tinksbell: on settings page sort games by time left, ascending

Vikings: Thank you. I don't know why I never saw that... I guess I need new glasses

LionsLair: well maybe BK is on a chess kick for now,but this is a great site.
I have seen this site grow & add features much faster than many other sites.
and fencer is responsive to questions asap.
this is definitely not true with many sites.

"fencer is responsive to questions asap"

That's the exoperience of the ones who get their questions answered. The ones who don't, or who get silence, or a "No" or even a verbose "No, No, No" don't quite share your enthusiasm.

I've got a stack of ideas building up but I've stopped posting any here because I've only seen one taken up. Even the simplest and easiest of ideas get ignored.

I reckon if a question or feature request is responded to then it's just coincidence of timing. I guess I've become cynical. [shrug]

playBunny: Actually both of those requests make sense and would be simple to implement. I second both of them :)

nobleheart: I originally bought a paying subscription in the hope that my support would help to get these deficiencies corrected. No matter how responsive Fencer is, we should not lose sight of the fact that this is his business and some of us are his paying customers. But this customer, for one, will no longer support this site when his subscription expires unless some of these matters are attended to. Being a customer is entirely a voluntary matter. There are plenty of sites where backgammon is played according to well-established conventions (note that I have been careful not to use the word "official rules" so please no more protracted discussion of that).

pgt: yes sure,i've said the same thing..you should direct your comments at some of those who dont realize this.

nobleheart:
...hey, I guess your right and he is good too... he responded or shall I say answered my question before I ever posted my comment... I found this( Fencer BKR and Backgammon 27. September 2005, 00:24:39
Well, as you might know, BrainKing is and always will be mostly focused on Chess, Checkers and similar non-dice games. I don't say I will never improve the rating formula for Backgammon and other dice games but the priority of this task is lower than average, at the moment.)
on the BK.com boards by typing in the word dice and then searching related links... I suppose I should do a little homework first and find out what position or stance BK policy is around here before I ask questions... guess I'll be renewing my membership elsewhere and be happy with the few games I am able to play here...
...bottom line is BK is catering to the serious chess players and not the serious backgammon players...

LionsLair: Maybe backgammon changes would happen if someone else was willing to take over the job of coding for it. At this time, at least, I know I am not up to the task of coding something like this for a web environment. From a personal perspective there is only so much I can do at one time...

tinksbell: It's a good idea and there's willingness (people have offered coding assistance from time to time), but I don't think Fencer's keen on the idea. He can only do so much at one time but he wants it all to be his doing.
(Must admit, I'd be the same.)

Yet another occurence of the backgammon bug.

It happens A LOT

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1084775&i=21

Most of us backgammon lovers agree that this bug needs to be fixed. Fencer certainly knows this. Can we please keep the bulk of that conversation on the backgammon DB now?

Thank you.

playBunny:
re : ...It's a good idea and there's willingness (people have offered coding assistance from time to time)...
---
I dont know how these things work.
and I respect the fact that it's fencers site.
but others are willing to help.and if it truly is a community.
we can share in helping it grow together...if we want to.
can we not have a select few that are qualified help?
if he desires,fencer can maintain approval over any changes,cant he?

May be it would be wise to sort the priority of features in progress regarding to some voting of members, I think that would make some of you happy and Fencer could prevent leaving of some people this way (f.e. orthodox backgammon lovers).

fungame: Yes, a bonified list of soon-to-be-released features or even bug fixes would be great.

if anyone has a site.and wants to grant access to others to help.
is it simply a matter of allowing multi-login privileges to a few?
can you set up several levels of access?
can people collaborate on something online?

I realize that a site is a lot of work.
and if you grant others access,they you have to invest some time governing the site.
but if the trade off is a lot of help,is it worth it?

..just curious about these things.

of course,they the"group" would have to"meet" online to discuss directions.

nobleheart: I could probably offer some space at thad.com. I know how to administer ftp access. Would more than that be required?

Alot more is need than FTP to share on project the size of BrainKing. You really need a Version Control System. Also there is the whole concept of Intelectual property, a keep tight controls on it. Otherwise you would see sites poping using BK Code. An NDA would need to be signed by developers to avoid possible problems.

WizardII: Well, we could start out small. Perhaps a system to keep track of people's feature requests. That way, Fencer could easily see what new features players really want. We wouldn't need any of his existing code. He could absorb it if he ever wanted to. Seems like a good first step. We/he could always add more if it works well.

I was thinking along those lines. ;-)

Thad: That's why we try to keep this board clear of chat and off-topic comments. Fencer reads this board regularly to find out which features members would like to see. That's why he created it.

red dragon: Absolutely correct.

red dragon: It's the acknowledgement of his checking this board that most people have a problem with... As you probably noticed, some issues have kept being mentioned for over a year with no tangible progress...

WhiteTower: I am not obliged to show any progress with anything. I read, think, consider, conclude etc. But it's only up to me and nobody else.

Fencer: But it's only up to me and nobody else.

Well, but we are your customers.

chessmec: Of course you are. The Paid Membership specifies the advantages of all membership levels. Everything what is mentioned is provided.

Fencer: It's not a question of obligation, nobody is asking for their money back.

However if you want more people to renew their membership or new people to join then you may need to provide more. For example potential members that enjoy backgammon but not chess will go elsewhere if you don't fix the bug and introduce the cube.

grenv: I am aware of it.

Fencer:

http://brainking.com/en/Statistics?p=2
9553 running Backgammongames compared to 2117 Chessgames

I dont think you should ignore backgammon too much

Andersp: Heck.. top 3 spots is backgammon variations ..

Andersp:
I think Fencer added so many chess games in last time so that is it enough for the moment. I think most of us chess game players need to digest the so many new games at first.

I do not know anything about Backgammon, but I think in the next time the major improvements should belong to backgammon games.

Most of the customers are there ;-)

Hm, chess is worth 5 backgammon games so backgammon is behind chess :)

Andersp: What does that prove? If you look at the statistics, you'll see that of the top 50 backgammon players there are a lot more paying customers than there are in the top 50 chess players.

No wonder Fencer pays attention to chess: there's more marketshare to gain. ;-)

Personally, I prefer adding more chess variants than backgammon variants. There's less variation in play with the backgammon variants than there is with the chess variants.

AbigailII: To me it proves that Backgammon is 4 times more popular than chess...and 817 ranked backgammonplayers compared to 354 chessplayers proves a lot too.

Im sure youll find a lot of paying members among those 817 bgplayers too?

Andersp: To me it means backgammon players are more satisfied with Brainking than Chess players. There are more of them, and relatively more of them pay. So, Fencer needs to work harder in the Chess department to attract more players. ;-)

Regardless of which is the most popular game etc, Fencer has stated many times that this site was always intended to be prodominantly a "Chess" site.

I dont play Chess, or any of it's variants, in fact I only really play Backgammon - so I am one of the many who are eagerly waiting for new variants/improvements, but I don't complain and neither do many others.

Perhaps if we leave Fencer to get on with his improvements, we may see some to the BG games in time quicker.

Yes - I agree, perhaps an more regular/accurate update on current features in progress and which features Fencer is prioritising, but in the meantime, I think we should just bear with the site.

- by far.

I think many people are missing the point. Backgammon players are asking for a fix to the game, and the addition of a crucial element (the cube). I agree we don't need any new variations of backgammon.

i think fixing the bug should be the # 1 priority, then the cube. wondering if the fibs rating system has been discussed for the gammons, if so what was the outcome? the gammon games are most important to me.

red dragon: Not quite. If that were the case, he would have implemented the feature I'm not allowed to mention. ;-)

Bry: "Perhaps if we leave Fencer to get on with his improvements, we may see some to the BG games in time quicker."

Depends on which improvements. It may be a more effective option to give Fencer a brief spell of grief, no matter how uncomfortable it is for him and those who think "BrainKing is #1" and all is rosy in the garden. I think continuing the passive waiting game which has been the mode, to remain silent, is to be dumb in both senses of the word. How often do you persuade someone to change their mind by saying nothing?

I actually think BrainKing is #2. It comes second to the BrainKing which doesn't treat Backgammon like a toy game.

playBunny: I do not know anything about Backgammon, but in my opinion - as I said in a previous message - improvemenst should concentrate at BG in the moment.

The chess (variants) community here has a lot of games, thanks. But there are other customers.

The keyword is: Egoless programming.

chessmec: If it's only question of ego, then this is wrong approach. Better would be to say: auto**** and cube and dice "bug" are a challenge to excellent programmers. Let's hope Fencer is good enough and can solve it Sorry couldn't resist, but it's We want threaded DB!

Would it be possible to impliment rating limits for the pond games like all the other games? It seems that many people can't or don't read.

Fencer: : sure fencer,I trust most people know this.
and i realize paying members opinions rate more than us other members.
and I know your are busy.
but its nice to give people a little feedback & let them know were we are going once in a while.
its nice to let them know you hear there questions.
doen't hurt to throw them a bone once in a while.
--
hey wait a minute,dont we have a newsletter page for BK here..I'll check.
If its good at being informative,it could answer a lotta questions about development stuff.
maybe it does,I'll check.

... it would be useful to be able to search messages not only by content but by author also.

Throwing a bone, you say? Okay. Wait and watch :-)

from now on to remeber to read the "whats new" board before asking any questions

having just received a hostile PM from a memeber i've never heard of, i would like to request a "whitelist" feature: the ability to block PMs from everyone except those people i've approved to send me PMs.

adding someone to one's "friends" list should automatically add them to one's whitelist, but one should also be able to add a person to the whitelist without making them a "friend".

thanks!

plaintiger: I can see the use of it, but I think it'd be a shame if a lot of people used a "whitelist" facility. It prevents good natured messages that come out of the blue. A "good post" message or "I saw your profile that it says..", etc, even "Interesting. A statement like that raises.." I do quite a lot of that sort of messaging; it can makefriends out of strangers.

I don't know about the automatic bit. I've got "enemies" on my "Friends" list I think of it more as a Watch List

playBunny: lol...you're right on all counts, my friend...

playBunny: Same here!