The Wikipedia Game
Lazygamer (blog)
You're all likely aware of the human web – the idea of six degrees of separation – that any human being is connected to any other in at most six steps...
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The web domain http://www.lazygamer.co.za is blocked by WebSense.
Anybody able to give a copy of the story here, for academic purposes, of course?
Anybody able to give a copy of the story here, for academic purposes, of course?
QUOTE(thekohser @ Thu 10th June 2010, 9:17am) 
Anybody able to give a copy of the story here, for academic purposes, of course?
Alas, this blog posting is not about The Game That Is Wikipedia, but rather an idle-time websurfing activity that someone is calling a "game."
QUOTE
It works like this:
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
No doubt the "winner" gets a free user page for his/her efforts.
QUOTE(thekohser @ Thu 10th June 2010, 2:17pm)
That sounds almost as obnoxious as AdSense and IntelliSense.
I don't see anything particularly offensive or block-worthy there except it does load cross-site scripting from several shady domains.
Here is the site it advertises: http://wikipediagame.org/ It bears some resemblance to like Andy Ihnatko's famous "web that smut" essay.
That confounded de-linking craze makes it all the more difficult. In well-policed areas you may need eight clicks to get from a film to its director's country of birth.
QUOTE
It works like this:
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
There is or was a website that did that for you. (Can you imagine the sort of persom who writes a tool for that?
)The interesting part would be to construct the chain of links from A to B, then from B to A and see how they differ in length. Is it possible to construct both paths so that they have no pages in common? Oh dear this is even sadder than writing a website to do it.
QUOTE(ulsterman @ Mon 28th June 2010, 11:37am)
The interesting part would be to construct the chain of links from A to B, then from B to A and see how they differ in length. Is it possible to construct both paths so that they have no pages in common? Oh dear this is even sadder than writing a website to do it.
Taking a completely different return path would be possible in all but the rarest of cases, and most often is shorter than reversing the original path. The tool you are describing was the topic of a prior thread and can be found here.
QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Mon 28th June 2010, 6:28pm)
QUOTE(ulsterman @ Mon 28th June 2010, 11:37am)
The interesting part would be to construct the chain of links from A to B, then from B to A and see how they differ in length. Is it possible to construct both paths so that they have no pages in common? Oh dear this is even sadder than writing a website to do it.
Taking a completely different return path would be possible in all but the rarest of cases, and most often is shorter than reversing the original path. The tool you are describing was the topic of a prior thread and can be found here.
Somewhat better link here (scroll down to the tool).
QUOTE
It works like this:
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
The purpose of the game is to put my banana into Britney Spears? Hmmm...Horsey likes this game!
QUOTE(A Horse With No Name @ Mon 28th June 2010, 12:48pm)
QUOTE
It works like this:
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
1. You’re given a start Wikipedia article, like "Banana"
2. And a winning article, like "Britney Spears"
3. Now click as few links as possible to get from "Banana" to "Britney Spears", as fast as you can!
The purpose of the game is to put my banana into Britney Spears? Hmmm...Horsey likes this game!
Saw that one coming.
QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Mon 28th June 2010, 7:28pm)
Taking a completely different return path would be possible in all but the rarest of cases, and most often is shorter than reversing the original path.
So the path from B to A is usually shorter than the path from A to B?
What if you'd started from B originally?
QUOTE(ulsterman @ Mon 28th June 2010, 4:50pm)
QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Mon 28th June 2010, 7:28pm)
Taking a completely different return path would be possible in all but the rarest of cases, and most often is shorter than reversing the original path.
So the path from B to A is usually shorter than the path from A to B?
What if you'd started from B originally?
One article need not have a link to another article that links to it. Not all links are reciprocal in Wikipedia, unless you count the "What links here" link.
QUOTE(ulsterman @ Mon 28th June 2010, 8:50pm)
QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Mon 28th June 2010, 7:28pm)
Taking a completely different return path would be possible in all but the rarest of cases, and most often is shorter than reversing the original path.
So the path from B to A is usually shorter than the path from A to B?
What if you'd started from B originally?
I'm saying a two-way path from A → B → C → D and from D → C → B → A is probably less common (again, the de-linking craze). So supposing you are able to detour from D → X → C → B → Y → A to hit each of the original points... some other, more direct path probably will exist.
QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Mon 28th June 2010, 9:58pm)
I'm saying a two-way path from A → B → C → D and from D → C → B → A is probably less common (again, the de-linking craze). So supposing you are able to detour from D → X → C → B → Y → A to hit each of the original points... some other, more direct path probably will exist.
That probably makes sense. However, it's not what you were saying before. Still, let's stop detouring this thread.
QUOTE(ulsterman @ Mon 28th June 2010, 9:03pm)
QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Mon 28th June 2010, 9:58pm)
I'm saying a two-way path from A → B → C → D and from D → C → B → A is probably less common (again, the de-linking craze). So supposing you are able to detour from D → X → C → B → Y → A to hit each of the original points... some other, more direct path probably will exist.
That probably makes sense. However, it's not what you were saying before. Still, let's stop detouring this thread.
I drew a distinction between paths which bear some similarity and ones which are completely different ("have no pages in common" as you said).
I'm not sure which words I should have used instead.
Plus, I posted this a month ago, and nobody noticed.
QUOTE(EricBarbour @ Mon 28th June 2010, 10:50pm)
I did! I replied to your post!!
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