coan.net: A certain player, who shall remain nameless,provided the best assessment I've yet heard regarding the state of the site speed.

"you don't rip all the seats out of a car because it is underpowered, you get one with a bigger engine"

coan.net, Thanks, most of the settings I had already changed for faster performance. I was not using the "Lightweight" version...so far it seems to be better.

Summertop: A few tips which can help (not solve) the slowness.

1. Check out this post of mine: Computers (coan.net, 2007-03-12 20:16:01)

2. In settings, there is now an option called "Use the "lightweight" version of BrainKing (disables many extra features but could speed up loading of pages)"

The above 2 helps some.... that is instead of 20+ seconds per page load, more like 1-5 seconds per page load for me most of the time.

plus if you want more detail, you can take a look at Fencers blog entry about it: http://brainking.info/archives/414-About-the-complexity-part-1.html

Summertop: I play on a webtv so I can lie down while I play games. I get messages such as publisher refuses access to the page. I can usually click continue and get there but sometimes I get a blank white screen instead. There is definitely something wrong here.

OK...I looked for a "Support" forum and didn't find it (maybe Fencer should add one). So, I am posting here. Hope I am not offending anyone.

I have been a paid member of Brainking for a while now and have loved the site. But lately, it is running REALLY slow for me. I have been dealing with it, but was thinking maybe someone could help me out.

1. Pages will sometimes take 35 seconds to load. This makes playing games, tedious.

2. I have cleared every cache I could think of.

3. I have tried multiple browsers. IE and Firefox behaved the same. So I downloaded and installed Opera (has never been on my computer). It behaves the same also.

4. I have tried other websites, and they respond just fine.

5. I have tried from multiple locations (work, home) with the same results.

6. I have tried multiple computers with same result.

So...anyone have any more suggestions? It's like have a little rock in your shoes, no big deal, but DRIVING ME CRAZY!

Fencer: lol, well its half a request then, as part of it is already there, more of a Feature Extension or Add-on (gets more like Firefox everyday lol).

MadMonkey: Then it is a feature request, not a bug. But I am aware of it now.

pauloaguia: So there it is, i could not see it

Though i do not understand Fencers reply:
Status changed to "not a bug".

If it should name both tournaments, the label would say "Open Team Tournaments".

So, why should it NOT name both Tournaments, after all the other one is a Team Tournament for the Random Team as well

MadMonkey: http://brainking.com/pt/ReadBug?bgi=1469

I will post this here, as i posted it as a bug and now its gone

On our main Fellowship page (where Members & Teams are listed), in the Team box, it shows if there is an Open Team Tournament at present, and gives you a clickable link to it.

I would like to know why in the Random Team box there are not 2 links as there are 2 open Tournaments at the moment ?

Fencer: I drank the kool-aid and switched to firefox,the steroid version.It has improved the speed,but it's still not what it was

Jim Dandy: I've just checked your BrainKing account with 3 different browsers and through 2 different internet connections. In all cases, all pages have been loaded in less than 1 second and I have not observed any other issues.
Ergo, whatever the problem is, it is not caused by BrainKing. Q.E.D.

Fencer: I'm a simple guy Fencer,I speak little computer lingo,but logic tells me that the sky is still blue

Jim Dandy: I don't want to repeat that again. That's why the article has been posted. If you want to add a comment, please use this page.

Fencer: The article seems to come from the perspective that nothing has recently changed from your end.How does that explain a large number of players experiencing similar issues at pretty much the same time?

Jim Dandy: The article answers this question.
By the way, "so many people" is a relative notion.

Fencer: Yes,I read it,but my question still stands.
How did the site speed become so crappy all the sudden for so many people?

Jim Dandy: There is a link "when you have connection problems ..." at the board description section and the article is still valid for everyone.

just wondering?

the current bid is 44.6 billion USD

I know if it were you Fencer, you would hold out for at least 50 billion USD before you would sell Brainking!

(but, I could probably talk you into a special black rook or something for a measly 44.6 billion?)

Add Game to a Tournament
Very useful, and been much needed, no more deleting Tournaments if you forget a game

Puckish: yes that is true..

Bernice: The point is, it seems like us non Europeans have the option to get a refund for any VAT that we pay, and we would need some sort of confirmation that we actually paid a VAT to get this refund, I assume?

Puckish: now that is an interesting question...

I havent a new membership, but anyone who has, does the cost reflect a charge plus a separate tax charge?

Bernice:


Me too!

MadMonkey:

MadMonkey: Ponds are waiting too...
Seems like the timed scripts have stopped working.

Is there something up with Team Tournaments ?

Perseus went from Open to waiting at 7.00am today, and is just sat there and now it seems to have skipped Herkules as well

A note about messages

ScarletRose: thats what i mean .. and so does brainking

rod03801: I can feel another holiday coming on ROFLMBO :)

even if the VAT would not appliable to users who can prove to be from another country .. then the site owner can always decide to raise the membership price because of his own VAT increases his costs to keep up the site .. so fencer could also say that he wont take any VAT into account for us users .. but that he has to increase the membership price because his own VAT is making it more costly for himself to maintain the site

(i know i could have worded that in better english ;))

Fencer: it sounded like you were saying the VAT was imposed on you - as if to say - something regarding the costs of running the site required you to pay this VAT and memberships are increasing to reflect compensating your additional expense....

this would be different than a VAT imposed on the user....

am i correct or mistaken....

Bernice: But regardless of all that, I think the main point is that no one here HAS to give a confirmed address. If everyone knew that anyone outside the EU didn't have to pay the extra, everyone could just say they lived in any country outside the EU.

So, even if it was true that Americans (or whoever) don't have to pay the "VAT" tax, there is no way currently to prove that you are or are not American (or whoever)

alanback: I asked the same or similar question on 2 January 2008 on this board,but was ignored.....

My understanding is the same as yours....you do NOT have to pay another countries taxes as imposed by them on their own citizens. As I said in my post then....if we do work for someone in the UK for instance they are not and cannot be charged VAT or GST as it is called in Australia...if it a universal tax then that is a different story.

Fencer:  There's no practical difference in any case, since you are (or believe you are) obligated to collect the tax.  As far as I know there is only one kind of VAT in the EU, since the EU regulates it and requires a great deal of conformity throughout.  I know rates and taxable items differ from country to country (within a specified range), but the basic structure is probably the same everywhere in the EU.

alanback: Nope, I am correct, according to my accountant. It's probably a different kind of VAT than you mean, but I don't know the right English word for that.

pauloaguia:  I think you're correct that the problem is one of establishing the residence of the customer.  My colleague also mentioned that. 

I believe that Fencer is incorrect in stating that the tax is imposed on him; in principle it is imposed on the customer, and the business merely collects it.  Businesses pay VAT on their own purchases.  Presumably Fencer pays VAT on the fees charged to him by the company that hosts the site, for example.  He also pays VAT on purchases of computer parts and supplies, etc.  This input VAT paid is creditable against the obligation to pay over VAT collected from customers.  Hence, the VAT is not (in principle, again) borne by businesses, but ultimately by consumers.

I suppose that customers outside the EU might be able to claim a refund of the VAT they pay, but that would hardly be worth the effort.

Fencer: I type to slow... :P

alanback: alanback: Actually, VAT must be taxed for any UE resident, not just Czech Republic. As to residents from other countries, the supplied services takes place where the customer is established. Therefore I think it should be safe to assume that Fencer could charge no VAT for residents outside the UE.

At least I think that's what the European Directives about VAT state (I'm no expert in the area). But then again, Czech Republic may have gone beyond the directives and added some other rules on their own.

The main problem here, I think, is how to prove without a doubt if someone is a UE resident or not? You're just buying an account, there's not even a mailing address envolved. Getting this information from IP address could be a possibility, I think, but it's a rather obscure system (and not even bullet proof, IP addresses can be spoofed)
That's why most (smaller) businesses decide to charge VAT no matter what. They prefer the simplicity of order processing as opposed to any competitive advantage that lower prices could give them. Usually only larger companies, with clients spread out worldwide and a large volume of business go through the trouble of implementing measures to treat their clients according to their geographic residence.

But then again, like I mentioned, I'm no expert on the matter...

alanback: It's a VAT applied to me, not to BrainKing users. It is not important where the particular customer is from (especially where it is not mandatory to fill any personal information to the Profile).

alanback: That makes sense. Any one visiting Canada that buys something with our tax can get that tax refunded back to them by filling out a form. I wondered about that VAT as well.

Since I work in the international tax department of a major accounting firm, I have some experience with VAT issues even though the US is the only major economy that doesn't have one.  The announcement that membership fees would be subject to VAT as of 1 Februrary made me scratch my head a bit.  I have a colleague who recently returned from spending several years working in Prague so I put the question to him.  He believes that in principle the tax should only be imposed on Czech residents.  Obviously there can be a difference between "in principle" and "in practice", but I wonder whether it's worth looking into a bit more closely.  My colleague would be willing to refer Fencer to our Prague office if that would be helpful.

Jim Dandy:LOL! absolutely!   There's a whole list of cool add-on in the Firefox Fellowship.

Eriisa: cool,firefox on steroids

Eriisa: thanks, Ive just added that aswell!

Jim Dandy: no. download the Addon Fasterfox.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269