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21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
https://www.calcudoku.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1251		 Page 4 of 5
Author:  paulv66  [ Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
eclipsegirl wrote:
It would be interesting to know what the stats are.

How many active participants?
What’s a good metric? People who do at least 1 puzzle a week? At least 1 puzzle a month? That assume that people who do take vacations would not be gone for a month.


I think it’s possible to get a fairly good estimate by looking at the rankings. There are just over 1,000 people listed in the 7 day rankings and just over 1,200 in the 30 day rankings.

The number of people solving the easy 4x4 is probably a good indicator of the number doing puzzles each day. I had a look at figures for the last month and it was generally solved between 850 and 950 times.

Regarding subscribers, there are 176 subscribers shown as having solved one or more extra puzzles in the past 7 days.
Author:  beaker  [ Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
I think you need to look back at page 1 and the 9th submission as I believe Patrick has already implied the answer to your queries [thumbsup]
Author:  eclipsegirl  [ Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
I wasnt motivated to do that research. [tongue] Thank you. I appreciate it [namaste]

So using rough numbers, subscribers are less than 20% of participants. (I sure hope we pay the bills that Patrick incurs.)

I agree with you that just becoming a subscriber is a pretty easy solution for ADULTS.
This site has attracted some minors.
There was one who was active in the forums, but maybe now high school or real life have distracted that person?
I remember that particular person wanted to be a subscriber but their parents werent cooperative.

I am going to check and see if they are active by looking at the 7 day results for the US. That person seems to have drifted away. [sad]
Author:  pnm  [ Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
paulv66 wrote:
And even if I do end up solving it, how will I know that I've solved it correctly if I've no way of checking it online?


If the last row is correct (see my reply to clm above) then you can be pretty sure (but not 100% of course) your solution is correct [sleep]

paulv66 wrote:
Patrick, I'd be interested to hear your reasoning for not awarding any points for this puzzle. Is it a lot of additional work for you to include it as a book puzzle worth points?


The only (fairly minor) issue is scaling up the database table so it can hold the info for a larger puzzle. Not a lot of work,
but has to be done carefully, and will of course increase the size of the database (so backups also) by quite a bit.
Author:  pnm  [ Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
eclipsegirl wrote:
And I am curious: Do the subscribers cover the cost of running this site?


They definitely cover the expenses (rental of servers and such), but not the time I spent on it [scared]

So sure, not doing this site would have brought in (a lot) more money (given I work as a freelance programmer),
but it's fun to do, and that counts for something [smile]
Author:  eclipsegirl  [ Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
pnm wrote:
eclipsegirl wrote:
And I am curious: Do the subscribers cover the cost of running this site?


They definitely cover the expenses (rental of servers and such), but not the time I spent on it [scared]

So sure, not doing this site would have brought in (a lot) more money (given I work as a freelance programmer),
but it's fun to do, and that counts for something [smile]


I am grateful that the subscribers cover expenses, at the least.
We all have ideas about “how to improve” this place, and forget that it requires time and effort from you to make are ideas reality.

Thank you for doing this. [namaste]
Author:  paulv66  [ Mon Jul 27, 2020 11:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
I think I've managed to solve the 21x21 and would like nothing better than to be able to check that it is correct and earn a few additional points.

So, having hinted at this previously in the hope that Patrick would decide to award points, I'm posting this in the hope that a polite request to Patrick might yield a positive result. As Patrick has not categorically stated that he will definitely not award any points for the puzzle, I'm hoping that he might decide to do so if asked nicely.

Patrick, please at least have a think about it. I know you said that it would require expanding the database to accommodate the larger puzzle size and I have absolutely no idea how much work would be involved in doing this. But if it is something that you can fit into your busy schedule at some stage, I would be most grateful.

Paul
Author:  ineedaname  [ Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
I have no inclination to do the 21 x 21 as thats out of my skillset. I've only recently started on the 15 x 15 but struggle with the book puzzles as I find it a lot easier to do online then on paper (too much rubbing out for me hahahaha). One suggestion though for the 21 x 21 if Patrick wanted to give points but save on the extra work & sizes to database is if anyone who completed the puzzle was to PM or email the completed puzzle to him for checking & if correct I'm sure Patrick could manually add a point to your total.
Author:  pnm  [ Tue Jul 28, 2020 1:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
ineedaname wrote:
I have no inclination to do the 21 x 21 as thats out of my skillset. I've only recently started on the 15 x 15 but struggle with the book puzzles as I find it a lot easier to do online then on paper (too much rubbing out for me hahahaha). One suggestion though for the 21 x 21 if Patrick wanted to give points but save on the extra work & sizes to database is if anyone who completed the puzzle was to PM or email the completed puzzle to him for checking & if correct I'm sure Patrick could manually add a point to your total.


I've been toying with the idea of adding "achievements" to the site (like for example on chess.com)(but not as many [blink] )

Then solving the 21x21 could be an achievement [thumbup]
Author:  paulv66  [ Tue Jul 28, 2020 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 21x21 puzzle to mark 21212121 puzzles solved
pnm wrote:
I've been toying with the idea of adding "achievements" to the site (like for example on chess.com)(but not as many [blink] )

Then solving the 21x21 could be an achievement [thumbup]


Interesting idea. How would you verify that someone has solved the puzzle?
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