BrainKing Knowledge Base

This is not to be another article describing all disadvantages and pitfalls of this most recent Microsoft web browser (I am sure that anyone who is interested in this subject can find many useful information elsewhere). I would like to summarize the reasons why I don't recommend to use Internet Explorer 7 with BrainKing game site:

• Speed - unlike Firefox, Internet Explorer does not show a page until it is fully loaded, no matter how big the page is. It can cause a significant degradation of gaming experience, especially on slow internet connection. Browsers which display a page continuously, as the data come from the server, are always preferred.


• Standards - Internet Explorer (or Microsoft) defines its own "standards" which don't follow the official W3C standards of web design in many aspects. Since the upcoming new version of BrainKing is using advantages of CSS and standard JavaScript, an unexpected behavior is expected (that's a nice phrase ) if it is viewed with Internet Explorer 7.


• Runtime errors - BrainKing's client based functions (popup smiley windows, context menus, etc.) are tested and debugged with Firefox and other standard compliant browsers. It has been already reported that Internet Explorer 7 throws runtime errors although there is no logical reason for it, and I don't intend to customize BrainKing code to this crap.

And for those who are not sure how to get the alternatives, please follow these links:

• Firefox
• Opera

The last thing - BrainKing is not using any Microsoft proprietary technologies like ActiveX controls or native scripting functions, thus there is absolutely no reason why to play through Internet Explorer at all costs.

By the way, it might be an interesting action to give special advantages to users who decide to use BrainKing with anything but Internet Explorer. But I am not sure about the details at this moment.

Banner ads are something what nobody likes to see, except the advertisers who want to promote themselves in this way. However, as I mentioned several months ago, it makes one of many parts of our revenues and it would be a useless income loss if we don't have them.

The point is that many BrainKing users find them obtrusive and annoying and would prefer not to see them at all. And that's another reason (or a side effect, more like) why it is not a bad idea to invest to a paid membership. The flashing and blinking banner ad system is our new aggressive way to make people know the advantages of their higher membership levels because once you become a paying member, you will see new options at your Settings page. Simply find the section Show banner ads and uncheck all checkboxes which mark the banner positions. When it is done, BrainKing guarantees that you will be no more bothered with any kind of unsolicited advertisement.

Who doesn't like the ads, doesn't have to see them. 2 Euro a month (the cheapest Brain Bishop level) can really afford everyone.

It is not a rare situation when I have a look at some player's profile and find a description of "please no chess invitations" type. I know it can be annoying if, for example, a player wishes to play only backgammon games but still receives invitations to loop chess because the opponents either don't read his profile or simply ignore it.

Since today, it is not a problem anymore. You can find a new section at the Settings / Game Filter page where you can define games which you wish to play and nobody will be able to send you an invitation to the types you disallow. Practically it means that the game types, which are filtered out, will not be displayed at the invite this user to a game form at the Profile page, or as links invite next to the game types at the Finished Games section of the Profile page. Furthermore, if someone uses a search form to locate an opponent at the New Game page sequence, the users which don't allow the selected game to play will not be shown at the result list.

There is one pending issue - the JavaScript invitation buttons () are not reflecting this change because it must be rewritten and optimized first and it is not an easy task to do. However, if someone tries to invite you to a game you don't want to play, he will be shown this warning:

You cannot invite UserName to play this game because it is not in his/her list of allowed game types.

Followed by a list of allowed games which can be used to select another game type to invite this opponent to.

Many BrainKing users who are more active than an average player (which simply means that apart playing games, they post to discussion boards, ask questions and expect clear answers ), well, after some time, some of these users reach a boundary which could be called I want to be important and taken seriously!. It's not a bad thing, of course, and it is closely related to feature requests, bug reports and new feature comments. And although BrainKing is full of smart people who understand that there are many things with different priorities to do, this article should provide a short overview of the things behind the scene, hidden to a normal user, and answer The Question My feature request is really simple, why it is not implemented even after two weeks?
This is the list (and I have probably forgotten something, as usual):

• Back-end processes - regular tasks which affect all users and if something goes wrong, they must be addressed as soon as possible. This point includes:
  • BrainKing Daemons - the parts of the code which finish timeouted games, activate the automatic vacation, start tournaments or ponds, deactivate expired memberships, recalculate BKR chart positions, and the Main Deamon which maintain the others and check if all of them are alive and working.
  • Global database operations - the continuous replication of the data (it is a fail-safe system which ensures that even if the main database server crashes and destroys all stored data, the backup server always contains the mirror of the current database content, so it would be easy to restore it after a damaged hardware is replaced), regular backups (as an addition to the replication, a full backup of the database is performed every day and stored on several safe places, so even if both main and backup database servers collapse at the same time, there will be The Rescue Disk to get the yesterday's snapshot), etc.
  • Automatic failure detection - no system is error free and there can be always circumstances which make it frozen and not responding at all, the fail-safe system is able to recognize such situation and make a quick restart.


• Performance tuning - application and database related. They must be continuously monitored and when a part of the code (either Java or SQL) suddenly starts to behave strangely, it must be investigated immediately. No database works fast forever, proper changes must be made occasionally. And before a change to the code is released, it must be thoroughly tested because it usually affects more parts of the application. Moreover, unlike big companies, which can afford to use tens of ultra fast and powerful servers (and having performance problems anyway), we still live with just 2 (two) machines at all. Making the most out of it is an example of Liquid's masterpiece.


• Security issues - when a security hole in a third party product is found and published, a patch or a new version must be installed ASAP. And tests must be performed first. It is not a rare situation because all products have bugs and nobody can discover them all at once. Although it would be nice and save us from many problems.


• New technology exploration - technology news must be continuously monitored and possible patterns of applying them (to improve the site) must be considered.


• Communication with prospective partners - we don't live on membership fees only, new ways of funding (or payment methods) must be searched for. Negotiations with advertisers, etc.


• Development of administrator tools - these tools are not visible to BrainKing users but vitally important for a precaution of possible problems. The site is more and more complex, the administrator tools must be better and better.

The bottom line - if you feel like being ignored, we are probably solving one or more of the points mentioned above. Besides this, I have another full time job since October 2006, for personal reasons. But it won't last forever.