An observation..RE: speed checks,pass downs...(long)

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Georgecatl

Georgecatl

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Oct 26, 2010
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Just an observation and not meant to step on any toes….



The thrill of victory is half the fun and pride of scoring one of CPK’s blades and unfortunately some are denied that part of the equation.



A little background…

I’ve been on the prowl for several years for Nathan’s creations. The first blade I purchased was on the secondary market as a user and I was immediately impressed with the quality and durability.

So after a few attempts in the Friday sales I was able to score my first….a Light Chopper…..an awesome score. The whole proxy thing was just in it’s infancy at this point and I just knew that when certain people entered the sale, my keyboard skills were lacking. I have one friend in particular (who isn’t over here quite as often as he used to be) who is blazing fast. When Nathan first came out with the RLC (I think there were 5) he scored one (I wasn’t even close). In a subsequent sale I asked if he could proxy for me, but he had some other conflict……..but ended up contacting me to offer his previously scored RLC…which I immediately snapped up.



As new knives have come along, I’ve made futile attempts in Friday sales and I lobbied hard for pre-orders (LOL, which I’ve still not broken into the first page). Finally, after multiple attempts on the UF, I asked for a proxy in the proxy thread and was graciously accommodated.



Now that we’ve been in the midst of the Friday sales for the FK2, I’ve been valiantly making my attempts….too no availL.

Which brings me current and the observation I’d like to convey.



This past Friday, I was at the gate waiting to catch my flight back to Atlanta.

I’m on my phone and realize it’s almost three. I quickly pull up my browser, get on BF and get to the right spot with two minutes to spare. I refresh at 3, bing-bang-boom ….refresh again and BINGO I’m number 7. My flight is boarding and people think I’m nuts because I’m Fist-Pumping my way on to the flight. The guy next to me thought it was the first time I’d been upgraded to first class……and I had to explain it was the first time in a long time since I’d scored a hard won CPK.



It wasn’t until much later that I realized the sale was for the EDC3 and not the FK2……..but no worries, it was still a score.



The observation I’d like to convey…………………………………

When I went back through the thread, the usual names were there either as proxy or speed check (because they had no one to proxy for??). After all the speed check/proxy mess sorted out……there were some regulars and newbies that don’t normally score……like me. I hope they were as pumped as I with their good fortune.



Now that Nathan has made his feeling known regarding speed checks and the server error problems due to overload, I wonder what would happen IF…..

the keyboard ninjas got their score in the first sale or two……and stepped aside and let others take a legitimate shot. As people get their knife and let the next wave experience the thrill of victory it may go a long way to build CPK’s customer base and loyalty. Just sayin’…………………….
 
Georgecatl said:
Just an observation and not meant to step on any toes….



The thrill of victory is half the fun and pride of scoring one of CPK’s blades and unfortunately some are denied that part of the equation.



A little background…

I’ve been on the prowl for several years for Nathan’s creations. The first blade I purchased was on the secondary market as a user and I was immediately impressed with the quality and durability.

So after a few attempts in the Friday sales I was able to score my first….a Light Chopper…..an awesome score. The whole proxy thing was just in it’s infancy at this point and I just knew that when certain people entered the sale, my keyboard skills were lacking. I have one friend in particular (who isn’t over here quite as often as he used to be) who is blazing fast. When Nathan first came out with the RLC (I think there were 5) he scored one (I wasn’t even close). In a subsequent sale I asked if he could proxy for me, but he had some other conflict……..but ended up contacting me to offer his previously scored RLC…which I immediately snapped up.



As new knives have come along, I’ve made futile attempts in Friday sales and I lobbied hard for pre-orders (LOL, which I’ve still not broken into the first page). Finally, after multiple attempts on the UF, I asked for a proxy in the proxy thread and was graciously accommodated.



Now that we’ve been in the midst of the Friday sales for the FK2, I’ve been valiantly making my attempts….too no availL.

Which brings me current and the observation I’d like to convey.



This past Friday, I was at the gate waiting to catch my flight back to Atlanta.

I’m on my phone and realize it’s almost three. I quickly pull up my browser, get on BF and get to the right spot with two minutes to spare. I refresh at 3, bing-bang-boom ….refresh again and BINGO I’m number 7. My flight is boarding and people think I’m nuts because I’m Fist-Pumping my way on to the flight. The guy next to me thought it was the first time I’d been upgraded to first class……and I had to explain it was the first time in a long time since I’d scored a hard won CPK.



It wasn’t until much later that I realized the sale was for the EDC3 and not the FK2……..but no worries, it was still a score.



The observation I’d like to convey…………………………………

When I went back through the thread, the usual names were there either as proxy or speed check (because they had no one to proxy for??). After all the speed check/proxy mess sorted out……there were some regulars and newbies that don’t normally score……like me. I hope they were as pumped as I with their good fortune.



Now that Nathan has made his feeling known regarding speed checks and the server error problems due to overload, I wonder what would happen IF…..

the keyboard ninjas got their score in the first sale or two……and stepped aside and let others take a legitimate shot. As people get their knife and let the next wave experience the thrill of victory it may go a long way to build CPK’s customer base and loyalty. Just sayin’…………………….
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There is already general agreement that speed tests will be stopped going forward.
There is also a broad consensus among members that those that already scored a UKF/FK2 will hold off before attempting to score another one.
So, two of your proposals are already in effect.
As discussed, proxies generally account for 1-3 slots. Out of 40...
I have never seen an error message - i believe someone explained how these are generally due to user error. I have experienced significant lag times.
I use an old, beat up iPhone 6, mostly off a cell tower with less than full bars. I don’t have the skills or the equipment to be among the first 5, or even 10. But after participating in a number of sales, I feel I have a pretty decent chance if the sale is for 20 or more knives. I did, btw, also score one of the highly coveted special run EDC2s in DIW.
 
SwarthyGnome said:
Would/could you elaborate on this, please?
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I think that this is the post which Oyster was referring to:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/speed-checks-pass-it-down-proxies-please-read.1648317/page-5#post-18857084

As for me, I didn't keep getting error message but rather new tabs opening as I was mashing keys on the keyboard. Then it was pointed out to me that perhaps when I was just mashing COAMMAND-R which is a Mac hotkey arrangement for refreshing pages if my paws are still accidentally mashing, this would lead to new tabs opening instead of me hot tailing to post my claim.

In my case > user's error and that's because I recently changed computers and I was not as adept with the laptop as I was with my old iMac keyboard. I have since corrected my method with better success.
 
hmmm, the error messages are a very real thing even when the user does everything right. Me and a friend had this problem...on at least 3 separate occasions. Maybe it's the refresh rate, time zone, net speed....I dont know. But user error wasnt one of them
 
vkp78 said:
hmmm, the error messages are a very real thing even when the user does everything right. Me and a friend had this problem...on at least 3 separate occasions. Maybe it's the refresh rate, time zone, net speed....I dont know. But user error wasnt one of them
Click to expand...

I am sure that they are not mutually exclusive as I also believe that they can happen without user's error. I was merely concurring with CataD after I retraced my own steps after my own possible actions were highlighted to me by fonedork. YMMMV.
 
I've gotten an error while attempting to post in a sale thread on several occasions. An extended delay of around 10 seconds after you hit Post, followed by an error box that pops up, had to refresh to post.
 
fonedork said:
I've gotten an error while attempting to post in a sale thread on several occasions. An extended delay of around 10 seconds after you hit Post, followed by an error box that pops up, had to refresh to post.
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Yes, it's possible to get a 'server timed out' error, if the BF server is so backed up, that it takes too long for a response.

The ridiculous lag experienced during one of these sales, can cause it (I've NEVER seen the BF server lag as badly as it did in the first 40 x FK2 sale. It started taking 15-30 seconds to load ANY BF page, from 2 minutes before 3pm).
 
bluemax_1 said:
Yes, it's possible to get a 'server timed out' error, if the BF server is so backed up, that it takes too long for a response.

The ridiculous lag experienced during one of these sales, can cause it (I've NEVER seen the BF server lag as badly as it did in the first 40 x FK2 sale. It started taking 15-30 seconds to load ANY BF page, from 2 minutes before 3pm).
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You are the first person I have seen that is getting there, keep extrapolating, I wanna see you work this one out for everyone.
 
vkp78 said:
All of us sitting down at 2 min to 3 and refreshing the page a 100, 000 times and causing server errors ? Cant stand the suspense Grenock!
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Based on my own experiences and observations (not entirely empirical but still...):

The Forum refresh latency had increased significantly as we got closer to the 3:00:00 hour Eastern on the first two UFK sales, with the first one being really diabolical. To me, this indicated that there were many many folks waiting in the wings who kept refreshing the heck outta things in those last few seconds. Further, if anyone has ever posted WTS threads with quite a few largish (bytes) pictures, then one would observe that it takes a good few seconds (I had timed up to 7 seconds on my last one) for the posting to appear and I suspect that Nathan's first ever UFK posting must've taken at least 10 seconds with the added latency caused by the heavy volume of refreshes.

I am sure that some of the faster folks who are consistent with their top placements are very good at refreshing at the more precise number of seconds past the hour on top of their keyboard-foo. I may have let the cat outta bag on this one, but so what? Still if you're a nervous Nelly, you'll get frozen anyway :D
 
bluemax_1 said:
TBH, I really don't know what this post means.
Click to expand...
vkp78 said:
All of us sitting down at 2 min to 3 and refreshing the page a 100, 000 times and causing server errors ? Cant stand the suspense Grenock!
Click to expand...
There you have it gents. It isn't the speed tests, the pass downs or the proxies preventing people from having success. It is their own impatients. Couple that log jam that starts before three with all the images in Nathan's ad, and it cannot load on time. Because it doesn't load on time, people get even more impatient, so they keep refreshing, adding yet again to the problem. Then their post, once they finally get to make it, won't load fast enough for them, so they submit again, which only backs them up further in the Q and causes error.

That said, if people still want to think it's the ten speed tests, pass downs and the proxies done by people that obviously know how to regularly succeed, rather than the literal hundreds of needless refreshes and re submits that occur before and just after 3, well, I guess ignorance can be bliss.
 
Casinostocks said:
Based on my own experiences and observations (not entirely empirical but still...):

The Forum refresh latency had increased significantly as we got closer to the 3:00:00 hour Eastern on the first two UFK sales, with the first one being really diabolical. To me, this indicated that there were many many folks waiting in the wings who kept refreshing the heck outta things in those last few seconds. Further, if anyone has ever posted WTS threads with quite a few largish (bytes) pictures, then one would observe that it takes a good few seconds (I had timed up to 7 seconds on my last one) for the posting to appear and I suspect that Nathan's first ever UFK posting must've taken at least 10 seconds with the added latency caused by the heavy volume of refreshes.

I am sure that some of the faster folks who are consistent with their top placements are very good at refreshing at the more precise number of seconds past the hour on top of their keyboard-foo. I may have let the cat outta bag on this one, but so what? Still if you're a nervous Nelly, you'll get frozen anyway :D
Click to expand...
Yep, what he said too.
 
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