c4countdown

Since they both claim to be 28 they're either twins, pikeys, rubbish at colluding, or not related. I'd go for the first two, myself. Either way they seem to be damaged individuals intent on spoiling everyone else's evening.

That was my fault last night, was somewhat intoxicated but I did goad them not that they needed much encouragement.

Lesley Hines wrote:I can't help but notice there's been a common surname involved in recent altercations.

Rosie O'Donnell's a horribly militant lesbian, Daniel O'Donnell's a painfully whiny singer, and now this. Disgusting.

Oi! Leave off Daniel, he's a genius.

Lesley Hines wrote:been a common surname involved

Common as in chav, not popular

David O'Donnell wrote:Oi! Leave off Daniel, he's a genius.

Not surprised you said that - it must be the Tyrone thing. My Dad's from Castlederg and he's always off to see him. The Irish Album is clearly your most treasured possession

Lesley Hines wrote:Since they both claim to be 28 they're either twins, pikeys, rubbish at colluding, or not related.

Out of interest, how does anything other than the "twins" bit relate to their ages? Only I'm 28 in two months time and if I'm suddenly going to turn into a pikey, I'd like to know what I can do to prevent it.

Lesley Hines wrote:

Lesley Hines wrote:been a common surname involved

Common as in chav, not popular

David O'Donnell wrote:Oi! Leave off Daniel, he's a genius.

Not surprised you said that - it must be the Tyrone thing. My Dad's from Castlederg and he's always off to see him. The Irish Album is clearly your most treasured possession

LOL, nice one Castlederg is just down the road.

Nah - pikeys churn out babies every 8 1/2 - 9 months Vicky Pollard-style, don't they? 4 babies in 3 years - that sort of thing. Can call the male parent either "Dad" or "Uncle" depending on the mood. You obviously live somewhere more sophisticated than the Midlands

Hey, not all of the midlands is like that!

James Hall wrote:Hey, not all of the midlands is like that!

To be fair I was thinking of somewhere more like Redditch - 80,000 people - 14 different surnames

Not the best display of etiquette I've seen. Needless to say I won't be playing him again.

Simon Myers wrote:Not the best display of etiquette I've seen. Needless to say I won't be playing him again.

Cheat!

Simon Myers wrote:Not the best display of etiquette I've seen. Needless to say I won't be playing him again.

Haha, excellent. I like the "you have 10 seconds" bit - apterous has its very own Judge Dredd!

Charlie Reams wrote:

Simon Myers wrote:Not the best display of etiquette I've seen. Needless to say I won't be playing him again.

Haha, excellent. I like the "you have 10 seconds" bit - apterous has its very own Judge Dredd!

At first I thought he meant that it was 10 second rounds, and who can possibly come up with a 9-letter word in ten seconds? But no, it's normal rules. Bizarre.

Simon Myers wrote:Not the best display of etiquette I've seen. Needless to say I won't be playing him again.

I was going to make a joke about it being cheating because with an adult you have to take them out, buy them dinner, but with a kid all you need is a packet of sweets.
But then I wasn't sure if it would work, or even if it was appropriate.

Derek Hazell wrote:I was going to make a joke about it being cheating because with an adult you have to take them out, buy then dinner, but with a kid all you need is a packet of sweets.

Last time I did that it resulted in someone calling me a c*** and leaving the board, so probably just as well you didn't.

Phil Reynolds wrote:Last time I did that it resulted in someone calling me a c*** and leaving the board, so probably just as well you didn't.

Ah yes, dear sir, I remember the malestrom to which you refer.

Hate to make unfounded accusations, but it takes one to know one. (By the way I know that you aren't a cheat Simon, just a good player- I'd heard of those words from apterous experience)

I remember one game I played against said Joe Hammill, went to a crucial conundrum (can't get into apterous at the moment but I'll put the game up later), I was winning. The conundrum was a scramble of the word KNEIDLACH (plural of an obscure Jewish yiddish ball which you put in soup (I'd heard of it, I'm Jewish, so if anyone were gonna get it, it would probably be me- well, or countdown/apterous legends)), he got it on about the 17 second mark, which seems about right for someone putting it in a solver. I was busy looking for -ed suffixes. He had got all common words up to that point and I could see no reason why he might have suddenly found that obscure improbable word.

oh, and this was before chat points, so the nines which come up frequently in chat wouldn't have come up to educate us about rare words and the like

Paul Erdunast wrote: I remember one game I played against said Joe Hammill, went to a crucial conundrum (can't get into apterous at the moment but I'll put the game up later), I was winning. The conundrum was a scramble of the word KNEIDLACH (plural of an obscure Jewish yiddish ball which you put in soup (I'd heard of it, I'm Jewish, so if anyone were gonna get it, it would probably be me- well, or countdown/apterous legends)), he got it on about the 17 second mark, which seems about right for someone putting it in a solver. I was busy looking for -ed suffixes. He had got all common words up to that point and I could see no reason why he might have suddenly found that obscure improbable word.

Let's not create a police state where anyone who has a good moment gets accused on cheating. It certainly is odd that Joe would be the only person to have ever solved that conundrum, having never seen it before, but who knows? If you suspect someone of funny business, please let me know by PM/email and I'll use my Magic Powers to keep an eye on them. But for the most part, please don't bandy about accusations of cheating lightly. Just chill and enjoy the game, cheaters are only wasting their own time at the end of the day.

Charlie Reams wrote:If you suspect someone of funny business, please let me know by PM/email and I'll use my Magic Powers to keep an eye on them.

Sounds like Charlie's found a great way to get away with being a CHEAT!

Innis Carson wrote:A similar outburst can be seen here:

http://apterous.org/chatlog.php?log=1248035505816

How nice to see that people speak so highly of me when my back is turned!

Edwin Mead wrote:How nice to see that people speak so highly of me when my back is turned!

Don't take it personally - read the start of the thread

Until everyone's saying it - don't be paranoid (and find someone who's nicer to you to play!)

Kate Horton is one of the nicest people I have ever known of. She takes everything I say very well.

I want to apologize for posting the thread titled, "Please unban David Dawson" on the forum. I know today is his birthday, but that doesn't mean he will stop saying bad things about Kate Richardson.

I have since learned that it is his problem, not hers.

I would also like to apologize to the forum members on Apterous for making a fuss about it.

I'm sorry.

http://www.apterous.org/chatlog.php?log=1252808179664

Another attention seeker here. A lot of people have had problems with "Lancelot", claiming he quits games if he is about to lose. Here he acts, and admits, he's a moron. I could have sworn him and Tim were best mates but he then tells Tim to f.....go away.

He has never, ever said anything like that to me, Kirk.

But, he does have the persistent attitude of someone who loves Countdown. I played three games in a row with him (very early this past Wednesday morning, in fact.)

This will make some interesting reading when its done.

http://apterous.org/chatlog.php?log=1253465195346

Ill explain it later.

Wow.

A battle of wits between two series winners . . . lovely

Derek Hazell wrote:A battle of "wits" between two series winners . . .

Fixed that for you.

Tum tee tum...

Derek Hazell wrote:A battle of wits between two series winners . . . lovely

Huh? Lancelot and Jack aren't series winners.

I'll give my series of events for anyone who cant be bothered to read the chat log:

Richard quit a game against me on the last round and claimed it was because his browsers were slowing his computer down (or something like that)

I Got pissed off at this and called him a "MASSIVE COCK"

He comes back into the room, and Lancelot tries his best to stir up trouble between me and Richard.

Me and Richard+Lancelot share words, but nothing too serious.

The end result is that i now bare grudges towards Richard and Lancelot, and about 6 more people on apterous currently think I'm an arsehole.

JackHurst wrote:The end result is that i now bare grudges towards Richard and Lancelot, and about 6 more people on apterous currently think I'm an arsehole.

Do you mean "six more people besides Richard and Lancelot" or "six more people than did previously"?

Phil Reynolds wrote:

JackHurst wrote:The end result is that i now bare grudges towards Richard and Lancelot, and about 6 more people on apterous currently think I'm an arsehole.

Do you mean "six more people besides Richard and Lancelot" or "six more people than did previously"?

I meant Six more than did previously, and as it was just an estimate, the inclusion of Richard and Lancelot within these "six" is up to you to interpret.

JackHurst wrote:Richard quit a game against me [...] He comes back into the room, and Lancelot tries his best to stir up trouble between me and Richard.

To be fair, you and Kirk did spend a few minutes saying RB was a dick and accusing Lancelot of being RB in disguise.
Lancelot grassing on you is therefore to some extent besides the point. Can't complain about him stirring when you've poured everything into a saucepan and handed him a spoon.

That's a fucking awesome analogy by the way. Go me.

Matt Morrison wrote: To be fair, you and Kirk did spend a few minutes saying RB was a dick and accusing Lancelot of being RB in disguise.
Lancelot grassing on you is therefore to some extent besides the point. Can't complain about him stirring when you've poured everything into a saucepan and handed him a spoon.

I had no recollection of accusing RB of being Lencelot in disguise. I think that Richard deserved to hear what I had said about him, and if you look at what I said, it was phrased in such a way that suggested so. You could tell that when Lancelot bought it up he was looking for trouble, which is what i had a problem with. This is backed up by the fact that he tried to get involved when it was none of his business.

By the way, nobody wins a bonus point for spotting my peep show reference.

Lol, that was epic.

JackHurst wrote:By the way, nobody wins a bonus point for spotting my peep show reference.

I spotted it you piss kidney. I'll give you a B for quality of the gag but a D for implementation

Matt Morrison wrote: To be fair, you and Kirk did spend a few minutes saying RB was a dick and accusing Lancelot of being RB in disguise.
L

I called RB a dick because he's done it to me a couple of times where he has quit when he is about to lose then doesn't come back for a day or two and then the game had gone. He also has other traits which make him a dick, but I won't make them public. I accussed Lancelot of being RB as a joke because of the way he acted. Clearly(?) they are not the same person but Lancelot just wants to stir trouble. He was slagging everyone off saying how we have no lives by playing on apterous and that all the top players are arrogant bastards. He is a trouble stirrer and, surprisingly, Richard jumped straight onto his side with the pleasantries saying what a great name Lancelot had etc.

That's not how I want to continue my birthday, Kirk!

If you're joking about any of this, please tell me.

How could you ban anyone from Apterous?

I'm not asking for Patrick to be banned, but rather ask Charlie or someone else who might know how they were able to do that.

Jason Larsen wrote:How could you ban anyone from Apterous?

I'm not asking for Patrick to be banned, but rather ask Charlie or someone else who might know how they were able to do that.

Charlie is the moderator so has more buttons to press than anyone else, so to speak.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Jason Larsen wrote:How could you ban anyone from Apterous?

I'm not asking for Patrick to be banned, but rather ask Charlie or someone else who might know how they were able to do that.

Charlie is the moderator so has more buttons to press than anyone else, so to speak.

Than any other man anyway.

lol, kaibot, you know too much!

Kudos to Philip for starting this thread!

People (perfectly reasonably) become upset if someone gets distracted in the middle of their game, and I'm often a terrible offender for it. I was playing Tom last night and he got called away for personal reasons, and I just wanted to say how thoughtful it was he told me and gave me the opportunity to play someone else in the mean time. I know many people do and I really appreciate it.

I just wanted to say something positive about the etiquette really, and apologise if I've ever left someone hanging on while the door or phone has gone. I do think (generally) players have got nice manners, and I enjoy it.

(NB this post is not for eejits who flounce off when they're losing)

Lesley Hines wrote:People (perfectly reasonably) become upset if someone gets distracted in the middle of their game, and I'm often a terrible offender for it. I was playing Tom last night and he got called away for personal reasons, and I just wanted to say how thoughtful it was he told me and gave me the opportunity to play someone else in the mean time. I know many people do and I really appreciate it.

I just wanted to say something positive about the etiquette really, and apologise if I've ever left someone hanging on while the door or phone has gone. I do think (generally) players have got nice manners, and I enjoy it.

(NB this post is not for eejits who flounce off when they're losing)

What a great post! Thank goodness you're not a sweetheart, so I was able to read it from the balanced centre ground that it required.

I was 20 points down going into the final numbers in a game. I didn't have the solution but when trying to fudge it the game died on me. So I went back in and obviously there was a new numbers round. I knew I would have lost normally so didn't attempt it. Is this what most people would do, or if the game dies is it considered a new round and all is fair? In any other situation, presumably you would just treat it as a new round or it would complicate matters too much, and consistency makes sense so maybe I did the wrong thing. (My opponent got the last numbers and the conundrum anyway.)

Gavin Chipper wrote:I was 20 points down going into the final numbers in a game. I didn't have the solution but when trying to fudge it the game died on me. So I went back in and obviously there was a new numbers round. I knew I would have lost normally so didn't attempt it. Is this what most people would do, or if the game dies is it considered a new round and all is fair? In any other situation, presumably you would just treat it as a new round or it would complicate matters too much, and consistency makes sense so maybe I did the wrong thing. (My opponent got the last numbers and the conundrum anyway.)

I've been in a similar situation. I just asked my oppo if he got the solution, which he did, so I offered to forfeit the round. To his credit (I think it was Innis) he declined and invited me to play the round normally. (He won anyway, but it's the thought that counts.)

Once I realised that I was getting an increasing number of mysteriously curtailed games, only ever when I was ahead, I started keeping screenshots of those games.

That in itself helps, for a start.

I don't really know what to do with my screenshots, but the collection has unfortunately grown rapidly.

I was playing a newbie 3 weeks ago and the game was interrupted. I was ahead. Next day I was pleasantly surprised to see she was on Countdown, she went on to win several games in a row and is unbeaten. The game was stored in the challenge list and when I invited her in the chatbox to continue, a couple of days later, I received no reply.

That game has now lapsed, they seem to stay alive for about a week.

Other than having a catharctic whinge, I don't suppose any of this gets us anywhere.

But maybe we could have an inventory category for these screenshots. And maybe a rule that if any such game isn't continued in a week the points should be awarded and docked according to state of play at that time. With the onus always on the person who was trailing to try to seek out the opponent to arrange a continuation or amicable abandonment.

Finally, although it then wouldn't be cheating, there seem to be very few, well, no mentions at all of players leaving games when they are well ahead. In those circumstances, the person at the door seems to be made to wait!

Simon Le Fort wrote: But maybe we could have an inventory category for these screenshots. And maybe a rule that if any such game isn't continued in a week the points should be awarded and docked according to state of play at that time. With the onus always on the person who was trailing to try to seek out the opponent to arrange a continuation or amicable abandonment.

It's difficult to know how to handle this. What if I get 1 point ahead of Kirk and then just quit the game and leave Apterous for a week? Is it fair to count that as win for me? What if that happens but accidentally (e.g. my Internet goes down for a week?) Making fair rulings in the presence of failure is hard or perhaps impossible.

On the subject of leaving games halfway through, is there anyone else on here who can confess to frequently quitting games against bots?

I end up doing it quite frequently, most of the time its because I cba to carry on playing. I don't see it as morally wrong, but what do others think?

JackHurst wrote:On the subject of leaving games halfway through, is there anyone else on here who can confess to frequently quitting games against bots?

I end up doing it quite frequently, most of the time its because I cba to carry on playing. I don't see it as morally wrong, but what do others think?

I do it too from time to time, such as if I'm going for a record or something against prune, botch a couple of rounds, I just lose the motivation to continue and let the game linger there until it buggers off. It's not like the bots would mind or anything.

JackHurst wrote:On the subject of leaving games halfway through, is there anyone else on here who can confess to frequently quitting games against bots?

I end up doing it quite frequently, most of the time its because I cba to carry on playing. I don't see it as morally wrong, but what do others think?

Do you only quit when you're losing?

Matt Morrison wrote:

JackHurst wrote:On the subject of leaving games halfway through, is there anyone else on here who can confess to frequently quitting games against bots?

I end up doing it quite frequently, most of the time its because I cba to carry on playing. I don't see it as morally wrong, but what do others think?

Do you only quit when you're losing?

The only ones I quit when I'm losing are numbers attacks against Rex when I've made a few clicking errors and cannot be arsed to carry on. I also quit hoards of game against the weak bots in the early stages if I have a typo or decide that I actually CBA to play the whole game.

Like Ben said, I sometimes start a game against prune looking for some sort of record, and quit after rd.1 because I make a fuck up.

Should I apologize to the bots?

It's not unethical, the only thing I'd say is that it skews your starts (because it reduces your number of recorded errors) which can make it hard to see how fast you're improving. When I was seriously trying for the Flat 15 record, I kept restarting if I wasn't at a certain milestone by Round 5, 10 etc because it's so difficult to make up ground without 18 for a 9, but in the end it got depressing having 2 hours of play with nothing to show for it, so I stopped. [/fable]

Ben Wilson wrote:It's not like the bots would mind or anything.

Charlie Reams wrote:It's not unethical, the only thing I'd say is that it skews your starts (because it reduces your number of recorded errors) which can make it hard to see how fast you're improving. When I was seriously trying for the Flat 15 record, I kept restarting if I wasn't at a certain milestone by Round 5, 10 etc because it's so difficult to make up ground without 18 for a 9, but in the end it got depressing having 2 hours of play with nothing to show for it, so I stopped. [/fable]

To be fair me forfeiting sometimes 16 rounds in a row to finish a numbers attack 30-0 against prune would also have the same effect.