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29. December 2013, 10:08:22
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: off topic I guess
happyjuggler0: It can happen for a number of reasons. Some people like to have a lot of games on the go so they always have some to play. And some, like me, started out by signing up to a lot of tournaments without realizing what we're getting ourselves into. A lot of tournaments don't start for a number of days, or even weeks, and if you play a lot of different games, you can sign up for quite a large number without fully realizing what you've done. And I can tell you from first hand experience, once you dig a hole, it can take a long, long, long time to get out. I managed to get myself all the way up to 3,000+ games early this year, and it's taken me until now to get down below 1,000, starting no more than a handful of games in that time. When you're that far behind, you have little hope of doing more than keeping your head above water - this means that you're maxing out all your game times, and therefore they take much longer to complete, leaving you in the hole for that much longer. It's sort of a vicious cycle.

I take at least a little pride in the fact that aside from a handful of no vacation games I failed to notice, I dug my way out without forfeiting any games. But I feel bad about the many tournaments that were (and are) waiting for me to finish, and for the pawns that had one (or more) of the few game slots they have available tied up by playing me. Of course I was within the rules, and my opponents knew the time controls when they joined the tournaments, but I appreciate that having opponents that max out all their time controls must be frustrating for those that are on top of things. 

Not really sure why I addressed this to you; I guess I just saw an opportunity to get a confession/apology off my chest. :)

10. December 2013, 11:53:31
Carpe Diem 
Modified by Carpe Diem (10. December 2013, 11:53:51)



It worked when I stole it!

10. December 2013, 10:37:10
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Colour codes
Modified by Carpe Diem (10. December 2013, 10:38:04)
Thanks for the colour codes; I just renewed in October for 6 months, but now I'm good until July 2016!


Still puzzled why smilies won't work for me on the boards; they work fine for me in game comments. 

7. December 2013, 09:21:41
Carpe Diem 
Modified by Carpe Diem (7. December 2013, 09:22:34)
Hahaha. 



Hopefully a few friendly "YES"es aren't taken as that much impatience. I'm in no rush, I just agreed. 

But in the spirit of Bernice's post:


Confused as to why the smileys I see when I edit my post aren't showing up. Oh well.

7. December 2013, 08:02:50
Carpe Diem 
YES

24. November 2013, 05:02:15
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Winter scene.
Modified by Carpe Diem (24. November 2013, 05:04:10)
Artful Dodger: Last I heard, there wasn't anywhere in the world that is one season apart from another. ;-)

Although I suppose an argument could be made for calling the entire year summer near the equator and winter at the poles. :-)

25. September 2013, 05:47:39
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Bonus Codes
Modified by Carpe Diem (25. September 2013, 05:48:17)
Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's been nothing since shortly after I signed up initially last October - it probably was at Christmas time I saw them, as beach suggested. Maybe I'll renew for 6 months and see if any come up again - might be wise anyway if traffic really is slowing down. Although I'm not noticing it that much, and still enjoy it here, so if the right incentive showing up now or at the end of the year will probably bring me back for a while.

22. September 2013, 06:04:25
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Bonus Codes
Have I been missing these, or has there not been one in a long time? I'm up for renewal soon, and was hoping I'd see a code at some point...

15. September 2013, 11:27:59
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Site owners
Modified by Carpe Diem (15. September 2013, 11:30:35)
crosseyed: I'm not sure what you mean - I've seen dozens of complaints on this board, so I would say there definitely is some tolerance of criticism.

3. September 2013, 08:11:02
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Does anyone ever get suspicious...
Modified by Carpe Diem (3. September 2013, 08:11:23)
JerNYC: I just don't see the benefit. Do people actually turn down a lot of games with higher rated players? It's not like you can get hurt too badly by playing players rated much higher than you - it's usually to your benefit to do so. If you lose, you lose very little (or nothing) in rating points, and if you win, the gain can be huge. 

The only thing I've seen on this site that I've considered at all suspicious is some of the pond games; they would be easy games to cheat by having players privately agree on their points for each round, and I've seen some odd results that made me wonder. But that could just be paranoia on my part, so I'm not losing sleep over it.

Bots and software? Definitely a potential problem, and not one that there's really any answer for. I doubt there's much of that in most games, but I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if some players are using software for games like chess and go. But even if they are and their software is very good, they'll end up with a suitable rating, and so will us human opponents. :)

21. July 2013, 11:43:54
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: This site's current estimated worth is...
rod03801: I would take a wild guess that it would be...anyone who buys it.


Pedro Martínez
: Really? I have no idea what the site is worth (nor do I know why anyone really cares), but it seems pretty apparent that those sites are automatically calculating revenue based on a site's ad revenue potential. I doubt there's any automated website that calculates a site's paid membership revenues. 

1. May 2013, 08:13:24
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Poor form?
Just looking for some opinions on this - do people consider it poor form to resign the 3rd game of a 3 game match when you are leading 2-0, just to end it sooner? I'd do it when down 2-0, but I don't want to deprive people of that third game if it's going to bother them. The result of the match has already been determined, but the fact that they don't resign could be an indication that they'd like to play every game. Or they're just not paying attention.

Thinking about it, I guess I'd limit this strategy to people with lots of games going, as opposed to someone who only has 10 games on the go.

8. March 2013, 09:41:50
Carpe Diem 
Modified by Carpe Diem (8. March 2013, 09:48:17)
Pretty poor for me right now.


Edit to add: And then a few minutes later, it's like someone flipped a switch - blazing fast now.

7. March 2013, 10:43:58
Carpe Diem 
I found it slow a couple of hours ago, but running smoothly now.

6. February 2013, 23:53:44
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Skewed Games
Gabriel Almeida: Didn't forget; I've never played it. ;)
I just listed the ones people mentioned.

6. February 2013, 21:33:30
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Skewed Games
likewowman2cool: Haha, funny you would mention Connect6 - I just edited my last post to say that using the same idea as Connect6 does for the first move might help with the Battleboats Plus problem.

6. February 2013, 21:28:36
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Skewed Games
Modified by Carpe Diem (6. February 2013, 21:31:42)
likewowman2cool: Absolutely, but wouldn't that apply to most games? The better the players, the more in-depth understanding they have of the game, and the closer they'll be to optimal play, which will increase any inherent biases in the game.


Thinking about it, it's not surprising the "plus" adaptation of Battleboats would be flawed - pretty big advantage going first when you get to make 5 moves, and sinking boats reduces the opponent's moves. I wonder if a simple fix for that game would be one like in Connect6 - you don't get the full 5 moves on your first turn.

6. February 2013, 20:45:08
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Skewed Games
FWIW, for the games mentioned thus far, the BK results look like this:

Horde Chess - W 71.71% B 25.27%
Mancala - W 63.11% B 33.41%
Maharajah Chess - W 32.69% B 60.52%
Pente - W 54.13% B 45.75%
6x6 Reversi - B 50.46% W 47.41% - the other 2 variations have less than a 1% spread


6. February 2013, 15:27:56
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Mancala
Modified by Carpe Diem (6. February 2013, 17:19:31)
I think Mancala is one of the most skewed games when it comes to first move advantage - 63% - 33%. Does BK ever look at rules tweaks when there is a heavy bias like this?

If so, I think a simple shift in points to win as white would be worth looking at. At the very least, I think ties should go to black. I know I feel like I've won when I get a draw with black.

22. January 2013, 10:33:22
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Ponds
Modified by Carpe Diem (22. January 2013, 10:33:45)
Hrqls: Oh for crying out loud, why didn't I think of that? I use that link on a regular basis with other games - must've had it in my head that Ponds were different in that regard and never looked.  

Thanks again!

21. January 2013, 10:57:46
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Ponds
Hrqls: Thanks! Checked the FAQ, but failed to follow the "Former FAQ Entries" link - that explains it all very well. 

And thanks for the Android link as well.

21. January 2013, 09:35:51
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Android app
Also, is there anywhere for feedback on the Android app? Downloaded it yesterday now that I finally got a new phone, and it's awesome, except that a lot of games give me a blank screen. I understand that it's very much a work in progress, so I wasn't expecting it to be working right, but I'd be happy to give feedback if any was being sought. 




21. January 2013, 09:35:32
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Ponds
I feel like I must be missing some instructions or help somewhere on this site, because not only do I not have the foggiest idea what ponds are, I don't know how anyone else figures it out. If there's somewhere I'm missing, please point me in the right direction. If not, could someone explain them to me like I just landed on this planet and have no idea what a pond is? Aside from a place to get wet, that is.

Thanks!

28. December 2012, 06:23:57
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Vacation
Modified by Carpe Diem (28. December 2012, 06:24:29)
Aganju: Thanks to you and everyone for the responses - all were helpful, but yours gave the exact answer I was seeking. I wasn't sure, because each game taking up an hour seemed unreasonable, but so does being allowed to hold up all games for 35 days, to some extent. I guess with this being a turn-based site where people shouldn't expect blazing fast games, and the fact that one can set up a game or tourney that doesn't allow vacation days, it does make sense. 

I actually suspect I won't use any vacation days, but it's a relief to know that if I somehow am not able to get any Internet access, I won't time out of hundreds of games - just possibly the few red dot and green dot (thanks for the clarification happyjuggler0) games I'm involved in.

28. December 2012, 01:32:40
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Vacation
I found the small blurb about automatic vacation, and want to make sure I understand it properly. My profile shows me:

<tbody></tbody>
Vacation days left:35 days - using the automatic vacation

Am I to understand that this means none of my games will time out for 35 days once I run out of time in one of my games? Or does each game that times out use one of those days, and I will run out of days once 35 games have hit the deadline? 

I'm going away for a few days, and my Internet access may be spotty, so I'd like to know exactly how it works. Sorry if I missed an answer on the site somewhere.

12. December 2012, 09:32:49
Carpe Diem 
Right, I didn't want to come off like I was bitching or anything - 7/10 is indeed a fraction. And yeah, it makes sense that some people would've used some codes in the past and would need less than 7 now - I actually didn't realize you could accumulate them over time. Wish I had signed up with one, but I still feel like I'm getting very good value for my money; I just know now to watch for one next year. :)

12. December 2012, 07:08:48
Carpe Diem 
Modified by Carpe Diem (12. December 2012, 07:14:33)
Yeah, I hadn't figured a month of bishop would work, but I would hope 6 months rook would, or the savings is only 30%.

Oh wait, I see on the main page that it does indeed need to be a year - that's surprising. I guess "a fraction of its list price" is true, but I was expecting a little smaller fraction than 7/10. Or am I missing something?

Not to bad mouth the site or promotion, as I'm quite enjoying this place. I'm just surprised if that math is correct, when it's relatively easy to get 2.25 years for the price of 1. 

12. December 2012, 00:23:58
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Bonus conquerer
Modified by Carpe Diem (12. December 2012, 00:24:24)
For the life of me, I can't figure out how this is supposed to work:

http://brainking.com/en/Profile?p=9&gid=5&aid=196#aid196

How do you "receive all listed bonus codes"? Do you have to purchase 7 different membership renewals, one with each of the bonus codes?

12. December 2012, 00:21:32
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Settings help?
likewowman2cool: That's a good idea - thanks to you, Rod, and others for the help.

2. November 2012, 19:08:49
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Re: Settings help?
Fencer: Thanks for the quick reply. So it sounds like what I'm looking for doesn't exist. :( I guess the best way to go for now is to use the "Play Later" button for games that keep coming back that I want to get to later. If you ever find a way to add this option, it would make things perfect on an otherwise great site.


Thad
: Yes, exactly - this is what I'm looking for. 

2. November 2012, 18:51:49
Carpe Diem 
Subject: Settings help?
Hi everyone, I'm pretty new here (at least to being a paid member and going crazy with hundreds of games), so please forgive me if this is a stupid question.

Now that I'm signed up for lots of tournaments and have a few hundred games on the go, I'm trying to fix the way games come up for me. I have it set so that once I've moved in a game, it automatically takes me to the next game, as I'm sure most people do. My issue is what the "next game" is. What's happening now is that games I've just moved in keep coming back to the top. So, for example, I'll have 150 games waiting for moves, but sometimes I don't get more than 10 or 20 down the list for an hour (unless I select them manually or use the "Play Later" button, of course) because a few people involved in dice poker (again as an example - could be any game) keep moving quickly, and those games keep popping up. I've tried changing the "Sort next games by" setting, but that doesn't help. Ideally, I'd like it to go through the whole list of games waiting for me before coming back for the next move with anyone. I assume/hope there's a setting somewhere I'm missing.

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