Bug Report
(Resolved) minor bug with random page [#1505]
As a frequent user of the random page function, it occurs to me that
- it occasionally returns Homepages, despite these being excluded. I suspect this is because it really returns the alias, which is another page type than Homepage.
- it has a tendency to pick the same page twice in a short span, against not only the popular odds but also the statistical odds. This is not even disturbing for its most frequent user, only peculiar.
regarding point 1: true. You just exclude homepages, but not aliases. As there are over 120 aliases of homepages it is not surprising that you land on a alias for a homepage occasionally.
regarding point 2: ![[ext]](images/extlink.gif)
some math shows that the probability of hitting on the same page twice is about 30% if you use random page 100 times. Add in the fact that SL currently has over 2000 aliases and the odds that you hit the same page twice increases dramatically.
I have added some functionality for SL's #1 RandomPageJunkie :o)
(sad face for being accused of falling for the birthday paradox) I believe it is a random function. My math did not take the aliases into account. Even then I had some strong incidences, but then again multiple experiments with the same odds will also produce anomalies ...
Cheers
Didn't want to accuse you of anything. Actually, I'm using MySQL's rand() function about which its documentation says:
RAND() is not meant to be a perfect random generator, ...
I assume this means that rand() is good enough, but that it's not a cryptographically secure random generator.
I ran some tests and with aliases there is a 10% chance that you hit the same page within 50 tries, and a 2% chance that you hit the same page within 25 tries.
Maybe your memory is playing a trick on you: I looked through the logs and you had only three duplicates within the last three days (250 random pages served). Note: this does not take aliases into account, so you may have seen more duplicates.
I assume that the current number of pages as listed by %% Frontpageblurb %% includes the number of alias pages. It seems more informative to exclude the alias pages from this count, no?
Probably true. One could also argue that homepages should be excluded. Current counts are:
- Aliases: 2190
- Homepages: 1732
- Other: 13281
I should show this to the people who admire me for not having a TV.
I hope you paint the smilies wherever I don't bother to.
![[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]](images/stone-hello.png "Sensei's Library")