Life In 19x19

karaklis wrote:Use it what is was donated for. It's as simple as that.

I agree that this makes the most sense, and avoids the problem of people donating for one thing and getting another. Nonetheless a few interesting suggestions have been made, and the speedy and generous responses to Joaz' request indicates that a) L19 is already doing a good job serving the needs of it's users, and b) there is a willingness to invest in the site.

Perhaps instead of discussing what to do with a few excess dollars, we should think more specifically how we might want to enhance the site. Some of you may not know, but in addition to offering the forum, L19 also already streams go videos (http://www.lifein19x19.com/L19TV.php ) and has a pro-games database (http://www.lifein19x19.com/gogames/database1.htm ).

What else do we want? It occurred to me this morning that I would enjoy a fb style popup chat window - but I imagine that if people are interested in that, it probably wouldn't cost much. As for something worth raising money for, I think paying a high level player to play a Malkovitch game is a fantastic idea, and one that would make sense for L19 - the creators of Malkovitch - to sponsor.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to collect a few more ideas and then put up a poll asking which ideas people would be willing to sponsor/ do the work to make happen.

Please value my comments relative to my contribution (I missed the window). There is a clarity that is very helpful to L19 to use the funds raised for the stated purpose.

I would enjoy a pro-am malkovich as well. I would be happy to contribute to a professional fund (and try not to miss the window).

For the administrators, once you start paying pros, difficulties arise. Finding someone. Aligning their interests with ours. Getting a pro to play in the spirit of a Malkovich game might be difficult, especially with an amateur. Pros often charge about $500 per day for clinics - I think a well done Malkovich would be about that amount. There are also IP rights to consider once you pay for content.

daal wrote:What else do we want? It occurred to me this morning that I would enjoy a fb style popup chat window - but I imagine that if people are interested in that, it probably wouldn't cost much.

I would really, really hate that. Facebook is so slow these days.

jts wrote:

daal wrote:What else do we want? It occurred to me this morning that I would enjoy a fb style popup chat window - but I imagine that if people are interested in that, it probably wouldn't cost much.

I would really, really hate that. Facebook is so slow these days.

Is it the chat that makes FB so slow? I doubt it. While I certainly wouldn't want to bog down the L19 forum with unwanted fluff, I personally quite enjoy the occasional chat with friends on KGS and I don't see what's to really really hate about it. Some of the people I'd like to chat with are either rarely on KGS or I don't know their handle. I think if you don't want to be chatted at, it would probably be easy to set your status to off-line.

There must be plenty of chat widgets for phpBB that aren't too resource demanding?

Chat window would be cool, so would pro malk.

You could try starting a separate fundraiser for a pro Malkovich game and see how much interest you get. Maybe you should have a caveat going in that if you raise less than $300 or so you would just put it into the general fund for ongoing expenses.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:

RBerenguel wrote:...can't you add a "donate" (or contribute, if Paypal gets picky) button beside the logo here in the forums ...

That's a great idea. We just got the code from Paypal, and someone ( probably Fwiffo ) will be trying to install it soon...

It is done. If you like this feature, remember to thank Fwiffo.

One or two weeks ago, L19 had database problems. Since when that has been fixed, every second time I call L19, the board index's graphical elements load very slowly, then clicking on Login does not produce an immediate reaction but takes about 5 to 15 seconds for the login dialog to appear Only as soon as I am logged in, everything is fine.

Therefore money and / or effort needs to be invested on the pre-login connection state.

Numbered red stones and hex boards?