New dictionary and new boards

[admin]

Hi folks -

Just a quick note to let you know that the new dictionary (incorporating CSW19 words) is now in full use on the site. I've also added a large number of brand new puzzles - the 4x4 library has been increased by about 16%, and 5x5 has been increased by roughly 31%. So you should be seeing a lot of new words and patterns from here on out, including a good number with especially long words hidden in them that have never before appeared on this site.

Also, an apology - while launching this new feature I messed up part of the deployment and had to reset all board statistics to zero. This means you won't see previous solving statistics for most boards over the next few days - but it should sort itself out by early to mid next week once every board has been played at least once. Board records which were not yet permanently archived were unfortunately also lost. Really sorry about that!

Thanks as always,
Stephen

[Arabesque]

Ah, that explains it! I noticed my lifetime number of high scores dropped precipitously and I wondered why.

Thank you for the new boards. It will be fun to discover the new patterns (I hope my frequently employed "ness nesses sess sesses esse esses reses esne esnes "string is still useful!)

[Spike1007]

I was wondering if that had kicked in yet. I just got SUPERDIABOLOCALNESSES (40 points) and had never seen that before. By the way, SUPERDIABOLICALNESS doesn't work.

[lalatan]

Hi folks -

Also, an apology - while launching this new feature I messed up part of the deployment and had to reset all board statistics to zero... Board records which were not yet permanently archived were unfortunately also lost. Really sorry about that!

Thanks as always,
Stephen

Wow, wow, WOW, Stephen. I am extremely sorry! Here's a smartphone screenshot of my stats at the end of play yesterday. Then there's a PC screenshot taken right after I read your post:

End of day stats Feb 17, 2021.jpg

Stats after dictnry add.jpg
I did the math and found I lost 2,104 5x5 best/longest records and 840 4x4 best/longest records for a total of 2,994. You wiped out the last 6 months of game play for me.

Is there no way you can permanently archive records before you make changes or upgrade servers? Maybe you should notify us of any upcoming change so those of us who care about our stats can quit playing for a few months beforehand. I have a strong feeling you are going to say you can't correct the totals, based on previous experience. Smh and probably will be for a few weeks or months to come.

I used to think you were a rock star of administration but I gotta give you a HUGE thumbs-down on this incident. Now I honestly don't even know if I should bother to continue playing here.

[DonGuy47]

My two cents: because I compete with my stats from previous months, I'd prefer no changes at all to the game. An influx of 1200 new words probably isn't enough to matter much, but if there were a larger change, so that my previous stats became meaningless, I'd probably stop playing.

[6winner9]

I only care about long words right now, so it's good news for me.

[Arabesque]

I used to think you were a rock star of administration but I gotta give you a HUGE thumbs-down on this incident. Now I honestly don't even know if I should bother to continue playing here.

I hope you'll continue to play. Part of my overall understanding of the game is knowing that I can count on a high score from you to represent what a world-class finder of the longest words will come up with. You are, to borrow a phrase, the "gold standard" for certain parameters.

As for me, I believe we should cut admin/Stephen a break. It's a tough world we live in and it seems to me he is doing a good job, probably facing constraints we know nothing about. A little understanding never hurts. So your lifetime score went down on a particular measure. If it matters to you, surely you remember what it was and can still take satisfaction in your achievement. How are you actually harmed in any meaningful way just because your statistics on the site went down?

[admin]

Individual records have been restored (at least 99.5% of them) as of this morning.

[John13verse34]

Individual records have been restored (at least 99.5% of them) as of this morning.

Thanks!! :-)

[admin]

I was wondering if that had kicked in yet. I just got SUPERDIABOLOCALNESSES (40 points) and had never seen that before. By the way, SUPERDIABOLICALNESS doesn't work.

Thanks for catching that - I've fixed that particular puzzle for now, and will run a more thorough check to search for any instances where a singular case is not represented properly in our dictionary. It's tougher for longer words like these as there are no good standardized word lists over 15 letters (since that's the Scrabble limit).

UPDATE: Fixed non-appearing singular versions in just about 1,000 puzzles just now. Thanks again!

[6winner9]

It's tougher for longer words like these as there are no good standardized word lists over 15 letters (since that's the Scrabble limit).

Thanks for this.

In another bogg realm, admin was like, we'll just cap it at 15. It seems obvious enough that the cap on a 16 letter board should be 16 letters, but the world does contain dumbasses.

[BoggleOtaku]

The opposite case is where the singular works but not the plural: recoverablenesses does not work, while recoverableness, irrecoverableness, and irrecoverablenesses do.

[Spike1007]

Stephen, thanks for the plurals!

I've run across the singular/plural problem before, more often where the singular works & the plural doesn't. I was kind of resigned to that (although the fact that HYDROCHLOROFLUOROCARBONS didn't work bothered me), but as BoggleOtaku points out, some cases lack consistency.

[admin]

Thanks for that - I've fixed RECOVERABLENESS (and 519 similar singulars which weren't listed) just now. Also, HYDROCHLOROFLUOROCARBONS will absolutely work now - I made sure to fix that one as we've had numerous complaints in the past. There will undoubtedly be other singulars/plurals in the 15+ letter range that aren't represented properly, please continue to post them here or email me directly and I will fix them as we find them.

[lalatan]

Well, Stephen, I'm happy to say you proved me wrong about individual records probably not being restored after yesterday. After last October's server change the totals went askew and you said they couldn't be undone. I apologize for my somewhat harsh words to you yesterday. (I was very pissed off.)
You've been taking on some long-standing problems so I applaud your diligence. Wordtwist is #1 for long words.