time out drop-downs

[beagle]

To all my friends...
who have played against me these past 18 months. I regret that I am closing my account and will not be playing again until at least after Easter. I will then try again. I do NOT expect the site managers/owners to have identified and corrected the fault that so many people have complained about, so if it happens to me again after Easter, I'm sorry but it will have to be 'bye bye everyone'. I am a premium player, yet it seems to make no difference to the site managers - take my money and continue to give a 2nd rate service.
So, my friends, as I have no real faith in the managers, I suspect this is good bye. With great relucance and sorrow. I wish you all the very best of Sudoku-ing and hope we will meet again on a more efficiently run site elsewhere.

Beagle

[fe fe]

oh yes, my last game also shows "communication time out" servral times.

[achilles]

We apologize if we have not been that visible to check out these timeouts you have been experiencing. Rest assure that we will look into this matter immediately.

[irma]

Great decision achilles!

So sorry beagle you were frustrated to the point of leaving (just now read you post), but hopeful that you may reconsider.

Otherwise, you witty comments would be so missed.

[mikewardbarrow]

Game #640944 played monday 4 timeouts in first 5 minutes. I logged out in disgust. Just returned to it today finished it in just over 9 minutes no problems - no timeouts!!! I have noticed that when I am playing solo (practice) I very, very rarely get a timeout - hence, because I like the method of play on this site I have been doing mainly practice games. Yesterday's real game was to see if things had changed - they haven't!! Like beagle, I am a premium player, due to renew in May. I will NOT be renewing until this 2nd rate service - and it is second rate; this fault has been around and complained about for at least a year - has been fixed. I have no wish to spend $25 per year to keep you in gourmet peanut sandwiches just to play practice games.
As a passing thought, how many players have not bothered to complain but just left in sheer frustration due to the site's inability to fix this fault?

[irma]

Jim55, whatever happened to your post?

I found it insightful; the viewpoint put forward in the "New game category" compelling.

Since I also like "the method of play on this site", I lean towards - hanging in there, and anticipate no more

"time out drop-downs" in the near future, based on achilles' apology and the assurance:

we will look into this matter immediately

.

[Broekie]

I experience the same from time to time. I've already reported and for me, for now so far, the pop-ups stopped again.
But unfortunately I notice that the other requests haven't been granted either.

F.e.... on the 3rd of november 2009 Hedgehod suggested:

Suggestion - game chat before entering game
by hedgehog1 on Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:24 am

Concise description:
Suggestion - game chat before entering a game

Specifics:
Making the game chat accessible also before entering game

This will improve the following aspects of the site:
Players have not so much time for the game chat solving the table. But they have much more time waiting for the game and can chat with other waiting players.
hedgehog1

Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:03 pm
Private message

Until now nothing has been done on this, though it was promised. Besides we didn't hear it wouldn't be possible to realize...

Please keep us informed webmaster!

[mikewardbarrow]

jim55 - like irma, I am wondering what happened to your post.
Whilst I appreciate your general theme...
I can only play practice games without getting drop-down time out warnings or refresh demands. When these drop-downs (or pop-ups, call them what you will) are occuring every minute or so and distracting from the concentration needed, I find playing frustrating to say the least.

Why SHOULD I pay $25 a year just to play practice games? This problem has been around a long, long time, and the suggestions as to why it is happening always seemed to centre round my computer, i.e. have I any various cookies running (I have none) etc. etc. The fact that I get no problems when playing solo, nor even when I sign out of a game in frustration and then go back several hours later when I am the only player left to complete, leads me to think that the site server/computer cannot cope with the number of demands the players make on it during a game and so initiates a 'time out'.
For now, I am not leaving this site - just not renewing my premium membership. If the powers that be then want to bar me, so be it. All the while I remain a member, I will periodically play a game with other players. When I can complete these games without a time out, I will renew my premium membership.
If the powers that be want/need more income from the site, then let them re-introduce advertisements on premium players screens. It would not worry me - after all, the main (the very main) advantage of premium membership is unlimited plays, not the absence of advertising - 40 years of ITV have taught me how to totally disregard any advertising! I see no reason why I should pay to keep this site going whilst the operators just sit back. They appointed a site manager a fair while ago - what has he been doing to earn his keep? There have been no obviously visible signs of his work on site, that's for sure.
If the owners want this site to prosper and keep them in 'gourmet peanut butter sarnies' then they have to speculate to accumulate. The basic premise of the site is brilliant - the best I've seen on the Web by far - so if they get it right, the players will come - fact!! So it is over to them - speculate, get it right, advertise and sit back and enjoy those GPBS -whilst keeping a watchful eye for gremlins.

[sudoking]

Thanks for the candid feedback, folks.

I am going to move Speed Sudoku to a faster, more powerful server. I will also program the game to remember your numbers if you have to leave the page and come back.

Please give me a week or two to take care of this.

[beagle]

Many thanks sudoking, looking forward to normal service after Easter.

[irma]

Thank you sudoking for your efforts to fix the "drop-downs", as well as to

program the game to remember your numbers if you have to leave the page and come back".

Much appreciated idea being one of those who practice leaving & returning to the page.


No mention of the "chat before entering game".

This is unfortunate since it seems to have a potential to be beneficial to the users
by reducing the tedium associated with the wait for a game to fill,
and by the virtue of offering a choice to turn the wasted time into a sociable chat.

And, what benefits the users is likely to benefit the site, too.

While mikewardbarrow's statement:

The basic premise of the site is brilliant - the best I've seen on the Web by far..

is recognized and agreed with, there is room for further improvement by listening to the users.

In view of this, it might be worthwhile to consider looking into programming the game for such chat,
if it is in fact possible to do so.


It would surely please many users.

[kusudo]

Until now I have been using IE (internet explorer) as standard web browser, and is always using IE when I log in and play on speedsudoku.com and there is always problem loading games or I get a time out pop-up window.
Just now I downloaded and installed Firefox 4.0, then log in to my account and played a game using Firefox 4.0 and it was a total different experience..smooth as silk and no problems with loading issue for the game to start up nor during playing!
Good luck and cheers everyone %)

[beagle]

To all my friends and super competitors this last 18 months. As I said in the first post of this thread, I'll try again ater Easter. I have, and it is worse than ever - 6 popups in 7 minutes and then anothret popup when I was playing blind - having ignored the request to refresh. I don't think it is all this sites fault - I played a couple of games - introduced a new player to the site - in a British city environment with absolutely no problems. The Broadband speed was >4. Here in the deepest depth of rural England it hsas been known to drop to <1, and never exceeds 2, so I suspect this is the problem. Anyway Goobye everyone. The frustration is proving to much.

[pgk]

This is the fifth time i have finished a game and although I finished first the was no submit option for me, not mentioning the "communication time out" message which appeared every 10 seconds for half an hour-only for me not for the other competitors. This time I lost 350 points.
It seems you dont have the skills to fix this problem everyone is talking about so I please ask from the site owners to give me my money back. If not I'm sorry to tell you that I 'll inform all newcomers about these problems before they become premium members and loose their money.

[achilles]

We apologize for the communication time outs and pop ups that you have been getting in your games. The webmaster will look into this and fix this as soon as possible. These pop ups could be connected with the server or the ISP's that we use. Either way, we will see what can be done to fix all of these. Again, we apologize for this pop ups to happen to your games. We are on it.