coan.net: That's, of course, a good idea, and it is definitely planned to be added. However, it's not a change which could be implemented in 5 minutes while doing important system changes, so it could be done later. But it won't be forgotten.

The BrainKing is slow.
VERY SLOW!!!

Fencer, awhile back I suggested to make a “basic” game page that should help speed up page load, and I would like to suggest it again. This is a game site, and the majority of the time – I like to concentrate on the game and not about all the “extra” junk (which is a nice addition – but not needed most of the time.)

Basic game page:

Main Page (link back to main page)
Game name (link to game rules) (don’t need separate wording)
Opponent name (link to profile)
Points (backgammon and such)
Score / Match (backgammon and such)
Captured pieces (chess, checkers and such)
Game Board
Captured pieces (chess, checkers and such)
Points (backgammon and such)
Submit / Draw / Resign – along with input box for in-game chat & notes

That is all. (I might be missing something since some games have different information - but there is A LOT of information that is not needed to play the game that can be removed.)

What we don’t need:

Separate link to game rules (just make the tournament name a link)
Links to discussion boards – along with the need to have it check the database to see if there are any unread messages
Flags & (news) links for either player
Pawn/rook icon
Mailbox next to name (I can click on name to go to profile or just leave an in-game chat)
Player icons – nice, but not needed
Last move by either player
Information about myself – I know who I am, why list it?
Tournament info with link & scroll-over information
Expected BKR change – along with the need to have it check the database for this info
Finished games between players
Time per move
if it is a public game
if it is a rated game
layout change
board size
weekend days change shortcut

Also make it so the submit button will be ABOVE the board (so for large board & small screens, you won’t need to scroll down to hit submit. I have this working using my own .css file, but would be nice to the “basic” board also.)

Then have the addition of 1 more link: “Expanded game page” – which takes you out of “basic” and back to the expanded page if you need some more information which is not included in the basic page.

I see I will have solved my problem of too many games. Around 60 of them have timed out. and I still keep getting connection errors.

I tried to read back the 87 messages, but I can't get those pages to load either.

TarantinoFan: Keep trying. The rest of your would-be-funny sentences is not worth answering until you start to think before posting something foolish.

Fencer, do you feel like your time has been wasted when you spend the effort and energy of writing a blog entry only to find that it can't be accessed????

Oh I'm sorry I forgot you were busy adding little incidentals to the site that no-one really knew they needed but it looks like something has been done so it may quiet the masses.

I would like to know why I haven't been able to access the blog site since 11am this morning. It is now midnight and we are into a new day and I still can't access it to read the suggestions you spoke about earlier. I can't implement the suggestions if I can't even access them!!!!

Fencer:

AbigailII: Liquid says that TTL was set to 1 hour or even less. I can only ask him to check it again, this stuff is not handled by myself.

Fencer: Yes, that's true. ISPs are obliged to keep their DNS lists updated and the only thing we can do for that is to broadcast the up to date information and "ask them" to accept it.

Yeah, but you can make your change the "right" way, or the "wrong" way. DNS records have a TTL (time to live). If I look at the current DNS record for brainking.com, the TTL is one day (which is a typical value). Now, if the TTL of brainking.com was one day before making a change, it means that it may take an day before everyone knows about the change. No ISP would be violating any RFC. The "right way" (that is, decrease the time it takes for everyone to notice) of making a DNS change is to first lower the TTL to a short period (say, 900 seconds), and do this more than a day in advance (a day because that's the old value of the TTL). That tells any name resolver that it should not keep an entry in its cache for more than 15 minutes. Then you make your DNS change, and you can set the TTL to one day again.

Now, obviously, I do not know how the DNS change was made, but judging from the reactions of the board, it seems that for about a day, people had problems with name resolving. Which seems to suggest a change to a record with a TTL of a day was made.

WellyWales: And now?

"Snoopy": Yes! but mine shows the total number of games I have to play, not the total number of games with that person

"Snoopy": Yeah, lukulus has been talking about something like that.

wow nice improvement the number of games against friends online

Pioneer54: Looks like paths to some images are still hard coded in the source. It will be easily fixed.

The captured pieces outside the board are not showing up, although the rest of the displays are normal. But the lack of seeing what is captured is making it difficult to select moves, especially in Loop chess.

Andersp: No, I did not, my friend. I was only discussing with MadMonkey and only people who feel guilty in any way would take that unobtrusive remark as a personal attack. Anyway, it's very interesting and amusing to observe a mentality of certain people, especially their reactions to certain words. Good thing is that normal users can easily recognize who is trying to make problems just for a sake of making problems. It saves a lot of explanations.

Andersp: "certain user here"....I'm one of them...Ive always been told to stand up in what you believe in and be outspoken about same.

TarantinoFanI Still cant get into the "info" page, but then It might only be for those with a big cheque in one hand and a brown nose in the other (so to speak)

TarantinoFan: for sure - I have had issues that have not been addressed yet but still live in hope that they will be soon. It is good to know there are others out there and that I am not alone.

ruby2shoes: so does this put us in the "certain users" category with the inference that we are unintelligent???

TarantinoFan: and so say all of us - brilliantly put!

Isn't this great. He who has the power, posts a blog to let us know what is going on and maybe try to make his paying customers feel a little better about what is being done with their money but no-one can access that explanation because it has gone down too! I know it's there because I can see a tantalizing little bit of it at the top of my main page but I can't access it to see if it really will calm my worries about whether this site is going to be stable and usable for the future. Lately this site really has been like

I'm getting a headache!!!

redfrog: My thoughts exactly!

redfrog: , well hopefully, Google should be ok most the time, thats why i picked it really

Yours is there, i just replied to it lol
The BrainRook and .info sites are still down, well they were 5 mins ago
After you join, you have to wait to post, that way it will only be BrainKing members there, only take couple of ticks though

MadMonkey: I ahave joined and posted twice but cant see where my posts have gone.......still only your 2 post are able to be seen, but there appears to be about 4 members....hasnt anybody else posted?

Czuch: hmmmm maybe possible, as the time out process detects activity (or not) i believe.

Well, its there if people want to use it, and hopefully will keep this board clear a bit lol

MadMonkey: I wonder... would it be difficult for Fencer to have us automatically redirected to that addy when this site takes too long to respond?

Bernice: Well, with Fencers permission i have set a forum up on Google

At least it may help people find out if it is a site or a local problem.

Everyone is welcome to join the BrainKing Discussion Forum

Then if you can not access the site at some point, just head there and hopefully you will be able to find out what is going on lol

Czuch: it is the easiest thing in the world to set up an independant chat room...well it used to be....I had one on my "FREE" geocities site...I have just checked and I STILL have a chat room on my site....and it works....hasnt been used since 2001.

It wouldnt be too hard for someone to set one up specifically for the use of BK users now would it,......

Okay kids, we all know that Andrersp is one of the people being referred to, he is upset about the auto pass deal that Fencer made and he will harp on Fencer for it, and Fencer will play the game too by making veiled digs....

now that is out, can we all move on now?

Andersp: Of course. They prefer to play games instead of wasting their (and my) time with attempts to start a useless argument on a public board which is supposed to provide meaningful information.

Fencer: I think most people at BK know what the site owner prefers

Andersp: The site owner always prefers to say what is the best for the community, not for any particular user. And he really does not care about "that's brave" opinions.

Fencer: so the site owner prefers to say A ("certain users" not Mad Monkey) and not B (the names)...thats brave

Andersp: No, because it would start an off-topic thread with a significant risk of an unfriendly atmosphere and that's what nobody wants here.

Fencer: So, if we ask you who those "certain users' (not Mad Monkey) are, would you answer that question too?

Andersp: It would be pointless because it's me who is answering questions. I don't ask any.

Fencer: If you ask them by their names instead "certain users" (not Mad Monkey) they might give you an answer

Andersp: Most likely they think that sending annoying complaints can be helpful. My opinion is different.

Fencer: I still think that "certain users" (not Mad Monkey)  are sending annoying complaints when they want/need an answer.

Fencer: Thats one of your favorite words, is it not ergo

Did you know that was an old board game. Its quite a good game actually, i have it in my cupboard.
In fact, see if i can find it on the web


Found it HERE

Its like a cross between Five in Line & Hasami Shogi

rod03801: Yes, it's a small bug because graphs are generated by an instant user action, ergo they must be displayed internally.

Fencer: I think it would be great, and immensely helpful to those who are not up with Computers & connection problems

If we had a separate place to go that people could remember to look at if they could not access brainking itself

Best have a chat to coan.net, mctrivia or someone else who has there own place, if they would be happy about it

The only images not working for me right now, are the graphs. Fencer, you are probably aware of this, but I thought it couldn't hurt to mention, just in case you aren't.

MadMonkey: Sure, if someone creates a discussion board dedicated to BrainKing elsewhere, I can make an official link to it and place it here and to the BrainKing.info site as well.

Andersp: I talk when I have time to talk. It has nothing to do with a frequency of complaints.

Czuch: I have written a new blog entry today, which suggests some possible solutions. And yes, contacting your ISP is a good too.

Fencer: True, i know i read them all as well

As you are having a question day
Is it possible to have a brainking Discussion board based somewhere else (maybe mctrivias or coan.net site)
In other words, if someone can not access brainking we could goto a board there and just ask if it is a all round problem, or something closer to home.
That is the most irritating, the not knowing
I had to be up for work 5.00 the other morning, so i came on before bed to catch up on those games that may time out.

As for others the site was inaccessible, but how long could or should i wait for

Maybe coan.net or Rose or someone could have an access to turn on the suspended timeouts, until you can get here the next day, but if there is no site access, do not know how

Just an idea