Oh I don't know, Eriisa, if its listed in USA dollars the conversion should be quite easy. There are lots of sites that does conversion for you (XE.com is one). And even if it just gives us a vague idea, like "We currently have $500 raised, we need to reach $1000" (for example).. people who do not have dollars as their first currency can see roughly how much is needed.

ROFL @ Cariad!!! *big grin*!!

Have a little patience, Gubbe!! All great things are worth waiting for :o)

Thanks Dano, theres also a yahoo group called BK_HOME that Paul71 founded. Its a good idea to join one of these groups then you can at least check with other people as to site access. Plus they're fun! lol!

I think this site is well worth putting up with the faults. We know they won't last forever. Fencer restores games that time out, he keeps us informed of progress and is ever patient in doing so. He can't do much more than he is.
I have had faith from the start and continue to do so. Access WILL improve. Don't forget, this whole wonderful place is created by just two guys, and those same guys have to maintain the site. It can't be easy. I think support (even just verbal) would be far more constructive than complaints. If I was running a site and received nothing but criticism I would be more tempted to wipe the whole thing than to spend hours of my time fixing it!

Its not very often draws occur in the usual run of things, which is why people can't really boost their ratings by drawing all the time.
Of course its not the object of playing the game, but if I play a much higher rated player, then a draw is much better than an outright loss! Dano describes it well, a 'little loss', or even a 'little win' for the lower rated opponent!

Oh no, if you win a game, even if your opponent has a much lower rating, your rating will not drop. If you draw or lose, however, then that will affect your rating.

Well it does make sense really. If I have a draw against a much higher rated player than me, then I must have worked hard to pull off a draw. Therefore my rating should go up. Just not as much as if I'd actually won the game!

Have a look in the FAQ's, CannibalJoe. It has a full explanation of ratings there. But I think basically if your opponent was quite a bit lower (rating wise) than you, and it was a draw then you will lose points.

Anytime :o)

The Rat, there are many other ways of paying for a membership, right down to sending cash through the post :o)
There are a number of representatives found at BrainKing.info that can discuss alterative payments with you.

Edit... none are from Finland as far as I am aware but we would all do our best to advise you if you like.

I believe Blaze asked for a separate board just for quizzes, but it was felt there was already enough boards. (I think that was the reason!)

I'm totally against closing any discussion boards. Part of what makes this site what it is is the friendships we all have here. We have a laugh on the boards, ask serious questions, and generally support each other. The boards that are just for specific games are well used, people can go happily there and post details about a game and know it will be well received and discussed with others who have a love of that particular game.
The general and members boards are where we can just kick back and have a laugh with our friends. And of course the features board etc are needed.
Of course this is primarily a game site, but it also has the best community spirit on the net (IMHO) and this would not be achieved if we could not use the discussion boards to get to know people.

I had a few problems accessing AOL tonight, but I'm here now and thats quite enough from both of you! :oP

It depends how many extras we'd be talking about, BBW! If they could access fellowships and post to/read boards that they couldn't before, then I think they would try to have more than one account. Or start a new name every time the 'freebie' test time ran out.
Its a difficult question really because I think there is already more than enough incentive for people to join. I couldn't imagine only having a pawn membership now. I really have no idea why more people don't join! A couple of people have said to me that they are waiting until there is 24 hour un-interrupted access. But I say its not THAT bad, and we know it is being sorted out. It sure hasn't stopped me from enjoying my membership privileges. I'd encourage everyone to at least try being a rook for 6 months, you'd never look back! Its not so expensive (lets not get on that again, its just a loose comment! lol) and worth it jsut for a trial if nothing else. I challenge anyone to try being a rook for 6 months then be happy to go back to being a pawn!

Yeah that all sounds good, but maybe much work to make sure that people didn't just sign in under different names all the time and take advantage of having the 'extra things' almost permanently?

That all sounds very reasonable, BBW, the only thing I disagree with is the trial of one fellowship.
Suppose they choose one from random because they don't really know any of the people who are in fellowships, then they really dislike what they see there! Its always possible! I think most fellowships have 'slow periods' where there is not much posting going on and a lack of tournament games. If they hit a fellowship at one of those times it could create a bad impression and they may go away thinking they're not missing much.

What does that say, TT?

How long are you going away for, Massimo? Don't forget weekend days are already holidays so you only have to put in week days. That will give you 7 days where you will not time out.

Yep, just double checked for you, its 'Settings, Calendar, Vacation and Weekend days'.
Just tick the days you will not be here and have a great holiday :o)

Go to settings, and there you will find a holiday page, where you can tick the days you want as holidays. On these days you will not time out.

Oops! Am I embarrassed!! LOL, of course, I didn't think of that! Thats a nifty little feature isn't it?! I'd never noticed it before!

Actually, I have noticed a glitch on the holiday page, there doesn't seem to be a place to tick to place the holidays, except for the last day of the month! I had seen in the BK info page that there was a problem with changing the weekend days, it was causing time-outs in games. So I thought maybe Fencer had turned off the option to set holidays for a short time? I also thought it could just be my page not loading in properly! Does anyone else have this problem?

I respectfully asked him to post it on the appropriate board, it was too long and didn't belong here.

I meant if someone just presses the cross to leave the site, and didn't actually log off. I've noticed people are still on my friends online list for a while after they have left the site, but they haven't logged off, if you see what I mean?! Or maybe they have left the window open, and just gone elsewhere.

I think after you leave the site (without logging off) it stays as though you are online for a while, but then your name disappears from the online player list.
Its more likely people have BK open in a separate window while they are on other sites.

:o( cute, BBW!! OK, ANYONE who posts any more on that subject will have their posts deleted. Better?! LOL! (Sorry but I can see that being a long, ongoing argument, and this is NOT the place)

Yeah, I've got one message stuck at the top on Battleboats, and its me playing Chatty now, her messages are at the bottom, nothing is appearing at the top at all!

Dmitri and Spiderm4tt.
Any more posts about this and I will delete them. I've asked you nicely to argue this out in private.

I didn't send you a personal message because I was addressing everyone when I said this isn't the place.
But I'm glad the matter is closed. Back to the games :o)

Spiderman, I appreciate what you say, but I think everyone has put their side across. I just wanted to say (before certain points got argued about over and over) this isn't the place.

Kitti, I can only speak for myself but it does sound rather feminine to me! Sorry :o)

Can we leave it there guys? Or do it privately? Cheers :o)

Kitti, you could still cancel the game if you have not made many moves. You wouldn't lose any ratings points at all.

Could we calm things down a little please? We all agree this is a great site, Fencer is doing his best under difficult circmstances and we would all like to help. Agreed?
The niggly details that are being argued about really aren't that important since most are hypothetical anyway.

There are more benefits than that for rooks, Dmitri. We get to play in as many tournaments as we like too. We can use the members only board, and also have the satisfaction of knowing we are supporting a great site. That, combined with the unlimited games and ability to join fellowships was more than enough reason for me to become a member. I believe its worth getting, with not a single doubt.

As far as I'm aware, there are no plans to give pawn members more or less benefits.
This whole thing started because a few members wanted to let Fencer know that we would be willing to donate more money for a new server.
(A few suggestions about gold stars etc were also thrown in!)
I stand by this, as I'm sure those other members would.
Other people think we shouldn't have to pay any more, instead pawns should have less benefits here because they don't pay. Fair enough, I can see that side of it too.
At the end of the day its fencers decision, and I'm sure he'll do what is right for all the people here.

Thats clearly a matter of opinion. When Tony says "not too sure 'we' want them", he is not speaking for me. I have no problem with unpaying pawns, thats their choice. They get a limited service here. I choose to pay and get the extras. But for the pawns who choose not to pay, well I wouldn't attempt to bully them into parting with their cash. Its on offer for free so why shouldn't they take it?

Wizard, all pawns are welcome here. I can't honestly say what the majority think but I find it hard to believe that the majority would want no pawns here at all. That would make for a very lonely site.
I hope you will reconsider and not allow a couple of opinions to chase you away. I for one do not agree that pawns should be made to feel unwelcome and I should think there would be quite a few others who feel as I do.

No worries Bernice, I dont know Dolittle personally but I do wish him a fast recovery, and I doubt Fencer would mind the occasional enquiry & update about him here :o)

Eddie, I've just extended my membership another year hoping it would help some, and if we all did that, it might help right now, but in another years time the cash would dry up again because everyone would have memberships spanning a year or two! I agree about the maharajah, I'd love to have that, not for the maharajah, but just to help out, but its way too expensive for me! Maybe this time next year when I'm a millionairre....!!
BBW as far as I know its just shirts thats in the pipeline for now. But I guess these things take time to get them made up ready to sell.

I think I confused things saying a 'higher membership level'. I didn't mean anything should be taken away from rooks, and I cant see that much could be added to what the rooks have now. But I do think some kind of gold star or symbol to acknowledge the extra support would be a good idea. It might encourage more donations, people like to see something for their money, even if its just a gold star!!

You're right, Tony, thats a great idea Jason had about a higher membership level, maybe an Archbishop or Chancellor in line with the new Gothic Chess game we have here.
Maybe we should also have a 'fundraiser tube' on the front page, showing where we are up to and the target amount for a new server.
Positive suggestions about how to raise the money are far more constructive than complaints.

Tony, I seem to remember that being suggested before somewhere, and the reply was that it would be too much for the server to work out who was a member and who wasn't? It was something along those lines! It just wouldnt be practical and would make things worse.

"Good things come to those who wait", and I think we have it pretty good now. Getting on at Fencer about the problem will only slow him down even more. He's well aware of it and doing his best for all of us.
I think Icon phrased it very nicely :o)

What country are you in, BBW? In the UK, mine is fine most of the day, until about 7pm. Then for a few hours its difficult to get on. If you can get that to your own time it might help!
Hopefully Fencer will have the new server soon, and these will be problems of the past. In the meantime we just have to be patient. Its worth the wait I think!

Bernice, if Fencer did that then the friends list would be almost the same as the on-line opponents, and I for one have so many games going, if only a quarter of my opponents were online, it would take up a lot of my page to list them all as friends.
Its only one click to see who is online that you are playing. A lot of my friends here I dont have games going with all the time, and I think its nice to have them seperate. (Just my personal opinion!)

Tony, there have been many discussions about this on many different boards. And there is a very mixed opinion about it. I try to respect the way people play (and finish!) a game. Just finish the game and try to avoid that player in future, posting insults about people who play to the end will benefit nobody. :o)

You can request your password be sent to you if you've forgotten it.

Otherwise go to 'my profile', and 'edit', and you can change it there :o)

Also, Pioneer, it does state that it is when the tournament finishes, rather than when the individual finishes his/her part of the tournament.

But as a knight, you could still not join every game type of tournament, because you would still have limited game slots! If you are considering membership I would highly recommend rook, you would be able to join unlimited tournaments and have unlimited games... and you would also be able to create your own tournament, and fellowship. The benefits are far greater for a rook.

I will soon be starting a tablut tournament for pawns with a 6 months rook membership as a prize. I will allow plenty of time to sign up as I know some pawns will have to wait for tournaments to finish. You could enter that! As far as I know there are no tablut masters among the pawns (and only a handful among rooks! lol) so everyone stands a good chance of winning.

Thanks TT, as soon as I can delete again without getting rid of half a dozen other messages in the process I will remove the post Dano left.

Unless, Dano, you would be good enough to remove it for me? It seems TT has deleted one with no problems. I daren't try until I get the green light from Fencer but it would be greatly appreciated if you would remove your posts also?

Please dont bring your arguments here. Dano, you've had your say, now can we leave it there? I do not have a delete option right now which means any inappropriate posts and I'll be left with no option but to ban you. That goes for you too, TT.

Buckwheat, one final time. The problem is being addressed and will be sorted soon. Posting numerous messages complaining will not get it fixed any faster and will only slow Fencer down because he has to read your posts before he starts work. If you really must gripe take it to the general chat board where we can tell you in detail why you shouldn't complain so much.
This board is for posts about BrainKing, "structure, features and future", not multiple posts about a bug we already know about.

I may have temporarily lost the ability to delete but I still have a 'ban' button in working order. Please dont make me use it. Sensible questions about this will be answered, complaints with attitude wont be. Thank you.

Fencer, I haven't deleted anything in months, and I only tried last night because Blaze requested I delete her message! Typical isn't it, you dont do it for ages and when you do it messes up! But no, I wont delete anything. :o)

Pipilo, I'm sorry :o(
I assumed only one message has gone, but yes, I DO remember your message about agreeing with Dmitri, and TT agreeing too, no WONDER the system has messed up with you lot agreeing on something!! LOL!

Buckwheat, they problem is being addressed. As has been pointed out, Fencer is an extremely busy man, trying to run this site and juggle a lot of other things too.
These problems WILL be fixed, we just have to be patient. I think you'll agree its worth the wait?