PDA

View Full Version : [Dixonary] Game Hosting options


Daniel B. Widdis
March 29th, 2007, 11:58 PM
I will set up a yahoogroups poll to gauge player opinion on possible places
to move the game. Here are the requirements of any location:



1. Maintain LISTSERV emulation. For players who prefer to play by
email, all options are likely identical, with the exception of delivery
reliability. Yahoogroups has been notoriously bad in that department in
recent years, primarily because of lack of competition, and thus no need to
innovate or improve service. Now that Googlegroups is presenting a credible
alternative, Yahoo is taking steps to improve their service: things may or
may not get better.
2. Provide file storage for word lists, software, etc. Googlegroups
recently added this.
3. Provide protection from spammers (no public listing of messages or
email addresses)



Here is a more verbose explanation of the four options I will include.
You'll be able to vote for as many as you like.



1. Status quo. Continue the game in the yahoogroups Coryphaeus group as
we're currently doing it. Deal with the occasional problems of the group.



2. Move to dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com . Google groups have recently
upgraded to include file storage, group homepage, etc. The web interface is
very similar to gmail (for those of us who know and love it). I belong to
some googlegroups and their email delivery is reportedly much better than
Yahoo's.



3. Move to a private server (e.g. dixonary.somedomain.com or get our own
domain) and set up conventional mailing list (e.g., Majordomo) software to
act as a mailing list; give ftp access to those who upload files and
maintain the server webpage. Dealers would continue to score the game as
they do now with the various scoring software.



4. Move to a private server and engage some of our geekier players (like me)
to code a front-end to the game (perl cgi or PHP) which would both send and
receive/process email messages and allow players to vote at a webpage
(similar to yahoogroups polls), plus provide automatic scoring (with dealer
override for questionable votes). Echo all output to a publicly available
archive (e.g. a googlegroup) for searchability/game history.





--

Dan





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Toni Savage
March 30th, 2007, 06:12 AM
There's no option for moving to tapcis.com, and there's no ability to RANK the choices...



Guerri Stevens <guerri (AT) tapcis (DOT) com> wrote:
I haven't looked yet at the actual poll, but I notice you don't list an
option to play in the Parlor at tapcis.com. One of Judy Russell's
messages seemed to imply that we could do that and still get deliveries
of messages into our Email if we wished. If that is true, I assume that
would be a settable option (i.e. a person could choose to play directly
in the forum rather than have messages delivered by Email).

Guerri

Daniel B. Widdis wrote:
> I will set up a yahoogroups poll to gauge player opinion on possible places
> to move the game. Here are the requirements of any location:

Hugo Kornelis
March 30th, 2007, 06:51 AM
Hi Guerri,

Answers inline.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Guerri Stevens" <guerri (AT) tapcis (DOT) com>
To: <coryphaeus (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 1:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixonary] Game Hosting options


>I have a couple of questions before responding to the poll: I have never
> used a list server. So - would this work the same way the Yahoo group
> does now, i.e. deliver messages to players by Email, if they so choose?

That's the very idea of a listserv - participants send e-mail to the
listserv address, which then sends copies of the mail to all subscribers.

> And is that the only option or would it be possible to go directly to
> the listserver the same way we can go directly to the Yahoo Group (or
> tapcis.com for that matter)?

As far as I know, the email delivery is the only option. Unless Judy manages
to hook up the Tapcis.com Forums to such a list server.

> The reason I ask the latter is that I and some other players have had
> problems with messages *not* arriving by Email. When that happened to
> me, I have had a backup, namely going directly into the Coryphaeus group
> and reading/posting messages there.

See answer above: no direct equivalent of the Cory group, but maybe the
Tapcis.com Forum remains as a backup.

> Last question is on the Google groups: do they also deliver messages by
> Email to any designated Email address?

I hope someone else will answer this question, as I don't know either.

Best, Hugo

Guerri Stevens
March 30th, 2007, 06:57 AM
I have a couple of questions before responding to the poll: I have never
used a list server. So - would this work the same way the Yahoo group
does now, i.e. deliver messages to players by Email, if they so choose?
And is that the only option or would it be possible to go directly to
the listserver the same way we can go directly to the Yahoo Group (or
tapcis.com for that matter)?

The reason I ask the latter is that I and some other players have had
problems with messages *not* arriving by Email. When that happened to
me, I have had a backup, namely going directly into the Coryphaeus group
and reading/posting messages there.

Last question is on the Google groups: do they also deliver messages by
Email to any designated Email address?

Guerri

Daniel B. Widdis wrote:
> I will set up a yahoogroups poll to gauge player opinion on possible places
> to move the game. Here are the requirements of any location:
>
>
>
> 1. Maintain LISTSERV emulation. For players who prefer to play by
> email, all options are likely identical, with the exception of delivery
> reliability. Yahoogroups has been notoriously bad in that department in
> recent years, primarily because of lack of competition, and thus no need to
> innovate or improve service. Now that Googlegroups is presenting a credible
> alternative, Yahoo is taking steps to improve their service: things may or
> may not get better.
> 2. Provide file storage for word lists, software, etc. Googlegroups
> recently added this.
> 3. Provide protection from spammers (no public listing of messages or
> email addresses)
>
>
>
> Here is a more verbose explanation of the four options I will include.
> You'll be able to vote for as many as you like.
>
>
>
> 1. Status quo. Continue the game in the yahoogroups Coryphaeus group as
> we're currently doing it. Deal with the occasional problems of the group.
>
>
>
> 2. Move to dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com . Google groups have recently
> upgraded to include file storage, group homepage, etc. The web interface is
> very similar to gmail (for those of us who know and love it). I belong to
> some googlegroups and their email delivery is reportedly much better than
> Yahoo's.
>
>
>
> 3. Move to a private server (e.g. dixonary.somedomain.com or get our own
> domain) and set up conventional mailing list (e.g., Majordomo) software to
> act as a mailing list; give ftp access to those who upload files and
> maintain the server webpage. Dealers would continue to score the game as
> they do now with the various scoring software.
>
>
>
> 4. Move to a private server and engage some of our geekier players (like me)
> to code a front-end to the game (perl cgi or PHP) which would both send and
> receive/process email messages and allow players to vote at a webpage
> (similar to yahoogroups polls), plus provide automatic scoring (with dealer
> override for questionable votes). Echo all output to a publicly available
> archive (e.g. a googlegroup) for searchability/game history.
>
>
>
>
>

Judy G. Russell
March 30th, 2007, 08:33 AM
> And is that the only option or would it be possible to go directly to
> the listserver the same way we can go directly to the Yahoo Group (or
> tapcis.com for that matter)?

As far as I know, the email delivery is the only option. Unless Judy manages
to hook up the Tapcis.com Forums to such a list server.

We can still run the mailecho at Tapcis -- all we're doing is pulling from and sending to email addresses.

Daniel B. Widdis
March 30th, 2007, 10:22 AM
GS> I notice you don't list an
GS> option to play in the Parlor at tapcis.com

All of the options would include email delivery which would include, at a
minimum, the same functionality that you currently have at tapcis.com.

I think it's been clearly established that some of our players will only
play by email, and thus anything we do must keep that in mind.

--
Dan

Daniel B. Widdis
March 30th, 2007, 10:28 AM
> I have never used a list server.
> So - would this work the same way the Yahoo group
> does now, i.e. deliver messages to players by Email,
> if they so choose?

Yes. A private server wouldn't have ads on it like free sites such as Yahoo
or Google, but all are essentially the same thing: mailing lists.

> I and some other players have had problems with messages *not*
> arriving by Email. When that happened to me, I have had a backup,
> namely going directly into the Coryphaeus group

The google group would have a similar web functionality. A private server
would not, unless we specifically wrote one (but you would still have
tapcis.com as a backup; unless the tapcis email address was the faulty one!)

> Last question is on the Google groups: do they also deliver messages
> by Email to any designated Email address?

Yep. The Google option is essentially the same as the Yahoo! Option with
the following differences:
- Owned by a different company
- Hosted on different servers which have historically been more reliable
- Slightly different web interface (similar to web-based gmail)
- Would have the dixonary name and be solely devoted to the game, not
particularly the various dealing software (but could have downloads there)
- Relatively new on the scene, as opposed to Yahoo which has been around for
years (but not doing much innovation, upgrades, or maintenance due to lack
of competition).

--
Dan

Daniel B. Widdis
March 30th, 2007, 10:32 AM
> there's no ability to RANK the choices...

I chose to let people vote for as many of the options as they like.

--
Dan

Guerri Stevens
March 30th, 2007, 07:39 PM
Thanks, Hugo.

I kind of wish the poll allowed for 1st and 2nd choices! Or maybe
ranking all of them!

Guerri

Hugo Kornelis wrote:
> Hi Guerri,
>
> Answers inline.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Guerri Stevens" <guerri (AT) tapcis (DOT) com>
> To: <coryphaeus (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com>
> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 1:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [Dixonary] Game Hosting options
>
>
>> I have a couple of questions before responding to the poll: I have never
>> used a list server. So - would this work the same way the Yahoo group
>> does now, i.e. deliver messages to players by Email, if they so choose?
>
> That's the very idea of a listserv - participants send e-mail to the
> listserv address, which then sends copies of the mail to all subscribers.
>
>> And is that the only option or would it be possible to go directly to
>> the listserver the same way we can go directly to the Yahoo Group (or
>> tapcis.com for that matter)?
>
> As far as I know, the email delivery is the only option. Unless Judy manages
> to hook up the Tapcis.com Forums to such a list server.
>
>> The reason I ask the latter is that I and some other players have had
>> problems with messages *not* arriving by Email. When that happened to
>> me, I have had a backup, namely going directly into the Coryphaeus group
>> and reading/posting messages there.
>
> See answer above: no direct equivalent of the Cory group, but maybe the
> Tapcis.com Forum remains as a backup.
>
>> Last question is on the Google groups: do they also deliver messages by
>> Email to any designated Email address?
>
> I hope someone else will answer this question, as I don't know either.
>
> Best, Hugo
>
>
>
>
>

Guerri Stevens
March 30th, 2007, 07:44 PM
I have noticed that Yahoo is not particularly caring of its "customers".
I have a couple of Yahoo Email accounts that I use for things like order
confirmations for online ordering. If I have a question that is not
answered by any other message, I notice that Yahoo rarely responds in
any meaningful way. And the changes that they *do* make to their system
are often things I don't want.

The Google ads are far less intrusive than the Yahoo ads, at least in my
limited experience with it. They don't have the dancing and waving and
blinking, etc. ads, and I hope they never will!

Guerri

Daniel B. Widdis wrote:
> Yes. A private server wouldn't have ads on it like free sites such as Yahoo
> or Google, but all are essentially the same thing: mailing lists.
....

Guerri Stevens
March 30th, 2007, 07:45 PM
Aha! I didn't realize we could vote for more than one.
Guerri

Daniel B. Widdis wrote:
>> there's no ability to RANK the choices...
>
> I chose to let people vote for as many of the options as they like.
>

davidh
April 1st, 2007, 04:44 PM
They don't have the dancing and waving and
blinking, etc. ads, and I hope they never will!

If using Firefox browser, the FlashBlock extension for FF will make the playing/display of these Adobe Macromedia Flash ads optional, i.e. only playing when one clicks on the (f) > play button that appears in the place of the "movie".

This FF extension may also easily be disabled and/or uninstalled if you'd rather watch the yuk.

DH