Where's Ruud?
Where's Ruud?
Considering that we are all wondering if Ruud is ok, I took it upon myself to post this question on his other site, djape.net under the Support section.
You guys might want to check in there to see if anyone answers, but please do not post that you have not seen him over there.... post your concerns here or in the clueless explosion thread that is going right now.
Thanks.
You guys might want to check in there to see if anyone answers, but please do not post that you have not seen him over there.... post your concerns here or in the clueless explosion thread that is going right now.
Thanks.
Might be like my case. I had my SudoCue forum account activated in August 2007 but made my first posting last Thursday, February 28, 2008.nj3h wrote:I notice that new members are being added to the forum group. Did Ruud allow other moderators to add people? If not, then he must be adding them himself.
I, like the others here, pray and hope all is well with him.
Regards,
George
Hilsener i fra vikingen Børge
We've made contact (thanks Marlie!) and now know that Ruud is well. Ruud hasn't responded which (surely) is because of choice. Maybe we should now just leave Ruud to make contact in his own time?
A click on the bag may speak much louder than more contact.
If we continue to donate, it will (hopefully) at least mean sudocue.net continues with an extraordinary archive of thousands of puzzles I haven't tried yet, a wonderful killer forum, Richard with an amazing V3 of SudokuSolver coming out (now Borge has now added another solver and of course Jean-Christophe's JSudoku), and an incredibly passionate/caring bunch of people puzzling together!
I think that it is worth us trying to grow our sense of 'forums' from here even without Ruud actively amoung us. I have no doubt this can continue on the Assassin forum.
Cheers
Ed
A click on the bag may speak much louder than more contact.
I also remember Ruud having on his News page (end of 2006?) words to the effect of "I need to get donations to keep me interested".Ruud after PayPal Donation wrote:If you just sent a donation, ...This will help me keep this website alive. I also consider this a signal to continue to improve and expand the website and the related software
If we continue to donate, it will (hopefully) at least mean sudocue.net continues with an extraordinary archive of thousands of puzzles I haven't tried yet, a wonderful killer forum, Richard with an amazing V3 of SudokuSolver coming out (now Borge has now added another solver and of course Jean-Christophe's JSudoku), and an incredibly passionate/caring bunch of people puzzling together!
I think that it is worth us trying to grow our sense of 'forums' from here even without Ruud actively amoung us. I have no doubt this can continue on the Assassin forum.
Cheers
Ed
Great post, Ed! You beat me to it there. Was going to mention the same. I will definitely be contributing, and would encourage others to do the same, even if it's only a few dollars. Not only the amount contributed, but also the number of active contributors would surely make Ruud sit up and take notice.sudokuEd wrote:A click on the bag may speak much louder than more contact.
I also remember reading an announcement from Ruud towards the end of last year (can't remember where) that there would be no public release of an update for a particular piece of software (can't remember which!) because the "voluntary contribution model simply isn't working" (or words to that effect). Does anyone else remember reading that? Whatever/wherever it was, what he was saying certainly had a "disillusioned" ring to it...
BTW, Ruud is not the only one who has invested a lot of time and energy on sudocue.net. I (and many others) have also put a significant amount of work into these forums, which I would certainly not want to see "go up in smoke", should this site be taken offline!
I fully agree, and would like to reassure readers here that I will personally continue to be an active member of the Assassin forum. In addition, I note that there are still many puzzles being uploaded automatically (One-Trick Pony, X-Files, Clueless Special, Samurai, Daily Jigsaw,...). Indeed, who knows, the latter observation may have played a role in Ruud's decision to take a break, since he knows that (to a certain extent) the site can carry on autonomously without him for a while.sudokuEd wrote:I think that it is worth us trying to grow our sense of 'forums' from here even without Ruud actively amoung us. I have no doubt this can continue on the Assassin forum.
P.S.: BTW, it's not only this site which is at risk. What about the future funding of Sudopedia, for example? It would be loosely analogous to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria if that went down...
Cheers,
Mike
Mike
Great posts, Ed and Mike (and everyone)! I am headed to the donation icon right now. Though I'm not a frequent contributor to the forums, I have been a semi-regular solver (ATTEMPTED solver, often) of the Assassins; I have ALWAYS been impressed not only at the amount of time that Ruud and others have put into sudoku'ing here, but at the community that has formed here. Thanks, guys, and I am glad to see that you intend to keep it going! (And, of course, I sure hope that Ruud is OK and returns soon!)
I contacted a former colleague of Ruud's last week, prior to the phone call info. They had not corresponded in a while. I explained the concerns.
I have just heard back that he has since made contact with Ruud. Ruud is okay, but extremely swamped with work & other things.
Hopefully he will have time to surface soon & catch up with the housecleaning & the players.
But it is good to have an update through a confirmed contact.
I have just heard back that he has since made contact with Ruud. Ruud is okay, but extremely swamped with work & other things.
Hopefully he will have time to surface soon & catch up with the housecleaning & the players.
But it is good to have an update through a confirmed contact.
Great posts everybody. I will also make a PayPal donation.
Generally I would like to point out that developing and running an Internet site based on voluntary donations will very likely not work out. This is something you should realise before undertaking such an endeavour. Asking for donations is absolutely OK and understandable, but if you do not get the amount of donations you “dream of”, then trying to “threat” people into paying I personally do not condone. Then you either continue the site as a hobby, abandon the undertaking, try to earn money from banner ads or make it a restricted site with paid for memberships.
Personally, I currently own six domains and some web space, and this does not cost me the shirt off my back.
BTW: sudokcue.net is paid for until the end of 2008.
The price for a permanent licence (for a single computer) is $5. That is no rip-off, because the program saves you a lot of time in solving these terrible puzzles. No need to prepare another Excel worksheet and write down all the candidates. Instead, just a simple click to download any Clueless puzzle you want, without any transcription errors. [/code]
Could this be what you have read?
Generally I would like to point out that developing and running an Internet site based on voluntary donations will very likely not work out. This is something you should realise before undertaking such an endeavour. Asking for donations is absolutely OK and understandable, but if you do not get the amount of donations you “dream of”, then trying to “threat” people into paying I personally do not condone. Then you either continue the site as a hobby, abandon the undertaking, try to earn money from banner ads or make it a restricted site with paid for memberships.
Personally, I currently own six domains and some web space, and this does not cost me the shirt off my back.
BTW: sudokcue.net is paid for until the end of 2008.
Take a look at the bottom of this page: http://www.sudocue.net/chguide.php[code]I have decided not to release any new freeware, because the donation model does not work. The ability to download everything you want without ever paying for it does not motivate people to make a volutary donation. Still, I spend a lot of time writing code, documenting it, supporting users, answering questions and maintaining this website. Only a few people have acted upon their concience and made a donation. So, I'm not giving away another freebee.mhparker wrote:I also remember reading an announcement from Ruud towards the end of last year (can't remember where) that there would be no public release of an update for a particular piece of software (can't remember which!) because the "voluntary contribution model simply isn't working" (or words to that effect). Does anyone else remember reading that? Whatever/wherever it was, what he was saying certainly had a "disillusioned" ring to it...
The price for a permanent licence (for a single computer) is $5. That is no rip-off, because the program saves you a lot of time in solving these terrible puzzles. No need to prepare another Excel worksheet and write down all the candidates. Instead, just a simple click to download any Clueless puzzle you want, without any transcription errors. [/code]
Could this be what you have read?
Last edited by Børge on Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mhparker wrote:Maybe we should start thinking about looking for a new home? Assuming Ruud is fit and well (which appears to be the case), he's obviously completely lost interest in doing anything further around here. In particular, I'm concerned about potential new members not being able to join the forum to replace the inevitable loss of current forum regulars in the long run.
If someone would create a new Killer forum in the same style as this one, we regulars could all move across in one go and continue the great work there. If we stick together, others (including newbies) would be sure to follow. How about it, guys?
Afmob wrote:I'm afraid we might have to do this though not in a hurry. Is it really impossible to register to this forum without Ruud's confirmation?
If Ruud is ok I wonder why he didn't tell us that he (might have) lost interest in maintaining his site because a simple message wouldn't be so difficult, would it?
Based on these comments I have since been keeping an eye on the Number of Registered Users posted at the bottom of the main forum page. For a while it has been 262 registered users. Today it is 263. So new users seem to be able to join the forum:sudokuEd wrote:I agree. So something must be very wrong. This makes me patient. Though a message from Ruud to that effect wouldn't be so difficult either. Hmm.
Moving to djape is the obvious killer alternative, though we have quite a different culture. Personally, I'd love to keep the Assassin origins/culture/collective memory and would like to have Ruud's Assassins 1-90 publicly available where-ever we call "home".
With sudocue.net still live (assuming new members can join), I'd prefer we stay. But, if it suddenly goes black, a "Plan B" would be useful. I'm not ready to quit Assassin strength killers yet. Too much fun still! (though have been a bit grumpy the last few weeks )
Any forum members 249+ lurking??. If new members cannot join, an urgent email to Ruud asking him to give someone the power to do this (a moderator?) would be appropriate.
Thanks for getting us thinking Mike.
Cheers
Ed
Hilsener i fra vikingen Børge
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