MadMonkey: As a new user this suggestion of "have to log x times" seems very bad. To me waiting room seem like the easiest way to start games. And if i couldn't start games when i first log in, why would i ever log in again?

Jules: I know i can block Pawns, BUT i do not mind playing them at all if they like there games and are interested in brainking
It just a shame when some Pawns accept invites then do not make a move or return to brainking again.
Its another invite wasted, so yes i create more. I do not mind trying to help people that are new to the site or anything like that, but it does tend to get annoying after a while.
There again as i said what can be done ?
We could be given a certain ammount of BKR if the opponent does not make a move after accepting a game OR maybe Pawns should not be able to take games from the Waiing Room unless they have signed on 'X' ammount of times.
Something at least

Fencer: I enjoyed reading your blog. Even if I did not understand some of it. LOL
I don't why people question the site owner?
You are the best of the sites I have played on. Always there when needed.
That means so much to me.
Go to some of these sites and see what you get..NOTHING..
My 2 cents.

MadMonkey: Actually you can do it. Just unclick the option for pawns to be able to take your games from the waiting room, before clicking on the continue to waiting room button.

I keep quite a few games open in the Main Waiting room (and my Madhouse one).
Is there any way Fencer to do something about Pawns (mainly) who take games out the Waiting room then never make a move in them, mostly because they do not come back to brainking.
It is getting so tedious finding a load of messages in my Inbox about games being won by me because my supposed opponent never made a move and timed out.
OK , Great, i get a win, but then just have to create more games to put in the Waiting room and get no joy about it at all.
I do not know what really can be done.
Maybe as well as the win, we get a few BKR reward for our efforts
There must be something

tippyc: Because it is my blog and I can write whatever I decide to. And when you think it's not relevant, it doesn't mean that it is not.

the point is, why did they merit a whole blog entry? thats a rhetorical question. (don't answer it). im sure that there is something more relevant to brainking to talk about.

Gordon Shumway and others:  thanks :)

Tigger: I guess it's an effect of the new design and not a selectable feature.

"Snoopy": Your name and password will be different to your brainking one providing when you signed up on the Serendipity Administration Suite page you made them different.
Best idea is open the Blog Administration page and get your password / username sent to you

Tigger: I think it must have been an upgrade, but it has been there a while now, i didnt do anything to put it there lol

im trying to post a comment on the blog
i know it worked when i use to use imsoaddicted but its not under "Snoopy"
so i tried to sign up again as "Snoopy" and it wont accept it

site is running very smooth now for me at least

Tigger: i bet it was an upgrade added in the recent changes

if someone posts a long link, it used to stretch out the page and screw up all the other posts.  Now if someone posts a long link, I have a scroll bar in that post.  It no longer message up the screen.  My question is this:  Is that feature something that is activated by changing one's settings or is it automatic?  And does it also work for WebTV?

MadMonkey: I confess. That is all because of me

Its me

Yes, there is a problem BIG time

When you stay playing here for more than 12 hours a day (like some of us do lol) the connection does crash time to time (notice i said connection)

Over the last few weeks it has been getting worse and should be looked into.
It does only happen on BrainKing !!
I can have numerous Tabs open on various sites (like most i would imagine).
All the other sites are fine when i get the dreaded message 'unable to connect'

I love this place, and we have a great crowd here but unless its gets sorted i think even our stay hard members will get fed up

Please look into it Fencer

or2ak.com: Well Im getting cut off on my laptop but Im not on wireless at the moment......

i have never had any problems. im on a mac G5running the safari browser and cable internet

I have a lot of problems staying connected to BK also, BUT, only on my desktop, I have never been disconnected when on my laptop (and its wireless)  I dont get it.   But since I spend most my time here on my desktop it is annoying.  
So I can understand everyones frustrations as the same thing is happening to me. (and this is the only site that cuts me off)   But, why just on my desktop and my laptop is fine?  Vey strange.

bouncer: PM me and we will talk about it - end of discussion here - thanks

redfrog: And what was not polite enough in the post you deleted ???? I was only repeating what Fencer said in response to my post . What the difference between Fencer and me ? He can say what he wants but I have to shut up or what ?

bouncer: Lets be clear - The board is for - "Board for everybody who is interested in BrainKing itself, its structure, features and future."

Please express your opinions - please voice your concerns - please be heard - and please - do it in a polite way or it will be modified/deleted/or eventually get you banned.

I'm happy you are from Europe - I'm happy this is in international site too - Regardless of where you are from, politeness is required on this site on the public boards.

Moving on.....

Marfitalu: yes I guess that could be a "fix" hahahaha

We are going the same way as it was on Goldtoken . We can only say things the moderators like , otherwise our post are deleted . Hey Redfrog ...this is Europe ... in Europe we are free to say what we want ! Stop deleting my posts ! This isn't the USA you know !!!!!

Marfitalu: there isnt a problem for me now things are behaving normally since i came back online

:( all other sites load very quickly, but it HAS to be me, cause as Fencer would say there is nothing wrong at his end :)

bouncer: Slow here too.I have yet to encounter anyone not having the same problem for the same length of time.

Marfitalu: no clue - i just know that i dont have any problems with Bk at all - so - maybe i just have a problem free pass?

redfrog: Don't think so . I'm on BK since a few years and everything went perfect until last week . It's not only me and it's not only with Belgian users. It's a worldwide problem between users all over the world and BK . We got no problems with other sites. So I guess the problem must be somewhere in the Czech Republic

What i just dont understand is how it could be a BK issue when it doesnt impact everyone - I'm sure there is an issue - but unless it impacts everyone - its got to be coming from somewhere else - its got to be caused by some other unknown factor - something that is more specific to specific users. Doesn't that make sense?

For what it's worth, I live in the Western US and use a high speed cable connection.  I generally don't have problems with slow page loads -- except in some of the forums.  However, it is extremely common for me to lose connection with the brainking server.  Happens on the average a couple of times per session.  The problem exists only with BrainKing.  I'm quite willing to believe that the problem lies somewhere between us, presumably in the web infrastructure in the Czech Republic.  I leave the interpretation to others.

Hrqls: traceroute itself isn't very helpful. After getting off the backbone in Prague, 84.233.160.74 is the last hop that sends back a TIME_EXCEEDED response.

Fencer: hehe you are too fast :)
does the logs tell you anything ? where are those servers located ? :)

Hrqls: I am already using a few services of this kind.

fencer : would it be possible to have a script running on someone elses computer which checks the connection to brainking.com, writes it into a log file, and mails it to you after about a week ?
(maybe a traceroute each time as well)
that way we could find out where the problem is, if there is a problem

for me the page doesnt want to load or very slow about twice a day, although today i didnt have a problem at all

i am online a couple of times a day, but not longer than 30 minutes each time

The Usurper:

Oceans Apart: Will fencer include a new mouse as part of a package upgrade? lol :)

The Usurper: ah ha now that IS a mouse problem LOL

Rose:

I notice that I must click my mouse button extra hard to make a move on BK. This is ok except I'm afraid that eventually my finger will wear down in which case I'll have to use my thumb and I'm not certain my right-side brain can coordinate with that without surgery. :)

I agree with Jason, i havent signed up to anymore tournaments now, because of the slowness. A friend of mine in America called me to say that he wouldnt be taking anyore moves because he basically couldnt because he was getting booted all the time, or the pages were taking far to long to load.

bouncer: The recent events, mostly related to the site performance issues,

This blog entry admits that there are site performance issues. What those issues are is not explained, but they surly exist, and surly include slow load times etc.

For fencer to say that none of our concerns are based on the server side is preposterous, we all know that. But when he probably doesnt know himself what is causing the slowdowns, then it gets frustrating to him to always hear the same complaints over and over.

I think what people want to hear from Fencer is that he is aware of some access problems and is constantly doing whatever he can to correct any that might be in his control, and that sometimes the problems are not in his control to fix.
But when we have zero problems on any other sites except here, and it is many users in many different parts of the world, it is obvious to everyone that it must be somehow related to Brainking, and not just a random computer problem that we all share at the same time!

Purple: YES.. Never thought we would say that. Our little webtv. LOL
One thing that slows me down is trying to get into a fellowship..I think its the video's that people are posting.
Since they are posting them. It really slows me down. Do you think that could be one of the problems?

Fencer: Maybe I am not on when all this is happening. lol I'm just happy I can still play here. :)

coan.net: the spped for me is ok 70 percent of the time , its just the remainer of the time when it either goes nowhere or hangs while trying to make a move on backgammon for example or simple things like swaping dice ............frustrating .........as others have said only happens with bk

Well I wrote up the following awhile back - changes I made which I believe helps out in the speed for me. You can find it here:

Computers (coan.net, 2007-03-12 20:16:01)

Plus it's not in the above, but I believe the nofont option is also a little quicker then the castle theme - but if you want to had additional fun, there are other external .css files you can try.

In setting, in the External style URL: area (plus make sure you check Activate external style right next to it), here are 3 that I've made (Just enter the http... address in the box on the settings page.):

http://coan.net/coannet.css - an "old" style look of BrainKing
http://coan.net/coannet2.css - same as above, with addition of "move" button near TOP!
http://coan.net/coannet3.css - same as above, with addition of dice poker dice choices near top (covers some of the screen, not pretty - but beats scrolling down for every roll)

Anyone is free to try those 3 out - and if you don't like it, just uncheck and use the any of Fencer's choices.

bouncer: Great! The problem is solved.

Fencer: nonsense ??? OK ... so we're all liars . You're right . No problems on BK . It's all our own fantasy. Great ..thanks ...subject closed .

For once we are out performing the pc's I guess. It's not great but things still work (sort of) but the pc users must still get on because look at the tons of complaints posted. My friend Kammy tried to get on last night with her pc but gave it up after awhile. I hope things get fixed pretty soon.