• The final stats are in!
  • Fast and Furious Folders repeat as Folding M@Dness champions squeaking by the Insaniacs by 776,792 points.
  • FAHaholics Anonymous claim third place over the Fanatical Folders by 6,323,850 points.
  • Protein Prophets are atop the consolation bracket getting past the Crunching Tigers Folding Dragons by 2,592,601 points.
  • Last but not least the mighty F@Holding Pimps prevail over FoldCo by 3,647,535 points.
• The final standings are:
  1. Fast and Furious Folders
  2. Insaniacs
  3. FAHaholics Anonymous
  4. Fanatical Folders
  5. Protein Prophets
  6. Crunching Tigers Folding Dragons
  7. F@Holding Pimps
  8. FoldCo
• At the end of the day though, we all win because of the amazing amount of science we accomplished this past month.  We put up some pretty amazing numbers in March and accomplished all our contest goals and more:
  • Set a new monthly high mark with 1,163,142,903 points!
  • Outproduced [H] by 72,527,781 points in March!
  • Added more than 50 additional active folders over the previous month!
  • Set a record daily high production just shy of 42 million points!
    
    
• Once again I would ask that if you haven't taken the time to fill out the feedback form, you take a couple minutes to do so.  Now is the time to lets us know what was good, what was bad, and how things can be better!  Your feedback is highly valued and will help to improve future contests.  
• A big thanks to Drougnor for once again providing our hourly stats updates.
• Thanks to Punchy for
  •  running our the gift distribution as smoothly as ever,
  • sending out PMs to make sure people didn't miss out on the contest,
  • providing the chatbox we use on the contest site
• Thanks to DutchForce for encouraging me back in January to run the contest again when I had my doubts as well as helpful suggestions along the way.
• Everyone who took the time and responsibility to be a team captain (in order by team):
  
  • Crunching Tigers Folding Dragons: Xavier_Zepherious
  • F@Holding Pimps: Drougnor and DutchForce
  • FAHaholics Anonymous: rjbelans
  • Fanatical Folders: OLD-SLO-GAMER
  • Fast and Furious Folders: redcloud
  • FoldCo: sajinor
  • Insaniacs: Madrias and Shykal
  • Protein Prophets: AcesofDeath7
• Everyone that generously donated something to the folding gift pool that we gave away at the end of the contest.  The generosity of this community never ceases to amaze me and certainly make events like this that much more special.  
  
• Everyone that participated in this contest.  You truly exemplify what makes this team so great and why these contests are any fun in the first place.  Without everyone that signed up, it'd just be Drougnor and I tracking your stats and looking them over while having a few beers (wait a minute - that doesn't sound so bad!).  Really though, it is the community that makes these events what they are, so Thank You All! With any luck, we'll be back to do it again next year...
  • Now its time to turn our attention to the Chimp Challenge

• If you have not already done so, please get your picks or updates for the gifts completed in the 24 hours.  The drawing will take place on Sunday with distribution immediately following.  We will continue to accept picks until the drawing is complete, but once the drawing takes place on Sunday cannot guarantee that they will be accepted.
• Please take a moment to provide feedback for the 2013 Folding M@Dness contest.  Your feedback is crucial to helping us improve contests in the future!

• Please take a moment to provide feedback for the 2013 Folding M@Dness contest.  Your feedback is crucial to helping us improve contests in the future!
• As the 2013 Folding M@Dness winds down, its time we turn our sights from friendly competition with each other to a friendly competition with other teams:  Check out EVGA's 2013 Chimp Challenge thread here.

• The first head-to-head round has ended and final round has begun!
  • The Insaniacs prevail over the FAHaholics by 518,848 points!
  • The Fast and Furious Folders prevail over the Fanatical Folders by 561,474 points!
  • The Protein Prophets prevail over FoldCo by 1,855,425 points!
  • The Crunching Tigers Folding Dragons prevail over the FAHolding Pimps by 5,474 points!
• The final round matchups are:
  • Insaniacs vs Fast and Furious Folders
  • FAHaholics Anonymous vs Fanatical Folders
  • Protein Prophets vs Crunching Tigers Folding Dragons
  • FoldCo vs FAHolding Pimps
• The final round ends midnight 3/31/13.
  
• The process of gift selection will begin this week.  Look for details to be posted soon by Punchy.

• There are just over 24 hours left in the first head to head round before the finals begin tomorrow at midnight (Eastern US).
• There are also just over 24 hours left to donate to the gift pool that will be randomly given away to lucky contest participants to celebrate all that we have (and will) accomplish this month!  Once again the EVGA Folding Community has shown incredible generosity!! 
• Punchy will be posting information on how to select your gift preferences this weekend.
  
  • Unfortunately, once this process begins, we will not be able to accept any additional donations so be sure to get any last minute contributions in as soon as possible.  
  • All selections must be made before the contests ends on March 31st, so make sure you keep an eye out for additional information to follow this weekend. 

• A big thank you to everyone that has donated anything to the gift pool so far, the generosity of this community never ceases to amaze!
• The last day to donate a gift to be given away at the end of the contest will be Saturday March 23.  No donations can be accepted after this date.
• The gift selection/ranking process will begin Sunday March 24 and end on Saturday March 30.
• The drawing will take place Sunday March 31 with distribution to be arranged between winners and donors individually thereafter.

• The points have been reset and the first head to head round is underway! 
  
  • FAHaholics Anonymous vs Insaniacs
  • Fast and Furious Folders vs Fanatical Folders
  • Protein Prophets vs FoldCo
  • F@Holding Pimps vs Crunching Tigers Folding Dragons
• If any team has a folder that has stopped producing, please let me know via PM.
  • chris619 has been removed from the contest and his points replaced. 
• The round will end midnight (Eastern Time Zone) on Saturday 3/23/13.
• We've put up some very impressive numbers so far in the first two weeks:
  • Hit a 40 million point day 4 times so far, with a highest day of 40,787,856.  Anyone want to go for 41?
  • Nearly 570 million points in the first 15 days, well on our way to 1 billion points.  If we keep pumping out those points, 1.1 billion is within our grasp, but I think 1.2 billion might be out of reach (although, I've said such things before and been proven wrong time and time again by the amazing efforts of this team).
  • Outproduced [H] by 40 million points so far in the month of March.    Can we make it to 100 million by the end of the month? 
  • Around 40 more active folders than at our peak last month!  More than 140 more active folders than at our lowest point last month! 
  • Wherever we end up at the end of the month...the work this team is doing is extremely impressive!    And at the end of the day we're all winning...
• As always, please send along any suggestions or anything else you would like to see in the contest.

• Time Table Updated:
  • The current round to determine seeds will end 11:59 PM Friday 3/15/13 (Eastern Time US), with the first head to head playoff round beginning immediately thereafter.  
  • The first head to head playoff round will run 3/16/13 through 11:59 PM Saturday 3/23/13.
  • The second head to head playoff round will run 3/24/13 through 11:59 PM Sunday 3/31/13.

• On the home page I've added trackers for our quest for 1,000,000,000 points and our goal of out producing [H] for the month.
• To date, we've already accomplished our goal of a 40 million point day on 3/7/13 (and again on 3/9/13 if you count the stats glitch) and attracting additional interest to folding based on our jump in monthly production and active folders.
• As of today, we are well on our way to a 1,000,000,000 point month.  As bucks folders drop off, however, it may become a bit more difficult toward the end of the month so keep pouring it on now!  Additionally, we could go also go for this highest monthly production by a team and try to top [H]'s 1,024,564,940 points in December.
• Also as of today, we are 17.6 million points ahead of [H] for the month of March!    Again, this may become a bit more difficult toward the end of the month as bucks folders drop off so lets continue to pour on the points and watch [H] squirm! 
• I'll also be adding additional information about individual's production relative to their reported production as soon as I get the change.

• In regard to the contest options presented here, a final decision will be made by Friday.  After reading all the feedback provided and much consideration for what is both fairest and most engaging/entertaining for all participants I am currently leaning toward leaving the core of the contest as is.  As several have pointed out, it is the fairest to all and the contest as designed is not inherently broken. 
• That being said, however, the contest it can leave those that are overproducing a bit unmotivated to push themselves to the limit.  Two ideas that arose from the feedback provided are a separate category for a month long unrestricted team points competition (which team can produce the most raw folding output ignoring contest points), as well as an over-producers competition (which team's individuals have the most total overproduction).  Either of these options would be a secondary competition that play out along side the main Folding M@Dness contest.  AB has been so kind as to create a poll to determine which of these two options is preferred, please take the time to vote in it here.   
• As always, any additional feedback is both welcome and encouraged.

• Due to the unpredictable nature of folding, I am considering 2 options that would allow folders to receive full credit for their additional production and would appreciate any relevant feedback

1. Allow captains to redistribute the reported points among their team members to compensate for those that are under-producing to those that are over-producing.  This would decrease the amount of partial credit received on the team, without altering its total reported PPD.  This would allow the captains to optimize their folding line ups.  It would occur one time during the preliminary round and perhaps (or perhaps not) one additional time before the playoffs. 
2. Allowing captains to distribute an additional amount of reported PPD (100,000 for instance) among their team.  This would allow those that are capable of producing more to get addition contest points for their production and result in an increase in reported PPD for each team.  It would occur one time during the preliminary round and perhaps (or perhaps not) one additional time before the playoffs.

• Fire up those rigs - the 2013 Folding M@Dness contest begins in less than 2 hours!
• Due to outside obligations for both myself and drougnor, teams and stats will not start posting to the contest site until tomorrow evening at the earliest (or possibly Saturday morning), but stats are being collected starting at midnight tonight! (U.S. Eastern Time) Don't worry, all points will be accounted for.
• We've got some lofty goals to achieve this contest, including the first 1 billion point month for Team 111065, so lets come out swinging! 
• Good luck to all!

• The official sign up period ends today, however, it will be extended until the contests starts at drougnor's discretion.  Beware that he is very busy these days, so when he closes the door on the stats gathering, you're out of luck.

• Team pages have been made for this year's contest.
• Captains, please let me know (via PM) the following:
  • Team Co-captain (optional)
  • Any draft picks for your team (no guarantees that you will get them)
  • Any banners/themes/colors/whatever you'd like on your team page.
• We've got a few more days of sign ups left - so get the word out!

• Please consider captaining a team this contest.
  
  • We still need at least one new team to replace the Ins@nity F@Holders.
  • tanner2 is unable to manage the Fanatical Folders due to outside obligations, and it would be great if someone would able to fill in for him this year.  Alternatively, you can create your own team to replace the FF's.
  • We're still waiting on rjbelans...

• Prepare to unleash the M@Dness!  Contest registration is now officially open.  You can sign up for the contest here.
  
  • Please note the changes in the contest points system here.  Cliffs Notes version:
    
    • You can report whatever points production you want.  This will be your base point for calculating contest points.
    • If you under-report production too much, you will not maximize your potential contribution to your team. 
    • If you over-report production too much, you will not maximize your potential contribution to your team.
    • Your contest points are determined by number of points you report, which will be your base points.
    • The amount of points you can produce over your estimate depends on: your base point value, the production of other contestants (if everyone is overproducing more, you will be allowed to do so as well), and the performance of your team (in the event of disaster, you can make up for lost team production).
    • You will never lose contest points for producing more folding points.  In fact, you will always gain additional contest points for any additional folding production.  You may, however, not receive full contest points for folding points beyond a threshold (this threshold is determined by the relative performance of everyone else).
  • Most importantly, you can put whatever number you want for your base points. 
  • No matter what you report, you always have incentive to fold as much as possible.
• After all the complaints last year, I was hoping that more people would provide feedback on the points system.  Last year's system was a work-in-progress and was announced as such, and prone to a few hiccups.  A lot of thought has gone into this year's system and I am finally comfortable with the implementation.
• Folding teams that have committed to returning this year so for:
  • Crunching Tigers/Folding Dragons
  • F@holding Pimps
  • Fast and Furious Folders
  • Protein Prophets
  • Mad's Maniacs/Ins@nity F@Holders
• We need need a additional members willing to captain a folding team.
  • The Maniacs and Ins@nity F@Holders are combining forces into one team, we are looking for at least one new team this year.
  • Due to time constraints, tanner2 is unable to run the Fanatical Folders this year (but will still be participating).  It would be great if someone would step up and fill in to keep one of the original teams in the competition this year!
  • rjbelans has not let me know if the FAHaholics will be returning this year.

• The 2013 Folding M@Dness contest will begin March 1, 2013!
• Contest registration will begin this weekend and end February 26, 2013.  Late registration will be allowed at the discretion of the contest organizers.  No registration is possible once the contest begins.
• There will be significant changes to the contest points/scoring system this year!  More information will be available shortly.

Madrias

Still awaiting word on net access, but if we can get our line hooked back up, the Maniacs will return with a little bit of a twist...

Madrias

I'm going to be aiming to shoot some Prophets with cotton balls!

Shykal

notfordman

TMI: Shy....LOL   Is this the TZ challenge or just plain Madness?

I don't know what you were thinking , But I meant chocolate, I have a sweet tooth. He stuffs me with chocolate or cake.


Just plain folding madness, it really does get wacky [enter wacky races cartoon theme song here].

Oh and XZ started it not me!

madrias
I'm going to be aiming to shoot some Prophets with cotton balls! 

Xavier Zepherious

I see troy has not updated the web pages yet

he said this weekend?
maybe he decided to have a night out on the town
if so.... good for him

CT/FD  will be back

kerryd

Troy I just signed up ,
https://sites.google.com/site/foldingmadness/home
Hope I did not sign up to sooooon. Got to looking and its still mostly set up for last year.

• Report too low, and you don't maximize your ability to score contest points
• Report too high, well that should be obvious