silentguy

Speed up the site... yeah right... you pretty much mean "Force the users to subscribe", eh?

Posted on 5/6/08 4:58 PM.

AmberDragon

Yeah, I'm with silentguy. I understood limiting the number of saved puzzles, but this is pretty much breaking the site for everyone who isn't willing or able to drop some cash in your pockets. Who wants to search through 28 pages of puzzles to find one that's unsolved? Not me.

Posted on 5/7/08 3:45 PM.

Lekktor

Well, thats pretty much my opinion, too. I'm not going to search hours for unsolved puzzles.

Posted on 5/7/08 4:26 PM.

Croyd

I understand that the features on the site take toll on the systems. I also understand the importance of upkeep and maintenance on sites. That being said, I have to say that I'm disappointed in the new "feature" that is available to subscribers only.

I've been on this site, using it, since 10/22/03 - almost 5 years now. I've solved more than 13K Griddlers, and have been as high as 235th place for number of Griddlers solved.

With the new change, I'm not sure that I will be coming back to the site very often, if at all.

I can understand a lot of the other changes made for Members only - case in point, the saved puzzle limit.

However, the ability to filter out solved puzzles is a necessity for someone like me to be able to continue to enjoy the site. It could take me a long time to find a puzzle that I haven't solved yet, having to look individually at each page. Especially if it's something in a category that I've solved a bunch of puzzles in already (Minimalism puzzles, for example). Is it worth the time to spend 3 minutes searching for a puzzle that takes me 5 seconds to solve, only to start the process all over again?

No - it isn't.

Sure - $5/month isn't that much, or $40/year, but it's more than I want to spend on something I do occasionally for fun. I'd rather that this money go to something that is a bit more enjoyable, like gas for my car so that I can go to work and earn a paycheck, or food for my table so that I can continue to live.

Yes - that's extreme, but it still seems like paying just so that I can enjoy a basic feature like filtering out solved puzzles is ridiculous.

I would like to take a moment to thank the creators and moderators for allowing me to enjoy this site over the past 5 years. I've always enjoyed coming here when I have a few minutes so that I can solve a few puzzles. It helped relax me. With the new direction, though, I am afraid that I will not be returning in the near future.

Good luck to everyone who stays with the site. And congratulations to the mods who get the extra $5/month from people who want to use this simple/basic function of filtering puzzles.

Andrew/croyd

Posted on 5/7/08 5:11 PM in reply to Lekktor.

tj170

I would just like to say that I appreciate all the things that Hagit and Rasto do to maintain such a quality site. Yes I am a subscriber and I probably spend an average of 5 hours a day solving. The Igridd applet is wonderful one of the best parts of it being the colors are so much more distinguishable. (IMHO) A site like this take lots of money to run paying for band width and such. So I personally don't think $40 a year a big investment and again thank you Hagit and Rasto for keeping it going to the best it can be.

Tj

Posted on 5/7/08 6:08 PM.

stevieT

Oh well! I'll have to carry on doing triddlers, until that joy is taken away as well.

Posted on 5/7/08 6:18 PM.

Aelia

"until that joy is taken away as well."

What an unnecessary and undeserved swipe at the people who spend most of their free time and a lot of their disposable income making this all possible. If you're going to post like this, its better to just not post at all.

Posted on 5/7/08 6:47 PM in reply to stevieT.

Aelia

You can stop posting this everywhere, we can read it in any of the other 4 places youve posted the same speech

Posted on 5/7/08 7:18 PM in reply to Croyd.

troefboer

Hi andrew
I can partly understand your arguments. I truly like volunteering in projects for the benefit of everyone. Paying money for making griddlers removed a little bit the shining of this site, turning it from a meeting place of builders and solvers to a commercial site. on the other hand what is €28,- or $40,- for a year of fun.

Especially in your case Croyd. Although you claim to play occasionally you have solved in 5 years or 1825 days more then 13000 griddles. meaning an average solving rate of 7 puzzles a day, if you have puzzled every day without any interruptions.

your current griddler consumption is average 2600 griddler a year costing you 1,5 dolarcent per griddler. Unless you only solve 5 x5 griddlers it is mighty cheep for such fun. I hope this simple math can convince you to stay.

regards Ruud / troefboer the Netherlands

P.S. I wished that I could fill up my tank with gas for $40,- The average price for gas in the Netherlands is €5,70 for a gallon equals $8.70 for a gallon

Posted on 5/7/08 8:00 PM in reply to Croyd.

coc

At first I was perplexed and a little disappointed at this change, but when I considered that after six years as a member and literally thousands of hours enjoying these puzzles for free, a mere $40 was absolutely nothing at all. So, cheers to the Griddlers team, you've finally managed to squeeze some well-earned blood from this stone

Posted on 5/8/08 1:25 AM.

stevieT

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it as "an unnecessary and undeserved swipe", I was just very disappointed, and I am very grateful to the people who run the site.

But, it has made Griddling very difficult for those people not willing or able to pay, my children have logins (one even has it as their homepage) but only occasionally go and solve some griddlers.

I am a programmer for a living, so understand the frustration of the people at the website when "users" complain that the list take "too long" to load (more than a few seconds and people start clicking buttons), I personally am very impressed at the speed that it can create the lists, especially at busy times.

Again I am sorry if my previous posting upset anyone, but as my wife has been complaining, for a long time, that I don't do the housework on my days off, as I "Griddle" too much, maybe it's time to stop and say "Thank you and goodbye"

Posted on 5/8/08 8:06 AM in reply to Aelia.

Siobhan

In response to all the complaining I've heard in this post may I make the suggestion to the team that they may be able to come up with a 'Family/Group Membership' plan? This could mean that the site is kept running at a decent pace with the same fantastic quality that I've always found here.

And yes I will admit that I am a member but I made that choice to do so and hence get the benefits of having that membership. For those who choose not to pay the membership I would say be grateful to the team for keeping up the site to the standards that they have. To the puzzle builders I will say thank you also.

All of you have given generously of your time and effort to do this for nothing.

All that you have asked of us the members is that we support you if we can do so.

Posted on 5/8/08 10:28 AM.

jeanpete

I am actually curious if it actually takes more time to filter out solved puzzles than any of the other filters. (I'd really rather give up ANY or all of the other filters.) Or if this is really just to annoy us into subscribing.

Posted on 5/8/08 3:38 PM.

Jeltje

Hi StevieT and Shobian,
It is possible to get a group membership if you are solving with a couple of family members or even a whole schoolclass who want to use the site. Please send a message to the Team with the usernames and an explanation how they are related. There's usually no problem to find a way to make sure that you don't have to stop solving because of lack of money.

Jelga

Posted on 5/8/08 5:59 PM in reply to Siobhan.

hagitm

We do have family plan and discounts for groups, as Jelga answered.

Siobhan, if your suggestion is to create "groups of solvers", i.e.: some solvers are been organized together and create a group - then sure! We are always open to new ideas.

Posted on 5/8/08 7:15 PM in reply to Siobhan.

archsmooth

If you need a filter to find an unsolved griddler in more than 10 seconds, then you really need to either step away from the computer or blow the dust off your wallet and pry a few dollars out. Please take care you do not strain yourself by repeatedly hitting the 'Next Page' icon.

Posted on 5/9/08 7:41 AM.

kschoice

Hello !

Just a quick word about an idea of mine : as the list now displays if the logged user has already solved the puzzle or not, would it be possible to use that information as a sort criteria ? This way people could more easily locate yet unsolved puzzles, maybe without the overhead of filtering.

Posted on 5/14/08 8:33 AM.

Thexder

Just a little observation -- won't the extra queries from non-subscribers, all looking for a "Non Solved Puzzle", actually make the site slower?

That said, thank you for an absolutely great site! It is amazing that you let the users do so much for free as it is.

Posted on 6/11/08 4:48 PM.