A proposal for how to solve the problem of The Cardboard Prediction Game.
Presumably, the difficult part is not the tabulation. Once the numbers are in a spreadsheet, the results can be easily and automatically calculated. The difficult part is getting it set up on time each week, collecting the numbers, and transferring the data between the various programs, then transferring the results.
My proposal is to eliminate the administrator's work as much as possible, to the point that anyone can do it, and I can do it, but this proposal should make it so easy anyone should be willing to do it, and a different person could actually do it each week if the tabulation spreadsheet were made available. Basically, make the people entering their predictions handle all the data entry and setup for the administrator. Actually, this solution requires no game administrator -- people can do it themselves.
1) Each week, anyone can start the prediction thread. They can write all they want, but when it comes to the score, the *MUST* follow a comma-separate format at the end of their post, like this:
-------------------------
BostonCard,21,17
-------------------------
(any arbitrary number of dashes can be used)
<User Name>,<Stanford Score>,<Opponent Score>
separated by commas with no spaces
The user name must match the handle EXACTLY and be the same every week. If you screw up, you no longer have 1 person competing for the end-of-season recognition (IE, if Snorlax_94 wins weeks 1-4, and Snorlax 94 wins weeks 5-8, and Snorlx 94 wins weeks 9-12, then that is viewed as three different players with very poor 12 week totals). The administrator may take mercy on you and try to make the correction, but is not at all required to do so.
The second person posting must append their prediction at the end of their post, using the exact same format:
-------------------------------------------------
BostonCard,21,17
d4cohn,34,21
-------------------------------------------------
The third person must append their prediction in the following line. They might first write a bunch of colorful text and reasoning, but the prediction section at the end of their post must use this dry format.
-------------------------------------------------
BostonCard,21,17
d4cohn,34,21
Wayno,13,24
--------------------------------------------------
etc.
1) If you want to EDIT your score, you simply ADD A NEW REPLY TO THE THREAD, EDITING ONLY YOUR PREDICTION LINE IN THE TABLE.
2) You NEVER, NEVER go back and edit an old post. You must ONLY keep adding new posts.
3) We must trust everyone keeps others' scores accurate. Anyone caught editing others' data is in trouble. You are copying and pasting.
4) If, in the rare instance, two people simultaneously post, the latter post must add a new post, correctly resolving/reconciling the collision. IE, if Users 1, 2, 3 made predictions, and User 4 posts 1,2,3,4 and User 5 was posting at the same time, and posted predictions for 1,2,3,5, the latter post is responsible for entering a new post that correctly lists predictions 1,2,3,4, and 5.
No posts after the moment of kickoff are accepted.
If the calculation spreadsheet is made available, anyone can copy the table into a text file, save it on their desktop, open it as a comma separated value (CSV) format spreadsheet, and instantly calculate that week's results with virtually no work. Then you just sort the results by the best performer, and copy and paste it into the Cardboard.
Presumably, the difficult part is not the tabulation. Once the numbers are in a spreadsheet, the results can be easily and automatically calculated. The difficult part is getting it set up on time each week, collecting the numbers, and transferring the data between the various programs, then transferring the results.
My proposal is to eliminate the administrator's work as much as possible, to the point that anyone can do it, and I can do it, but this proposal should make it so easy anyone should be willing to do it, and a different person could actually do it each week if the tabulation spreadsheet were made available. Basically, make the people entering their predictions handle all the data entry and setup for the administrator. Actually, this solution requires no game administrator -- people can do it themselves.
1) Each week, anyone can start the prediction thread. They can write all they want, but when it comes to the score, the *MUST* follow a comma-separate format at the end of their post, like this:
-------------------------
BostonCard,21,17
-------------------------
(any arbitrary number of dashes can be used)
<User Name>,<Stanford Score>,<Opponent Score>
separated by commas with no spaces
The user name must match the handle EXACTLY and be the same every week. If you screw up, you no longer have 1 person competing for the end-of-season recognition (IE, if Snorlax_94 wins weeks 1-4, and Snorlax 94 wins weeks 5-8, and Snorlx 94 wins weeks 9-12, then that is viewed as three different players with very poor 12 week totals). The administrator may take mercy on you and try to make the correction, but is not at all required to do so.
The second person posting must append their prediction at the end of their post, using the exact same format:
-------------------------------------------------
BostonCard,21,17
d4cohn,34,21
-------------------------------------------------
The third person must append their prediction in the following line. They might first write a bunch of colorful text and reasoning, but the prediction section at the end of their post must use this dry format.
-------------------------------------------------
BostonCard,21,17
d4cohn,34,21
Wayno,13,24
--------------------------------------------------
etc.
1) If you want to EDIT your score, you simply ADD A NEW REPLY TO THE THREAD, EDITING ONLY YOUR PREDICTION LINE IN THE TABLE.
2) You NEVER, NEVER go back and edit an old post. You must ONLY keep adding new posts.
3) We must trust everyone keeps others' scores accurate. Anyone caught editing others' data is in trouble. You are copying and pasting.
4) If, in the rare instance, two people simultaneously post, the latter post must add a new post, correctly resolving/reconciling the collision. IE, if Users 1, 2, 3 made predictions, and User 4 posts 1,2,3,4 and User 5 was posting at the same time, and posted predictions for 1,2,3,5, the latter post is responsible for entering a new post that correctly lists predictions 1,2,3,4, and 5.
No posts after the moment of kickoff are accepted.
If the calculation spreadsheet is made available, anyone can copy the table into a text file, save it on their desktop, open it as a comma separated value (CSV) format spreadsheet, and instantly calculate that week's results with virtually no work. Then you just sort the results by the best performer, and copy and paste it into the Cardboard.