| dearth of daily puzzle discussion |
PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.06.03 21:12:47
I'd dearly love to discuss many of the daily puzzles. But I'm reluctant to post detailed questions which show significant parts of a solution while the puzzle is active. And by the time a puzzle is a week old, I've forgotten it and moved on to other puzzles.
Is there a way to solve this problem? If messages about daily puzzles could be queeued until the puzzles expire, that would do it (but would be more work for foilman).
Also, a way to load puzzles into the forum puzzle template would be nice.
Last edited by PuzzleLover - 2006.06.03 21:14:04 |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.06.04 10:53:48
There is indeed now a way to discuss the daily puzzles while they're still "live".
When you create a topic on the forum you now have the option to select the date of one of the current week's puzzles. Only people who are logged in and have completed that puzzle will be able to read and reply to the topic until the puzzle is at least 7 days old and has "rolled off" the leaderboard. Everyone else will see that the topic exists, but be unable to read it. 
It's very new code, so might not work 100% as expected... let me know if you encounter any issues!!
Last edited by foilman - 2006.06.04 10:54:55 |
tilps
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 6722
Best Total: 18m 37s | Posted - 2006.06.04 11:09:29
Might want to add a 'wrong' aspect to each date as well, so people who have done the puzzle but not the wrong, don't see discussion about the wrong. Speaking of wrong, me being first on the wrong table for todays puzzle is just wrong  |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.06.04 11:17:17
I did think about that, but I figured if you'd completed the puzzle you're free to talk about the wrong as well... it would just get too complicated if you had separate topics for them! |
PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.06.05 07:03:43
Thanks, I've started testing the feature. The current puzzle template only goes up to 5x5, too small for real discussions of the daily puzzles. Easily solvable, I hope.
Two other big aids to discussion come to mind:
1. A better mechanism for getting daily puzzles into a posting template. I did "View Source" on the puzzle, then cut/paste into the template format. I expect that's easier (and less error prone) than trying to manually enter each template entry, but it's still pretty tedious. If we go this route, a big help would be to have the puzzle template contents ignore newlines, so they'd be more humanly readable when editing.
Rearranging puzzle lines in the template so they all appear from top to bottom in order, simliar to what's in "View Source" for actual puzzles, would help a bit too.
2. A notation/language for discussing moves. This is something forum users can develop. I'll propose a puzzle discussion notation in a new thread. |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.06.05 08:59:13
Quote: Originally Posted by puzzlelover A better mechanism for getting daily puzzles into a posting template. |
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Acorn
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 555
Best Total: 42m 58s | Posted - 2006.06.07 18:53:42
Now that the discussions are locked until you complete a puzzle I find it annoying. I usually do a couple small puzzles on the computer but I prefer to print most of the puzzles and do them on paper. Since I started doing them on paper I find I am getting a little better at them. Before I would just use fix position and guess all over the place. I see a lot more of the patterns now that I am doing them with paper and pencil. |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.06.07 18:55:24
Quote: Originally Posted by acorn Now that the discussions are locked until you complete a puzzle I find it annoying. |
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PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.06.20 04:27:24
Hi foilman, Just a gentle reminder that being able to post partially solved daily puzzles in the forum would be a huge enabler to discussion and learning. The obstacle at present is the 5x5 limit on the forum puzzle template. Thanks. |
PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.07.26 02:02:56
Foilman, Many thanks for the puzzle posting improvements. Interesting discussion has certainly increased.
Would it be possible to automate initial importation of Kwon-Tom puzzles? Even if limited to 10x10 puzzles in their initial state (no moves), that would be a nice enhancement. It could key off messages that selected a daily puzzle. Thanks. |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.07.26 08:36:48
Actually that is something I've been meaning to do but I've not got around to it yet. Although what I was thinking was slightly different, allowing you to import your current saved position rather than a specific puzzle. Then if you got stuck you could save position and not have to recreate it later in your post. |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.07.26 09:00:47
Ok, it should now be possible to import your saved puzzle position! |
astrokath
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 3258
Best Total: 13m 42s | Posted - 2006.07.26 10:09:41
Quote: Originally Posted by foilman Ok, it should now be possible to import your saved puzzle position! |
Brilliant!
Not sure if you spotted my comment in another thread, so I may as well add it here - how about a search function for the forum? Or a general updates and suggestions thread? |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3614
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.07.26 10:15:48
Well you can search the forums using google if you include "site:kwontomloop.com" in your search there, so I've not thought it necessary to add similar functionality here. But you never know, I might! I'll spot most suggestions when they're posted, so don't know if a separate thread is necessary...? |
