Stevish. A programmer starts cubing.

[CoderGuru]

So, there were lots of new developments on this competition, so I'm writing this comment for completeness. The waiting list came out and I was 95th out of 97 people on the list. Best we can tell is that while my payment went through at 8:02, the WCA site never made that connection. Later, when I looked at the registration page, it said I hadn't paid yet (even though I already had my receipt), and I clicked on "pay" again. Without charging me, the site immediately showed that I had paid. Unfortunately, it recorded my payment then (which was 9:01, almost an hour after my card was charged).

This created the situation for the organizers that they couldn't put me in to the competition because the site showed I was 95th in the order. But later, as they were working with the WCA Tech team, that team was able to prove when my payment came in, and they bumped me to the beginning of the waiting list. It also sounds like maybe they fixed something in the code to make it read the actual payment date/time rather than the date/time the WCA site received the payment info. That should help avoid this specific situation in the future.

A big issue was that around 250 people were all trying to register immediately, and the site couldn't handle it. Aside from migrating to a bigger/better server or using cloud computing to dynamically add more processors/memory to handle high traffic (both of which require time and money), I'm not sure what could be done to avoid the same crashing in the future.

Throughout the process, everyone worked very hard to make sure it was fair for everyone. They even raised the competitor limit to fix another error where 15 people who shouldn't have gotten in did. This way they could let in the people who should have made it, without having to take kick anybody out who was already in. Unfortunately, they did this before resolving my situation, so now I am just #1 on the waiting list, even though I was within the first 100 to register and pay.

Besides the prospective competitors who may not have had a fair chance to register in time, some more "victims" of this situation are all the organizers/delegates involved in the registration process. They had to deal with tons of emails, confusion, and probably a little hate while they tried to figure out how to deal with information coming in from a system that had broken down on them. From where I'm sitting, they all did a phenomenal job with what they had. Even the WCA team that runs the website did what they could with what they had. Budgets don't always allow for systems that are as robust as this one needed to be. Plus, all these competitions are done in such a way that minimizes costs to the competitors, which opens up the sport of cubing as a possibility for a lot more people. Can you imagine if the competitions were all run for profit and the prices were sometimes driven way up as a result? What if Max Park's parents had looked into it and had to decide that competitions were just too expensive, and they should try to get Max into a different hobby?

So, all that to say I have a good chance of competing at this event after all, and I'm thankful to the staff who made that possible.

Great to see a high level of respect in the community!

 

[ProStar]

Yeah, the signup for this comp was insane. I thankfully managed to get in, but the friend I was planning on going with wasn’t. Fortunately it’s relatively close to me and I’m not spending the night so it didn’t mess up our plans too badly. Hopefully you get to compete, I’d look forward to seeing you there.

I’d agree that Florida could use some more competitions. It’s got more than a lot of other areas, but when you compare it to how big the market is for them you realize it doesn’t really have enough. Also just about every Florida comp in the past few years has been organized by Nancy and Sean Hartman (her son I believe), and delegated by a rotating list of about 6 or so delegates (Nancy being one). Florida may already have several comps a year (particularly in the Orlando area), but they could definitely use some more imo. Organizing a comp is a very daunting task (hence why no one else in the area is doing it), but after I get a couple more under my belt (hoping to attend all 3 announced for this year, and maybe staff for a couple), I may look into giving it a shot. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to discuss it with Nancy given that she is both a local delegate and essentially the sole organizer for the area.

 

[stevish]

Update time!

Cubing Knights IV:
So I got into the comp! And I accomplished my goal of getting not last place! I didn't do the best I've ever done on 3x3, but I wasn't disappointed with my performance. I was literally shaking all the way through my first solve. But I calmed down and recorded a sub-40 average, and wasn't last place! So I accomplished everything I hoped I would.

My older son didn't do great (for him) in either of his events, though he still killed me. And my younger son beat me and one other competitor in his only event: Skewb

A big highlight for us was judging! We and two of our guests went up there every time they asked for more judges, and had an absolute blast. It was so cool to sit beside such great cubers and be a part of their story.

Cubing Knights V:
We also registered for the next Orlando event and got in on our first try. The WCA tech team must have been busy between the two registrations because this one went smooth as butter. The delegates even waited a little longer before accepting registrations so they could be sure everything was running smoothly. Even with close to the same number of people registering, I didn't notice any lag and got no errors on the site as I registered me and my two kids.

Big & Blind:
I also registered for a big and blind comp! My blindfolded times are coming down below 7:30, with an accuracy of better than 50% which, with the 15 minute cumulative time limit, will give me two chances to get a successful solve. I'm also working to be able to do multiblind with 3 cubes. I've practiced it twice, and the second time I got 2/3 right for a score of 1! My goal for this competition is to record an actual score in 3bld and mbld.

Wish me luck!