Puzzles drawn back

[Richard]

Hi all,

I noticed that the number of active puzzle dropped dramatic since I looked in the portal a few days ago; all puzzles of bigger have been drawn back. Is this on purpose? What has happened here? There are quite a few of his (or Old Miles') ideas on my list of SVS; he is in fact one of the most inspiring authors for me...
Hopefully this is a temporary situation.


Best regards, Richard

[CJK]

I am not sure if this is related, but I have a feeling that it could be:
A few days ago, he put up a 3D tapa puzzle. Unfortunately, this puzzle had a mistake and therefore I suggested to deactivate it until the mistake would be fixed.

As far as I know, he fixed the puzzle yesterday and then deactivated it (and seemingly other puzzles as well). It also seemed like he was a bit angry that I didn't tell him where the mistake lied (this is the case since I honestly didn't know it, the contradiction in my solve happened pretty late, so the mistake could have been almost at any place in the puzzle).

I want to add that it was in no way my intention to harm him or force him to delete any of his puzzles; I just wanted to solve a fixed puzzle

[Dandelo]

I remember that he was extremely upset a few years ago after a comment from me, he has completely misunderstood. I'm afraid it is an explosive mixture of language problems and some kind of vanity.

It would be a shame, because the puzzles were very nice and extremely innovative, even if sometimes only a few solvers have fought their way through the sometimes complicated texts. In any case, it would be a loss for the portal, as the puzzles of MiR some years ago...

[marcmees]

I made quite a number of his puzzles, mostly innovative and as such I do regret his withdrawal. Has he been asked for the specific reason of his action and/or can it be undone?
best regards
Marc

[Realshaggy]

It's very unfortunate, but it happens a lot more than people realize. I did some leftover print-outs recently from 2020 before solving applets became popular. And quite a few puzzle were simply gone when I tried to enter the solution code.

[Richard]

Has he been asked for the specific reason of his action 

As far as I can see, he doesn't have a user account in the forum, so sending him a message is a bit of a problem...

[Dandelo]

But he is still active, today he has solved 5 puzzles. Maybe we could reach him via the comments?
And this means he hasn't completly left the portal. I would conclude that it was accidental, but I think it's impossible to deactivate all of your puzzles by one single action. The admins probably could check, if he has deactivated them one after another.
I'd suggest, we write to him and tell him all this, but I fear it could easily go in the opposite direction than intended.

Maybe cdwg2000 could ask him what happened? He has a forum account, but I fear that he doesn't read here so often. But I know his e-mail address. I'll ask him.

[bigger]

I am not sure if this is related, but I have a feeling that it could be:
A few days ago, he put up a 3D tapa puzzle. Unfortunately, this puzzle had a mistake and therefore I suggested to deactivate it until the mistake would be fixed.

As far as I know, he fixed the puzzle yesterday and then deactivated it (and seemingly other puzzles as well). It also seemed like he was a bit angry that I didn't tell him where the mistake lied (this is the case since I honestly didn't know it, the contradiction in my solve happened pretty late, so the mistake could have been almost at any place in the puzzle).

I want to add that it was in no way my intention to harm him or force him to delete any of his puzzles; I just wanted to solve a fixed puzzle

you're right. problem is, there's a button called 'edit puzzle' above the 'deactivate puzzle'. and the mistake I made was simply a drawing error which can be easily fixed. even if you don't know where, you could show me a picture of your solve, so I can pinpoint where.
the result is, you're showing me, every little mistake deserve a deactivation. last time I check, deactivated puzzles don't get reactivated. if you don't know me well enough, well, i don't think i post prefect puzzles, which is why i'm always ready to fux it. deactivating a puzzle is the easiest, least responsible way of fixing a puzzle, for me at least. in other words, you are asking me to be irresponsible for my puzzles.
I understand your need for a correct puzzles, but I'm only start setting puzzles for less than a year. it's not an already had set puzzle variant that has a way to recheck. everything can goes wrong. if I know how to 3d model a cube, it could be easier. but i don't.
as for playtester, no one will solve a 3D sudoku(here), how many will you expect for a non sudoku one. I only know Old Miles well enough to know his limit. but I don't know other solvers well enough to understand their ceiling and prefer way of solving. so for every non sudoku(like) variant, i'm on my own. rules wrinting, solution confirming, drawing puzzles all made me grumpier as time went by. any unresonable request will light me up. if one want a puzzle fix, why ask for a puzzle disappear rather than edit?
as for deactivation, by the time I did it, there's already 600 plus puzzles deactivated, why would 80 matter to that data. I saw people deactivated puzzles because of not enough solves, not good rating or small mistakes that can be fixed easily. i even try to ask people to reactivate puzzles. for me, a puzzle's deactivation should only means a remake that takes days. in China, if we make a mistake, we acknowledge it, fix it, then move on. we don't wipe it from public eyes, so we can have a faster response if we make the same mistake twice.
all in all, i'm not a fan of this deactivated culture. the setters got more stress to put a correct puzzles and the solvers might not able to revisit some puzzles. so i'm just going to solve puzzles but not post any. too many stress.

[CJK]

Dear bigger,

I am terribly sorry that it seemed like I wanted you to delete your puzzles: This is most definitely not the case!
For me, the goal also was that your puzzle get fixed: A common practice (at least I thought so) is to temporarily deactivate the puzzle, fix the error, and then reactivate the puzzle again. This has the advantage that there is no public broken puzzle visible during the reparation process and the setter is under less time pressure to fix the puzzle.

I always thought of the deactivation as temporarily, and I would have never thought that one cannot reactivate the puzzle again: Even on the help page, it says 'You can also deactivate an active puzzle there in case you would like to edit it.'

I would love to see a fixed version of the puzzle and I'm really sorry if I accidently took the fun of setting puzzles and publishing them in the portal away from you

Best regards,
CJK

PS: If you're still interested in my solve path for 3D Tapa, I can send you a picture

[bigger]

Dear bigger,

I am terribly sorry that it seemed like I wanted you to delete your puzzles: This is most definitely not the case!
For me, the goal also was that your puzzle get fixed: A common practice (at least I thought so) is to temporarily deactivate the puzzle, fix the error, and then reactivate the puzzle again. This has the advantage that there is no public broken puzzle visible during the reparation process and the setter is under less time pressure to fix the puzzle.

I always thought of the deactivation as temporarily, and I would have never thought that one cannot reactivate the puzzle again: Even on the help page, it says 'You can also deactivate an active puzzle there in case you would like to edit it.'

I would love to see a fixed version of the puzzle and I'm really sorry if I accidently took the fun of setting puzzles and publishing them in the portal away from you

Best regards,
CJK

PS: If you're still interested in my solve path for 3D Tapa, I can send you a picture

like I said, to fix a puzzle, a setter must know where to fix. deactivation doesn't help. even though there's a forum, the best place to talk about a puzzle is still under the puzzle page in the comment section. deactivation just shut that way off. it just makes fixing a puzzle much harder.
also, if you think deactivation is temporarily, tell this to 600+(I think is 800+ now) puzzles. i wait for months for them to reactivate. what's said on the manual is never what's in practice. sure, one can reactivate a puzzle. but one needs to goes to the portal front page, choose 'my puzzles' to find the deactivated puzzles. it's not at the 'user pages' button, which is shown twice in any puzzle pages.
and, you did not took the fun, there wasn't any to begin with. setting and posting puzzles is never fun for me. just like drawing or building, the process of making stuff is a grind and the joy only comes after making one. and for me, the only part that interest me is talking about a puzzle. I usually talk with Old Miles about how a puzzle does, what makes it interesting, how far can it go, what i want to see in the future, what makes this puzzle interesting.
as for 3d tapa that one, I did not expect anybody to solve it. it's just need to be there to remind me i can do this with 3d puzzles. and now, i'm already setting other puzzles, i don't want to revisit that one and fry my brain. i would rather set another 3d hashi or anything than fix something months ago again. like it or not, that puzzle will stay hidden in my collection of puzzles, not to be shown to anybody. even if I did reactivate my puzzles, I won't reactivate non sudoku variant. too much stress and too less gain.