anaverageamerican's dashboard

anaverageamerican replied on March 05, 2008 01:35 to the problem "Incorrect settlement details on this question "Will Hillary Clinton be able to win both the Ohio and Texas Democratic primaries on March 4, 2008?"" in Hubdub:

I've been swamped at work, so paying less attention to the forums, (not to mention the site). Can you believe that my manager was completely unimpressed with my Hubdub success, and wanted me to actually complete the tasks he had assigned me? His priorities are all screwed up ... and as a a result so are mine 8^).

Infernal, I don't mind providing a tip for a friend ...

anaverageamerican reported a problem in Hubdub on March 03, 2008 23:52:

Incorrect settlement details on this question "Will Hillary Clinton be able to win both the Ohio and Texas Democratic primaries on March 4, 2008?"

I flagged this question, but I wanted to make sure it gets addressed so I'm posting it here as well. The polls in Ohio open at 6:30am EST (3:30am PST), and close at 7:30pm EST (4:30pm PST), so there will be a lot of additional information available to later investors if the suspend data is left at "Tomorrow [3/4] 2:59pm PST (23 hours) ". That's almost 6:00pm EST and the polls will have been open for almost 12 hours.

anaverageamerican replied on March 01, 2008 21:52 to the idea "Comments on User Pages" in Hubdub:

I agree, good idea InfernalMachine.

anaverageamerican replied on March 01, 2008 15:41 to the question "Escalation: Got some rock to sell on eBay?" in Hubdub:

Destry,

It was my question and I'm in complete agreement with you. Had I realized the controversy this was going to create I never would have created the question. Perhaps it should be voided so everyone who had a stake is equally unhappy.

anaverageamerican replied on March 01, 2008 02:28 to the question "Escalation: Got some rock to sell on eBay?" in Hubdub:

No, it is not a claim. When i created this question I anticipated someone definitively declaring on Ebay that they were auctioning a piece of the dead spy satellite. IMO, there are far too many caveats in the auction submitted for settlement to be considered a claim. As I have said in other posts on this thread, as the creator of this question I'm okay with it being settled No, and my position being settled Yes, or it being voided, or really whatever the HD admins decide.

anaverageamerican replied on March 01, 2008 01:04 to the idea "Proposed rule amendments" in Hubdub:

Wasn't it CNN that admitted they "edited the news" so they could gain access to Iraqi officials prior to the US invasion of Iraq?

So much for CNN as an impartial source. I agree wuth you that Fox News is biased, but at least they are a dissenting opinion in the US news.

BBC? Bwa haa haa! About as impartial as Stalin!

anaverageamerican replied on March 01, 2008 00:55 to the idea "Proposed rule amendments" in Hubdub:

None of these sources are reliable. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but all of the "mainstream media" is a complete joke. All of these supposedly "mainstream" media sources have severe biases, I prefer to get _MY_ news from Hubdub!

anaverageamerican replied on March 01, 2008 00:50 to the question "Escalation: Got some rock to sell on eBay?" in Hubdub:

As this question's creator my opinion is that all of the caveats in the Ebay auction submitted by the Hubdubber requesting settlement is indicative of the fact that the Ebay user who created this auction is certain that they are not auctioning a piece of US 193 (dead spy satellite). They might be making some assertions to that effect, but the caveats indicate that they are not claims.

I recommend settling this as No, and am willing to have _my_ position either voided, or settled against me.

This question got far more attention than I expected, and in retrospect it was not such a great question. But just as the site is in beta, so are the users.

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 21:52 to the discussion "Friends, Romans, Hubdubbers!" in Hubdub:

One more point, it's not obvious from the announcement on the HD Notice Board about the "Add Friend" button on user's profile pages. I found out about that from this forum, but most Hubdubbers do not participate in this forum.

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 21:41 to the discussion "Friends, Romans, Hubdubbers!" in Hubdub:

Oh no! There are going to be cliques of Hubdubbers! I'm certain to be stuck with the geeks, while all the cool folks are only friends with each other!

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 21:38 to the discussion "Friends, Romans, Hubdubbers!" in Hubdub:

Very cool new feature! But of course I have an idea about how to improve it already 8^) It would be great if you could see your friends' positions on the Overall Leader Board on your Friends Leader Board.

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 05:03 to the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub:

Skipper,

You shouldn't be staying up so late (EST) on a school night, particularly considering the USD$ I'm shelling out for your education. Get your a$$ to bed!

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 04:56 to the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub:

I just want to express my thanks to the Academy ... yada, yada, yada 8^)

Props to InfernalMachine, I might have invented the HubDerivatives, but he has kicked butt at the regular Hubdub!

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 03:55 to the idea "Proposed rule amendments" in Hubdub:

Maybe there should be a general rule about dates. I just flagged this question:
http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/Will_M...

Because I wasn't sure if 1/3/2008 was January 3rd or March 1st?

It might be a good idea if the rules established an unambiguous format for dates. I would suggest YYYY-MM-DD, which is a well established date format that permits easy sorting. I'm not married to a particular format, but I'm advocating a standard format.

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 02:54 to the idea "Why don't you allow users to void their own questions incase they have mistaken something??" in Hubdub:

What is it going to take to become a power user? As the number of users and questions has increased I'm finding more questions that I would like to void, or send back to the creator with comments, than I want to invest in.

That's why I'm languishing around 80th on the leader board. If the questions were better I'd be on top 8^)

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 02:50 to the idea "A lesson in converting odds to percentages" in Hubdub:

Considering my (lack of) success on sports questions, I think the appropriate way to set the odds are 100% against whatever AnAverageAmerican will wager on. With the possible exception of the Super Bowl and Manchester United, but remember the caveat you read in every prospectus, "past performance is no indicator of future performance."

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 02:45 to the idea "Proposed rule amendments" in Hubdub:

See my comment below. I'm okay with the other changes but had some questions about this category.

2.2.1 Subject to change

• Changes to the rules will only be made in consultation with users [Added]

Are you certain about this? I appreciate the open and libertarian approach, but if I was Hubdub I would say something more like:
"Hubdub management will endeavour to solicit and incorporate community feedback into rules changes.". The community is important, but it is your site. I realize that "be made in consultation with users" doesn't mean you have to abide by the desires of users.

• These rules will change over time. In the event of a rule change the changes will be notified on the Hubdub notice board. [Unchanged]

"the changes will be notified on the Hubdub notice board"? What does that mean? Did you mean to say, "the changes will be posted on the Hubdub notice board"? Or, "official notification will consist of a posting to the Hubdub notice board"? This, and my next comment, might be semantic differences between Scottish English and Americun English. If so please elucidate me and don't take offense>

• Any rule change may be applied retrospectively on a case-by-case basis [Added]

Retrospectively? Did you mean retroactively?

My Mom was a killer about grammar, vocabulary and proper word usage, and these many years later I'm the same way. I hope these suggestions are useful; they are intended in that spirit.

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 02:22 to the question "Escalation: Got some rock to sell on eBay?" in Hubdub:

I kind of glossed over this post before my response to the general question below, and I am pleased that the original settlement details have been restored. I agree that if a suspicious Ebay auction appears at the last minute, or even now, that the question should be voided.

I pledge that I will not cash out my H$1K stake in this question prior to settlement as a gesture that I was not attempting to cheat, or permit anyone else to cheat, when I created this question.

anaverageamerican replied on February 28, 2008 02:16 to the question "Escalation: Got some rock to sell on eBay?" in Hubdub:

This is my question, and I thought the original settlement details were quite explicit. I agree with nubbins that I would find it amazing if a Hubdubber created a fake Ebay auction in order to game a question on Hubdub (tha might be a good question though 8^)

I created this question after the US government announced that they would attempt to destroy the dead spy satellite, but well before it actually occurred. I think the starting odds were a reasonable guess, and I refrained from taking a position on this question until more than 24 hours after I created it in order to allow the market to correct the initial odds to avoid any impression that I created the question in order to game it..

Lastly, I think the fairly consistent trend towards No reflects the success of the US Navy's destruction of the satellite, to the extent that nobody would bid on a fraudulent Ebay auction claiming to offer a piece of that satellite.

I would prefer that the original settlement details be restored, and that this question be permitted to settle. I will lose a bunch of H$ if someone successfully games it.

anaverageamerican replied on February 25, 2008 23:23 to the question "Self-referential questions, why aren't they allowed?" in Hubdub:

You have to get past the first couple of chapters of Catch-22 before any of it starts to make sense. I never thought I completely understood it, but it definitely was highly confusing at the beginning.