Droppers

[mhawk]

Hi,  I'm a newbie to Fibs.
I have not dropped any games, yet I am charged with three. An opponent left a game to play with someone else. He refused to return to our game.

Is there a way to remove the "dropped" from my record?

I had hoped that Fibs would be a more gentlemanly site than some others, but after reading through some of the posts here, perhaps I expect too much.

All the best,  MHawk.

[stog]

hi welcome to Fibsboard look at this section of the boards http://www.fibsboard.com/droppers/
read the top one, then start to have a good look round the boards, and you will see much advice from many folks
use search too
gl enjoy

[Patti]

FIBS does not charge you with dropped matches.

FIBS counts your unfinished matches.  An unfinished match is just that-- a match that you have started, but has not yet been completed.  There is an implicit assumption that if you have a lot of these you probably have some blame in the issue, but three is not a lot.

Choose your opponents wisely.  Unfinished matches expire after a couple of weeks.

[mukulakivi]

Well - everyone seem to know allready that fibs is a droppers paradise - just wait for a while and dropped games will disappear itself and you just cannot do anything exept complaint, if you do it immediately, after day or 2 it's impossible. When you start a new match (by mistake) with the opponent you have dropped as well - the dropped will also disappear.

So - I think all have been done for droppers to have good place to continue dropping!!!

For example in fics saved games are saved forever and you cannot even play against same opponent before you finished the saved game. After you will have enought saved games you cannot play at all - I think this kind of system would be very easy do to do in fibs also, if they really like to stop dropping.

[socksey]

Our system is not perfect as is no other system.     This system has been developed by many people giving of their time for free.     If you learn the system, you will be able to work with it and survive as I have for 12 years. 

We have Repbot which is a way to see who complains on whom and what a person's reputation is.  If you take the time to use Repbot wisely, and if you avoid phone users, you will find yourself with no saved matches.  If you choose not to work with the system and do not like it, then please leave.   

socksey



Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present. - Albert Camus

[mukulakivi]

Repbot can be used (and I use it also), when I do new invites. The problem is you cannot use the repbot after 2 days. With phone player it is pretty normal that the connection will be lost. If you like to wait the player to continue some other day (like polite players should do), you just cannot complaint the player anymore and this is just what dropper is waiting for Then after 2 weeks the match will be disappeared. All this for droppers and nothing for the players like to stop dropping.

I'm pretty happy to play here, but I just occasionally found this issue and had to 'put the cat on the table' when any other didn't.

[socksey]

My habit is to complain as soon as I'm dropped, place the dropper on my friends list in red (I use Javafibs), then I remove the complaint if the match is resumed and completed and reverse the red to blue.  There is no time limit on removing a complaint, so this solves that problem.     I never accept an invitation from a player who is "red" on my list. 

socksey



The highest form of wisdom is kindness. - The Talmud

[diane]

The problem is you cannot use the repbot after 2 days.

I'm pretty happy to play here, but I just occasionally found this issue and had to 'put the cat on the table' when any other didn't.

To point one...you can make a repbot complaint for as long as you have a saved match with someone, so anytime within the two or so weeks before the match is removed.

Point two..Erm, I have absolutely no idea why you think 'any other didnt'...every single other player complains about is at some point, and some more loudly or persistently.  The only problem for those of us who have been around for 5 plus years and learned way to deal with it, is that it is very, very tedious to keep listening to new people whining about it.

There are as many opinions on droppers as there are players on fibs, but everyone has one...ranging from 'it isnt a problem at all' to 'death to droppers'.

Put 'droppers' in the search bar on here and see how many hits you get....and then understand that that is just the very tip of a 20 year old iceberg.

There are now significant moves forward in the development of tools to help you..the latest being a new command

show savedfor <playername>

I suggest you start using this tool, this is one of the best yet - since you can see the scores of the saved matches, and that gives you a much better picture of whether they are deliberately dropping, simply have a rubbish connection, or are the unwitting victim of hundreds of other droppers.

This command will also help you correct one of your other major misconceptions, popular amongst new people with little patience or understanding of anything but their own problems...use it on the phone players, say about 20 of them. You will quickly notice that almost all of the saved games are barely started, often the score is 0,0.  Some scores show they are actually leading many of them. This shows just how involuntary their connection loss is - it is not a deliberate plot to cheat anyone out of a few rating points.

They lose connection, and their interface makes it hard for them to find players and resume. Help them out - watch for them and ask them to resume, you will all benefit from that.

[socksey]

To point one...you can make a repbot complaint for as long as you have a saved match with someone, so anytime within the two or so weeks before the match is removed.

Unless I'm mistaken, you only have 24 hours to complain on anyone.     Has this changed lately?  If so, I'll need to change my strategy.   

socksey




You get to the point where your demons, which are terrifying, get smaller and smaller and you get bigger and bigger. - August Wilson

[diane]

No, I am wrong...I just checked, you cannot complain about someone you have a saved match with after 24 hours, so now I need to change mine!!

I have always thought you could complain on anyone you had a saved game with at any time.

Checking this identifies that there is a distinct lack of information around about repbot...even in the repbot forum, there isn't a how to, or help guide.

I will put in the basic help repbot states for now - but it would be nice if anything missing from there, like clarification on how and when vouches and conplaints can be used, would be good.

[socksey]

As I recall, the change happened with Patti's demand for change to Repbot.  The "24 hour to complain feature" as well as the "your have to have actually played someone in order to complain feature" were to prevent the ganging up on someone by friends of others who requested persons to complain on a specific player for whatever reason.  Before that time, it was a free-for-all for anyone at any time.   

Repbot has been a great improvement tool for Fibs, but as is often the case, it was abused by some.  It was originally developed by burper, but is now manned by inim, and we should all thank them both for that!     It's most helpful to the old timers who know a lot of players on Fibs to help determine if a complaint is a real complaint since some persons still abuse that feature.  A hint to newbies, if you aren't sure about a complainer, you can check that players rep also.     Unfortunately, Repbot is still abused by some, so it isn't an exact science yet. 

socksey



Life holds so much---so much to be so happy about always.  Most people ask for happiness on condition.  Happiness can be felt only if you don't set conditions. - Artur Rubinstein

[toml]

Lots of good advice and no sympathy.  I'll color the offenders and wait.  today I had 4 droppers.

It would be nice if we could more easily identify the phone users...is there a trick that you admins have to do that? 

[socksey]

No trick.  Look for clients used called BGOnline, Padgammon, and OdysysMobile and avoid these.  These are phone users and perhaps some others.

socksey



"Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope."  ~ Stephen Jay

[diane]

It would be nice if we could more easily identify the phone users...is there a trick that you admins have to do that?  

The client a user is using tells you something about what they are playing on. If you check this screenshot from javafibs, and look at the client column, you can see a variety of clients listed. This information is available to all FIBs users, but is most easily seen in javafibs.



OdesysMobile is the really problematic interface - those  people are on standard mobile phones, if it rings, the connection to fibs is dropped to deal with the call.
Padgammon and BGOnline are also mobile clients, for iDevices. They tend to be better than Odesys, but not as good as a computer connection.
3DFibs, Fibzilla, BBGT, Javafibs, CocoaFibs and RealFibs are all computer interfaces.

PP is logged in through a second site, so there is no download used - that can be clunky and problematic too.

Combine that knowledge with the saved game count, and repbot reputation and you have a very good gauge as to whether the player will drop you or not.

Like this...

[toml]

Thanks to you both for the information.  I've set up some programmable buttons to do this.  I've been using repbot ask and list so far but having the show command now will help even more along with knowing which clients to avoid.  It is maddening when a drop happens but life goes on! 

[ah_clem]

No trick.  Look for clients used called BGOnline, Padgammon, and OdysysMobile and avoid these.  These are phone users and perhaps some others.

I've never had a problem with the Padgammon users, and was only dropped once by a BGOnline user.  Which isn't to say that there won't be a first (or second) time, just that I don't immediately refuse invites from BGOnline or Padgammon users - but I am a little tighter with the savedcount & repbot reputation if that's the client.   

I never play Odesys players, and neither should anyone else unless you enjoy being dropped.

[diane]

I never play Odesys players, and neither should anyone else unless you enjoy being dropped.

Really - after checks, if they pass..they aren't so bad..my opinion has totally changed now I can check saved games properly. 

It is just reporting them as droppers that strikes me as a waste of time..we all know that.

[PGus]

Please ALL,

Be aware of player with nickname tudor (or Tudor) from Germany.

I (score 1530) played him (score above 1700) yesterday, and he dropped during the bear off when it was clear he was going to lose.

Worst of all: when I sent messages asking  him to finish the game, he always replied with trick answers. Always trying to induce me to resign the match.

This player (tudor) is a true cheater !