chess online
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nickmalone1 18-Aug-10, 17:04 |
 Why has GK gone downhill?rapidplay games are handled (4 mouse clicks to get to page then choose some intricate settings!!?). Way too fussy. Unclear design. Amateur. Other sites do this MUCH better. Goodbye GK, you were fun for a wee while, now you're pish. |
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I must admit I have never used the RapidPlay games here, so I cannot comment on that. But, I do wholeheartedly agree with Nick that the admins here are unresponsive. I have read many comments on that and say I do concur. |
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maca 19-Aug-10, 09:42 |
As for what I perceive as the true problems of GK, I must concur with Heinzkat on the matter of censorship. That does not advance the community aspects of the site, and merely highlights the evident unresponsiveness of the administration, which is also a severe problem in itself; the only questions and messages I've received actual answers have been the ones related to my subscription payments (well, that's better than nothing, I guess). That said, I don't contact them that often, but overall GK should go back to listening the community more regarding to how this site should be developed further. I miss the polls we saw during my early days in here. Although we get new features every now and then, I doubt that they're often high on the users' wish list. Take the new board graphics for example: they're neat, but did anyone REALLY need them? There are so many more pressing things that would need to be accomplished, that I feel as if the administration is trying to divert the users from them for some reason. In particular, Captains' concerns on the team game system need to be addressed. To reply for knightnothorse: "I think GK just sticks to what they know and does it well." I think that the problem really is the opposite of this: the site is trying to achieve everything, and not staying faithful for its roots. Regards, MaCa. |
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baronderkilt 19-Aug-10, 11:39 |
Learning Chess at 8 years old, ; that being Leisure Linc, later rechristened USA Today Sport Center, a newspaper affiliate ... and we paid by the minute. Being PRO & probably Big-$, we did get all the "latest" in HAYES PROTOCOLs for 1200 & 2400 BAUD. Not just "X & Y" but even KERMIT~! And several others, that often had very few tranmission byte missing or corrupted (as long as you were careful to disable Call Waiting, and of course to not step on the phone cord during Up/Down-Loads). Yes, things were moving right along for online Chess; until the Great Disaster. Apparently Bill Gates stepped on his phone cord while transmitting MS-DOS.com, producing an unfixable Error . . . He named it WINDOWS. *** Thru all that, I have found GameKnot the best and most interesting Chess site, to me, since the Linc. More technologically advanced of course. I find interest in the Games, the Business, the Players, and Corr. type play here. The players being among the most dedicated, skillful, knowledgeable & friendly, anywhere. The very best Corr Chess Community online, imo. And tho no programmer myself (Basic no longer counts, right?! I find ideas added here to be quite fascinating many times, as well. And AMAZED at the lack of DownTime for this site. And how often changes nearly perfectly from the start, and how quickly any real Bugs get fixed. *** Also how interesting some of the 'quirks' ,left In awhile, can be. (Such as the old blitz 3 Time Rep Position Refusal by the board. Or the refusal to O-O if the option was left open too long. Then going on to discover more about them; such as, putting a piece BACK between the K & R, then removing it again, would Not renew the O-O option. ha.) *** One very great thing too, is how fearlessly GK permits other sites to be mentioned and even hyperlinked to from the forums, to provide articles, news, even games shown there. As if to say that competition is not feared because GK wants to be the Best at what It Does ... yet not deprive this great Chess playing community of anything related to the game. No matter where it appears. *** That's all for now, imo. Regards All }8-D ... Now Pronounced, "Baron The Chess Artist Formerly Not Ever Known as Prince" |
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Yet,with all this chess involvement,money that I fork out(including the 181.00 dollars that I paid for a GK life membership)...I stil consider GK to be the best site! Take it from a well seasoned expert....sometimes the more bells and whistles a site has,the less one can like it!Yes,just the opposite of what some players think! I find myself,for example,coming back to the GK blitz room more than the 50 dollar "bells and whistle" site that I play on!GK seems to give me more of a "home"feeling that I do not get on other exotic sites.Plus,I don't speak Russian!Yes,on some chess sites I can actually watch a live blitz game going on while simultaneously making live side comments with other onlookers on the same game which isn't even my game!More bells and whistles,yes,but I prefer a good basic blitz room without all this "stuff"!Some of the pay blitz sites I belong to have more "disconnects"from either me or the other player,or perhaps alot more "waiting"time till specific rated opponents show up for your game that you preselected in a rating range,but just the wait alone(sometimes 10 minutes or longer)makes me want to open up 2 windows and play blitz back here on GK while i'm "boringly"waiting to play on the so called "bells and whistles" site!(Yes,I have actually played 2 games at the same time on 2 different sites!).Plus,I personally never get disconnects on GK,but for some reason get a host of disconnects on other chess sites,so it can't be my server,but something going on with the other chess site. So,other sites may have more options,but they have more major problems in other areas. If I had only one wish for the blitz part of this site,it would only be a few more time options like 1,2 and 4 minute blitz with zero increment.But other than that,I think GK has pretty much perfected the corresp section here,atleast better than the other chess sites in many ways. And corresp,not blitz is really the heart and soul of this site. |
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Chess may be complicated but the pieces the board and the rules are as easy as they can be... People are complicated: this community is self guided and with the ever growing size and new members, it just needs a cold administration. A 100 members site is just like a little club everybody knows eachoter and everyone knows the ones who are leading and directing.. with a 1.00.000 + it is just plain impossible... and if you want the feeling well join a small club or a small team.. and be part of the whole |
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Plus,with those amount of players,not everyone will be satisfied with this site or any other site for that matter.But i've scoped out most,like I said above,and GK seems,atleast to me to be the best corresp....but opinions will vary. Funny,how when,i'm playing on the blitz site..."instantchess",I like many of the options they have...yet the boards(and pieces) are not as well designed as GK's,for example.....so I feel slightly less "comfortable",if only for "aesthetic"reasons.Don't laugh,but when I hear the "gongs"going on like a church cathedral when new opponents appear,I feel like i'm in the middle of a Russian spy chase and they are after me with machine guns! I get home sick and want to return back to the good old USA and play on the GK US chess site again!Forget the vodka and beluga cavier! |
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chessnovice 27-Aug-10, 01:17 |
But that was then. I feel that they've lightened up a little since then. If anything, I think Gameknot has drastically improved over the past couple of years. They've been quite good about addressing user suggestions and adding new features. That's the sort of thing that actually makes a person want to become a member, and it's the reason I paid for a membership for years (something I previously thought I'd never do). |
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