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Being polite on Friends Quest

We are not Duolingo, we cannot solve any problems directly, but we can provide community-based advice.


Saperlipopette!

Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

There's a couple things about being polite in Friends Quest that I haven't worked out yet.

I don't want to push anyone. Usually I can come pretty close to winning the Friends Quest on my own.... Ten lessons a day, but there's half a day on Tuesday, because the Friends Quest starts at noon. Consider the usual goal is sixty lessons at 90 or better. With my normal pace I fall just short.

One week I got with someone doing one lesson a day on the web. When the other person makes no progress in Friends Quest it's kind of discouraging to me. I understand it, everyone has different goals or reasons for using Duolingo, but there ought to be a polite way to say to the other 'you can turn off Friends Quests in the settings'. That situation didn't work out too well. I hit the Quest but I unfriended the person, so as not to get stuck with them again, and who knows where there are now. A few weeks later they unfriended me.

I kind of added a new thing to my routine for this situation.... I do a lesson early Tuesday afternoon.

If they're on a ten lesson a week goal, I'll usually do a few extra lessons if I feel like it. There's usually some days where I'll feel like it. That's ok by me; I don't want to push them, but I do want to make the Quest. So far I haven't noticed anything there. Those Friends who I get Quested with are still Friends.

So that leaves two others kinds... there's the one who does maybe 10-20 lessons a week. No worries there for me: I'll meet my goal, and with them meeting their personal goal, we got the Friends Quest in the bag. I don't want to push them to do more, and so far, it kind of looks like they're sensing that too. Those Friends who I get Quested with are still Friends.

There's the busier kind. We'll easily achieve the Friends Quest. If we're on the same pace, I try to work it out so we achieve it half and half.

![](

Many times they'll see what's up, and do the lesson. Great. But what if I have more work to do, I've waited some time, and they haven't done the lesson ?

Well, I've got to get my work in. If they felt keen enough about the fifty-fifty part of it, they would have stopped at 30 instead of 29. I guess I wrote this to kill time & give them more of a chance to do 30.

There's a few people who will do more lessons than me in the Friend Quest. Not many, but some. I decided I'm not letting anyone down if we achieve the Friends Quest on Thursday or early Friday, and it's ok if they do more than fifty percent of the lessons. Generally, I wouldn't friend that person to begin with, but it's hard not to friend someone who friends you and always sends you thanks for your achievements. I suppose they friend me in the first place because of 600k+ XP & 1400+ streak.

There's the thing about sending timers. I'm not too hung up on the reciprocity of it: If I sent you timers, and you don't send me, I don't care. I don't keep mental tabs on it. So I usually send them, although I don't want to force someone to do something they don't want to do. I also don't want to oblige them to send back... but there is kind of reciprocity instinct built into us Americans.

There's also the thing where I send a timer on the third day. Usually, we're gonna meet that goal on the third day. What happened if I send them a timer, and they hit the Friends Quest, and then get the thirty minutes there. Do they get the thirty plus whatever is left on my timer ? Do they get gypped out of my timer ? And do they feel kind of put off for having to do lessons for first five minutes straight so as not to waste a timer ?

I'm still trying to work out the politeness rules on the timer...

Anyway, that's probably more on Friends Quest than anyone cares to read. But I hope someone has an opinion that can help me get more comfortable with the politeness part of it.

User avatar
buho

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by buho »

I've been the guy who barely did any lessons on friend quest(because I've stopped using Duolingo after the update). I felt bad for the other guy. especially after seeing he/she sent me many nudges.

So, I do think a normal user would feel this reciprocity. it's just that for some Duolingo is of high priority, but not for others.

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

See, you're a good person to ask this question to, then. You know you're not gonna do much, you feel bad about letting the other guy down, so how would you feel if there was a way in the Friend quest for the other person to send a canned message on how to turn off friend quest...

Something like 'If you want to turn off Friend Quests, you can go to your settings, scroll down a page to the general settings, and turn them off'

![](

Make it possible for the other person to send this only one time, via a canned message, to the other guy in the Friend quest and that's that. And maybe put controls that they could only send it after the quest is over and the person hasn't done, say, ten percent of the quests.

I don't send nudges, I don't like the canned messages. I'm not even sure if I would send out one of the messages like I described.

I guess another question to ask is, if you know you're not really interested in Friend Quest, and you feel a little badly about it for the other guy, why haven't you gone to the settings and turned it off ? You wouldn't get the nudges anymore....

Steve579062

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Steve579062 »

I'm in a quest with a young lass. I only have three friends. Funny how Duo mirrors real life. This week we have to do 55 lessons between us in 4 days. I started got 5 and then sent a boost your points to her. It cost me 20 lingots. Now I'm on 44 and she has 4. I'll send her a points boost and then I'll probably finish today.
I also worry about the "friend". She followed me. I have never met her. Have no way to contact her. Why do care ? I have no idea what point it serves. All I get is frustration. Now I know that I can turn it off it is also on my to do list.

Is this more Duo mind tricks ?

I'm using language to keep my old brain working.

User avatar
John Little
Brazil

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by John Little »

Friends quests was an unforseen consequence of going back to the leagues. But then I realised you could turn them off, so did. Now I can continue my quest to get back down to bronze with a clear conscience.

John661162

User avatar
PtolemysXX
Uganda

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by PtolemysXX »

I honestly like the friends quests a lot. I see it as a collaboration tool as opposed to the competitive leaderboards so it is a peaceful contrast to the boards. Apart from the handful of people I know personally I am matched together with some stranger whom I know nothing about: I do not know where they live, how old they are, what they do… It’s kind of cool. And if my partner hardly contributes to the goal, so be it. If we reach the goal - great, no matter who scores more; if we do not reach the goal – there will be another quest next week. If someone hardly does any lessons, what is the problem? What do I know about these people, maybe they have a tough week, they are sick, whatever.

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

I think with Duome, you can know quite a bit about how the person you're matched up in Friends Quest has been using Duolingo.

User avatar
buho

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by buho »

[mention]Saperlipopette![/mention], the hypothetical feature you talked about sounds good, but considering Duolingo's priorities(hint: $), I doubt if anything remotely similar would even be given a thought.

Saperlipopette! wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:30 am

if you know you're not really interested in Friend Quest, and you feel a little badly about it for the other guy, why haven't you gone to the settings and turned it off ? You wouldn't get the nudges anymore....

I didn't know this existed :D. I'll turn it on. Though I wonder if inactive accounts are put into "friends quest" or "leagues".

User avatar
Stasia
Poland

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Stasia »

Saperlipopette! wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 2:17 am

There's the thing about sending timers. I'm not too hung up on the reciprocity of it: If I sent you timers, and you don't send me, I don't care. I don't keep mental tabs on it.

You send them a what?

:lol: You might consider that some of the people that you are paired with, don't ever get "timers" (whatever those are) or "nudges" or "boosts" (as mentioned by [mention]Steve579062[/mention]) because they use a version of Duolingo that does not have them.

I must admit I have been on both ends of the friends quest. Depending on my time and the time of the person Duo pairs me with, sometimes I do all the work, sometimes we're about equal, and sometimes the other person completes the quest before I even clock in my daily minimum. Sometimes I get a notification that I got a high five from the other person for completing the challenge. I don't think I have an option to send one myself, though. :roll:

Native: :poland:; Fluent: :es:, :us:; Getting there: Image; Intermediate: :fr:; Beginner: :ukraine:

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

Stasia wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 12:57 am
Saperlipopette! wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 2:17 am

You might consider that some of the people that you are paired with, don't ever get "timers" (whatever those are) or "nudges" or "boosts" (as mentioned by @Steve579062) because they use a version of Duolingo that does not have them.

Two steps ahead of you. I check out their Duome before sending the timer. If they 've got a block of lessons at double XP than they normally have, in a fifteen minute range or a thirty minute range (this happens once a week when the Friends Quest is completed), they've got the timer.

User avatar
Stasia
Poland

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Stasia »

Saperlipopette! wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 2:41 am

Two steps ahead of you. I check out their Duome before sending the timer. If they 've got a block of lessons at double XP than they normally have, in a fifteen minute range or a thirty minute range (this happens once a week when the Friends Quest is completed), they've got the timer.

I get 15 mins double XP for (1) completing a crown (I'm still hanging onto the tree) and (2) completing lessons in the morning and evening (doing a lesson in the morning gives me 15 mins double XP that evening, doing a lesson in the evening gives me 15 mins double XP next morning). I also get 30 mins double XP as a reward from Duo for completing the weekly challenge (whether it was me or the other person who did all the legwork).

Yet, I don't get timers nor nudges nor boosts from anyone.

Native: :poland:; Fluent: :es:, :us:; Getting there: Image; Intermediate: :fr:; Beginner: :ukraine:

Steve579062

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Steve579062 »

I turned my Friends Quest off. I don't suppose anyone will notice. Someone mentioned the boost again. I know I have sent several to different friends but can't ever recall receiving one. Never been sent a nudge either.

I'm using language to keep my old brain working.

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

For the first few months I wasn't getting any timers either. I thought it was because people weren't engaging with a new Duolingo tool, or they didn't want to fork over the twenty gems, but I guess we didn't have the technology to send them.

Once I started sending them, I started to get some back. I guess we suddenly got the technology to do it. Some people aren't sending them back. I guess their Samsung Galaxies and I Phone Pros don't have the technology, but my cheap android does.

I don't send out nudges and I don't get any. I guess we don't have the technology. I used to think I didn't send them because I didn't like the canned messages.

User avatar
SansEspoir
Norway

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by SansEspoir »

PtolemysXX wrote: Sat Jan 14, 2023 9:32 am

I honestly like the friends quests a lot. I see it as a collaboration tool as opposed to the competitive leaderboards so it is a peaceful contrast to the boards. Apart from the handful of people I know personally I am matched together with some stranger whom I know nothing about: I do not know where they live, how old they are, what they do… It’s kind of cool. And if my partner hardly contributes to the goal, so be it. If we reach the goal - great, no matter who scores more; if we do not reach the goal – there will be another quest next week. If someone hardly does any lessons, what is the problem? What do I know about these people, maybe they have a tough week, they are sick, whatever.

I like them too. But now that I realised I can actually turn them off, thanks to this thread, I did. Because what I do on the internal website doesn't show in the quest, apparently, and since I deleted the app because of the update and no longer just do short practice lessons when I have a moment of dead time, it was kind of unfair to my friends. Even though I used to finish the quests alone on the first day before this update.

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JudieLC
United States of America

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by JudieLC »

I don't mind friend quests one way or the other. I've only had friend quests with people I know. One time I completed most of the lessons. Another time the other did (not the same person).

A thing I realized, though, is that only lessons done on the phone app seem to count toward the friend quest. I did a bunch of lessons on my computer tonight and, unless there's a time lag, none of them seem to count toward the friend quest. Seems unfair, but not much I can do about it.

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

Yes, it is true that lessons done on the web do not count for Friends Quest. I know we talked about it when someone was Updating the app and even before then. Duo sorts of hints to it in their blog item about Friends Quest.

This week they raised the Friends Quest on me to seventy-five. But they paired me with a nut job who did 45 lessons in one sitting today. It's only hump day & we killed the Friends Quest.

I sent her two timers, one each day. She send me one back which I got at the same time I got the notice that we won Friends Quest. It's kind of a gyp because I should have gotten 45 minutes under the double XP timer: the fifteen from the one the friend sent to me, and the half hour for winning the Quest. But I only got thirty minutes.

The thing about thirty minutes is it's tough to maintain that on-the-timer intensity for half an hour straight. I can only imagine what it would have been like for forty-five minutes. They should give you two timers of 15 minutes and make it so you have some control over when you use them. Right now, you sign in, click on the notice, and you're on the timer. Or if you hit the quest, the timer starts right away.

Fifteen minutes is perfect: can I do four lessons without making any mistakes in 15 minutes ? For half an hour, sometimes I get tired around lesson 6 or 7 and start to make mistakes.

Another kind of gyp is if you start the day and do 5 lessons on the web. You hit the first daily goal of fifty XP. But you don't actually get the handful of gems for meeting the first part of the daily quest.

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JudieLC
United States of America

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by JudieLC »

Yeah, I do the dailies on the app, not the web, cause I've been doing them on my phone while having coffee in bed. ;)

The last Friend Quest I had required 70 lessons. Previous one was a similar number and the person I was paired with wasn't doing many lessons, so I ended up doing a bunch as time was running out in order to complete the Friend Quest.

I find I burn out quicker doing lessons on the phone app than on the web, for some reason.

I've been having a blast, as I said elsewhere, doing the old tree instead of the snake, now that I know how to find it.

P.S. I stopped using the word gyp a while ago cause I learned it is a derogatory name used for the Roma people (as is the word gypsy).

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JudieLC
United States of America

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by JudieLC »

Oh, and thanks [mention]Saperlipopette![/mention] for reminding me you only get gems for doing lessons on the app at certain times. I'm collecting those gems. ;)

But I still like doing lessons on the web using the old tree format. :)

SandyF
United States of America

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by SandyF »

I enjoy doing Quests; 2 different players have requested I play, but I don’t know how to Initiate it myself, if I want to ask Someone to do a Quest with me. Help?

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

I'm hoping that my description of how Friends Quest worked for me, along with Duo's blog on Friend Quest, will help clear up some of the confusion on how this works.


Duolingo Blog--le neuf Sept 2022
Introducing Friends Quests, a fun way to team up and learn!

Duolingo says, "Every week, we’ll pair you randomly with one of your Duolingo friends and assign you a random challenge." Furthermore, "Learners are automatically paired with friends (you have to follow them and they have to follow you!) after 1 p.m. EST on Tuesdays, provided you’ve completed at least one lesson for the week."

Usually I find myself online Tuesday at 12pm. If I check the challenges page, I will see a message like the one in Exhibit A. "Complete a lesson to join the Friends Quest."


Exhibit A

Image


Often I take them up on their subtle hint and complete a lesson by around a quarter past noon. After the Lesson Complete screen I get a pop-up like Exhibit B. I don't know this person personally but I know them on Duolingo. They fell in with a group of ten of us who have been following each other for about four years. This user does ten lessons a day about four times a week & they're very active celebrating achievements in the news feed.


Exhibit B

Image


By the way, it's before one o'clock, and I'm paired with the Friend Quest. I don't recall being paired with anyone until I've done a lesson since Friends Quest starts (Tuesday at noon), yet I'll often get paired with someone that has no completed lessons.

Exhibit B urges me to See Quest Now ! This takes me to Exhibit C. Duo says the challenges are randomly chosen but I generally get the same challenge every week. With this user, we'll have no problems completing the challenge.

During the challenge, I'll send them a few timers and see if they want to play 30 / 30.


Exhibit C

Image


To send a timer, I click on gift, which brings me to screen D. Here's where I can fork over 20 gems for a 15 minute timer to my Friend Quest partner.

Here's what Duo says on the timers: "Another way to encourage your new friend is by sending them an XP boost! Just tap the gift icon on the Friends Quest module and use your gems to transfer a surprise XP boost to their account. Hopefully, they’ll send one your way in return!" I don't want them to feel obligated to send me a timer in return, so I don't really like the way Duo has phrased it. I'm more satisfied if the recipient has put my timer to good use.


Exhibit D

Image


I send the timer, and go to the challenge page where it says the gift was sent. See Exhibit E.


Exhibit E

Image


Today I had four timers and yesterday I had three, so it looks like we won't get to play 30/30.

This is my experience with Friends Quest. You can't chose a specific person unless you do something like follow only one person, they follow only you, and you both are doing lessons. In the half year on Friends Quest I've been paired with over a dozen different players.

Also nobody has had the technical limitations I joke about. If you're on the app, and your settings are square, and you've got active followers who you follow, you've got FQ and you can do all the things I do, send timers and play 30/30 or just play FQ. You can send nudges too but my friends don't really do that et moi non plus. Some are not enthusiastic or curious about how things work too.

Friends Quest doesn't seem to work exactly the way it states in it's blog, but the main idea is you can get Quested up with anyone who you follow that follows you, and they are active. Anyone who has turned off Friends Quest in their settings is also ineligible. We're still trying to figure out some of the smaller details, but we've got this guy on the case:

Image

Last edited by Saperlipopette! on Sat Apr 15, 2023 4:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Stasia
Poland

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Stasia »

[mention]Saperlipopette![/mention], on my version of the app I just have the quest without any of these additional things. I think my version reflects an early version of the quest, before they introduced all the additional bells and whistles. I'm not updating Duolingo any time soon, because I prefer to stay on the tree over nudges/boosts/gifts/whatever. :)

Native: :poland:; Fluent: :es:, :us:; Getting there: Image; Intermediate: :fr:; Beginner: :ukraine:

Deleted User 5745

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Deleted User 5745 »

I think one of the reasons they invented the friends quest was to make people feel more connected. Someone recently sent me the Bonus XP gift and I thought "Awww!!" So from then on I felt somewhat emotionally involved.
Although I behave like some kind of desperate maniac on the leagues, when it comes to an individual - I'm really rooting for them and want them to win!
(and feel guilty if I beat them).
I think the leagues introduce you to your "shadow self."
I'm so messed up and it's all Duolingo's fault. 🤪

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

Hot dog !🌭

Two great changes this week. Lessons done on the web were counted in Friends QUEST. Also for daily quests too, with some issues. Hitting 75 lessons with a fairly inactive partner turned out to be not an issue with this change.

The really great change is the bank a timer.

![](

You win the quest, and you can either use the timer now, or move to shop. I moved to shop and I can use it at my leisure. I wonder if people are gonna save it for happy hour because the timer doubles the happy hour bonus and the regular amt ? Now that the happy hour seems to be a regular thing this can be planned.

Penfold
Wales

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Penfold »

I'm in a bit of a pickle. My latest quest friend (who did about 10% of the quest; I did the rest in 2 days - unusual for me to do quite so many so quickly!) generously sent me a gift after we finished. I went to send the same thing back but I hit the wrong place on the screen and it said I could do it later. But I can't! I've searched the quest, her page (we follow each other) and everywhere else on the Android app, but there's nothing for me to press to start the process! It's all greyed out.

Does anyone have an answer to this? Or for me to send an apology? I hate being rude and this is making me feel awkward. I think I'm going to uncheck the friend quest thing after next week (only have one more quest to achieve to get the badge. And why I even care about that I don't know!)

Thank you :)

Saperlipopette!

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Saperlipopette! »

Sorry, you can't do it once the quest is finished.

The screen where you can do it is the one I called Exhibit E in this post. But you'll see at the bottom it will only give you a chance to congratulate your friend on achieving the quest or it will say sent. No more chance to send timers.

By doing ninety percent of the quest, they now have access to a thirty minute XP timer that they can save to the store and use at their pleasure, so you shouldn't feel too badly about a technical glitch. In a sense, you did sent them a timer, and not just a fifteen minute one but a thirty minute one that they can plan to use. A good time for them to use it would be tonight at 8 pm for happy hour. It's five extra XP for each lesson but with the timer it gets doubled to ten. Plus the base and bonus are doubled. So, a Regular 15 XP lesson is 40 XP if they run the table.

They won't be upset. They'll be glad that you used the timer and appreciative of the work you did to achieve the quest. You can't contact them unless you know them personally.

Penfold
Wales

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Penfold »

Thank you! Your reply is very much appreciated :D I feel a bit better now. It would be nice if we could send quick notes to each other when doing quests, or after we've done one together. Nothing huge - maybe a tweet length one (with the opportunity to report a user if they say something untoward) - because the prewritten ones we can send during the quest are frankly cringe worthy! A quick "hi there!" rather than adding "quest friend" or something like that would be more welcome, I think.

Thanks again, I do hope she doesn't take offense!

User avatar
Darvince

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by Darvince »

I only know about this feature because of talking with other people who have used Duolingo... I only use Duo on the web, and on an old app version (pre-snake). Am I getting assigned friends quests every week without knowing it?

EN Native | ES Intermediate | RU Less than A1 :lol:

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uralicnomad
Hungary

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by uralicnomad »

Darvince wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 7:23 am

Am I getting assigned friends quests every week without knowing it?

Chalk me down fore wanting to know this also, I've been off the app for a few months, but I have a feeling that you would have to be logged in to the mobile app for the friends quest to initiate.

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JudieLC
United States of America

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by JudieLC »

uralicnomad wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 8:37 am
Darvince wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 7:23 am

Am I getting assigned friends quests every week without knowing it?

Chalk me down fore wanting to know this also, I've been off the app for a few months, but I have a feeling that you would have to be logged in to the mobile app for the friends quest to initiate.

Yeah, I think this is correct. You don't get assigned friend quests from the website at this point, as far as I know.
You also don't get assigned friend quests if you change your profile to private.

In a switch - for me, anyway - I was offered the chance to choose which of my friends I wanted to do a friend quest with. Not sure how that would work if my chosen friend wanted to do a friend quest with someone else. But I didn't pick anyone because I don't have a preference and because I was planning to switch to private mode as soon as the leagues closed on Sunday night.

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SweNedGuy
Belgium

Re: Being polite on Friends Quest

Post by SweNedGuy »

Now we are five months later. I am using the DL website version and ultimately I 'm teamed up for the first friend quest. Sending a gift is OK while your partner is on-line. The XP double may have expired before getting used ... unless the gift is activated only after your friend quest partner starts his/her session.

I've just earned an 15 minute XP double by a flawless last lesson of a unit. Made 3 legendary lessons (no life spent, so 86 XP each) and one story (double 20 XP) was still on time. I'm third in my league now (but that won't last long). The friend quest total stands at 536 now with a few days left for a total combined target of 1150. Because of the lucky break, I did more than my fair share.

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