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 Post subject: Does random toon favor certain picks?
PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:56 pm 
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I've noticed that the random toon feature seems to favor certain toons and emails. I get "Biz Cas Fri 2" and email "interview" about once every ten times I click the button. Has anyone noticed this?

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:00 am 
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You know how much XHTML it would take to make a randomizer favour something? Ya, me neither. But I'd imagine it takes more then TBC would be willing to do.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:06 am 
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Location: The island. Where and when that is I cannot say...
A truly random selector has no memory of what it picked previously, so it can pick the same ones over and over again sometimes.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:06 am 
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darthvader66 wrote:
You know how much XHTML it would take to make a randomizer favour something? Ya, me neither. But I'd imagine it takes more then TBC would be willing to do.

I know, but I've heard that some random number generators use a logarithim that can unknowingly pick some numbers more than other.

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 Post subject: Re: Does random toon favor certain picks?
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:12 am 
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kookykman wrote:
I've noticed that the random toon feature seems to favor certain toons and emails. I get "Biz Cas Fri 2" and email "interview" about once every ten times I click the button. Has anyone noticed this?


Well, I think it might be the nature of random shuffle - it always seems that in my playlist certain songs appear a lot more times, while some never come up. I just tried a little experiment on this, and it took 24 times before any toon/E-mail got repeated more than once (Lackey), which isn't that many considering the number of things on the site is in the hundreds and not the thousands. And in the 25 times I did it, Biz Cas Fri 2 and Interview didn't come up at all. So I'm leaning towards it probably being coincidence.


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:01 am 
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My trusty decompiler tells me it was a coincidence. The randomiser's selections are almost completely random, inasmuch as the Flash random function is completely random (which it isn't really, but it's close enough).

The only bias it has is that it doesn't pick the same one twice in a row - but that's not two final selections in a row, that's two random choices in a row during the roulette thing - just so that it doesn't appear to not change when it goes "beep".

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:28 am 
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It's random, I never noticably get 2 of the same.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:46 pm 
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I've haven't gotten a Puppet Stuff thing yet... so I was wondering something. When it loads a Puppet Stuff thing, does it just make the Puppet window pop up? Or does it take you to a seperate page with the Puppet thing?

I could always go and find out for myself, but I'm too busy (lazy).

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:49 pm 
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Ian911299 wrote:
I've haven't gotten a Puppet Stuff thing yet... so I was wondering something. When it loads a Puppet Stuff thing, does it just make the Puppet window pop up? Or does it take you to a seperate page with the Puppet thing?

I could always go and find out for myself, but I'm too busy (lazy).


The random toon think on the main page just makes a box pop up. The rando link on the navbar goes to a seperate page.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:39 am 
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If anyone cares, I did the random thing 50 times and these are my results.


vacation
The Interview
the basics
Homestarloween Party
date
Answering Machine 10
Halloween Fairstival
Experimental Film
flashback
The System is Down
Parsnips a Plenty
Cheat Commandos...O's
A Jorb Well Done
lackey
That a Ghost
garage sale
brianrietta
TrogdorCon '97
A Folky Tale
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes
rock opera
Homestar vs. Little Girl
New Boots
replacement
for kids
Everybody Knows It
dullard
Halloween Fairstival
dreamail
50 emails
video games
couch patch
Happy Fireworks!
colonization
cheatday
Answering Machine 1
Answering Machine 10
i rule
Cheat Commandos
Shopping For Danger
sisters
i she be
new hands
Answering Machine 5
Some Stupid Turkey
butt iq
Answering Machine 7
Answering Machine 12
3 wishes
Cool Things

Thoughts?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:00 pm 
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Looks pretty random to me. Yay, Brianrietta!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:08 pm 
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I know this is kind of an old discussion, but would it be possible if someone could post the Actionscript code for the randomizer/shuffler itself? I'd like to take a look at it. Thanks!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:16 am 
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I dont understand why they put a Random toon button.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:28 am 
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frotzy:AKA dealin burgers wrote:
I dont understand why they put a Random toon button.


What's not to understand? They made a button that plays a random toon when you press it. It was probably for people who wanted a quick H*R fix but couldn't decide what to watch.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:50 am 
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JohnTheTinyCowboy wrote:
frotzy:AKA dealin burgers wrote:
I dont understand why they put a Random toon button.


What's not to understand? They made a button that plays a random toon when you press it. It was probably for people who wanted a quick H*R fix but couldn't decide what to watch.
Yeah, exactly what John said. I know that it's helped me out many a times.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:31 pm 
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I ate a dinner in front of the computer watching random toons, and it didnt pick one twice.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 3:10 am 
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What bugs me about the random toon button is that it includes all the sbemails. Same with rando. If I want a random email, I'll click random.bat, thank you very much!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:01 pm 
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I tend to get 'your friends' pretty often.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:40 am 
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It depends on how it sets the random seed.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:37 am 
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Location: To find my location follow this map i found on the ground , coincidently its a map to my house.
yeah it is set at random because ive seen all of them

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:16 pm 
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Count the many toons and such and then list 'em all, and rate the percentage that the certain thing you like will arrive on the random thing.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 4:14 pm 
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stux wrote:
I know this is kind of an old discussion, but would it be possible if someone could post the Actionscript code for the randomizer/shuffler itself? I'd like to take a look at it. Thanks!

Here's what I got in sprite 44 of the main navbar:
// Sprite 44

#initclip
if (!_global.HSRandoToon) {
var _local1 = _global.HSRandoToon = function (p_type, p_name, p_url, p_swf) {
this.type = p_type
this.name = p_name
this.swf = p_swf
this.url = p_url
if (this.type == "sb") {
HSRandoToon.sbEmailCounter++
if (p_url == undefined) {
this.url = "sbemail" + HSRandoToon.sbEmailCounter + ".html"
} else {
this.url = p_url
}
}
}.prototype
public function __get__fullType () {
switch(this.type){
case sb :
return Strong Bad Email
break //Goto(103)
case am :
return Answering Machine
break //Goto(103)
case toon :
return Cartoon
break //Goto(103)
default :
}
return this.type
}
public function __get__displayName () {
if (this.type == "sb") {
return "SBEmail: " + this.name
} else {
return this.name
}
}
static var sbEmailCounter:Number = 0
ASSetPropFlags (_global.HSRandoToon.prototype,null,1)
}
#endinitclip

and then you can view rando.xml here
I have the ones from the random button on the menu but it's kind of long.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:58 pm 
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sb_enail.com wrote:
What bugs me about the random toon button is that it includes all the sbemails. Same with rando. If I want a random email, I'll click random.bat, thank you very much!


Word to that. Though usually it's not too much trouble just to re-random if it comes up with a sbemail.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:40 am 
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There isn't really enough material on the site minus the emails. I'm glad it includes them. There should be a toon specific random, though.

As for the comics appearing to mess with probability, it's All Wanda's Fault.</Nerdy Marvel comics reference>

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:39 am 
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i dont think they have every toon programed into that thing. i think thats why it seems like it favors them.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:41 pm 
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TrogdorTSL wrote:
i dont think they have every toon programed into that thing. i think thats why it seems like it favors them.


Yeah, they do. I did it one time and pulled up Potion Ma-Jig, so they do update the randomizer.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:39 am 
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Well, I'm guessing it's pretty much random, though I do recall doing it once and getting the same one a coupla times.

(On the BSWiki, however, the Random Page button seems to be quite biased towards certain pages. It can also apparently sense my angstiness about Rya's death, because when the thought crosses my mind, it has this odd tendency to take me to Rya, Rya's Grave, or Ryaconning. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.)

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:16 am 
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Does anyone else have a feeling that there is a VERY slim chance you can get some hidden thing from the Homestar Runner site if you hit random enough times? Like a one in a thousand shot or something?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:08 pm 
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I get alot of Strongbad emails. :sb:


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:17 pm 
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Amemiya wrote:
I get alot of Strongbad emails. :sb:


Well, with 144 of 'em, they make up a large percentage of the content on the site.

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