computeropponen: you said below "...i don't pay much attention to the time control here...". Well that's exactly your problem, and you should stop projecting it onto others.
The time controls can please any taste, yours included, but if you don't care about them when signing up, then stop caring (whining) about them after signing up.

crosseyed:
before you speak or speak up, you better say this is the best site to post on and play game.
if you are not a complainer.

rabbitoid: my opponent time left is 42 days and 15 hours per MOVE, not per GAME.
if he move exactly like that, it will take more than a year may be two to finish one game.
what a long game!!
i don't like a blitz game, what i want is a reasonable chess game
what is fast action or slow snail action? you tell me.

computeropponen: This site is a bad choice for you if you like to blitz. What you find here is more the equivalent of correspondence chess. For fast action better go to FICS at http://www.freechess.org/

computeropponen: i played a few games of chess with my mother on here and she does exactly what you says .... i know she is no cheater though :) ...she just wants to play it on a real board so she views my move and then sets up on a real board to contemplate her various moves and often she leaves the board standing there for several days before making the real move :)

i don't pay much attention to the time control here. once i accepted an invitation to play a chess game, my opponent moved quickly and i like it, i hate people move slowly to make me sick.
during the game my wife called me to pick her up,when i came back i found out that i had only 30 min vs his 1 hr 35min, first i was very surprised then i realized the x was set up for 3 hrs per game that i did not know abt it. i lost the game under x pressure.
now i get the idea how to invite people to play the game i wanted. set the X CONTROL PER GAME

computeropponen: There are two ways: you can go to a player's page and invite that person directly, or you can make an open invitation to players in general here at BrainKing (with some restrictions if you want to).

For the general invitation, on the left side of the page near the top there is a category called "new game". Click it.

Then select the type of game you want to play, then pick the parameters that you want. Be careful on time controls and such so that you get what you want; there are default settings but I suspect you won't want to use those.

how to invite someone for waiting game?

Hrqls: no one is a cheater here, only suspect of cheating. you don't know what the guy is doing. how can you prove it?
when my opponent logout after seeing my move every time, i know what is going on, he may not use a computer program, but i am sure that he is looking for some help, most likely he try to find the move by trail and error method. when he find his move on the board and login again.
the reason is: he has no ability to see the move over the board.

happyjuggler0:Just the first game will be black and then alternate colour

If someone on the "waiting games" page has an invitation that states that it is a 5 wins match and my color is black, does that mean that all of my games in that match will be black, or does it mean that my first game is black and alternate each game after that between black and white, or is it something else perhaps?

Justaminute: agree,i meant that it was not automagically recognized

Justaminute:
actually it would be quite easy to program, but there are other easy-to-program things that are not implemented on this site :(

Hrqls:
a draw cannot be claimed on this site, it can only be offered.
you have to agree on the draw to be performed

just decline the draw and continue the game while having a cheerful chat about the rules of a draw?

Actually not correct. Where normal rules of chess apply the game is draw when there is a three fold repetition of a position and a player claims it. The issue is that Brainking does not automatically recognise it (it would be very complex to programme I imagine) but the rules on the site advise you can appeal for arbitration. Ideally of course this is settled between the players.

Hrqls: I was the opponent in question. I actually think this is a matter for the chess board not the brainking board but no matter. The fact is that I offered a draw at the time we repeated the move for the third time (fourth actually). I didn't write a message saying that it was a three move repetition, I just assumed thisbeme was aware of the fact we had repeated three times and the game was a draw. My opponent then played on with a different move. I then repeated the draw offer advising acceptance was not optional and I would appeal to the arbitrator if he did not accept. I can only assume thisbeme did not notice the offer I made on the third repetition. I now realise brainking does not record draw offers on the moves visable to the players so I was unable to prove I had made the offer on the third repetition of position. My advise is write a message when are claiming a draw when you make a three move repetition so there is an audit trail in the event if a situation like this.

thisbeme: maybe your opponent didnt understand the rules of chess in detail and he wasnt trying to exploit you?

a draw cannot be claimed on this site, it can only be offered.
you have to agree on the draw to be performed

just decline the draw and continue the game while having a cheerful chat about the rules of a draw?

thisbeme: game number?

A draw was incorrectly claimed by my opponent.
According to fide laws a player must claim a draw at the time. At the time the draw was adjudicated the claimed of repetition wasn't valid as I had deviated from the repetition prior to the claim.
Also poor form from my opponent as I explained that it was an invalid claim and they are exploiting someone who doesn't understand the rules of chess!!!

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.

There was nothing at Easter time as usually has been

Carpe Diem: probably won't see one here until maybe Christmas time, they usually only happen twice a year

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...

if anyone thinks they are modded unfairly on this board, please contact me

i allow a lot more than the previous mod on this board, and hope to be fair and honest to everyone

this post is not to start a discussion, just to ask you to send me a pm if you think you are being modded unfairly on this board

Carpe Diem: I am speaking from personal experience. I was frustrated with this site when it was not working some time ago Fencer deemed me as a complainer when I posted on here.

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.

JerNYC: Ahem tolerant . There are enough moderators on these boards that would have removed any unacceptable complains.

ellieoop: No idea

The most involved owner that I've seen on any of the sites would have to be 'Badger' on GT. It's not just a business venture for her, but more of a labor of love. Very active on the discussion boards and always working with the main programmer to develop new games. She's on a personal basis with many of the members. After her, I would say that Fencer is the second most involved owner. The rest of the sites (including IYT) seem to have no input or presence whatsoever from their owners.

I will say this of Fencer, though, he does seem to be very tolerant of criticism. There are very public complaints on here that would be moderated elsewhere.

The Col: is Pat Chu still running IYT?

crosseyed: This reminds me of Chu and IYT
Maybe the owners eventually feel all the bs isn't worth the return

crosseyed: did anyone ever seriously approach Fencer about giving control of the site to someone else? Selling the site, or even just having someone else administer it? If he doesn't care too much, he might be ok with either?

crosseyed:

blackviper55: That is a pity, for as games site go in my opinion this is the best site to play in. I just wish the owner would take more interest in his game site. I know he thinks I am complainer, but in the past I have been frustrated when the site was playing up. Players should be allowed to speak up (so to speak) if they are not happy with the service they get, without being a accused of complaining. I still think this is the best site to play in regarding layout, graphics etc.

yes i am going once all my games are done

ketchuplover: I think 200 of those hail from Tennessee lol

pawns active just on Sept 13 2013 so far.

ketchuplover: What about the number of active pawns?

ketchuplover: yeah I think people are getting sick of this site and arent renewing any longer :(

377 paying members active after Sept 5 2013

Fencer: Yes they were in a Spam folder, funny it should start doing that after 3 years, all ok now.

_Road Runner___: The server log says that 6469 emails were sent in last 2 days. Are you sure that yours are not blocked by an anti spam filter or something?
Anyway, BrainKing just sends emails, it cannot guarantee that they are actually delivered.

I haven't been getting emails when people move when im offline since the recent problem

hmmmmmmmm....see what happens when you dont pay the bills - All my "events" messages have dissapeared -

JerNYC: bots and software is always a problem on a game site ... not just for new players .. for example i could start using some chess software as well, and just claim i got more time to think about my moves to clarify my raise in ranking (if i would ever raise :))

for new players something else might happen: some people tend to finish winning games first, beore they finish the games in which they seem to lose .. this tends to a higher ranking for new players and a high win/loss ratio at first

(also games which you are winning usually require less effort and will be finished faster from your side, than games which you might be losing in which you have to think about every move several times)

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. 

crosseyed: I'm a skeptical person. I don't take everything at face value. I've just seen this happen a few times already where a new handle appears out of nowhere and wipes everyone off the board without so much as a loss. Yes, I find that a little weird. I tend to think it's an advanced player who has concealed their known handle and their abilities in order to attract fresh meat. As far as cheating, it's already known that people do use software. I know on one site where there are bots that are programmed to play games.

crosseyed: agreed :)

Bernice: Sounds like sour grapes to me.

JerNYC: If there was a farm or a million dollars etc on the game I would worry, but I could care less - if they have to use special software to be good - good luck to them :)

when a new player shows up and absolutely demolishes the competition? Especially when you don't recognize their name from any other sites. I always wonder if it's a previously top ranked player who created a new handle because it was probably hard for them to get new games. Then, you also have to question if they're possibly using a special software. Just wondering if there are other suspicious minds out there. (Elvis song pun intended :D)