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Bug report: Seeing the same word/character twice in a row.

jcardenio   March 10th, 2010 7:55p.m.

I don't remember if this has been mentioned, but I've seen this off on and for at least a month or so now. Every once in awhile (pretty low frequency) I'll get the exact same word/character twice in a row, the stats for the second time don't register that I just completed it. It seems to happen more when I am adding new words (using the + button) but doesn't necessarily happen with the words that are new. The most recent word that it happened for me on is: 棉毛衫.

Firefox 3.6, windows xp

dert   March 10th, 2010 8:06p.m.

This also happens to me, very occaisionally. I've been assuming that it was network/cache lag. When it does happen, and I got it wrong or so-so the first time, I go ahead and mark it the same the second time.

dert   March 10th, 2010 8:06p.m.

I *can* spell in English.

This also happens to me, very occasionally. I've been assuming that it was network/cache lag. When it does happen, and I got it wrong or so-so the first time, I go ahead and mark it the same the second time.

Byzanti   March 10th, 2010 8:16p.m.

Yep. More often happens with new words.

Incidentally, while we're on bugs, all the r-- starting character sounds (eg rou, ruan) went missing in the last update...

tunghiem2010   March 10th, 2010 8:22p.m.

it happens to me sometimes too!!! And it only happens with the reading, which is still in beta, so that makes sense.
Google Chrome (newest), and XP

Byzanti   March 10th, 2010 8:36p.m.

(To what I said before: the last sound update I meant)

tunghiem2010   March 10th, 2010 9:55p.m.

Also, the look-up on MDGB seems to be broken. Nothing gets returned on MDGB website except for this phrase: %E7%B3%96%E6%9E%9C or another...

digilypse   March 10th, 2010 11:02p.m.

This has started happening to me too, for writing/tones as well. I don't use reading, though I've tried it. As far as I know my computer time has always been accurate but I'm getting all these scheduling errors lately.

skritterjohan   March 11th, 2010 5:28a.m.

This happened to me quite a bit especially after adding a bunch of words. I thought in the beginning that it was a new feature.

I find to correct it I can switch back and forth between progress and practice for a few times and it will eventually balance out.

Cheryl   March 11th, 2010 9:13a.m.

I had the problem of the same set of words coming up again and again yesterday... or maybe it was this morning. I decided to try and turn the new reading off and then it all went back to the usual timing.

scott   March 11th, 2010 10:45a.m.

Why is it that all these Flash related bugs seem to crop up when Nick is away? Darn it!

I haven't heard of this rapid-repeat bug until recently; had one user email me about it but apparently it's much more prevalent than that. It's something to do with the internal scheduling of the Flash, so I'm afraid that's going to have to wait until Tuesday when Nick is back in action. Same with the missing sounds. In the meantime, making sure they are scored the same way the second time should keep scheduling working the way it should. Thanks for your patience guys!

The MDBG link I can fix though! The fix will go live soon.

jww1066   March 11th, 2010 4:44p.m.

Sounds like your truck factor is 1, eh? ;)

http://www.agileadvice.com/archives/2005/05/truck_factor.html

James

george   March 11th, 2010 5:43p.m.

James, I wonder how many small startups have trucked factors of greater than one. And then my immediate thought is how did they do that? :)

jww1066   March 11th, 2010 6:30p.m.

I've never worked in a small startup, but I've worked in big companies as a programmer since 1997. I can assure you that it's also a major problem for big companies.

As soon as you have a team with some kind of division of labor, you get people who become the experts in certain areas. After a while everyone else knows it's just easier to let the expert deal with those areas, and the expert becomes more and more specialized. People will become afraid to suggest fixes to someone else's code because it's "not theirs". This is a natural process which will happen over and over if management doesn't pay attention.

Two things that you can do that I've seen to work pretty well are to rotate people between different areas of responsibility (as the link I sent before suggests), and to do code reviews on pretty much everything important. Code reviews take time but are amazingly useful for catching bugs and spreading knowledge around the team.

James

Nicki   March 11th, 2010 8:54p.m.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one :o)

nick   March 16th, 2010 10:46p.m.

I think I have some good leads for where this doubling of new words is coming from--thanks guys! I will need some time to get caught up before I can fix it, but I'll get it.

Uploading the fix for the r-sounds shortly. That was an easy one!

The truck factor is 1 and there's nothing to be done about it any time soon--he doesn't know much ActionScript and there's somewhere upward of 10k lines of it. I took some aikido, so if I get hit by a truck I'll just roll out of the way though. If Scott gets trucked (or goes on vacation), I think I can figure his stuff out. If George is the crushéd/absent one, the perverse pleasure of pretending to be him on business emails and phone calls might outweigh my distaste for doing it for a time, but I'd probably revert to screeching and bashing things with bones before too long.

nick   March 18th, 2010 9:55p.m.

I've uploaded a potential fix for the word doubling. Not sure if it's for real. Let me know if you continue to see it after tonight.

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