Suggestion: Cubing Journals subforum?

[insane569]

I'd totally blog if there was a place to do it.

im all for a blog if anyone is willing to write one
i like to read about others

 

[Ranzha]

pjk: Marvelous idea.

I also liked the idea of a cubing newspaper or newsletter or something of that sort. It'd be like a monthly thing with people from all over the forum submitting articles and stuff. Could have sections like "This Month in Douchebaggery" (a popular section from my school's newspaper) or "Videos of the Month" or "Theory Corner". Even a comics and puzzles section (like mentally stimulating puzzles about cubes, perhaps a Super Quiz or something of that sort). Perhaps there could be a section on The Carrot =3

 

[jms_gears1]

I like all of Ranzhas ideas.

What if we had one.. I guess, news bulletin post a day or something.

like mondays could be video of the week
tuesday theory corner (I really like that idea lol)
wednesday comic of the week
etc.

 

[Ranzha]

I like all of Ranzhas ideas.

What if we had one.. I guess, news bulletin post a day or something.

like mondays could be video of the week
tuesday theory corner (I really like that idea lol)
wednesday comic of the week
etc.

I thought of this, but then thought of how much time would go into having one a day. Also, some people wouldn't like to be pestered with such things if it were through email or something. I could see twice a month working, however =3
If it were to be one bulletin post a day, there would be too much work for one person (or a panel of a few people) to bother with. I personally couldn't be bothered to post one cubing thing a day, even with submissions xD Great idea, but hard to execute.

 

[pjk]

I'm working on this. Expect it to happen within the next few weeks. I plan to do another upgrade before I make this happen. I will post an update once this feature is available.

 

[pjk]

This feature is now available. Checkout the announcement about this here:
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?32982-New-Blog-Section-Community-Blog

 

[pjk]

Since setting this up, we have not had any entries. Some people posted some averages, but that isn't the point. The point is to write anything cubing related that people would be interested in reading. Have a good competition writeup, or an article on solving a certain puzzle? Post it. We'd like to see blog posts by you, the members.

 

[Carson]

Ooh... I hadn't realized this was available.

 

[cuberkid10]

I posted about a competition....

 

[asportking]

Are you considering removing the blog section if it doesn't get enough entries after a while? Because I'm writing one, and I'm wondering if I should be in any sort of hurry to finish it.

 

[pjk]

I posted about a competition....

Yes, you did, and we appreciate you took the time to do so. However, because it was mostly about what times you got and not really a competition writeup about the experience you had or the city you traveled to, we didn't think it was something that a lot of people on the forum would be interested in reading. When you write a post, one thing that may help is this: think of it as writing an article for a newspaper or a speedcubing magazine. Write something that people would thoroughly enjoy reading. Would the average person be interested in reading what times a competitor got? Likely not. But would an average person be interested in what a competition experience is like, what type of things you did, what the city looked like you traveled to, etc.? Probably, because it gives interesting insight into competitions and advocates people to go to them to have fun. Here is an example of a post Lars Vandenbergh did on his "first steps into cubing" on his blog. Here is a post he did on the 2009 World Championship. These are good examples of the quality posts we'd like to see. It not only documents it well for you (the writer), but gives people who didn't go great insight into what happened. I hope that clarifies things a bit for writeups.

As for other articles, the possibilites are endless. Take a look at an article (or a series of articles) Lars did on ZZF2L movecount. It is something people want to read.

Here is the post you made, feel free to make modifications to it or write a more thorough writeup and we will publish it:

Spoiler

This is a blog post from my Tumblr, but I might as well post it here as well.

Magic Round 1: I failed. I got a 1.5x and plus 2’ed. Then I got a 2 second safe solve. Then another 1.5x plus 2. Then I got a 1.61 and 1.71. I was so sure I would not make it into the next round. It turns out, I was the last person to make it into second round. Phew.

2x2 Round 1: Since 2x2 is one of my favorite events, I put much pressure on myself to do well. I manage to get through the round with a sub4 average. I placed first, which surprised me because I was expecting Will to shatter me.

3x3 Round 1: I was shaking pretty badly for this round. The first scramble was SO easy. I was at 6 seconds at the end of F2L (I was seeing a sub10 solve at this point.). I see a T OLL, I start the R turn and an edge cap falls off. I pick it up and take a good 3 seconds to put it on. I was shaking really bad and I couldn’t seem to cordinate my hands and eyes to put the cap on. Then I proceed to get a U perm. If I hadn’t popped, would have been sub-10 easy. I don’t really remember the rest of the round, but it was sub-15.

2x2 Round 2: First solve, a get a easy first layer into sune, into R2 B2 R2. Next solve, I get a nice solve with a my sexy PBL alg. Then, I get a solve similar to the first solve. Easy first layer, antisune, and R2 B2 R2. The next 2 solves were blah, because I was so nervous. Ended up with my Weston-tieing 3.60 average. Oh, and a 3.09 single

3x3 Round 2: Start off well, ends well. I got a 13.85 average. I also got a 11.xx single. According to WCA, 3x3 is my weakest suit. (Other than Magic) I really don’t remember anything about 3x3. :3

4x4 Combined Final: I was borrowing Chris Tran’s Maru 4x4. I was praying for no misalignments. I didn’t get any. First solve had no parity and came out to be a 55 second solve. I was really happy. Next solve was PLL parity. Then the next solve was double parity. The 4th solve, I messed up centers and had to fix them. Then I got double parity. Last solve was slow centers, fast edges, and no parity. I got a 54 single. It came out to be a 1:01 average.

Magic Final: I was determined not to fail. My wish came true. 1.67 average, .10 seconds better than last year. No Plus 2’s this round.

2x2 Final: I was very nervous this round. I really wanted to win 2x2. I ended up with a 3.77 average and a 6.05 solve. :/.

3x3 Final: I did pretty average for me. I ended on a good note with a 12.xx single though. I was watching Andrew get 12’s and 13’s and I was trying to win 3x3. All was in vain though.

Mystery Event: It was teams of 2, 1 cuber, and 1 non cuber, in this case my father. I had to stand behind him and dictate how to solve it without touching the cube. We also had to time this attempt. It took about 25 seconds to convey “Front”. Once we got that down, I proceeded to do the cross wrong. Then I did F2L and got a horrible OLL case. I ended up deciding to do it in 5 look. (Fruf, and like 4 sunes.) Then I saw the F-perm and was relieved. (I was worried we’d get an E or V.) I told him how and we were an L and R away from it and it took another 10 seconds to get that done. We finished with a 6:00.08. We actually won the event, which I was again surprised about. When we had done our first “F” move, the team next to us was starting F2L. I ended up winning $20, which is going towards my 4x4 fund. (Actually, I used it to buy a new microphone)

Finally: I placed 3rd in Magic, 2nd in 3x3. and 1st in 4x4 and 2x2. I got really lucky in 4x4 though. Andrew didn’t intend on competing in 4x4, but at the last moment, he decided to. He didn’t have his 4x4, so he borrowed a Mefferts (I think) from someone. Then he saw that it wasn’t good after his first solve and borrowed a white Maru from someone. He was doing decent up until the last solve. He had the dreaded core misalignment and couldn’t fix it. He had to DNF it, which caused me to win. Andrew should have won, he has an official 42 second average. :3

And to end this: I had a great time. I preformed decently and had a blast. I was a but anti-social that day though. I did talk to Hadley, Will, John, and Chris a little, so that was cool. Can’t wait till’ next year, although I am a bit tired of cubing right now.

Are you considering removing the blog section if it doesn't get enough entries after a while? Because I'm writing one, and I'm wondering if I should be in any sort of hurry to finish it.

We have no plans to remove it in the near future. We will leave it up for quite awhile (hopefully indefinitely). I plan to use it in the future, and I'm sure as more people write, it will gain more exposure. Most people don't know about it currently.

 

[collinbxyz]

I will be goimg to a competition on Saturday, so I will do one for that when it happens. In the mean time, I will look at others entries.