User talk:SamRosenfeld/Countdown to 99

Pre-Season 4
I would like to apologize for abandoning the Countdown. School got pretty crazy and I kept forgetting. There were a lot of interesting decisions made and it seemed as if there were people in charge who I did not appoint. I would like to thank everyone for stepping up. I have archived the fourth season here. I do not think I will be able to host a Spring season, but I do think I will be able to host a Summer season. If you all really want to do a Spring season, I might be able to find time. I do not think we had as many people as usual this season. Also, I need to know the dates that Frede173 and The last username left reached level 99 so I can add them to the hall of fame. SamRosenfeld 01:34, March 7, 2010 (UTC)
 * 'Sokay, I forgot about it too. I was kinda hoping you would host one this Spring, to get me to start training. If you can't, maybe someone else can? -- 17:04, March 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * Frede got 99 fishing on February 20. It's on his userpage. Dunno about tLUL, though. -- 23:36, March 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * I achieved level 99 Cooking at 21:12, February 24, 2010 (UTC).

Technically the competition is not totally over yet. March 11th this Thursday is the last check in. Why did you archive the page? 17:33, March 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's not over yet? But someone already declared a winner.  SamRosenfeld 00:08, March 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * There were two people who achieved level 99, and those players were labelled "First" and "Second" based on the order in which they reached level 99 (that seemed to be a primary goal of the countdown, and nobody on the talk page seemed to know much about what to do in that situation). I think we should still look for the stats by the final week (although I had bumped that date up — I hope you approve, or at least understand my reasons for doing so). Within 24 hours, though, it will be over, so I think simply re-archiving it at that point would be fine. There can't be any harm done from recording the final week scores and determining who gained the most levels, xp, etc overall and in the final week. I hope you don't feel as if I was taking over your countdown in any way, I was simply trying to update the stats and ended up seeing a few new situations and making some decisions that may have been unexpected. The major decisions that I made were:
 * Bumping out a higher levelled user while a lower levelled user remained in the countdown.
 * A similar situation had occurred in an earlier week, and in that situation, neither player had gained a level, but the lower levelled one had gained more xp and therefore survived. I applied the same logic to the new situation, and assumed that xp gained was the next way of ranking players, after levels gained.
 * Colouring both Frede and myself purple upon reaching 99, but continuing the competition for the other players
 * It seemed a logical way to indicate that we were no longer part of the rush to get to 99, but had not been "eliminated", while still allowing the other players to compete for the remaining spots.
 * Nobody on the talk page seemed to know what to do.
 * Reaching level 99 seemed to be one of the primary goals of the competition.
 * Bumping up the final week by two weeks.
 * There were not enough contestants remaining who were still actively participating to last the final two weeks.
 * The bonus XP weekend occurs immediately after the new final week, and this would give an unexpected advantage to some skills that I considered unfair.
 * I hope this helps you to understand why I made the decisions that I did =).

I understand it and although I may disagree with a few of them it is my own fault for being absent. However, although I may disagree with some of the decisions you made, you had no other choice and you used your best judgment, and I am glad you did what you did. Thank you very much for taking care of this Countdown. I would like you to update scores for the final week if you don't mind. Later, I would like to go back and change it so that this was the final week. All it will mean is that there are three winners. And by the way, these are my thoughts about what you did. I applaud you for saving the Countdown, it might have never been updated if you had not done so. As of now, all of your decisions remain intact. I will attempt to set up the Spring season ASAP, but I will be gone the entire weekend and I will have an enormous amount of homework to do. I will also archive the end of this season when it is over. Thanks again, SamRosenfeld 12:15, March 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Originally, I had it set to levels gained > actual amount of total experience, without experience being a factor except for in the final week. I will think about incorporating experience which you have done.
 * Good move coloring both Frede and yourself purple, I would have done the same thing.
 * I am sorry but I choose the end dates very carefully. It is true that it is unfair if I am choosing it for personal reasons, but if I am not a true participant and then it is still equal for everyone.  I think it is perfect timing that the double experience week is right after Countdown to 99.  That way, people will continue training even after the countdown.
 * If you want, I could take a... tallyho at it and try to update it based on what I understand, so we can maybe hopefully possibly begin signups again? This way we can have more time for lots of People to sign up, then set a date whenever you want. How about it? -- 16:06, March 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Just to clarify, the order of determining elimination that I used was (levels gained this week) > (xp gained this week) > (total xp). So, if somebody were to gain 10xp and gain a level, he/she would survive over someone who gained 15xp and no level. But if neither were to level, the second person would survive. This seemed to be what had been applied in week three. Both Gaz Lloyd and Sir Scizor1 were below Raleighriper's level and did not gain a level, but because they gained xp, they survived while Raleighriper was eliminated. The method you were using is (levels gained this week) > (total xp)? It may cause less confusion to have the order described in more detail (both for updaters and contestants).
 * Also, I will update the scores for this week as well, in about 4 hours. For the final week, what is the order for determining the overall winner (or third place, or whatever it is now)? I'm guessing something like (total xp gained throughout countdown) > (total xp), but I'm going to leave the rankings alone until you take a look at it, unless a contestant has won by every imaginable method.