MrWCF: How did you come to that conclusion? You said the player in question had played four games against people whose ratings were 1341, 1094, "unrated" and "unrated". How do you know that those "unrated" ratings were actually not very high ratings? I mean even if you have an "unrated" rating, it is expressed in numbers in the BK system. For example, you have finished, to date, 2 Embassy Chess games. After a quick look at your profile, however, I can tell that your BKR is somewhere between 2298 and 2445, yet it is shown as "unrated".

Thanks--I'm pretty familiar with the USCF formulae.  What I'm getting at is the fact that the use of the special USCF formula (for players with eight or fewer games) in this case would have resulted in a provisional rating equal to the average rating of the opponents in his four games plus 400.  That can't be 2100.  Some other mechanism must be being used on this site.

MrWCF: As far as I know, BK uses the following formulas:
http://math.bu.edu/people/mg/ratings/approx/approx.html

Fencer:Yes, I realize that provisional ratings are very inaccurate.  What I was asking is how they are calculated.  In the example that I posted, a player received a provisional rating of 2100 after four victories, zero defeats, and zero draws.  Those four victories were against players with ratings of 1341, 1094, and unrated (2 of them).  How was his resultant rating of 2100 calculated?

Undertaker.: For me, everybody must start each game rating with 1000 or 1200 points and each victory give between 10 and 50 points, in accordance with BKR opponent. For me would be the more correct rating calculation and would be necessary play many games and play against best players to be in the top.

IMO, that is really bad, and can cause really wild BKRs (like 3000+ BKR) easily. One should not only take into account the opponents BKR, but also how well estiblished that BKR is. If I play against someone who has 1500 more BKR points than me, but has only played a few games the last year, my BKR should not change much, regardless of the result. The point is that ratings should give an estimate of someones strength, but you can only estimate someone strength by comparing it to the strength of others. However, if you don't know someones strength very well (because someone hasn't played a lot), a result doesn't give much estimation of your strength, so your BKR should not change much.

In general, your BKR should change more the less established your BKR is, and the more your opponents BKR is. And it should change less the more established your BKR is, and the less established your opponents BKR is. And number of games finished is a poor estimation of how well established a BKR is. Number of recently finished games is a much better measurement than total number of games.

Ok, I'll say it one more time. Glicko.

rabbitoid: lol

wetware: prince? They must have upgraded the software. I still get the lawyer with the inheritance

Bernice: I have an acquaintance--a Nigerian prince!--who'd like to meet you.

"...he/she might be legit."

joshi tm: I think that isn't the point. For me, everybody must start each game rating with 1000 or 1200 points and each victory give between 10 and 50 points, in accordance with BKR opponent. For me would be the more correct rating calculation and would be necessary play many games and play against best players to be in the top.
Besides, it doesn't must be very difficult to do it (the new rating calculation, of course).

Fencer: I think 25 played games is still a bit low to predict a player's play rating. So why not make another rating level for played 100 rated games (ehm, well-established BKR)

Fencer: I know, but in this situation will be more easy for a player manage his rating, playing only with weak players and maintaining a high rating. On the other hand, a player with 2 defeats in first 6 games, for example, will have big difficulties to ascend quickly in same rating.

Undertaker.: Provisional ratings are VERY inaccurate and should not be taken too seriously. Established ratings should be always used to compare skills of players.

MrWCF: Welcome to BrainKing my friend.

I disagree with this rating calculation, because is very unfair. In Plakoto happened me the same thing. I did 4 games against players
with weak BKR and now i have 4 games, 4 victories and 2457 points. For me, a player with 4 games cannot be in first place.
This way is very easy to be in first places without big troubles. This isn't my idea about competition. For me, to be the first is need play many games and beat the best players and this don't happen here.

Constellation36: yeah con i can vouch for u with elizabeth she is a brilliant player but doesnt say a word not too sure about the others

Bernice: I didnt look too far but he has only been playing with people from Estonia.....there is a pisipaddy and a pisipaddy2...multi nic? seems a bit strange but he/she might be legit.

Let me tell you something. I'm playing with both elizabeth1932, pisipaddy, sema, NODDY and i can tell you that the playing style is the same, the time where these players are online/offline is the same, the behavior of these players is the same(they never talk a word).
Conclusions are yours.

Yet there is the slight possibility that they might be a couple of friends that come along and decided to play together here. But i doubt because of the playing style which is the exact same for all these 4 players.

And if you look at pmvaht's opponents where he obtained the 3000 rating in Backgammon, you will see that his opponents were the 4 players i have mentioned and been playing.

Can someone explain one aspect of ratings calculations to me?  How is an initial provisional rating calculated after four rated games have been completed? 

In the game of Cam, Jannssen has a provisional rating of 2100 after four victories, zero defeats, and zero draws.  Those four victories were against players with ratings of 1341, 1094, and unrated (2 of them).  How is a resultant rating of 2100 possible? 

Let me hasten to add that this is not to cast aspersions on Jannssen's Cam skill level.  For all I know, he is a world-class Cam player.

alanback: I didnt look too far but he has only been playing with people from Estonia.....there is a pisipaddy and a pisipaddy2...multi nic? seems a bit strange but he/she might be legit.

It's so impessive..until you take a moment to see how it came about.

Then, the only thing remarkable about it is that it's been allowed to stand.

SORRY I did not look at the set days off.

Hrqls: when the person doesnt time out but no vacation days are use .. then it might be that he has that day set as his weekend... or that a previous game has already timed out that same day and the day is already set as vacation. If people monitor the opponent's vacation days only just before the game between them times out, it may appear that the opponent didn't loose any vacation days when autovacation kicked in...

DeaD man WalkiN: when the person does timeout then he doesnt uses his vacation days automatically (its a setting wether you want it or not)

when the person is using automatic vacation days but still times out .. then he might be in a game/tournament which doesnt allow vacation days (red dot)

when the person doesnt time out but no vacation days are use .. then it might be that he has that day set as his weekend

Bluefin: found here:  Calendar

Bluefin: Settings / Calendar?

Will someone please tell me how to schedual vacation days ? Thanks.

Fencer: Mine is gone too. Thanks. (though I'll miss that link. It was a fast way to the discussion boards link. ;)

Fencer:

cd power: And you also have an answer.
http://brainking.info/archives/582-Achievements-some-additional-information.html

I have a question... do achievements on certain games only start when the achievement feature was added (April 5)?... I have a dice chess 10x10 game that satisfies 2 achievements, but yet I was not given credit: Dice Chess 10x10 (cd power vs. janka) This game shows all 3 kings captured by the same piece (one achievement) and I did not lose any kings (another achievement). Additionally, maybe it should be another achievement in which the only pcs that I captured were three kings only! Can I at least get credit for the first two achievements mentioned above?

Also, I have won several games in maharajah chess as the white maharajah, check-mating my opponent's king... but I was not given credit for that achievement?

In fact, I have satisfied achievements in several other games (dice poker, etc) in which I was not given credit.

Fencer: Looks normal again.. thanks! :)

Fencer: Mine are gone as well...

ScarletRose: And now?

Bwild: I ended up getting a little bug too.. can barely talk.. but, hubby thinks that is Great! LOL

ScarletRose: its a new achievment....most bugs that are easily fixed, but not!!

El Cid: i think i saw them when you go to achievements then click on games and then dice poker.

jessica: I missed that, because it didn't show on my recent achievements, and I'm allmost sure I have at least one of them I need to check them
Edit: They were even on the same game Póker de Dados Triplo (El Cid vs. Vasr)

El Cid: i think Fencer has already implemented that.

coan.net: On max score for triple dice poker, or triple 6d, I would suggest win the game with the three bonus scored, or win the game with points in all the squares (including the bonus ones)

(V):Good advice:  "Oh Fencer!" 

Artful Dodger: Just ask Fencer, he'll fix it easily. It just happens

.... Ghost in the machine and all.

 (V): It is a bug of some kind.  I'm at my daughter's and get the same thing from her computer.   But it's not a big deal as it doesn't affect anything else on BK.  I'll probably miss it when it's gone.  

alexlee: Yeah.. but it's happened to a few people. It's a fixable bug

Artful Dodger: I have none listed twice

Czuch:There's a glitch somewhere. 

Artful Dodger: I have the cave fellowship listed 3 times like that

Artful Dodger: i only have a few boards from fellowships appear more than once ... which is when i added more than 1 language of that board/fellowship

nodnarbo:Strange.  I've just noticed it in the last few weeks.  Scarlet has the problem X2 and you don't at all.  Maybe I'll put it in the bug fix but it may only apply to isolated users so not to sure about that.  It doesn't effect anything it's just annoying.  (my wife says the same about me sometimes!  )

Artful Dodger: I don't have that problem, and never recall having that problem

Artful Dodger: The last on my list is "World Of Arts" and it is listed 4 times.. been that way for months.. and when I asked it was never addressed.. of course.. you said it much more clearer..