Evening FoldCentral - It may be time to update the global scores again? The 4 month rolling window suggests the last scoring puzzle should be 369 (ended Oct 12th) whereas the webpage scores seem to be reaching back to 362 (Sept 27th), although there is an element of doubt there as well.
New batteries for the UnderGrad in the Basement perhaps? :)
Cheers
CFC
Rank lowered , score inaccurately computed. Lost more than 300 points.
'Rank lowered'
All your results from the beginner puzzles do not count any more. They are now outside outside of the 4 month rolling window. They were where you had the majority of your points from. You have been scoring less points on the later puzzles.
'Score Inaccurately Computed'
You have 127pts solo. Adding up your results, this takes us back to between 18th October and 3rd November. It's difficult to say exactly where the 4 month window ends, because you missed playing a few puzzles during that time. If we say it was somewhere inbetween those dates, then it's pretty close to 4 months.
'Lost more than 300 points'
I lost a lot more than that. Everyone 'lost' points. It happens from time to time when the global scores are adjusted for the 4 month window.
Just to recap: global scores only count for a rolling 4 months. If you stop playing for 4 months your score will be zero when you come back.
Hope this explains some of the changes to your score.
Changing priority. This doesn't affect game-play
Leaving open. Because I really don't know how accurate the scores are now. I'll leave that up to people who keep an eye on them.
Mark
I think here should be some information how far back points are counted and recount should be made every puzzle close. imo :)
"Come back"? I never left. Have played every single month since August.
MARK:
"COME BACK"? I NEVER LEFT. HAVE PLAYED EVERY SINGLE MONTH SINCE AUGUST PAST. PERCHANCE THIS EXPLAINS WHY I NO LONGER SEE ONE OF MY BUDDIES IN CHAT SINCE DECEMBER. HE QUIT THE GAME!!
[I THOUGHT I WAS BEING PENALIZED BECAUSE I WAS BITCHING ABOUT HAVING TO SWITCH CONTROL FROM FRENCH TO ENGLISH TO ACCOMMODATE DECIMAL POINT]. WTF????
SOME FOLDIT DEVOTEES WILL FEEL COMPELLED TO EXIT TO ETERNA.
Hey, SuperNova, we're going to look into this as soon as we can. There is lots of stuff that's not working exactly right at this moment. There are just a few of us. One thing for sure, though, we'd never penalize anybody for feedback about Foldit. In fact we really appreciate it because it helps us find and fix bugs. Thanks for your patience.
-IM
You misunderstand me. I did not say you had left. I said 'IF' you stop playing for 4 months your score will be zero when you come back. It was an example. To try and help you understand. Which failed miserably.
Everyones global score should be 4 months of puzzle scores, going backwards from the last puzzle. Anything further back than that should not count anymore. It's the same for everyone.
I apologise if you misunderstood me but please don't shout. It's not very nice.
Mark
SuperNova:
I agree with you that the current system can be improved. After all, although the theoretical implementation is that global scores should be recalculated after each puzzle closes (to include only those from the last four months), it seems to me that what's actually being done is recalculation at irregular intervals.
Hence, if the admins have waited for too long before a recalculation has been done, there is a sudden drop in global scores that can surprise a lot of players; my guess is that this is unfortunately what has happened to you. Based on your "lost more than 300 points" observation, it seems that the admins probably updated the global score calculations two months too late. In other words, your September and October 2010 puzzles, which accounted for 286 points, were included by mistake.
For your information, here are two more data points from the Contenders to demonstrate how the 4-month rolling window works:
I also observed a major drop in rank myself, from the teens to #27. The calculation does look correct, though, as the last puzzle being counted being #372 (which closed on October 19, 2010). Why did this happen? It turns out that my performance between September and October 2010 was much better than recently– I was averaging more than 60 points per puzzle during that period, versus about 44 in the last four months. The difference would account for about 400 points, which is consistent with the difference between the 10-20 and 20-30 ranges.
And then there's mimi, who occupied the #1 spot for a while. Well, she dropped to #16 in no time due to being on vacation. How did this happen? It turns out that she was averaging somewhere between 70-80 points per puzzle, and staying out of the last nine puzzles accounted for more than 600 potential points that could be earned if the hiatus didn't take place. How big is this difference? As the soloist scores suggest, 14 places.
==> The bottom line is that the system is theoretically fair in the sense that it requires steady participation and performance to keep your rank; the problem, though, is that it not being strictly enforced. [Admins: It would be nice to redesign the website so that scores are automatically re-calculated rather than having to do this manually…]
I appreciate your taking the extended moment to reply Infjamc.
My questions are these:
Has the 4-month rolling window been in place since the earliest release? If so, then, yes, the system is theoretically fair. If not, then the earliest FoldIt players are benefitting from accumulated points that laters players are disallowed to accrue. Not intending to diminish their skills, I'm saying that none other than the front-runners will ever have an opportunity to ever be a front-runner, superior scripting skills or none. {Not referencing me; I'm just learning lua script].
Steady participation and INCREASED performance is my aim, not steady performance. I need my stats to reflect that for me to perceive some that I've advanced my skills base, even if ever so slightly. Now, I'm bumped back down to the kiddie pool [<150 points] but I'm not entitled to engage in the beginner-level games. I'm neither a newbie nor a veteran. Participation and performance need to align more in tandem for me to perceive that I am increasing in knowledge.
My earliest engagement as a player was last February, with my first account. Being wholly inundated with work-related projects, I did not play. How does it look that a full year later, I've attained only 127 points and rank in the 400s. Yes, I must UP my game and learn scripting. That I'm committed to anyway. But if ranks and scores did not matter, most players would not maintain their devotion to the game. That goes against human nature, evidenced in labs and out. I'm seeking my level best and require something to show for that. Points - like pounds and dollars and yen and francs - do count; cumulative points count more.