| From | Message |
kingofpawns
6/04/2002
17:02:11 |
 Subject: Brunetti = Gameknot_com?
Message:
I'm relatively new to this site, but I don't know why there is so little information about the ownership?
I have noticed that the grammatical structure and errors of gameknot_com and Brunetti are similar if not identical.
Brunetti is also playing nearly 200 games and reads all the forum messages and makes a number of replies. This suggests to me that Gameknot is his full time job.
Finally, Brunetti's web page is completely dedicated to gameknot.
May be this is common knowledge here, but I thought I would bring it up. In any case, this is a great site, so keep of the great work whoever you are!
Jeff
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random_task
6/04/2002
17:05:59 | lol
Message:
nice try! ha ha! they're not the same person! *continues to laugh at the person*
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zoobrenok
6/04/2002
17:52:13 | kingofpawns
Message:
brunetti is in Italy (if i am not mistaken), Mike is in Silicon Valley or very close to it.
also - Mike (gameknot_com, the webmaster) stated numberous times before that he would never play here as regular player
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onlyapawn
6/04/2002
18:26:24 | No zoobrenok :)
Message:
He stated that he did play here but, would not reveal his nickname. He even gave a hint as to what his nickname is but, I can't remember the clue....I'm getting old and memory is the first thing to go. :))
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legion
6/05/2002
01:02:32 | Are Brunetti and Mike one person...
Message:
I don't know, but you never see them together do you?
Also, I've heard that Mike doesn't work in Silicon Valley but Sicilian Valley! :-)
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blindio
6/05/2002
01:23:21 | kingofpawns
Message:
Actually, you've rumbled me. There are only two people on this site. You - and me. I've just got thousands of usernames!!
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tombro
6/05/2002
04:26:04 | Zoobrenok..
Message:
...You, too are in Silicon Valley. So that means... :)
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zoobrenok
6/05/2002
10:47:16 | yeah, right...
Message:
And since I have 3 other screennames it means that....
It means that Mike is actually AI - computer program that can talk, play chess and do some programming! :-)
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kingofpawns
6/05/2002
11:32:51 | I only meant to point out some interesting facts
Message:
1. Brunetti plays about 200 people and does some rather deep analysis is some of his games (deeper than fritz can do in hours).
2. He is one of the top players at submitting and repling to posts, he may be number 1 if we count words.
3. He organizes about everything that goes on around here.
4. He is currently playing GK in a public game.
5. He is in the master's hall of fame, his web site is there and it is dedicated to GK.
6. From his info, we see he holds down a steady job.
7. The only logical conclusion to draw is that he either works for GK or owns it.
Jeff
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sjoroos
6/05/2002
14:47:51 | He he Brunetti..
Message:
You're getting famous here !!
But to tell the truth, GK wouldn't be the same
without you !! Keep the good work up !
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onlyapawn
6/05/2002
15:20:57 | :)
Message:
It's a shame the only "logical conclusion" is wrong.
:)
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wuzzer
6/05/2002
15:37:20 | by the way
Message:
Brunetti is only here from september/october and gameknot exists longer than that (how long by the way?)
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onlyapawn
6/05/2002
15:57:47 | June,2000
Message:
I think..
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brobishkin
6/05/2002
22:12:49 | A note...
Message:
When a certain name is logged on to this site means nothing... It could be an old player logged on with a new name... I mean it has been a long time since I have seen Grandpatzer here on the threads... But I know he is still here... Maybe he got tired of the meat packing glitteratee... Or maybe he logged on under another name (I don't know) and is still threading his views...
But one thing I have noticed is Brunetti hasn't commented on this thread... I know he has read it... Lord knows I would if I saw a thread with my name on it... But I am not here to say Brunetti is or is not Mr. Gameknot himself...
Bro...
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blanka
6/06/2002
00:04:08 | Grammar
Message:
kingofpawns started this thread with "I have noticed that the grammatical structure and errors of gameknot_com and Brunetti are similar if not identical." Can you show some examples of this?
I think it would be very unlikely that an Italian would make the same grammar mistakes as someone of the US.
I think however that Mike is from the US, as this site is more US oriented. E.g. on special American holidays like Memorial day people get an additional day to think. This is not done the other way around.
So could Brunetti actually be an American?
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brunetti
6/06/2002
00:05:27 | Yes I've read this
Message:
but I'm not GameKnot_com :)
I cannot say what his playing nickname is, but:
-my name is not Mike
-distance between our living places is 6,250 miles
-my phone number hasn't all those 8's :)
BTW I'm proud that my english is comparable to the one of person who lives in USA! I wanna ask kingofpawns what are my "grammatical structure and errors", since I'm here to learn and to improve my english!
Regards, Alex
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brunetti
6/06/2002
00:07:47 | Addendum
Message:
I'm not blanka, notwithstanding we posted at about the same time a similar request with the same paste :)
Alex
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brobishkin
6/06/2002
00:10:32 | Applause...
Message:
Brunetti has spoken... Thanks Brunetti...
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onlyapawn
6/06/2002
08:03:24 | I believe...
Message:
that English is the second language for both Mr. Brunetti and Mike.....
Grandpatzer, like many of the early players at gameknot, has simply abandoned the "forums".
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richardgee2001
6/06/2002
08:16:19 |
Message:
"I'm proud that my english is comparable to the one of person who lives in USA!"
Am I the only person to find this amusing?? Sorry to drag down the tone of the thread. :oD
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onlyapawn
6/06/2002
08:25:00 |
Message:
I quess you are correct...it is amusing but, not as amusing as the question, "Is England a country?", asked by an Englishman!
:)
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philaretus
6/06/2002
08:49:55 | onlyapawn
Message:
The question "Is England a country?" was asked by a scotsman [absolutegenius]. Hence the vitriol, and irrational hatred of England.
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onlyapawn
6/06/2002
09:29:37 | I'm sorry :)
Message:
I first read about it in the "social" forum in a thread started by richardgee2001 and I saw his home was in Leeds.
Actually then, this joke funny only to the Scots. I am sure blatman got a chuckle or two....
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gameknot_com
6/06/2002
11:26:26 |
Message:
What an amusing thread you guys have here. :)
All I can say, I WISH I was brunetti! Heck, I would even be glad to be half as good as he is. :)
Yes, we are making the same grammatical mistakes mostly because English is not the native tongue for us, but that could hardly be the evidence that we are the same person. I'm Russian, but have been living in the States for the past 5 years, and I've never been to Italy before but I would very much like to visit it one day.
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zoobrenok
6/06/2002
19:14:01 | WE RULE!
Message:
RUSSIANS RULE! :-)
Even Mike is RRRussian :-).
j/k
--
By the way - now I can submit requests to the webmaster in Russian :) YESSS!
-
brunetti, could you please do something about Itally? - I think making it part of Russia would be best idea - so I won't be wrong when say: "RUSSIANS RULE!"
---
j/k, but it is nice to have Mike back! - when I see a post from him, I feel... blessed :-) j/k and having fun :-)
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death_by_pawns
6/06/2002
19:27:33 | coolbeans
Message:
i didnt know mike was Russian
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brunetti
6/06/2002
19:36:13 | More about Mike
Message:
He is a famous Lucas game's programmer; he loves Quake.
I hate Quake, and this should be the definitive prove that we aren't the same person :)
Alex
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zoobrenok
6/06/2002
20:52:30 | brunetti
Message:
But I thought all IT professionals like Quake?
Then what do you like? - Half-Life or Counter Strike? :-)
Or is it like this: Mike/Brunetti have personality problem and today one of them is Mike and tomorow he is Brunetti flying back and forth at night time? ;-)
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
12:25:03 | linguistics...
Message:
I'm neither a linguist nor psycholinguist, so I'm not sure how to analyze linguistic errors in English and their relationship to a person's native tongue.
However, I would like to point out that Italian is a romance language and Russian is a slavic language, so one would predict different types of grammatical errors in English for native speakers of Russian and Italian. These should be statistically detectable.
brunetti, I'll look at your grammatical errors the week after next when I get back from a conference I'm attending. But, your English is very good, better than many native speakers!
Here is one example, however:
I'm proud that my english is comparable to the one of person who lives in USA!
It would be better to write it as (though this is not the only way to rewrite the sentence above):
I'm proud that my English is comparable to a person living in the USA!
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javelin
6/07/2002
13:09:29 | hehe :)
Message:
Quote:
I'm proud that my English is comparable to a person living in the USA.
So your English can be compared to a person? Or should it read:
I'm proud that my English is comparable to that of a person living in the USA.
Oh, and by the way, I am not an Englishman either.
[SF] Javelin
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javelin
6/07/2002
13:10:05 |
Message:
Nor American for that matter. :)
[SF] Javelin
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onlyapawn
6/07/2002
13:29:53 |
Message:
:))
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
13:37:30 | javelin
Message:
You have confused syntax with semantics. The issue you raise is semantic, which makes the sentence "I'm proud that my English is comparable to a person living in the USA." interesting because it is ambiguous. Ambiguity comes in many degrees and flavors, which makes it so enjoyable!
Your sentence is syntactically correct and semantically a little less ambiguous (though it is still ambiguous):
I'm proud that my English is comparable to that of a person living in the USA.
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onlyapawn
6/07/2002
13:48:50 |
Message:
:))
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
13:57:52 | Brunetti...
Message:
How do you know that Mike's phone number has four 8s in it while your number contains only one 8? I didn't know his phone number was common knowledge....
Jeff
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brunetti
6/07/2002
14:23:33 | kingofpawns
Message:
How do you know that Mike's phone number has four 8s in it? I never wrote four!
Mine has only 1s 2s 3s 4s and 5s :(
Anyway, I know all about Mike, I'm a fan of him :)
Alex
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vietnamese_girl_18
6/07/2002
14:23:41 |
Message:
I take looking at language very seriously. I'm fluent in English, but it's not my native language; thus, I'm sometimes more attuned to the nuances of an English sentence than a native speaker would be (because I had to learn and memorize these rules, not just acquire them through childhood). That's not to say I'm perfect in English (though most of my mistakes are from fast typing and lack of proofreading than from ignorance of rules!), I'm only more aware of its rules and structures than those who learned it naturally. That's why, with several people who've posted on these forums claiming to be different people, I've been able to tell that they were the same person when the question was raised because their syntax (or spelling) was exactly the same-- which rarely, if ever, is possible. Mike and Brunetti both have a very, very good command of English for non-native speakers. However, Mike's grammar and sentence structure is stronger than Brunetti's (sorry Alex: your English is still excellent!)-- I guessed from the first post I read of Mike's that he had been learning English for more than 10 years-- and now, knowing that he's been living in the US for 5 years (I would have guessed longer), he's been able to adopt a more natural style than is possible for Brunetti, who doesn't live in the US. Mike actually writes with fewer grammar and spelling mistakes than some native speakers on these forums-- though the small mistakes he makes are ones that wouldn't be normal for a native speaker, even though some might assume he was one. So, interestingly, it is easy (if you look at it) to tell he's not a native speaker even though his English has fewer mistakes than are made by some people who are obviously native speakers who just merely lack writing experience or education in writing.
By the way, all of this is to compliment Mike and Alex-- nothing critical was intended!
Sarah Tran
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
15:05:50 | speaking of phone numbers...
Message:
But, brunetti, you said "my phone number hasn't all those 8's". That impliesm or at least strongly suggests, that it has at least one 8, and what about the last digit of your phone number?
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brunetti
6/07/2002
15:20:10 | Yes
Message:
it suggests that it has more than 1, but not 4 :)
My last digit is 3.
Alex
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
15:22:39 | Point well taken...
Message:
Sarah,
Your point is well taken, but compare this sentence typed by Mike:
I'm thinking to institute a 5 strike rule.
with a sentence by Alex:
I could think to a computer also reminding our K+Kn+B vs. K ending where she played 30 perfect moves, quite impossible without the use of
an ending database.
Again, no offence intended against Mike or Alex (or Mike = Alex).
Jeff
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death_by_pawns
6/07/2002
15:22:40 |
Message:
:))
beat ya Onlyapawn!
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
16:01:41 | I'm sorry, ....
Message:
But, if your number ends in 3 and not 8, who is Fausto?
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onlyapawn
6/07/2002
16:02:53 | :)
Message:
Ahh shucks........
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brunetti
6/07/2002
16:05:21 | Nice domain search
Message:
But that's no more my number: there's a relative of mine there; I live in Rome now, and you won't find where ;)
Alex
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vietnamese_girl_18
6/07/2002
16:20:06 |
Message:
My argument, kingofpawns-- and it's a minor one very open to disagreement --is that Mike's sentence is "sounder" and would be possible from a sloppy native speaker, "thinking to institute" being grammatically incorrect but not unseen or unexpected among native speakers with a slight misunderstanding of grammar. In fact, had Mike's sentence been a transcription from a speech, it would not be strange at all, this kind of grammatical mistake being common in off-the-cuff speech. However,"I could think to a computer" is completely understandable but wholly unlikely from a native speaker, even if it were from spoken speech. It is syntactically different from everyday, even everyday incorrect speech, and is semantically ambiguous. My point being that, "I'm thinking to institute..." is a slighter deviation from formal rules of grammar than "I could think to a computer..." Mike makes a minor mistake with preposition usage and the fact that a gerund (well, really the –ing form) would be warranted for a word for which he uses the infinitive (thus the problem with "to", but what he says is still semantically 100% clear)—that is, he should say “thinking about instituting,” but his alternative carries no possibility of misunderstanding. The misuse of the infinitive (and gerund or –ing form) is common in native speaker writing and speech. Simply, there is not the same level of semantic problem as there is with Alex’s sentence.
I know you have just chosen these two sentences as examples, and you may find additional ones that I find more persuasive. However, I've read enough from Alex, and had enough direct correspondence with Mike (I write periodically to him about GK issues) to know that they have very different non-native patterns of writing. But beyond grammar, everyone who's been on GK for a while (especially when Mike had more time to spend in the forums) knows that Alex and Mike are completely different people.
Sorry Alex-- these are just some minor arguments about small issues of grammar. Your posts are still much more welcome and more informative than what most of us could ever produce!
Sarah Tran
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kingofpawns
6/07/2002
16:56:10 | Ok...
Message:
Sarah,
Your eloquence has nearly convinced me that Mike and Alex are not identical. However, there is still the issue that playing 200 people, posting and replying to the forum, and organizing the Olympics and other thematic events here is a *full time job*. I think that since Alex works full time, that we must, out of logical necessity, conclude that either Alex is an employee of GK or a co-owner GK.
BTW, I wish some of my graduate students could write as well as you do!
Jeff
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zylstraj
6/10/2002
23:52:21 | Sarah Tran IS the..
Message:
Most eloquent writer I have yet encountered in GameKnot forums !!!
-JZ
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zylstraj
6/13/2002
02:09:31 | .
Message:
.
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zoobrenok
6/14/2002
23:29:42 | i think i would know Mike's rating
Message:
just check his and mine forum ratings - he is 50, i am 25. this means that his chess rating should be twice higher then mine as well - 1663*2=3326.
well, 33 hundred is very high, but it also means that Mike has to be a #1 player here.
so, Mike=brunneti :-)
=======
i know this is just a joke, but i think it is funny :-)
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edmaster
6/15/2002
18:27:33 | TO MIKE OF GAMEKNOT!
Message:
WOW!YOUR RUSSIAN!ON MY FATHERS SIDE I AM POLISH/RUSSIAN AND JEWISH AND MY MOTHERS SIDE ITALIAN AND SPANISH.
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kingofpawns
6/20/2002
17:46:30 | So...
Message:
Is this deep question philosophical question of
personal identity solved or a greater mystery than
ever?
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