Daily Dragon Fix

[Ruby Eyes]

I got online this morning around 3:30am cavetime, and still had my ~1500 clicks from yesterday.

[pinkgothic]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure when it resets. The code is written in a way that should be server timezone agnostic, because it relies on gmdate(), but I've never actually timed it. It should reset at 03:00 UTC-5, but just because it should doesn't mean it does. ^_~

[purplehaze]

Maybe Daylight Savings changes the timing of it, if it is set to UTC. Cave time is ordinarily UTC-5, but with DST I believe it is UTC-4 right now. My mind is boggling on how that would change the cutoff, though. Would that move it to 4am or would it go to 2am???????? I get sooooo confused over time zones.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Is there a way for more than one person to use DDF without having to change browsers? I can't find a way to log out...

[Ruby Eyes]

Bottom left corner has a logout link I think?

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Oooh, indeed there is! Thank you ^^

 

As another question just out of curiosity; does the system automatically remove frozen hatchlings, or do the mods have to dig through to find them?

[Wobblegong]

As far as I know, there's no good way for DDF to automate or have other players flag/remove frozen hatchlings, so they'll generally be removed by whoever put them in. Pinkgothic would know, but that's my understanding.

 

This isn't ideal, but given that a frozen hatchling DOES use up one of the owner's 21 entries, a user isn't likely to leave them in there indefinitely. They wouldn't leave adults in there indefinitely either, but those are more likely to happen (nearly all dragons put in hatcheries probably grow to adulthood) and they're easier to notice for removal. I'd be astonished if there's more than a dozen frozen hatchlings in the hatchery on a single day, and that's just not many out of the total. (I am completely making that statistic up, but that's based on how many people I think freeze hatchlings vs how many users we have.)

 

If you ever see a hatchling which clearly couldn't be growing in there (two-seasons-off seasonal, holiday months from that holiday, non-dragon, etc) please feel free to flag it! Otherwise don't worry about it too much, they're probably such a small population that will be removed on its own that it's not worth worrying about.

 

Pardon my mess if any of that is confusing-- this admin-ninja needs to totter ninja-skulk off to bed now-- but hopefully that answers your question, angelicdragonpuppy!

[Ruby Eyes]

Typo on the index page: "excempt" (there are "except" and "exempt", but no "excempt")

[pinkgothic]

As far as I know, there's no good way for DDF to automate or have other players flag/remove frozen hatchlings, so they'll generally be removed by whoever put them in. Pinkgothic would know, but that's my understanding.

 

Well, I could get off my lazy ass and code a bit of API into the site, but I'd still want a manual fallback to the marking process for times when the site might have trouble communicating with the API (for any reason).

 

But aside from my nitpick about "no good way [...] to", everything you said is spot-on! Thanks for fielding the question.

 

Typo on the index page: "excempt" (there are "except" and "exempt", but no "excempt")

 

Fixed!

[Wobblegong]

Well, I could get off my lazy ass and code a bit of API into the site, but I'd still want a manual fallback to the marking process for times when the site might have trouble communicating with the API (for any reason).

Yeah, sorry, I almost added a digression about that -- it's entirely possible, I know other hatcheries can do it via page scraping/API access/etc, but it's a completely different system. Not better or worse, just different-- I assumed you didn't have any plans to change DDF over to something more automated. I guess I underestimated your to-do list!

 

Hey hey hey while we're thinking of neat things, could we get some kind of useful FAQ somewhere, either in the main post of this thread or on the site itself? (Or both, if you feel fancy.) Stuff I keep wanting to mention/bring up:

• the click-paying-for-protection system (it's not super complicated but a quick explanation would probably help)
• why users shouldn't worry about frozen hatchlings-- some variation of my third paragraph in my last post would probably work.

If anyone else has things they think would be served by having a permanent note/explanation, please chime in! And now I am going to stop posting while super sleepy. I swear.

[pinkgothic]

Yeah, sorry, I almost added a digression about that -- it's entirely possible, I know other hatcheries can do it via page scraping/API access/etc, but it's a completely different system. Not better or worse, just different-- I assumed you didn't have any plans to change DDF over to something more automated. I guess I underestimated your to-do list! 

 

Well, it's best to assume it'll never happen, it's the last thing on the list. I don't recall a time I ever finished any todo list of mine right up to its end.

 

Hey hey hey while we're thinking of neat things, could we get some kind of useful FAQ somewhere, either in the main post of this thread or on the site itself? (Or both, if you feel fancy.) Stuff I keep wanting to mention/bring up:

the click-paying-for-protection system (it's not super complicated but a quick explanation would probably help)

why users shouldn't worry about frozen hatchlings-- some variation of my third paragraph in my last post would probably work.

If anyone else has things they think would be served by having a permanent note/explanation, please chime in! And now I am going to stop posting while super sleepy. I swear.

 

That's a good idea, except... mrrnnghh, words. Do you want to write them for me? *is not good with FAQs* If you provide the content, I'm happy to put a FAQ up.

[Bellatrix86]

Just wanted to pop it and let a big thank you for the site here. DDF has been a solid constant in my DC life since I started and it's great that it's now working flawlessly again.

 

I really like the Progress Bar. Gives you a bit motivation.

But unfortunately it's not of big use for me. I always click from the "view all" pages, with the mouse wheel, because I can do hundreds of clicks in a minute like this and close them all together quickly. So it would be amazing if the Progress Bar would be available on these pages too!

[LithiumJay]

I've noticed an odd behavioral change with the "totally mysterious progress bar" the past two days.

 

Before, the bar would reset every day, and it was my understanding it marked the progress until the "end of clicks" for the day based on what was currently in the system.

 

However, today and yesterday, it has kept the progress after rollover - today, for instance, I'm up to 30%ish and haven't clicked nearly enough to be that far for the day's clicks.

 

I could be wrong on the intended use of the bar, but I'm curious and thought I should report the change!

[Ruby Eyes]

I got clicks accounted from the "view all" page, although only for opening the dragon's pages, not for marking the adult and fogged ones.

 

Also, the progress bar resets when you click "home" in the bottom left corner.

 

 

By the way, I logged into DDF using my friend's phone, I got some clicks done, BUT I could not log out anymore. Whenever I tried, all I hit was that darn "sister site" link which only leads to a domain parking service, to boot. Zooming in or out didn't help at all.

[pinkgothic]

Just wanted to pop it and let a big thank you for the site here. DDF has been a solid constant in my DC life since I started and it's great that it's now working flawlessly again.

 

I really like the Progress Bar. Gives you a bit motivation.

But unfortunately it's not of big use for me. I always click from the "view all" pages, with the mouse wheel, because I can do hundreds of clicks in a minute like this and close them all together quickly. So it would be amazing if the Progress Bar would be available on these pages too!

 

Hmm, I've shied away from that because I figured the View All page has its own "progress bar" - you can see how many pages there are and just go through all of them. It'd also not be much use because it checks your progress on page reload, not on click - though I could hypothetically change that, of course, it's just a bit finnicky. I'll give it a think! Thanks for your input, either way.

 

I've noticed an odd behavioral change with the "totally mysterious progress bar" the past two days.

 

Before, the bar would reset every day, and it was my understanding it marked the progress until the "end of clicks" for the day based on what was currently in the system.

 

However, today and yesterday, it has kept the progress after rollover - today, for instance, I'm up to 30%ish and haven't clicked nearly enough to be that far for the day's clicks.

 

I could be wrong on the intended use of the bar, but I'm curious and thought I should report the change!

 

Ruby Eyes has the right idea - it resets when you visit the 'Home' link. But you're right that it would make sense for it to at least reset through the days. I'll see if there's an elegant way of putting that in.

 

By the way, I logged into DDF using my friend's phone, I got some clicks done, BUT I could not log out anymore. Whenever I tried, all I hit was that darn "sister site" link which only leads to a domain parking service, to boot. Zooming in or out didn't help at all.

 

Ah, rats. I don't have a mobile device to test at all, I'm afraid, but I'll see if I can do something about that. Thanks for letting me know!

[Ruby Eyes]

Thanks - would be cool if I could log out when I see her again!

(I was rather amazed that I managed to recall AND type the DDF address correctly on first try!)

[LithiumJay]

Thanks for the clarification! That explains why it was behaving differently.

 

A slightly newbie question (somewhat related to DDF) - does a page have to fully load for a click on the dragon to register, or does it register on the page load request? And I mean for the dragon itself, not the click counter on DDF.

 

I'm just curious if I do have to let the page load (which I have been doing) or if I can go a little faster.

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the clarification! That explains why it was behaving differently.

 

A slightly newbie question (somewhat related to DDF) - does a page have to fully load for a click on the dragon to register, or does it register on the page load request? And I mean for the dragon itself, not the click counter on DDF.

 

I'm just curious if I do have to let the page load (which I have been doing) or if I can go a little faster.

I have always been told that the image of the dragon must load in order for your click to count.

[pinkgothic]

I believe there's a hidden pixel on the /view page that has to load for a click to count, but I'm definitely not altogether certain. I do know there is a hidden pixel on the page of growing dragons, it's /click/code, but it doesn't need to be tracking clicks, despite the URL. The /view page itself could be doing that, or, like purplehaze said, the image of the dragon has to load.

Edited August 12, 2013 by pinkgothic

[LithiumJay]

Ahh, thanks. Appreciate the thorough clarification!

 

Clicking was going a bit slower the past few days because of page load times, but it's going a bit better now.

[pinkgothic]

By the way, I logged into DDF using my friend's phone, I got some clicks done, BUT I could not log out anymore. Whenever I tried, all I hit was that darn "sister site" link which only leads to a domain parking service, to boot. Zooming in or out didn't help at all.

 

Ah, rats. I don't have a mobile device to test at all, I'm afraid, but I'll see if I can do something about that. Thanks for letting me know!

 

I've tried to insert some JavaScript to detect the screen resolution, but it's hacked together in about ten minutes (I currently have a guest over and so my productivity is at an all-time low ), so let me know (1) if it works for you, (2) if it helps, (3) if anything breaks.

 

I've also added a fantastic FAQ by Wobblegong! Thanks, Wobblegong, for writing it.

[Ruby Eyes]

Why do you keep that link to the dead sister site anyway? Do you plan on reviving it?

[pinkgothic]

Why do you keep that link to the dead sister site anyway? Do you plan on reviving it?

 

Whoops. Nope. To answer your question: emmilely put it there and I try not to take things out. I knew the URL to the site changed once, which I fixed when it happened, but it indeed seems to have gone away for good this time. Rats. Sad panda Neike.

 

'course, a dead link helps no one, not even emmilely's admin spirit, so I took it out. I'm leaving the alterations in, in case it comes back and/or we get a different sister site (and because for the tiniest resolutions the copyright notice also disappears and that might be useful for mobile but-I-can't-check, also), but yeah.

Edited August 14, 2013 by pinkgothic

[Ruby Eyes]

Heh, looks like it was gone already half a year ago:

http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showt...0entry6944097

I guess they are busy with their own adoptables site.

 

Also, clicking the red X in the "view all" section does not count as a click. Intentional?

Edited August 14, 2013 by Ruby Eyes

[purplehaze]

Also, clicking the red X in the "view all" section does not count as a click. Intentional?

Clicking on the mark as adult or dead link in the click section doesn't seem to count, either. At least I know I clicked all the dragons on each page I had today and only am showing 59 clicks. I remember clicking one to mark it as an adult.