Subject: Denny, what has happened to the W13x0 stats?
Date: Fri Nov 30 09:11:08 2018
User: TitanicTony
Message:My previous thread got hijacked, so I will try again...
I previously posted that:
My W13x0 stats suddenly improved dramatically (on 27 November 2018)!
My best streak rank went up from 52 to 46 (w/o improving the streak), and
my %-won rank jumped from 170 to 126, which should be impossible, imo!
I'm hoping to hear that the previous rankings were wrong, and that the error has now been corrected (lol).
It is similar with w12x1:
My best streak rank went up from 43 to 36 (w/o improving the streak), and
my %-won rank jumped from 52 to 41!
What has happened with these rankings?? Have the other winnable rankings also changed?? Have any other rankings suddenly changed??
Thanks, Denny, for shedding some light on this phenomenon.
Date: Fri Nov 30 11:24:32 2018
User: ix
Message:in fact, that players stats no longer exist!
Date: Fri Nov 30 11:36:53 2018
User: ix
Message:micha714 with a streak of 3389 seems to have disappeared from w12x1
Date: Sun Dec 2 08:56:17 2018
User: TitanicTony
Message:AND, in w9x2, I have just now suddenly jumped from a %-won rank of 31, to 22, which is possible, but rather unlikely,imo!
22. TitanicTony,... 168,... 168,... 1,... 1355,... 95.65%,... 4:22,... 0:02.
Date: Sun Dec 2 14:22:46 2018
User: ix
Message:after looking a little more at the top 100 alltime w13x0 top scores as of Mar10, 2018, the following players (and their streak) listed then that no longer exist are:
NQ5N 2042
G51.3 1168
seeverett 847
jojobinx 725
scc 678
wolfhound68 665
dcstl 611
hautbois 582
flutter 491
dreemher 446
Just_one_more_game 442
rimlf 429
ocidad 416
Date: Sun Dec 2 14:37:20 2018
User: The_Interpreter
Message:It is interesting that none of them have complained.
Date: Sun Dec 2 16:31:37 2018
User: TitanicTony
Message:Thanks ix.
The top 6 of those have a best streak better than my 658. That would explain how I went up in rank from 52 to 46.
The big Q remain: how have they disappeared from the stats?? And why?
Date: Mon Dec 3 16:55:32 2018
User: TitanicTony
Message:Further to the above,
in w7x4, # of games played, I have gone from rank 105 to rank 96,
and in w12x1, best streak, I have gone from rank 43 to rank 36!
While it is nice to be "improving" (lol??), it should NOT be because players are being lost from the stats!!!
THANKS, Denny, for an explanation, if there is one!??
Date: Tue Dec 4 17:29:56 2018
User: ix
Message:btw i realize nothing can be done about this and suspect it was a result of the server glitch on Nov 27, just thought it was an explanation, not trying to stir things up.
Date: Tue Dec 4 18:12:38 2018
User: TitanicTony
Message:Very strange, imo! 22 players is a lot to lose out of the top 100!
I wonder what, if anything, they have in common? "Idle Time"??
And, I wonder if it is just the Winnable variants that were affected, or all variants?
I've just checked about 6 regular variants, and I couldn't find any evidence of missing player stats.
I wonder if what has been lost could be restored from a backup taken before 27 November?
I sure wish Denny would comment...
Date: Wed Dec 5 05:29:37 2018
User: TitanicTony
Message:Again, further to the above, this morning I have played 1 game of w8x3, and in # of games played, I have gone from a rank of 47 to a rank of 40. That's another 7 players whose stats are missing!
What a shame, imo.
Date: Sun Jan 6 16:26:29 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:.Bump
Hey, Denny, I'm still hoping for some news on the missing stats???
Date: Mon Jan 7 00:18:58 2019
User: joeygray
Message:Here's a theory, which further discussion might disprove. It is known that Denny clears out unused nicks from the database if they never rose to appear on an all-time streak list. So, since you see it in Winnable, my theory is he isn't checking, in his ClearGarbageNicks routine or whatever it's called, any Winnable all-time list. Those lists didn't exist at the time that routine was written, and he failed to add those lists to it.
Anyway, it's a theory!
Date: Mon Jan 7 05:08:55 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:Thanks Joey (again). 1) I didn't know that. 2) It sounds like a good theory. 3) Maybe Denny will confirm it??
Date: Mon Jan 7 10:39:44 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:What about the possibility, since all those are in the winnable flavor, that all those players emailed Mr.Fixit and requested that they be scrubbed from the lists because they realized, like G_G_G, that their use of external aids was "inappropriate", thus had guilty consciences? I'd say that possibility has at least a .000000028% chance of being the reason.
Date: Mon Jan 7 14:36:33 2019
User: The_Interpreter
Message:Your optimism is somewhat optimistic.
Date: Tue Jan 8 17:06:02 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:Gee, TN, thanks for your comment above (Mon Jan 7 10:39:44 2019)! No other player would have done it, imo.
Date: Tue Jan 8 17:12:16 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:And, I'm still hoping that Denny will reply...
Date: Tue Jan 8 17:24:16 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:You're welcome, Tony! And I still have hope for you!
Date: Tue Jan 8 17:53:29 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:I don't believe you; I think you have ZERO hope for me, as far as 'external aids' are concerned. External aids have been very popular over the past 20 years, imo. I am happy to assume that as many as half of all (800+) top ten streaks were obtained using external aids. Even though I can't prove it, I will assume it anyway.
Date: Tue Jan 8 19:56:25 2019
User: TNmountainman
Message:Ok, then believe this:
I don't want to abuse the privilege of posting here..........but on occasion, I will continue to try and shame, and point out cheaters on this site, because they harm others by so doing. You may think what you're doing is harmless, but it's not. The efforts of thousands, or tens of thousands, of players trying to match wits against a digital dealer, AND against each other, are spoiled by those who take advantage of 'the system' to gain some degree of self-aggrandizement in a selfish grab for some kind of notoriety. It's just wrong, and Denny himself declared it against the spirit of the game. Can you not even respect the creator of this site who's brought so much joy (and time-frittering capability) to so many? That's what I hope you can at some point realize - and acknowledge.
I truly wish you no ill will; only enlightenment.
Date: Tue Jan 8 22:35:41 2019
User: huffy
Message:There has at some stage been a purge on this site of nick's that were not used for a long period. The very first nick I played on this site with has totally vanished. That nick was for a while in the top 1000 in 8x4 from memory the streak was only in the 200's. There may have even been another 50 streak in 10*6 purely to adhere to the recommendation from the score keeping information part of the instructions tab. That is copied below
"Score Keeping Information
There are a few things that you might want to know about how we track scores for all the individuals who play here.
First of all, inactive user records are scrubbed after a few months based on the size of the best streak they managed. A best streak of 50 in some variant will never expire. Wanna preserve your record forever? Go win 50 10x6s real quick."
Date: Wed Jan 9 00:15:41 2019
User: joeygray
Message:I see that Denny says current scores are purged after 7 days, when it's been established at 14 days for many years. So I'm not terribly confident about anything in that section not being out of date. A number like 50 on any streak at all seems way to low to be real.
All I do know is that nobody ahead of my 15-year-old 360 ever got purged. I looked at it fairly often over the years, watching it get passed and sink in the rankings, and I'm sure I'd have noticed if I'd ever moved up. So I'm fairly certain that being on the 8x4 all-time confers immunity from purging; some of those folks stopped playing so long ago that it was before Denny even started recording per-variant last-time-seen (which was at least 17.5 years ago).
Only Denny can state what the purging mechanism(s) and criteria are. I bet he would have to look at the code to refresh his own memory.
Date: Wed Jan 9 05:36:41 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:TN, I only have your word for what Denny "declared"; I have never seen any such declaration. If "external aids" really were "against the rules", and (nearly) everybody else was abiding by that rule, then, of course, I would too! But, THAT just is not the case, imo (see all-time best 8x4 streaks, and many other examples).
I do very much respect, and appreciate, Denny!!! I sure wish he would respond to the original subject of this thread. Apparently, he has deleted 100's of user nics that should not have been deleted.
Huffy's post, above, says nothing about using externat aids.
I can't begin to keep 30 moves in my head anymore, so, if I don't take notes, then I can't play well.
Date: Wed Jan 9 05:54:48 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:Btw, TN, in Denny's thread: "6x6 challenge! Go!", your post dated: Sun Jan 6, 10:32:22, 2019, had the following link: What were the SSC and WWC, you ask?
In that link was the following interesting (to me) post:
Date: Sat Aug 29 11:19:28 2015,... User: LumberJack
Message: Apparently, it helps if you bring an actual deck of cards.
Date: Wed Jan 9 08:51:55 2019
User: Denny
Message:That was probably back when I was trying to clean up database for moving to azure. I've since abandone. This is such a long thread I can't tell if I actually caused problems or not.
Date: Wed Jan 9 09:08:23 2019
User: joeygray
Message:OK. Well, the 2 questions are:
Do you routinely purge "unused" nics from the database or is that only a once-in-a-while manual operation? -and
Regardless of the frequency or automatic-ness, what are the criteria for being purged (or, equivalently, the criteria for being immune to being purged.)
Date: Fri Jan 11 09:05:20 2019
User: Denny
Message:I will look this weekend. Criteria are pretty complex. No, I only purge once in a long while.
Date: Fri Jan 11 10:07:28 2019
User: TitanicTony
Message:Denny, I first noticed this situation on the 27 November 2018. Did you do a purge about then? There are definitely a lot (possibly hundreds) of stats missing from the winnable variants.
Date: Fri Jan 11 17:12:22 2019
User: Denny
Message:Looks like my purge script does not take into account winnable variants. So yeah, probably a bunch of those went missing.
Criteria for purging:
- no login for 365 days
- not on freecell lists
- no discussion posts
- not on winnable solitaire lists
- not on jezzball list
As I said I was hoping to trim down the DB for a move to Azure but that's not happening. Turned out it was going to be way more trouble than it was worth.
I'll modify my purge script to take into account the winnables. My apologies to anyone who got scrubbed by mistake. But probably there was no login within the last year...
Denny
Date: Fri Jan 11 18:06:08 2019
User: ix
Message:thanks for looking into it, denny, and way to go joey, your theory seems to have been correct!
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