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A detailed explanation of streaks
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There seems to be a lot of confusion lately about streaks. It occurs to me that I have never posted in detail how streaking works.
1) Every time you visit a forum it is logged
Time | Character | Forum | Success? ---------------------------------------------------- 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED
We use these logs to calculate streaks. We traverse back in time to find the point where you last failed, counting unique forums pwned along the way. In the above case it’s four.
At this point we reward you with E-Peen™ and scoops.
2) It gets more complicated when you pwn another forum:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? ---------------------------------------------------- 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED
If we traverse backwards, counting unique pwns, you’ll notice that the count is now 5. Now we have to be careful here: We don’t want to reward the previous 4 again. Technically, there is another 4 streak there (FAP, SPCA, Rice, Dr. Jojos.)
We do this by marking visits as having been rewarded for various streaks:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
So if you pwn two more, it looks like this:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:08 | Evil Trout | World of Whorecraft | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Terra Online | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
Okay, let’s see what happens when you get the 8th in a row:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:09 | Evil Trout | Devious Artists | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | World of Whorecraft | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Terra Online | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
Wait? Why did this happen?
The 8 in a row makes sense, but why did the last four fourms get marked as 4 in a row as well?
The answer is that we don’t want them to be rewarded as 4 in a row again, because they’re part of a larger streak. Consider what would happen if I DIDN’T mark them as 4 in a row, and you pwned one more unique forum:
(BROKEN EXAMPLE) Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:10 | Evil Trout | Saiyantology | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:09 | Evil Trout | Devious Artists | PWNED | No | Yes | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | World of Whorecraft | PWNED | No | Yes | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Terra Online | PWNED | No | Yes | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | No | Yes | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
My code looks for the longest unclaimed streak since you died. In this case, the longest unclaimed streak would be 4! So you would have been rewarded for 4 in a row, 8 in a row, then 4 in a row again! That’s definitely wrong!
So what the algorithm does, is once it rewards for you a streak, say X in a row, it prevents you from getting any smaller streaks than X using those same forums. Here’s how it would look after 11 in a row:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:12 | Evil Trout | Dolphin Love | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:11 | Evil Trout | RPG | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:10 | Evil Trout | Saiyantology | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:09 | Evil Trout | Devious Artists | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | World of Whorecraft | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Terra Online | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
And after our 12th in a row:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:13 | Evil Trout | Faux News | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:12 | Evil Trout | Dolphin Love | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:11 | Evil Trout | RPG | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:10 | Evil Trout | Saiyantology | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:09 | Evil Trout | Devious Artists | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:08 | Evil Trout | World of Whorecraft | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Terra Online | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:06 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:05 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
This goes on and on until you hit the (mythical) 100 in a row. There are actually 25 columns going from 4-row, 8-row, 12-row, 16-row … 100-row
So this is how streaking currently works on a basic level.
3) Streaks can sometimes be rewarded in a weird order if you pwn the same forum twice since the last time you FAILED.
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:05 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
Note in this case, you have pwned 3 distinct forums in a row since your failure, even though you’ve done 4 without failing. This clearly should not be rewarded.
However, when you do another unique forum, it should:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:06 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
Now let’s pwn three more:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:09 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | RPG | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
We’re not very good at staying unique. For those counting, there are 5 unique there. If we do one more unique in a row:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:10 | Evil Trout | Dykea | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:09 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | RPG | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
We’ll get another 4 in a row, because we had 4 unrewarded, even though our count is now 6 unique. One more:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:11 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | No | No | No | 7:10 | Evil Trout | Dykea | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:09 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | RPG | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | No | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
Brings us to 7 unique. I bet you can see where I’m going with this. One more unique forum:
Time | Character | Forum | Success? | 4-row | 8-row | 12-row | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:12 | Evil Trout | World of Whorecraft | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:11 | Evil Trout | FAP | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:10 | Evil Trout | Dykea | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:09 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:08 | Evil Trout | RPG | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:07 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:06 | Evil Trout | S.P.C.A | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:05 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:04 | Evil Trout | Rice, Rice, Baby | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:03 | Evil Trout | Dr. Jojo's | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:02 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | PWNED | Yes | Yes | No | 7:01 | Evil Trout | Denture Chat | FAILED | No | No | No |
BAM, we get 8 in a row.
If you look at your newsfeed, you’ll see “You got 4 in a row” and then two visits later you’ll get “You got 8 in a row.”
At this point you will probably post about it on Flamebate or send a bug in for us to look at.
Okay, so that’s how weird steaks happen, and how the algorithm is working correctly even though it’s confusing.
Maybe there is a better algorithm we could use. I’m putting this out so that people can look at it in detail and give feedback (since it seems to come up a lot.)
How would you prefer it to work? Evil Trout edited this message on 11/12/2008 11:57AM |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 11:56AM |
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I would like the streak counter back on the Visit History page. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:02PM |
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Evil Trout Posted:
Hang on – you’re saying the Rice visit still counts even though you hit Jojo twice after that? |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:04PM |
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Catt although Posted:
Yes, but Jojo is counted just once.
I don’t mean to speak for Evil Trout. Call Me Diego edited this message on 11/12/2008 12:06PM |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:06PM |
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Streak progress chart would be a nice feature to have.
So, if I pwn 12 unique forums and then do the same forum 5 times and then continue on pwning different forums I don’t lose my streak progress? Dang. That’s good to know. Thanks ET. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:06PM |
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Underscorewas Posted:
I can’t believe I’ve had it wrong all this time – you can have a streak of 24, grind a forum 12 times in a row, then resume your streak as long as you don’t die, that’s it? |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:07PM |
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Catt although Posted:
Yeah, that’s the big change I’d suggest. Hitting a forum again should reset the streak, IMO.
Otherwise you can just not die, wait for 4 new forumbuildr forums to come along, and pwn only four forums to get the next highest streak peen? |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:08PM |
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Fingerz Posted:
For this example, my experience has shown that you would lose your streak. Doing the same forum consecutively will reset your streak. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:10PM |
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Lol, I had it all wrong. On the other hand, my ambitions to get a large streak made me aim at higher level forums which resulted in me actually pwning them, earning lots of credit, and earning a level almost per one forum visit. Troll defense FTW! |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:13PM |
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Storm****er
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Also – it’s the same for streak ‘peen and pistachio, then? Let’s look at the wiki wording – Pistachio – Pwn xx different forums in a row without a loss ‘peen – This player pwned xx different forums in a row
It’s seems the wording is completely wrong, why is “in a row” in there? “In a row” implies without doing anything else, no? |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:14PM |
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MC Banhammer Posted:
sounds obvious to me, it should have been like this in the first place. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:15PM |
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Underscorewas Posted:
Even weirder. You mean you can do a – b – c – d – c – d – c – e – f – g and get 8, but not a – b – c – d – e – e – f – g? |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:16PM |
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This would be my suggested algorithm, which would allow for you to indicate which forums are part of the streak:
Create a new DB table to hold streaks. First column, is the alt’s ID#. Second column is to hold the forum ID# of any forums currently on the streak. One row per forum. The table is keyed on both columns.
Every time you complete a forum successfully, the system tries to insert a row for you and that forum. If it gets a duplicate key restraint, that means you broke your streak. All records for you are deleted from the table, and a new row is written with this most recent forum (the start of a new streak).
Then you do a “SELECT COUNT(*) FROM <table> WHERE user_id = <userid>”, and divide the result by four. If there’s no remainder, award the appropriate peen and scoops for that result number.
If you fail to beat a forum, the system deletes all rows in the table for you.
That’s what I’d do. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:18PM |
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Evil, maybe you should try explaining this in one sentence instead of using complex diagrams Log in to see images! I got even more confused by them.
Maybe I can synthesize all of the confusion in one question.
Does your streak reset if you repeat a forum |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:19PM |
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Storm****er
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Wouldn’t it be the simplest solution that you can only begin a new streak if you either die or pwn a forum twice and once you die or pwn a forum a second time the streak is over and you have to start from scratch? |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:32PM |
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MC Banhammer Posted:
This is how I always thought it worked? I thought once you ****ed up the uniqueness you ruined the whole streak. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:45PM |
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handofg0d Posted:
Yeah, this is, I think, the main source of confusion here. Waiting on ET to respond. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:47PM |
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Actually, I realize that Trout’s whole explanation omits when the columns empty out. In his example, it would be impossible to do two long (>%50 of the forums) streaks without dying, which isn’t true. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:50PM |
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This is very complicated. To me, anyway. I thought that if you repeated forums you’d lose your streak? I was sure that’s how it’s been for me… |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 12:57PM |
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Actually, I am almost DEFINITELY sure that it does. I had some forums pwned and then I pwned a forum twice (Affluence Anonymous) then I started doing other forums and I overdid forums that I had completed before again, and as far as I remember (though that is much saying) it gave me scoops and E-peens for those forums, which means that the first time I pwned them didn’t count.
DAMN IT! After this thread somebody should put this with big bold letters on the first page of the wiki. |
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| Posted On: 11/12/2008 3:41PM |
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Storm****er
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