ASL Player Ratings

DougRim

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When you add a tournament, nothing changes with the ratings until the engine is fired up on the first of each month and all those shiny new numbers do the math thing, correct?
Yes, that is correct.

We do have the capacity to generate new rankings at any given moment but are planning to let the monthly update be the norm.
 

DougRim

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Update

We are pretty well at full functionality for phase 1, which was essentially replicating AREA.

Much data has been added. Lots of tournaments from 2017, 2018, and 2019. Still chasing others (thank you Marc Hanna for a great job finding data!). New ratings will show Aug 1.

Doing some data cleanup now.

Can anyone help me eliminate some possible duplicates:

Are John Knowles and John Charles Knowles the same person?

Are Zheng Wang and Wang Zhen the same person and if so, which one?

Are Dave Stephans and Stephens the same person?

Are Frank Strasser and Franck Strasser the same person?

Are Dave Wallace and David Wallace the same person?

Are Rob Wirthlin and Rob Wirhtlin the same person?

Are Hank Withr and Hank Withaar the same person?

Doug
 

von Marwitz

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Are Frank Strasser and Franck Strasser the same person?

Are Dave Wallace and David Wallace the same person?

If Frank Strasser and Franck Strasser are German players, then I am pretty convinced that they are only one person. Not absoutely sure about the correct spelling of the first name, but M.Koch here at GS should know.

If Dave Wallace and David Wallace are Australians, then - again - I am pretty sure they they are one and the same. He is one of my long-time regular opponents and pretty active and successful down under. David would be the correct first name but he's called Dave just as you would call someone named Andrew Andy.

von Marwitz
 

DougRim

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If Frank Strasser and Franck Strasser are German players, then I am pretty convinced that they are only one person. Not absoutely sure about the correct spelling of the first name, but M.Koch here at GS should know.

If Dave Wallace and David Wallace are Australians, then - again - I am pretty sure they they are one and the same. He is one of my long-time regular opponents and pretty active and successful down under. David would be the correct first name but he's called Dave just as you would call someone named Andrew Andy.

von Marwitz
Thanks. And to be clear, I am happy to have him be Dave, David, Davey, whatever he, or any other player would like to be. It is not for me to tell people what their names are. But the tool works better if we are all using just one version of our names! LOL.
 

Honosbinda

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I attended a tournament in Bodö January and it does not show in my games - have you been in touch with them about the ratings system? I believe @Nils Bakke and @oybj are the organizers.
My apologies for the delay in reply but for some reason I've not been getting updates on this thread, so I just noticed your question about this.

To answer your question. the TDs have got in touch with us and have sent the data in a very raw form for the 2020 results.. I'm going to be reaching out to them and asking them to resubmit the data in the correct 2020 .csv format...
 

DougRim

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In one of my initial posts on this thread I posted the following workplan for the ASL Player Ratings Site:
  1. Bring the site into parallel with the current AREA site: meaning that the same data as contained in AREA is used to produce the same ratings.
  2. Start adding 2017-20 data and generate up-to-date ratings using the AREA methodology.
  3. In parallel with 2, continue to build a new toolset that allows easier updating of the key components: players, tournaments and tournament games results. This would involve more tools for TDs to improve data quality from them and facilitate updating the db, plus tools to allow individuals to contribute.
  4. Explore options for a more fundamental redesign of the data, the algorithms, and the output as per A. Cleavin’s work or something like it.
Due to a lot of help from my friends, items 1 and 2 are done. The site ( ) is up and running and a boatload of new data has been added.

Item 3 is considered complete until Sam Tyson or I think of something new to add (and I have received helpful suggestions from other people; some are done, some to come). We added some new data views today. The Tools & Support menu offers a variety of tools to manage the data. And the site makes the underlying data available to the community as I committed to do.

Item 4 is underway. I am working with Aaron to produce a version of his work, incorporating a new rating methodology. The goal is to provide a comparison set of ratings that might help us debate the merits of one approach versus another.

While I work away on item 4, there remain a number of questions, comments and suggestions that I have received that belong to item 3. I am going to put them up here from time to time and try to get some input and advice from others.

The first of those is the question of how to deal with those in our community who have unfortunately passed away too soon and are no longer with us. There are a number of such individuals whose names and games are in the database and displayed on the site. There are several options available:

  1. Leave their names visible as a tribute to those individuals and to show that they are not forgotten by friends and across-the-table-foes.
  2. Mask their names but leave their records visible in the dataset. We do this now for players who do not wish their names to be used and for games with missing player names.
  3. Remove their records from the visual presentations on the site but include them for rating calculation purposes.
We are at option 1 at present, which I personally favour. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
 

Pacman Ghost

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The site is up and running and a boatload of new data has been added.
The new site looks most excellent ?

And the site makes the underlying data available to the community as I committed to do.
Thanks for doing that ? I see some CSV's in the Data/ directory, but they look like they are added manually...? Over time, any manual process is inevitably going to fall by the wayside, so I would suggest an automated process that dumps the database and commits it to the repo. At best, this would be a JSON dump, but even a MySQL backup would work. And this could also serve as your backup :)

I would also suggest a link to the Github repo.

The goal is to provide a comparison set of ratings that might help us debate the merits of one approach versus another.
Truly you are a glutton for punishment :rolleyes:
 

DougRim

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I see some CSV's in the Data/ directory, but they look like they are added manually...? Over time, any manual process is inevitably going to fall by the wayside, so I would suggest an automated process that dumps the database and commits it to the repo. At best, this would be a JSON dump, but even a MySQL backup would work. And this could also serve as your backup :)

I would also suggest a link to the Github repo.
The csv files are generated automatically immediately following the ratings recalculation at the first of every month. Thus, they, like the ratings, are updated monthly. An export to csv format was easier to implement in short order. A JSON dump would be good idea too. I am downloading the csv's monthly so that we can do some time series comparisons (eventually). That piece could probably stand automation. A link to the Github repo is a good idea. Thanks for the feedback.
 

von Garvin

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The first of those is the question of how to deal with those in our community who have unfortunately passed away too soon and are no longer with us. There are a number of such individuals whose names and games are in the database and displayed on the site. There are several options available:

  1. Leave their names visible as a tribute to those individuals and to show that they are not forgotten by friends and across-the-table-foes.
  2. Mask their names but leave their records visible in the dataset. We do this now for players who do not wish their names to be used and for games with missing player names.
  3. Remove their records from the visual presentations on the site but include them for rating calculation purposes.
We are at option 1 at present, which I personally favour. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
I like option 1. Maybe there is a way to denote to the novice gamer that the person is no longer with us?
 

von Marwitz

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  1. Leave their names visible as a tribute to those individuals and to show that they are not forgotten by friends and across-the-table-foes.
  2. Mask their names but leave their records visible in the dataset. We do this now for players who do not wish their names to be used and for games with missing player names.
  3. Remove their records from the visual presentations on the site but include them for rating calculation purposes.
We are at option 1 at present, which I personally favour. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
How about creating a dropdown-selection for the preferred "View" and let the user select with #1 being the default?

I think AREA had an 'all time' ranking, (which of course also includes deceased players) and an 'active player' ranking with names of players for whom no new games were listed for a number of years where shown in a lighter shade.

von Marwitz
 

Mister T

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I would choose option 3 (especially if an algorithm with rating decay is selected) but add a wall of remembrance page for those.
 

DougRim

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How about creating a dropdown-selection for the preferred "View" and let the user select with #1 being the default?
Check under Tools & Support, that option already exists.

I think AREA had an 'all time' ranking, (which of course also includes deceased players) and an 'active player' ranking with names of players for whom no new games were listed for a number of years where shown in a lighter shade.

von Marwitz
The current site does have an Active Players and an All Players view. To be "active" you must have played in a tournament game (that is in the db) in the last 800 days when the ratings are recalculated at the first of the month.

It would certainly be possible to flag those who are deceased; either in the views or on a remembrance page, or both.
 

Stewart

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I think there should be a separate rating list for SK tournaments?
This would allow a more accurate placement of SK players into SK Tournaments/ASL tournaments.
 
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