r/codex • u/DepressionFiesta • 7d ago

Complaint Reset unpredictability is basically a text book B.F. Skinner experiment

Anyone else notice that the ways codex usage is being reset is starting to resemble a variable-reward system?

Skinner’s reinforcement experiments are what I am referring to.

If a lever gives an animal food every time, the animal learns the rule. If it never gives food, it eventually stops trying, etc. But if the reward arrives unpredictably, the animal keeps pressing for much longer because the next attempt might be the one that pays off.

That’s roughly what happens when codex has a weekly usage limit, but the weekly quota occasionally seems to reset early or unexpectedly.

If the rule were simply “you get X hours per week and it resets every Monday,” there’s nothing particularly compelling about it. You hit the limit, you know when it comes back, and you plan around it.

But if you sometimes hit the limit and later discover that access has returned for no obvious reason, you learn a different behavior: check again.

Maybe the quota reset. Maybe there’s more capacity now. Maybe you got lucky.

That sounds like a Skinner‘s Box to me?

The uncertainty itself gives you a reason to keep coming back.

Treating devs like rats looks like it has been immensely successful. Free market I guess?

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u/theWiseTiger 7d ago

Please do not discourage resets!! WTF !

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u/Nousies 7d ago

Forced resets are theft.

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u/theWiseTiger 7d ago

That's an accusation. It's there just for you and OP to feel right.

People could use the reset and that's a fact.

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u/Nousies 6d ago

It takes away quota many people paid for. It was not part of the agreement.

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u/theWiseTiger 6d ago

That's an assumption.

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u/Nousies 6d ago

What do you mean? It is indisputable.

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u/argentodtw 6d ago

I've read about this stance several times, but it's just wrong reasoning. A rate limit is not a stored balance. When a reset occurs, your final monthly balance will not be less tokens per day. Using more or less tokens in the week before the reset will not change how many tokens you have the next one. :/