
One of My Favourite Puzzles - ColinWright
http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/OneOfMyFavouritePuzzles.html?HN_20170404
======
masonic
It must be, for you to feel the need to post it 3 times a day:

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=One%20of%20My%20Favourite%20Pu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=One%20of%20My%20Favourite%20Puzzles&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

~~~
ColinWright
Nice of you to notice - thank you. Thing is, I was inspired by this:

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Every%20attempt%20to%20manage%...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Every%20attempt%20to%20manage%20academia%20makes%20it%20worse&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

    
    
        2017-03-18 Comments: 0, points: 1
        2017-03-18 Comments: 0, points: 1
        2017-03-19 Comments: 0, points: 1
        2017-03-20 Comments: 0, points: 2
        2017-03-21 Comments: 0, points: 1
        2017-03-22 Comments: 0, points: 1
        2017-03-24 Comments: 0, points: 3
        2017-04-03 Comments: 285, points: 491
    

That had eight submissions before it finally got noticed and gained nearly 300
comments.

There are lots of other examples of that too, and looking at my logs, almost
no one clicked through to read it, so I was wondering if it was just a matter
of bad luck as to the time I posted it, or just that no one was interested
based on the title.

So I thought I'd have a go at posting at three different times, and then look
at the results. I've been around HN for a while now, posted lots of things
that got significant upvotes and discussions, and I _still_ don't understand
why some items sink without trace several times and then suddenly catch fire
and hit the front page and stay for ages.

Hence the experiment. But as I say, nice of you to notice - thank you.

 _Edit: Just to add - it 's still the case that pretty much no one has clicked
through. So either no one is attracted by the title, or people have read the
comments first, seen your comment, and decided not to bother. Who can say._

~~~
brudgers
Maybe a better title for HN would be a "One of Collin Wright's Favorite
Puzzles" type of shameless self promotion...except that that might not be the
same Collin Wright as you metaphorically. That you're not that different
Collin Wright is probably a matter of luck and if you were, you might not be
the Collin Wright for whom such a title might succeed on HN. So at least at
one level it's probably luck.

For what it's worth, I think the puzzle article is more intellectually
interesting than the polemic.

------
jpl56
Actually I tried, but it's blocked by my company's firewall ('game' category)

~~~
ColinWright
Wow - really? That's astonishing ...

Have you tried some of the other pages? Try these:

[http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutRecursion.html?20...](http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutRecursion.html?20170404)

[http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/Calculating52FactorialByHand.h...](http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/Calculating52FactorialByHand.html?20170404)

I'd be interested to know more about this, as if it affects you, it might
affect others. I've updated my profile to include an email address - I'd be
happy to hear from you (and others!)

Cheers.

