IronMike wrote:I'm not offering to run it; I'm probably moving in January. But I'd like to provide feedback.
I love the 365 Day Language Challenge. I think the one and only thing that could be changed is the penalty for missing one day. I believe 7 days penalty (8 days total) for missing one day is too much. I know a bunch of folks dropped out of the challenge early for missing a few days because their score dropped so much. I've missed a bunch of days. (Just look at my current score.) But that hasn't stopped me from still trying to do 30 min minimum per day.
I think a penalty of 3 days for a total of minus 4 days for one day missed is probably a better number. For instance, I missed 4 days last month due to work/family stuff. That 4 days translated to 32 days or -1 day for the entire month of October. Yet I studied a minimum of 30 minutes/day for 27 days. Studying at least (30 x 27 =) 810 hours shouldn't be the same as not studying for 32 days.
Other than the penalty, I've found no problem with this Challenge, and I will continue to participate in 2020. Good job, @PeterMollenburg!
Again, can't offer to run 365 for 2020 due to an impending move (but I'm available to co-run it, anyone?), but just had a thought for scoring.
As I stated above, I think many dropped out due to missing a few days and their scores suffering so significantly. Below are a couple options:
A) Miss one day, lose one point plus one penalty point. Example: IronMike misses 4 days in November due to the holiday. November hath 30 days. 4 days = -4 points, plus -4 points penalty. 30 minus 8 equals 22 points. IronMike's 26 days of studying a minimum of 780 hours (26 x 30) garners him 22 points, instead of -2 (30-32) old style. (Theory: Any day missed is as bad as another day missed.)
b) Miss one day, lose one point plus one penalty point. Lose another (consecutive) day, lose (another) one point plus two penalty points. Three consecutive days, lose one plus three. Example: IronMike misses 4 consecutive days in November due to the holiday. November hath 30 days. 4 days = -4 points, plus -1 (for day 1), plus -2 (for day 2), plus -3 (for day 3), and plus -4 (for day 4), which is -4 and -10, so 30-14= 16. IronMike's 26 days of studying a minimum of 780 hours (26 x 30) garners him 16 points, instead of -2 (30-32) old style. (Theory: Consecutive days missed are worse for your studying than non-consecutive misses.)
Again, I raise these options primarily because in no way should studying 780 hours be considered the same as not studying for 32 days (see my quote above). I think we'd have more participants with one of the above options.