InfernalMachine's dashboard

InfernalMachine started following the discussion "What happened to PICS4D?" in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine reported a problem in Hubdub on February 29, 2008 17:18:

New leaderboard question settlement dispute

The leaderboard question, http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/Will_H...
was settled as Yes. But as much as you may be proud of the new friends feature, I can't see who is in 25th or 500th place unless I already happen to have them on my friends list, so the answer should be No. It says "more than", not "other than". I only wagered on this question on that basis, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Also, is the friends feature the reason we now only get sporadic updates of our cash and predictions amounts?

InfernalMachine started following the discussion "Friends, Romans, Hubdubbers!" in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine marked one of anaverageamerican's replies in Hubdub as useful. anaverageamerican replied to the discussion "Friends, Romans, Hubdubbers!".

InfernalMachine marked one of cakie174's replies in Hubdub as useful. cakie174 replied to the discussion "Friends, Romans, Hubdubbers!".

InfernalMachine started following the idea "Proposed rule amendments" in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine replied on February 29, 2008 13:00 to the idea "Proposed rule amendments" in Hubdub:

FOX???????

Since when has Fox been a reputable news source. Bottom of the list! How about the New York Times?

InfernalMachine replied on February 29, 2008 12:40 to the problem "Bug (?) Countdown Timer" in Hubdub:

I think it works something like this: if less than a minute, display how many seconds, else if less than an hour display in minutes, else if less than a day, display in hours, else if less than a week display in days, else display in weeks. It rounds down, so that it doesn't mislead you that there's more time left to act than there actually is. That's my guess anyway.

InfernalMachine started following the idea "A lesson in converting odds to percentages" in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine started following the idea "Automated questions" in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine replied on February 27, 2008 01:09 to the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub:

100. You'd happily pay for real-time quotes on hubdub markets.

InfernalMachine replied on February 27, 2008 01:07 to the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub:

99. You're very excited by the new Hubdub Derivative Markets - see
http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/Will_t...
and
http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/Will_t...

InfernalMachine replied on February 26, 2008 23:46 to the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub:

You reschedule your life so you can follow every minute of the in-play questions about the Asian, European, and US stock markets.

InfernalMachine replied on February 24, 2008 22:34 to the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub:

No. It gets worse. This game should come with a warning label. I hardly follow the news any longer, just skim for issues that relate to hubdub questions. I know less about the world now then I did in late January when I joined up.

Thank you for bringing this up. I'm certain (well enough to bet $1000 on Yes) that you are far from alone in your experience. (I have forgotten to eat some days.)

InfernalMachine started following the discussion "hubdub addiction" in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine started following the idea "Introduce subheadings under all categories." in Hubdub.

InfernalMachine marked one of Destry's replies in Hubdub as useful. Destry replied to the problem "Question was edited which changed conditions of question.".

InfernalMachine replied on February 21, 2008 17:43 to the idea "Display Original "Likelihood Percentages" on Question Page" in Hubdub:

I see your point. Trusted question writers (like yourself) who create lots of questions at a time would find it very time-consuming. It's just that it's hard sometimes, just looking at a number, to see where the person who set the odds is coming from. So ultimately it comes down to some kind of reputation. But new users and untrusted users should have to earn that reputation, whereupon the explanation is not as necessary.

InfernalMachine replied on February 21, 2008 03:22 to the idea "Display Original "Likelihood Percentages" on Question Page" in Hubdub:

But the fact you bother to try to explain your odds makes the question seem legitimate. That's all that's required. The viewer can think for a second, go "sounds fair", and forget about the initial odds - the market will correct them if they're off a little. But they aren't ridiculous (95% probably would be). Of course a question like "Will Obama be mentioned in Sunday's New York Times?" set at 50-50 should require an explanation too. The only difference is that the profit is restricted to 100% if you take advantage of the bad odds at 50-50, while 95-5 when it should be 5-95 or 1-99 allows a potential 1900% profit on the first bet.

The idea behind the explanation is to help the users decide if they think the question should be flagged for voiding.

InfernalMachine replied on February 21, 2008 02:49 to the problem "Suspend Date/Time Bug" in Hubdub:

Not to nitpick, but the date set is the suspend date (when betting stops), not the settlement date (when the question is decided). Some questions require a specified date by which an event may have taken place (which should be stated in the question itself, or in the background text, or in the settlement details), and this implies a settlement date as soon as possible thereafter (or sooner if the event happens before the "by when" date).

Haven't noticed this bug yet, but have noticed that the question creation page and especially question submission load/upload times are very very slow -- to the point where you wonder if the server's down and your question hasn't got through.