Puzzle correctness

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TheJuggler
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Puzzle correctness

Post by TheJuggler » December 5th, 2011, 7:33 pm

Hi guys,

I was in updating the STC #41, Unhappy childhood today with my own images, and suchlike, and noticed that it was described as a 12 piece puzzle + box. In fact it's a 10 piece (10x 5 cubes each makes 50 - 2 rows of 25 = 5x5x2 box)

Given the number of puzzles we have in here now, who's keeping an eye on the validity of the information provided?

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bluesign2k
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Re: Puzzle correctness

Post by bluesign2k » December 5th, 2011, 10:47 pm

It's a very good point. The short answer is nobody is officially doing it although I do often use the "Random Page" feature to go through a bunch of random pages to check for formatting/errors/new information. Ideally, the hope would be that only verified information is put up. However, such a system would likely discourage users from contributing, and how does one guarantee that the data is correct if the information is only found in one place and the source is generally considered reputable? Luckily, that's the advantage of a wiki, f you know something to be wrong then you can easily correct it :)

I have found a few instance where exactly this has happened, one example being John Devost's image of (supposedly) Coffin's Half Hour (http://www.puzzle-place.com/wiki/File:H ... r_Open.jpg)... from talking to John, it wasn't just a case a mis-labelling an image, it was that the puzzle he made wasn't what he thought it was(!)

I'm not sure what the solution is... or even if there is one? Any ideas?

TheJuggler
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Re: Puzzle correctness

Post by TheJuggler » December 5th, 2011, 11:00 pm

I'll be honest Chris, I don't have the answer either, short of doing exactly what you mention. Either going through your own collection, or having a few with access to many more puzzles verify as best they can.

As you said, it's easy to change, as long as we don't end up in a correction war with two people thinking they're both correct and ping ponging the info back and forth. (I guess we need to keep an eye on frequently changed pages to see that something of that nature isn't happening).

We're lucky that the puzzle community is a good one, and we tend to be pretty helpful. Maybe send out a call to validate puzzles, maybe to those who have made copies of some of the puzzles?

Just a thought.

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bluesign2k
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Re: Puzzle correctness

Post by bluesign2k » December 5th, 2011, 11:24 pm

I see your point about having correction wars although the number of pieces in a puzzle is a pretty fixed value so I'm sure the correct information could be found if we end up with such a situation. I know that only one example but I can't see there being much reason for disagreement on any information related to a puzzle... with the exception of it's name where two people give it different names eg. I still refer to Gordian's Knot as Gordian's Knot rather than Extreme Torture just because it's the more commonly used name... but as long as one is redirected to the other then I'm not sure that it even matters.

Indeed, (in general) the puzzle community is full of helpful and enthusiastic people... proven by the fact that there is more than one contributor to the wiki :lol: Putting out a call to validate puzzles would work I'm sure, but my concern would be where would it stop - after every new puzzle? Again, I'd have thought that if enough people come to use the site then error would be spotted and corrected (as you did). If we start spotting many inaccuracies then I'd certainly consider putting out a call.

One alternative could be to add some kind of system where users could "sign" a page to say that they believe all the information to be correct. Then if say, 3 or more users do this then a small "tick" icon could be shown somewhere on the page so that users viewing it could have more confidence that the information is correct?

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