6 ms·

It's like the top women's college basketball teams employing male practice squads to practice against[1][2][3]. It makes total sense. You have to compete agai

by douche 10y ago

It's like the top women's college basketball teams employing male practice squads to practice against[1][2][3]. It makes total sense. You have to compete against those that are at least as good, and ideally, better than you are, to improve. [1] http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20110129/NEWS/301299942 http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20110129/NEWS/301299942 [2] http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-basketball/male-practice-players-vital-to-the-success-of-the-womens-basketball-team/ http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-basketball/male-practice-p... [3] http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/smithey-men-find-place-with-lady-vols-on-practice-court-ep-413355583-360360441.html http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/smithey-men-find-place-with-l...

qq66 10y ago
Or Netflix sending additional synthetic traffic to their site so that it's overdesigned by design. (and, when something goes wrong, they can turn off the synthetic traffic and immediately get a little breathing room).
- pmiller2 10y ago
  They do that? I had no idea. Is there an article about this and related practices they use?
  - a_bonobo 10y ago
    I think he talks about Chaos Monkey: http://techblog.netflix.com/2012/07/chaos-monkey-released-into-wild.html http://techblog.netflix.com/2012/07/chaos-monkey-released-in... GitHub: https://github.com/Netflix/SimianArmy https://github.com/Netflix/SimianArmy
- parent5446 10y ago
  ...I don't think that's a relevant analogy at all.
  - allendoerfer 10y ago
    It is almost comically not. It is not about humans, it is not about teams and it is not about training for a competition. Just about more of something so you have reserves. He might as well have said: "Leave space in your suitcase, so you can buy souvenirs."
    - aklemm 10y ago
      As if leaving room in a suitcase were easy.
      - TeMPOraL 10y ago
        It's comically easy once you discard the weird notion that you absolutely have to have a fresh change of clothes for each day.
        thr0w__4w4y 10y ago
        Or, in the case of my wife, a fresh change of clothes for every possible weather condition for every day. "What if it rains? What if it's really humid? It might get chilly at night." Actually that's unfair and a bit of exaggeration, but especially for the kids, she /always/ overpacks.
    - thaumasiotes 10y ago
      > Just about more of something so you have reserves. He might as well have said: "Leave space in your suitcase, so you can buy souvenirs." You seem to have missed the point of the practice by a good ways. It's about making sure your site can handle X amount of load by exposing it to X amount of load, which you manufacture if necessary. That is the same concept as exposing your math students to the competition you want them to be trained against rather than the inadequate competition you happen to have on hand.
      - xorcist 10y ago
        > making sure your site can handle X amount of load by exposing it to X amount of load That's called "testing". Most companies have dedicated people who do it every day. Testing and training is fundamentally different.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
parennoob 10y ago
I suspect that part of the reason this (regular practice with male athletes for women's teams) doesn't happen as often as it should is that there is a disparity between the competition levels on the men's and women's circuits, and a constant display of this would have a negative effect on the equal pay agitations going on in some sports [1][2]. For example, Karsten Braach, ranked 203 on the men's circuit, once beat both Venus and Serena Williams in friendly tennis games in the same afternoon. [3] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/sports/tennis/equal-pay-gender-gap-grand-slam-majors-wta-atp.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/sports/tennis/equal-pay-ge... [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/womens-soccer-equal-pay-senate_us_57472042e4b0dacf7ad42b01 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/womens-soccer-equal-pay-... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,543962,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,543962,00....
- lqdc13 10y ago
  Pay in sports in USA is primarily market driven. It has nothing to do with how good someone is objectively, because I can make up a sport that I would be best at in the world and I wouldn't get paid anything for playing it. People through various means ranging from tradition to culture to watchability in bars to whims of a leader settle on a few mainstream sports. Then, based on a million factors such as how many people watch it in which countries via which medium, whether you can squeeze in commercials during competition, whether there is a "player union" and how much sports-related accessories cost, you get paid a certain amount. If more people watched WNBA than NBA, WNBA players would probably get paid more than NBA players even though the competition level is higher in NBA.
  - bnolsen 10y ago
    if you've ever watched a woman's basketball game they look like they are in slow motion compared to an equivalent men's basketball game. Same is true for olympic sports like snowboard half pipe, etc. The difference is especially obvious side by side.
    - allendoerfer 10y ago
sn9 10y ago
Or athletes in combat sports with weight classes training against fighters from higher weight classes to hone their technique.
- overcast 10y ago
  No, just training with someone better than you, which is the point they were making. A higher weight class has no bearing on skill level.
  - sn9 10y ago
    Right, but a high level athlete in a higher weight class can be a better partner for one's own development than someone with equivalent technique in one's own weight class.

by douche 10y ago

qq66 10y ago

Or Netflix sending additional synthetic traffic to their site so that it's overdesigned by design. (and, when something goes wrong, they can turn off the synthetic traffic and immediately get a little breathing room).

pmiller2 10y ago
They do that? I had no idea. Is there an article about this and related practices they use?
- a_bonobo 10y ago
  I think he talks about Chaos Monkey: http://techblog.netflix.com/2012/07/chaos-monkey-released-into-wild.html http://techblog.netflix.com/2012/07/chaos-monkey-released-in... GitHub: https://github.com/Netflix/SimianArmy https://github.com/Netflix/SimianArmy
parent5446 10y ago
...I don't think that's a relevant analogy at all.
- allendoerfer 10y ago
  It is almost comically not. It is not about humans, it is not about teams and it is not about training for a competition. Just about more of something so you have reserves. He might as well have said: "Leave space in your suitcase, so you can buy souvenirs."
  - aklemm 10y ago
    As if leaving room in a suitcase were easy.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      It's comically easy once you discard the weird notion that you absolutely have to have a fresh change of clothes for each day.
      - thr0w__4w4y 10y ago
        Or, in the case of my wife, a fresh change of clothes for every possible weather condition for every day. "What if it rains? What if it's really humid? It might get chilly at night." Actually that's unfair and a bit of exaggeration, but especially for the kids, she /always/ overpacks.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    > Just about more of something so you have reserves. He might as well have said: "Leave space in your suitcase, so you can buy souvenirs." You seem to have missed the point of the practice by a good ways. It's about making sure your site can handle X amount of load by exposing it to X amount of load, which you manufacture if necessary. That is the same concept as exposing your math students to the competition you want them to be trained against rather than the inadequate competition you happen to have on hand.
    - xorcist 10y ago
      > making sure your site can handle X amount of load by exposing it to X amount of load That's called "testing". Most companies have dedicated people who do it every day. Testing and training is fundamentally different.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

parennoob 10y ago

I suspect that part of the reason this (regular practice with male athletes for women's teams) doesn't happen as often as it should is that there is a disparity between the competition levels on the men's and women's circuits, and a constant display of this would have a negative effect on the equal pay agitations going on in some sports [1][2]. For example, Karsten Braach, ranked 203 on the men's circuit, once beat both Venus and Serena Williams in friendly tennis games in the same afternoon. [3] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/sports/tennis/equal-pay-gender-gap-grand-slam-majors-wta-atp.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/sports/tennis/equal-pay-ge... [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/womens-soccer-equal-pay-senate_us_57472042e4b0dacf7ad42b01 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/womens-soccer-equal-pay-... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,543962,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,543962,00....

lqdc13 10y ago
Pay in sports in USA is primarily market driven. It has nothing to do with how good someone is objectively, because I can make up a sport that I would be best at in the world and I wouldn't get paid anything for playing it. People through various means ranging from tradition to culture to watchability in bars to whims of a leader settle on a few mainstream sports. Then, based on a million factors such as how many people watch it in which countries via which medium, whether you can squeeze in commercials during competition, whether there is a "player union" and how much sports-related accessories cost, you get paid a certain amount. If more people watched WNBA than NBA, WNBA players would probably get paid more than NBA players even though the competition level is higher in NBA.
- bnolsen 10y ago
  if you've ever watched a woman's basketball game they look like they are in slow motion compared to an equivalent men's basketball game. Same is true for olympic sports like snowboard half pipe, etc. The difference is especially obvious side by side.
  - allendoerfer 10y ago

sn9 10y ago

Or athletes in combat sports with weight classes training against fighters from higher weight classes to hone their technique.

overcast 10y ago
No, just training with someone better than you, which is the point they were making. A higher weight class has no bearing on skill level.
- sn9 10y ago
  Right, but a high level athlete in a higher weight class can be a better partner for one's own development than someone with equivalent technique in one's own weight class.