User talk:SamRosenfeld/Countdown to 99

Pre-Season 5
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.

Okay, I updated the scores, and provided a breakdown of who did what. Since I'm not entirely sure who should win in this case, I'm going to leave it at that and let you declare the winner.


 * I could lead season 5 for you if you want. Message me in-game, F2Pnow sad, post on my talk page, or email me [mailto:matthew.chessum@hotmail.com here](Used to be Lvl 3 skils3 if that reminds you who I am). 02:20, March 20, 2010 (UTC)


 * FYI, the next one is Season 4... -- 17:42, March 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * No it is not, this was Season 4. The next season is Season 5. I need to update the page. Keep signing up; Spring break starts on Friday so I will be able to look into the rules I had before Season 4, decide what changes need to be made, and set the dates for the Season 5. SamRosenfeld 20:43, March 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Oh. It says "Pre-Season 4" at the top of the page though. And Spring Break just ended. -- 01:01, March 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Have we got dates yet? 07:58, March 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'll have them up very soon. SamRosenfeld 11:23, March 24, 2010 (UTC)

tLUL thanks for your assistance. It was great of you to jump in. i don't have any issues with your decisions. Great Job. There were lots of no levels being gained this season making it more difficult than usual to track. 13:06, March 14, 2010 (UTC)

Table is broken :o 02:18, March 20, 2010 (UTC)

Oh my gosh, Leevclarke/Max Bulldog is in this competition! I have only heard of him! He was part of the competition before I was the host! OMG! Welcome. I hope you enjoy my version of the countdown. SamRosenfeld 12:56, March 26, 2010 (UTC)

The signup section is broken. Can someone please fix it? SamRosenfeld 13:10, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * It was Stormsaw' sig. 16:18, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * How was it spontaneously fixed? I checked the history to find out how you fixed it and no one has edited the page since me. SamRosenfeld 16:25, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * The problem was on his sig page, not this page. I just removed the [ linebreaks on there] (and a small code cleanup), and it fixed itself here (and anywhere else it was a problem). 16:38, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * Wow, tyvm.
 * Oops- Sorry about that. Mesa bad 22:52, March 26, 2010 (UTC) <Problem solved?

I have decided to eliminate two people in the first week because I only want to have three people in the final week. SamRosenfeld 12:16, March 28, 2010 (UTC)

Starting Week
Jack Spiral1 changed his display name and I cannot access his hiscores. I will not be able to access the wiki for about 30 hours so when he posts them here, can someone please record his levels? Good luck all! SamRosenfeld 18:42, April 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * Jack Spiral1 changed his name to Chiafriend14, presumably as an April Fools joke on Chiafriend12. His scores have been added as of 02:47, April 5, 2010 (UTC). Starting from level 40! That's ambitious, good on ya Jack.
 * Well do we begin? It says April 2nd, but it's the fourth. 04:06, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

Amg ppls rmembur u guys kant and dont use botz@@@@ 04:38, April 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * I r hax nao!!!@!@#~@! I have a suggestion, though. The table cells could be reworked so that the actual xp is shown when a user hovers the mouse over a cell (via &lt;span title="xp amount">level&lt;/span>). It would be more work on updaters, though. Perhaps a table cell template, one for each colour? And the ones that can extend (red and purple) could take a parameter for the number of weeks remaining? That would be easier in some ways, I suppose, though perhaps more difficult in others.
 * I like that idea. Would you be able to get that started for me?  SamRosenfeld 01:24, April 7, 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay, where should I locate the template? User:SamRosenfeld/Countdown_to_99/Cell?
 * Can you do it here? SamRosenfeld 10:52, April 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * It be there. Shall I update the scores this week to provide an example of how to use it? And eliminate two players this week?
 * Thank you very much and yes please. Just one thing, can it not be gradient?  Gradient makes it white at the end instead of red for the characters who were eliminated.  SamRosenfeld 20:44, April 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay, sure thing. Gradient removal coming up!
 * TYVM:) SamRosenfeld 10:51, April 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * I also had an idea to automatically colour the cells as well, stopping the updater from having to do any calculating at all, and (assuming the templates work properly) eliminating potential errors. There are two possibilities:
 * We could colour normal/yellow/orange/blue/purple with the Variables extension, or through a very complex template accepting all parameters at once. Red and green would need to be specified manually, because the templates cannot access variables from cells lower down on the table (since those variables have not been defined yet).
 * We could create several more complicated variable-setting templates, and have them all actually display nothing. Then, we could have another template below all of the definitions that calculates the eliminated player and displays the entire table.
 * Both ideas are rather complicated, but I think it's possible (and if we enlist Gaz, it'll be done by tomorrow :P). Then again, it might be best to let the table be updated manually, since it's more customisable that way. I'm a bit of an automation nerd, so you see why I like the idea of templating everything.
 * My coding sense is tingling... 18:48, April 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * So you were bitten by a radioactive ethernet cord?
 * Mmhmm. Now I travel around the large town of RSWikiville coding for users in distress and fighting back the neverending monster of deprecated HTML and broken templates. 19:25, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

Week One
I can't wait to see if I made it. I leveled up at 3:13 PM EST and TLUL made a post on this talk page 16 mintutes earlier. The update time is 3:00 and I am on the bottom of the list but it should not take 13 minutes. I guess I will know soon. SamRosenfeld 19:18, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict with above post)

Scores updated 18:59, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

'''WE HAVE A 99! (o_O already?)''' Most levels gained: Most xp gained: Eliminated players (two this week, as mentioned above): Green player:
 * Jediadam4: 17 levels, 10,751,836 xp gained - 1 week
 * Jediadam4 has the first 99 of the competition!
 * Jediadam4: 17
 * Jediadam4: 10,751,836 xp <- NEW RECORD!!!
 * JackSpiral1: 0 levels, 0 xp, lowest total xp in the skill (40,923)
 * Stormsaw1: 0 levels, 0 xp, lowest total xp in the skill (124,956)
 * Frede173: 0 levels, 0xp, saved by higher total xp in the skill

We already have a 99! Jediadam4, in a solid display of skill and no-lifing, has gained 17 levels and 10,751,836 xp in a single week!. Congratulations Jedi! Jedi now also holds the all-time award for most xp in a week, and possibly (this will have to be checked) the most levels in a week.

Two players were eliminated this week, as per a decision made before the start of the competition by SamRosenfeld. JackSpiral1 and Stormsaw1 gained 0 levels and 0 xp this week, and had the lowest total xp in their respective skills. Frede173 was saved by a higher total xp, having also gained 0 xp.

Sorry Sam, I loaded all of the hiscores simultaneously at 2:59 PM.
 * I never thought to do that. That makes it much more fair, to load them all simultaneously.  That 99 is crazy.  No one has ever done that before, normally it is lucky for someone to do that in one competition.  And I had forgotten that elimination goes by experience gained, thank you for reminding me and thanks you very much for updating this week.  Now I don't have to train next week!  (Although that's not in the spirit.)  Congratulations to Jediadam4 on his crazy ten million experience in one week.  SamRosenfeld 19:29, April 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, it's levels first, experience second, total experience in the skill third, and whoever signed up first as a last resort.
 * I meant I forgot to put experience before total experience, I rememberd that levels were first. SamRosenfeld 21:11, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

Yay. I be no hax. Btw I only trained for 6 days, spent yesterday mining =) 22:29, April 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * I had to strike out part of your comment to make it accurate.
 * L. 03:27, April 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * haha SamRosenfeld 03:41, April 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Watch out, he will go crazy like Nightmarerh did at 5:25 in this video [Explicit language] ending with a chainsaw through your door. Arin might just get you in your sleep. 04:10, April 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * No, that was me on sc two nights ago. He just swapped the video.

Just to confirm, 17 levels in a week is indeed a new record. The previous record was 13 levels, established in PreSeason 3 by Nalydpenguin (level 2 to 15). Because you ended it at 99, we can also therefore guarantee that it is an XP record, as nobody else to reach 99 in the history of the countdown except for myself has ever gained as much XP as you, and I know that I never gained more than 4m xp in a week (too lazy too look up exact amount, but it was a record).