Investboy
Member of DD Central
Trying to recover from P2P revolution
Posts: 564 
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Post by Investboy on Jan 20, 2016 12:42:05 GMT
First day I got no pictures, second day I was getting one and now I'm getting 2 series! Yep. It seems that if you are using Google's reCAPTCHA a lot (which is what a lot of us are doing on the SM), it determines that you are likely a BOT and give you two batches of pictures. For it to reset you have to give it a rest, and/ or alternate between browsers. For me MS Edge seems to be more forgiven and definitely resets at midnight. As for the other browsers, I think Chrome is punishing me for using other browsers because I always only get pictures. It looks like indeed I'm a bot. Today I saw 3 series of pictures. Street names, signs and bananaaaaasssss.
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cooling_dude
Bye Bye's for the PPI
Posts: 2,853
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Post by cooling_dude on Jan 20, 2016 13:53:00 GMT
No, the best solution is to run some sort of buy queue / allocation, like they do for the initial funding stage, which can probably be defined to be 'fair', regardless of how fast your fingers, PC, internet connection, bot, or brain, happen to be .. however that definitely is more work, and will baffle any foreigners to whom the concept of queueing is .. well .. 'foreign'. 8>. Yep, a prefunding queue for the SM is the best solution (regardless of how "fair" or "unfair" some people may say it is), this current solution just slows everything down for everybody and therefore I am now wasting more time to still not get any parts. I guess the only benefit of this approach is it push all but the most desperate, or time rich people off of the SM and therefore maybe improves chances for these select people, for everyone else its now just not worth the effort. I think the best method is to build your portfolio through the prefunding, and try your luck at the SM. As saving stream have mentioned SM is NOT your primary location to invest; it is instead there as a quick release of your money. As things stand, I like the fact I can access my money when required.
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will
Member of DD Central
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Post by will on Jan 20, 2016 14:24:56 GMT
Well, it would be nice to have the choice as we have had up 'til a couple or so weeks back.
If you're "lucky" you do have.
What we have now is what we've ended up with - unless SavingStream planned it this way.
Now, you're going to end up with a chunk of a higher risk (BIG) loan or nothing ...
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cooling_dude
Bye Bye's for the PPI
Posts: 2,853
Likes: 4,298
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Post by cooling_dude on Jan 20, 2016 15:13:47 GMT
Well, it would be nice to have the choice as we have had up 'til a couple or so weeks back. If you're "lucky" you do have. What we have now is what we've ended up with - unless SavingStream planned it this way. Now, you're going to end up with a chunk of a higher risk (BIG) loan or nothing ... Alternatively..... don't buy large chunks of higher risk loans and just be a bit patient with the prefunding loans. Just because you have money at hand to invest, you don’t have to invest it all in one big lump sum!
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Post by GSV3MIaC on Jan 20, 2016 17:15:21 GMT
Seconded .. the most common big mistake people make is finding what they think is a good thing, and then piling in 200% on day1 before a) they understand it properly, and b) before they have a chance to find out about all the even better things that are out there. 8>. In the case of SS, at the moment, there is a fairly easy out (via the SM) but there is no guarantee that liquidity will stay as ridiculously high as it is right now, and when it comes to eggs/baskets you need to remember that all these loans (or almost all) are secured on the property market .. land and houses. If you wanna know about 'safe as houses' ask the Spanish or Irish.
You also need to think carefully about what level of 'diversification' is achieved by sticking 25% of your capital into 250 acre field tranches 1-4, or multiple different pieces of the same property empire at ex-religious buildings in Gloucs, or whatever.
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mikes1531
Member of DD Central
Posts: 6,453
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Post by mikes1531 on Jan 21, 2016 15:55:42 GMT
Well, it would be nice to have the choice as we have had up 'til a couple or so weeks back. If you're "lucky" you do have. What we have now is what we've ended up with - unless SavingStream planned it this way. Now, you're going to end up with a chunk of a higher risk (BIG) loan or nothing ... Alternatively..... don't buy large chunks of higher risk loans and just be a bit patient with the prefunding loans. Just because you have money at hand to invest, you don’t have to invest it all in one big lump sum! If there was a steady stream of new loans, I'd agree with cooling_dude, and suggest people would be best off investing only via pre-funding. But the last new loan was released on 4/Jan -- nearly three weeks ago -- and there's just one pipeline loan that's as far advanced as Stage 2. That loan is smaller than the last one released, so I'd be surprised -- presuming it's the next to go live -- if allocations to pre-funders were as high as the £300 for the previous one. £300 isn't going to keep the BHs happy, and for small investors putting £300 into a single loan might not be enough diversification. Nobody is going to want SS to rush new loans and jeopardise loan quality, so we do have to be patient, but having a SM that would be useful for diversification as well as liquidation would be a good thing. A queueing system for SM purchases could allow the SM to work for diversification and shouldn't reduce liquidity. In fact, it might increase liquidity by encouraging more people to invest at SS, as there must be some potential investors who have decided not to invest because of the lack of easy diversification opportunities.
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awk
Posts: 276
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Post by awk on Jan 21, 2016 16:28:42 GMT
Hi - just checking, has anyone had a "free pass" recently? or is everyone getting pictures every time now?
Also, are they getting harder? I had one earlier where there were 4 correct answers (trees I think)
thanks
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oldgrumpy
Member of DD Central
Posts: 5,087
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Post by oldgrumpy on Jan 21, 2016 16:52:44 GMT
I had a free pass yesterday on one but was still too late/slow despite being (I thought) quite fast. I mentioned the other day that it took a total of 9 clicks overall to get past one set of pictures; if I am told to do two sets of pictures, that makes 12 or 13 clicks. That is stupidity when time is important.
I have bought 3p of loan parts since this anti-bot ploy started, though I have not really tried hard by sitting staring at the monitor just waiting.
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Post by GSV3MIaC on Jan 21, 2016 17:05:17 GMT
I seem to get 3 or 4 free passes each day, which I have to conserve for stuff I might actually want, since after that is is picture-puzzle (=no hope) time. I have noticed that parts tend to get listed in 'clumps' (like buses .. none for hours and then a bunch come along all at once) .. e.g.
PBL025 £700.00 21/01/2016 12:30:22 21/01/2016 12:30:37 00:00:15
PBL033 £1,514.00 21/01/2016 12:32:20 21/01/2016 12:32:33 00:00:13
PBL044 £150.00 21/01/2016 12:35:15 21/01/2016 12:35:25 00:00:10
PBL044 £1,000.00 21/01/2016 12:36:24 21/01/2016 12:36:37 00:00:13
PBL043 £50.00 21/01/2016 12:38:33 21/01/2016 12:38:46 00:00:13
PBL043 £1,000.00 21/01/2016 12:39:11 21/01/2016 12:39:24 00:00:13
PBL040 £250.00 21/01/2016 12:40:45 21/01/2016 12:40:55 00:00:10
PBL038 £500.00 21/01/2016 12:42:54 21/01/2016 12:43:05 00:00:11
PBL039 £500.00 21/01/2016 12:44:06 21/01/2016 12:44:18 00:00:12
PBL060 £544.00 21/01/2016 12:45:16 21/01/2016 12:45:25 00:00:09
PBL059 £200.00 21/01/2016 12:46:07 21/01/2016 12:46:19 00:00:12
PBL018 £24.00 21/01/2016 13:01:38 21/01/2016 13:01:54 00:00:16
PBL045 £2.55 21/01/2016 13:06:54 21/01/2016 13:07:14 00:00:20
and then nothing for 4 hours.
As you can see from the last 'column' (yeah, OK, forum formatting sux!) you get 10-12 seconds, at best, unless the part is shrapnel in which case most folks can't be a**ed to chase it very hard. midnight to 3AM, times are a bit more reasonable, but the health impact is probably severe. 8>.
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cooling_dude
Bye Bye's for the PPI
Posts: 2,853
Likes: 4,298
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Post by cooling_dude on Jan 21, 2016 17:24:16 GMT
Hi - just checking, has anyone had a "free pass" recently? or is everyone getting pictures every time now? Also, are they getting harder? I had one earlier where there were 4 correct answers (trees I think) thanks I haven't been trying over the last couple of days, but just out of interest I just tested, and won £38.63 in PBL026 without getting any pictures. Definitely helps if you've been inactive from google reCaptcha; it seems to reset. When I was more active in the SM I found that switching browsers helps for a short while. I did find myself winning quite a few investments even when the pictures appeared; I'm Okay up to the point I start getting batches of stupid USA street signs; then I'm totally stuffed!
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cooling_dude
Bye Bye's for the PPI
Posts: 2,853
Likes: 4,298
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Post by cooling_dude on Jan 21, 2016 17:50:42 GMT
As you can see from the last 'column' (yeah, OK, forum formatting sux!) you get 10-12 seconds, at best, unless the part is shrapnel in which case most folks can't be a**ed to chase it very hard. midnight to 3AM, times are a bit more reasonable, but the health impact is probably severe. 8>. Well at least for those with Economy 7 electric meters they can do thier laundry and dishes at the same time and save acouple of pennies  !
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Post by GSV3MIaC on Jan 21, 2016 19:35:10 GMT
I've got a bot .. I mean time-switch.. For that!!
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Post by p2pguy on Jan 21, 2016 20:37:58 GMT
I have noticed that parts tend to get listed in 'clumps' (like buses .. none for hours and then a bunch come along all at once) Same thing just happened, a bunch of parts when up for sale one at a time. I got the pictures every time, and failed to get the lot. I was more successful before the reCaptcha and the bots were about.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2016 22:57:13 GMT
Re: the post a few above by GSV.....
i.e.
PBL025 £700.00 21/01/2016 12:30:22 21/01/2016 12:30:37 00:00:15
PBL033 £1,514.00 21/01/2016 12:32:20 21/01/2016 12:32:33 00:00:13
PBL044 £150.00 21/01/2016 12:35:15 21/01/2016 12:35:25 00:00:10
PBL044 £1,000.00 21/01/2016 12:36:24 21/01/2016 12:36:37 00:00:13
PBL043 £50.00 21/01/2016 12:38:33 21/01/2016 12:38:46 00:00:13
PBL043 £1,000.00 21/01/2016 12:39:11 21/01/2016 12:39:24 00:00:13
PBL040 £250.00 21/01/2016 12:40:45 21/01/2016 12:40:55 00:00:10
PBL038 £500.00 21/01/2016 12:42:54 21/01/2016 12:43:05 00:00:11
PBL039 £500.00 21/01/2016 12:44:06 21/01/2016 12:44:18 00:00:12
PBL060 £544.00 21/01/2016 12:45:16 21/01/2016 12:45:25 00:00:09
PBL059 £200.00 21/01/2016 12:46:07 21/01/2016 12:46:19 00:00:12
All the loan parts listed here were sold by me. I was feeling a bit over exposed in SS so sold a few bits in a 15 minute period of selling. What interested me was that the parts all sold instantly - great liquidity! - I mean by the time I had gone back to the Loans page , each part I had put up for sale had already gone down to £0 available - in seconds. I couldn't understand how a human could have seen it, typed in the amount they wanted and completed the captcha puzzle in those few seconds it took my page to refresh.
I made a point of checking the investor activity to see who the buyer was each time. With the exception of 2 parts, all were snapped up in seconds by m********3.
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mikes1531
Member of DD Central
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Post by mikes1531 on Jan 21, 2016 23:13:48 GMT
What interested me was that the parts all sold instantly - great liquidity! - I mean by the time I had gone back to the Loans page , each part I had put up for sale had already gone down to £0 available - in seconds. I couldn't understand how a human could have seen it, typed in the amount they wanted and completed the captcha puzzle in those few seconds it took my page to refresh. I made a point of checking the investor activity to see who the buyer was each time. With the exception of 2 parts, all were snapped up in seconds by m********3. Some people have reported that they don't get the pictures every time, and that seems to be necessary for success -- except perhaps at 3am, though I'm not convinced parts worth having last much longer at that hour. The only parts I can remember seeing last for more than 20 seconds at any time of day seem to have been tiny bits of shrapnel or belong to an overdue loan -- but I don't watch all the time and I could have missed something easily enough. That particular investor does seem to have a very good track record. Maybe their internet connection is particularly good, or they're particularly good at the keyboard, or they have a skill that most of us don't. Whatever the reason, I find it rather discouraging.
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