I'm not so keen on Drupal and probably won't spend hours watching video tutorials on it, but PHP and JavaScript are fine with me, and if the difficulty lies in integrating modules with Drupal rather than implementing features, then what's the point of using a CMS in the first place.

What do you mean exactly with SGF handling module? What functions should it have, and how would it be helpful?

What do you think about the scheduler/calendar functionality I outlined? As far as I can judge it from the outside and the comments in this thread, it seems to me that making it easier to get matches would be a very important thing to support.

Just to chip in. I've had put in place a drupal system for the University but after two years my view has become that a more ready made CMS would have been a quicker and more robust solution. If you have someone keen who wants to have Drupal development on their CV then its win/win but if you want a site up that does the job, is flexible and can be added to - I'd go with Joomla with this extension:

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions ... ports/8546

Find a nice (free theme) and set the "authors" and other extensions as you want. It would be quick to build and should do anything you want.

It will look a bit Joomla-ish" but it will do the job..

with sgf integration i just mean that ppl wanting to use sgf on site dont have to code it manually to display it (so integration into wysiwig for example).

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admin of the ASR league and KGS admin

to add on my current state of happiness today a few more prizes got added again by a kind donater!!! We got most active player prize and several kyu prizes now!

W00T!!!

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admin of the ASR league and KGS admin

I think what the league is lacking is the ability to schedule the games with your opponents. That will be kickass. In Kaya.gs.



Also its not easy to motivate the strongest players in the league. Often being the strongest is just being the teacher of the league. So there is this constant pressure for strongest players to resign from the league. This happened in Alex's league , even though it had prize money, so the burden is even bigger in the ASR.

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Founder of Kaya.gs

yes its alwas a big challenge to motivate strong players in the league, but even the insei league, with bigger prizes, have trouble with that as you say.

Still i tink our league is ''healthier'' just because its free the dans who are enrolling for the league know they will play weaker players and be more willing to do so. To top it of, next months alpha winner may choose either a tgame with yilun yang or 3 month kgs+!! The remaining prize will be given to the winner of the beta winners match:)

hows that for motivation?

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admin of the ASR league and KGS admin

Damn, I wish I had time to come back ...

One of these months ...

This is pretty much why I did quit. I was OK to play mostly weaker players for 2-3 months, but that plan didn't go so well as I wasn't getting enough games to promote or even stay at the same group.

i'm sorry to hear that.

We have since a while now made classes bigger (about 20 per class) and im not certain if you played in that setting.

We are working on the new site bit by bit and we plan to make a scheduling system within each class so you can either see when others are usually online or schedule an actual game. Would this help you?

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admin of the ASR league and KGS admin

I am new to ASR, so my opinion could be wrong but.... I will say it anyway.

In my view, the best way to get and keep ASR going is to create more of a community. Part of the reason I play ASR is to meet and get to know people who might be a little more dedicated and within a more controlled environment than the "English Room"

1) I think we should feel freer to play others outside the class you are in. It seems to me that there are no rules about who you can play with, if you do not need to get a point. In other words, if I am sitting online and no one from my class is available, why not just play with anyone who is available? We could play a rated game, a teaching game, or a free game.
Why should I go back to the English Room when there are like 30+ players logged into ASR without a game? I think if we make a clear policy that there are no penalties or restrictions on playing games in ASR outside of league games, that would help foster a greater community among us.
In addition, if a class member comes on, you can always ask your opponent to post-pone the game and go play a league game. The non-league games could be continued later or abandoned depending on whether it is a rated game or not.

2) It would be great if we could have an ASR space on the boards, where people could introduce themselves privately. Perhaps a child board that only ASR members can access.

3) Perhaps you could create an ASR fan page on facebook or something to increase the community beyond KGS. Even KGS does not have a fan page, and it probably should.

Anyway, these are just my quick thoughts. I think 1 is quite valuable and I will be posting non league games and comments in ASR room if it is allowed. If it is not, I think it should be allowed.

What exactly is stopping you from playing a game against whoever in the ASR? Afaik, it's totally fine to do so, it just won't give you league points if the person isn't in your class. Or are you trying to say the ASR should be more explicit in that this activity is okay?
Isn't this thread in one? I don't see any benefits in restricting a subforum such that only ASR members can access it; actually I think it'd do more harm than good as it shuts out interested people.
This should be easy enough, as there is already an ASR (and KGS) group; an admin over those groups should be able to upgrade the group with ease (as I did for the Igo Hatsuyoron group, which changed into a fan page).

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金角银边草肚皮

First of all, if you take issue with my initial goal of creating a greater community within ASR, then all the following points are irrelevant to you. All the points I make below are focused on creating a greater sense of community in ASR.


I know that I can do this. What I see is that people are not doing this. So, somehow, it would be good to encourage this more. Perhaps making it clear that you can play games in the league room that do not give points would help. I do not know if it would or not.
When I am logged in, I see like 30-50 people in ASR room and between zero and 2 games in the room. If I click on some members of my class, they are playing games in English or other rooms. This is my observation and it is strange to me when there are 30-50 players in the room.

Either i wasn't clear or you misunderstand. I am talking about a place where ASR people can introduce themselves to other ASR people without making that information too public. In other words, create a space in addition to this space that is for ASR people only. I am not suggesting to make this space private. I am only suggesting to make a new private space for members only. I have been part of other on-line gaming communities before. One of the best ways to generate a community is to create community-only space.

That is interesting because when i do a search on facebook for KGS or Kiseido I cannot find it. KGS has a bunch of hits with very few members, except for one private group. There are tons of pages of results, though, I thought it would be easier to find. ASR is the same, with a lot of results and few members. Perhaps KGS and ASR are there, but with a bunch of other groups with the same name, it is difficult to find them without clicking through a hundred different groups.
All I found was a KGS Information page.
I know the search in Facebook sucks, so maybe you can just post the links to those pages here so people know they exist and can join if they want.

Anyway, like I said, if people think that the problem with ASR is within the structure, they try to fix the rules. If people think that the problem is creating a greater sense of community than perhaps these suggestions will help.

Why are you being so defensive? I'm just trying to gain a clearer understanding of what you're trying to suggest.
So basically just make it more explicit and encouraging it rather than not saying anything at all; got it.
So basically an ASR forum, got it.
stalkor is going to try and get the creator of the ASR group to turn the group page into a fan page as only the creator has this privilege. Once it turns into a fan page, it should be easier to find; but no worries, an explicit link should be posted in the ASR channel.

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金角银边草肚皮

Sorry, it is the nature of my job. I misunderstood your tone.
Thanks for the response.

Thanks GoJapan for your interesting ideas, and thanks Araban for helping to clarify them!

I like the idea of developing the ASR community. I've been a member for a few months now but beyond buddying people with whom I've had a good experience, I haven't been able to make much happen as far as building on these contacts. Encouraging games in the room but outside the league, as well as offering a forum where players could get to know one another a bit better might help.

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"When you are learning, it is not so important whether you are right or wrong." - Bill Spight

I only joined a few days ago, so take my comments accordingly. I have been on a few hours each day and have yet to see anyone from my group. I may be somewhat more limited than others in that I mostly have the time in the evening after my kids go to bed to try to play, but I have also tried looking during my lunch break at work without success. I may not be the target audience for the league, perhaps I should be looking into something like the DGS based league instead. However, I have two thoughts :

1) Ask people when they sign up what hours/days they are usually available and divide players accordingly. I'm going to see what I can do this weekend, but if I can't find games that fit my schedule then either I'll probably just give up on ASR without ever getting a game. Perhaps I should have anticipated this when I was trying to sign up for nearly a week and never saw an admin. The room is reasonably active when I'm there, so it would seem like it should be possible to arrange things so games are available.

2) Provide a turn-based option. Finishing turned based games within a month requires faster time controls than normal for those servers, and people willing to make several move each day. I am on pace to finish several games on DGS in less than a month, so it is possible. However, that seems to be happening in games where my opponent is awake roughly the same time I am so we can play 10-15 moves in a day. This may have the same problems if the players are on different continents and so can only play one move each daily.

Another option would be to let the games be longer when turn based, just count a player's record based on games finished in a given month. If can play one move daily in 20 games that should translate to around 10 games/month, well above the league minimum.

Kevin

it's sad to hear about you not able to find games (i've looked at your previous game records and yes, that time of the day is very quiet since all europeans are asleep and most americans just turned in for bed). That does not mean is not meant for you, instead, everyone who wants to play serious games and learn is our target audience.

The idea of playing more non league games in the ASR is very good idea and i hope that everyone who reads this will think of doing that when there are no players online from your class. We are still working on the new site (this will take a while) and we have the idea of the scheduling already in mind so i guess you have to wait for it. the new site will also have a place to introduce yourself and such:)

also the idea of turnbased is something im not in favor of. we have DGS for it and KGS is not made for such a thing.

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admin of the ASR league and KGS admin

I have read the intro and the league rules and the FAQ. I have also read through various of the posts here and logged onto the the ASR room and checked the action. I have not found a clear statement on why you think the league structure achieves the ASR goals. As far as I can see the current league structure artificially restricts the opportunities to play and is the primary reason for people being dissatisfied. The structure looks nice when it is presented in a graphic, but it does not seem to work. If you sat down today with a blank piece of paper and thought about how to achieve the stated goals of the ASR, what could be done better?

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Dave Sigaty
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
- George Carlin

I think it's worth noting that while the league structure may in some ways restrict opportunities to play, this is far outweighed by the opportunities it creates - namely the opportunity to play even games with stronger players. Barring some prior personal relationship, I think that this is pretty rare on KGS. The ASR has in fact created an atmosphere in which many hundreds of such games are played each month. This is not to say that there is no room for improvement, but stalkor and co. have been listening to the criticisms and implementing new ideas in response. I don't think the situation is dire.

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"When you are learning, it is not so important whether you are right or wrong." - Bill Spight

I honestly think you are posting in the wrong topic. Please refer to stalkor's original question. This is not the place where you congratulate everyone on the good points. It is exactly where you address his question, "What is the ASR doing wrong?"

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Dave Sigaty
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
- George Carlin