# Personal Progress Threads. READ IF YOU HAVE ONE OR PLAN TO MAKE ONE.



## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

I am aware that back in September 2019 I started the trend of making personal progress threads, called ‘My Quest for Sub 8 Petrus’. So I feel any cluttering or useless threads coming from this is my responsibility, which is why I’m making this post. The start of the year to now has seen an explosion of these types of thread. Some of these threads are perfectly fine, are updated regularly, and have a good topic. Good examples include the Morrison brothers’ threads, as well as @brododragon and @ProStar ‘s threads. And there are many other
threads as well which I feel are within their place. But a few I think are stepping over the line, and more might follow in future. Some people think most of the progress threads are useless, unoriginal, and they don’t want to see them. I personally don’t think this, but some threads (and there are probably more) I think are just plain unoriginal, lazy, and cluttering. An example is @cubesolver ‘s thread. It copies @whaffle ‘s thread basically word for word, which was already a copy of my original progress thread (but different enough I’ll let it slide).
Note these two are new members to the forum. I don’t mean to point the finger at new members - we were all new at one point, but if you think about it, they are the least knowledgable about the forums and most likely to rush into things. And I think we’ll be seeing more of these copied, new member threads soon enough if we don’t do something about it.
So I think something like this post needs to be created, guidelines on progress threads.

You must not have more than 1 progress thread. You may specify one particular event/goal for your thread though, as long as you keep future goals in that thread.
Your progress thread must be noted down here.
You must either be more than 1 month old on this forum, or have posted at least 20 messages.
Your progress thread must be reasonably active
There is to be no copying of other people’s threads.
Your progress thread should contain actual progress, PBs, tips, etc.
And if a moderator is to agree to this, I think threads should be given a couple of warnings on breaking those rules, before being deleted, to prevent clutter. I also think a sub forum should be created for progress threads, and the ability to filter what sub forums you want to see, for people who just don’t want to see any threads of this nature. Active threads could be stickied, and unstickied once they become inactive, and deleted. Pending threads could go in the normal section.
List of active progress threads:
My Quest for Sub 8 Petrus, @PetrusQuber
Quest for Sub 8 Hawaiian Kociemba, @Cubingcubecuber
Nmile7300’s Progress Thread, @Nmile7300
Owen’s Progress Thread, @Owen Morrison
Micah Morrison’s Quest to Become World Class, @Micah Morrison
Sub1Hour’s Quest for a White Jacket, @Sub1Hour
The Quest to Get Faster, @brododragon
My Cubing Journey, @ProStar
My Progress, @BenChristman1
The Quest for Sub 15 OH with YruRu, @CuberStache

Post if you have a thread to be added to the list. I can’t actually do much about threads breaking rules apart from reporting, but moderators can.
If you dislike my ideas talk about it here. @pjk what do you think?
And that’s my longest post ever in one go.


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## Username: Username: (Jun 17, 2020)

Great idea! I think my quest/personal progress thread was one of the most active ones but I have respected people's opinions and have taken down my thread.


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> Great idea! I think my quest/personal progress thread was one of the most active ones but I have respected people's opinions and have taken down my thread.


I personally feel that your thread was fine, what made it worse than any other thread like mine or brodos?


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## Username: Username: (Jun 17, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> I personally feel that your thread was fine, what made it worse than any other thread like mine or brodos?


A couple of people said it cluttered the forum, and wasn't really unique enough, I somewhat agreed with them.


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> A couple of people said it cluttered the forum, and wasn't really unique enough, I somewhat agreed with them.


I really thought it was fine, I think they were talking about more obscure threads, and to not make them for all your different goals. Putting it all on a website gets less views.


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## ThisNameIsAlreadyTaken (Jun 17, 2020)

A forum for progress threads seems like a good idea. That way threads which aren't "unique" can be posted without having to worry too much about it. This doesn't mean that everyone should do that, but that everyone could, regardless of their goals/methods/etc.


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## ProStar (Jun 17, 2020)

I don't really like the idea of having to post in it every 2 weeks. I don't post in my thread to make a deadline, but to update whenever something notable happens. If a deadline is added, then it's likely that productive threads will end up with useless posts so that they can qualify


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## Cubingcubecuber (Jun 17, 2020)

I have an progress thread that qualifies for the list


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

ProStar said:


> I don't really like the idea of having to post in it every 2 weeks. I don't post in my thread to make a deadline, but to update whenever something notable happens. If a deadline is added, then it's likely that productive threads will end up with useless posts so that they can qualify


It‘s just an idea, and anyway, it’s to make sure your thread isn’t dead, not to keep you posting. It can be lengthened if you want - I think most threads update at least once every couple of weeks anyway. I’ll change the rule.


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 17, 2020)

I have one that also qualifies.


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## Owen Morrison (Jun 17, 2020)

I have one that also qualifies.


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## Ayce (Jun 17, 2020)

Great idea. I might just create a website for anything I want to put online.


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## Micah Morrison (Jun 17, 2020)

I have one that qualifies


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## Sub1Hour (Jun 17, 2020)

Does mine qualify even though its quite recent?


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## brododragon (Jun 17, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> Post if you have a thread to be added to the list. I can’t actually do much about threads breaking rules apart from reporting, but moderators can.
> If you dislike my ideas talk about it here. @pjk what do you think?
> And that’s my longest post ever in one go.


I don't think pjk has notifs for mentions.


PetrusQuber said:


> Good examples include the Morrison brothers’ threads, as well as @brododragon and @ProStar ‘s threads.





PetrusQuber said:


> My Quest for Sub 8 Petrus, @PetrusQuber
> Quest for Sub 8 Hawaiian Kociemba, @Cubingcubecuber
> Nmile7300’s Progress Thread, @Nmile7300
> Owen’s Progress Thread, @Owen Morrison





I think a sub-forum would be a good idea.


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## ProStar (Jun 17, 2020)

I made my thread before it was a trend 

Also I'd link each thread in the list


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

ProStar said:


> I made my thread before it was a trend
> 
> Also I'd link each thread in the list


Will do.


brododragon said:


> I don't think pjk has notifs for mentions.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I only added people who said they had a thread, to make sure I wasn’t putting down inactive threads or anything. I’ll put yours I guess.

Ok @brododragon you’ve been added.

@ProStar do you want to be added? This might actually come out to nothing if a mod doesn’t approve, and it’ll just be a rules post, but still.


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## brododragon (Jun 17, 2020)

Wait are we talking about a singular progress thread or sub-forum?


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

brododragon said:


> Wait are we talking about a singular progress thread or sub-forum?


What do you mean?


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## Kit Clement (Jun 17, 2020)

In reality, every single one of these progress threads is breaking rule 2e, and you all should just use the accomplishment thread.


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

Kit Clement said:


> In reality, every single one of these progress threads is breaking rule 2e, and you all should just use the accomplishment thread.


It says don’t make new threads for personal bests and records, personal progress includes a lot more than personal records, and it’s just one thread.


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## brododragon (Jun 17, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> What do you mean?


It's the difference between the accomplishment thread and the comp sub-forum.


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## ProStar (Jun 17, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> Ok @brododragon you’ve been added.
> 
> @ProStar do you want to be added? This might actually come out to nothing if a mod doesn’t approve, and it’ll just be a rules post, but still.



I guess you can add me, no reason not to.


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## fun at the joy (Jun 17, 2020)

Event Focus/Progress Thread


This thread is pretty similar to the marathon threads, except instead of keeping your goal a bunch of solves, you keep your goal as practicing/focusing on a particular event for a particular period of time. The time period can be as short as say, 1 week, till say 1 whole month. Update your...




www.speedsolving.com





all progress stuff there imo


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 17, 2020)

fun at the joy said:


> Event Focus/Progress Thread
> 
> 
> This thread is pretty similar to the marathon threads, except instead of keeping your goal a bunch of solves, you keep your goal as practicing/focusing on a particular event for a particular period of time. The time period can be as short as say, 1 week, till say 1 whole month. Update your...
> ...



While that's nice, it doesn't do most of the things a progress thread does. A personal progress thread is exactly that - personal. With that thread your progression and achievements would be lost in the mix of everybody else's. What if someone wanted to follow another person's progress? With a personal progress thread, it's right there in front of you. Also, it seems to me that in the mentioned thread you can only have one goal at a time. I along with many other people try to maximize the efficiency of my practice each week by learning something new and implementing it for multiple events, and just focusing on one thing seems pretty dang inefficient. In closing, I think personal progress threads are healthy for the community because they motivate people to practice and get better. What @PetrusQuber is doing is more than enough to keep the clutter out.


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## EngiNerdBrian (Jun 17, 2020)

ProStar said:


> I don't really like the idea of having to post in it every 2 weeks. I don't post in my thread to make a deadline, but to update whenever something notable happens. If a deadline is added, then it's likely that productive threads will end up with useless posts so that they can qualify


Agreed.

I also see the benefit of users making personal progress threads and think this is a worthy discussion on how we should manage the content. It is more meaningful to have a personal progress thread than posting on the general accomplishment and event focus threads. I get that. It’s personal. I think these threads provide value to the users and the community as a whole.

let’s just not make this the SpeedsolvingBlogs. Quality content should remain essential as these rules try to encourage.

EDIT: Playing devils advocate with myself...I am not actually even sure "blog style" content would be bad. Getting insight into someones thought process or feelings during their progression sounds interesting enough to me. I really don't see the issue with these threads other than some feel they are cluttering up the site and that there is a current tendency to have some low quality content on the site.


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## dudefaceguy (Jun 17, 2020)

On the other side, if you eliminate personal progress threads, you will get lots of long personal posts in general accomplishment threads. Earlier this year, I posted a lot in the blindfold accomplishment thread - so much that @ProStar suggested that I create a separate personal progress thread.

I created a separate thread structured as a guide rather than a personal progress thread, since I was basically done with my 3 style progression at that point. My initial thinking was that I didn’t want to create a separate thread, since I knew I would only be posting for a short while. So, I just dumped everything into the accomplishment thread. I also didn’t anticipate that I would post this much when I started learning 3 style - and by the time I had started posting extensively I was already done.

Here is the beginning of my posts for that period, lasting through page 943. https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/blindfold-accomplishment-thread.3582/page-941#post-1356769

Do you think the accomplishment threads would be improved by more of this type of posting, or should we encourage users to start separate threads and avoid cluttering the accomplishment threads?


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## BenChristman1 (Jun 17, 2020)

I had a thread, but I never update it. @PetrusQuber Could you link this Google Sheet in your original post with my progress?








My Progress


Daily Progress Date,Event Practiced,# of Solves,Comments 8/7/20,2x2,100,My best single was 2.05, my best ao5 was 3.91, and my ao100 was 4.74. 3x3,25,My best single was 11.94, my best ao5 was 15.22, and my ao25 was 16.55. 5x5,12,Race to Sub-X 8/6/20,3x3,25,My best single was 12.20, my best ao5 wa...




docs.google.com


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 17, 2020)

dudefaceguy said:


> On the other side, if you eliminate personal progress threads, you will get lots of long personal posts in general accomplishment threads. Earlier this year, I posted a lot in the blindfold accomplishment thread - so much that @ProStar suggested that I create a separate personal progress thread.
> 
> I created a separate thread structured as a guide rather than a personal progress thread, since I was basically done with my 3 style progression at that point. My initial hinking was that I didn’t want to create a separate thread, since I knew I would only be posting for a short while. So, I just dumped everything into the accomplishment thread. I also didn’t anticipate that I would post this much when I started learning 3 style - and by the time I had started posting extensively I was already done.
> 
> ...


Well, I think both have their purposes. Accomplishment threads are more one off, and people can use it if they don’t want to create their personal thread. Once you have a personal progress thread, you don’t need to use the megathread.


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## ProStar (Jun 17, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> Well, I think both have their purposes. Accomplishment threads are more one off, and people can use it if they don’t want to create their personal thread. Once you have a personal progress thread, you don’t need to use the megathread.



I usually use the accomplishment for something big, like a 3x3 PB or first sub-1 4x4. My thread is for smaller accomplishments and also just general updates that aren't accomplishments. Saying "I'm starting to learn 4lll for Megaminx and know the 3CO cases" isn't an accomplishment


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## Kit Clement (Jun 18, 2020)

The reason for the accomplishment thread is to consolidate achievements into one place rather than having everyone's own PB's cluttering the board. You're trying to tell me that _progress _deserves its own thread per person, despite "progress" being literally more frequent than a PB, and even more cluttering than a PB thread would be? If you don't think that rule applies to progress threads just because progress isn't a PB, then you're completely missing the point of the rule.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

I think they should all go apart from the original one by @PetrusQuber


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## Username: Username: (Jun 18, 2020)

Here's my idea, use discord and one person create a server called 'Document your progress here!", everyone who wants to document their personal progress can go there, the users can make a new channel for their personal progress and document all their progress there instead of making a new thread in the forum, (basically a channel in Discord is like a thread in here.), Discord for miscellaneous things and personal progress, the forum for more general discussions.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> Here's my idea, use discord and one person create a server called 'Document your progress here!", everyone who wants to document their personal progress can go there, the users can make a new channel for their personal progress and document all their progress there instead of making a new thread in the forum, (basically a channel in Discord is like a thread in here.), Discord for miscellaneous things and personal progress, the forum for more general discussions.


That’s not how discord works.


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## Username: Username: (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> That’s not how discord works.


no I meant like new members get a role which allows you to make a new channel which is a place to document all your progress, 1 channel max for each user, the maximum amount of users is 100.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> no I meant like new members get a role which allows you to make a new channel which is a place to document all your progress, 1 channel max for each user, the maximum amount of users is 100.


People would abuse it and destroy the server instantly


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## Username: Username: (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> People would abuse it and destroy the server instantly


hmm yeah that would be an issue, you could verify people before allowing them to access the server first, like Cyoubx's discord server where you need to be verified by a verifier first. edit: ayy let's not get off topic lol


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 18, 2020)

Discord is a bit meh for personal progress, sharing tips, etc, as opposed to a forum.


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## Username: Username: (Jun 18, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> Discord is a bit meh for personal progress, sharing tips, etc, as opposed to a forum.


I don't think so, there are servers that thrive in functioning like a forum.


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 18, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> I don't think so, there are servers that thrive in functioning like a forum.


Maybe, but I’m not as active on Discord as I am on the forums, and I’m sure a lot of other people are too.


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## Username: Username: (Jun 18, 2020)

PetrusQuber said:


> Maybe, but I’m not as active on Discord as I am on the forums, and I’m sure a lot of other people are too.


yeah but in there they can occasionally chat about their personal progress, I'm sure that people won't update their progress every minute


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## CodingCuber (Jun 18, 2020)

Completely agree


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## ep2 (Jun 18, 2020)

Kit Clement said:


> The reason for the accomplishment thread is to consolidate achievements into one place rather than having everyone's own PB's cluttering the board. You're trying to tell me that _progress _deserves its own thread per person, despite "progress" being literally more frequent than a PB, and even more cluttering than a PB thread would be? If you don't think that rule applies to progress threads just because progress isn't a PB, then you're completely missing the point of the rule.



Yes, there's no argument that progress shouldn't be in one spot that doesn't clutter and stiffle other discussions. They are useful threads, for me at least, to see how people progress over time, and I learn a lot about how long it takes to achieve objectives and learnings from it. 

The question is to how best to handle it. The options, unless I'm missing something are:
Accomplishment thread: This is more for genuine breakthroughs in achievement, and not personal strategies or goals
Superthread in general forum: hard to track individual progress, which for me, is the whole point of them
Users profiles: No easy way to see people's updates, without actively seeking it out. 
Ban altogether: Stiffles a lot of conversation and engagement
Subforum: Best option for me, it solves all the above, and allows people to easily ignore if they chose to.

There are potential downsides, in that some threads are not incredibly insightful or useful, but in general, that gets managed by lack of responses or engagement. So the better threads, will last longer and rise to the top.


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 18, 2020)

ep2 said:


> Yes, there's no argument that progress shouldn't be in one spot that doesn't clutter and stiffle other discussions. They are useful threads, for me at least, to see how people progress over time, and I learn a lot about how long it takes to achieve objectives and learnings from it.
> 
> The question is to how best to handle it. The options, unless I'm missing something are:
> Accomplishment thread: This is more for genuine breakthroughs in achievement, and not personal strategies or goals
> ...


Yes, I agree. I never understood how posts cluttered the forums long term since they only take up one space on the bar, and fade quickly, put some people seem to point it out a lot. Maybe it clutters when trying to search for somebody's progress?


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## Dylan Swarts (Jun 18, 2020)

I actually don't entirely understand the point of personal threads, unless it is actually something a lot of people are interested in. Not to be mean or anything but not many people would actively watch an average cuber progress like everyone else did at some point, or are also doing. Sure if a number of individuals care about Person X's progress in reaching a certain goal, world rank or NR or sub x, and it is a challenging goal, like PetrusQuber's, then it makes sense and I understand that. That's just my point of view on the matter. I feel the MBLD Discussion thread has almost become my personal thread since not many people post on there besides me. Lol


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## ThisNameIsAlreadyTaken (Jun 18, 2020)

Dylan Swarts said:


> I actually don't entirely understand the point of personal threads, unless it is actually something a lot of people are interested in. Not to be mean or anything but not many people would actively watch an average cuber progress like everyone else did at some point, or are also doing. Sure if a number of individuals care about Person X's progress in reaching a certain goal, world rank or NR or sub x, and it is a challenging goal, like PetrusQuber's, then it makes sense and I understand that. That's just my point of view on the matter. I feel the MBLD Discussion thread has almost become my personal thread since not many people post on there besides me. Lol


Yes, but what is a challenging goal? I mean, it's not that PetrusQuber's the first one to try to use Petrus for (very fast) speedcubing. When does it make sense and when does it not? It's pretty much personal opinion at this point


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## Dylan Swarts (Jun 18, 2020)

Very true, it does depend on opinion, but some goals are just harder to reach than others. For example top100 for multi is much easier than top100 for 3bld. So a more difficult goal would be top50 or 30 for multi. Regarding PetrusQuber's goal, it isn't the most common thing, but yes there are a bunch of people that are good at it.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

ThisNameIsAlreadyTaken said:


> Yes, but what is a challenging goal? I mean, it's not that PetrusQuber's the first one to try to use Petrus for (very fast) speedcubing. When does it make sense and when does it not? It's pretty much personal opinion at this point


Well he is trying to become the first petrus user to become sub 8 so that is a pretty challenging goal. I think that a progress thread should be attempting something no one has ever done before.


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## ProStar (Jun 18, 2020)

Dylan Swarts said:


> Very true, it does depend on opinion, but some goals are just harder to reach than others. For example top100 for multi is much easier than top100 for 3bld. So a more difficult goal would be top50 or 30 for multi. Regarding PetrusQuber's goal, it isn't the most common thing, but yes there are a bunch of people that are good at it.







ProStar said:


> So If I change the title of my thread to "Quest to be Sub-Mark Boyanowski on Butter Eating [+ Other general updates]", is that okay?


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 18, 2020)

Here's my hot take. I honestly can't believe people are arguing AGAINST practice, AGAINST improvement, AGAINST progress. That is the real heart of the matter here. It has nothing to do with clutter. If you are arguing against progress threads, then you are actually arguing against the growth and progress of the community as a whole. I suspect some people are just jealous of other people's improvement so they are making an excuse to get that improvement to slow down or stop completely.


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## Sub1Hour (Jun 18, 2020)

I mean it's not like anyone is forcing you to look at people's progress. I know that I for one am interested in @Micah Morrison's thread due to his square-1 progression, and I'm sure that many others are interested in seeing others improve their times. I don't see any real reason why *good* progress threads should go. Now, there is such thing as a bad progress thread, something that is just there to take up space and whatever, but most of these active threads are well managed and don't have any issues with them. Most of the issues people have with these threads are just because there are a few bad threads that aren't well managed or interesting. A lot of people making these threads aren't just average cubers. I can easily see @Owen Morrison becoming world-class in megaminx due to his rapid improvement and I am very interested in seeing where he goes. I can also see @Cubingcubecuber becoming a major figure due to his ties with HK. Most of the threads aren't hurting anyone, especially the ones that people asked for. I even made a profile post to see if people wanted me to make one, and they said yes so I did. Also, the whole clutter thing only applies to a few threads, since most of the time its only major improvements or a new alg set. I will say it again _no one is forcing you to read these threads if you aren't interested just don't read them. _It's okay if a thread only has a few active users on it, as long as people enjoy them they have their place on these forums. Another point, they are basically a biography of someones cubing career. These forums have stuff on them from the early days of the cubing scene, basically archives of a time that passed. These progress threads can be an archive for the next generation of cubing, If someone made a progress thread in 2008, I would love to look at it and see what the scene looked like in 2008. These threads also help someone get the motivation to get better. It's much easier to follow your goals if you have a way to keep track of them and if you also get support from others, these threads accomplish both simultaneously.

TLDR; If you don't like progress threads, don't read them. They are important because they are a time capsule, and they also serve as motivation to get better.


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 18, 2020)

Indeed. I for one have been much more motivated to practice and get world class at big cubes because of my progress thread.


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## brododragon (Jun 18, 2020)

Hey everything is fine right now so how about we stop arguing cuz it ain't broken.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “my quest to sub 17 with cn cfop” or “Luke skywalker‘s personal progress thread (mind Levitation PB 10 rocks!)“ which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums. Also this will become way worse if there is an official sub forum because everyone will make them.


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## ProStar (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “my quest to sub 17 with cn cfop” or “Luke skywalker‘s personal progress thread (mind Levitation PB 10 rocks!)“ which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums. Also this will become way worse if there is an official sub forum because everyone will make them.



You could say that for anything.

"The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “2x2x3 Discussion and Help” or “Heise Discussion & Help (+ OAQT)“ which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums. Also this will become way worse because there is an official sub forum because everyone will make them."


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## Sub1Hour (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “my quest to sub 17 with cn cfop” or “Luke skywalker‘s personal progress thread (mind Levitation PB 10 rocks!)“ which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums. Also this will become way worse if there is an official sub forum because everyone will make them.


If you consider 4 progress threads to be insanely cluttered, then yes there are too many,

Seriously, there are only 4 active progress threads for specific users on the home page.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

ProStar said:


> You could say that for anything.
> 
> "The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “2x2x3 Discussion and Help” or “Heise Discussion & Help (+ OAQT)“ which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums. Also this will become way worse because there is an official sub forum because everyone will make them."


Except that’s what people come to a forum for not to see random people say they broke a PB.



Sub1Hour said:


> If you consider 4 progress threads to be insanely cluttered, then yes there are too many,
> 
> Seriously, there are only 4 active progress threads for specific users on the home page.


Ok at the moment it’s not to bad but it definitely has been at pints in the last couple months and I think it would get a lot worse if there was a dedicated sub forum.


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## ep2 (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “my quest to sub 17 with cn cfop” or “Luke skywalker‘s personal progress thread (mind Levitation PB 10 rocks!)“ which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums. Also this will become way worse if there is an official sub forum because everyone will make them.



There's a sub forum for puzzle modding, for example, I don't go into it, as it's not something I'm really interested in. There could be 1 new thread in there, or hundreds, and it would literally make no difference to me, unless I was interested in that part of speedcubing. 

Would there me more personal threads in a sub forum for personal threads? Yes, probably. Who would that impact? Only the people interested in seeing more personal threads.


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> Except that’s what people come to a forum for not to see random people say they broke a PB.


BUT WHAT IF I ACTUALLY DO WANT TO SEE SOMEONE SAY THEY BROKE A PB????
I personally love hearing about other people's progress, it inspires me to get better myself. I know plenty of other people feel the same way. The cubing community is unique in that we cheer the success of our rivals. Lots of people come to the forums to hear about how someone else is improving. If you don't want to hear about someone else's success, that's your problem.


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## Sub1Hour (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> Except that’s what people come to a forum for not to see random people say they broke a PB.


How can you prove this? I check accomplishment threads all the time to see what people are up to. Just because you aren't interested in something doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't pay attention either. 


Spoiler: Side tangent



I see a kind of argument on these threads and on the WCA forum a lot where if someone has a problem, and then someone says "oh that has not happened to me so its not a problem for anyone else then too." This kind of stuff is ludicris. I have seen it happen on Github as well when people were trying to find a solution to counteract timer resets and then someone came along and said "I have never had a timer reset, just stop the timer with your thumbs in and you will be fine" and then the thread was closed. That stuff does not help solve problems nor does it help the solution. Be mindful of what other people's experiences were and don't shrug them off because you haven't been in their circumstance before.





AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> Ok at the moment it’s not to bad but it definitely has been at pints in the last couple months and I think it would get a lot worse if there was a dedicated sub forum.





ep2 said:


> Would there me more personal threads in a sub forum for personal threads? Yes, probably. Who would that impact? Only the people interested in seeing more personal threads.


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## ProStar (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> Except that’s what people come to a forum for not to see random people say they broke a PB.



"Hey I can't get faster now what"

That's way more interesting


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 18, 2020)

Sub1Hour said:


> How can you prove this? I check accomplishment threads all the time to see what people are up to. Just because you aren't interested in something doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't pay attention either.


yeah but that’s 1 or 2 Accomplishment threads not 30 different ones.


ProStar said:


> "Hey I can't get faster now what"
> 
> That's way more interesting


Yeah but they should go in existing threads in which case it isn’t a problem


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 18, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> yeah but that’s 1 or 2 Accomplishment threads not 30 different ones.


This statement makes no sense, you didn't even answer his question.


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## EngiNerdBrian (Jun 19, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> The problem is that many people who go on the forums just look at recent threads and its always full of “my quest to sub 17 with cn cfop” or “Luke skywalker‘s personal progress thread (mind Levitation PB 10 rocks!)“ *which is annoying when you want to see what’s happening on the forums*.


Well if “what’s happening on the forums” is people posting on their progress threads and that is annoying it sounds like what YOU WANT and what the COMMUNITY IS DOING are different things.

I am in no way insinuating that your preferences are incorrect or invalid it’s just a nice platform to say that it seems that there is an ideological difference between what some of us think the community should be and what others find annoying or unacceptable. This idea seems to be an underlying divide in this discussion.


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## Hazel (Jun 19, 2020)

If there is a way to mute entire sub-forums, I think it would be a good idea to create a sub-forum for Progress Threads. This way, people who want to see them can see them, and those who don't can choose to mute them. If them cluttering up the home page and dissuading new members from joining becomes an issue, they can always be muted by default.


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## GenTheThief (Jun 19, 2020)

Nmile7300 said:


> Here's my hot take. I honestly can't believe people are arguing AGAINST practice, AGAINST improvement, AGAINST progress. That is the real heart of the matter here.



No one is arguing against improvement, practice, or progress. I don't know what thread that you've been reading that may have given you that idea, but if you've been reading this one, then you definitely need to pay more attention. I, and other people, are arguing against personal threads for updates. You can still practice, improve, and progress all you want. But you don't need to post about it every single time.

Something that I've voiced is the option of using your status to update your progress. I know that the posts are only limited to 420 characters, but maybe that could get expanded so that people could make fuller posts (even if not, you can just reply to the message with the rest of the post)



Nmile7300 said:


> It has nothing to do with clutter. If you are arguing against progress threads, then you are actually arguing against the growth and progress of the community as a whole.



Can you clarify this? I doesn't make any sense. Me arguing against someone posting in a progress thread does not have to do with their improvement or growth as a community. You not posting about finally learning your 5th OLL does not prevent you from learning the rest of OLL or improving you LL times.
(guys, status updates don't clutter the forum)



Nmile7300 said:


> I suspect some people are just jealous of other people's improvement so they are making an excuse to get that improvement to slow down or stop completely.



lol



Nmile7300 said:


> BUT WHAT IF I ACTUALLY DO WANT TO SEE SOMEONE SAY THEY BROKE A PB????



There's this really cool thread called the accomplishments thread, where you post when you break a PB. You can both watch the thread for new posts and follow people so you can see when they make a new post that may or may not be a PB.
(u can also use status updates and follow them for that)



Nmile7300 said:


> I personally love hearing about other people's progress, it inspires me to get better myself. I know plenty of other people feel the same way.



thats nice
have you considered that maybe other people don't? Because there are other people who don't.
(ssstatuss updatess don't get in the way)



Nmile7300 said:


> The cubing community is unique in that we cheer the success of our rivals.



I don't know if you've ever, like, interacted with other people or been on a team of some kind, sports or otherwise, but cheering the success of rivals is in no way unique to the cubing community at all, whatsoever.


Spoiler: examples



I recently started casually watching MMA, and I have seen fighters literally trash talk each other for days leading up to an event, punch each other in the face multiple times and then get up and congratulate each other on having a good fight.
I ran track in high school and university. I congratulated the other people in my heat both before and after races. I congratulated and was super excited for the the kid who beat me and got my spot to state. I've congratulated someone who beat me at the line by .15 seconds. And it's not just me, because I see lots of people around me congratulating each other after races, because they have healthy rivalries within their friendship and sportsmanship.





Nmile7300 said:


> Lots of people come to the forums to hear about how someone else is improving. If you don't want to hear about someone else's success, that's your problem.



says who? you say its my problem? well I say it's your problem
(seriously people this is what status updates are for)


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## alexiscubing (Jun 19, 2020)

Ok, I am starting to be more active on the forums and on my thread, and won't clutter the forums with non cubing stuff and games, just for some simple advice and to report my progress in events


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## ProStar (Jun 19, 2020)

GenTheThief said:


> I don't know if you've ever, like, interacted with other people or been on a team of some kind, sports or otherwise, but cheering the success of rivals is in no way unique to the cubing community at all, whatsoever.



There's a difference between being a good sport and cheering your rival


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 19, 2020)

GenTheThief said:


> No one is arguing against improvement, practice, or progress. I don't know what thread that you've been reading that may have given you that idea, but if you've been reading this one, then you definitely need to pay more attention. I, and other people, are arguing against personal threads for updates. You can still practice, improve, and progress all you want. But you don't need to post about it every single time.
> 
> Something that I've voiced is the option of using your status to update your progress. I know that the posts are only limited to 420 characters, but maybe that could get expanded so that people could make fuller posts (even if not, you can just reply to the message with the rest of the post)



The reason I said that is because without their progress thread as motivation, many people would not have improved as much. I highly doubt @PetrusQuber would have made as much improvement without the Quest to Sub 8 Petrus thread. The difference between my motivation before and after I made a progress thread is like night and day. Neither the accomplishment thread or status updates could give such a motivation boost. So yes, you are arguing against progress, because without progress threads, many people's motivation would go down.



GenTheThief said:


> Can you clarify this? I doesn't make any sense. Me arguing against someone posting in a progress thread does not have to do with their improvement or growth as a community. You not posting about finally learning your 5th OLL does not prevent you from learning the rest of OLL or improving you LL times.
> (guys, status updates don't clutter the forum)


Let's use your analogy here. What I am trying to say is that without their progress thread, that person might not finish OLL or at least not as quickly as they would with the progress thread. The status updates that you keep suggesting are a far cry from progress threads and wouldn't be a suitable replacement.



GenTheThief said:


> There's this really cool thread called the accomplishments thread, where you post when you break a PB. You can both watch the thread for new posts and follow people so you can see when they make a new post that may or may not be a PB.
> (u can also use status updates and follow them for that)


The thing is, progress threads contain much more than just accomplishments.



GenTheThief said:


> thats nice
> have you considered that maybe other people don't? Because there are other people who don't.
> (ssstatuss updatess don't get in the way)


@PetrusQuber I suggest we change the poll to "do you like hearing about other peoples' progress?"


GenTheThief said:


> I don't know if you've ever, like, interacted with other people or been on a team of some kind, sports or otherwise, but cheering the success of rivals is in no way unique to the cubing community at all, whatsoever.


@ProStar already dealt with this one.




GenTheThief said:


> says who? you say its my problem? well I say it's your problem
> (seriously people this is what status updates are for)


It's your own problem that you don't care about someone else's improvement.



Here's the thing. If you don't like progress threads, then you don't have to look at them. They are just kind of popular right now, so just wait it out until they aren't anymore. The home page is not even cluttered yet. If you don't want to see progress threads then guess what? YOU DON'T NEED TO LOOK AT THEM!


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 19, 2020)

Nmile7300 said:


> The reason I said that is because without their progress thread as motivation, many people would not have improved as much. I highly doubt @PetrusQuber would have made as much improvement without the Quest to Sub 8 Petrus thread. The difference between my motivation before and after I made a progress thread is like night and day. Neither the accomplishment thread or status updates could give such a motivation boost. So yes, you are arguing against progress, because without progress threads, many people's motivation would go down.
> 
> 
> Let's use your analogy here. What I am trying to say is that without their progress thread, that person might not finish OLL or at least not as quickly as they would with the progress thread. The status updates that you keep suggesting are a far cry from progress threads and wouldn't be a suitable replacement.
> ...


The don’t need to look at them thing doesn’t apply here because the problem is that the Threads appear when your looking for other things and if the only thing motivating you to cube is a random thread then that sounds like you don’t actually want to cube.


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 19, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> The don’t need to look at them thing doesn’t apply here because the problem is that the Threads appear when your looking for other things and if the only thing motivating you to cube is a random thread then that sounds like you don’t actually want to cube.


First of all, there are literally 3 progress threads on the home page at the time of writing. You could easily avoid looking at these threads, and even if there are more in the future, you don't need to click on them if you don't want to. Also, my progress thread isn't the only thing motivating me to cube. I cube because it is a fun hobby. I just think that my progress thread is at least partially responsible for my recent improvements, and I should not ignore its role in my practice.


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## Micah Morrison (Jun 19, 2020)

AlphaCuber is awesome said:


> The don’t need to look at them thing doesn’t apply here because the problem is that the Threads appear when your looking for other things and if the only thing motivating you to cube is a random thread then that sounds like you don’t actually want to cube.


you can't just assume nobody wants to look at personal progress threads. I personally like watching how people progress in cubing, and many others have said that too. And I think that without my personal progress thread and all the encouragement other people have given me, I wouldn't be as close to being CN as I am now.


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## Kit Clement (Jun 19, 2020)

Nmile7300 said:


> First of all, there are literally 3 progress threads on the home page at the time of writing. You could easily avoid looking at these threads, and even if there are more in the future, you don't need to click on them if you don't want to. Also, my progress thread isn't the only thing motivating me to cube. I cube because it is a fun hobby. I just think that my progress thread is at least partially responsible for my recent improvements, and I should not ignore its role in my practice.



"If you don't like off topic threads on the home page, don't look at them."

"If you don't like cubing cult threads on the home page, don't look at them."

"If you don't like personal progress threads on the homepage, don't look at them."

Sounds like I'll just not be going to SS anymore at this rate. 

And I'm definitely not alone in this realization, lots of other cubers have made that decision too - the best speedsolvers we're almost universally on this forum about 6-7 years ago. Today's users may like these types of threads I've listed above, but it has honestly turned the forum into a more juvenile cubing forum rather than the one where cubing breakthroughs like Yau were first proposed and developed. Maybe that's just the natural progression here, as it's far more likely that 11-12 year old kids will be allowed to make SS accounts over Facebook accounts, which is where more productive cubing discussions are actually happening now.


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## Owen Morrison (Jun 19, 2020)

Kit Clement said:


> "If you don't like cubing cult threads on the home page, don't look at them."


I agree, those threads really should be taken off the home page.


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## ProStar (Jun 19, 2020)

Owen Morrison said:


> I agree, those threads really should be taken off the home page.



Those threads should be taken off the forum


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 19, 2020)

Kit Clement said:


> "If you don't like off topic threads on the home page, don't look at them."
> 
> "If you don't like cubing cult threads on the home page, don't look at them."
> 
> ...


I definitely see your point, but I'm personally fine with the majority of people on the forum being kids and teens because that's basically the main demographic of the cubing community. I understand what you mean about the forum being "childish", but honestly I think this is to be expected when kids and teens take up the majority of the cubing community. It is unfortunate that many of the great cubers that were on here back in the day are gone now, but this is probably how it will be for a while unless some kind of age limit is enforced. (And people would break that anyway)


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 19, 2020)

There are over 30 spots on the homepage for threads, it’s not that hard to look for active threads you want to see. And again, being able to filter threads and sub forums will be really useful. Moderators, is this viable?


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## Sub1Hour (Jun 19, 2020)

Kit Clement said:


> And I'm definitely not alone in this realization, lots of other cubers have made that decision too - the best speedsolvers we're almost universally on this forum about 6-7 years ago. Today's users may like these types of threads I've listed above, but it has honestly turned the forum into a more juvenile cubing forum rather than the one where cubing breakthroughs like Yau were first proposed and developed. Maybe that's just the natural progression here, as it's far more likely that 11-12 year old kids will be allowed to make SS accounts over Facebook accounts, which is where more productive cubing discussions are actually happening now.


Don't get me wrong, I would love to see more world-class speedcubers on this forum but that's not gonna happen for either a long time or ever. Unless some sort of giant change happens in the forums I don't see any world-class cubers coming back. It does however represent a majority of the speedcubing community and I find it just as fun to talk to someone like @brododragon who isn't all that fast (no offense bro) compared to a world-class solver. I do think that the focus of these forums has changed from "How can we make the best method/mods possible" to "Let's connect together as cubers". I don't think that one of them is objectively better than the other, but as of right now the major reason I am on SS is to talk with other cubes about pretty much anything. Now, if I wanted to go somewhere to find revolutionary ideas, I would go to the facebook groups but thats not what my interests are. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the forums as of right now aside from people just being unfamilliar/uneducated about how to use the forums. If we as a community on SS want to get the "Good Ol' Days" back, then maybe a separate forum that is still connected to SS would work.

_*Things have changed on SS, and that's okay.*_


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 19, 2020)

Well said, but


Sub1Hour said:


> the major reason I am on SS is to talk with other cubes


Yes, I also like to talk to other cubes.


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## BenChristman1 (Jun 19, 2020)

My opinion is that if we really want people to come back to SS, we need to make a huge change. But if we really want cubing to evolve, we need to let the community decide where it takes us. We shouldn't be trying to force the activity in one direction or another, we should be changing things as necessary and letting the community make some decisions. One reason I think some people were enraged by the removal of Feet from the WCA is that there was absolutely no community involvement in the decision. If we want to keep current cubers, and keep getting new ones, we need to let the community decide what cubing should look like. Right now, as the WCA is formatted, it is just an oligarchy (fancy word for a few people rule the whole thing). I think that we should have some sort of system where we elect WCA leaders. Sure, this is probably a long ways in the future (in the unlikely chance that it ever happens), but I think that it would change cubing for the better, and it would make the community happier. As for the SS forums, there is really nothing we can do about all of the threads that one person likes reading, and another doesn't. I think that the idea of filtering subforums is great. I, personally, am not very into all of the puzzle theory stuff, but there are a lot of people who are. If some people like reading personal progress threads, great. If somebody hates all of those threads, then it would be nice for there to be a way to just filter them out.


Sub1Hour said:


> _*Things have changed on SS, and that's okay.*_


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## alexiscubing (Jun 20, 2020)

I agree with Kit and most of you guys, I will stop posting dumb stuff to threads getting it off topic, and will retire my progress thread. I mainly came for cubing help and tips, so now I think that I will just update threads that can me progress and become a better cuber. I think that overall, the main threads, prostar and petrus can be kept, but things like cults and other useless threads should be just discussed in DMs.


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## AlphaCuber is awesome (Jun 20, 2020)

alexiscubing said:


> I agree with Kit and most of you guys, I will stop posting dumb stuff to threads getting it off topic, and will retire my progress thread. I mainly came for cubing help and tips, so now I think that I will just update threads that can me progress and become a better cuber. I think that overall, the main threads, prostar and petrus can be kept, but things like cults and other useless threads should be just discussed in DMs.


this is kind of what I think. I like @PetrusQuber thread and other that are trying to do something truly hard and which will push the community but I don’t think the forum should just be for talking about cubing. There are much better platforms for that such as discord. I think the forums work better as a resource to help people and develop the community. A good example of a progress thread would be if someone decided to do one on learning full 1lll and were fully commited to it as people could help them and it could act as a guide to people wanting to try it in the future. On the other hand a thread on someone trying to learn OLL wouldn’t be good as it isn’t going to make any breakthroughs or change the community in anyway as 1000s of people have already done it.


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## Username: Username: (Jun 20, 2020)

if such a sub forum does exist, maybe have a mute option to clear them from the main page, like @Aerma said, then all this cluttering stuff would be solved.
this is literally the solution for whoever does not care about progress thread and cares about more about general things.


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## brododragon (Jun 20, 2020)

Sub1Hour said:


> Unless some sort of giant change happens in the forums I don't see any world-class cubers coming back.


The reason that people aren't world class *is *that they're on SS.


Sub1Hour said:


> It does however represent a majority of the speedcubing community and I find it just as fun to talk to someone like @brododragon who isn't *at *all that fast (no offense bro) compared to a world-class solver.


I went ahead and fixed the grammering mistakes.


Sub1Hour said:


> the major reason I am on SS is to talk with other cubes about pretty much anything.


Waaaaiiiiit.... You _are _the MGC 7x7?


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## Nmile7300 (Jun 20, 2020)

I have an apology to make. I still support progress threads, but I have come to the realization that I acted a bit stupid on this thread the last few days. I'm sorry I got so angry and defensive for no reason. I let my anger overwhelm my common sense, which should have never happened. I regret many of the things I said. To anyone who doesn't support progress threads: *I don't agree with you, but I respect your opinion. *That would have never come from my lips a few days ago, but I have realized that I was in the wrong and was being dumb. I hope everyone understands and forgives me.


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## brododragon (Jun 20, 2020)

Nmile7300 said:


> I have an apology to make. I still support progress threads, but I have come to the realization that I acted a bit stupid on this thread the last few days. I'm sorry I got so angry and defensive for no reason. I let my anger overwhelm my common sense, which should have never happened. I regret many of the things I said. To anyone who doesn't support progress threads: *I don't agree with you, but I respect your opinion. *That would have never come from my lips a few days ago, but I have realized that I was in the wrong and was being dumb. I hope everyone understands and forgives me.


Every argument gets a little heated


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## Cuberstache (Jun 20, 2020)

Kinda surprised no one has tagged me already, but here's my progress thread. I update it once a week, and to avoid clutter, I edit the original post unless something especially notable happens (like how I broke my PB single, ao5, ao12, ao50, and ao100 this week). I'm also using a unique method (YruRU) so I think my progress is more interesting because I'm pioneering a new method that could one day be the gold standard for one-handed solving. To add something to the current discussion, I support a mutable progress thread subforum.


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## PetrusQuber (Jun 20, 2020)

CuberStache said:


> Kinda surprised no one has tagged me already, but here's my progress thread. I update it once a week, and to avoid clutter, I edit the original post unless something especially notable happens (like how I broke my PB single, ao5, ao12, ao50, and ao100 this week). I'm also using a unique method (YruRU) so I think my progress is more interesting because I'm pioneering a new method that could one day be the gold standard for one-handed solving. To add something to the current discussion, I support a mutable progress thread subforum.


Only people who actually post here get tagged.


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## Nmile7300 (Jul 30, 2020)

Small bump. I've seen a bunch of quest and progress threads being posted and none of the people posting are registering here. Obviously I don't expect them to when they can't see this thread lol. I expect most of these threads to die within a few weeks and some of them are already dead, so we shouldn't really worry about thread that some of them are "breaking the rules". However, @PetrusQuber if you see one that seems to be thriving that isn't on the list then perhaps send them a PM or something. I'm glad everyone stopped arguing.


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## PetrusQuber (Jul 30, 2020)

I kind of gave up trying to enforce this I can’t even do anything without mod permission, but it would be nice if they read the guidelines


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## Jam88 (Aug 26, 2020)

@PetrusQuber My Progress Thread
*








Jam88's Quest to be the next Feliks Zemdegs


Hello members of the forum, this is will be my progress thread! As you can probably tell from the title, my aim is to be the next Feliks Zemdegs( i.e. World class). These are my current averages and PB's. 2x2 Avg 4/5 Single 1.73 Method Ortega 3x3 Avg 14/15 Single 7 Method CFOP 4x4 Avg 1:10...




www.speedsolving.com




*


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## PetrusQuber (Aug 26, 2020)

Jam88 said:


> @PetrusQuber My Progress Thread
> *
> 
> 
> ...


I’ve pretty much given up on this since I can’t enforce it, but whatever.
Thanks for reading the post


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## Jam88 (Aug 26, 2020)

Ok. I think it was a good idea. Maybe post a link to it in the forum improvements thread?


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## Jam88 (Aug 26, 2020)

Jam88 said:


> Ok. I think it was a good idea. Maybe post a link to it in the forum improvements thread?


I did that.


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## PapaSmurf (Sep 20, 2020)

I'm bumping this I've seen these types of threads slowly start off again. Read the first post if you haven't. I would also suggest using the accomplishment thread instead if you don't have to make your own whole thread.


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## PetraPine (Sep 20, 2020)

PapaSmurf said:


> I'm bumping this I've seen these types of threads slowly start off again. Read the first post if you haven't. I would also suggest using the accomplishment thread instead if you don't have to make your own whole thread.


we all now why that started up again....


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## qwr (Sep 20, 2020)

I don't have a progress thread, I have a personal spreadsheet that has avgs for every "serious" session I have ever done. I'm not fast enough for people to care so I keep it to myself. Also I may post some statistical analysis of my avgs when I collect enough data.


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