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The May Page Count Challenge 2016
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Sarah Elizabeth
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May 09, 2016 03:53AM

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So, the math wizards on my team can figure out, what we need to read to close the gap???
I remember you explained this to me probably last June, but I can't remember :-)


Gillian wrote: "Sarah we have had a member pull out of group Cherry we are down to 4 participants now :( only 3 have posted reviews but the 4th will post soon."
Who has pulled out? Points are currently adjusted for only the people who have posted reviews.
Who has pulled out? Points are currently adjusted for only the people who have posted reviews.
Berit wrote: "Sarah, can we get the formula used to adjust the points???
So, the math wizards on my team can figure out, what we need to read to close the gap???
I remember you explained this to me probably last..."
The formula is simply the total points, divided by the number of books read by each team this year on April 25th. The number of books read will change if people drop out or join teams though.
Current numbers are:
Strawberry 390
Cherry 326
Pineapple 336
Orange 329
Peach 235
Blueberry 369
So, the math wizards on my team can figure out, what we need to read to close the gap???
I remember you explained this to me probably last..."
The formula is simply the total points, divided by the number of books read by each team this year on April 25th. The number of books read will change if people drop out or join teams though.
Current numbers are:
Strawberry 390
Cherry 326
Pineapple 336
Orange 329
Peach 235
Blueberry 369

Who has pulled out? Points are curr..."
Katherine told us today she would not be abel to join :(
Current Scores (serious):
___________|_Buddy_|__Points__|__Total__|__Points
___________|_Reads_|__Earned__|________|Adjusted
Blueberry___|__29___|_18300__|_120.50__|__326.55
Peach_______|__21___|_10892__|__75.46__|__321.10
Strawberry__|__37___|_17611__|_125.05__|__320.64
Orange______|__13___|_10016__|__63.08__|__191.73
Cherry______|__15___|__8668__|__58.34__|__178.95
Pineapple___|__14___|__8957__|__58.78__|__174.94
Current Scores (medium):
___________|_Buddy_|__Points__|__Total_
___________|_Reads_|__Earned__|_______
Pear_______|___5___|__6373___|__36.86
Kiwi_______|___4___|___5476__|__31.38
Raspberry__|___2___|___5408__|__29.04
Plum_______|___4___|___4288__|__25.44
Current Scores (fun):
___________|_Buddy_|__Points__|__Total_
___________|_Reads_|__Earned__|_______
Banana_____|___4___|____5122__|__29.61
Melon______|___6___|___4027__|_26.13
Mango______|___4___|___3670___|__22.35
Apple______|___3___|____1994__|__12.97
Grape______|___0___|____430__|__2.15

___________|_Buddy_|__Points__|__Total_
___________|_Reads_|__Earned__|_______
Banana_____|___4___|____5122__|__29.61
Melon______|___6___|___4027__|_26.13
Mango______|___..."
Go team Banana!!! :D

If it were something simple like:
Team A
5 people
Read 1,000 pages
1,000/5 = 200
Team B
4 people
Read 1,000 pages
1,000/4=250
Team A= 200 points
Team B= 250 points
everyone would get it.
Personally, I just trust that the mods can do math because I sure can't. :) They have a system, though and it works. We should all be grateful they have the patience to do this.
The problem with doing it simply by number of people in a team is that we're not all equal readers. Missing a person from your team who can read 40 books in a month is going to be a lot more disruptive than losing a team member who might only read 4 books during the month. We try to make teams even when we first make them so that every team has some fast readers and some slower readers, but when we have people drop out or sign up late it isn't always possible to keep the teams fair.
Current Scores (serious):
___________|_Buddy_|__Points__|__Total__|__Points
___________|_Reads_|__Earned__|________|Adjusted
Peach_______|__26___|_12715__|__89.57__|__381.14
Strawberry__|__42___|_20073__|_142.36__|__365.02
Blueberry___|__29___|_20510__|_131.55__|__356.50
Orange______|__14___|_11330__|__70.65__|__214.74
Cherry______|__18___|__9364__|__64.82__|__198.83
Pineapple___|__14___|__9625__|__62.12__|__184.88
Current Scores (medium):
___________|_Buddy_|__Points__|__Total_
___________|_Reads_|__Earned__|_______
Raspberry__|___2___|___8455__|__44.27
Pear_______|___6___|__6958___|__40.79
Plum_______|___7___|___6148__|__37.74
Kiwi_______|___4___|___5476__|__31.38


The idea is to compensate teams who are missing members rather than to discourage faster readers. We don't take into consideration how many books a person reads during the challenge, so if you read 3 times your average, then you wouldn't be penalised for that.
If we don't adjust points we get people who moan because they are disadvantaged, and if we do we get people who moan about the adjusted points. We basically can't win here.
If we don't adjust points we get people who moan because they are disadvantaged, and if we do we get people who moan about the adjusted points. We basically can't win here.

I think maybe we should just stop doing team challenges. It's too hard to please everybody when people drop out and leave teams unbalanced.

I hate saying this, but I agree. Maybe taking a break from team challenges would lower the stress levels from both the players and the mods.

I rather like the team challenges and I would honestly be sorry to see them go, even if just for a while. Being on a team motivates me to read more and getting to talk about what you just read is an added benefit. These are just for fun, maybe we should just let the teams be what they are and try our best. It would be near impossible to make fair teams, as everybody reads different amounts different months. At least, I do. If someone signed up for serious, then as long as they read 12+ books, then no point adjustments or anything should be needed. Not unless someone drops out, anyway.



The thing is, nothing will ever be 'fair' and if it was the scores would be to close for there to be a competition anyway. I don't mind if people don't turn up or don't read their share because it motives me to read as much as I can to accommodate that. At the end of the day Sarah and Abbie don't have to moderate these challenges every month and it must be getting them down seeing everyone moan all the time. I'm happy to carry on as we are, one month I may be on a team where everyone takes part another time I may be at a disadvantage that's just how it is. I don't like getting involved but seeing all this stigma even gets me down about participating sometimes. We all appreciate you Sarah and Abbie even if it may not seem that way with the team challenges :)

Thanks!


As for pleasing everyone, you can't ever do that. This time there have been a few issues that people have complained about, like requesting for being on the same team/fairness of teams, but you guys make the best teams you can. To the people who're complaining about unfair teams- it isn't possible to predict accurately how many books someone will read. Even I can't say how many I will read in the next week, let alone a month.



To be honest, now that Peach's missing member has posted, I don't think adjusted points will change the order that teams would naturally be in anyway.
I think we may have to put it to a vote as to whether next months challenge is a team challenge or not.
I think we may have to put it to a vote as to whether next months challenge is a team challenge or not.

I get what you're saying. There is never going to be a way to make everyone happy. The fact that you do these at all is pretty amazing to me. It must take a lot of time and energy.


Edit~A wrote: "I think we should do team challenges! Cause it is fun. But tbh I don't think we should adjust points when there are equal number of members in the teams"
But there aren't equal numbers of people in the teams at the moment.
But there aren't equal numbers of people in the teams at the moment.

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that we should adjust points when there is a difference between numbers, but not the total of monthly or yearly reading amount of the teams.
But not everyone reads at the same rate. If I stuck all the fast readers on one team, surely you could see that that wouldn't be fair.


Is the system perfect, no. I don't see how it could be. I think Abbie and Sarah invest SO much time as is. At this rate, it there was a change, I would simplify the adjustments and only adjust teams that don't make the minimum or that drop out. And even then, just compensate enough to get them up there. A team short a member for this challenge in serious would get 12 points (1 per book). If they only read 2 books, add 10 points so others don't suffer. Or if you want to work it a little more specific take note when you make the teams how much you think a reader might realistically do and compensate up to that.
Another idea is to have us give a realistic estimate of how many books we realistically think we can read during a challenge and base teams partly on that (along with yearly read books in case one estimates really low or crazy high). There are times I might say serious, knowing all I can do is about 12-14 books and others I already know I am fairly free on time and can do 20-24. THis would give us a chance to state what we think we can do, in case it is off from our average.
Or the adjustment system can stay the same. :)
IDK. That is why I say no perfect answers. These are just a few ideas to possibly change the system, if wanted. They are not perfect either and I already know of some flaws in each. Since we almost all have strong and weak months, the rest falls on the team members. We should all know by now there is a risk we might get on a team with players who aren't up to expectation, read less than we might want, read too short or not enough books, or don't do buddy reads, etc. Or you might be with someone who just reads away gets a lot done.
I do think (in challenges outside this one) that page counting was a great equalizer, that way people who maybe didn't read a lot in book numbers, but read longer books can still feel a part of the contribution more.
Regardless, I overall love the team challenges. It helps motivate me to read more, I get to know members of the group better, etc. And no matter how the system is done, To Sarah and Abbie, I think you ladies do an AMAZING job. Each month you go above and beyond to make this group fun, active and fair.
I agree with those above who stated this was meant to be fun.

I'd say that it should be made clear that if someone drops out, the team will get an amount of points to alleviate that member's loss and that's it.
People will still be unhappy, but that amount of points would be stated in the rules, and if they're unhappy, well, tough luck. At least, it would be less work for the mods to keep adjusting the points, which I guess can be quite time-consuming

The challenges are made for people to have fun, while pushing themselves to read more, but the team challenges don't seem to be having that effect lately.


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