Any way to "Pause" the review/srs?

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

Is there a way to pause?

For example, I have to go away next week and it's often intimidating to come back to several hundred cards due. It would be nice to just resume where I left off.

I know that, generally speaking, the point of SRS is to *remember* after the time has passed, but there are certain circumstances where an 'extended' pause would really be preferential.

mezbup Member

From: sausage lip Registered: 2008-09-18 Posts: 1681 Website

I don't know if it would work but maybe just suspend all your cards?

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

I'm worried that the cards would loose all the data associated with them. Can anyone confirm if that would be the case? (I'd test with a new deck right now, but... being new they wouldn't have data yet. Worse comes to worse, I can try that over the next couple days).

Last edited by breravin (2009 November 16, 11:43 pm)

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CerpinTaxt Member

From: America Registered: 2008-11-23 Posts: 85

Just tested, you don't lose associated data. Once you suspend then unsuspend the card just reverts to the state it had before.

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

Hey Guys,

Thanks a lot! Thanks for testing Cerpin, I really appreciate that!

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

Hmm... I think I misunderstood "suspend". I did a test by "removing" a couple cards, and they got reset once I added them back.

How do you "suspend" a card with RTK (not with Anki)? I can't seem to find that option.

Last edited by breravin (2009 November 17, 1:05 am)

bombpersons Member

From: UK Registered: 2008-10-08 Posts: 907 Website

breravin wrote:
Hmm... I think I misunderstood "suspend". I did a test by "removing" a couple cards, and they got reset once I added them back.

How do you "suspend" a card with RTK? I can't seem to find that option.

I don't think you can suspend cards in RevTK, you can in Anki however. (I think mezbup was assuming you were using anki).

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

Ha, just edited my message to say "not Anki" as you were posting - thanks for the clarification! That's too bad RTK has no suspend option.

ファブリス Administrator

From: Belgium Registered: 2006-06-14 Posts: 4021 Website

He posted in the Feedback forum after all... X_X

wccrawford Member

From: FL US Registered: 2008-03-28 Posts: 1551

I think suspending them is a really bad idea. The idea of SRS is to refresh your memory just before you lose the information.

Assuming 'several hundred' cards is '700', and 1 week's time, over that week you would lose the knowledge of 700 cards without suspension.

With suspension you push every card in your deck 1 week past the time you should be able to remember it. That means that you lose the knowledge of every card in your deck, which could be thousands or tens of thousands.

Now, granted, no SRS is perfect, so you won't lose them all... But even assuming you lose 1/4 of them only, which is a conservative number, that's a -lot- more reviewing than if you just sucked it up and dealt with the 700.

Codexus Member

From: Switzerland Registered: 2007-11-27 Posts: 721

Oh it's been a while since we last had that debate

Well, I think that the SRS is only a tool that should bend to its human master's will so all options that allow you to take control of the scheduling in any way are good. Some people may choose to follow religiously the schedule, others just want a way to organize their reviews when they choose to do them.

Anki's ability to suspend cards is really great. If you don't keep up with your schedule, you can just suspend all the due cards and continue normally, unsuspending when you have the time to do a little extra. This doesn't affect the cards that are not yet due.

So what if you forget some? You'll quickly relearn them, no big deal.

I've found out on several occasion that stopping for weeks or even months and the restarting isn't that bad at all. So don't panic when you see a high number of due cards, don't try to catch up all at once, just go back to reviewing normally and everything will be fine.

ファブリス Administrator

From: Belgium Registered: 2006-06-14 Posts: 4021 Website

Codexus wrote:
Well, I think that the SRS is only a tool that should bend to its human master's will

I agree.

Technically you can do that yourself by choosing not to review more than N cards a day. If the program can do that to help the user see the data in a more friendly way (ie. less daunting expired stacks)... then it could be considered a UI feature, and in retrospect I think it could be implemented.

This is more of a feedback/communication issue. The expired cards on the Leitner display are meant to represent cards due for review. But I think for users the meaning is slightly different: expired cards are seen not so much as "due" cards, but as cards which must be reviewed on that day.

I'll tentatively add it to the to do list.

wccrawford Member

From: FL US Registered: 2008-03-28 Posts: 1551

Codexus wrote:
Oh it's been a while since we last had that debate

Well, I haven't seen that debate.

But simply math says that it would be better to blitz-review those 'several hundred' and the ones you get wrong, you get wrong. No big deal. They'll be treated as forgotten just as they should. Then go back to reviewing everything as normal. (By blitz-review I mean don't spend time thinking about each one, and don't try to write them. Either you remember them instantly or you don't. 3 seconds per card, then success or fail. 700 cards, 2100 seconds, 35 minutes. That's not so bad.)

On the other hand, if it were more than a week and nearly all the cards were due, it would be better to just do normal reviews, but limit them to a certain number of cards or time limit per day, to decrease frustration.

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

ファブリス wrote:
I'll tentatively add it to the to do list

Awesome! I think that's great news. While I think Crawford makes a strong point, I tend to be on Codex's side. It's a tool, and anything that improves how we can choose to use that tool is a win. For me, coming back after a week to all those cards is discouraging, even if it's mostly psychological. Pausing and picking up where I left off just seems more manageable.

At any rate, thanks again for looking into it this site has been an amazing find.

Last edited by breravin (2009 November 17, 11:22 pm)

epsilondelta Member

Registered: 2009-08-19 Posts: 55

Just since nobody has posted this, here's what the Anki FAQ has to say on the issue:

http://ichi2.net/anki/wiki/FrequentlyAs … heduler.3F

(I think what they say makes kindof sense...)

breravin Member

Registered: 2009-11-04 Posts: 15

Good link - thanks!

I thought this was an especially good suggestion.

"Consider doing no new cards in the week prior to your vacation, and only keeping up with your scheduled reviews. "

I think that's a great idea.

Last edited by breravin (2009 November 18, 1:27 am)

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breravin wrote:

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Codexus wrote:

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