I have a suggestion for making recipe solving more organized. [AMMENDED]9/11/09 I would really appreciate ALL your input!!!!

[cocoabean]

Originally Posted by wkwcollecter

I just wanted to make it clear that when i elimnated the candy apples i had been working on them for 2 months. I started this before i had even found this website and I made that clear in my post when i posted the candy apples had been completed.

I did read over and see that peggios had been doing the candy apples as well as elphantboy (or somethign like that). Peggios had made it clear that they didnt want to be wasting kinzcash if it had already been done. When i read that they didnt want to be wasting kinzcash for somethign that was already tried thats when i decided to make my very first post on wi and tell you all that i had completed it. I did not think this would be a problem. It is not like I started doing them when peggios had already started them. I wasnt even here on wi when i started eliminating them (i was doing it on my own without all the wonderful help of you people on wi).

I have just seen soooo many posts now about me eliminating it. What should i have done? just kept it to myself and not said anything as peggios continued to do it? I also tried everything with almonds in the months before that but it was already taken off the list so i didnt say that.

I am very sorry i jumped on your ingredient peggios, that was not my intent. I was just trying to help.


I really did not think me posting my findings would start such a debate.

I think you did a great job! And I think that we all feel great affection for one another, you included! As Amneris says this is just a debate among friends and I hope we all have smiles on our faces while posting. I know I do!

hmmm... maybe Susan might want to rethink starting at almonds though... while the new list is starting at Septembers date I still give a lot of credence to the combos done recently... particularly Peg's pickle combos... I personally see no need to redo those, or your candy apple ones and now almonds... I'll use candy apples, pickles and almonds in my combos, but I won't attempt to re-eliminate those ingredients as "food #1". I believe you all did a perfect job in those and that it would be a waste of kc to redo those completely...

You shouldn't feel bad for doing those combos. You didn't jump on anyone's ingredient. Everyone is free to do whatever he or she wants to do.

[fumble99]

Everyone has different approaches. I appreciate knowing what someone is doing or planning to work on but that is me. It lets me plan around it and lets me know if I need to change my own plans.

Regarding speed of the last combos - they were done with what was missing as per the posts. They were fast but it really was seemingly down to the last few ingredients.

I fully support only counting full eliminations going forward to try and narrow down on possible mistakes in actual cooking or in posting.

For almonds there were many 10/07 dates and for me I am lucky that I have quite a bit of kc spread around my accounts so I feel more comfortable working a whole 95 x 95 combo to ensure it is completely done. That is me and just what I like. It takes a while but once it gets going it is like clock work to me. So I will continue with my plan for a full elimination of almonds on all three appliances. I will enjoy it and for some people it may provide KC and time savings for them knowing that x ingredient has been completely taken care of.

Everyone has their own way of playing this game and this is mine.

If I am lucky enough to stumble on a recipe - great, if my cooking helps others great. And if not at least they will be combos that others will not have to do

Regarding threads I would love if people would post what they are thinking of working on, primarily if it is a large combo - ie planning to do all combos of 1 food. Someone doing random one off 95 ingredients combos I do not think it is as important to post prior to doing them as you can get them done almost as fast as posting you are thinking about doing it

I do think it is a bit confusing, especially for someone newer all the various threads in this section. I consider myself reasonably bright/quick study and yet I floundered for about a week in this section before I truly understood what expectations were and what all the threads were about and what to post where and how.

Being a relative new comer to this section and not having as much emotionally invested as people who have been the life of this section for 2+ years, I think there can be thread re-organization in this section - some consolidation and some clarification.

From my own experience I have found the hardest thing is not knowing what has NOT been done for an ingredient without some serious matching to the wshop food list or bothering Amneris to check a list.

I would dearly love if we had not only a list of what had been done but also a list of what has NOT been done. So either add every combo to Amneris' thread and then fill in the date when someone completed the combo - or a whole separate list for what is still to be done. Either way works for me. That would have been so helpful as we were winding down to really ensure we hit everything and were not just making educated guesses.

Just my $0.02

[Amneris]

Originally Posted by wkwcollecter

I also tried everything with almonds in the months before that but it was already taken off the list so i didnt say that.

If those were complete combos, please feel free to post them so that I can update the "old" list (blender, right?). What I especially need to know is the approximate date you started on them.

[peggios]

Originally Posted by wkwcollecter

I just wanted to make it clear that when i elimnated the candy apples i had been working on them for 2 months. I started this before i had even found this website and I made that clear in my post when i posted the candy apples had been completed.

I did read over and see that peggios had been doing the candy apples as well as elphantboy (or somethign like that). Peggios had made it clear that they didnt want to be wasting kinzcash if it had already been done. When i read that they didnt want to be wasting kinzcash for somethign that was already tried thats when i decided to make my very first post on wi and tell you all that i had completed it. I did not think this would be a problem. It is not like I started doing them when peggios had already started them. I wasnt even here on wi when i started eliminating them (i was doing it on my own without all the wonderful help of you people on wi).

I have just seen soooo many posts now about me eliminating it. What should i have done? just kept it to myself and not said anything as peggios continued to do it? I also tried everything with almonds in the months before that but it was already taken off the list so i didnt say that.

I am very sorry i jumped on your ingredient peggios, that was not my intent. I was just trying to help.


I really did not think me posting my findings would start such a debate.

Oh, hon, I was NEVER, EVER mad at you for doing those combos. I want you to know that!!! You were an innocent person trying to solve a recipe and the fact that you did it at all is wonderful!!! I just wanted to simplify things because, as I said, I am newer to the dedicated recipe solvers group and I STILL REMEMBER when I first got interested in doing recipes I would asked people for combo ideas because reading all the threads was just OVERWHELMING. It took me a long time to understand about the different dates, well, to be honest, I still DON'T! I just do full sets because it is just to confusing for my little brain to wrap itself around all the dates. Especially since I am not an original chef (recipe solver, I haven't gotten to chef technically) I can still remember EXACTLY how it felt when I got here and it just seemed unnecessarily too technical and confusing. I have never understood the HHH boosts and I don't know if I want to. Honestly, I almost didn't even try to become a part of this because of all the "technical" talk that all of you who had been doing this since the beginning understood. I felt bad, Jen, when I read your very first post, but you have clarified so well since then that I knew you weren't mad. Your thread is excellent now that I have been doing this longer, but it was just flat out overwhelming at first. I wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of it when I first got here. A simple "pick two ingredients, buy every food in the w-shop except the two you have picked and then buy 95 of each of the two you picked and start blending" would suffice for recipe solvers that aren't going to stick around. All the talk about the YTT "set" or any other "set" was so confusing at first I think for those of you that want to get very scientific and all about it, that is great for you. I just want to do full combos and be accurate. Monkeecj, I used your thread most of all because I really only care about the YTT. I still eventually learned to post on BOTH threads, but even that took time. I think you guys have been at it for so long, that you have such a grasp of all of it that you just can't "dumb it down" for us simple minded folks!!!! LOL I keep track of the combos in a COMPLETELY different way than a spreadsheet which just blows my mind at the thought of it!!!! My DH would LOVE that method though! I use MCJ's food pics and I have them downloaded on my computer. I print each one out each time I am doing a full elimination. I USED to start off by crossing off every ingredient that had already been tried in one color of ink and then started buying the food. It is easy because I have the pics right in front of me with X's through the foods I don't need to buy. I cross off each food I eliiminate in a different color ink. Once everything is crossed of, I know I am done. Admittedly this doesn't work for small combos or incomplete ones. There are so many people that come here and do combos for a week or a month or a day and then quit because they realize the time and KC it takes. Their combos may not even be valid if they are trying to do anything other than one single three food combo. OK, I am going on, and on...I know my reply didn't cover everything I was thinking, but now my thoughts are getting muddled so it's time to stop. I just want a SIMPLE place for INEXPERIENCED recipe solvers to go so we make sure their combos are done correctly, and thus are valid, and we don't end up getting to the end of a two year elimination only to find out it is still NOT DONE!!!!

[peggios]

I needed to make my point a lot simpler and clearer. I have thought about this a lot since first making this thread. This is my bottom line, however it gets accomplished, and by whomever accomplishes it: I am newer at this than you guys. When I first got on the recipe section it was OVERWHELMING. Cocoabean's thread is excellent- NOW- but when I was new- too much information!!!!! A simple" intro to newcomers": If you are gong to try to help solve recipes, pick two ingredients you think might be in it, then go to the w-shop and buy EVERY OTHER FOOD, then go back and buy 97 of each of your two chosen foods and blend all 97 combos. Post your results as follows: 1st food + 2nd food + EE (all 97 other foods) = GAK and the date you did this combo PERIOD, no HHH boosts, or "set" dates. I still don't understand all that! You guys that are long time recipe solvers are so technical and that is fine, if you understand it, but I don't even after all this time on here! That way EVERY combo done would be CORRECT and VALID no matter who does it, a newbie or an old-timer. What do you think of this??? I am the most concerned about the new people who come on, do a few combos, and leave! I know there is a "core group" that knows what they are doing, I am not concerned about us!!!! I just want to know that EVERY combo that is done comes as close as possible to having no errors in it, so we don't face this problem again in two years, ya know??? I'm not mad about having to start over, I think it is more encouraging than what it has been, frankly. I feel it will be solved now!!!!

[monkeecj]

This is my suggestion, then:

On cocoabean's "How to Solve Secret Recipes" thread, there should be two things done:
1. At the top of the first post should be quick-and-easy instructions of how to do a combination. This will be as basic as peggios describes it and easy for anyone new to understand.
2. Following this addition should be a message noting that it IS basic, and for further detail one should read the rest of the thread. This should get the people more interested understanding the process better, but the people who just want to try one or two combos don't have to read the details to be able to try them.

As for listing what someone is working on, I don't think it will happen. I think if it did, it would be on my "For Recipe Solvers..." thread, which I would be able to update, but I doubt that it would be stickied or SHOULD be stickied because it would take up a lot of room. New members could be reminded on cocoabean's thread to ask what others are working on to avoid repeats. I don't think it will become a big issue in the future.

[peggios]

Originally Posted by monkeecj

This is my suggestion, then:

On cocoabean's "How to Solve Secret Recipes" thread, there should be two things done:
1. At the top of the first post should be quick-and-easy instructions of how to do a combination. This will be as basic as peggios describes it and easy for anyone new to understand.
2. Following this addition should be a message noting that it IS basic, and for further detail one should read the rest of the thread. This should get the people more interested understanding the process better, but the people who just want to try one or two combos don't have to read the details to be able to try them.

As for listing what someone is working on, I don't think it will happen. I think if it did, it would be on my "For Recipe Solvers..." thread, which I would be able to update, but I doubt that it would be stickied or SHOULD be stickied because it would take up a lot of room. New members could be reminded on cocoabean's thread to ask what others are working on to avoid repeats. I don't think it will become a big issue in the future.

Thanks MCJ...sounds wonderful! I knew what I was trying to accomplish, but guess I wasn't making it clear enough! I went back on the recipe threads and found MY FIRST POSTS, and I was sooooo confused. I tried reading all the threads and they just didn't make sense. Amneris thread was so long, and had all these dates I didn't understand, because I had no idea that recipes came out every so often. that it just intimidated me to try to even go through it and figure out what had been done! Plus you were all talking about whether or not you did a "complete" or "full" eliminations and which "set" was or was not included and what the "HHH" boosts were and I thought, I am NEVER going to be able to figure this all out! I had absolutely NO IDEA what any of those terms meant!!! Neither will anyone who just comes on here and is interested in helping. I was just remembering THAT from when I first started, and honestly, I COULD HAVE MADE A MISTAKE in the beginning! I was reading at the very beginning of YOUR thread MCJ and even you long time solvers were getting confused! You should go back and read it. I just thought it all could be made simpler somehow for those people that don't stick around long enough to get a grasp of thingsk so we can trust their eliminations. Does this make sense????

[Amneris]

Yes, that totally makes sense, Peg. Here are my thoughts: the HHH stuff isn't necessary for newcomers to understand. It's not essential for manual recipe testing; it's just a fun way for some people to try to analyze and solve the recipes. All of the "set" stuff is completely moot at this point, so that's not necessary for newcomers to understand, either. For a simple explanation of how to do a combo, I have tried to put that in the intro to my thread. Do I need to reword it again to make it clearer? To CJ: if you do decide to start tracking what everyone is planning to do, I hope you start a new thread for that purpose. Your other thread for tracking the elimination of the 8/5/07 set, while absolutely essential for a while, will only serve to confuse newcomers with the information contained in it. And finally: we need a chef smilie like this one!

[LordRaidor]

Originally Posted by Amneris

...And finally: we need a chef smilie like this one!

Best one I could find in a quick image search is here:

http://t3.*******************?q=tbn:K...hef_smiley.gif

(didn't wanna steal bandwidth by posting the actual image)

...See if you can get an Admin to upload it into the resident smiley database here at WI - I'm all for it!

^_^
-LordRaidor-

[peggios]

Originally Posted by LordRaidor

Best one I could find in a quick image search is here:

http://t3.*******************?q=tbn:K...hef_smiley.gif

(didn't wanna steal bandwidth by posting the actual image)

...See if you can get an Admin to upload it into the resident smiley database here at WI - I'm all for it!

^_^
-LordRaidor-

I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!