Lightning Draws

Tom - Is it possible for you to please explain to me how aruche is always managing to claim the lightning draw badge almost every time there's a new release, and usually within a matter of seconds? Either this guy is an unknown developer who is testing out the download after uploading it, or they're using some kind of hack.

In any case, they're just mining those reputation points, and taking the spot away from others who actually have a fighting chance. I used to find it quite fun to download as quickly as possible to get a badge, but with guys like this just snapping them up, what's the point?

r163 - aruche - 3.526 seconds

r164.2 - aruche - 40.983 seconds

r165 - aruche - 58.347 seconds

r166 - aruche - 4.576 seconds

r167 - aruche - 4.35 seconds

r168 - aruche - 4.027 seconds

r169 - aruche - 3.277 seconds

Give me a break. Can't stand hackers.

Is this for real? aruche must be Ashley's favorite

Here's a few thoughts.

I can usually guess when Ashley is going to make a release as he suddenly becomes VERY active in the Bugs section, trying to squash as many as possible.

The release also nearly always takes place on a Friday.

So my guess is some people could be using 'Auto Refresh' hacks on a potential URL - i.e. the next should be 'https://www.scirra.com/construct2/releases/r170' - and this means they will nearly always be the first to get the release.

It should be easy enough for Tom to check if this is happening, and if so, stomp on it very hard!

If you look at his profile , he has 23 lightning draws , now what's the odds of that !

Surely this would bump up his reputation, allowing him to get a high rep without really doing much of anything. Strangely, he also has 23 quick draws. 40 posts, and over 5000 rep.

That reminds me of The Lightning Thief.

My guess is that it is done using wget shell script or browser based download manager.

The server should know the user cookie in order to identify the winner.

I'd love to know how the notification e-mails are sent out - the one time I've managed to grab a medal for a download I noticed by e-mail was received about 4 minutes after the lightning draw times, are they sent in batches? Or do certain mail providers take longer to vet mass e-mails?

Either way the download race has always amused me, I think it's great fun!

I'd love to know how the notification e-mails are sent out - the one time I've managed to grab a medal for a download I noticed by e-mail was received about 4 minutes after the lightning draw times, are they sent in batches? Or do certain mail providers take longer to vet mass e-mails?

Either way the download race has always amused me, I think it's great fun!

+1

Either way the download race has always amused me, I think it's great fun!

I think it's great fun too! But only if it's fair. Reputation is a good way of letting people know at a glance how much they use the software. This aruche is a newbie that's taking advantage.

Could also be that he is an active twitter follower... I managed the lightning draw with the last release, as I have a plugin in my browser which instantly notices me of a new tweet... saw it, clicked the link and downloaded.

Could also be that he is an active twitter follower... I managed the lightning draw with the last release, as I have a plugin in my browser which instantly notices me of a new tweet... saw it, clicked the link and downloaded.

7 times in a row? Most approximately around 4 seconds? That's some very unlikely fast reactions.

not really... for the recent releases, I were always close to the lightning draw.

I'm usually at work, when a new release is available, my browser just triggers me that I got a new message on twitter, I click that little bird in my browser see that it is scirra, click the link, hit the download button and done.

not really... for the recent releases, I were always close to the lightning draw.

I'm usually at work, when a new release is available, my browser just triggers me that I got a new message on twitter, I click that little bird in my browser see that it is scirra, click the link, hit the download button and done.

If you can do that 7 times in a row averaging 4 seconds with that method, I'll fund your next game. Especially seeing as Ashley or Tom actually need to post to Twitter when it's uploaded... which is usually a few seconds after it's been uploaded. 30 seconds, I can understand. 4? No chance, unless you were lucky.

Nobody is THAT lucky.

:) at least, with the last release I can't see him on the list at all

Lol! Strange that as soon as he's publicly called out on it, he fails to appear.

AnD4D - maybe he moonlights as the Flash.