Our stats page

[Holdolin]

Ok, so as to have a place where we can discuss a stats page I would like to start this thread with some questions:

Firstly: As I've read in the other thread, there's a desire to host it right here, correct?
Secondly: Where would the stats actually come from? I would propose to use the F@H stats APIs to pull the data on a timed basis. Pretty much what EOC seems to be doing
Thirdly: Do we have anybody else willing/able to help? As I mentioned I'm not a professional web dev (I do it far more as a hobbiest) and would welcome any/all help.
Lastly: Any other ideas or input any of you may have?

I think it's a great idea for us to host a stats page since we are the...what was it that guy called his guild in EQ2..the premier non-corporate folding team. OH, as a possible Idea, would we want to make it a Git Hub project to possibly get help from a much wider audience and possibly an actual web dev or more

 

[Farwalker2u]

Crickets . . . . . . . .




I lack the knowledge to do anything useful; as to hosting and programing.
I can stir the pot and make noise.

 

[dfonda]

Crickets . . . . . . . .




I lack the knowledge to do anything useful; as to hosting and programing.
I can stir the pot and make noise.

I got nothing...Way out of my wheelhouse...

 

[superducky]

I LOVE it! We are the premier non-corporate team.

Might even be a good vehicle to drive new membership, too. A modern, scalable client could even work well on *gasp* phones, too!

Unfortunately, I'm a hardware guy (which I think will be the prevailing thought around here) so I wouldn't even begin to know where to begin with a project like this. Making it an open source project is probably the way to go to get the most help, it doesn't necessarily need to be a T32 thing, it could benefit all Folders and others could host instances as well so that we're not all relying on an (aging) dead end platform. From what other info you've gathered, the next major hardware failure may be it for EOC Folding Stats.

 

[ssjwizard]

Its a cool idea. Web dev is not really my skillset. I do code but web UIs are so flippin complex anymore. Im more of an application guy.

 

[Holdolin]

Its a cool idea. Web dev is not really my skillset. I do code but web UIs are so flippin complex anymore. Im more of an application guy.

Haha yep. I was formally educated on the subject 15 years ago, but did little with it (and the look/feel of the 2 sites I host will show that lol) but looking at how much has changed. I mean of course anybody that works in/with tech knows it changes all the time, but just DAYUM. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the project at this point, but I'll start writing the design docs and take it from there. Oh, just in case it needs to be said, thanks for any/all input weather or not you have any skills to offer. I'm looking for any input any of you may have as to desired feathers or such as well. At this point, I'm basically looking to replicate and if possible, improve on the great work Jason at EOC has already done. Since I haven't heard back from him, I'll assume that's his ways of saying no, I can't has his code. Frankly, I suspected as much. Simply looking at the raw HTML that runs the site gives me at least a ballpark of how much work on the back end he's done. Not surprised he dun wanna just hand it over for somebody to tinker with.

 

[Farwalker2u]

Holdolin: . . . . "I'm looking for any input any of you may have as to desired feathers or such as well. At this point, I'm basically looking to replicate and if possible, improve on the great work Jason at EOC has already done. Since I haven't heard back from him, I'll assume that's his ways of saying no, I can't has his code."

In this case a non-response might just be that he has not looked at his messages. Considering the lack of activity on that site, that could be the case.

As to the speed of change in coding . . . the one class I took back in the 70s was Fortran 7 (at Tulane). I did not take the next class until a year later and it was then Fortran 77 . . . soooooooo much had changed I dropped the class. My first coding class was also the first one that used keyboards to enter the program rather than punch cards! They were so proud to have a multi platter hard drive (maybe 8 or so 12 inch disks) in a case that was much bigger than I was, that had a capacity of 100 MBs. Yes, things change . . . and fast!

 

[ssjwizard]

If I get some free time I will try to take a peak at the API and see If I can be of any assistance.

 

[ssjwizard]

So looking at the F@H stats page it appears that they are just deliniating all the raw data into a giant text file.
It should be pretty straight forward to parse into some other database.

 

[don256us]

I would urge some thought into any ramifications of doing this project. I don't know that there are any but in tandem of asking if we "can" do something, it is also important to ask if we "should" do it.

One potential issue is pissing off EOC and making an enemy. EOC has been a very large presence in the folding community and I think (potentially) that if we alienate EOC, we alienate a potentially large portion of the community. I know that this is NOT what we are looking to do here but the result could occur anyway. I think that if we are looking to supplant EOC, it would be in our interest to have some buy-in from EOC.

I'm not going to step in the way. I also don't have any skills to add to this project unfortunately. I think that this could be a really good idea but we need to make sure we aren't making choices that could hurt us too.

 

[ssjwizard]

So thinking about it a bit seems like it would be pretty simple to write a script that runs on a timer to pull the updated file from the F@H server every 3 hours and feed it into some logic to filter the raw data into something usable. Probably do like a simple MySQL relational data base since every user has a UID it seems. There is a TON of data in this file its crashed my browser twice and locked up my notepad completely. Ill have to try from one of my personal computers later and see if running it on a system with better specs that my work notebook help.

 

[EarthDog]

I would urge some thought into any ramifications of doing this project. I don't know that there are any but in tandem of asking if we "can" do something, it is also important to ask if we "should" do it.

One potential issue is pissing off EOC and making an enemy. EOC has been a very large presence in the folding community and I think (potentially) that if we alienate EOC, we alienate a potentially large portion of the community. I know that this is NOT what we are looking to do here but the result could occur anyway. I think that if we are looking to supplant EOC, it would be in our interest to have some buy-in from EOC.

I'm not going to step in the way. I also don't have any skills to add to this project unfortunately. I think that this could be a really good idea but we need to make sure we aren't making choices that could hurt us too.

My thought was to supplement. Perhaps when they are down, we would not be.. we'd only be down together if the stats from Standford weren't coming in. Another option.

I don't see Jason shutting that down as I'd imagine that's what's keeping the lights on at the forum in general.

 

[Holdolin]

My thought was to supplement. Perhaps when they are down, we would not be.. we'd only be down together if the stats from Standford weren't coming in. Another option.

I don't see Jason shutting that down as I'd imagine that's what's keeping the lights on at the forum in general.

My thoughts were always supplemental as well. I've debated a project like this for several years. Since that week in 2019 when EOC's stat page went down for days and nobody could even get a hold of Jason LOL. While the intent behind it was certainly not to piss anybody off, if having a redundant stats site for lack of better wording aggravates somebody then <radio edit> them. Apologies if that sounds a bit harsh, but I DETEST the idea of living in fear of other peoples feelings. Frankly, I don't think the community at large cares where they get the stats, so long as they get them. From what I've seen, most of your are hardware/IT folks and I'd like to think y'all understand the importance of redundancy.

 

[don256us]

... I DETEST the idea of living in fear of other peoples feelings. ...

It's about common decency. Giving respect to others. The same respect that you would want if tables were turned. Don't be afraid. Be respectful. A simple conversation may be all that is needed to understand if there is an issue or not. Maybe there isn't but we don't know if we don't ask.

This will be the last I comment on this issue. Thank you for looking into this project and I hope it turns out better than you hope.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

My thought was to supplement. Perhaps when they are down, we would not be.. we'd only be down together if the stats from Standford weren't coming in. Another option.

This is my thought as well. Also any new features, improved user interfaces, etc.

 

[unsafesteagle]

How about the weekly summary integrated

 

[EarthDog]

How about the weekly summary integrated

Not a bad idea! I've been begging for the updates to be front page material (monthly anyway) for a while now! It's a great way to publically share the efforts and surely a good recruiting tool...





As far as asking EOCF, if/when we get to that point, let me/ATM/mdcomp know and one of the staff here will reach out. That said, I'm not convinced were doing anything that we should notify him in the first place (even as a courtesy). Considering our plans (supplement) and the fact that the site has been in lame-duck status for several years now, I'm not concerned.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

If we are only using Stanford's data via API, with our own tracking/updating system and our own UX, I see no concerns at all.

 

[superducky]

If we are only using Stanford's data via API, with our own tracking/updating system and our own UX, I see no concerns at all.

Absolutely. If we were yanking parsed data from EOC that's one thing, but doing our own thing with the publicly available stats from Stanford is just as fair game as what they're doing.

And I'll reiterate what I said in my previous post...we ignore the fact that EOC stats is a one-man operation on a single piece of legacy hardware in a COLO? (maybe? Maybe it's just in a rack at their house) somewhere at our own peril. 'Cause [strike]if [/strike] when it goes down in a more permanent fashion, it's probably not coming back. Better to get out in front and make something equivalent, if not better.

 

[Farwalker2u]

You can do it!
https://giphy.com/embed/trRoCGYflnr1PEvTbP/video