Interesting idea, I'm not sure if I agree with it, but the one problem I have is that since the time of the last survey, I have completely forgotten my password, how do I go about retrieving it.

-Dan

I have the same problem. Bryan Rabeler informs me that there is a real, live person on the other end of survey@ticalc.org who responds to desperate pleas for lost passwords. ;)

The POTM award is a very good idea, but I can say so for the way it is decided. The POTM award should not be chosen from the POTW awards.

Let's just say that the first week of the month, all of the programmers are working on really good games and only crappy programs are released. Let's say prog1 wins the POTW award. Then all of the really good programs are released the following week, and prog2 wins the POTW award.

There is no way prog1 could even compare to the programs that lost to prog2. This would be very unfair, and biased towards good programs that may have chosen to come out in the wrong week.

This, IMHO, is why the POTM and the POTY (if it is done the same way as POTM), will not work.

-Miles Raymond

So your saying that a "really crappy" program wins the first week, and then a good program wins the second week? Then at the end of the month, both programs will be on the ballot of POTM and theoritically the good program should win there.

There is no way prog1 could even compare to the PROGRAMS THAT LOST to prog2. This would be very unfair, and biased towards good programs that may have chosen to come out in the wrong week.

Let me clarify that a bit more...

prog1, prog3, and prog5 were all released on the first week. All of these programs were made by beginners and (let's face it, ) they all suck. prog1 just happened to suck less than the others, so it got the POTW award.

prog2, prog4, and prog6 were all released on the second week. All of these programs were made by experienced programmers. It came to be a close vote, but prog1 won the POTW award.

Does it make sense that for the POTM award we have to chose between prog1 and prog2 when prog4 and prog6 could beat out prog1 any day? To me, voting between a crappy inexperiencely programmed game and a cool expertly programmed game is a waste of time. Especially when we could doing somthing worthwhile by voting between many master programs.

-Miles Raymond

If prog4 and prog6 both lost to prog2 in the POTW, then they certainly shouldn't beat it in the POTM. Therefore, you may indeed end up voting between a very good and a not so good program for POTM, but the very good program DID win in the weekly final, beating all those other progs.

In other words, the best program is always going to end up winning. The only loss is that prog4 and prog6 won't get POTW. Not such a big deal anyway.

This works the same way as a round-robbin tourneyment. It is useful for determining the best, but inaccurate for second, third, and fourth places.

Building on another great idea - perhaps the best programs of the month/year(?) should get prizes, such as cash or ticalc T-Shirts (now there's the peak of fashion - making a ticalc.org T-Shirt). Just a thought.

notice the "org" at the end of ticalc.org--this means they are non profit. we should be incredibly grateful that they devote so much time already, and not be demanding manufactured goods and cash from them!

let's show some appreciation by giving them attention rather than demanding it of them!

I would be willing to pay for a ticalc.org t-shirt...
Daniel Plaisted
-dsplaisted@bigfoot.com

It's a very good idea, and I think we will have a lot a program of good quality with this system.

It's very cool :)

David
WebMaster de La Terminale S, facile !

This won't necesarily get us better programs but it will get recognition for the better ones. However it may inspire people to make better stuff so they can get this honor.

Hehe, not that I care, but this looks a lot like the Game of the Month Poll that the Files, (actually I) did a loong time ago. Also like the Game of the Month.. But that died when I went off Files, so have a good time with it ticalc.org.

These guys at ticalc do a wonderful job already, and the system does precisely what it is intended to- it decides by majority vote which program was best in that month. Let's just accept that it is still somewhat arbitrary, but to do it any other way would be really complicated and would probably dissolve some of the honor in winning this award. Keep calm, everybody, if you program well, you'll be recognized under this system. Thank you. As far as valuable prizes, recognition in this ticalc community is more prestigious than a t-shirt, and is probably the only thing the site can afford to give.