SudokuSolver Forum

Whyever censor yourself? I've done them every week So I think has Gary from reading what he has written Regards

If people want a forum about Sudokuonline Weekly, surely the right place to discuss those puzzles is on that website. If it doesn't currently have a forum, why not ask the person/people running that site to provide one?

I don't mind the occasional mention of other sites but I don't think we should go beyond that and provide a forum for them.

On his website http://www.rcbroughton.co.uk/sudoku/ss_index.htm Richard states:

A discussion forum has now been set up to provide a home for the exchange of puzzles and solving techniques.

The URL is: index.php

The description at the top of the forum states:

SudokuSolver Forum - A forum for Sudoku enthusiasts to share puzzles, techniques and software.

So I think a killersudokuonline discussion is entirely appropriate. What is the problem?

As the man said: "If you want things to stay the same, things are going to have to change".
It was nice to have an Assassin on time every week, but what if it became a burden to the regular providers?
No-one wanted to discourage setters, but what if the puzzles came too fast for the folk who like to compile the full walkthroughs for every one? Ed's essay on what is an assassin was inspiring, but what if it set the bar too high for new setters? What if there are equally satisfying puzzles available on websites with no forum to compare notes and swop hints?

In my experience, members have provided very politely and generously for those with different interests and preferences, but sometimes it may be an effort to do so. If new (genuine) members are to be encouraged and accommodated, most of us have to give up something. I don't compile walkthroughs, I had to give up doing puzzles over 2.0 - so as to leave time to live - and I don't like alt versions with the same solutions, but I can make these choices without prejudice to those who enjoy them. It would be just as easy to ignore threads on KSO Weekly puzzles.

If there's still general support for the Friday Assassin as a sort of 'flagship', then I'm with it: but maybe the Assassin schedule could do with a moderator to sort out the candidates in advance: e.g. as chosen, waiting list, assassin variant and other, not assassin - would that help?

cheers

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Joe

Thanks for all the opinions. I'm still considering.

But bear in mind the one who has the final say here is Richard. I'd really like to know his view on this.

The reason I want to post the KSO walkthroughs here instead of the djape forum is that there seem to be many more killer enthusiasts here (who'd actually take time to respond). And no doubt many of them are also regular participants of the weekly assassin program. But I'm sure that there are also some who don't actively involve with the assassins and would like to discuss about other puzzles.

Perhaps we should do the democratic way like setting up a poll to see (that is if Richard doesn't have any opinion).

2 afterthoughts though:

1. I wouldn't say discussing KSO puzzles here is "providing a forum for them" (whoever "them" refers to), because my target audience is the players here. If anything, the one who should say something would be the KSO webmaster, because we're making use of his puzzles for our own learning/entertainment purposes here.

2. Perhaps a solution would be to open a new subforum called "Killer Puzzles from other websites", or rename this subforum as "Weekly Assassins" or "Killer Puzzles created by members".

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ADYFNC HJPLI BVSM GgK Oa m

I wasn't going to comment further in this thread but in view of the interesting messages from Joe and from udosuk I changed my mind.

I'll start first with udosuk's comments. A separate subforum Killer Puzzles From Other Sites seems a good way to satisfy everybody; any posts there discussing puzzles on other sites should, of course, credit those sites.

I don't think there's any need to change the title of this subforum. Killer Puzzles seems fine; all the regulars know it contains Assassins, variants and other puzzles which are posted here.

Joe made some interesting comments, particularly about not discouraging new puzzle creators. I would hope that we don't do that. From what I can see, Assassins should be rated at least 1.0 with the majority in the range from about 1.15 to 1.5; variants tend to be higher rated versions.

At the moment we aren't getting too many Assassins, if anything the opposite, so I don't see any need for an Assassin Schedule moderator; the Schedule thread seems to work as it is.

perhaps gooders is referring to me regarding the sudokuonline puzzles??
i do do them every week and also the greater than puzzle too..these are generally easier(usually !!) than the mindbending killers
there's often a nice symmetry to the solutions which i much enjoy
i'ld rate them generally a little easier than the typical assassin although some have been very hard..close to being up there with the brick wall (remember that one?)

regards

gary

Just another random thought: it seems many "regulars" here are under the belief that if members here don't view/solve/discuss puzzles from elsewhere, they'd be more inclined to participate more actively on the assassin program. It's like a parent who hides the TV remote - if the children can't turn the TV on, they "will have to" do their homework. Or a government which bans all imported beef - the citizens "will have to" buy local beef. However, I'm not sure if this belief is credible or not in our case.

Speaking for myself, I don't participate actively anymore because I like to spend my time on other aspects of life. I don't know about others, but I don't divide my leisure time into equal "chunks" like 1 hr of sudoku, 1 hr of online games, 1 hr of sports etc every week. When I'm interested in one thing I tend to spend all my leisure time on it.

So another possible scenario would be if we encourage more discussions of puzzles from outside here, the level of interest will increase and people might actually spend more time looking at other topics in this forum (including the assassins), and will participate more.

I don't know which scenario is more likely to be true. But I'm still waiting for Richard's opinion before I proceed with any posting here. At the moment I'm considering mostly the view from the man who's "2nd-in-charge" - Ed who is the top poster among the "killer regulars" here, and a guy I respect a lot.

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ADYFNC HJPLI BVSM GgK Oa m

I just sent the following email to kso. I'll let you know the response.

To: killer@killersudokuonline.com
Subject: kso discussion forum

Hi:

There is currently no forum for discussing kso puzzles. Several kso fans have been discussing the possibility of starting a discussion forum on another site - particularly for the weekly mind bending puzzle. See the discussion here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=442

Do you have any plans to start a forum on kso itself?

Many thanx for your puzzles - they are much appreciated.

Frank

Here is the response:

Actually I do have that intention, but not sure I can get it up and
running soon enough. However, I would really like it to happen on the
site. I have a reasonable alpha version that maybe people would be
willing to try. What do you think?

So shall we volunteer to test his alpha version?