Talk:Free Internet Chess Server

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This paragraph is incomprehensible to laymen, and irrelevant: "The original GPL chessd has been extensively updated, including PostgreSQL and MySQL backend support, at the Universidade Federal do Paraná in Brazil. They have published their work on Sourceforge as chessd "Chrysallis" (see external links) and continue to enhance the daemon." It may be important, and it may not. Since I can't understand it, I'm not going to delete it, but whoever wrote it should re-write it so that a layman can begin to understand it.--Sam 01:10, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree 100% and I attempted to rewrite to make it more layperson friendly. I decided the the term "daemon", while correct, is an unnecessary detail of how the software operates so I removed it. I also restructured the information a little. Incidentally, there are other versions of chessd floating around: "Lasker" was a big one a few years back. I said that Chrysallis was "notable" (and it is) but I didn't want to give the reader the opinion that no others exist, or that the only work being done on this comes from the Brazilian university.--Daniel Freeman 07:06, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

I removed this sentence "As there are 100 topic channels, the conversation on channel 50 often falls into categories intended for other channels," because it reads more like a complaint than anything helpful. --Sam 01:15, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Why is the paragraph about cheating removed? Many people feel like this - and is criticism not allowed? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 132.199.32.71 (talk • contribs).

Although I did not delete it, I probably would have. Do you have any sources you can cite, specifically regarding the claim that 30% of users cheat. Where did you get this statistic? Themindset 20:15, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

The 30% is an educated guess from my clubmates and me (about 35 people (including 2 IMs) who used to play on a more or less regular basis at FICS - even the IMs have have enormous troubles winning games under 4 0 against persons 1450+ - mostly due to lagcheating, but sometimes people make no mistakes at all in fast time controls...and now dont tell they are that good... And about the fact that the admins support cheating: none of us has ever seen that an admin has taken notice of any complaint...if you are lucky you will get answer in maybe 1 out of 10 cases saying something like: well, dont bother, everything is ok

I've played 100 games on FICS and only encountered one verbally-abusive player and one cheater. The administrators handled the verbally-abusive player within one day and the cheater within one week. I've chatted with several folks online who've had similar experiences. I strongly disagree with the claim that 30% of FICS users are cheaters. likesforests 05:19, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Throwing up a random number such as 30% based on your experience with 35 players from a chess club can hardly be considered a random sample of the thousands of users which log on to the site each year. Furthermore, the accusation that admins support cheating is outrageous. The admins are on there to help prevent cheating.

I really dont care if people waste their time with FICS - and I dont care about people who are in their first year at university and who think they know the acedemic rules either...It just makes me sad to see that the once cool FICS (I had been playing at FICS since its very beginning) has deteriorated so much - and what is even worse: Wikipedia is being destroyed by the same smartasses who think they know something by the same mechanisms

At least check your spelling and punctuation before posting!

Wow, what an impressive argument!

[edit] Channels?

I removed the channel "duck channel" from the list, as it's just a silly 10 year old joke that nobody even understands anymore. On the same subject, do we really need a list of channels at all? Why not just explain what the channels are (something the section sorely lacks at this point) and then name two or three of them as an example?

[edit] Where's FICS?

The article states: The server was brought online March 5, 1995, and remains operational today.

Really? I haven't been able to connect since 19. October. Is Fics history? GBWallenstein 00:08, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

It was up a few days ago, and there was no news item on the server saying they were shutting down, but you are correct that it does not appear to be up right now. It's probably server or ISP troubles, which is not unprecedented. Give it a week.  Cjpuffin  17:58, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. What worries me is that it's also not unprecedented for a site to shut down permanently without first publicly saying good-bye. In the last few months -- to judge from the rank and hrank figures -- the number of active users went up by several thousand. Maybe the admins finally got to the point where it was too much work and too much aggravation. I'll just wait and hope. FICS was, for me, hands-down the best place to play chess. GBWallenstein 23:44, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

This is extremely worrying, FICS is really a wonderful community and I sincerely hope that we may hear news that this downtime is only temporary? There was indeed a great deal of totally unnecessary criticism and complaint about a hugely difficult task of maintaining order. I would say FICS has greatly contributed to to the chess playing abilities of thousands of people worldwide due to it's accessibility and the sporting nature of it's regular players. GUEST xxxx ..18:10, 23 October 2006

FICS is back up. The following news item was posted on the server:  CjPuffin  17:51, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

1189 (Thu, Oct 19) IMPORTANT: FICS experiencing hardware problems!

FICS is currently experiencing hardware problems, which have blocked our Web 
\   page, the registration system and our email system. This also means that 
\   we are unable to issue new passwords. However, if you have password 
\   problems connecting with Jin (the main Web interface), it is probably not 
\   due to a forgotten password, so please download, install and connect with 
\   another GUI (Graphical User Interface). Possible options are WinBoard, 
\   available as a self-installing .EXE from 
\   http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/winboard/winboard-4_2_7a.exe, BabasChess, available
\   from http://www.babaschess.net/ and Thief, available from 
\   http://www.thief-interface.com/

Posted by MAd.

I also used to log in via the web site as I am often not on my computer but on a public computer which doesn't allow downloading Jin or other program. Obviously this is an inconvenience- maybe however it will reduce numbers of some of the more destructive people who just log in and waste time of people who want a serious game of chess. Such people might not bother to download an interface. Guest XXXX (genuine user) 02:28, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

As of today, Nov 15, 2006, they still appear to be down. Anyone have an update?

It's up. Check your firewall and/or ISP.  CjPuffin  07:20, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I tried to go to the site @ work (Sun box) and @ home (PC) & both got nowhere. They're on different ISPs, firewalls, etc. Is the server up, but not the site?

The section, October downtime, needs to go on the grounds that it isn't relevant. That entry, along with some of the comments left about it on this page, looks like enemy action more than constructive encyclopedic editing. Without an intelligent objection, I am deleting it Tuesday. Sam 07:11, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. --Ideogram 07:31, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I couldn't login late yesterday (November 20), nor today, but it was working earlier yesterday. Any word from those in the know? --65.57.245.11 17:38, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the website has been down for more than a month and now the chess server itself (port 5000) is also down. So, you can't play directly with a board either, as news item 1189 suggests. Is FICS dead?

This silence is the weird thing . No explanations, nothing. Last week a friend wanted to subscribe, the server was still up and when I asked on ch1 I was told it is going to be at least week before the site would work. The only information I could find is here, and that is not much. It would be an absolute shame if such a great thing just disappeared. 88.100.35.17 18:51, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Maybe I should take a drive down to San Jose and visit the registrar of the domain! Bring back FICS! :) --65.57.245.11 19:17, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

FICS was taken down to be replaced with a new machine. They announced this in a news item. --Ideogram 20:35, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

That's great, but I can't exactly check that now, can I? :) --65.57.245.11 22:16, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Great news! I just tried a `free 1 week subscription` on ICC, which works only with Blitzln interface, which works only with windows :( Then I tried some others, but I have to say none compare to FICS... (88.100.35.17 21:03, 21 November 2006 (UTC))

Details about the efforts to revive the FICS server can be read here: http://www.chessvillage.com/profile.php?sub_section=blog&id=96

This is dissapointing, is there no other free chess server available to play on. I am amazed that fics would be the only free server on the internet.

[edit] Yes, FICS is down from time to time

Every time FICS goes down for an hour, everyone goes ballistic and starts saying it's dead, and sections to that effect appear in the main article. It has some hardware problems from time to time; wait an hour before posting.  CjPuffin  06:13, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

--- The website has been down for about two months now. So I would replace that section in the main article. --- I agree with the above. A two month downtime of the front-page of any website (or a two month period of inability accept new members by an online community) is a significant part of their description/history...

An update for those unable to connect to the server (which is different from the website) CjPuffin  05:18, 28 November 2006 (UTC):

1192 (Tue, Nov 21) The chess server is up but some of the other services are still missing

The chess server has been moved to the new machine, however we still have to 
\   install and/or configure some other services including the website and the
\   mailer.

Posted by MAd.