CRATE CRAWL
You have been playing CRATE CRAWL, a web game based on the "links" table inside the SimilaritiesEngine.com music recommender system.
FAQ
Q:
The selection of albums that appear in the game
play seems kind of... limited. What's up with that?
A:
The game play works off the Similarities Engine
main "links" table. That table was created by tabulating 17,285
"sets of 5" from real people, as of 8-12-2026. That is not a bad number
for a system like this, but it will all work better when a couple thousand more new
modern users have put in their favorites. Right now the database is
strongest in the area of 1990's alternative rock, but it is getting
more widely knowledgeable all the time.
Q:
I'm interested in finding a nice readable primer on
how this type of collaborative filtering works. Where can I find
one?
A:
My expired patent from 1998 is not a bad place to
start. Find it here.
Q:
Are you kidding?
A:
Pretty much, yes. Patents are a pain to learn to
read. (But the basic primer is in there, you just have to skim past a
bunch of patent fluff to get to it.) I hope to have a nice primer video
of how it all works done soon, I'll post it here.
Q:
Where is all this going?
A:
Who knows. Get in touch if you want to influence
that.
Q:
Where's the Easter egg that appears somewhere on the
recommender system pages?
A:
If I told you that, it wouldn't be an Easter egg,
now would it?