Request for another option....

[Lancour]

So I found a slight problem or cheat which I was hoping the site makers/supervisors will take into consideration.... I was playing at home when my wife took a slight interest into my 'puzzle frustration' when she found out she could solve some of them faster than me: she went on her laptop and looked up quotes with the persons name on quote sites and was able to figure them out based on the number of letters in the first few words.... needless to say that just made it so I now only play the game at work on my lunch breaks.... I was hoping that maybe a clickable feature could make it so you could hide the quoter's name.... while I'm not sure how hard it would be to program that in, it makes it for a better feeling completing the puzzle (no matter how many '#@$%'ing minutes it takes.....).....

PS- To those who would like to point the finger at me as a cheater I'd refer you to my track record; which not only boasts a 90%ish success but also record times ranging from 21 seconds (Personal Best: 12 behind the leader) to 2400ish seconds (not quite a Personal Best: 2390ish behind the leader lol)..... but if someone complains I'm fine with having my 'high scores' or complete records being zero'ed out.... thanks for reading!

[imported_Lurker]

Not complaining about the cheats. For those interested in solving quickly, Googling the answers will never produce a record time. For those interested in 100%, it's still a last resort of frustration. AND, there are several quotes for which this will not work because they are Unattributed or Proverbs.

As for your suggestion of hiding the authors until the quote has been solved, dear God NO!!!! Sometimes, knowing who wrote/said something is the only way I can decipher archaic grammar (Alexander Pope, anyone?). Besides, there are a couple of quote-solving programs online that are about 80% effective and don't require you to know the author.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea if this were a new site, just don't impose it on us years down the line.

[fredsevent]

@Lurker Total agreement on Pope - as for an option, how about that? The ability to blacklist the poets and Jerry Coleman. I love baseball but semi-obscure Padres names from the late 70's are tough in a crypto.

@Lancour There are no rules here prohibiting references materials, friends helping, etc. How you wish to play is your own business. I'll admit it - my high solve rate is slightly enhanced with the occasional search. My true solve rate is 96-99%. Sometimes though, I don't so much search to locate the quote as to figure out who the heck so-and-so is and what topics he blathers about - which is sometimes needed for shorter quotes. And, while I boost my solve rate, I'm hurting my solve time. And as I've worked more and more puzzles here, I resort to google searches less and less.

[imported_Lurker]

@Fred: Jerry Coleman quotes should just be banned, or given a new difficulty rating of "Mostly Proper Names".

The first few months I tried to do 100%, I got stuck a lot and had to go researching. Now, like Fred, I get the vast majority without help. It's a learning curve. The more puzzles you play, the better you get.

[Lancour]

Sorry should have clarified..... I wasn't meaning a change to everyone across the board, but an optional change in each users settings (clickable like the "see offensive quotes" or "be in competitive mode")..... while I am aware players who use this method might not be getting 9 seconds records it is possible to get times which are not only very fast, but also wins for (I assume new) quotes.... my wife (while proving her "quote prowess" over mine) actually got a record for a quote with 43 seconds (previous title was 45 seconds by 'defeaterdefeater').... I got to see the tail end of the 'record video' (which we both think was pretty cool, but short and alarming to those who didn't expect a plane to come flying at ya..... lol)..... as she was just a guest it actually listed the new record as blank (I assume it won't last long)......
To reitterate...... this is more of a suggestion, because for players like myself it would make the victory that much more sweeter.... and NOT a request for a full system change (I'm not sure how easy a change like the one I'm saying is for the site admin's to implement...)

[thors_breakfast]

I'll admit. I used Google to help me solve one. BUT, in my defense, I am new to cryptograms, and I was getting pretty frustrated. I like your idea. Hiding the name of the quote's source would make cheating very hard.