Hello,

I've had some complaints about some puzzlers who use solvers (which is not allowed for
the timed puzzles, and frowned upon for the regular puzzles). Especially people who use
solvers to maintain their "100% solved" status are complained about.

Should I remove them from the rankings? Or maybe mark the entries as "this person
uses software to solve the puzzles"?

Opinions appreciated

Patrick

It definitely distorts the rankings if it includes people who use a solver instead of actually solving the puzzle through their own efforts. So I would definitely support either excluding anyone who regularly uses solvers from the tables or having them identified as someone who uses a solver and having a facility to look at the rankings excluding this category (as you can currently do in relation to subscribers) .

Personally, I can’t see what satisfaction people derive from seeing their names at the top of the rankings if it is entirely due to the use of a solver. It would be a bit like someone using a motorbike to win the Tour de France.

My opinions are similar to Paul's

I would prefer to know who is doing these puzzles by themselves.

totally agree with Paul
But, how to know who uses a solver ??
It's true, if it's a computer which solves puzzles instead of the person, it's null and illegitimate

That is ABSOLUTELY my thinking! Great comparison, Paul.

IMHO...Any puzzles solved using a solver should not be counted in any points rankings at all (If you are able to do that). Oherwise, put those users in their own separate ranking list. What's the point of even including them in the list of people who did the solving if a computer did it for them?

O.

Doesn't seem worth worrying about.

It's the same as drug cheats in the Olympics, I say ban them. How could you use a solver for a timed puzzle anyway, You'd still have to be a bloody quick typer.

This is mostly about using one for the regular puzzles.

And if you use one for the timed puzzles, it's easier to type in just the solution of course.

(and a different analogy would be to use a chess engine when solving the puzzles at chess.com)

Any other suggestions? Any decisions?