Calcudoku puzzle forum :: View topic

sneaklyfox wrote:

It would be interesting to think who would still be coming if there was no scoring or ranking system. Maybe I would find calcudoku more fun again instead of chore-like. Hmm...

jake4 wrote:

There's usually not much difference between the Medium and Difficult 4x4

jake4 wrote:

Patrick, it seems like you have your puzzle creation algorithms all set. I would go the other direction and have more puzzles. Why not just make one of each puzzle available for every day? Let people pick which ones they'd like to do. Implement a daily/weekly point maximum if that's what's best, but give people the choice.

clm wrote:

Very sad to remove the 9x9 on tuesdays (one of the more challenging during the week)

clm wrote:

Why not changing the name of the page to http://www.calcudokukillersudoku.org ? in this way many people searching for puzzles would come and try it.

pharosian wrote:

Before you do anything drastic, would it be possible for you to try to find out why people are leaving the site? Maybe put a survey together and send it to everyone who participated regularly for at least a month (for example) but who hasn't returned to the site in the past 30 days.

Author:	sneaklyfox [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:18 am ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
Good post by pharosian. I always think Patrick has a difficult task to keep everyone happy... or at least happy enough. Everyone has their favourites. (Personally I think I favour 7x7 subtraction only and timed puzzles.) No, you can't please everyone all the time. Just please the people who matter... like me! j/k... It would be interesting to think who would still be coming if there was no scoring or ranking system. Maybe I would find calcudoku more fun again instead of chore-like. Hmm...

Author:	starling [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:41 am ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
sneaklyfox wrote: It would be interesting to think who would still be coming if there was no scoring or ranking system. Maybe I would find calcudoku more fun again instead of chore-like. Hmm... I think a large part of why I still do my stuff daily is because it annoys me that someone's better than me at the timed puzzles. And so I keep trying to catch up.

Author:	beaker [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 am ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
I slacked off for a few weeks to enjoy the great autumn weather and found myself ranked about 6th in Canada and felt it was time to get back at it to retain my #2 status behind sneaklyfox........but, I will probably cool down now as I am doing alot of puzzles each day and trying to get all the extras I missed over the past month and am getting to the "overload moment".

Author:	pnm [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:51 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
jake4 wrote: There's usually not much difference between the Medium and Difficult 4x4 Since Oct. 1, the 4x4 difficult should be a bit harder.

Author:	pnm [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:54 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
jake4 wrote: Patrick, it seems like you have your puzzle creation algorithms all set. I would go the other direction and have more puzzles. Why not just make one of each puzzle available for every day? Let people pick which ones they'd like to do. Implement a daily/weekly point maximum if that's what's best, but give people the choice. That sounds attractive, except that with a points limit I get e-mails like "Why didn't I get any points for X?!!!?" I could keep the puzzles in, but only have a few designated puzzles each day with points, and the other ones (clearly marked) available, but getting you no points. The set of "points puzzles" could even be random each day (!)(adding up to, say 42 or so)

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what to change https://www.calcudoku.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=337	Page 2 of 5

Author:	pnm [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
clm wrote: Very sad to remove the 9x9 on tuesdays (one of the more challenging during the week) That one would move to a different day. clm wrote: Why not changing the name of the page to http://www.calcudokukillersudoku.org ? in this way many people searching for puzzles would come and try it. "search engine optimization" The guy who owns http://www.killersudoku.com kindly let me park a page there (which redirects to http://www.calcudoku.org/killersudoku)

Author:	pnm [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:00 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
pharosian wrote: Before you do anything drastic, would it be possible for you to try to find out why people are leaving the site? Maybe put a survey together and send it to everyone who participated regularly for at least a month (for example) but who hasn't returned to the site in the past 30 days. Good idea, thanks So far I'm leaning towards both: - remove puzzles, and - daily points limit The daily limit should be shown more clearly on the main page.

Author:	rickt [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:09 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
Wasn't that daily limit tried about 2 months ago using the so-called "magic" number 42? That was received very unfavorably as I recall. Best to perform much further analysis before any decision is made that might lead to another unfavorable response that will alienate more and more users of this site. Heck, we haven't even gotten into how timed puzzle points should be evaluated/weighted if a new points accrual method is implemented.

Author:	mce [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
If here was a huge peak in March followed by a decline, I would not be too worried yet. I myself discovered the site in March because of the article. I'm still around but it's only natural that some people will not stay after the novelty wears off. As far as removing some puzzles is concerned: At least for me that would be counterproductive. I stopped doing all puzzles because I don't have the time for that, but I still do come to the site almost every day for my dose of what one might call "calcutranquilizer". Since I don't want to be caught up in doing puzzles for which I do not have time, I actually pick some of the easier ones. So what if they're not super hard? I know I can solve a 12x12, as I've done it multiple times. I don't need to prove that to myself again each time. So I'm perfectly happy taking on 5x5 or 6x6. If they're not there anymore on some days, that actually gives me a reason not to come to the site. Similarly, if ever I find myself with a few hours to kill (which does happen) I'd be unhappy to find no 9x9 or 12x12 to waste some time on. I don't think it's Patrick's job to make sure people don't spend their life trying to do every single puzzle. It's up to the puzzlers to show some restraint and still be happy even they that can't achieve a gold star every time. On a different note: I actually adore twins. Putting info from two puzzles together is the best fun of all, no matter how easy/hard they are. Of course, now I should be hoping Patrick doesn't go "all twin", because if that were to happen I might be tempted to get in serious time trouble again. OK, where's that "activate restraint" button on my brain?...

Author:	jake4 [ Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:57 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: what to change
I love the twins too! I think I remember Patrick laughing at me when I first posted that, saying something like "EVERYBODY loves the twins." :) I realized a while back that trying do as many puzzles as I could wasn't worth it, so now I'm firmly in the "forget points, this is just for fun" camp. Which is why I suggested the smorgasbord idea. How about combine two ideas? Have every puzzle type available every day to subscribers. For everyone, each day have a small number (2-4?) of puzzles that count for points. I don't recall hearing any ideas about timed puzzles. How about expanding that to 7x7, 8x8, or even 9x9? Perhaps not 3/day...

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