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Over eleven years ago this conversation happened in the eleventh game of a seventeen game match that I won 17 to 7. We have not played a game since

Walter Montego: (18. July 2013, 07:13:20) You say a lot about Backgammon, but I doubt if you're such an authority on the subject that I should pay much attention to your opinion on it. I will, however, keep in mind the things you say. If your skills can't beat such a poor player as myself, then how do you explain your meteoric rise in the rating chart these passed two months? And why play me? Are you a glutton for abuse?

I think you suffer from selective memory, as you are one of the luckiest players I play and yet you never notice how lucky you are. At least I know I'm lucky. I went up amazingly fast two weeks ago, peaking at 2410 just five days ago, and now I have lost every match in five days, though for some reason I am still leading against you in this one. Just because I make plays that are not the recommended or typical plays does not mean that I have not analyzed my options and made thoughtful consideration of the alternatives. This is especially so in how I approach the double cube offers from opponents. And speaking of that, you accepted a double offer I made in a previous game in this match. Now there's a telling indication of your Backgammon skills!

Yes, you continue to hold to your belief that I am lucky. You just can't accept the fact that some people are better players than yourself and the only possible reason that you lose to them is that they must be lucky. We've played 54 matches. I do not know how many games we have played. But if matches are an indication of skill over the long term, it would seem that the 28 to 26 score of the matches says we're fairly even in skills regardless of our technique. We both have a different style to Backgammon. Has it occurred to you that your style might not work as well against mine? If you were as great of a player as you seem to think you are, you would make adjustments in your play to take this into account when you play me. I say this on the assumption that there is enough skill in Backgammon for such adjustments to be made and that both of us are skilled enough to take advantage of such adjustments. I have beat Sergey82 decisively. He obviously did not change his playing style, but LikeWowMan2Cool and HappyJuggler0 know how to beat me. Why don't you learn from them and bring it back here when you're ready to demonstrate just how good you really are?

The Unfathomable Abyss: (18. July 2013, 04:31:39) you are to lucky. as i always said. you are not that good, you are just lucky

Anjil: Always private games! He understandably doesn’t want anyone witnessing his insults, that’s why I pasted his comments on the board, as you did. He’s been winning all his games against me of late so he’s been quiet :-)

Anjil: Thankfully I blocked him (her???) years ago, I thought he (she???) had disappeared. That's the sort of person you can be grateful for meeting at a vast distance, and never have to interact with again.

moistfinger: I should have read these posts, I think he wants to block me

In Game A:

great above: (8. October 2024, 23:31:36) YOUR LUCKY NOT GOOD.. WE WILL NEVER PLAY AGAIN .. I HATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU

In Game B:

great above: (10. October 2024, 23:37:41) TAKE YOUR DAMN POINT


I'm too old to give any ducks, water off a ducks back here

moistfinger: haha he's one of the two people i have blocked since i started playing on the site, embarassing really.

moistfinger:he does have a way with words. lol 

great above: (26. March 2024, 14:11:47) ANOTHER FCKEN JOKE GAME
great above: (26. March 2024, 14:12:37) ENJOY A HOLE
great above: (26. March 2024, 14:14:20) GO FCK YOURSELF
moistfinger: (26. March 2024, 14:15:13) easy tiger

AlliumCepa: You poor soul. If you think the comments I previously made were "cruel comments", you are so wrong. I made light-hearted comments which I am assuming were interpreted as such by more intelligent followers of this discussion thread. Look back to 2008 (I think), when I first made comments about the inadequacy of the auto-pass feature installed on Brainking. I actually don't give a (xxxx) what's implemented on other sites - this discussion board is about what's implemented on BRAINKING. So keep to the point. What's implemented on Brainking is inadequate, has been for at least 15 years, and we all know that it's not going to change. But we stay here because most of us like this site, and the friendliness of (most of) our intelligent opponents, like moistfinger and Dice Cheater

AlliumCepa: I speak German, I don’t have a shrink and I’m very familiar with the term anyway. Chill, there’s no need to get upset at my lighthearted comment. What would be your solution to fix the auto pass for backgammon?

pgt: ' i've been following this forum with interest for a while.'
:-) Me too! I love storms in a teacup :-)

Aganju: i've been following this forum with interest for a while.

At the moment, I score Agabju 4, AlliumCepa 2.

Let's see how it unfolds. I love blood sports!

AlliumCepa: oh so aggressive. And I never was.

You wrote "Aganju, what you call "entitlement" is in fact an honest and as you admitted impactful"
I still don't understand what this sentence is saying.

And I have no problem if you try and are successful, that is an incorrect assumption from you (projection maybe?). What I wanted to stop is solely the complaining about the owner's supposed 'duties' of improving the site - I think there are no such duties. If he is not willing to do it after being asked nicely, the topic should be over; he doesn't owe any of us anything.

You started immediately throwing mud at me about my supposedly drive-by comments. I pointed out that I was a part of discussion a long time ago, and my post wasn't drive-by-bullshit. Proven incorrect, you immediately moved on trashing me about something else, which I also pointed out is incorrect.

My guess is your next answer will be - as you are running out of believable accusations - simple swearing and childish name calling... Let's see.

There is another well run game site that has a large variety of Backgammon variants and is very well run.
www.goldtoken.com

AlliumCepa: thanks for friendly words, it shows me that I hit a nerve. If you scroll down a bit further, you will see that I discussed this topics years before already with others.
I cannot understand your sentence though, seriously. There must be some translation issue or a word is missing.

Aganju: Very true, I'm sure. But ten years ago I offered to pay a brain rook membership for life to fix this "bug" and it made absolutely no difference. But I'm not going to pay "for ever" until it's fixed - and it never will be. I still play because I enjoy the site. I'm getting old and have a lot of time on my hands, but I'm still young enough to play competitive bridge face to face with real people, and Brainking when I can't be bothered going to the bridge club (which is VERY rare!). Pity it's not a perfect world, (sigh) but it's not REALLY bad!

I often wonder where people get their entitlements from - is it the assumption that because Facebook and Twitter are free, everything has to be?
So fine, Autopass is not perfectly functioning. Ask for your money back!
Try to tell Facebook that you don't like the way their algorithm shows you stuff. Or how they sell your data. What do think will happen? Or tell Microsoft about a twenty-year old bug in Excel, and you are even paying for it!
I recommend you start your own gaming site (where of course there will be no bugs), and see how it feels after twenty years of work. Go ahead! I would even try it (if it is free, only, of course).

AlliumCepa: It's over a year since we vented our spleens about this, and it is still as unsatisfactory as it was last year. (sigh) but we should probably continue to complain just to let everybody know that it is STILL far from ideal!

Walter Montego: Check "Feature Requests" 8 July 2011. This is not a new gripe, but from time to time I bring it up for old time's sake

pgt: Well, Mr. Negativity, if you feel that way why'd you even bring it up?

Perhaps you can try paying Fencer to do it for you? I have thought of doing this just to get some changes and also add the game Jump Checkers, but my heart is not into it. I'll just play here until it ceases to exist, or I find something better to do with my time. Hopefully I'll be able to escape the confines of my house if COVID ever stops being such a large part of my daily routine.

pgt: try playing on dailygammon, it’s brilliant when it comes to auto passing etc. Unfortunately there are no hyper backgammon games there :(

Walter Montego: I think that however we define the requirements, they will be completely ignored, and no changes will EVER be made, so we may as well stop wasting our time.

Walter Montego: I am one of those who has doubled the cube from the bar, however, I like where your going with that option. It certainly would be less painstaking. 

pgt: I like your idea of having an option on your turn, though I'd let the option be available for a later roll in addition to the first time.

I know the frustration of having pieces on the bar and the whole of the opponent's home base is covered with a most beautiful prime and you have to roll the dice.

A pass button would be nice. Why roll the dice? Just have a pass button, and then it could skip until the next turn or also have an option for until a point opens for a chance to roll out.

Perhaps a "Pass this Turn" button, and also a "Pass all Turns until a Point Opens, and No Double Offer Made by Me in the Meantime" button?

Walter Montego: I am aware of the possibility, but I am pretty sure that if you do not offer a double on the first move after you are blocked, then you will not offer a double on any subsequent move while you remain blocked. This logic is not too difficult for a competent computer programmer, and we can all attest to the fact that a competent programmer has implemented BrainKing. When you pass on the first move that you are blocked, it would be quite possible to ask "Are you sure? If so, autopass will continue until you are unblocked" or something to that effect, But I'm not here to design the algorithm, just saying that the existing implementation is unnecessarily frustrating and annoying, and with relatively little effort could be improved dramatically. (SIGH!)

pgt: Though there's other things I can find fault with in the implementation of the autopass, I have heard a justification for this. It is rare, but someone might want to offer a double from that position. I have had people do this against me. Apparently, when it has happened to me, the person didn't offer the double earlier as they were going for a gammon and I messed that up by hitting them. And there's other situations for it too, such as they forgot to double earlier. :)

Maybe you would never offer a double with a piece on the bar, but some people do it.

Why is the autopass system on this site so ridiculous? when I am blocked why do I have to roll the dice and then pass. How stupid!

There are a lot of tournaments offered right now, but I prefer to play *with the doubling cube*.
If you do too, and you like a fast game, please join here!

Aganju: I agree. And I’ve doubled from the bar many a time. I’ve also had doubles at the bar many a time, but that’s a different story ;)

moistfinger: Your idea is correct. I HAVE doubled from the bar before, not often, but not never either. It is a good play in some situations.
I wouldn't want this option to be taken away...

Note that if you CANNOT double (because the opponent has the cube, or it's post-crawford), it DOES Autopass.
So it is not an be-lazy-and-save-some-code-problem, in the contrary, it is doing it even more detailed and correct.

pgt: It has been programmed that way in case the losing player would want to use the cube to double, even though they are stuck on the bar... I guess it could possibly happen but only extremely rarely, as in nearly never. A bit of a programming cop-out, I guess.

pgt: It would seem obvious, doesn't it? Check out dailygammon dot com ...

The AUTOPASS feature for Backgammon is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE! The implementation on this site is RIDICULOUS! After passing the first time of being unable to move, then it should be assumed that passing will continue until the player can actually move, Maybe the programmers are not up to making such a simple change.

Backgammon (pgt vs. Vinkel)

Can this be fixed?

Walter Montego: I just looked at the game that was listed - I do not see them either. this is worse than I thought; I agree it is unplayable. I have never seen that in any of my games, which is strange - I played hundreds f Plakotos, with the same size setting. Could it be the *color* choice?

rod03801: Though I can see the game with the setting set to the small board, I do like this view and I am going to resign when the first game of the match is over unless it is fix before that happens.

I have the settings back to the large board. Four or so points have disappeared from my view as my opponent has covered the blots.

Aganju: I cant speak to the fix. I was simply trying to provide a solution for the piece to be seen under current circumstances.

Aganju: Yes, the twenty second fix for Fencer. Rod's found post is nine years old. Perhaps this fix is not easy? Or maybe it has not received any attention?

rod03801: my guess is that a specific image is missing. If you look at the board where there is a blank, right click it, and it will give you the name of the (missing) image. This would make it a twenty-second fix for Fencer.

Walter Montego: You're welcome. I just remembered that I thought something similar had been brought up before. Used "Search in posts" and searched for Plakato here. It didn't turn up exactly what I thought. So I tried on the Brainking.com discussion board, too, as that seemed like another place it might have been. Sure enough, it was. My memory really wasn't THAT impressive.

I'm glad it helped solve the mystery.