Suggestion: Show % of traits on grid

[Draco Nacht]

As breeders we often discuss the recessiveness of a fur/trait on the grid but we have no idea how many of any given trait are still on the grid. This would be particularly useful for retired traits and furs where, for example, we can see if red tabbies really are vanishing from the grid.

I think it would help breeders to understand that there can be rarities unrelated to recessiveness and maybe more people will breed cute and underrated furs like the AWESOME BURMESE PLATINUM & SABLES more. And maybe some tabbies and other stuff too.

[Misa Delight]

Yes please! I second this request!

[Susannah Luminos]

(12-14-2013 08:45 PM)Draco Nacht Wrote:  As breeders we often discuss the recessiveness of a fur/trait on the grid but we have no idea how many of any given trait are still on the grid. This would be particularly useful for retired traits and furs where, for example, we can see if red tabbies really are vanishing from the grid.

I think it would help breeders to understand that there can be rarities unrelated to recessiveness and maybe more people will breed cute and underrated furs like the AWESOME BURMESE PLATINUM & SABLES more. And maybe some tabbies and other stuff too.

yes, please!

[Theodore Nacht]

THIS. Yes plz. It is my grown-up Christmas wish.

[Deer Thistle]

I would love to have a feature like this! It'd be really interesting to see which traits are truly favored by the community and to potentially motivate people to breed what they love, not just the flavor of the month. Sometimes the traits we love become nearly lost as the years go by with the introduction of newer, and more recessive traits.

Even a little overview of the top 10 most popular and least popular traits for each category would be awesome to see if this suggestion isn't implemented to its fullest (which it should be!)

[MarissaCloud Resident]

Brilliant idea!

[Giuliana Verrazzano]

I would absolutely love to have this info on the website! YES please!

[Tad Carlucci]

How would you do this?

I'm going to free-flow think .. I'm not speaking to anyone, this is my thinking as "me" the provider and "you" the consumer in an attempt to work through the thinking ...

It would be a simple matter to count all the cats which have this, or that, trait value. But that's probably not very useful.

First off, hidden (recessive) trait values would obviously need to be skipped.

Then we need to decide, do we want to see the Visible trait like the Pedigree Roster, or the Dominant, like the Pedigree Tree?

And, since we're looking at the database, which is the only place this information exists, we'd need to decide which cats to count. Live or boxed? What about pets? And what about those which are too old but not pets?

What I mean is, if you count boxes, you'll count a LOT of boxes which breeders don't want, but kept around for some reason. Charm, for instance, sends boxes to the Menagerie in waves, about three or four times a year. All those Genesis boxes are not wanted, but there's no indication in the database. So are her "I'll get to them when I get to them" boxes to be counted as "Popular"? Because. if so, and if we're counting boxes, I think it's a save bet most, if not all, of the "Top 10 Popular Furs" would be Genesis.

So, boxes will skew the results, don't count them.

Starters will skew the results, don't count them.

And trait values which might appear on a Starter is of no interest to the players, so change what seems to be a company policy and do not count them.

You're probably not really looking for "All-time popular" .. what you're looking for is "What is currently popular" so let's count all live cats less than .. hmm .. how's 60 days of age sound?

Now, is that really what you wanted? Think about it carefully, Your results are NOT "What is popular" they are "What is being produced".

Huh?

Well, I've seen this happen and it'll clearly be a result. What is "popular" what people "want" is .. oh .. let's go Way Back .. Balinese Seal Lynx. But. back then, a lot of people were breeding it out of Russian White and Burmese Platinum. It was SO bad that, for weeks there, it seemed like all you saw was Burmese Platinum. Seal Lynx just would NOT appear. The report you're asking for would have listed Russian White and Burmese Platinum as "Popular" when players really wanted Seal Lynx.

My points being:

* The report would require a lot of ad hoc, arbitrary rules to be even marginally useable.

* Even then it will be strongly influenced by relative dominance (so it might leak dominance information we could use on Saga's charts)

* The results not even represent "popular", only "most-oft produced"

* And, finally, people will find imaginative ways to totally miss-use the results.

So, while it sounds cool, and I would find it personally interesting, if I where KittyCatS Resident, to look at various forms of the report (and I STRONGLY recommend he do so), I think producing it for public consumption would be a Very Bad Idea.

[Vrem Vaniva]

Thanks for this idea, and thanks also for trying to think through how it might be done, and how a report might be interpreted (or sometimes misinterpreted). I wouldn't underestimate the KittyCats breeders' community though -- lots of smart people here, and I'll bet word would get around about how to read the reports properly (and not think, "Oh, everyone has gone ga-ga for Mysterious Whiskers this month! I'd better unpack a few!")
The Kitty of the Month might also skew results, heheee! That's when we're deliberately trying for Genesis Tail and such
It was also suggested in one group that ... it would be helpful to have a survey to ask what people want ... like ... what would they be shopping for if they were buying a new kitty?
Counting just the traits of live cats might be a fairly good indicator of that ... though you're right, Tad, some kitties are live for their hidden traits.
-- agrees with Draco that the Burmese Sable needs revisiting! and the lovely Burmese Platinum too ...

[anna Acanthus]

This would be awesome and great fun too, something more to wreck our neurons with.

* Draco and Theo have pretty good brains so i'm sure they'd have weighed many pros and cons before proposing this . ^^