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Topic: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum? (Read 971 times) |
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ThudnBlunder
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Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« on: Jan 10th, 2005, 9:11am » |
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For myself, it is because
1) The quality of the puzzles posted is generally high.
2) The quality of the best answers posted is invariably very high.
3) There is a high signal-to-noise ratio.
4) Excluding myself, the regular posters are perfect gentlemen/women.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 10th, 2005, 8:59pm by ThudnBlunder » |
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THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.....................................................................er, if that's all right with the rest of you.
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Barukh
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #1 on: Jan 10th, 2005, 9:57am » |
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THUD&BLUNDER, you are almost reading my thoughts... 
I would also add:
5) This forurm is an excellent place to express myself.
on Jan 10th, 2005, 9:11am, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:For myself, it is because
4) Excluding myself, the regular posters are perfect gentlewomen/men |
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Which part of the sentence do you like more in this forum: the first or the second? 
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Sir Col
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #2 on: Jan 10th, 2005, 1:23pm » |
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For me, it is all of the above too. In my life away from the forum I simply do not encounter people who share the same level of interest and enjoyment for puzzles.
I have no qualms in admitting that I am one that often makes mistakes. However, one of the greatest aspects of the people here is the combination of clear thinking and brutal honesty. If something isn't right, you can be sure that it won't take long before someone spots it and lets you know. But because of T&B's fourth point, rarely is there any malice or nastiness behind it. It is said for the benefit of everyone: the person who posted it and other visitors that may read it.
I owe a great deal of gratitude to the regulars here and for the way in which they have helped refine my problem solving skills, as well as taking much of their own time to post challenging problems and their insightful solutions.
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towr
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #3 on: Jan 10th, 2005, 1:35pm » |
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The first reason that comes to mind, is that I learn new and interesting things here..
But basicly, without further justification to myself or others, I just simply like it here.
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Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
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rmsgrey
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #4 on: Jan 10th, 2005, 6:28pm » |
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I find coming here helps keep my brain ticking over.
The society of my peers is also a plus.
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BNC
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #5 on: Jan 10th, 2005, 10:11pm » |
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This place has become my "home away from home" on the web. I like the socirty of smart people -- makes me (sometimes) feel like one too (unless I actually attempt to answer one of the puzzles  )
I do have two concerns, though:
1. William -- when do you graduate? and
2. What, oh what will we do afterward?
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TenaliRaman
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #6 on: Jan 10th, 2005, 10:38pm » |
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I come here because i am just impressed by the regular posters here. Guys in here have become my role models. T&B (for the way he hunts down some exceptional problems and solves them and posts them for our delight), Sir Col (for his gifted analysis skills),Icarus and towr (i have come to believe that these two are highly intellectual martians),and u have him,him,him,him,...... (i am at loss of words right now and the fact that i havent even listed james fingas, william wu, BNC, barukh, eigenray, jock,rmsgrey and loads of other people kinda proves it.)
Man when i come here its like "whoa!!! what a beautiful solution!! I wish i could come up with that" and sometimes "what the hell is that? Man i need to google to find that out".
Hmm i think i wrote too much.But my final word on this "this place is awesome". And yes i share the same concerns as BNC. 
-- AI
P.S -> Excuse my emotional outburst. I just love this forum very much and unfortunately, i find myself at loss of words when it comes to expressing them.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 10th, 2005, 10:42pm by TenaliRaman » |
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SWF
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #7 on: Jan 11th, 2005, 8:06pm » |
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on Jan 10th, 2005, 9:11am, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
3) There is a high signal-to-noise ratio. |
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Thudandblunder, if there is a high signal to noise ratio, how do you explain the 575,000 byte icon attached to every one of your posts? That really slows down my dial up connection when the icon is not in my cache. Same thing happens with some of the icon's in Grimbal's library.
What I like about this site: it gives a rare opportunity to use mathematics, and the people here seem to care about it.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 11th, 2005, 8:07pm by SWF » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #8 on: Jan 12th, 2005, 12:35am » |
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Quote:| Thudandblunder, if there is a high signal to noise ratio, how do you explain the 575,000 byte icon attached to every one of your posts? |
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That better? Sorry, I hadn't realized it was so large.
I tried copying a scaled-down version into William's attachments directory and pointing to that, but it didn't load.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 12th, 2005, 12:38am by ThudnBlunder » |
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Grimbal
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #9 on: Jan 12th, 2005, 4:39am » |
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on Jan 11th, 2005, 8:06pm, SWF wrote:| Same thing happens with some of the icon's in Grimbal's library. |
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 Uh... I'll have a look.
I like that people here have the same interest for things that people usually consider just weird and pointless.
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Aryabhatta
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #10 on: Jan 14th, 2005, 2:48am » |
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I like this forum because of the passion for puzzles the folks here have. I am sure if you wake them up at 3AM and ask them a puzzle they will thank you for it  . Also there is always something to learn here. I guess I have now started to repeat what others have expressed so clearly.
And yes, what will happen when Wu graduates? Or is he busy reading 'Piled Higher and Deeper' to worry about graduation
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #11 on: Jan 14th, 2005, 6:04am » |
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Quote:| I like this forum because of the passion for puzzles the folks here have. |
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OK, why do we like puzzles - and other, less-fortunate folk don't?
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| « Last Edit: Jan 14th, 2005, 6:18am by ThudnBlunder » |
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BNC
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #12 on: Jan 14th, 2005, 9:34am » |
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on Jan 14th, 2005, 6:04am, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
OK, why do we like puzzles - and other, less-fortunate folk don't?
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Well, one of themost inteligent persons I've ever met told me he doesn't like puzzles, because then he has to think about them, and it stops him from his favorite "passtime" -- writing scientific journal articles
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Icarus
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #13 on: Jan 14th, 2005, 5:12pm » |
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I like puzzles because they offer me the perfect excuse to think long and hard about something other than the things I am supposed to be thinking about.
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John_Gaughan
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #14 on: Jan 17th, 2005, 9:02am » |
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I get paid to do boring computer work. Here I don't get paid, but get to think about interesting computer and math puzzles.
Besides college, this is one of the only places I can mention stuff like integrals, Big Oh, binary trees, etc. and not get blank stares.
Too many of my colleagues just use whatever classes Java provides without understanding what makes them tick. They will be code monkeys their entire lives. These are the same people that think "Windows" is synonymous with "operating system."
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Barukh
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #15 on: Jan 17th, 2005, 9:19am » |
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on Jan 17th, 2005, 9:02am, John_Gaughan wrote:| These are the same people that think "Windows" is synonymous with "operating system." |
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Don't you agree, John ? I know a few brilliant people that think Windows is the ultimate operating system.
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rmsgrey
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #16 on: Jan 17th, 2005, 10:00am » |
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on Jan 17th, 2005, 9:19am, Barukh wrote:
Don't you agree, John ? I know a few brilliant people that think Windows is the ultimate operating system.
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You mean it's the final stage of the operating system's evolutionary cycle - the overadapted form with too many holdovers from previous models to survive another change in conditions? The last stage in an inevitable decline?
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JocK
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #17 on: Jan 17th, 2005, 12:50pm » |
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on Jan 17th, 2005, 9:02am, John_Gaughan wrote:| Here I don't get paid, but get to think about interesting computer and math puzzles. |
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Same here. This forum is an ideal place to exercise parts of the brain that remain pretty inactive during daytime.
As a non-mathematician I like the math puzzles in particular. A 'critical mass' of clever, creative and frequent contributors makes this forum stand out well above other math-fora on the internet. (I waisted some time on other fora before discovering this forum a few months ago.)
It is not so much the solution itself that is of most interest, but rather the road towards it. Really good problems have appeared here with 'deep' solutions that could only be reached thanks to a concerted progressive effort from several posters.
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BNC
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #18 on: Jan 17th, 2005, 11:42pm » |
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on Jan 17th, 2005, 10:00am, rmsgrey wrote:
You mean it's the final stage of the operating system's evolutionary cycle - the overadapted form with too many holdovers from previous models to survive another change in conditions? The last stage in an inevitable decline? |
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I'm sure it's just an intermediate stage. I remember from my (somewhat) younger years, an old saying: "DOS is such an awful OS, it will surely survive until a worse OS will come". Well, lo and behold -- there came Windows. I think the same saying may apply here as well.
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william wu
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #19 on: Jan 19th, 2005, 8:06pm » |
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on Jan 10th, 2005, 10:11pm, BNC wrote:
I do have two concerns, though:
1. William -- when do you graduate? and
2. What, oh what will we do afterward?
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Don't worry! This site won't be going down when I graduate. The hosting is done by OCF, an independent student-run computing organization at Berkeley that will serve its users indefinitely as far as I know. And even if one day OCF goes down, I would find a way to move the site somewhere else -- I value our community too much to let it go away! I share many of the same sentiments that have already been made in this thread. The puzzles are of a high quality, the SNR is unusually high here, and the posters are great people -- not just brilliant, but also curious, friendly and good-humoured. I'm amazed by how merely building a simple website and forum so many years ago has somehow resulted in the awesome little community we have today.
Regarding graduation, actually I have already graduated with a bachelor's from Berkeley, and now I'm doing graduate studies in EE at Stanford. Recently I've been so busy studying for these notorious qualifying examinations here (highest fail rate in country) that I feel I've fallen out of touch with the forum. But I just found out the results of my quals, and I passed! So I can officially say I am a PhD student, and I wont be graduating anytime soon. And I'll be spending more time in the forum! 
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Noke Lieu
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #20 on: Jan 19th, 2005, 9:05pm » |
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Congrats!
Will have a beer for you.
Why do I like it here?
same as most, really.
You guys put up with me. That's rare enough.
It's a good place to learn stuff.
It counts (a little) as my work.
It stops me from distacting the others in my office.
It beats looking up naughty pictures, and I won't get fired for it. 
Why do I like puzzles?
Toughy. Always have.
It's nice being able to follow someone's thinking.
It's nice feeling smug that you know how to do it, and someonelse doesn't. But not pompously smug, because it's only light intellectual banter anyway.
And then when people figure it out, it's a nice feeling too- it's horrible when a puzzle goes unanswered for a long time.
and something that I tell kids all the time- "we've got brains for doing SO MUCH MORE than sitting around and watching tv"
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Three Hands
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #21 on: Jan 20th, 2005, 4:21am » |
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Why do I like this forum? Generally because I enjoy looking at quite a lot of the puzzles, and seeing how everyone goes about solving them - and occasionally managing to solve one myself...
I find puzzles fun as it provides a challenge where, generally, I know there's an answer and quite often will have some idea about how to try solving it. However, since I'm quite possibly the least mathematically practiced of everyone here, I do tend to find some of the puzzles going too mathematical for me...
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John_Gaughan
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #22 on: Jan 21st, 2005, 7:52pm » |
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on Jan 17th, 2005, 9:19am, Barukh wrote:
Don't you agree, John ? I know a few brilliant people that think Windows is the ultimate operating system. |
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The devil is in the details. I did not say "best" OS, I meant "only" OS. As in Windows is just part of all computers, except maybe those 1960s mainframes from before Bill Gates invented the personal computer and started Microsoft and Intel (AMD doesn't exist either).
Crap, it's frustrating just thinking about it.
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Barukh
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #23 on: Jan 22nd, 2005, 7:18am » |
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on Jan 21st, 2005, 7:52pm, John_Gaughan wrote:...before Bill Gates invented the personal computer and started Microsoft and Intel (AMD doesn't exist either).
Crap, it's frustrating just thinking about it. |
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Well, I am working for one of those companies. Will you hate me for that?
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John_Gaughan
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Re: Why Do You Like This (Puzzle) Forum?
« Reply #24 on: Feb 4th, 2005, 7:26am » |
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Will you hate me for running Linux on a Duron?
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