Comment Hope they have a new server this year. (Score 1) 115
Ok, I tried my hand at the puzzles last year. Finished somewhere in the top 50, not bad.
HOWEVER, the entire thing was spoiled by a terrible server. They tell you to go to a site at precisely 11:00 am to get a password for a PDF, but guess what, the server isn't responding. I refresh and refresh until I give up and call the toll help line. They just say "gee, we're having some issues."
15 minutes later I get the page to load. That's 15 minutes less that I had to work on the test. I rationalized it, thinking, "hey, everyone else was having the same problem so they're just as screwed as I am."
So then I chug through the puzzles (definitely entertaining.) I look at my timer and see I have 15 minutes left to go. Remembering what happened at the start of the test, I decide to submit my answers early. I figure that with 15 minutes, I could either:
1. use those 15 minutes to try to milk about 20 more points out of the test (there were a few problems I was "close" to solving)
2. submit early and avoid a server fiasco, figuring that anyone trying to submit "on time" would actually be late up to 15 minutes. Since there's a 5 pt. per minute late penalty, I might lose up to 75 points if I don't submit early.
So I submit early and sure enough, their site is hammered 15 minutes later, for a good half-hour. Boy am I glad that I was so insightful.
But wait! A surprise day-after announcement! "Since we were having server problems, we allowed everyone an extra 15 minutes! So everyone that submitted up to 15 minutes late doesn't get penalized!!"
OMGWTFBBQ?!?H?#!?!? I don't care how trashed your server is, you DO. NOT. CHANGE. THE. RULES. OF. A. COMPETITION. AFTER. IT. IS. OVER.
I emailed the "judges" about it, basically saying "what's the meaning of changing the rules after the contest is over? if I had known, I wouldn't have submitted early to avoid the expected server problems."
Their reply? "well yeah, but it doesn't matter much anyway."
In a sense it didn't, seeing as how the top 2 (US team appointees) blew out the competition. However, they did say they were giving prizes to the top 25. If that's the case, then assuming an extra half-hour could net someone roughly 20 points, that's enough to go from top 40 to top 20 (I think. I'd check the site where they have the results (http://wpc.puzzles.com/uspc03/results-top.htm) but it's !@*&^$*&^#!*& SLASHDOTTED.)
In short, fun idea, ridiculously stupid implementation. I can't believe Google has their name on this one.
HOWEVER, the entire thing was spoiled by a terrible server. They tell you to go to a site at precisely 11:00 am to get a password for a PDF, but guess what, the server isn't responding. I refresh and refresh until I give up and call the toll help line. They just say "gee, we're having some issues."
15 minutes later I get the page to load. That's 15 minutes less that I had to work on the test. I rationalized it, thinking, "hey, everyone else was having the same problem so they're just as screwed as I am."
So then I chug through the puzzles (definitely entertaining.) I look at my timer and see I have 15 minutes left to go. Remembering what happened at the start of the test, I decide to submit my answers early. I figure that with 15 minutes, I could either:
1. use those 15 minutes to try to milk about 20 more points out of the test (there were a few problems I was "close" to solving)
2. submit early and avoid a server fiasco, figuring that anyone trying to submit "on time" would actually be late up to 15 minutes. Since there's a 5 pt. per minute late penalty, I might lose up to 75 points if I don't submit early.
So I submit early and sure enough, their site is hammered 15 minutes later, for a good half-hour. Boy am I glad that I was so insightful.
But wait! A surprise day-after announcement! "Since we were having server problems, we allowed everyone an extra 15 minutes! So everyone that submitted up to 15 minutes late doesn't get penalized!!"
OMGWTFBBQ?!?H?#!?!? I don't care how trashed your server is, you DO. NOT. CHANGE. THE. RULES. OF. A. COMPETITION. AFTER. IT. IS. OVER.
I emailed the "judges" about it, basically saying "what's the meaning of changing the rules after the contest is over? if I had known, I wouldn't have submitted early to avoid the expected server problems."
Their reply? "well yeah, but it doesn't matter much anyway."
In a sense it didn't, seeing as how the top 2 (US team appointees) blew out the competition. However, they did say they were giving prizes to the top 25. If that's the case, then assuming an extra half-hour could net someone roughly 20 points, that's enough to go from top 40 to top 20 (I think. I'd check the site where they have the results (http://wpc.puzzles.com/uspc03/results-top.htm) but it's !@*&^$*&^#!*& SLASHDOTTED.)
In short, fun idea, ridiculously stupid implementation. I can't believe Google has their name on this one.
