timer begins running and no time to read

hi, i did see another post about this when i searched, but it was ages ago so i thought i would start a new one. i just joined and am confused about the timer in mentor, and thus also ratings and their usefulness in judging improvement over time.

a problem set begins with the clock stopped but quickly begins running. There is not enough time to even read a lot of the descriptions. this is especially true when they describe how the board got to its current position or background information about the game.

why dont you just start with the board blank and have a start button that can be pressed when you are done reading. then have the board show itself and give a short delay as you already do it so the text can be associated with the board. any long text should be viewable without the timer going. after the first page, upon giving a correct answer, you stop the clock anyway so you could put new text on that window. 

anyone else agree? 

I agree. It would be nice to read the description before the timer starts.

don't worry about the timer too much. it's hard for us to know when you have finished reading, etc. 

i understand what your saying, but its silly to just make the timer irrelevant when it is part of the point. you would know that we were finished reading if we pressed a button that said begin puzzle (ie done reading). like i said before, at that stage the board could even be blank.

i do understand your point though