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#1: Brian Bellis (mootpoint) on Jan 24, 2022

I'll start.

I prefer to solve 15-25 width and height multi-color(but b & w is okay too) with a 2.75-3.5 difficulty rating.

Oh, I also prefer landscape to portrait.

And I like a blotted clues too.

I don't like them more than 50 or 60 pixels tall - those tall puzzles give me scrolly-osis. Any width is okay (my PC monitor is a 50" 4KTV that you can find for under $300 since it doesn't have fancy features like HDR)

My preference is about 3.5-4 difficulty, but I don't mind them being difficulty 5 if they are 30x30 or less.
IF they're a 5 difficulty and much larger than that, then the image needs to be worth the time it takes to solve.

I'll solve the easier ones too, as they're often themed after a joke that is good for a laugh.

About the only things I don't care for are "quilts" (of any size), or simple images (like a cartoon character) that are 70x90 for no good reason, when they could have been a quarter that size and still looked good.

lol "scrolly-osis"

Of course, I have a special fondness for smaller b&w puzzles, but I enjoy any puzzle with a unique solution. ^_^

A recognizable picture is ideal, but a nonsense picture with a really good description is also satisfying.

I vastly prefer landscape to portrait orientation, as I usually solve on my laptop. 50x30 is about as large as I really enjoy.

I won't even attempt one that doesn't have a unique solution.

My thanks to all of you who create puzzles, to Jan for creating this site, and to Valerie for keeping it going. I have absolutely no ability to produce anything artistic, but you all have given me countless hours of pleasure solving the ones you post.

20x20 BW, with or without the "black square" clues.

Unique solutions are the only ones I willing knowingly solve. I prefer blotted puzzles and landscape orientation. The largest size I will attempt is 65 x 50, and actually a little smaller is best. I like a difficult of 3 and above. Multiple colors are fun, and yet I think b&w are probably my favorite.

I like smaller puzzles for a quick solve, but bigger ones, up to 50 tall, are fun for once in a while when I have time to kill. I won't do the puzzles that have multiple solutions and rarely do puzzles that require too much look-ahead. Simple edge logic and smile logic is as hard as I care to do. I think series of puzzles are great. I don't much care for patterns, and I really don't like haphazard blotches of color that have no meaning.

A response to the title, before I even begin:
Some days I try not to.

And after the puzzle. Fun variety of stuff within this one.

I like geometrics, whether the whole puzzle or worked into a different sort of general image. How many colors doesn't matter to me, but B&W only can be less fun. As for size, I have a 23"d monitor, so really big puzzles are tricky. I need to do them in parts. I think my next monitor will be bigger.

Thanks for these, Brian.

I like brain busting 20x20 puzzles.
But I enjoy different size and difficulty level too.
The only thing I don't like are the puzzle with multiple solutions.

20X20, any colors, difficulty 2 to 4.

Bigger puzzles (above 50x50) are more interesting on old style paper version.
Unique solution is recquired. Every time I see its multi-solution, I delete that puzzle without solving...

Didn't have to read past #1 to see a preference I share. ~20x20 with color and blots = Perfect! But, of course, there's some flexibility. I also agree with Belita #8 -- I'm more often ready for multiple smaller puzzles than I am one larger puzzle.

I'm with most of you - unique solutions only (with a couple of rare exceptions), fairly small (thanks a bunch for "Scrolly-osis", hilarious BT!), but the occasional large masterpieces like those of Rebelcat, marz, and several others. I also like to start puzzles and then store them for later.

I abhor the ones that make me overclick, like checkerboard patterns.

There has to be a good image at the end, whether it's a perfect rendering, or just something funny or clever.

I really miss the noir scenes from maceraseven.

Life is better with webpbn and all of you.

I typically don't try puzzles bigger than 30x30, just because I don't spend long times doing these at one sitting. Difficulty up to about 4, any number of colors, blots are definitely OK. I always look for the smaller (bigger than 10x10, but 20x20 B&W is my sweet spot) puzzles first, but the slightly larger ones provide cool images often.

One of the most fun puzzles I ever solved was a roughly circular b&w image, with a lot of vine-y detail around the edges. It solved from the outside in, and I had to keep picking around the edges, to find the next square. I don't remember the name or size or really the content of the image (possibly something like a satyr), but I really enjoyed solving it. :)

How's that for vague?

I like no bigger than 25x25. If it's 20x20 or smaller, I'll try it no matter what the rating. I prefer tackling larger puzzles with an easier rating. Because I also suffer from "scrolly-osis" I tend to use the hint button on big puzzles just to help find what line I should be studying.

I like all puzzles except multiple solutions, patterns and mazes. I avoid very large ones I hate to get "scrolls-osis" (great one besmirched). I also try not to pay attention to quality ratings, since I find out that often times "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder".

I enjoy solving small puzzles. I love a good 5x5 or 10x10, on up to 20x20, though I'll go up to 25 or 30 occasionally, and sometimes much bigger for a creator whose puzzles I especially enjoy solving. I agree with Bill that I dislike checkerboards or anything else with endless lines of one-pixel clues. Any number of colors is fine. I'm okay with a range of difficulty, but happiest when it's not a super-easy fill-in or wildly hard. If it's wildly hard I'll probably wander away instead of solving it. I especially like puzzles with images that are recognizable or beautiful or cute, good stories, humor, learning new things, getting to know something new about a person here, and blots can be so much fun!

If I don't try solving a puzzle, as the administrator I feel that I should eventually at least look at its image. I try to balance being aware of what's on the site and available when needed with wanting the site to belong to everybody, which means that I aim to *not* be in every conversation.

Puzzles with a person in them seem to almost always have a male person. I'd love more of a gender balance.

BT, I love the word "scrolly-osis!"

I would love to see the puzzle contests come back!

Hmm, I've done a bunch of female portraits, but I suppose I've done more male portraits...

I'd love to see the contest return, as well, because I have trouble coming up with new ideas without a framework to go by. But I can totally understand the work involved, in coming up with new topics all the time AND solving and judging each and every puzzle!

I'm willing to go back to judging the WCP, but we need more judges! Anyone?

I prefer smaller puzzles because I have a small screen.

ditto #2, 5, 7, and 14. there! now you all can scroll up and down to reread those comments. :-) I feel like we just had this discussion, didn't we? or was that an older puzzle? Eh, well, whether easy or difficult, I want the payoff. So in my opinion, some puzzles were worth the time, some wasted my time. A nice picture, a fun joke, a puzzle within a puzzle, etc.

I prefer B&W, max height 30, max width 50. Difficulty 3.5 max. No blotting!
I love symmetric patterns and those with circular(?) symmetry.
If they have colors I prefer the ones with large sections of same color,if I have to switch colors many times I don't solve it.

I prefer smaller puzzles - ideally 20x20 - 30x30 and line & color logic only.

My favorite size is 20x20, and I like B&W and colors, and I love blots! I'll do 25x25, but I shun the larger ones. I like medium difficulty puzzles, hard enough for a challenge, but not hard enough to leave me staring at the puzzle for twenty minutes without a clue where to go next.

20 X 20 to about 40 x 50. Anything bigger doesn't fit the screen. I print 2 color to do in pencil on road trips, but like 4 or 5 colors for the computer.

The image made me think of the old Space Invaders video game!

I tend to like smaller puzzles. I mostly require unique solvability and somewhat avoid guessing. I dislike mazes, QR codes, patterns, and fiddly (lots of 1's and small runs). Anything with a title of "I was bored" is usually not worth trying out.

Scrolly-osis is a pain. It would be greatly reduced if the arrow for the hint key was on the same side of the puzzle as the clues. I'm frequently doing (hint, scroll to the arrow, move the cursor to the right row/column, scroll to find the clues). Move the arrow to the other side and scrolling is often not needed, usually you can move forward just by looking at one of the top/bottom/left/right side of the puzzle only once you have the hint. I often use the keyboard arrow keys to move the clue lists to the appropriate side for where I am expecting to make progress next. I limit my selection to about 50h x 45v (but when there are long clue lists those limits go down because I can't see the reduced magnification as well). Moving the hint arrow might increase that to 55x50.

I enjoy an image that jumps out at you only at the last moment, but I like imagining alternate interpretations of images, so I enjoy solving puzzles that don't have a great image, too.

I also love the comments and discussion, and I'm glad that it is generally so polite. (I know there have been a few bad apples but they were dealt with politely at first and firmly when necessary. Kudos to the moderators.)

I don't normally look at the feedback ratings - I'm able to decide in very short order if I'm going to abandon solving a puzzle.

Blots are fine with me, colour is too.

John - The keyboard shortcut for the "hint" button might help. It's L, or lowercase "l."

(In case it's useful to anybody, the FAQ page lists all the keyboard shortcuts. It is here: https://webpbn.com/faq.html )

Yep, I use that regularly - it's a great speedup - otherwise there might be additional scrolling required to get the "hint" button visible. It's the "scroll to the bottom to see where the arrow is", "remember the correct column", scroll to the top to see the clues to see where that column can be modified". (With top/bottom/left/right, bottom/top/right/left, column/column/row/row being substituted in those sentences as appropriate for the edge of the puzzle being worked upon.)

That makes sense.

My preference is for B&W and on the smaller side, with 20x20 being the sweet spot. I also prefer the width and height to be in increments of 5. I like puzzles that offer a challenge in the line logic, but I also like those that require advanced techniques. I will only solve a puzzle with line logic if that is all that it requires as the logic is often my biggest reward from solving.

I will do almost any puzzle; however, I will not touch a multiple solution one. I also tend to shy away from the really large puzzles, especially those with a large height.

I also will not do puzzles marked as trivial. These get marked as completed and I move on. I do not like repetitive pattern type puzzles either.

Blots I could take or leave. I will still do them, but in general I do not enjoy them as much.

The image quality is secondary to the logic, and I consider it a bonus if the image looks nice or "pops" at the end but it is in no way required for me to enjoy the solve.

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