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@toxicgherkin Have you noticed this before? The daily "random" points seems suspiciously having a pattern according to a time period logged in. Guessing as you haven't logged in yet I'm betting you got (40-50). Unless it changes every hour or so.

It's a sus pattern without a doubt and don't expect an answer either

@JoLee I see you logged in early today as well. I can tell just by the daily points. lol
Sus doesn't even come close. Flawed/broken

Unless a recent change has been made it explains why I've been suspicious about the random daily points for a while. If this is how the "random" daily points works you can imagine the rest. Maybe it's a one off being the first of the month. Hmmmm doubt it.

I thought comping was a bit of fun but lately people seem to be getting a bit serious and paranoid...

@Vicki668 all for an obvious reason,it's not paranoia but plain as day! Happy comping

@Vicki668 @JoLee lol. Yeh all fun when the system has integrity and fair.

Argh! Even thou I was suspicious over the last few months with the daily "random" points I still just passed it off as being within random variability without proof, until today.

I appoligize if it seems I'm taking the fun out of comping, my analytical side. lol. Too much time previously analyzing statistical abnormalities in a old job.

The daily "random" points appears broken, at least for today. The next few days of observation should confirm that.

@toxicgherkin I must have ESP like the mentalist going around on TV predicting the cricket scores last night. Woot Woot for 44 points today for you.

Ive got 1 point from yesterday and 1 point today... I think my score beats yours by miles!!!
Both my log ins were before 8.30am too

I log on between 7 and 8 most mornings and my scores vary. Today I got 17, logged on at 6:50am. Yesterday I go 2, logged in at 7ish am.

Mine were both around 7am (Brisbane time)

@Mellyxo lol I noticed. :( Was checking if a similar pattern of scores occurs this morning.

It's a lot harder to check after the first day as a lot of members don't do all the competitions etc and get lost off the leader board. Also you cant always easily see when members logged in for the daily points.

Yesterday was obvious as the start of the month and you need to click on a new competition to start off the points system. You can see all the scores as members log in.
It defied probability and was a definitely set pattern for most of day till about 5:00 PM and again 11 PM all with run of values within a range. Thou there was not many I could see that logged in at those times.

Most members got either (1-10) the early birds :( or (40-50) after about 8:30 am to 5ish PM excluding the very few that logged in later in the evening.

There seemed to be a run of low scores around 7AM from a few members below 10 this morning. The later looks like 30's after 8:00AM. Only looking at a small sample compared to yesterday morning as cant confirm if their is a possible issue with the implementation of the "random" daily points.

Possibly more "random" then yesterday. Unconfirmed without a bigger sample of points and approx log in times. Overall I questioning the implementation of the random daily points after yesterday. It pointed to some interesting things how it might be implemented.

One weird thing I noticed. How can someone have 100 points for the guessing game i.e. 2 days but only 1 daily point. lol Poor soul that logged in looks like before 8AM.

http://www.competitions.com.au/profiles/286752/

If there is an issue with the daily points I hope the @admin are aware.

I received 18 points this morning though I had forgotten to log off last night. I've never understood @admin's randomisation algorithm. Newcomers too see to do quite well on the Leaderboard. Hmm? By newcomers, I'm hoping they are bona fide entrants and not an alternate account. I suspect they were a few here a while back but hopefully these have been weeded out.

It is day 2 and someone has 100 daily points = 50 points, 2 days in a row! Meanwhile poor @Mellyxo has 2 daily points (1 point, 2 days in a row). What are the odds? Feels like those of us who login in early get penalised with low "random" points.

@bbjsr A couple have 100 points. lol.

50*50 is the odds of getting the same in a row 1/2500. Not impossible , improbable maybe.

First day it didn't look random, far from it. if first day 1/10 and then 1/50 odds 1/500. if counting the odds of being in the early batch or later as 1/2 then 1/1000. Assuming all random and fair.

Odds something suspicious about the "random" generator. lol

If looking at a small sample or one doesn't prove much. It's when you look at a larger sample can see if it doesn't confirm to normal random distribution. An absolute perfect distribution each month might raise questions as well.

I wouldn't assume it's going to be low every morning. The first day was an issue. I'm "predicting" (26-45) for the early morning. Thou some changes might of been made last night wonder why the site was down.

Looks like a few missed out yesterday on daily and guessing game points when the system was down till about least from 11:30PM to 12:30AM. :(

@toxicgherkin What I was suspecting from the "randomization" algorithm after looking at the first day of scores it wasn't random. Simply it appeared it could be an incremental score as each user logs in. The random part the order members logged in. Scores rolling from (1-50) and cycling back to 1, or could be reverse order.

Now people being creatures of habit I was proposing that similar log in times might result in similar daily scores in that cycle. So @Annaar the log in time each day wasn't what I was looking at to determine a score but using that as a starting point for the next.

Things to note during busy periods a lot of people might log in similar times, those members might not show up on the leader board, and viewing the first competition doesn't always suggest when they actually logged in. and the daily score generated. On the first day this was lot more obvious until the leader board filled up.

On the 1st it appeared ALL the scores before about 8:30 AM were (1-10). Then after approximately 8:3 0AM it appeared for ALL subsequent scores set to a range of (40-50).
Only till the evening approximate from 6:00 PM I see a change maybe back to more usual only got a small sample which all didn't fit into the above.

Out of about 40 samples looked at from about 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM all where in the range (40-50). I recorded only a small sample in the end of the early ones of about 10 all got (1-10). By the time I had thought to look into it I lost the profiles off the leader board. There were more profiles I noticed least 1/2 dozen all with low scores when I logged in about 7am. .

Also during what could be the quieter periods during the day it looked like descending score (50-40) . Which makes me suspect its not a random number for each user as they logged in but a increment from the previous log in score.

Notes: Not a complete examination of all scores on the 1st as once the leader board filled only those that had bonus points etc appear on the leaderboard. After the first day it's lot harder to spot the same abnormality due to competitions viewed etc affecting the score and don't see all most of the members not on the leader board.

Now it doesn't mean its not random since then. Definitely on the first day it defied probability. I still suspect an increment loop (1-50) could be used. Possibly resetting to a new range or value at a random time, if the first day is anything to go by.

Overall the confidence in the site for some aspects low. Especially from you comments @toxicgherkin regard maintenance etc for a period.

Now if what I'm suspect could be the case the implications for the monthly leaderboard would question it's integrity. Using alternative profiles could have "prior" knowledge of what daily score to expect or find same profiles grouped roughly on the leader board consistently if they logged in similar times daily.

@toxicgherkin Looks like could be some security measures in using alternative profiles to get "prior" knowledge etc if using the same IP etc. If it's not actually randomly generated. I had one interesting experience this morning using a new browser but same PC windows log in etc and showed my new daily score update before I officially logged in.

I was testing my suspicions out, and helping out another member who reported on facebook that the system was down from least 11:30PM to 12:30AM. Looks like they missed out on the daily points etc yesterday as the system was offline for a while.

To confirm the above would need a number of members log in at a very quiet period to see the results.

@JoLee lol The @Admin seem quiet. Nothing unusual there the most predictable thing can bet on. lol. I'm sure they keep an eye on the forum. :) Do they have an official profile to message? Apart from directly messaging them. If there's issue I rather put it out there for all to see. Plus my email is overwhelmed with junk.

@Lemond as I said, they never answer but do see all that's written,too sus lol

@Lemond, I just bite my lip and hope for the best 'random' outcome I can receive. That sentence is incongruous, which I suspect the random allocation of points to be - INCONGRUOUS!

@toxicgherkin lol. :)

The plot thickens.....

@JoLee The soup needs stirring. lol

@toxicgherkin Would make a great conspiracy plot for a X Files movie for your next episode. :) Throw in some atmospheric noise a particle decay source and got yourself a random action thriller. :)

@Lemond, well one of our cats IS called 'HalfLife'...LOL.....Partner was responsible for the naming- Schrödinger reference to quantum superposition if anyone is wondering... ;)

Entertainment at its best. Lovin it!!!

@toxicgherkin Can title the movie Quantum of Entanglement staring Halflife. :)

@Lemond, now to pick our stars.... ;)

@toxicgherkin :). Classic. At least you weren't thinking of another cat youtube video showing it's version of String theory. :)

@Lemond, hehe.