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An idea for a new Forum Competition

Jude

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Just had an idea, it's still open to suggestions, but I thought it would be quite nice to have. My idea was having a monthly event in which a large number of scrambles (large being a number high enough to give an accurate representation of one's real average - i.e. 20ish) for the basic 3x3x3 speedsolve and getting lots of people on the forum to take an average with them (probably of the format "n-2 out of n") . The results could be pmed to the person running the topic and then (s)he could then post a monthly-updated "league table" of everyone's best average of 20. This would be good if lots of people entered as it would be cool to see where everyone in the forum stands in the normal 3x3x3 event. Of course it would need someone to run it, but I wouldn't mind doing that.
Tell me what you think, Jude.
 

byu

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I think it is a good idea, I'd love to be the one to run it, although I know I'd do terribly competing myself (I average over a minute). This kind of competition would be a good idea, since 5 solves, as I think it is for the current weekly competition, is not good enough to get an accurate idea of an average (one lucky solve changes the average dramatically). I think we should wait until twenty people agree that this is a good idea. I'll vote as one.
 

Escher

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I dont really see any problems with that.
with it being monthly, it would avoid infringing on the weekly competitions territory, which is no bad thing.

perhaps it could be a solve-a-day event, where you have no. of scrambles equal to days in the month, and you take off the best and worst?
& perhaps a monthly FMC, where you have a month to work out the best solution too?

EDIT
i dont think having a 'quota' of people who support it is necessary - support from the older members and moderators, as well as a reasonable no. of people, is more important.
 

byu

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Great idea. I think we could just try it, someone post a thread containing the months scrambles for January, and then see how many people post. If people don't like it after January, we can stop, but if it's good, we could just keep going.
 

byu

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I have 31 scrambles ready for January if we decide to do it. It was Jude's idea so I'm waiting for Jude to approve, then in a few days I'll post January 2009s monthly competition.
 

Jude

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Thanks for the enthusiam, it's flattering :)P), but I'm not sure a scramble a day would be a good idea, for many reasons. Firstly, it would be much harder to maintain and keep track of, secondly, people may not have the time to pick up a cube every single day, and thirdly, for those who want a decent average it would mean warming up etc just for 1 solve, which seems quite a waste. Also, I don't think it's a good idea to jump straight into it, I'd rather wait and see what other people think first.
 

AvGalen

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I have been thinking about changing the weekly competition to a monthly one where I provide 25 scrambles instead of 5. In the end I decided I like the current idea better.

I think 5 solves are a good indication of one's level. Remember that best and worst get dropped so 1 lucky solve (or 1 horrible screw-up) doesn't influence the average.

I think having a "scramble each day" was meant as "supply (and solve) 31 scrambles for january at once" and not as "supply (and solve) 1 scramble every day every day in january"

The most important thing about running a competition is getting enough competitors.
 

Ellis

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Well, I like the idea. Since it is monthly, It wouldn't be too much work for the moderator to post all the months times in the main post. For example, say January 1st there is a thread with 25-30 scrambles and individual members PM their times (maybe avg, best, worst, SD, not the whole list) to whoever is running the competition. That person can then post a new thread at the end of January with that month's averages and the next month's scrambles. So that way there is easy access to all the times rather than them being scattered throughout pages of replies. If someone were to start this though, they'd have to make sure to give a warning in the thread to not post averages as replies to the thread, but to PM them to the person running the competition.

Also, average of 5 is NOT accurate enough (for me at least). It's not uncommon that I do a series of averages of 5 in a day and get anywhere from sub-18 to 22 seconds. That's a pretty big gap. I can't see any argument against this sort of competition, unless there are really few people speaking out in favor of it. I don't like the idea of replacing the weekly comps with monthly averages of 25, like Arnaud was thinking, but there is room for both.
 

byu

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OK, so let's see if we can come up with some good rules. First off, I agree with Jude, a scramble a day isn't really that great. Ellis is also right that an average of 5 is definitely not enough. So, let's say 20 solves is probably good enough. I've got them ready to go, if we end up doing this? How many of you say that we should just try it out for January and see if it goes well?
 

Ellis

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lol byu, you're so ready to go, scrambles and all. Let's keep it real though, 20 scrambles takes 3 seconds to get so its not all the important right now. Plus Jude did make this thread so it would be better if he or some forum moderator run it instead, which means they would be getting the scrambles. But if we were seriously thinking about this, maybe there should be a poll to see how many people would regularly participate in such a competition.

and byu, check your PM's, I sent you something a few days ago ;)
 

AvGalen

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If it would be once a month and only regular 3x3x3 I would recommend an average of 50. Including scrambling, inspection and writing down times that would take me about 45 minutes to do and I think I would be the "average competitor"

I don't know if PM-ing the results and only showing them at the beginning of the next month would be a good idea. I personnaly would like the surprise, but many people want to instantly compare their results to others
 

Escher

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Also, average of 5 is NOT accurate enough (for me at least). It's not uncommon that I do a series of averages of 5 in a day and get anywhere from sub-18 to 22 seconds. That's a pretty big gap. I can't see any argument against this sort of competition, unless there are really few people speaking out in favor of it. I don't like the idea of replacing the weekly comps with monthly averages of 25, like Arnaud was thinking, but there is room for both.

hear, hear!
my PB average of 5 is 14.94, whereas a normal avg of 5 is anywhere between 16s and 19s. its all about the warmup, with averages of 5.

arnuad, an average of 50 may still be too much for some... im personally rooting for an average of 24 - if you consider newbies, 50 scrambles could quite easily take about 90 minutes, which some people might want to do, but not have time for.
 

Ellis

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I like 50, I thought might may be a little much for some people. But a month is long enough for anyone to record 50 solves

And I realize that posting the results with the next months scramble is kind of silly because a month really is a long time to wait, but they could be updated in the current month's thread. I really just don't like a whole clutter of results with no place that summarizes them all. Whether or not they are PM'd or posted as replies, I like the idea of having a ranking system in the main post showing everyone's averages and best/worst solves. This is easier to do on a monthly basis, especially when there's only one puzzle.

my PB average of 5 is 14.94, whereas a normal avg of 5 is anywhere between 16s and 19s. its all about the warmup, with averages of 5.
So what if on one week's compitition you get 16s avg and the next week it's 19s. Thats a decent difference. Warm up helps of course, but it isn't uncommon that I just get 2 bad solves in an average and really nothing going for me. It's not the best representation of where you're really at.
 
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Jude

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I agree with Ellis on almost everything they've said. I think 50 is too much (20-25 is probably better), and if the answers are sent by PM to the thread runner they could post them in the form
Position: Name - Average (Best, Worst, SD)
1: Mr Cuber - 16.93 (13.53, 19.92, 2.02)
2: Ms Solver - 22.91 (18.43, 38.21, 2.43)
etc, and simply add more and more as the month goes on and the replies come in. This way there could be just 1 thread (sticked) and a new post every month with the new results. This concise list where people can check the results was the whole point of my idea. Anyway, I'd be happy to run it but if any Moderator wants to put themselves forward it would be better for them to do it.
 

Jude

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Hi again, sorry to double post, but what I'm kind of looking for is a reply from a moderator to give the go ahead for me to start this competition, (perhaps even in the Forum Competitions section?) or if not, for one of them to possibly start it?
Thanks, Jude.
 

JLarsen

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Hi again, sorry to double post, but what I'm kind of looking for is a reply from a moderator to give the go ahead for me to start this competition, (perhaps even in the Forum Competitions section?) or if not, for one of them to possibly start it?
Thanks, Jude.
Sadly, I'm not a moderator, but I must say I support this idea, as it would be nice to have a little time log to see, even for those people who might not be able to rome the country going to comps, and don't have a wca profile.
 

Jai

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I'm not a mod either, but this idea gets the official Jai seal of approval. :p
Edit:
jai_seal_of_approval_125.png
Credit goes to Lucas for making this. :D
 
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