User talk:Madcap

Mod permissions

Thanks for all your contributions! I've promoted your user account to some kind of mod and I think this means you can now lock pages, ban users and approve edits. gil 21:33, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

Thank you! Could you look at the discussion for the 1998 Cali regionals page? It needs to be deleted (it's just a copy of the state scores), but I don't know how to delete pages. Madcap 01:00, 28 September 2009 (UTC)Madcap

• I think I screwed your permissions up and you now can delete/move/protect. You might need to force a reload (ctrl-shift-r) of the page to get the tabs to show up at the top of pages. I went ahead and deleted the page, if later someone comes back and can show the right scores the deletion can be reverted by ops. gil 04:20, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi

Hello! What school are you from? Are you currently a competitor? Did you got to the FMHS invite? Thanks for coming! -- Jon Angel, FMHS competitor, 2007-08. Collegebookworm 06:16, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm a former decathlete from Nebraska. I'm just helping input Round 1 scores. Madcap 06:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)Madcap

Interesting. BTW, thanks for all your work; the pages you created are great! CB...(ö) 01:21, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

I'M MAD!

...that you're making more substantial edits than me to ADSIC.

On a more serious note, take the USAD Annual Report facts with a cautious eye. The sites for the (1999 and 2000?) New Jersey and subsequent or previous Nationals got mixed up in the report, so it's very possible that there are other errors with regards to the numbers. CB...(ö) 09:42, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the warning. As for my edits, I'm just a sad wikiholic :p. Hey, you're much better at finding sources. I've tried archive.org several times. Madcap 09:46, 9 December 2009 (UTC)Madcap

Links

-Hey, do we need a link on every relevant item? I think we need one link per page, not a link to Texas for every Texas on it, etc. I think we can spend our time on bigger, better things.Stanley Tree 18:18, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I like only one link per item per page - see my last edit to the scrimmages main page. Wikipedia uses this policy too. The only reason I added extra links on the Round 1 2010 page was to tag the leader from each school/state, etc. If I added too many links on pages besides that one, it's because I got lazy with search and replace. Sorry about that. Madcap 23:22, 16 December 2009 (UTC)Madcap

That edit you made

The State competition uses the region round (2?) tests, so should it go in state or region? CB...(ö) 05:09, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Nice catch. Well, it's a state competition, so I vote we put it in state, then add a footnote saying they used region (round 2) tests. Madcap 05:20, 8 January 2010 (UTC)Madcap.

Pennsylvania Medals

Howdy - I thought that the explanation was a bit too personal - that you changed it around because you didn't like Gus's medal philosophy. Fact is that the medals just recently changed - from '85-07, the medals were awarded this way, even back when David Emery was the state director. You can provide an explanation if you want, just don't make it like "My personal philosophy disagrees with Gus Picardo" - it sounds subjective, and we're trying to avoid that on an archival project. I'm probably going to be getting the older state championship records this summer from Joey Duke so we can finally complete the project, just as an FYI. Are you going to be at states? The school I'm coaching at just qualified for the first time. pjc5000

OR... How's about a little two-sentence blurb: "From 1985-2007, ties were not awarded for individual medals. Beginning in 2008, all ties for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, per national USAD regulations, were adopted in PA." pjc5000

ADSIC talk:Featured Recent Changes

That probably ought to be a redlink as well. Bhushan Deshpande 15:45, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Done. Thanks so much for watching recent changes. Madcap 15:54, 21 March 2010 (UTC)Madcap

DDSIC Name Change

Hi Madcap, can you help me understand the changes to the front page, from ADSIC to DDSIC? It looks like it's now "DemiDec Scores and Information Center." Is DemiDec officially or financially involved in the upkeep of this site? If it is, can you contact me at pjc5000@gmail.com? I asked Kort a while ago, and he told me that DemiDec, at least officially, has nothing to do with the site. I have to be careful because I'm a regional director and I would prefer to stay out of the DD/USAD politics. I may have to bow out of PA's upkeep if this is an official change. ~pjc5000

• It's supposed to be a broadening of scope: the website's new name reflects both the AD and Scholar's Cup scores hosted here. DemiDec doesn't have anything to do with running it and we're still breaking out of their frames on acadecscores.com. The name isn't great at reflecting the change in scope though, got any other suggestions? gil 14:38, 30 July 2010 (PDT)

2011

Ready for another year?Stanley Tree 13:54, 30 September 2010 (PDT)

Fo shizzle! I iz ready. Madcap 17:41, 1 October 2010 (PDT)Madcap

Hey, so is there any way for us to change the language of the headers so we can link through all of it? For example, Scrimmages/2011/etc.; could we possibly have "scrimmages" "2011" and "etc." all linked through? I've never seen anywhere where we can change that, wondering if you knew the depth of our possibilities here.Stanley Tree 20:48, 4 October 2010 (PDT)

What do you mean by "linked through"? Each heading on the page (like "Honors") is a link to the next section of the page? Madcap 23:09, 4 October 2010 (PDT)Madcap

http://acadecscores.gilslotd.com/wiki/Scrimmages/2011/Canyon_Del_Oro_Mini_Scrimmage_I On this one, you could click on "Scrimmages" to get to the main scrimmage part, and "2011" to get the 2011 scrimmage season. If you get linked to a page like this, you can't find where it comes from sometimes or you have to go all the way back to the beginning.Stanley Tree 16:56, 5 October 2010 (PDT)

Oh, I see... clever. Nope, no idea how to do that. =/ You could use infoboxes. They don't have to be fancy. Like this: http://acadecscores.gilslotd.com/wiki/Template:2010_LAUSD Madcap 17:19, 5 October 2010 (PDT)Madcap

I turned it on. gil 16:57, 6 October 2010 (PDT)

D'oh. Thanks :) Madcap 21:41, 6 October 2010 (PDT)Madcap

backups

backups are now weekly gil 15:33, 20 October 2010 (PDT)

Scrimmages/2011

Just a quick note: Massachusetts/Acton-Boxborough uses the Round 1 tests for internal testing only. We don't really have a Scrimmage. We have Regionals the Saturday before Thanksgiving, States the first or second Saturday in March, and then Nationals with everyone else. Regionals, States, and Nationals, use Round 2, 3, and 4 tests respectively, right? If so, the scrimmages pages ought to be edited. Bhushan Deshpande 14:35, 14 January 2011 (PST)

Thank you for the information. Yes, Regionals, State, and Nationals are supposed to use the Round 2, 3, and then 4 tests, respectively. But I'm pretty sure each state organization does not even receive each round of tests until about a month before the competition target date. This year, the regional tests were only released on December 8th, according to this schedule one of our editors found: http://stemed.unm.edu/PDFs/ACADEMIC%20DECATHLON/Test%20Windows%202009-2012.pdf. So Massachusetts Academic Decathlon probably just uses the Round 1 tests for Regionals if you have it the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Madcap 01:32, 15 January 2011 (PST)Madcap

Wait, I just realized you said you already use the Round 1 test for internal testing. Are you sure? If that's the case - hmmm... I don't know. Should I put a note at the bottom of the team table in Regionals/2011 saying "Acton-Boxborough Regional High School of Massachusetts scored ~26,000 points in seven events at a special regional competition in November"? Madcap 01:42, 15 January 2011 (PST)Madcap

The last time I attended a Regionals was '09, so I'm not 100% confident anymore. But I am pretty sure that we used Level 2 tests for Regionals in Nov. I can try contacting some of the team members for this year and see if they remember, but it sounds unlikely.

I just dug up our first round of internal practice tests from 08-09. It says "United States Academic Decathlon / Economics Practice Test / 2008-2009". So perhaps not. Is that different? Bhushan Deshpande 02:03, 15 January 2011 (PST)

Bingo. USAD publishes a "Practice Test" Booklet in addition to the Round 1, 2, 3, and 4 tests. So your team didn't use the Round 1 test for that first round of internal testing. I guess we can assume you took Round 1 at regionals? I'll put a note on Regionals/2011. Let me know if you think we can accommodate this difference in a better way. Madcap 23:29, 15 January 2011 (PST)Madcap

Sounds great :) I also made a note of this here. Bhushan Deshpande 15:27, 16 January 2011 (PST)

Thanks!

Thanks for cleaning up my slop on State/Ohio. Dizzyizzy 00:49, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome! Thanks for webcasting! :-) Madcap 00:56, 13 March 2011 (UTC)Madcap

thumbnails

I fixed thumbnail generation. I think it should generate thumbnails for images without thumbnails on demand now. gil 17:21, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Oh, I didn't see that problem. So the pages will load much faster now. Thank you! Madcap 19:38, 19 March 2011 (UTC)Madcap

Nationwide compilations

As I was adding a score to the nationwide compilations, I was wondering if there was an easier way to add it, rather than changing each spot to the right number. Let me know if there is. Nhscody 23:06, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Nope... right now, we just use the arrow keys to move down the page and change each spot quickly. =( But I will try to find a solution this summer, perhaps in the form of a program. Madcap 23:29, 4 June 2011 (UTC)Madcap

I found an auto-numbered table! =D I need to tweak it a bit then I'll put it on all of the nationwide compilation pages. Madcap 00:29, 5 June 2011 (UTC)Madcap

I can't figure out how to change it to our wikitable format... maybe Gil knows? Madcap 00:29, 5 June 2011 (UTC)Madcap

Regarding State page (March 2012)

I was wondering if we should put something like there is on the regionals pages for nationwide compilations on the state page like this: There are nationwide compilations of Round 3 scores here: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

or whether there was a reason that it was not on the state page. Nhscody 16:39, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Also, I don't really understand what is trying to be said by this, which is on the state page:

"Every state besides North Dakota is confirmed to have competed at least once. According to USAD1, North Dakota has not participated since at least 1999. Note that North Dakota might have competed in other years."

Every state besides North Dakota is confirmed to have competed at least once. Okay, I get that, but hasn't North Dakota been confirmed competing in 1999?

Nhscody 16:39, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Replied to you in Talk:State#Nationwide_compilations and Talk:State#North_Dakota. Sorry for not replying earlier, I was just taking a quick break from administrivia last night. =) Madcap 18:25, 22 March 2012 (UTC)Madcap

Template

I noticed that you posted a template for the scores. It might be ideal to make two of them, one for socsci SQ years, and one for sci SQ years. It isn't a huge deal, and I don't know what is happening with the bandwidth at this site, just a thought of mine.

Great idea... done! See my userpage. Madcap 00:29, 5 June 2011 (UTC)Madcap

Practice Test Booklet

I have scores from Hamilton Academic Decathlon mid October were Stephen Bergauer, currently in second? place scored 6067.1, which would put him first in the nation. This was using the PTB and there were no other schools. I am friends with Stephen online from Demidec beta testing, so I am a member of his Facebook group for Academic Decathlon where he announced the scores... this was seven events, like the official round one. I don't know if you would like to add them or not, but here are the overall scores over 4,500 from his team:

Stephen Bergauer: 6067.1 Kuba Stechly: 5715 Sunny Zhong: 4604.6 Andrew Yuwen: 4648.5

Numerous others scored just below 4,500, and I'm not sure that they're all honors, so they may make the scores. If you decide you want to include these scores, I can get the additional information that is necessary for you.

Hi Cody! Remember to sign your posts with four tildes ("~") so people know who you are (it will automatically put your username at the end). Since Stephen's 6,067.1 was on the Practice Test Booklet tests (right?), that would go under Practice Test Booklet scores, not Round 1 test scores (what you see at the top of the page). I'm working on inputting Round 1 test scores, but if you're interested in expanding other sections, I encourage you to add the data to Scrimmages/2012#Practice_Test_Booklet. Happy editing, and let me know if you're having trouble - I will be happy to explain anything. Madcap 17:13, 22 November 2011 (UTC)Madcap

Oops, forgot to do that. I haven't been on in a while. I didn't see the practice test booklet section, I will input it there. Nhscody 19:34, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

DNS

If you haven't heard about SOPA it's a pretty shitty piece of legislature that's coming close to getting passed. GoDaddy, a popular DNS registrar was outed as a supporter of SOPA and there's kind of a grassroots backlash against them and lots of people are switching away. I'm probably going to switch away on the 29th. This really shouldn't cause any kind of problem even if I screw things up because I'm just moving the domain registration and not the hosting itself.

It's also likely that I might have to switch the IP address for ADSIC. This also shouldn't be a big deal because a) the site can run on both IP addresses at the same time during the transition b) I'm a lot more familiar with our DNS setup because I configured it myself last year. I'm working with my host to try and get this transition done before the 2nd week of January with a goal of sometime this week. If he can't hit my deadlines I'm going to wait till March for the IP address switchover.

In other news the site should be running faster than ever. I've been doing little tweaks all semester. gil 23:59, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Sure thing! I can't thank you enough for all your help. I'm pleased to hear about the speed increases =) You're right on with the first deadline because competition season really ramps up after the second week of January.

But is the gap between the last state competition and Nationals (late March - early April) a good time to schedule the postponed (if it is postponed) IP address switchover? I understand that there's almost no risk, and editing activity dips during that time, but the number of people checking the site probably peaks around that time? After state, many decathletes - especially decathletes who just had their last competition and decathletes curious about their nationals prospects - are gawking at scores?

Speaking of traffic, is there any way for me to see our Google Analytics account? Madcap 06:00, 28 December 2011 (UTC)Madcap

I added you a while ago. It should come up if you go to the webpage. It looks like March is a bad time and I meant to say April, which got about 2x the average traffic of the summer months. 205.245.102.138 21:28, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Just curious, who's our host? Madcap 06:01, 28 December 2011 (UTC)Madcap

[prgmr]

Denormalizing state data

Jam11 brought up on their user page that Regionals/California/LAUSD has the winner's state rank displayed in the table and it seems like you stuck that in. As a nerd I think denormalizing the data by sticking it in two places is at best silly and at worst harmful. However, I'm pretty pragmatic and I suspect you had a research-driven purpose for what you've done. I'm just wondering what the motivation is for denormalizing because in my mind if there isn't a good use case for it it should be avoided. gil 19:59, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Replied to you on User_talk:Jam11. Madcap 21:04, 10 April 2012 (UTC)Madcap