Suggestion for Chris and Russ

Hi! If my memory is correct, I remember to have read in a last year's
issue of ChessBase Magazine, introducing Fritz7, that it was
impossible to use the programme during play, as it was then
automatically switched off. Give me some time and I'll try to find that
issue. I'll be back on that. Jan

Well, there must be a detection program of some sort within the
ChessBase server to detect certain software chess programs running
during active play at www.playchess.com, as I have seen several
persons over a perod of about 6 months get booted with their
accounts completely deleted.

I'm sure that you are correct that Fritz7 could not be used for play if it
is being used as the client software to play through the server.
However, many chessplayers have upgraded to Fritz7, and so, have
older version of Fritz that can play separately. I have at both Fritz5
and 6, and could run either one of them while using Fritz7 as my
client. I'm sure the server would detect it if it looked for it as a
running program on my hard disk.

First off, thanks Tim(tenebr8) for your kind words. We will never pack
the site in as long as we are getting some financial support. So don’t
worry about that.

Mustangace, your idea of a code of conduct is an excellent one, and I
will place this into the registration page next time there is a code
update, forcing people to agree to it to complete their registration.

Apart from that, what can we do? We do track users patterns when
complaints come in, but it is all time consuming work. My dream
would be to run this site as a business, and then I would have endless
time to improve and monitor its usage, but that is a luxury I don’t
have. It takes plenty of my time dealing with day-to-day problems
and feedback as it is – without trying to police ‘cheaters’.

But…..
Even in the time it has taken me to write the above paragraphs, I
have had a few ideas on automating cheater detection. There is no
way we can do anything about using a third party program to suggest
moves, but rating abuse through multiple accounts, just maybe… No
programmer can resist a challenge, and where there is a pattern,
there is a clue… 🙂

-Russ

Don't tell me it didn't cross your mind that naming the site "red hot
pawn" would attract folks who like to play with themself? Perhaps the
site's very name is the culprit in why so few have so many user
accounts.

LOL! You might be on to something.

-Russ

I don't think Green Cool King would be good, either. RHP might be
confused with Red Hot Porn, but only by those with a strange sense of
humor...oh, I guess I just showed my colors. Not really, I'm just
having fun with this.

Truthfully, I think a contest for renaming the site would be a fun
distraction. Russ and Chris would have to know that their decision
would be final and indisputable, so we don't have another uproar on
the forums. (Oh, yes...a Pawn Star or an upgrade for those already
having a star might be a good prize, even if I do still have to take on
belgianfreak game after game after game. I'm really enjoying it!

Coyote

I am considering offering an alternative URL (and branding) to the
site for those who are uncomfortable with the name. Some are. And I
understand why.

BUT, I sometimes think the name is what has made this site, it
catches your attention, and I hope it says a lot about the people who
play here. Not too serious, and a sense of humour.

Well, I thought it was funny anyway. 🙂

-Russ

Oh yeah, the name has definitely been half the fun. I think you should add a huge "BANNED IN
GREECE" banner up on the home page!

Oh, by the way - hope you haven't minded my..um...spelunking in the forums. Lot's of cool stuff
down there in the catacombs. Great time we are having down there!

And on to something completely different:

I was considering trying to set up a web site for End game practice; basically a site with some of the
Nalimov end tables on it, so a person could be presented with a given winnable position, be told
what the minimum number of steps to mate were, and feed back at each step of whether they were
making progress, or whether they had kicked the game into a draw/loss.
So questions are:
1) Since I suck at programming (hey, look at my tourney sites, crude crude crude), can you give
me any sense of how difficult you think that would be. I forget, does rival chess use end tables if
available? (IE did you play with Nalimov's code and have any idea how twisty it is to access those
tables?)

2) How offended would you be at unmitigated thievery of bits of code? For instance, you've got such
a nice javascript chess board, and it would be so nice to try to adapt that rather than....um...think
on my own.

Oh, don't you believe I'll actually get around to doing the above; but I sure like to fantasize about
doing it.

gosh, maybe I should have just emailed you!
:>

Feel free to help yourself to anything you like, as long as it is not
used for profit, I don't care.

Good luck with coding, and you can always ask for advice if you want it.

-Russ

personally I'm just waiting for some pimply faced, jumped up IT
assistant to accuse me of cruising porn while at work, just so I can
laugh at his inability to spell (or get the joke)
Well, maybe not here, as English is most people's 2nd language - and
I'd still have to explain the inordinate number of visits to a games
site...

Russ,
You probably know more about this than me, but would automatic IP
logging work against multi-nicks? On further checking when Java script
is enabled even proxy IP's can be seen through, so multi-nicks would
have to come from multi ISP's (a right pain in the ass to do),
Just an idea - I'm sure you know best
Would a provision be allowed for declared multi-nicks, for example if
someone wanted to separate "serious"and "fun"games?
Jon

This would still cause a problem for people who play using the same
computer and internet connection. I used to play a friend of mine in a
pub with internet terminals. Would this have registered as me
cheating and playing against myself?

you're right that, although 2 people using the same public terminal to
access RHP is unlikely, there are cases for legitimate multi-nicks such
as families who all play of their 1 household PC. In this case it would
even be trickier, as a family is likely to play itself often & if one player
is stronger it could easily look figish (I'd like to enter that last word for
inclusion in the Oxford English dictionary).
But a multi-nick flagging system would point out where many nicks
were coming from the same IP, and then checking the validity of the
games would take minutes.

Good point, innocent until proven guilty! Multiple-nicks playing of one
ISP would just highlight a potential cheater, rather than being the
definitive proof.
Mark

p.s. I can't believe figish isn't in the Oxford English Dictionary,
especially when slaphead IS!

Any detection would not be IP based - with most ISPs you are
assigned a new IP address each time you connect. So multiple
accounts would still be allowed - as long as you dont play yourself,
and many people could play from one machine with no problem.

I would probably use game history patterns to detect the cheats - for
example, do 2 people keep playing, with one player winning
constantly with very few moves made in each game? This is the most
notable behaviour for some cheaters. And do the moves happen in
quick succession - another big clue.

-Russ