Talk:Midnight Geohash

Unclear and self-contradictory timing rules

Someone brought it up on the IRC and taking a closer look, the rules are somewhat self-contradictory. Currently it says:

• First midnight after announcement
• First night after announcement
• 0:00 east of W30, 24:00 west of W30

There are two issues with that definition:

• On weekends, the first midnight after announcement is 0:00 also west of W30, which would mean that there are different times to go there depending on the day.
• In the very east - like, Australia and New Zealand - the coordinates are announced around or after midnight, making it impossible to go at 0:00.

I want to propose a redefinition like follows:

• 24:00 on all days for W30 to W180
• 0:00 on all days for W30 to E90 (border debatable)
• 24:00 on all days for E90 to E180

At E90 the coordinates are announced around 20:30, still leaving a realistic chance to start on the same evening. This border may be debatable, though. Setting the border to the timezone border UTC+8/UTC+9 would create places where only half an hour is left on weekdays, though.

--Ekorren 22:35, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. At the moment it seems to imply I should do my sunday hash on friday night. :| Juventas 22:44, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Why not change the rules to just "in the middle of the night" so that the hasher can freely choose whether he/she wants to be at the hashpoint at either 0:00 or 23:59? I don't see a reason why we should limit the options at all. --Ilpadre 07:24, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm with Ilpadre here. The timing on when the coordinates become available is so variable from time zone to time zone that whatever the intention of the original proposal was, it is lost in translation. I think if you're at the coordinates at midnight, whether that is the very beginning or the very end of the appropriate day, you have succeeded. Perhaps the original intention WAS to put time pressure on the geohash. if we were to create an achievement for reaching the geohash in a minimum time after the announcement, what should the requirement be? One hour? Two? Half an hour? -Robyn 07:30, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

I always understood it to be the first midnight on the day in question after announcement of the coordinates. (meaning that I have got a "wrong midnight" geohash in my collection.) But to remove such constraints is fine with me. I also like Robyn's idea for a new achievement. The problem(?) is that it might require you to visit the coordinates for a given day on the day before that day. - Lyx 12:06, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Myself I had understood the intention not only to give some time pressure, but also make it a specific midnight so that there is only one midnight per day. This to make it a bit more fair to those time zones where the coordinates are announced after midnight of the same day. But anyway, most achievements aren't globally fair anyway. Giving up any rule about which midnight to use would probably be the easiest solution. Relet: As the original creator of the achievement, do you have any thoughts?

About the proposed fast geohash - sounds like an idea, but like Lyx I also see the problem that this often (i.e. always in Europe, everywhere on weekends) means to get to the coordinates before the day they are valid, and go there again on the right day to make it a successful expedition. Also people who work on weekdays will never have a chance to do it. --Ekorren 15:03, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

I concede your point about the fast geohash Ekorren. I hadn't taken in the fact that Europeans always got their geohashes the day before. No wonder those Germans are getting so many! -Robyn 18:43, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

New date, previous opening value?

I know none of the tools support this, but it's there in the original comic - you use the current date, and the previous day's DJIA opening value. PhilHibbs 12:12, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you wanted to tell us with that statement. Anyway, using the previous day's DJIA is correct only on saturdays, dow holidays, and on weekdays east of W30. In those cases all of the good tools do support it. In any other case, this does not yank a valid hash. --Ekorren 12:17, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

My interpretation of the original comic was that if you want to geohash in the wee small hours before the NYSE opens, you use yesterday's opening value. PhilHibbs 13:23, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

No, you don't. You just wait for the opening. There is one hash for each day, and it's only valid on that day. --Ekorren 13:26, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

OK I'm a hashnoob, still learning the conventions. PhilHibbs 14:09, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

No worries, we were all new at one time, usually in the recent past. As a geohasher on the US east coast, I am well aware of the pains of the "late" opening of the DOW, but each place has their quirks, and provides their own unique challenges. --aperfectring 15:27, 24 July 2009 (UTC)