Comments

[Naboka]

Not to beat a dead horse, but...

I really don't see this player beating me consistently--much less wiping out exceptional players like Megaword, Mackers, Boysmom, et al.

Yet...

Hmmm...

Screen Shot 2024-11-11 at 8.41.40 AM.png

And once again, two things happened to distort the final score. I pulled back on the throttle because I didn't want a bunch of common words ruining my APW. And, my crappy typing left words like tassies/12, audist/10, tis/6 uncounted. Plus, I tried tussis (a cough) but it didn't take, so don't know if Wordtwist takes it or not--which would be another 10 points if it did.

Sigh.

The inexplicable nature of human behavior.

Such foolery in these autumn winds
benches left empty
had we only thought more carefully
had we only thought at all

[lalatan]

Here's an example of what makes no sense to me. When this player is on line, the number of my total records takes a serious beating. Theoretically, he's kicking my butt. And that's perfectly fine. Happens to almost all of us..

Yet, when I run across his games (this a not an atypical outcome) :

Screen Shot 2024-11-09 at 6.01.50 PM.png


Granted I tend to speed up playing him but the consequence of speeding up is often mistyped words due to jibbity-wibbity fingers. For example in this game I had typed in: POSSIE/8, ZOA/7, SEZ/9, SESS/6/, SISS/6, FOSS/6 that ended up not being recorded because my typing skills suck. So, if I were a better typist I would have won by at least 140 points rather than 68. (And I've beaten them by much more in other games even not trying to count mistyped/lost words.)

Do you see the discrepency?

How am I consistently beating them, yet they're destroying my games?

And not just mine. Megaword, boysmom, and others are getting crushed.

Which leaves me wondering...

JMHO the games where you better his scores possibly don't contain the blocks of letters his speed keys are programmed for. But why wouldn't he dump the game if his score is low? Hmm

[Naboka]

JMHO the games where you better his scores possibly don't contain the blocks of letters his speed keys are programmed for. But why wouldn't he dump the game if his score is low? Hmm

Oh, the why's of human behavior...

and misbehavior.

which behaviors, no matter how bad...

are usually seen as justifiable.

Sigh.

When the ill-informed, misinformed and underinformed don't really grasp what's sitting in front of them, increased understanding and better choices aren't likely outcomes.

Which makes me wonder if you've run across unfalsifiability on Wordtwist. It's in Lexic, so I'd be surprised if you hadn't. I've yet to suggest a 16/30+ you haven't discovered here.

A lot of what people believe to be true is based on the unfalsifiability of that belief. Such as that aliens are infiltrating our society--you can't really prove that it's true, but more importantly, you can't prove that it's false. You can gather many religious and political beliefs under the umbrella of unfalsifiablity.

At least--unfalsifiable to someone who wants to believe it's true no matter how much evidence suggests it isn't, or how flimsy the evidence "proving" it might be.

The unfalsifiability of Bigfoot allows the legend to persist.

I'm afraid we'll never really get a look at whatever speed keys are creating our own Bigfoot. We'll only get to see the tracks of someone wanting to convince us--while hiding in the deep shadows of unfalsifiablity.

ps: saw a video of the planets revolving around the sun as it races through space. We usually imagine our solar system as 2d or 3d concentric circles held basically in place. Hope you can find the video. It's a head trip of massive bodies frantically spirally through space at unimaginable speeds. (Well, not literally "unimaginable," but...) I suppose most people are more comfortable with the simple 2d model--easier to contemplate.

[lalatan]

Oh, the why's of human behavior...

and misbehavior.

which behaviors, no matter how bad...

are usually seen as justifiable.

Sigh.

True story. After reading much of human history through the years I've come to the conclusion that people are capable of anything, no matter how heinous.

Which makes me wonder if you've run across unfalsifiability on Wordtwist. It's in Lexic, so I'd be surprised if you hadn't. I've yet to suggest a 16/30+ you haven't discovered here.

A lot of what people believe to be true is based on the unfalsifiability of that belief. Such as that aliens are infiltrating our society--you can't really prove that it's true, but more importantly, you can't prove that it's false. You can gather many religious and political beliefs under the umbrella of unfalsifiablity.

ps: saw a video of the planets revolving around the sun as it races through space. We usually imagine our solar system as 2d or 3d concentric circles held basically in place. Hope you can find the video. It's a head trip of massive bodies frantically spirally through space at unimaginable speeds. (Well, not literally "unimaginable," but...) I suppose most people are more comfortable with the simple 2d model--easier to contemplate.

I have not found that word yet, although in April 2022 I found unfalsifiednesses in 5x5. The bulk of my long word career has been in 5x5. Until the last dictionary upgrade there weren't that many interesting words in 4x4 but now there are. So I've turned on the jets playing 4x4. With everyone, their dog, cat and llama in 5x5 playing long words for points during speed play there aren't many quality games available anymore. Also, many of the promising games only contain longest words worth <18 pts so not worth keeping for me. (That also happens in 4x4 as you likely know. The best/longest words are only worth 10-12 pts sometimes.)

Yeah, I hear more frequently now people saying "my truth" as if the way an individual thinks makes it true in reality. Have to thank social media and the internet for that. (I wonder how many people injected bleach into their veins during COVID.)

I did find some videos showing those orbits. Very interesting. I had not seen those before but it makes sense. Wow, if the earth really was flat that would be the original magic carpet ride. Years ago I read an article in Reader's Digest entitled How Fast Am I Going Standing Still? The earth is spinning on its axis at 1,037 mph. The earth is orbiting the sun at about 67,000 mph. The solar system is revolving around the center of the Milky Way at about 447,000 mph. After throwing out all my Reader's Digests I found those stats and bookmarked the link. Here it is in case you or someone else wants the details. https://www.livescience.com/how-fast...arth-move.html
Now when our wives tell us to get up and do something we husbands can state with confidence that we are already moving so fast we're surprised we can ever stand upright.

[Naboka]

True story. After reading much of human history through the years I've come to the conclusion that people are capable of anything, no matter how heinous.


I have not found that word yet, although in April 2022 I found unfalsifiednesses in 5x5. The bulk of my long word career has been in 5x5. Until the last dictionary upgrade there weren't that many interesting words in 4x4 but now there are. So I've turned on the jets playing 4x4. With everyone, their dog, cat and llama in 5x5 playing long words for points during speed play there aren't many quality games available anymore. Also, many of the promising games only contain longest words worth <18 pts so not worth keeping for me. (That also happens in 4x4 as you likely know. The best/longest words are only worth 10-12 pts sometimes.)

Yeah, I hear more frequently now people saying "my truth" as if the way an individual thinks makes it true in reality. Have to thank social media and the internet for that. (I wonder how many people injected bleach into their veins during COVID.)

I did find some videos showing those orbits. Very interesting. I had not seen those before but it makes sense. Wow, if the earth really was flat that would be the original magic carpet ride. Years ago I read an article in Reader's Digest entitled How Fast Am I Going Standing Still? The earth is spinning on its axis at 1,037 mph. The earth is orbiting the sun at about 67,000 mph. The solar system is revolving around the center of the Milky Way at about 447,000 mph. After throwing out all my Reader's Digests I found those stats and bookmarked the link. Here it is in case you or someone else wants the details. https://www.livescience.com/how-fast...arth-move.html
Now when our wives tell us to get up and do something we husbands can state with confidence that we are already moving so fast we're surprised we can ever stand upright.

Cracked me up. Don't think the wife would quite buy into the actual speed through space vs the relative Earth inertia we're experiencing sitting on the porch. She'd still want me to get off my butt and fix the leaky faucet. Although, she switched out 4 faucets herself in the last couple of weeks. She was tired of me avoiding crawling under the sinks, so she did it herself. My position was I'm no longer interested in doing those things, so let's just pay a plumber. That's a complete reverse of our former postions where I didn't want to pay someone $400 for something I could easily do. Now, she can easily do it--and doesn't want to pay the $400. Thank you, HGTV for empowering women to handle home repairs.

Certainly has been an increase in players capable of finding the longest/best word in addition to getting lots of points on 4x4. (5x5, I have no clue.) Since I'm not competing with anyone or for any awards, it's not an issue with me.

I'm a bit addicted to the game, and the addictive rush is getting the green at the end of the game. Getting green for all 4 categories is the best high of all for me. Who particulary played the game before me is irrelevant. And if someone takes that green later, not a big deal. I had my rush, let them have theirs.

Since the new challenge I set for myself is to average over 10 ppw with at least 80 words for a single game, my approach has been disrupted.

(Just erased a couple of paragraphs discussing the science and research behind those disruptions. But, as you noted, too many people seem to have lost the capacity to acurately analyze information and informational sources while having a means to assess the relative reliability of that information and its sources. Just simple stuff. The complex stuff we can just forget about.

Oh well.

As an additional example of the head-scratching anomaly of the player crushing megaword's scores yet not really seeming to have that ability, here's another game. I wasn't going to play it at all, but figured, what the heck. Mostly I just skip his games. Best guess is he's a pretty good player who's found computer assistance of some sort. He plays some games without the assistance, and then seems to have certain reasons for activating the assistance. He's probably playing under two names--going for highest average points per game precludes knocking off better players on low scoring boards and necessitates using computer assist for all games played. Must be a bit tempting to be able to hit 2,000 words on 4x4 and frustrating to have to force oneself to settle for less than 1500. But, the 2,000 would be such a glaring red flag.

Kind of a pity, because using computers to do your thinking is about as good for your brain as using a motorcycle to get in your cycling exercise. The egotistical hypertrophy of seeming to be the "best" probably offsets such mundane considerations. And, who knows what "truth" has formed in that mind?

Kind of a pity there isn't a means of monitoring the games of suspicious players for sudden burst of words input. But that's way too much to expect for a site where people are mostly entertaining themselves playing games. Games.

Screen Shot 2024-11-17 at 10.39.30 AM.png

I'm just not good enough to be beating the "best player in the game" by 15 words and a hundred points. My only guess is that he isn't the best when he's not using some sort of assist. Nor even that close. Probably not even good enough to get 900 points in 4x4 much less what's being recorded. Granted, 900 points is a lot. I've never gotten that many. Which, again, makes me shake my head about beating someone supposedly that good. Just not gonna happen. Not just beating him by a little, but by substantial margins. I'm just not that good. And I've beaten him by substantially more than 100 points--maybe over 200, so... Do the math.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

ps: ran across one of your best/longest which was 11/20. Thought you might be interested in monoclonal gammopathy.

[Naboka]

Once again:

Screen Shot 2024-11-19 at 7.35.31 PM.png

Are you beginning to see the same pattern that many of us have been aware of for months?

No way is this a thousand-points-plus player. No way.

No way is this player crushing Megaword, Mackers, ThunderRock, boysmom and others. Not without some assistance.

Once again, the above game is only this close because my typing sucks. Typed in kex/7. ouk/7, tute/6, mett/6, metts/8 munt/6 and kues/7 but my lousey typing canceled them out. Megaword, Mackers, ThunderRock and boysmom would have easily beaten my score.

I've concluded that playing games I'm not interested in playing against this player just to prove a point is a waste of time. Either the point has been made or not. A confidence man gains our trust because we want to believe. (I sure would like to see more top echelon players frequent Wordtwist--players I can admire their skills and knowledge.) Kind of sad that we live in a world where trust is so often abused. But someone is always trying to sell us something.

I guess trophies are more valuable to some than others. Being "better" than everyone else is more valuable to some.

I definitely would not have played the above game because it didn't fit my normal criteria. I only played it to test again whether what was being sold in the neighborhood matched the implied claims.

Oh well, the wife just got back from the gym and the pizza is ready to come out of the oven. My treat.

[Naboka]

Just not buying that he's capable of averaging over 1,200 points legitimately in 4x4.

Screen Shot 2024-11-20 at 10.46.41 AM.png

It would have been by a larger margin except for my poor typing : enes/6, arars/8, ars/6, nep/6, nurr/6, spart/8 in addition to typing star/3 instead of starr/8. For a total of 45 additional points lost from crappy typing skills. All of those words I know 100% that I "typed." Plus rawaru which was typed but didn't show whereas rawarus/12 did. So, 55 points?

Better players could have outdone my score. It wasn't a small, complex board filled with ultrarare ultrarare words. So the excuse that he wasn't yet accustomed to Wordtwist words would be bogus. Any elite boggle player would have had no problem with it. Stolch14 found 142 words. Every word played was scrabble dictionary material--even rawarus (type of fish--which Lexic recognizes the singular form but not the plural) is in the Collins Scrabble Dictionary.

Yet, he's now winning every game he plays and averaging astronomical scores.

For now, I'll just look at those 1200 point averages, shake my head, roll my eyes and laugh. The folly of humans.

Just like we ask the kindergarteners: "can I get in your head and make you want to learn?" Nope. Nor can any of us get inside anyone else's head and make them want to do the right thing.

Jails are filled with people who believed what they were doing was justifiable.

But, it's just a game. A silly game. A game that certainly will not occupy any of my thoughts as I move to the Great Beyond.

[lalatan]

Based on your discoveries and his historical stats I think there is just cause for you or someone to petition admin to remove any of his records. Stephen has done so in the past but hasn't been responsive for a while. He could be ill or on vacation as has occurred before. It intrigues me that the top speed players didn't do it for other cheaters or this one even though their records were the ones being trashed...

[Naboka]

Based on your discoveries and his historical stats I think there is just cause for you or someone to petition admin to remove any of his records. Stephen has done so in the past but hasn't been responsive for a while. He could be ill or on vacation as has occurred before. It intrigues me that the top speed players didn't do it for other cheaters or this one even though their records were the ones being trashed...

On the plus side, he's recycling games--which is a boon for long-word players who want to capture pristine records for best/longest word. I know I've been enjoying the extra recycled games that offer brand new chances at best/longest words.

And, if he disappears in this incarnation, he'll just be back in another. He's already here as two players putting up unrealistic numbers. Kind of hard to break an addiction. When you're spending that much of your life, playing that many games and reaping the endorphins of "winning" it's probably not an easy exit.

He'd probably have to attend Wordtwist Anonymous and work through the steps. "Hi, my name is Bob. And I'm an addict. I've stolen from my mom, my kids, my church, my job and just about everyone I know to support my habit. After waking up in an alley and remembering I had just sold myself for the hit that left me sleeping in my own vomit, I realized I hadn't hit bottom. The shame was overwhelming. I realized I was capable of much worse. I realized I needed help. I know it's not going to be easy. I'm an addict. Addictions are hard to break."

Might as well stick around so we know what we've got.

[bwt1213]

Recycled games? Boon for long-word players who want to capture pristine records? I play every new board I see, and sometimes I get a word I'll keep (minimum 30 points -- and I'll dump any that are less). I don't see many such boards, though. So I counted to see just how many boards I'd have to look at to find one that says it's unplayed. My count: 355. So if there are lots of unplayed boards, I'd hate to see what it would look like if someone weren't recycling them for us. I play boards that have been played and look promising, too, or I wouldn't have the patience to be here at all.