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Date: 21 Sep 2008 12:23:16
From: nospam
Subject: crazy admin at FICS
I am writing this not to critize FICS, but in an attempt to find a
solution to a perplexing problem. Today, as White, I played a guest (as
a guest)and found myself quickly on the defensive. My opponent seemed to
'know' the Opening well, and I was being pushed back. I fought on, and
played a move which gave up two pieces for a rook. I hoped to break up
my opponent's attack and give me a little relief. However, he played a
nice in between move and left the rook hang for a forced mate in about 6
or 7 moves. At this point, I felt he may have been using a computer, but
he could have simply been a strong player. I resigned, and my 'message'
window filled up with lines and lines of "HAHAHAHAHA"s. Then stuff like
"IDIOT", "LOSER", and the like. Earlier today, I chanced to read about
characters like this and they are called "Cyber-bullies".

This is not the first time I have run into this character. He
automatically 'censors' you, so you cannot 'say' anything back to him.
Even if you log in as another player, you will get a message saying he
does not receive messages from unregistered players. The reason I
believe him to be an admin, gone wrong, is the fact that he can keep the
time ticking off his clock for minutes (I have left it go for over 15
minutes once,)but yet not get flagged for overstepping the time control.
Today I 'followed' him, and he did just that to his next opponent, who
had a won game. His opponent was forced to resign after a couple of
minutes. This has happened too many times to be a mere coincidence.

Does anyone know of a possible way to handle this situation? I
complained to FICS on their site, but received an answer that all their
admins were good guys, and would never do such a thing. Perhaps if
everyone who this happened to would write, there might be steps taken.




 
Date: 22 Sep 2008 15:18:30
From: Kenneth Sloan
Subject: Re: crazy admin at FICS
nospam wrote:
> I am writing this not to critize FICS, but in an attempt to find a
> solution to a perplexing problem. Today, as White, I played a guest (as
> a guest)and found myself quickly on the defensive. My opponent seemed to
> 'know' the Opening well, and I was being pushed back. I fought on, and
> played a move which gave up two pieces for a rook. I hoped to break up
> my opponent's attack and give me a little relief. However, he played a
> nice in between move and left the rook hang for a forced mate in about 6
> or 7 moves. At this point, I felt he may have been using a computer, but
> he could have simply been a strong player. I resigned, and my 'message'
> window filled up with lines and lines of "HAHAHAHAHA"s. Then stuff like
> "IDIOT", "LOSER", and the like. Earlier today, I chanced to read about
> characters like this and they are called "Cyber-bullies".
>
> This is not the first time I have run into this character. He
> automatically 'censors' you, so you cannot 'say' anything back to him.
> Even if you log in as another player, you will get a message saying he
> does not receive messages from unregistered players. The reason I
> believe him to be an admin, gone wrong, is the fact that he can keep the
> time ticking off his clock for minutes (I have left it go for over 15
> minutes once,)but yet not get flagged for overstepping the time control.
> Today I 'followed' him, and he did just that to his next opponent, who
> had a won game. His opponent was forced to resign after a couple of
> minutes. This has happened too many times to be a mere coincidence.
>
> Does anyone know of a possible way to handle this situation? I
> complained to FICS on their site, but received an answer that all their
> admins were good guys, and would never do such a thing. Perhaps if
> everyone who this happened to would write, there might be steps taken.

Don't play at FICS - esp. as a "guest"

--
Kenneth Sloan [email protected]
Computer and Information Sciences +1-205-932-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham FAX +1-205-934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 http://KennethRSloan.com/


 
Date: 21 Sep 2008 17:54:07
From: Arfur Million
Subject: Re: crazy admin at FICS
"nospam" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am writing this not to critize FICS, but in an attempt to find a solution
>to a perplexing problem. Today, as White, I played a guest (as a guest)and
>found myself quickly on the defensive. My opponent seemed to 'know' the
>Opening well, and I was being pushed back. I fought on, and played a move
>which gave up two pieces for a rook. I hoped to break up my opponent's
>attack and give me a little relief. However, he played a nice in between
>move and left the rook hang for a forced mate in about 6 or 7 moves. At
>this point, I felt he may have been using a computer, but he could have
>simply been a strong player. I resigned, and my 'message' window filled up
>with lines and lines of "HAHAHAHAHA"s. Then stuff like "IDIOT", "LOSER",
>and the like. Earlier today, I chanced to read about characters like this
>and they are called "Cyber-bullies".
>
> This is not the first time I have run into this character. He
> automatically 'censors' you, so you cannot 'say' anything back to him.
> Even if you log in as another player, you will get a message saying he
> does not receive messages from unregistered players. The reason I believe
> him to be an admin, gone wrong, is the fact that he can keep the time
> ticking off his clock for minutes (I have left it go for over 15 minutes
> once,)but yet not get flagged for overstepping the time control. Today I
> 'followed' him, and he did just that to his next opponent, who had a won
> game. His opponent was forced to resign after a couple of minutes. This
> has happened too many times to be a mere coincidence.
>
> Does anyone know of a possible way to handle this situation? I complained
> to FICS on their site, but received an answer that all their admins were
> good guys, and would never do such a thing. Perhaps if everyone who this
> happened to would write, there might be steps taken.

I'm not sure it necessarily means that it's an admin doing it - I'm no
expert in this area but I believe that some people have managed to somehow
skew the computer timers to fool the server into thinking that their time
has not been exceeded.

Sometimes I run into such characters (I've had that time skew thing a few
times) and I'm not sure there's much you can do except move on to the next
game. It happens more on FICS than on paid servers such as ICC and
playchess.com.

Regards,
Arfur