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keith
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 3355
Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
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 Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:25 am Post subject: Interest in Sudoku? |
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Is it just us? Or have all the forums gone dead?
Keith |
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daj95376
Joined: 23 Aug 2008
Posts: 3854
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| Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:25 am Post subject: |
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In the forums that I visit, participation is sparse for the most part.
Regards, Danny |
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Pat
Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Posts: 207
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:40 am Post subject: |
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in t=6010,
i made several attempts to provoke discussion
but there's nobody biting |
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arkietech
Joined: 31 Jul 2008
Posts: 1834
Location: Northwest Arkansas USA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Or do puzzles t=6056 |
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cgordon
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 769
Location: ontario, canada
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| Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:01 am Post subject: |
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It's been a while - but out of curiosity I revisted this forum and was interested in the comments about declining interest.
For a few years I was an avid participant of the sudoku forums.
I can recall my banters with other posters such as Nataraj and Asellius where solving problems would lead to discussions on Austrian wine or American beer. There was a social context to the forum.
But then the VH forums seemed to lose sociabilty - to the point where the regular posts now seem to consist of one regular guy revealing an xy wing. |
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keith
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 3355
Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:34 am Post subject: |
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cg,
I think its a trend. Social media are taking over the world.
People now get their side dose of social interaction somewhere else. It certainly does not help that this site's discussion software is years out of date (no fault of me or MartyR).
The action is now all on FaceBook and Twitter. Did you notice that even Wikipedia has a problem?
Best wishes,
Keith |
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Marty R.
Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 5770
Location: Rochester, NY, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:52 am Post subject: |
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| I'm not understanding how social media contributes to a drop in Sudoku forum activity. Certainly my fishing forums are still going strong. On here the fact that the VHs haven't changed in years is a contributing factor, as is the fact that fewer puzzles are being posted. I've always had the feeling that too much high-level discussion might be turning off newer players and potential participants. |
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Orkamat
Joined: 20 Dec 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Marty R. wrote: | | I've always had the feeling that too much high-level discussion might be turning off newer players and potential participants. |
Indeed. The forum seems like a collection of very private discussions between a handful of very high-level players. I don't even see where I would ask a question without feeling foolish.
I just read the posts and bless the posters of the occasional diagrams that let me hazard a guess as to what a fin, pincer, pivot or some such might be.
And when I do actually decipher how to recognize the pattern to which a term refers, and how the logic of its candidate elimination works, I grin broadly and bless you all. |
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keith
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 3355
Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Orkamat wrote: | | Marty R. wrote: | | I've always had the feeling that too much high-level discussion might be turning off newer players and potential participants. |
Indeed. The forum seems like a collection of very private discussions between a handful of very high-level players. I don't even see where I would ask a question without feeling foolish.
I just read the posts and bless the posters of the occasional diagrams that let me hazard a guess as to what a fin, pincer, pivot or some such might be.
And when I do actually decipher how to recognize the pattern to which a term refers, and how the logic of its candidate elimination works, I grin broadly and bless you all. |
Orkamat,
Post your questions! I am sure you'll be surprised by the response.
Keith |
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Orkamat
Joined: 20 Dec 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| keith wrote: | Post your questions! I am sure you'll be surprised by the response.
Keith |
Well ... my questions so far mostly consisted of "huh?" 
Take, for example, the posted solutions to Dec 2 VH. I thought I could recognize a couple of the patterns refered to (eg: that looks almost like an X-wing, so maybe that intersecting pair is the fin ...), but I couldn't discover any logic that would lead to the posted eliminations. If I can't follow the logic, I don't accept the conclusion, because that way leads to Scientology, party politics and other forms of insanity. I eventually solved the puzzle using what I believe you folks would call a "Simple Coloring on 3."
I have finally found what appears to be a good resource that might eventually take me from my current level of semi-naivete ("hard" puzzles are no longer a challenge, but "very hard" puzzles are mostly unsolvable) to a level where I might be able to ask an intelligent question. The resource is SudokuWiki.org. Can't say that I'm overly impressed with their puzzle solver, though. I want to call on it only when I get stuck, but it seems to misbehave if I want to take over for a while and then ask it for help again later. |
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keith
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 3355
Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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Download Sudoku Susser. It is a great learning tool.
Keith |
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Marty R.
Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 5770
Location: Rochester, NY, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Take, for example, the posted solutions to Dec 2 VH. I thought I could recognize a couple of the patterns refered to (eg: that looks almost like an X-wing, so maybe that intersecting pair is the fin ...), but I couldn't discover any logic that would lead to the posted eliminations. If I can't follow the logic, I don't accept the conclusion, because that way leads to Scientology, party politics and other forms of insanity. I eventually solved the puzzle using what I believe you folks would call a "Simple Coloring on 3." |
Orkamat,
Maybe you're expecting too much of yourself? I don't want to accept a conclusion if I can't follow the logic either, but I can't follow the logic if I haven't learned it. Why not ask questions? What's a Finned X-Wing? XY-Wing? W-Wing? BUG+1? I have posted my version of the grid in that VH December 2 thread if you are interested in asking why people made the eliminations that they did. |
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Orkamat
Joined: 20 Dec 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 7:18 am Post subject: |
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| Marty R. wrote: |
Orkamat,
Maybe you're expecting too much of yourself? I don't want to accept a conclusion if I can't follow the logic either, but I can't follow the logic if I haven't learned it. Why not ask questions? What's a Finned X-Wing? XY-Wing? W-Wing? BUG+1? I have posted my version of the grid in that VH December 2 thread if you are interested in asking why people made the eliminations that they did. |
I'm certain I would have started asking, if I hadn't found definitions online. I'm slowly learning the "new" forms. I especially love the Unique Rectangle; how deliciously devious to use the definition of a well-formed puzzle to eliminate otherwise perfectly valid candidates!
I noticed an interesting thing from the "after basics" diagrams that were added to the Dec 2 topic. I'm quite certain that I used Simple Coloring to eliminate 3 from R3C4 ... but this can't be done from those diagrams! So, either I hadn't quite finished the basics, leaving a lucky path to a valid coloring, or else I used bad logic to solve the puzzle. |
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arkietech
Joined: 31 Jul 2008
Posts: 1834
Location: Northwest Arkansas USA
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| Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Orkamat wrote: |
I noticed an interesting thing from the "after basics" diagrams that were added to the Dec 2 topic. I'm quite certain that I used Simple Coloring to eliminate 3 from R3C4 ... but this can't be done from those diagrams! So, either I hadn't quite finished the basics, leaving a lucky path to a valid coloring, or else I used bad logic to solve the puzzle. |
Coloring will remove the 8 in r6c3 which will remove the 3 in r3c4 |
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