Disconnection shenanigans on ICC

[sje]

The "stored <player-handle>" command on ICC will list that player's adjourned games, if any. Adjournments caused by disconnections by that player are labeled with a "(!)" mark.

Here's a list by one supposedly non-computer player who has problems both staying connected and resuming games:

Amateur(!) ChessThinkerX(!) FastLearner(!) MoonBeam(!) ProphetX(!) Symbolic(!) TwistedLogicCCT(!) battlechus(!) Colossus(!) duckbreath(!) minimardi(!) MrPeabody(!) SlowBo(!) Tinker(!) UkrainianMachin(!)

I believe all of the above are programs.

Now, I have an idea as to what is really happening here, but I'll let you make your own guess.

[Albert Silver]

The "stored <player-handle>" command on ICC will list that player's adjourned games, if any. Adjournments caused by disconnections by that player are labeled with a "(!)" mark.

Here's a list by one supposedly non-computer player who has problems both staying connected and resuming games:

Amateur(!) ChessThinkerX(!) FastLearner(!) MoonBeam(!) ProphetX(!) Symbolic(!) TwistedLogicCCT(!) battlechus(!) Colossus(!) duckbreath(!) minimardi(!) MrPeabody(!) SlowBo(!) Tinker(!) UkrainianMachin(!)

I believe all of the above are programs.

Now, I have an idea as to what is really happening here, but I'll let you make your own guess.

Are these for longer (standard) time controls? I can't understand resuming in blitz games nowadays. Also, does ICC have a way to filter players who have more than X number of 'adjourned' games?

[CThinker]

The "stored <player-handle>" command on ICC will list that player's adjourned games, if any. Adjournments caused by disconnections by that player are labeled with a "(!)" mark.

Here's a list by one supposedly non-computer player who has problems both staying connected and resuming games:

Amateur(!) ChessThinkerX(!) FastLearner(!) MoonBeam(!) ProphetX(!) Symbolic(!) TwistedLogicCCT(!) battlechus(!) Colossus(!) duckbreath(!) minimardi(!) MrPeabody(!) SlowBo(!) Tinker(!) UkrainianMachin(!)

I believe all of the above are programs.

Now, I have an idea as to what is really happening here, but I'll let you make your own guess.

I don't think ChessThinkerX has problems staying connected or resuming games. I have had it stay up for several consecutive days at one time.

There are only two unfinished games for Thinker at ICC. One of them, ChompsterX, has not logged in since August 2006.

Code: Select all

aics% stored
ChessThinkerX has adjourned games with the following opponents:
     ChompsterX  Kanha

I have an auto-response list in ThinkerBoard, and it is configured to send a "resume" command whenever the disconnected opponent logs in. In the case of Kanha, it probably has never accepted the 'resume'.

Code: Select all

* accepts your challenge.
#Good luck

Notification: *, who has an adjourned game with you has arrived.
#resume

### end

Those with Pocket PC ThinkerBoard can do the same. They just need to create a file, named, AutoResponse.txt. One line defines the input pattern, and the next line defines what the response is. You can have any number of these pattern-response entries.

[Tony Thomas]

What's your explanation, your engine is also on the list...

[Will Singleton]

Remarkable. Of your first three replies, no one seems to have understood your post.

[sje]

Remarkable. Of your first three replies, no one seems to have understood your post.

Yeah, I noticed that.

What I'm trying to convey is that there's a supposedly human player on ICC that is deliberately disconnecting early and often against program players.

[CThinker]

Remarkable. Of your first three replies, no one seems to have understood your post.

Yeah, I noticed that.

What I'm trying to convey is that there's a supposedly human player on ICC that is deliberately disconnecting early and often against program players.

Yup, 'Kanha' seems to have the 'disconnect-against-comps' syndrome.

Although, he may just have the more common 'disconnect' syndrome, but he plays most of his games against computer accounts (as his history shows).

[Albert Silver]

Remarkable. Of your first three replies, no one seems to have understood your post.

Yeah, I noticed that.

What I'm trying to convey is that there's a supposedly human player on ICC that is deliberately disconnecting early and often against program players.

I understood that just fine. That´s why I suggested you filter him, or use disconnect=lose game. The concept of adjourning games due to connection issues made sense when connections were far more fickle, and the grand majority connected using slow dial-ups. Nowadays. I see little point unless these are longer time-controls, in which case you are not just allowing adjournments for connection issues, but simply in case something comes up and the game is particularly long.

[sje]

That´s why I suggested you filter him, or use disconnect=lose game.

The difficulty with "noescape=1" is that the setting must be mutual to be effective.

I'll give this guy a couple more days to resume, then it's off to the noplay list for him.

[mhull]

That´s why I suggested you filter him, or use disconnect=lose game.

The difficulty with "noescape=1" is that the setting must be mutual to be effective.

I'll give this guy a couple more days to resume, then it's off to the noplay list for him.

I used to have a long list of adjourned games by early disconnectors. I switched to NOESCAPE for all my seeks, and I never had any problems again.

However, that also meant that one of the stronger human players would no longer play my account. He held an undefeated record against my computer, but he also got disconnected sometimes, though usually reconnected soon after.

What caused me to not renew my account was that I was penalized for one game where my computer lost on time in a STANDARD time control after making only ten moves. This would happen once in 600 games where xboard would get confused, thinking it was the other side to move when it was really my side. This was enough for ICC to ban my account from playing rated games. My emails of explanation went unanswered, so I let the account lapse. Pretty ridiculous policy, IMO.