c4countdown

The success of previous C4C group projects has demonstrated how well crowdsourcing can work when your crowd consists of smart nerdy people with an unhealthy passion for completionism. Project Hyper, all agreed, was a grand success and opened many new opportunities for apterous games.

Now it's time to make use of this grand resource again, as Mike "Excellent" Brown has finished scanning his paper notes for the entirety of Series 48, all 128 episodes of it. This is the series that played host to Julian Fell, Grace Page and of course Mr Mike Brown himself, amongst numerous other characters, so it's an exciting series to cover. What's needed now is some nice people to take these scans and convert them into full blown recaps, so that this place and the wiki can have a complete record of the second half of 2002. It's pretty straightforward if you've done recaps before and, if you haven't... well, it's still pretty straightforward.

What I propose is this: if you're keen, please reply to this. You'll be given a quick introduction to Mike's notes, I'll allocate you a small block of episodes and send you the relevant files. And it will be a whole lotta fun!

I'll give some a go. I'm a recap virgin so be gentle. Probably be busy til Monday but I can get some done then.

Bung a couple my way if you like Charlie. Obviously I didn't watch any of the episodes from that series, but I can work from Mike's notes, unless he's got doctor's handwriting or something. I've used the recapper for a couple of my Co: event games, but not done any uploading to any database, other than copy-and-pasting text to these forums.

I'll do some mate. Just send me the recapping link again as I've forgotten it.

I'm more than up for it! After doing the Series 48 episodes that have come onto YouTube, finishing it off will be a pleasure.

Send me as many as you want.

James Robinson wrote:
Send me as many as you want.

Aww. It's times like this that I feel proud to be a part of a community.

Yeah, I've got a couple of days off next week so could knock off a couple.

I'll do some.

I could do some over the next few days, I'm sure.

Thanks very much The first 7 of you should have received your allocations by email. Still plenty more to give out if anyone else is interested.

One question, Charlie, which I may find is already answered when I get started.

Does recap-writer always use OED2r for maxes? Or does it know which series uses which dictionary?

If it always uses OED2r, are you worried?
If it knows which dictionary to use, and has the dictionary to access, then my admiration for you increases even more.

Howard Somerset wrote: Does recap-writer always use OED2r for maxes? Or does it know which series uses which dictionary?

It uses ODE2r for Series 51+ and NODE before that, so you just need to set the "Series" correctly at the top. It's possible that our version of the NODE is not 100% correct but it's pretty good.

Howard Somerset wrote:If it knows which dictionary to use, and has the dictionary to access, then my admiration for you increases even more.

Cool, I'll do some as well.

Excellent initial response, dudes! And wonderful to see some Countdown greats in there...

Just wanted to point out there are actually only 110 episodes in the series, not 128: I think that stat is down to duplicate entries in the CDB, caused by historical recap additions.

Mike

Mike Brown wrote:And wonderful to see some Countdown greats in there...
Mike

And a few others.

I'll do as many as you want to send. Do I just recap them like normal? And do I have to create a wiki entry? (cos I don't know how to)

Ryan Taylor wrote:Do I just recap them like normal?

Yep.

Ryan Taylor wrote:And do I have to create a wiki entry? (cos I don't know how to)

Nope, we take care of all that. Full details are in the email that should be on its way to you.

Charlie, are you aware that your original e-mail suggested that me and Chris Philpot were due to do the same recaps.

And the same for Howard and Kirk too.

James Robinson wrote:Charlie, are you aware that your original e-mail suggested that me and Chris Philpot were due to do the same recaps.

And the same for Howard and Kirk too.

That is... odd. Hold on to your various horses, I will send out a new schedule.

Here's the current allocation. Please check that your allocated games haven't been recapped already, since I may have made mistakes.

Andy Wilson:
Mon 1-Jul-02 Julia Wilkinson 122 - 62 John Baker
Fri 12-Jul-02 David Nickeas 93 - 87 David Watson
Mon 15-Jul-02 David Nickeas 97 - 77 Alice Walker
Wed 17-Jul-02 David Nickeas 106 - 30 Jason Ainsworth
Thu 18-Jul-02 David Nickeas 104 - 24 Julie Cocker

Matt Bayfield:
Fri 19-Jul-02 David Nickeas 84 - 72 Harry Mullen
Mon 22-Jul-02 David Nickeas 90 - 62 David Cooper
Tue 23-Jul-02 David Nickeas 105 - 62 Chris Girling
Thu 15-Aug-02 John Lomax 52 - 96 Sassoon Messropian
Fri 16-Aug-02 Sassoon Messropian 87 - 57 Frank Carmichael

Howard Somerset:
Mon 19-Aug-02 Sassoon Messropian 58 - 87 Paul McGeown
Tue 20-Aug-02 Paul McGeown 53 - 100 Martin Oliver
Wed 21-Aug-02 Martin Oliver 100 - 53 Dave Holcroft
Tue 27-Aug-02 Martin Oliver 60 - 88 Dorothy Bailey
Wed 28-Aug-02 Dorothy Bailey 103 - 54 Kristian Turner
Thu 5-Dec-02 Geoff Mills 82 - 39 Stan Grosvenor
Fri 6-Dec-02 Geoff Mills 74 - 82 Carl Moore
Mon 9-Dec-02 Carl Moore 111 - 37 Veronica Dalgarno
Tue 10-Dec-02 Carl Moore 75 - 49 Rob D'Agostino
Wed 11-Dec-02 Carl Moore 73 - 111 Ian Burrows

James Robinson:
Thu 29-Aug-02 Dorothy Bailey 69 - 73 Val Raddon
Fri 30-Aug-02 Val Raddon 75 - 84 Alex McKenzie
Mon 2-Sep-02 Alex McKenzie 52 - 97 Michael Clarke
Tue 3-Sep-02 Michael Clarke 108 - 64 Eleanor Gledhill
Wed 4-Sep-02 Michael Clarke 87 - 86 David Sykes
Thu 12-Dec-02 Julian Fell 125 - 67 Mike Brown
Fri 13-Dec-02 Grace Page 92 - 88 David Nickeas
Mon 16-Dec-02 George Greenhough 86 - 94 Joe Zubaidi
Tue 17-Dec-02 Julia Wilkinson 70 - 105 Danny Hamilton
Thu 19-Dec-02 Grace Page 104 - 71 Joe Zubaidi

Ben Wilson:
Tue 10-Sep-02 Michael Clarke 86 - 89 Priscilla Munday
Wed 11-Sep-02 Priscilla Munday 78 - 82 Bryan Thirkell
Thu 12-Sep-02 Bryan Thirkell 72 - 96 Tony Bearn
Fri 13-Sep-02 Tony Bearn 76 - 56 Neil Massey
Mon 16-Sep-02 Tony Bearn 85 - 61 Karen Tolfrey

Kirk Bevins:
Fri 27-Sep-02 Mike Brown 112 - 76 David Cottee
Wed 2-Oct-02 Mike Brown 107 - 63 Trish Staples
Mon 7-Oct-02 Dave Cross 68 - 79 Bryan Barnett
Tue 29-Oct-02 Sheila Furse 93 - 79 Michael Laverton
Wed 30-Oct-02 Sheila Furse 90 - 74 Mike Dow

Chris Philpot:
Thu 31-Oct-02 Sheila Furse 70 - 68 Lucy Guile
Wed 13-Nov-02 Mary Sexton 89 - 63 Norman Goodale
Thu 14-Nov-02 Mary Sexton 72 - 67 Ronald Goodman
Fri 15-Nov-02 Mary Sexton 91 - 97 Campbell Laurie
Mon 18-Nov-02 Campbell Laurie 62 - 71 Ian Courcoux

Innis Carson:
Tue 19-Nov-02 Ian Courcoux 107 - 42 Mark Tucker
Wed 20-Nov-02 Ian Courcoux 83 - 45 Brian Southern
Thu 21-Nov-02 Ian Courcoux 66 - 80 Joe Zubaidi
Fri 22-Nov-02 Joe Zubaidi 73 - 63 Franki Ayerst
Mon 25-Nov-02 Joe Zubaidi 93 - 92 Tony Slade

Ryan Taylor:
Tue 17-Sep-02 Tony Bearn 92 - 62 Alec Gaw
Wed 18-Sep-02 Tony Bearn 68 - 75 Robert Lee
Thu 19-Sep-02 Robert Lee 83 - 57 Tony Poultney
Tue 26-Nov-02 Joe Zubaidi 89 - 74 Michael Duhig
Wed 27-Nov-02 Joe Zubaidi 74 - 64 Brenda Slade

Andrew Feist:
Thu 28-Nov-02 Joe Zubaidi 88 - 72 Damien Byrne
Fri 29-Nov-02 Joe Zubaidi 81 - 56 Jan Macdonald
Mon 2-Dec-02 Joe Zubaidi 87 - 58 Andrew Walton
Tue 3-Dec-02 Geoff Mills 77 - 63 Stephen Holden
Wed 4-Dec-02 Geoff Mills 89 - 84 Alison Hilton

I've already done the first three of Kirk's. If Kirk hasn't started, maybe it's worth swapping us.

Howard Somerset wrote:I've already done the first three of Kirk's. If Kirk hasn't started, maybe it's worth swapping us.

Done.

I can knock a few out this weekend, provided the e-mail has instructions.

Charlie Reams wrote:Kirk Bevins:
Fri 27-Sep-02 Mike Brown 112 - 76 David Cottee
Wed 2-Oct-02 Mike Brown 107 - 63 Trish Staples
Mon 7-Oct-02 Dave Cross 68 - 79 Bryan Barnett
Tue 29-Oct-02 Sheila Furse 93 - 79 Michael Laverton
Wed 30-Oct-02 Sheila Furse 90 - 74 Mike Dow

I did that one a few months ago. So, you don't need to worry about that one.

EDIT: As you can see here: http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3285

Charlie Reams wrote:

Howard Somerset wrote: Does recap-writer always use OED2r for maxes? Or does it know which series uses which dictionary?

It uses ODE2r for Series 51+ and NODE before that, so you just need to set the "Series" correctly at the top. It's possible that our version of the NODE is not 100% correct but it's pretty good.

Howard Somerset wrote:If it knows which dictionary to use, and has the dictionary to access, then my admiration for you increases even more.

I am with Howard here, awesome.

I know I didn't really commit last time but I can commit to doing a few if you have some left over.

My batch is done. If you're struggling to get volunteers to finish it off tomorrow, Charlie, I could manage a few more.

Howard Somerset wrote:My batch is done. If you're struggling to get volunteers to finish it off tomorrow, Charlie, I could manage a few more.

That goes for me too.

James Robinson wrote:

Howard Somerset wrote:My batch is done. If you're struggling to get volunteers to finish it off tomorrow, Charlie, I could manage a few more.

That goes for me too.

Thirded.

I've not got an email yet. Do you still need me to do some?

Ryan Taylor wrote:I've not got an email yet. Do you still need me to do some?

I sent it to the email address you've got registered on here (@hotmail.co.uk), is that not your current one?

I've recapped the first of my 5 games - this thread.

If somebody familiar with recapping could confirm I've got the hang of it, then pls reply, and I'll get on to the other 4.

[Edit: I can't seem to be able to submit the link to the recap to the database. I've entered the password and hit "submit", but when I go to the Series 48 index, the game I recapped isn't hyperlinked to its recap.]

Matt Bayfield wrote:I've recapped the first of my 5 games - this thread.

If somebody familiar with recapping could confirm I've got the hang of it, then pls reply, and I'll get on to the other 4.

[Edit: I can't seem to be able to submit the link to the recap to the database. I've entered the password and hit "submit", but when I go to the Series 48 index, the game I recapped isn't hyperlinked to its recap.]

The recap itself looks good, though I haven't checked the details.

Not sure about the submission to cdb, though. However, that can be done later.

Charlie Reams wrote:It's possible that our version of the NODE is not 100% correct but it's pretty good.

Don't know where its failings might be, and whether this is a worthwhile suggestion, but I've got a NODE and if anyone wants to PM me with a doubtful word, please do so.

I think the main differences are that a lot less -IER and -IEST words were OK. I'm also not sure exactly when they relaxed the rules about pluralising mass nouns, which of course happened without a change of dictionary. Julian Fell's famous GAMBIERS was in Champion of Champions, and I think that was the first appearance of the new rule, so it wouldn't have applied to this series, but I couldn't be certain.

Cheers Howard.

I still don't seem to be able to upload the recap to the cdb, but when I'm more awake, I'll stick my other recaps in the appropriate "Historical recaps" forum on c4c.

Perhaps someone else could then upload to the cdb for me (or tell me what I'm doing wrong with the uploading process, if anything).

Matt Bayfield wrote:
[Edit: I can't seem to be able to submit the link to the recap to the database. I've entered the password and hit "submit", but when I go to the Series 48 index, the game I recapped isn't hyperlinked to its recap.]

Same here (and looking, the same for Innis as well). I don't know if there's just a lag in generating the web pages, or the submissions didn't go through for some reason (there was no indication of any error). (I suppose you could confirm the password we were to use?....)

The password is dolomite.

Charlie Reams wrote:The password is dolomite.

Oh is it.

EDIT: Alright mine are added (which of course mean they duplicate the stubs that were already in there).

Note to everyone doing these S48 recaps.

When you come to the bottom of the recap-writer, can you make sure that you press both the Make text recap and Make wiki recap buttons. You need do nothing at all with the Wiki formatted recap, but pressing both buttons ensures that such a recap is made available for someone else to put into the Wiki.

No worries with those recaps that have already been done.

I've posted my first recap, Shiela Furse 70 - 68 Lucy Guile. Hopefully there'll be at least one more done today, as well.

Edit:

• Another one bites the dust - Mary Sexton 89 - 63 Norman Goodale.
• Here's number three: Mary Sexton 72 - 67 Ronald Goodman.
• Four down, one to go: Mary Sexton 91 - 97 Campbell Laurie.

Howard Somerset wrote:Note to everyone doing these S48 recaps.

When you come to the bottom of the recap-writer, can you make sure that you press both the Make text recap and Make wiki recap buttons. You need do nothing at all with the Wiki formatted recap, but pressing both buttons ensures that such a recap is made available for someone else to put into the Wiki.

No worries with those recaps that have already been done.

Unless I'm misremembering my own system, the wiki version is saved in the background whether you press the "make wiki recap" button or not.

Charlie Reams wrote:Unless I'm misremembering my own system, the wiki version is saved in the background whether you press the "make wiki recap" button or not.

Very true, Charlie. I've just tried a dummy recap, and that came through ok without me pressing the button.

I was convinced that some of yesterday's were not available, but I may well have been mistaken.

Ok, got my first recap added to cdb. I was using the wrong p/word. If, for some reason, there hasn't been a wiki version generated properly, then let me know. I copied-and-pasted the wiki recap into a text file, which I've got saved on my computer.

Edit: I've accidentally added one recap to cdb with the wrong date, which means it appears twice.

Please could somebody delete from cdb the Lomax v Messropian game dated 25 July 2002. This game is also correctly in the database on the real date when it took place, 15 August 2002.

Sorry 'bout that.

OK, my 5 games are recapped. There are a few differences between the calculated max and the max in Mike's notes. In most cases, this is explained by very difficult numbers rounds, which went unsolved, but were possible to solve exactly. Also, in one case, Mike appears to have made a 1 point error in his addition of his running total for max.

These are the discrepancies between Mike's max and calculated max due to countmax identifying longer words than Mike did:

Nickeas v Mullen, 19 July 2002:
R7 countmax suggests EUSTATIC (8), which adds +1 to Mike's max

Nickeas v Cooper, 22 July 2002:
R3 countmax suggests AUTOSOME (8), which adds +1 to Mike's max
R8 countmax suggests VIRGATES (8), which adds +1 to Mike's max
R11 countmax suggests STERNWAY (8), which adds +2 to Mike's max

Nickeas v Girling, 23 July 2002:
R8 countmax suggests MOPPIER (7) and POMPIER (7), which adds +1 to Mike's max

And to repeat my last but one post [in case it was missed], could somebody please restore the correct recap for 25 July 2002? I accidentally submitted a recap for this date which should have been the recap for 15 August 2002... and now the correct game for 25 July 2002 (don't know if it was just a placeholder, or a full recap) has gone missing from the index page (presumably by Mike or Charlie? or whoever else is tidying it up?)

Ta...

I'm a recap n00bie but a pretty quick typist - give me a shout if I can help

Lesley Hines wrote:I'm a recap n00bie but a pretty quick typist - give me a shout if I can help

Will do. Everything is allocated for now but hopefully Mike will be back with a bunch of new scans soon.

Howard Somerset wrote:And a few others.

I'm sure you can be called a Countdown great, Howard, with all of your sterling work on the wiki.

Charlie Reams wrote:The password is dolomite.

Think that pretty much eliminates the point of there being one...

Matt Bayfield wrote:There are a few differences between the calculated max and the max in Mike's notes. In most cases, this is explained by very difficult numbers rounds, which went unsolved, but were possible to solve exactly. Also, in one case, Mike appears to have made a 1 point error in his addition of his running total for max.

Just to clear this one up, the maxes on my notes (until very recently, like somewhere during Series 61) have historically been based on the best Dictionary Corner, the contestants, me or my Franklin Wordmaster could come up with, or in the case of the numbers, the best that Carol, me (unlikely) or the contestants could do, so for the purposes of recapping, they're best ignored. And just in case anyone hasn't realised, the words above the 'maxes' are DC's offerings, except those in boxes, which are courtesy of my Franklin Wordmaster. If anyone has any other queries about how the notes work that Charlie can't answer (or you can't read my writing), feel free to post them here.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Lesley Hines wrote:I'm a recap n00bie but a pretty quick typist - give me a shout if I can help

Will do. Everything is allocated for now but hopefully Mike will be back with a bunch of new scans soon.

Tuesday or Wednesday, hopefully...

Mike Brown wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:

Lesley Hines wrote:I'm a recap n00bie but a pretty quick typist - give me a shout if I can help

Will do. Everything is allocated for now but hopefully Mike will be back with a bunch of new scans soon.

Tuesday or Wednesday, hopefully...

GET IN! You are a legend, Mike.

I'll happily do some too if need be.

Mike Brown wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:The password is dolomite.

Think that pretty much eliminates the point of there being one...

The password is really just to prevent spambots from submitting random shit, so hopefully no spambots are reading this.

David Williams wrote:Don't know where its failings might be, and whether this is a worthwhile suggestion, but I've got a NODE and if anyone wants to PM me with a doubtful word, please do so.

My NODE and I will be separated for the next couple of weeks, so this service will be suspended. Sorry.

I've a NODE (reprinted 2001 with corrections) too, and am willing to help if required.

Just stuck my first one in, which is now appearing on the list of games in the series twice on cdb. Is that just because the record of the score already existed or because i generated the text recap twice? (still not really sure how this all works) I'd missed the beater ECOTYPES in round 6 until i went back and checked, after I had already generated the text recap. So anyway the max is 1pt greater than Mikes scan pending NODE confirmation.

Will wait like Matt to ensure I've done nothing else wrong before ploughing on.

Andy Wilson wrote:Just stuck my first one in, which is now appearing on the list of games in the series twice on cdb. Is that just because the record of the score already existed or because i generated the text recap twice? (still not really sure how this all works) I'd missed the beater ECOTYPES in round 6 until i went back and checked, after I had already generated the text recap. So anyway the max is 1pt greater than Mikes scan pending NODE confirmation.

Will wait like Matt to ensure I've done nothing else wrong before ploughing on.

That's fine, I delete the duplicate entries. And you can always generate the text again if you make a change. So basically, good work

Peter Mabey wrote:I've a NODE (reprinted 2001 with corrections) too, and am willing to help if required.

Would you be able to confirm whether or not CAPEJUT was available in the NODE? (And, if it is, what on earth does it mean?! ) Many thanks!

Chris Philpot wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I've a NODE (reprinted 2001 with corrections) too, and am willing to help if required.

Would you be able to confirm whether or not CAPEJUT was available in the NODE? (And, if it is, what on earth does it mean?! ) Many thanks!

Couldn't tell you what it means, as it ain't in the NODE.

Chris Philpot wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I've a NODE (reprinted 2001 with corrections) too, and am willing to help if required.

Would you be able to confirm whether or not CAPEJUT was available in the NODE? (And, if it is, what on earth does it mean?! ) Many thanks!

CAJEPUT?