Originally posted by Fudi
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Fastest solvers: An experiment
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Originally posted by oddcouple View PostBut I wonder why user A also has ID user B has ID user C. Does it give them a thrill to get multiple speed awards each month? Is it an ego-driven thing or what? It wouldn't appeal to me. Taking a look at will0416 average this month shows he fails to solve 16% of his puzzles, but has averaged just over 10 seconds on the 84% he was successful on. I would be horrified to fail that often, and a super fast average wouldn't make up for it. I'm more impressed with those who can maintain 100% solve rates that can average in the sub 40 range.
I'll start by saying that I don't think one is more honorable than the other, though I've heard many say they have more respect for 100 percenters. I think I prefer 75% first and foremost because I can go through a greater volume of puzzles and I've always been motivated by speed. But my subtle frustration with 100% has been solving 99% of puzzles at a decent clip, and then spending 10-12 minutes decrypting an outrageous Japanese proverb or something. I could easily see someone digging into this challenge more, and thus preferring the 100% method precisely because of those 1% of puzzles. But like Will, it wasn't my thing at the time.
Nonetheless, in response to comments like yours, and out of curiosity about what the time conversion would be between 75% vs. 100%, I decided to go for 100% for a month. (For what it's worth, I don't think the conversion differs significantly by person, so I don't see a point to crediting users more or less depending on what they aim for. With respect to the traditional 100 percenters, I'd imagine Will and twskinner could go for 100% and still blow the socks off most users.)
To honor the different purpose, I did make a separate account. I don't believe I used accounts concurrently, so it shouldn't have kept anyone off of monthly awards, and it was before the top 20 on each puzzle. Similarly, I made a separate account when challenged to solve without seeing the letter frequencies on the puzzle. Now that there are top 20s on each puzzle, I wouldn't do this, but it made more sense at the time. Anyway, hopefully this makes sense. Happy solving - I'll be back soon!
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Thanks for your thoughts on this subject, lacrossesticks. I agree that the super fast solvers could easily have a 100% solve rate if they wanted to, and it would increase their average speed a little bit, but not significantly. Deanna48 and azhang941 have both done this and it seems to have increased their average monthly speed by about 4 or 5 seconds. Of course, it helps if you have time to solve lots of puzzles so that the odd "Japanese Proverb" won't affect your average speed too much. If you don't solve many puzzles in a month, it might be a different story.
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That's what is so great about this site. It offers different things for everyone. You can play for speed, 100 percent, or even the comments. I love the speed competition, but I also love the challenge of getting the REALLY hard ones. And those often have the best comments!!
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If you need help recognizing alters, I go by both Lurker and LurkerSmurf. Hardly have any records anymore. Any spelling variation of Bansaisequoia is his, plus Impeded Redwood. Descifrador is JCarlosCuevas. Yzarc has about 8 alters, but I don't think he has any in the top 3 anymore (Will). A few others forgot their passwords and have new user IDs, like Barnabas/Chad. Oh, and momof6 had another child, so she's momof7.
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