Wiki-Fu Tournament

[beagle]

btw, I'm out all day - beagle is calling the win on this one.

So far it's looking like an Agujjim/Swato draw, unless Scrib can come up with a very good explanation as to where the Earth->Gallifrey link is. 

Swato's is the most creative IMHO.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

The Gallifrey article mentions Earth.

[beagle]

As I understand the wishes of our founder it has to be forwards only:

I hadn't picked up on the links having to be both back and forwards, as it were, so I agree my entry is a dud.

Forwards only, actually.  One-way is OK, provided it's click-through from start to finish. Start at point A, click, click, click, click to point B.

Though I put in a whole silly route backwards, just to confuse things, and because I'm funny that way...


It must be nearly end of the working day Canada time. Let's let the fundator rule. I can't take the awesome responsibility.

[Griffin NoName]

Ok

This is not the shortest but I'm feeling creative and it is fitting for this forum

Caffè macchiato
Milk
Milky Way
Creation Myths
Scientology
Science Fiction
Time Travel in Fiction
Dr Who
Gallifrey

[Aggie]

The Gallifrey article mentions Earth.

It's got to be clickable in order of progression, so Earth->Gallifrey.

It must be nearly end of the working day Canada time. Let's let the fundator rule. I can't take the awesome responsibility.

Depends on how long your work day is (and how long you drive around Olds looking for Chinese food - small Canadian town without a Chinese restaurant? Impossible!  There are 2 but they are both closed).

Win to Swato for style points.  Technically it's a tie, so I will provide a waypoint that must be hit on the path from Gallifrey to whatever Swato specifies as a destination.  Makes for a more interesting game.  I need to mull it over (and pick up pizza).

Now that the rules are (hopefully) clear, let's make a proper match of it, and all enter a path.  

[Swatopluk]

OK, new destination: Keystone Species
7 steps in my count.

[Aggie]

Your waypoint is Syngas.

I haven't the foggiest how far this will take us off the 7-step path Swato has sketched out, but I can get to Syngas in four moves (update: the entire path can be done in eight moves; not much of a detour ).

Remember, you must provide a path that can be 'clicked through', moving from start to waypoint to finish:


Gallifrey
?
?
?
Syngas
?
?
?
Keystone Species

[beagle]

Run out of time ,so this will have to do despite the long second leg:

Gallifrey
Earth
Methane
SynGas
Coal
Australia
Australian Antarctic Territory
Antarctica
Keystone Species

[Aggie]

Hmmm....  something I hadn't anticipated with waypoints is that one could assemble shorter (but only partially overlapping) paths by mixing and matching other players' legs.  I propose that each leg of a path with a waypoint must be unique - i.e. no copying someone else to match their short first leg with your short second leg.

This is mostly to keep me from cheating; my second leg is short but the first leg had me stumped!


Here's my entry:

Gallifrey
Earth
Plant
Coal
Syngas
Syngas fermentation
Glossary of environmental science
Keystone species


It's possible to shave one more off the first leg (using an alternate compound / element to methane) but since I would not have got it without beagle's entry, I will stick to my original plan. 

[Swatopluk]

But some wikipedia entries have only one exit, so some parallelity must be allowed.

[Aggie]

But some wikipedia entries have only one exit, so some parallelity must be allowed.

Parallel paths are definitely allowed - as long as there is at least one difference between each leg in the case of 'waypoint' routes.  There needs to be some advantage to posting first, because otherwise one would wait for most of the other players to enter and then try to find a parallel workaround on one or two moves for the tie.  I would propose that the first entry of winning length takes the win (officially) with subsequent entries of the same length getting a runner-up nod.  Wins may be reassigned at the discretion of the current referee (previous winner) for creativity, where merited.

WRT beagle's first leg, I'm declining to change the path I sketched out originally because I didn't see that as an option originally (it's self-flagellation rather than following the rules). It's still the winning entry at the moment, but a shorter overall path is possible.

[Aggie]

Retitled the thread to reflect the developmental nature of the game - once we get rules hammered out we'll restart the tournament.

Besides the pure game aspect, I think this makes an interesting study on the average and maximum degrees of separation between any two articles in Wikipedia. It's also a great excuse for wiki-crawling, picking up factoids and delving into new areas of knowledge.

[Griffin NoName]

Observation: it took me ages to do my last entry. I am not sure I can cope with the extra complications !

[Aggie]

Really, the rules haven't changed and the game remains the same - there's just a extra level of complexity with the waypoints.

I think I've overcomplicated the matter in the manner in which I've approached the methods   <--EXAMPLE HERE    because this is very, very basic.


Rules recap (need help to re-word these in plain language!):

Basic Wiki-Fu

1. Starting at the Destination Article from the previous round, find and post a path to the new Destination Article by following links contained within each article page. 
2. The path must be entirely clickable from article to article - one-way links to a PREVIOUS article in the pathway do not count.
3. The shortest path wins.
4. A winner is declared by the 'referee' (winner of previous round) when it appears that no more entries will be received. The winner becomes the referee for the next round and supplies the next Destination Article.
5. If two paths of the same length are provided, the FIRST person to submit a 'shortest path' is the winner and becomes the referee for the next round. Any other players submitting a 'shortest path' are considered runners-up in order of posting and contribute a Waypoint Article for the next round (Waypoint Wiki-fu). 
6. Duplicate paths are not permitted.


Waypoint Wiki-fu

1. When a subsequent player submits a 'shortest path' (i.e. equal in length to the first 'shortest path'),  they are considered a runner-up and may submit a Waypoint Article for the next round.
2. Waypoint Articles must be included in the path to the Destination Article (i.e. they are a midpoint somewhere along the path).
3. If multiple runners-up submit Waypoint Articles, the Waypoint Articles may be encountered in any order, provided the series finishes at the Destination Article.
4. The sub-paths between Waypoint Articles and/or the Destination Article are known as 'legs'. Duplicate legs are not permitted.


Is this clear enough?  Please help revise the rules, I'm a technical writer by profession so I write for precision, not transparency. 

[Aggie]

Any input on rules, or additional entries for the current round?