Who are you people?

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

Eric Cohen wrote:
> Although I often don't vote and oftener don't define, I still think
> I might be in the running for most definitions in a row without
> winning the prize.  Any archived statistics on that?

Come on.  Do you really think anybody keeps track of that stuff?

Okay, so the item of work sitting on my desk right now is something I've
been avoiding all day, and after a bunch of house-cleaning, I cast my
procrastinating eye on Fictionary statistics (baseball nerds, move
over!).  I have quasi-complete statistics dating back only as far as the
"ustulation" round of January 1997; prior to that, I do have the results
of a few rounds where I was the word-picker, but they weren't
consecutive, so I have omitted them, at least for now.  And I'm sure I
must have missed something here and there, but hey, I'm just
procrastinating, not doing research.  So, what have I learned?

Well, the most prolific participants over the past six years have been
David Randall, who submitted 88 definitions in 96 rounds, and me, with 86
definitions in 100 rounds.  Judith is close behind, with 80 definitions
in 84 rounds  He might have the longest participation streak as well,
with 66 consecutive rounds from "ustulation" through to "asternal" in
January 2000.  Or the streak might go to Pierre, who might have 77, from
"hutchet" in June 1998 to the present, if you count the "mesenchyme"
round, where he knew the word and thus just made comments (I think).  If
it counts, then it's also the longest current streak; if not, then the
longest current streak is my 36, from "atrip" in December 2000.

"Tagbacks" (someone winning two rounds, separated by choosing the word)
have occurred eight times, by:
Ranjit - fidola, baubee, glusk
Dominus - baubee, glusk, salacacaby (yeah, it was tagback-back!)
Elliott - sulcate, stringhalt, latticinio
Kir - pistareen, raffinose, meristic
Aussie - ambrette, colorstruck, darapti
Fran - wamble, grig, raddle
Melissa - chott, dorbel, daryolys
Pierre - hyemal, acnestis, shirr

I will note that there are also eight anomalies in my chart, where the
word does not appear to have been chosen by the winner of the previous
round.  Some of these I understand (like when Eric Zuckerman finally won
a round ("gambier"), submitted the word "zax", distributed the
definitions, and was never heard from again (Elliott eventually picked up
the ball)).  But others are unexplained, and it's quite possible that I'm
missing a few rounds.

There are 103 words in this span, with 33 players, and with an average
round lasting about 22 days.  The longest gap was 66 days (the "zax"
hiatus), with the longest actual round being the 50 days of "raffinose". 
The quickest round was "contango", at 9 days.

So who has submitted the most definitions without winning?  It's a little
murky.  I have it as sort of a tie.  Eric indeed did submit 38
consecutive definitions without winning (after having won a couple of
times).  But the tag-team of James Kushner and Nova Myhill are also on
the board with 38 definitions and no wins.  But they did pick the word
once, and I'm not entirely sure why (it was during a period of bizarre
experimental scoring, and I *think* somebody else won, but I'm not
positive).  I'm pretty sure that's not a place where I could be missing a
word.  Who knows?  There are 10 other people who definitely never won a
round, with from 1 to 14 definitions submitted.

Is there anything else that would be interesting to examine?

Jean-Joseph