what they say.

MadMonkey: Well it sounds like pauloaguia does not read the GC board because of past problems.... and those types of members most likely already know about the discussion boards, and are not the ones I'm thinking about targeting. I'm more thinking of the ones who never visited a board before, or maybe once but does not go through the trouble of trying to find the boards - possible coming here, playing a few games, and leaving. Giving them quick access to the BK.com board allows them a place to ask questions about the site, and see other site related information & questions that users post. Having a link to GC board allows them a place to "chat" so they don't come on bk.com board and start a friendly conversation - which most likely will get them a warning to take it to GC, which in turn puts some people off as the boards not being friends, and in the end turning them away from the site.

Why can't the GC board be used with pawns to post also? What would the purpose be for a pawn only board? That is for the current example where some paid users want to find pawns interested in trying out the bishop membership, if the paid member can't post on the pawn only board - then the pawn only board would be pointless. And if you say that paid members can post on a pawn board, then it goes back to why can't everyone just use the general chat board?

BIG BAD WOLF: I do agree with most of what you say, but i fail to agree with the General Board aspect, it is too General. Pawns wont find anything out about Brainking by not going to boards, but has just been pointed out by a PAWN, they dont go there, and the reason is quite obvious.

MadMonkey: That's not what I said. I know of some pawns that DO follow up on GC. Again, it has nothing to with with one's level of membership...

MadMonkey: OK, hold on - let me clarify what I'm thinking.\

BrainKing.com board - this would be for pawns & everyone to ask questions about brainking, learn about brainking, and brainking issues.

General Chat - this is NOT for brainking related stuff, but rather a place just for what it says - general chat. It's not to teach pawns or anyone more about the site, but gives them a place to chat with others - which in turn keeps pawns on the site longer, hopefully allowing them to form friendship with others and in the end - hopefully being a positive thing for newer users.

Some people don't like general chat, and in that case do not have to go there. I don't go there much myself. But some do like to chat, say "Hi", "hows the weather", etc... for those people, having the board on their favourites list will possible give them a positive to the site.

MadMonkey: ""but has just been pointed out by a PAWN, they dont go there, and the reason is quite obvious"" .

Well i must be slow because i dont know why its obvious ?

Jason: And as i pointed out earlier, i spoke to a number of Pawns about what was offered and none of them had a clue about it.
As BBW just said GC is NOT for Brainking stuff, so why go there, to see a smiley face, i dont think so and neither do alot of people, hence they dont go there, so how do they find out about this Brainking related stuff ?
So really we dont need any other board apart from the Brainking one and the General one as everything can be spoke about on there.
I still think that a board just for Pawns would be nice for them, but Fencer has said no, so its no.
Thats me clarified lol

MadMonkey: why wouldnt anyone see a smiley face on gc ? because they get moderated, just trying to understand what you are trying to say .

Jason: I just mean, that when you see a red number to indicate a new post/message, you go to have a look to see somone has posted a smiley or a Link, whatever it maybe.
In other words not of interest to them, after a while you dont even bother with the board & like BBW i dont go there much at all. If relevant posts were on relevant boards for that person, they would be more interested in reading the board

Jason: Pawns can't see the smilies or post them from what a pawn told me.They see just the numbers and ask what they are.

Foxy Lady: Yes that got me too.I asked once and never got a reply.I found out by just fooling around with our settings .And Fencer keeps adding more. Its hard to keep up to all of them:))

Foxy Lady: Actually they can now see the smilies - but if they try to post a smiley or the number, it will not work for them. (Fencer changed how it worked awhile back)

BIG BAD WOLF: I didn't know that must be a post i'm guilty of not reading.

BIG BAD WOLF: I think i read somewhere today on one of the boards.to have prize tournaments.If those with an interest of giving away these free memebership,are able to create tounaments for them,which has worked good in the past.Which would be less work for all that are involed in promoting this.

I think the membership level has nothing to do with what boards one chooses to read or not. Or to the commitement one has to the site or not (I know of many paying members that don't spend as much time or do as much stuff around here as some pawns do).
Not all members read the "Members only" board, do they? (I know I hardly didn't)
Why would you think that most pawns would read a "pawns only" board?

I never had problems with GC in the past. It just didn't interest me, that was all. And there will always be player that come here to the site to play and not to chat. If they want to become more involved in the site, then I'm sure they'll find whatever it has to offer, it's not some red numbers on the right column that will make them change their way in this site (just maybe speed it up, I agree there).