FIBS Board backgammon forum

Hi all.
I'm claudio_first, registred user of MacFIBS 4.5.3 (I paied for my MacFibs) and on Fibs from the end of December 2002, last monday (7. June. 2004) in the afternoon, trying a connection, I got this massage in my terminal: I'm sorry, but due to abusive behavior and personal threats by someone in Italy, I'm disabling all logins from there until further notice.

What's happened?

I don't play very often in this period on FIBS 'cause I'm in the EU_IT_Team (www.euitteam.it) is an European backgammon team in the Eurogammon Teams (www.eurogammon.org) but sometimes I connect my self on FIBS to play or talk with players I know.
I don't know anything about that, if somebody did something wrong why lay a fault to all.

I have sand this mail to marvin@fibs.com, but till now.. no reply!
Now I'll try to send this mail to Patti if I'll found the address
Thanks in advance for some explanation.


Claudio  Orlandi
claudio_first

LET'S JOIN THIS THREAD PLEASE

!!!!!WHAT A SHAME!!!!!

So, a place reknown for his democracy, a place where people from all over the world can meet, now BANS italians.

Unbelievable but true.

Do fibbers care about it?

I do - but I'm italian - and all I can do is shouting like it.

LET'S JOIN THIS THREAD PLEASE

Well, I know this feeling, as people from t-online where banned for two days because of virii... (then. many of the t-online-fibsters are on Linux or Mac and don't send those nasty things) Patti does not run the site in a democratic spirit, even if you see it as an american site... But then, she runs it, and it runs on her time and patience (which sometimes - obviously - runs short)
It *is* harsh, to ban people just because of a threat from *one*. It is also a shame that people go all the way to threat Patti. I mean, come on, dice problems? It's a crazy and sometimes really sad world. I hope she soon decides to lift that ban again

Here's Patti's email address:   pattib at gammon dot com

Klaus

I found this rather abusive!
I am willing to bet my house on the fact that she would never do that with someone from the US, in other words.. she would never ban all Americans.

This is pure discrimination and racist behaviour in my opinion....

ehh.. what did it say in the login message about behaviour like that??? :stupid2:  :grrr:  

It's frustrating that FIBS is a dictatorship, but those are the facts.
Don't complain too loudly or you may be next!!!
Is this wrong? Absolutely. But...

Patti effectively owns fibs, since, as far as I know, she is the only one who has fibs other than marvin. marvin clearly does not care about fibs even the tiniest bit. If Patti decides that its' too much hassle, she can always pull the plug and noone would hear you scream. There is near zero motivation for her to keep fibs alive. If there was a phone call from a lawyer, or hte ACLU or whatever, that would be that.

So be happy with whatever time you have spent on fibs in the past, and enjoy each day that you still can. Remember, there are always other bg servers should the worst happen, and there are even open source efforts to build bg servers, even one that is compatible with fibs!

Right. While I more than understand webrunner, I have to agree with burper. Looks like this is it. Probably we really shoudl start to think about a new fibs server.. One like fibsboard, run by a broader community. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with FIBS itself, except probably that the way it's run at the moment just is too much for one person, however strong she may be. It's just that the community is getting stronger, wants more/new features and we're back in a time where bg is getting stronger and is developing again...
So. How much traffic (this is what has to be paid) does FIBS really have?

The ACLU?  Are you serious?

Get a refund.  That's all you guys are due.

See you on GamesGrid.  Not.

Unbelievable

:grrr:  :furios:  :hang:  :smash:

There is certainly some other ways to ban...... :wacko:

Imagine that I will connect as I was from the US and act with abusive behavior, do you really think that patti will ban all of the US ?

Patti I just can put here one more smilie  :no:  

Well, this adds yet another layer of 'fairness' to the BG olympics!!

This seems way out of any proportion to me - and as with the others i dont see this happening to all americans!!

Claudio - although we havent played for some time - i hope you are back with us very soon.

If you want to play in the meantime - playmaker is a good site, the software is free and you can play without paying for an account - you just dont get to play with the training programs. You can also play in tournaments run by the IBA - and if you win - the prizes are often a free account. And I might have a look at the sites you mention  :)

Meanwhile - back at fibs - if the personal threats are that bad - Patti should consider passing FIBS on to someone with thicker skin......as we are constantly told we all should have!

I will third that  :grrr:

Quote...If Patti decides that its' too much hassle, she can always pull the plug and noone would hear you scream. There is near zero motivation for her to keep fibs alive. If there was a phone call from a lawyer, or hte ACLU or whatever, that would be that...

I disagree with this view of Patti. It seems to me that although she isn't interested in seeing FIBS develop at the server level, she does respond quite quickly when FIBS goes down. The theory that she'll pull the plug because of hassles is propagated by the FIBS bullies to try to frightened people like us who've been pushing for change. I've seen no evidence at all of such a danger.

But you are right in that FIBS is at heart a dictorship, and at times she breaks peanuts with sledgehammers -- blocking most Italians because of some single idiot is quite absurd. I suggest writing to her about it, either by posting at rec.games.backgammon or email using the address klic has given or:

pattib at fibs dot com

Quote
..Probably we really shoudl start to think about a new fibs server...

If someone starts putting one together I'll try to help...

Hi all.
Thanks!

@ click : got the address and sand a mail.

@ diane and all the other : Thanks for the tips Diane. I have Playmaker, GG, TMG ... hoping to see you somewhere.
My nick outside here is: EU_IT_Claudio1 and I use to play (of course depends the time I have) in EU_IT_Team (www.euitteam.it) it's a part of EU_Teams (www.eurogammon.org) on Zone (naturally it's all free). We make single world-wide, european and national touraments; team european and national tournaments; the world-wide team tournaments we made on games4fun. One for all: Medallion or Gold Medallion on Gammonzone, sure some of you know it ;)
But nowhere a thing like that!
Certainly the wrong people are everywhere and on line we can find a lot of them (may be more than a lot ;) ).
I considered Fibs just like ''home'' a place where play and talk with friends and have fun.
For sure I have to thank every one who let me be here and except pay (as I did) for my MacFibs, considering and speaking about Fibs like "home" it's a way to thank.
Now, I'm very sorry, this ''home'' is... no more a home and really sad.
Good dices to every one
Claudio

Maybe you should find out the facts before you attack Patti. You don't know the circumstances why she did what she did (and neither do I). I'm sure she has tried to eliminate the trouble with other means before she shut down (the whole?) Italy. At least that's what she has done in the past. I must say that Patti is the toughest person I have come across on the net and if she acts this way she has a reason.

I would have done the same with a free server to keep the scum away, if it couldn't be done in any other way. It's better to have the moron ruining it for people from one place than let the moron ruining the whole server.

It is unfortunate that innocent people get caught in the crossfire though.

Patience People !!  

It's been a couple of short days. One of the few facts reported suggest Italy is offline until further notice , not for-ever !  There's no suggestion it was anti Italian and perhaps she would  have banned all Americans if one of them threatened her life, her dog or to blow a hole in the fibs server permanently !!  If it was Australia that was banned i would rather be off line for a few weeks while the rest of fibs played on merrily rather than any of the above occurring.  Consider the possibility she had no other option ? Or, this was the best of several bad ones ?

Write her, ask her, ponder, but don't explode ! Lets find out what's going on before you pack your bags and leave. Here's my bet, soon to be posted.......Oh it seems Italy is back on line  :o ...........  and here's to that !! :jump2:

Patience.

Hi all.

I explain again, may be someone.. understyand not.

@ cthulhu and EddieVedd:

I don't attalk anybody.
I don't say that somebody is anti.. another Country.
Simply I tried to connect myself but was and is impossible (and I have paid for that), I asked what's happened 'cause I didn't kow (except the few phrases I got).

Yes is the whole Italy not on line till now. 14,57 GMT +2 10.June.2004

What I wrote to Patti and what she replyed to me is ''private'' I'm not accostumed to put in a forum. Ask to her if you want it.

I have wrote down here for the considerations I made and, I think, everybody can read and understand them.

@ cthulhu, EddieVedd and all the other:

Thanks for the replies and good dices to all ;) I'm gonna make a tourney on Zone B)!


Claudio  

Claudio  :rolleyes:

Hello :)

I Understood well   :huh:  and you're right , I know you never attacked anybody and you never accused anyone of racism, this was others in the thread that my comments were directed at.  

I am very happy you communicated with Patti already !!  I'm very hopeful it goes well from there !!   I will definatley ask her next time i see her on fibs  :yes:

I was most worried about you  with,

QuoteNow, I'm very sorry, this ''home'' is... no more a home and really sad

That's the real shame here, but it will pass !! Good luck with the outcome and i hope to play you on fibs soon !  

Hi Fibsters!

I live in Italy and since monday have the same message on fibs:

I'm sorry, but due to abusive behavior and personal threats by someone in Italy, I'm disabling all logins from there until further notice.

*** You are disconnected.

That's  completely unfair for italian players!!!! :(

I dont understand, Why the managger have banned all here in italy instead of  just banned the offender????


What a deception, i thought that the things on fibs worked different.

Anika

Those untimely bans can just make people leaving Fibs and this is too bad for our community.

I like to play Italians

Oh yes, I know this feeling. IMHO, it's a plain and outrageous overreaction. It put a huge damper to my feelings for fibs. I'm playing on dailygammon now, as gamesgrid and the rest don't have linux clients. And it is something that pushes me into the direction to create another, new FIBS, run by the community... The only thing is, traffic has to be payed for. I don't know the monthly traffic FIBS has, so I don't know how expensive this might be... And I don't want to create some parallel world either... But then, with Patti creating one ban after another (grossly exaggerated), well, things might start rolling...

QuoteOh yes, I know this feeling. IMHO, it's a plain and outrageous overreaction. It put a huge damper to my feelings for fibs. I'm playing on dailygammon now, as gamesgrid and the rest don't have linux clients. And it is something that pushes me into the direction to create another, new FIBS, run by the community... The only thing is, traffic has to be payed for. I don't know the monthly traffic FIBS has, so I don't know how expensive this might be... And I don't want to create some parallel world either... But then, with Patti creating one ban after another (grossly exaggerated), well, things might start rolling...

For what it's worth: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fibs/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/fibs/)
If a few of us coders wanted to make it happen, I am sure it wouldn't be that hard to finish.
There are very valid reasons not to, however, and thus the staleness of the project.

Now for traffic. Again, this doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but on fibs, there is a stat command:

> stat
The server is running since Wed May 12 03:18:00 UTC.
-763101010 bytes sent.
324476524 bytes received.
-763518953 bytes sent immediately, 417943 delayed, 544 discarded
1408575412 bytes would block
704287706 bytes failed. 6633096 selects failed
1445 accounts (829 with 0 experience) deleted by cron.(0s)
15463 registered users. Highest user number 16907.
722293(368893) saved games checked by cron.
(591640 running, 124739 over, 5870 too old, 44 corrupt) (0s)
old: 5870 oldest: 61
kept 591684 out of 722293.
currently checking 'games/O'
last full:19997 ; 1st empty:11370 ; entries:15448 ; last empty:19999
Messages to you:
1320 bytes sent immediately, 0 bytes delayed, 0 bytes discarded.
Password file saved 17135 times.(0s)
0 ratings saved. reset log 17135 times.

Every week it gets cheaper and easier to do web hosting and file hosting. It's probably harder to find telnet hosting, but perhaps someone who knows can shed some light?

QuoteI dont understand, Why the managger have banned all here in italy instead of  just banned the offender????

Probably because the offender has been switching IPs a lot, and she has become fed up with the goose chase. But it's just speculation. You have to email her to find out. The truth is out there.

Yes, I know the stat command, but then, having negative numbers, I really don't know how often they already wrapped around?  :P
I probably could get a deal with a machine owned by me, so telnet and whatever protocol you chose is just your responsibility... Just traffic and hosting. Traffic will be in the GB range, for sure...
I looked at the sf.net page, and you're right, it's a bit outdated. And then, I don't know whether I would bet my money on a java program. Java's a fine language, but then, for efficiency... I don't know

I would NOT reccomend virtual hosting (otherwise known as shared hosting).
Fibs needs it own machine, prolly a dual cpu server.

I have that now :) and cand provide with the hosting and additional servers if needed, for very low prices (i work at a hosting provider and server manufacturer :) )

So.. that is one hurdle taken :)

And i will host and maintain the website for it, actually i have already started ;)

QuoteYes, I know the stat command, but then, having negative numbers, I really don't know how often they already wrapped around?  :P
I probably could get a deal with a machine owned by me, so telnet and whatever protocol you chose is just your responsibility... Just traffic and hosting. Traffic will be in the GB range, for sure...
I looked at the sf.net page, and you're right, it's a bit outdated. And then, I don't know whether I would bet my money on a java program. Java's a fine language, but then, for efficiency... I don't know

I wouldn't worry about Java's performance, it can handle this easily. It may not be as fast as C but a lot of this supposed slowness is really just a myth, because the first GUI librariers really did perform poorly. On the server side, you should be okay though, personally I think it's the best language for the job, as you can run it easily on any platform and the code is easy to read and extend.

true. java being slow is an old, old myth now.

Well, you're right... I didn't mean slow as "just is executed slow". Don't get me wrong. I like this language, as any language with "sane" memory management. But having some budget in mind I was more thinking along the lines "java will probably help me make a nice program, but it uses lots of ram and probably shows timeouts for gc." Sure this is totally unproven and not thought through, as I didn't delve into the innards of such a program. Just more like: if I have a small machine, a streamlined C version might be better...
Mind you, I would do prove of concepts and prototypes in Perl (*gasp* :-)

Klaus

I see the original topic has switched on a different discussion.

If Patti's outrageous decision means working on a new, better fibs or whatever I can only be glad.

I'm not good at all at java, servers, html etc. - but you may consider me at your disposal about any graphic necessity. In other words, if this project goes ahead, I would really like to be useful in some way.

Ciao

zak

I wouldn't worry about the hardware too much Klaus, i can provide real good machines for little money. Let's just first build it. It can be hosted on this server for now.

QuoteI wouldn't worry about the hardware too much Klaus, i can provide real good machines for little money. Let's just first build it. It can be hosted on this server for now.

You're right. I probably am worrying about things that are not ripe yet :-)
There's more planning ahead.

BTW, I would definitely keep at least backwards compatibilty, as there are so many clients out there that should work on a fibs clone also... Probably with the possibility to switch to a "protocol V2" for more features, less bugs, whatever...

QuoteThose untimely bans can just make people leaving Fibs and this is too bad for our community.

I like to play Italians

Yes, I have always found players from Italy to be good players, courteous and fun to play and watch. I would like to apologize to them for this unfair banning.

As Alef mentioned, Patti sometimes wacks peanuts with a sledgehammer

And she has also been known to swat mosquitoes with a baseball bat
and even weed the garden with a bulldozer.

Anyway.. she usually reconsiders and returns things back to normal in a day or 2.

I hope players from Italy will forget and treat this like regular down time.

Rememer it's just a game, just a free server and most downtime (either from connection problems or Patti having a fit usually only lasts a day or so)

Again.. to all players from Italy.. scusi molto spiacente prego pardon e perdonano

Please come back to fibs and play   :D

Sorry.. I didn't mean to interrupt the new server discussion..

Full speed ahead with new server.. I will do what I can to tweak 3dfibs to work with it.  

tucsonAZ:
Rememer it's just a game, just a free server and most downtime (either from connection problems or Patti having a fit usually only lasts a day or so)


[/B]It's been one week to be correct...

Duration of these "episodes" is one aspect of it.
Frequency is another. Do I sense an increase, or is it just me?

No, not just you. And while I thought 48hrs is long, for such a wide ranging ban, a week ist just way beyond any reasonable measure. IMHO. Right now here's a pest raging with people sending racist hate letters via those worm acquired zombies. (hint: Going to ban everybody for two weeks from fibs?)

Well this is two events (germany and italy) more or less on top of each other, so it seems a lot, but struggling to think of anything else as bad recently.  I have only been here for 18 months - so it is not much of a frame of reference.

There was the horrible lag thing last year - which seemed to go on forever, but probably wasnt as long as that  :) .  I didnt know too much about it - except the rumour that once marvin was persuaded/ contacted - whatever - the fix was very quick - but we had limped along fer ages in the meantime.

So - you tell us, folks, you have all beeen here much longer  :)  

I was going to have some pasta for dinner tonight.  Does this mean I can't play fibs at the same time?

There doesn't seem to be a lot of sympathy for patti here. Why is that? Why should she put up with abuse and threats? If shutting off Italians temporarily is the only way that she can stop it, then she is entitled to do that. Fibs is NOT some common possession of us all. It belongs to Patti and she lets us play on it. For this she gets very little in the way of thanks or appreciation, just a lot of witless moaning on the whole. How about reserving your abuse for the far king idiot who triggered all this? He or she should be the real target for your criticism, not the person who gives her time and money so that you can play free bg.

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Caro Claudio_first,
Ecco come sono andati realmente i fatti:

Sono stato cancellato con due nick che erano arrivati in brevissimo tempo a 2000 e 1900 di rating. Allora ho chiesto a patti come mai  e per tutta risposta lei mi ha detto che ha visto dei resign sospetti. Probabilmente e vero qualcuno aveva fretta ha resignato ed io ho accettato: lei mi ha detto che non si deve accettare i resign. Qella sera abbiamo discusso per circa tre ore.

In seguito ho creato un nuovo nick " affirmed" nota bene non si poteva gia giocare tra italiani per cui non potevo matematicamente avere alcun aiuto da nessuno, certo mi dirai che posso avere amici in tutto il mondo che mi regalano i punti ma questo e solo del sofismo. Sono arrivato a 1870 con 150 di exp e due saved games, l'ultima partita e stata con piuma dove ho vinto 7/0 e poi nulla il buio cancellato di nuovo. allora mi sono arrabbiato le ho scritto nella chat privata una serie di male parole e alla fine le ho detto: ma sparati idiota. Forse ho esagerato sicuramente e me ne scuso pubblicamente sono triste per tutti quelli che in questo momento non posssono giocare. Ci tenevo a dire come sono andate le cose anche perche ho sentito dire che via e-mail io l'avrei minacciata, questo e quello che lei sta raccontando. Non ho mai minacciato nessuno tanto meno lei per una questione cosi stupida dove la ragione sta la 100% dalla mia parte.

Concludo dicendo che anche lei non scherza a parolaccie, ma nulla in confronto a quello che si legge giornalmente nella public chat.

Spero per tutti voi che presto riaprira il sito e rassicurala dicendogli che mai piu potro entrare in un gioco cosi discriminatorio.


Ti saluto e mi di dispiace realmente per l'accaduto.

P.S. Purtroppo qui se uno gioca bene non viene premiato ma bannato ciao!




 

this is a mail i received from affirmed  

yeah, shama, but what does it say?

my good friend and bro, zakasax, in the meantime can't play on fibs.  when will it end?

socksey





"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it." - Garrison Keillor

Google translation, just for fun:

shamaclp@hotmail.com Home Page|My MSN|Hotmail|Shopping|Money|It tries|Groups Try on the Web:  Hotmail Today Mail Contacts Options|Guide shamaclp@hotmail.com Newsletter free|Offering special You answer|You answer to all|It forwards|It eliminates|It blocks|Undesired mail|It moves in the folder|Visualization prints|Address saves

Claudio_first Beloved,

Here as the facts have gone really:  They have been cancelled with two nick that they were arrives to you in short time to 2000 and 1900 of rating.  Then I have asked pacts as and for all answer it has never said to me that she has seen of resign the suspiciones.  Probably and true someone had haste has resignato and I have accepted:  it has said to me that she does not have herself to be accepted the resign.  Qella evening we have discussed for approximately three hours.  Later on I have created new nick "affirmed" a famous good could not gia be played between Italians for which I could not mathematically have some aid from nobody, sure you will say to me that I only can have friends all over the world that the points but this give me and of the sofismo.  They have arrived to 1870 with 150 of exp and two saved games, the last game and be with piuma where I have gained 7/0 and then null the buio cancelled of new then me is angry them has written in chat private a series badly words and to the end I have said to them:  but it talks nonsense to you idiot.  

Perhaps I have exaggerated sure and me I excuse some public are sad for all those that in this moment posssono not to play.  I held to us to say as the things have gone also perche have felt to say that via email I would have threatened it, this and what it is telling.  I have not never threatened nobody much less she for a stupid issue cosi where the reason is 100% from my part.  I conclude saying that also it does not joke to bad words, but null in comparison to what law giornalmente in the public chat.  I hope for all you that soon riaprira the situated one and reassures it dicendogli that never piu potro to enter in a discriminatorio game cosi.  You salute and me of dispiace really for the happened one.  P.S.  Unfortunately if one plays well it does not come here rewarded but bannato hello!

burper: does that help?

Here is the AltaVista Babelfish translation.  It just cracks me up!



Claudio_first beloved, Here as the facts have gone really: They have been cancelled with two nick that they were arrives to you in short time to 2000 and 1900 of rating. Then I have asked pacts as and for all answer it has never said to me that she has seen of resign the suspiciones. Probably and true someone had haste has resignato and I have accepted: it has said to me that she does not have herself to be accepted the resign. Qella evening we have discussed for approximately three hours. Later on I have created a new one nick " affirmed" famous good could not gia be played between Italians for which I could not mathematically have some aid from nobody, sure you will say to me that I only can have friends all over the world that the points but this give me and of the sofismo. They have arrived to 1870 with 150 of exp and two saved games, l'ultima left and be with piuma where I have gained 7/0 and then null the buio cancelled of new then me they are angry them I have written in chat private a series badly words and to the end I have said to them: but it talks nonsense to you idiot.   Perhaps I have exaggerated sure and me I excuse some public are sad for all those that in this moment posssono not to play. I held to us to say as the things have gone also perche have felt to say that via threatened l'avrei email I, this and what it is telling. I have not never threatened nobody much less she for a stupid issue cosi where the reason is 100% from my part. I conclude saying that also it does not joke to bad words, but null in comparison to what law giornalmente in the public chat. I hope for all you that soon riaprira the situated one and reassures it dicendogli that never piu potro to enter in a discriminatorio game cosi. You salute and me of dispiace really for l'accaduto.

P.S. Unfortunately if one plays well it does not come here rewarded but bannato hello!

Erm - clear as a bell now - thx  :wacko:

As for Patti - of course we all appreciate that she runs FIBS and gets no particular reward for doing so - and i am sure her Fibsie will come one of these mothns - which is about the only way we have to thank the people who do so much to keep fibs going.

BUT - I havent been on the net regularly very long - and took me a while to realise what kind of a place it is.  Those people who are too afraid to deal with real live situations seem to come on here and vent in an anonymous forum.  This means some of the stuff is pretty bad - and the only way to deal with this is to not take any of it seriously. When someone gets abusive i know i am talking to some loser who would run a mile if they ever actually had to face someone for real!!  

The bottom line is - to be on the internet regularly you need to have a thick skin, to run a website where people can chat and express opinions - you need to have a much thicker skin - and if that site has the added difficulty of 'random dice' on it - well, then, we are talking rhinocerous skin!!  Maybe it shouldnt be that way - but it is - and Patti regularly reminds us of that, pretty much every time we mention a particularly abusive player.

Now whilst threats are unpleasant and I really wish they didnt happen - it appears to me to be par for the course, and you need to keep a clear head.  Does it seem rational that someone is going to carry a bad mood the some 8000 miles(?? wild guess there - but a long way anyway) from italy to wherever Patti is to actually carry these out???? That is some real bad dice!!

Of course we dont know what the threats were - and maybe they were electronic threats - again - you have to decide how plausible that is - and if it is considered a real threat - take the whole damn thing offline - not just one country - since i am sure any person capable of doing damage that way could find a way round the country ban.

I am also a little confused by the 'belonging' statement - as i find out more - FiBS was written by one guy - is now hosted by Patti - and is funded by two other individuals and donations - that is much more a community project - and as such does not 'belong' to anyone.  The spirit of the opening statement always belied ownership to me.

But having said all of that - perhaps if we all take the time out to send Patti nice, thankful and appreciative emails more often - maybe the bad stuff wont stand out so much, or cause such an effect  :D  

i published a letter of affirmed because affirmed was banned and he cannot whrite in this forum . he dont existe more.and ithink was right that Fibs people know what affirmed want to say about this  episode . noone whrite here whit his real name !thanks shama_II i cannot to connect to fibs  because fibs disconnect me immediatly. im no banned  but i cannot to connect me . thanks _shama_II

Well said diane, and thanks for giving us that perspective dorbel.
I agree with you both. Good luck to Patti winning a Fibsie soon!
It seems like a link to the fibs.com credits should be on fibsboard. Heck, not even a link to fibs.com is here, at least easily found near the top? On fibs.com, the full credits are hidden way down near the bottom, perhaps they could be nearer the top and not so small? I'm thinking that more than a name and an email address to complain to, there ought to be a "Patti page" (and a marvin page and Kit...) that
-more fully explains their role
-who they are (link to any public personal page they have)
-how much they have done for fibs over the years
-how much we appreciate it...

nothing that they would disapprove of or in any way invades on their privacy of course.
Perhaps some words of appreciation from those who can write could be posted. Let this thread be a place where you can put your 'patti quotes', like what you see on the inside cover of a book, e.g.  "engrossing, has you on the edge of your seat" -- dorbel

:)

Of course i appreciate all the time and effort Patti puts in to keeping Fibs alive, in my opinion she should win a Fibsie before me, BUT....

This is no way of reacting to a virus (or even hundreds). Everyone is experiencing problems with virii and the number of spam mails and mails generated by virii is about 80% on the internet now.
I work at an internet provider and we scan every mail going through our servers for virii and spam and we delete all virus infected emails. We remove 200.000 virii a day from our customers emails. But do you think we are going to ban complete countries from our mailservers? That is not the way! :angry:

Most quality ISP's provide such services, so she should really complain at her ISP or switch providers.  I know a pretty good one ;)


About the FIBS Links: look before you judge please Burper. I have a whole block on the homepage of Fibs-links (on the right, in "Recommended sites"), a link in the board rules, the first Topic of the Help files is dedicated to Fibs (with a link to the credits) and a sticky topic with a Fibs connect howto with links to the site. Do you really think i need to add more links?
:unsure:

I don't know why everyone thinks I'm being sarcastic all the time...

I dont - honest  ;)  

QuoteIt seems like a link to the fibs.com credits should be on fibsboard. Heck, not even a link to fibs.com is here,

This sounds a bit judging doesn't it? :huh:

But maybe this is a language problem, i don't think you are sarcastic..  ^_^

I was just generally asking if i need to put up more links.. since i have done so much linking to Fibs (http://www.fibs.com) already.  :unsure:  

Just for the record you can always feel free to assume that I am being sarcastic.   :2drunk:  

i was on fibs briefly last night and Zakasax informed me and others that Italy was back on-line  :D

Just thoguth that it was worth mentioning here :)

thoguth ??? :)  Typofish translation >>> thought  ;)

Welcome back ! I LOVE beating Italians  :P  

:jump2:  

When I eat mexican food I get the strongest winds!   :2drunk:  :2drunk:  

Mostly though I LOVE getting 'beaten' by Italian Women whilst sipping Port on a Mexican Summer evening   :wub:

Port,  feel free to break wind on the BagOlympics strand anytime now  ;)  :beerdrinkers:  

Back to the serious bit a while ago where i reported Italy was back on-line  :D  I have since been fortunate enough to speak with Patti on Fibs.

Whilst applauding the unity shown here for a fellow fibster (and indeed their Country)    I would like to fully support Patti's decision based on the facts she presented to me !     :yes:

To date it has worked (It seems the latest child has given up).


:2drunk:  

Patti, you go girl!

Thus ends another FIBS whining session, and here are the results.

1) The problem was handled effectively by our fearless leader with the tools she had at her disposal.  

2) All the whining and moaning didn't get you anywhere

3) It's a FREE bg server......get over yourselves

4) If you don't think P will pull the plug because you continually cry, ######, moan and snivel, think again.  I've heard her state it on more than one occasion, and to be quite frank, if I were in her shoes I'd have done it a long, long time ago.

5) If the improve-FIBS contingent wants to build their own free backgammon server somewhere else in cyberspace, feel free to do so.  Nobody is forcing you to stay and/or play here on FIBS.

Have a nice day.


Biggles
(The most popular Fibster)

Quote
2) All the whining and moaning didn't get you anywhere

I love to hear whining about whiners ;)
I think that if we keep whining about it, some day the whining will stop!

PS: I love Biggles and am only yanking his chain in a friendly way. Please don't mod me down ;)

Seriously though...

QuoteThus ends another FIBS whining session, and here are the results.

Who are you to declare and end to the "whining" and summarize?

Quote
1) The problem was handled effectively by our fearless leader with the tools she had at her disposal. 

What problem? You are not whining are you???
Perhaps "the problem" went away because of the "whining"?

Quote
2) All the whining and moaning didn't get you anywhere

How do you know? I don't think you do.

Quote
3) It's a FREE bg server......get over yourselves

I don't understand this statement. Over? Are you saying that you choose not to donate to fibs?

Quote
4) If you don't think P will pull the plug because you continually cry, ######, moan and snivel, think again.  I've heard her state it on more than one occasion, and to be quite frank, if I were in her shoes I'd have done it a long, long time ago.

I don't mean to be disrespectful of your opinion, but P has displayed a fair amount of effort and dedication in keeping the server going (for at least most os us most of the time) for a DECADE. I'll go with what my eyes see rather than your opinion. You can't make me believe that you have any more insight into P's motivations than I do.

Are you saying that after 10+ quiet years, if some whining starts now she may pull the plug?

Or, are you saying that for 10+ years the whining has kept her teetering on the brink of pulling the plug and any particular whine may be the camel that breaks the straws back?

Quote
5) If the improve-FIBS contingent wants to build their own free backgammon server somewhere else in cyberspace, feel free to do so.  Nobody is forcing you to stay and/or play here on FIBS.

What do you mean free? Are you saying that because you are unaware of the ability to donate to fibs (or are unwilling) that you are assuming noone else does? Or are you simply against improvement in general?

Quote
Have a nice day.
Biggles
(The most popular Fibster)

Love ya babe.

Well he does state at any and all opportunities he is against improvements, modifications, and vehemently against open source - i think left to his own devices he still be playing (and winning i have no doubt) with pebbles and scratch marks in the sand  ;) .  I often wish i had been here to see what he thought of the introduction of repbot before it turned him into the most popular fibster   :P

And plenty has been achieved here - this is all quite exciting  :D

It will, of course, take me a week to plough thru what burper wrote this afternoon  :rolleyes:

Can biggles and burper repeat what they just said because I am confused?

I also think that everyone should keep whining about Patti because that is the only way to show gratitude!  I never see her online so she must have a life and maintains FIBS out of the goodness of her heart.

There is a great quote from the movie "A Few Good Men" that fits:

Col. Nathan R. Jessup: You see Danny, I can deal with the bullets, and the bombs, and the blood. I don't want money, and I don't want medals. What I do want is for you to stand there in that faggoty white uniform and with your Harvard mouth extend me some f*&%ing courtesy. You gotta ask me nicely.

And by all means, please continue to whine!

QuoteAnd plenty has been achieved here - this is all quite exciting  :D

Right diane, the most popular fibster is waiting for an improvement that he personally can make use of.

Hi,

I only hear today that Patti temporarily banned all Italians... that's funny. I didn't even know that it is possible (what defines "Italian" in cyberspace? Yes, yes... *.it . But that's neither sufficient nor complete.)  

Would anybody bother to detail what happened? Apparently, some have talked to her. Why was such an extreme measure taken? Should we be happy that she's not the president because otherwise she would have bombed the country ;-) ? Didn't she learn from the T-online disaster? Does our Donna Quichotte still think that she can win her lone crusade against PC zombies? This all doesn't make sense to me.

Regards, Peter

Another constructive comment.  Juggler, do you volunteer for any anything, and if so, do people make snide remarks about how you perform your function in return for your alturistic actions?

I really don;t know Patti at all, but I think all anybody is entitled to is a refund of the money they have paid to play in FIBS.   :imwithstupid:  

Actually Juggler, you can request a location of an IP address, on f.i. Ripe website (http://www.ripe.net/db/whois/whois.html).

Quote

QuoteI dont understand, Why the managger have banned all here in italy instead of  just banned the offender????

Probably because the offender has been switching IPs a lot, and she has become fed up with the goose chase. But it's just speculation. You have to email her to find out. The truth is out there.

You dont have to switch ip-number by ourself. You may get a new ip-number every time you connect, have the same ip-number every time you connect, or the ip numbers may switch among the users, the internet provider have.
Thats up to the internet provider.
MND

just thought i would point out, that if you are ever blocked, there is always parlorplay.
perhaps some kind souls with decent servers out there could set up  some telnet proxies :)

Hey - then maybe if webrunner sets up that thing i didnt understand regarding port something or other - this could be a way round  :D

port 4321 that was it !!  Would it help?? :huh:  

Last time, when Patti blocked t-online users for alleged virus contamination, they obviously blocked the accounts, not the ip range, as I was blocked even while connecting via parlorplay.

So by using parlorplay, do we train our boss to block accounts only, not whole ISPs? :)

from burper:

QuoteI don't know why everyone thinks I'm being sarcastic all the time... /QUOTE]

Because YOU ARE!  YOU KNOW YOU ARE!  Stop trying to deny it!   Hey, I was raised by the KING OF SARCASM, so, you can trust me.  I know my sarcasm!  :lol:

socksey




A report says high school students aren't very good with American history. It's pretty shameful. On a recent test, a majority of seniors thought Lincoln's Gettysburg address was ALincoln@gettysburg.com..."

okay then. tell me this. am I any good at it?

Why, yes, I believe you are!  :lol:

socksey




"In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been
times like these." - Paul Harvey

Quote

Quote[...] to create another, new FIBS, run by the community... The only thing is, traffic has to be payed for. I don't know the monthly traffic FIBS has, so I don't know how expensive this might be

[...]

Now for traffic. Again, this doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but on fibs, there is a stat command:

> stat
The server is running since Wed May 12 03:18:00 UTC.
-763101010 bytes sent.
324476524 bytes received.
-763518953 bytes sent immediately, 417943 delayed, 544 discarded
1408575412 bytes would block
704287706 bytes failed. 6633096 selects failed
[...]

Hi burper,

the days when you could count traffic in 32 bit values are over ;-)... the negative numbers indicate an overflow, so the traffic can be anything.

The root server that I am currently renting ( http://www.schneiderp.de (http://www.schneiderp.de) ) would certainly suffice to run fibs on it, 39 Euro/month, 100 MBit connection to a well connected (as I believe) provider,  and 250 *G*B traffic. I don't think FIBS comes over this high water mark. I had one power failure in many months there, uptimes were hundreds of days. The advertisement is here: http://www.hetzner.de/entry.html (http://www.hetzner.de/entry.html).

This offer is good, but I believe that you can find similar ones also in America. The physical location is only interesting with respect to ping times; it is unclear to me which continent would be optimal.

It would probably be nice to have a dedicated machine for FIBS that doesn't run much more than FIBS, for two reasons: 1. Less vulnerability -- since the server is exposed to a not always benign community, one must expect more attacks than with a "Here is my homepage" server; and 2. Constant good response times which may not always be the case if other projects are running on the same machine.

To sum up, it's neither a technical nor a financial problem.

Regards,
Peter aka the juggler

Here is a fast translation of the mail sent in Italian by affirmed.

Aram

---
Dear Claudio_first,
here I will tell what really happened.

I had two nicknames deleted, they had arrived in a very short time to 2000 and 1900 rating.
Then I asked Patti why and she answered that she saw some suspect resigns.
That's probably true, someone was in a hurry and resigned and I accepted: she told me that resigns are not to be accepted.
That evening we talked for about three hours.

Later I created a nick, "affirmed", note that italians already could not play each other so I mathematically could not have any help from anyone. Sure, you could tell me I may have friends all over the world that give me points as a present, but this is just sophism. I got to 1850 with 150 exp and two saved games, the last one was vs Piuma (*AK note: I know personally Piuma*) and I won 7-0 and after that nothing, darkness, deleted again. Then I got upset and I wrote her in the private chat a series of bad words and in the end I told her: "shoot to yourself, idiot".
Maybe I exaggerated -surely- and I publicly apologize, I am sad for those who at the moment cannot play.
I wanted to tell how things went even because I heard that I threatened her by email, this is what she is saying.
I never threatened anyone, even less I threatened her for such a stupid thing where right is 100% on my side.

I conclude saying that she is good with bad words as well, even though it is still nothing compared to what we can read daily into the public chat.

I hope for you all that she soon will re-open the site and reassure her telling her that I could never enter again in such a discriminating game.

I greet you and I am really sorry for the event.

PS: unfortunately here if one plays well he doesn't get rewarded but banned. Ciao!

Quote
Now for traffic. Again, this doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but on fibs, there is a stat command:

> stat
The server is running since Wed May 12 03:18:00 UTC.
-763101010 bytes sent.
324476524 bytes received.
-763518953 bytes sent immediately, 417943 delayed, 544 discarded
1408575412 bytes would block
704287706 bytes failed. 6633096 selects failed
[...]

Funny command. The difference after 5 hours and 23 minutes was 111 MB sent and 2.2 MB received. Would mean about 15 GB per month.

Quote
This offer is good, but I believe that you can find similar ones also in America. The physical location is only interesting with respect to ping times; it is unclear to me which continent would be optimal.

[...]

To sum up, it's neither a technical nor a financial problem.

No, just one about manpower  ;)
Since we are playing backgammon and not counterstrike, ping is a minor problem.
(So no big problem with fibs in California and bots in the Netherlands for example)
But if you are interested in the geographical distribution, http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/stats.htm (http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/stats.htm) and especially http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/fcountry.php (http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/fcountry.php) will give you some hints. About 60% from Europe, 30% from North America and 10% from the rest of the world.