Subject: HotStreak "start over"

Date: Wed Sep 23 11:21:56 2020
User: Denny
Message:
I added the ability to discard your last run and start over on HotStreak. I'd hit some bad games and/or just boned one early on trying to play too fast and couldn't go on. So now you have to option to say "hit me" and see if you can do better. Enjoy! Denny

Date: Wed Sep 23 11:23:47 2020
User: Denny
Message:
And of course to play HotStreak, in between games the drop down game select menu has "special modes" and you can select HotStreak.

Date: Wed Sep 23 11:28:31 2020
User: ElGuapo
Message:
You mean within the same half hour? Or did you just turn this into "streaking as it has always existed on this site"?

Date: Wed Sep 23 11:45:52 2020
User: free@last
Message:
It looks like a total do-over. Here's the message you get: Sorry, you're out of time. Start Over  I understand starting over will discard my last attempt.

Date: Wed Sep 23 11:50:48 2020
User: jimmyp
Message:
Would it be feasible to add a Pause button? One could only click it between games, not during. Would allow for a bathroom break, interruptions, or a chance to blink a few times in between clickfests.

Date: Wed Sep 23 11:56:36 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
I think it kinda undermines the entire Hot Streak concept. Starting over option within the same half hour would make sense.

Date: Wed Sep 23 12:34:37 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
I might like it with a ten minute penalty. You get thirty minutes your first try, twenty your second, and ten your third (if you insist), and of course three times max. Or two times max. Otherwise, I’m still a fan of “there’s always tomorrow”.

Date: Wed Sep 23 12:35:31 2020
User: Spud
Message:
I don't like this either. I almost messed up my 1st game today but struggled my way to win it in 1:48. This already pretty much ruled out any hope of passing jimmyp's 35. I'd have been better off just giving up and starting again! You should get one shot per day and if you mess up you only have to wait until tomorrow. Like the idea of the pause button. My mouse finger is worn out by the end of these clickfests.

Date: Wed Sep 23 12:49:12 2020
User: aubin
Message:
Do the hot streak games count in your overall statistics? If I had a streak going in 9 to 5 and that was the hot streak game of the day, would messing up a game in hot streak end my "normal" 9 to 5 game streak?

Date: Wed Sep 23 12:52:26 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
Nope. Don’t count. I asked the same thing when I thought it would interfere with the SSC.

Date: Wed Sep 23 13:04:35 2020
User: cellmate
Message:
sort of like "undo"

Date: Wed Sep 23 16:38:50 2020
User: Raymone-of-Bayonne
Message:
Looks to me like you are enabling the "not my fault" crowd. One shot, play the cards you're delt and accept it.

Date: Wed Sep 23 17:20:09 2020
User: Rarefruit
Message:
I like the pause button idea. All sorts of things can happen to interrupt in 30 minutes

Date: Wed Sep 23 17:59:36 2020
User: The_Inquisitor
Message:
Wouldn't the pause button lead to "deck of cards" time? Take a screen shot, pause, look for solution?

Date: Wed Sep 23 18:44:32 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
I agree. You ought to be able to find half an hour in the day when you can play, in fact that was the whole point of the hot streak. If something comes up during the time you picked out: why, there’s always tomorrow!

Date: Wed Sep 23 20:10:21 2020
User: rbw--3
Message:
Maybe on a second try you can't pass the number one player? This may not make everyone happy, but may be a good compromise.

Date: Wed Sep 23 20:42:13 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
That isn't a good compromise. I get the idea of not wanting to be ousted after a couple of minutes, though when that happened to me twice my thoughts were "my bad, play better tomorrow". But either: 1) Start over within what's remaining of your 30 minutes (if there's any retry at all, that's clearly the most logical imo). or 2) per Joey's suggestion, start over with 20 minutes 2nd try, then 10 minutes 3rd try.

Date: Wed Sep 23 21:57:14 2020
User: rbw--3
Message:
The reason I said it was a good compromise is that only a few players are actually playing to win for the day. Most people would more likely are competing to see if they can better their best or move up a couple of places. A few are at the fringe where if they best players lose a game or get a tough game may finish first once in a while. That's why I said it was a good compromise but I knew it wouldn't satisfy everyone.

Date: Wed Sep 23 21:59:58 2020
User: rbw--3
Message:
The reason I said it was a good compromise is that only a few players are actually playing to win for the day. Most people would more likely be competing to see if they can better their best or move up a couple of places. A few are at the fringe where if the best players lose a game or get a tough game may finish first once in a while. That's why I said it was a good compromise, but I knew it wouldn't satisfy everyone. reposted to fix my errors. Should have proofed better.

Date: Fri Sep 25 08:39:33 2020
User: Julian
Message:
sort of defeats the purpose I would have thought, I have stuffed up a few hot streaks, so what, I wait for the next day and go for that one. Otherwise it is just like any other streak.

Date: Fri Sep 25 10:59:02 2020
User: CubicSprock
Message:
I would be OK with starting over with the remaining time but I don’t like the idea of starting over with a fresh clock.

Date: Fri Sep 25 11:36:48 2020
User: osama_bin_laden
Message:
Tournament Game #26801 is unplayable/unwinnable.

Date: Fri Sep 25 11:43:56 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
Mr. bin laden, that was a Zany Zero tournament game, some of them are unwinnable, what does it have to do with Hot Streak?

Date: Fri Sep 25 12:06:47 2020
User: Kumquat-of-Conciliation
Message:
Perhaps, since that game is currently classified as a climate 1 game, Mr. bin_laden was suggesting that it be reclassified to a more difficult climate, to reconcile that apparent mis-classification?

Date: Fri Sep 25 12:18:13 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
Luckily, Mr. Conciliation has way too much knowledge to make such a suggestion.

Date: Fri Sep 25 12:28:45 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
Anyway, unlike the zero-freecell yes/no debate in SSC, I think in this case there's an overwhelming majority against Denny's starting over idea.

Date: Fri Sep 25 12:40:17 2020
User: TNmountainman
Message:
Have you all considered that this decision may be driven by LCD considerations? Without spelling it out here in public...........think math.

Date: Fri Sep 25 14:37:35 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
Overwhelming majority lol

Date: Fri Sep 25 14:55:26 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
We’ll call it “strong majority” if the word overwhelming offends you. Ok?

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:08:46 2020
User: redberet
Message:
Denny must be an engineer, revisions are in his blood. If he wants do-overs then the only way is to accept the new score for better or worse. Everybody get a replay and if it's worse than your first, too bad.

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:11:03 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
No, we get unlimited replays and I like it. I've done several today and probably will do several more. Thumb up Denny

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:12:59 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
Was there a vote? I didn't see it.

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:14:51 2020
User: ElGuapo
Message:
To TN's point, yes Denny's made it clear he's hoping to draw in more novice players and I think we all share that hope. Maybe we need leagues like some online games do, like Amateur and Pro where you get promoted after so long on site or so many wins or something. But unfortunately I think this start over idea defeats the purpose of HotStreak even for the amateur crowd. The one-and-done aspect was its whole identity, and now it's almost redundant with the daily streak award in practice, except you don't get to keep your streak when the day ends.

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:20:16 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
Exactly. Ms./Mrs. outskirts, do a manual count in this thread. Please tell us what you got.

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:26:10 2020
User: redberet
Message:
One way would be to have a daily double. One for the purists and another with replays for those who want to have fun, like outskirts.

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:28:41 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
Denny - aye ElGuapo - nay jimmyp - no vote Oded - nay joeygray - nay Spud - nay aubin - no vote cellmate - no vote Raymone - nay Inquisitor - I'll count that one as nay rbw - no vote julian - nay TN (et al) - no vote redberet - I don't see a vote, but possibly 'leaning' aye outskirts - aye So to this point, only Denny and outskirts are positively for it.

Date: Fri Sep 25 15:31:58 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
Actually, Inquisitor was replying to the 'pause' question, not the replay question. So no vote, like jimmy.

Date: Fri Sep 25 16:11:27 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
I didn't see a vote called for. Y'all should maybe get out more?

Date: Fri Sep 25 16:24:24 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
If we don't get to play the Hot Streak over and over again as you wish we'll have more time to get out (well, at least those of us whose country isn't in a lockdown again, but that's a different story). Back to the point, for "amateurs" the option to start over their streak *within the allotted half hour* would be a major improvement. I'm not against it and several others have said the same. But you don't get to start over with a new 30 minutes.

Date: Fri Sep 25 16:42:37 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
It was you who decided to term it a ‘vote’, not us. I don’t think it’s quite fair to call our opinions votes and then jump on us for voting. Is it?

Date: Fri Sep 25 18:11:37 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
Y'all are proving my point. Back away from the computer/device!

Date: Fri Sep 25 18:33:17 2020
User: The_Inquisitor
Message:
Have we checked for fraud in the count? Were some emailed-in?

Date: Fri Sep 25 22:58:24 2020
User: Denny
Message:
Tries will be accurate tomorrow. And yeah, I get that this isn't super popular. It's kinda hard to tell though because whenever I change anything there are a lot of opinions expressed.

Date: Sat Sep 26 10:51:24 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
"Isn't super popular" is an interesting choice of words. And there's no nice way to say it, but the last sentence isn't exactly true. When the change is based on more than a whim of a single user, it's generally accepted warmly. There have been multiple such cases only over the last year. BTW, I have tried a replay yesterday, in large part due to a technical problem (timing out twice for no reason at all which made me refresh and having to play some moves over again, losing time and cutting my thought process). The result was "improving" from 9 to 6. I vow not to use it again.

Date: Sat Sep 26 11:38:20 2020
User: joeygray
Message:
Well anyway, now that tries is listed on the results, we can go ahead and assert that, of course, “no true winner” would play more than once.👌

Date: Sat Sep 26 11:44:39 2020
User: jimmyp
Message:
I would be for a replay only if the clock keeps ticking. I think those who aspire to the top of the leaderboard should take a pledge to avoid taking more than 30 minutes total. you’d have to self monitor the time. The only time you would be able to use it would be in a hard variant and you lose in the first few games.

Date: Sat Sep 26 11:53:41 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
I recall Denny saying he wanted this more for casual users and not the glitterati (lol Kramer on Seinfeld)

Date: Sat Sep 26 12:00:06 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
So that's why most of us are not opposing a replay with the clock ticking. It would greatly help the casual players. Joey - add one more no the nay-sayers.

Date: Sat Sep 26 12:02:34 2020
User: outskirts
Message:
Translation: Denny gonna do what Denny gonna do.

Date: Sat Sep 26 12:13:54 2020
User: Oded789
Message:
Thanks for translating. What on earth would we do without it. My bet is that eventually Denny's gonna do is what the majority of players is asking him to do.