[MUSHpark]

I am sure that many will disagree with me, but I have been considering the matter for some time, and have come to a conclusion.

"Happy Hours" are bad for Yarold's, and bad for its members.

Yes, I can already hear the cries of complaints, especially from those who are members of dynasties who participate heavily. But please, try to objectively consider the following points, and then decide for yourself.

1. Happy Hours reduce the number of valid clicks recieved at sites.

What differentiates Yarold's Link Exchange from many other link exchange sites is the fact that it is not automated. There are humans behind the keyboards and the mice. Links are actually clicked and opened, not merely visited by some machine or bot. Not only is this a feature of Yarold's, it is a requirement: many of the sites we have in the link exchange would ban us if we were an automated site. These web-games want valid, human interaction with their product, not automated machines.

In fact, many sites install automatic mechanisms to detect and eliminate "bot" clicking. Which of us hasn't, during nearly every happy hour, received the alert from Monzoo that another user opened that link within the last second? Other sites have similar mechanisms to discount simultaneous clicks, which are assumed in many cases to be attempts to log clicks from proxy servers. They may not give the same visual feedback as Monzoo, but the click is discounted, nonetheless.

Furthermore, the rate of valid follow-through on action links drops dramatically during happy hours. Note that Yarold's Code of Conduct requires members to: "Wait for the page to fully load and follow through with any subsequent data entry so the person will receive the benefit of your click.". This has already been a problem area for some time, increasing as "power clicking" becomes more prevalent. I took the time this past week to collect some statistics on action links. Barely 30% of the time do members follow through even during "slow" click times. During "Happy Hours" this number drops pathetically small. 8%. So, essentially, 9 out of 10 "happy hour" clickers do not follow through on action links, violating Yarold's Code of Conduct, and essentially stealing credits from the individuals who were unfortunate enough to have their links clicked during that hour.

2. Happy Hours are inherently unfair to single-link clickers, the ideal type of clicker on this site.

Most of the hundreds of extra links available at happy hours are available for very brief periods of time... in most cases, less than 10 seconds. This means that the only members typically able to click these links, and earn the associated credits, are those who are rapidly refreshing and snaplinking all available links, usually without follow-through (as mentioned in the above paragraph, only 1 out of 10 clicks to action links during happy hours is typically followed-through). Those users who click each link and follow through individually are rarely able to click the extra links, and frequently have difficulty finding enough links to click: a typical "happy hour" participant shows only 1 link at most times, and clicks all available links, meaning these other users get no benefit from the multiple links, and are hampered from clicking by those users who are negative. Combined with 24h resets, it's just difficult for them to keep up. This causes them to be shuffled out of those dynasties with more available links, into those with fewer, only making the same problem worse.

3. Happy Hours are inherently unfair to those who cannot afford high-speed or 24-hour internet connections.

While most of us have the benefit of broadband, there are still many dial-up users out there, or users with slower computers, which simply cannot keep up with the 5-second-refresh and 200-300 open tabs that the "power clickers" can. Clicking links should not be dependent on one's income status or ability to pay for a faster computer or higher speed internet connection.

4. Happy Hours are inherently unfair geographically.

When "Happy Hour" first started, it was designated as the hour before reset, 0600 server time. Unfortunately, this time proved unusable for most of the European users of the site, so a second happy hour at 0000 server time was introduced. For a long time, these two periods were somewhat equally popular. A profusion in the number of dynasties also caused a profusion in the number of happy hours, with 1800 and 2000 entering the mix, and since 00, 06, and 18 were there, someone made 1200 a happy hour too. While five different round-the-clock happy hours allowed everyone to participate in one or two, the fact is that they were so diluted as to be nearly nonexistent. So recently, those dynasties at the top seem to have settled on the 2000 happy hour as the primary one. My own tests have shown about 300 extra links available at this time, compared to only about 100 at the 0000 and 0600. While this is great for European users, who happen to populate these top dynasties, they are unfar to US users, who are mostly at either work or school during this time period, and Australian/New Zealand users, who are usually still in bed.

5. Happy Hours contribute to inaccurate perceptions of dynasties.

Many times I have heard a complaint about my dynasty: "They don't contribute links at happy hours."

This is a very shortsighted complaint. It ignores the fact that (as pointed out in point 4 above) many of my members are US or Australia-based and simply cannot display links. Further, it ignores the great contributions made by a lot of my members who show multiple links all the time. Just because a line of ten links doesn't appear underneath the "MMC Mob" name as often as other dynasties, we are criticized and called a bad ally. The Gained/Given numbers would prove otherwise, but those are frequently argued against as inaccurate when, in fact, the given numbers truly do show how much a dynasty is contributing to an alliance. The fact is that showing one extra link all day gives 300+ clicks to other dynasties. Contrast that with the usual "happy hour" practice of showing 9 extra links to 5 people each: 45 clicks to other dynasties. Even doing that several times, it is simply not as "generous" as a single extra link.

6. Happy Hours are contrary to Yarold's credit-based exchange mechanism.

Yarold's is a credit-based link exchange. You earn credits by clicking links, and use those credits to get your link clicked. The main benefit of a credit-based system is that there is no particular time that you are required to click. You can log on once per day or many times per day, and consistently get the same benefit. The "Happy Hour" mechanism requires (at least unofficially) an entirely new level of exchange, in which extra links are shown for you, in the hopes that you will show extra links back. Credit balances show that this leads to an unfair distribution of credits. Some members click but do not show their links, and hoard credits. Other members show credits because of the pressure to make sure their dynasty is seen as helpful, and consistently lose out on the deal. While this would all be fine for "real" links, the fact is that all this interchange of credits is being done on largely useless "extra" links. Yarold may as well introduce a credit-free system of "click as many links as you show" which would essentially create the same happy hour situation, but really deprive members who don't happen to have the time to log on at the same time every day for an hour of the benefit of links.

7. Happy Hours rearrange personal priorities, reducing the quality of life of exchange members.

While it is probably true that some of the power-clickers on this site have no "real life" the fact is that many of us have jobs, friends, families, and many other things we'd rather be doing than sitting in front of a computer watching it refresh every 5 seconds and clicking links mindlessly, for one, maybe two, maybe three hours each day. Unfortunately, if we don't keep up with the clicking, we are criticized for "not trying" and denigrated in other ways. Real life is far too important to sacrifice for a silly click game... at least for so often.

8. Happy Hours are unsustainable in the long term.

Deriving directly from #7, the fact is that those dynasties who reach the top of the exchange do so by "power clicking" during happy hours. That works for days, weeks, even a few months. But evidence has shown that such success is almost always short-lived. Dynasties who reach the top eventually tire of the daily chore of spending an hour online. Members burn themselves out, and decline in performance. Eventually they either quit or are pushed out of their dynasties. But I hereby boldly predict that the dynasty currently at the top of the leaderboard won't be there 6 months from now. Someone else will be, for their shot at fame for a few months. And so the cycle of stress and burnout will continue.

9. Happy Hours waste bandwidth, slowing the site for all users and increasing operating costs for Yarold.

During happy hours, dozens of users configure the dynasty page to show only links, and cause it to be refreshed every 5 seconds. This contributes to noticeable lag for all members. The lag has improved as Yarold has relocated the site to another server, but it still is slow during the happy hour periods.

While there may be some bandwidth savings by removing images from the page, they are likely offset by the increased number of "wasted" links. Happy Hours are filled with Minicities that nobody cares about, or links to ten dragon cave eggs, when a single link to the scroll would work as well.

I'll assume, based on the rate at which my links get clicked, that 50 such users are downloading that page every 5 seconds. A typical download of the dynasty page, minimized to show only links, is 510KB. Multiply those numbers together and you get 17.5 GB of wasted bandwidth per hour. Assuming that each of those 50 users only does one happy hour of the three available, or splits their hour between the three, that is 17.5 GB per day, or 525 GB per month. At typical bandwidth costs of $0.25/0.18 Euros per GB, happy hours waste $131US, or almost 100 Euros per month, directly to Yarold's site.

While I don't know if Yarold pays per-GB costs for bandwidth, the necessary site relocation to resolve the "happy hour" lag issues most definitely caused an increase in operating costs.

10. Happy Hours encourage cheating.

I have heard more users talk about how to create auto-clickers (which are bannable offenses here) since the recent "success" of the 2000 happy hour than I ever have on this site.

Recommendations

I'm not going to complain about happy hours without providing some ideas for how to fix it:

A. Dynasties should switch to, and encourage others to switch to, a more fair method of exchanging extra links.

Disgust with Happy Hour led one dynasty to institute a 10-link-all-the-time policy. While that certainly didn't sit well with most of its members, it can certainly done on a smaller scale, and on a more optional basis.

For MMC Mob, I have chosen to incorporate "Happy Days" two days a week, where I personally show 2 extra links. The 1600+ extra clicks I am offering each week to my entire alliance, regardless of time of day, are equivalent to showing 9 extra links during 7 happy hours for 25 clicks each... far more generous than most happy hour participants. And far more fair, as I reward the people who take the time to click, and not just the "power clickers".

B. Yarold should modify the site to detect rapid clicking, and not show action links during that timeframe.

Since 90% of happy hour clickers are violating the Code of Conduct and not following up, these links should not be shown, avoiding wasting credits for the owners of the sites.

C. There should be a minimum timeframe, or minimum number of clicks, for which links are shown when they are activated.

Showing clicks with limit of 5 means only power-clickers get them. An active link should stay active for 10 minutes (the normal automatic refresh rate) or for a minimum of 50 clicks.

D. Yarold should modify the site to institute 1-second timers per-person for all links.

This small decrease in performance should sufficiently slow down hits to sites and increase the number of valid links counted.

Comments are welcome.

[activist]

Are you sure that this is the best click site for you? What a bad loser you are. One year ago RMV and The MOB ruled this site and you dominated it with your 00.00 and mainly 06.00 Happy Hours with your majority American and Aussie members. Well, Europe fought back and have prevailed through our own ingenuity. Fight back. Not with words but actions. I am utterly dismayed at how quick you are to find so many things that do not suit you.
Use your finger as well as your brain and you will get more clicks.
By the way,we are not power clickers we are Scalpers.
MartialLaw aka HunkyDory.

[ Added: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:17 am ]
Message to Yarold. MushPark has laid down a challenge. Make a Big Prize for the Dynasty that can catch MMC UBC within the next six months. Nobody catches us then we win.

[MUSHpark]

[activist]

MUSHpark, you wrote,""Happy Hours" are bad for Yarold's, and bad for its members."
Skipping over your list of points and sticking to the topic,i would totally disagree with you. I bet this site is in a hell of a lot of better state as a result of becoming its own game in its own right rather than just a link exchange. For example,just as some people will never leave their Dynasty because it also has contests and games. They{games} are why we are here in the first place.
Interaction with gamers is what made this site. Just look at the sad state of the chat-rooms on the other sites. Exception is Utopia where you have competition between people. Top Lists etc.
If Yarold's was just a site for my myminicity visits then i would be here for about 2 minutes everyday and just pressing auto-visitor and i would be very happy to increase the visits to my cities. But now that this is my main game,even if myminicity crashed in the morning i would still be here for hours clicking.
Some of your points would take all the fun away but we would just find another way. Have a smoke and a drink and think of something.
We all came here as innocent gamers and now the Dynasties are our real game and you cannot deny it. Only a newbie would put up an action link during HH if they wanted it followed up.
I hope Yarold puts up some incentive for the challenge ,if he does not then i will ask our members to put up a challenge to catch us .
MartialLaw aka HunkyDory. Slainte.
On a personal note, i did not call you a loser i called you a bad loser .As an American English speaker and not a natural English speaker you may not know that when them two words are put together they are in a sporting context and not your usual USA understanding of the word. Moderators please note that as well ,as i think i got reprimanded for using that word before.

[engelina]

mind if i ask you something, activist? why are all of us here? to get clicks for our games, or to click as much as we can? in my case, i am here to get clicks for my games. unicreatures, valenth, dragcave, etc. i click what i can, to get credits, to get clicks for my links. i dont need to be the top clicker to do that.

as for the happy hours, i onlyh participate when i am online at the moment there is one. i had a short time, where i would put an alarm so i would be online for a few happy times. i stopped doing that, because i was no longer having fun, but it was becoming a chore, and interfering with other things i like to do.

[Ferrari]

You all know, I like a good discussion, and I have always a very clear meaning of things, people say or find.
I understand 40% of what Mushie is writing, to many difficult English words for me, and i guess for more people who are not english speaking.
that's a great pity because i can not give my opinion.

♥ Marga ♥

[City of MT]

I think the correct term here is "sore loser" not bad loser. A sore loser is someone who loses in a fair competition but whines about it on a constant basis, blaming everyone around them for their loss except themselves. Bad loser does not mean anything other than bad describing the word loser.
All in all, this actually contains valid points and well as supporting evidence.

[Jeff]

I personally think MUSHpark brings up some very good points.
AND
Some points I disagree with.
BUT...
I REALLY like his "happy days" concept!
I have been struggling to keep my credits positive lately. (I never had a problem before)
And this had made me feel bad that I cannot post the type of extra links I used to. Now I have been limiting my 8 extra links to 20 to 50 each when I can do them. I don't like that, but gotta stay positive, right?
If I personally did the "happy day" thing I could build up credits during the "unhappy days".
I would feel better and my exchange partners would get more clicks!

Also as a bonus...
I MAY not be late for work so often.
LOL!

[mao_nagra]

Happy day(HD) cod be a solution, but for that all your members and allays should be VIP to don't show there links in History.
If every one show 10 links in HD in a fool dynasty, 400 people, everyone should click 3990 dynas clicks and receive 3990 sow no credits needed
heaving in dynasty people non VIP it became impossible because non VIP should show there links in History and everybody ho has bin clicked by him can click on him 10 times loosing lots of credits
the situation described bee for could just work if this beg group whose a closed goop without any other Allys
sow withe this it is better the HH ore has we can see the happy moments were people show there links just for 30 50 lucky ones

[jassej]

[engelina]

i think that may be the difference, jassey. you see yarolds as a game, i, and i am sure others too, see it as a link exchange to help with the games we play.

i prefer to use yarlods to get clicks, but not to make it another game i have to play. i also don't always participate in happy hours, because i am mostly not online at those times, and dont always have the credits to keep links op at those times daily.

*edited for typo's*

[borracho]

For me and many that I interact with here, Yarolds is a game. What is so wrong with that?

[mao_nagra]

[jkcove08]

Yarolds is many things for many people. Before coming here I didnt really even think in terms of people in other countries. Now I have friends from all over the world. When I first started Yarolds it was to get clicks for my DC eggs, now I have DC and a couple other games to play in Yarolds. Everyone uses Yarolds for their own reasons. Each dynasty uses Yarolds for its own reasons. If someone is not happy in a dynasty, they go to a different one. If a dynasty is not happy with what another dynasty is doing, they drop them and get a different ally.. People have the choice to do what they want.. I go through ups and downs where I will click a lot, and then not much at all.. That is me and how I will be.. Whether HH or HD, I dont care, either one would work for me.. I feel bad when my little dynasty doesnt return the number of links that our members have clicked but we are getting better. I ask that my VIPs show an extra link or 2 but if they dont have the credits I certainly wont force them or kick them.. They are all my friends and that is the important point. I can afford to buy credits if I want so when my members need help I will be there and send credits. When my members are to stressed out and have to leave for a while they always know that there will be a place for them when they come back. There is really no good or bad about the different games, or contests we have. If you like participate, look for the dynasties that also participate, if you dont want to mess with the extra stress then either find a dynasty that doesnt participate or just click from the main and history pages. Just my 2 cents worth. Jenn

[activist]

It seems to me that your whole discussion is that more members should follow through on the activate links and not to waste other members credits. If this be so then why did you start a vendetta solely aimed at people that like and participate in the MMC UBC HH.
It appears that you may have a bit of a chip on your shoulder because the other two happy hours are so quite.
On the upside to this,it was a great reminder to me to be MUCH more active with other peoples links,for that i thank you greatly and a reminder every now and again is a good thing.
Anyway, stop dwelling on the past MUSHpark and take up the challenge to catch us.
P.S. an up to date list of links that MUST be followed through for them to benefit and the ones that are helped in some way would be a great help to everybody. Does anybody have this information?
HunkyDory

[Ella]

Quote:

P.S. an up to date list of links that MUST be followed through for them to benefit and the ones that are helped in some way would be a great help to everybody. Does anybody have this information? HunkyDory

I don't know if there is an up to date separate list, but here are some links mentioned in this topic:
http://yarold.eu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3987

[tinnidawg]

One important point that MUSHpark brings up is follow through on links. Many of the members complain that they do not get the benefit of showing links because the follow-up action is not done.

If someway of improving the percentage of that can take place, it would make it better for people who are here for the clicks.

And, I do not see why that should detract from people who think of it as a game.

[MUSHpark]

Thank you all for your comments. As I said, I knew some would disagree with me, and I thank those of you who have actually brought up valid arguments in opposition to my points rather than just saying my points were wrong.

[mao_nagra]

[iFly]

How about, EVERY VIP member shows 2 extra links all hour. That's about +450 dynasty clicks, and it doesn't drain credits too much.