Bugs and Suggestions

Re: Should I comment an answer, or answer a comment?

4-Jun-10 9:09

What's new?
Who do you think sends new word suggestions to Webster, so he can later target them with some obscure CCC clue?

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

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Luc Pattyn5-Jun-10 9:53

Re: Should I comment an answer, or answer a comment?

5-Jun-10 9:53

Confusing forks and bifurcations is a common mistake. Even Neptune knew better, see here[^] and here[^].

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).

Luc Pattyn4-Jun-10 9:11

Sticky how-to's are inconsistent

4-Jun-10 9:11

Henry (or should I say Horace now?),

please take this one step further, and suggest a truly hierarchical message system, such as sometimes implemented in really good forums.

When you do, I will have to nominate you for the next Nobel price, in a category of your choice.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).

Peter_in_27803-Jun-10 15:40

Peter_in_2780

3-Jun-10 15:40

Following on from a recent thread [^], it appears that the hamsters have adopted my suggestion for adding a sentence to "how to ask a question" point 9. [IMHO, Luc's suggestion was better...]
Fine, but I just noticed that the PHP forum has only the (old?) guidelines with ask/answer lumped together. I don't know how widespread this is, but it would be more impressive to someone who might be worth impressing if all the forums were consistent (except for lounge, backroom, soapbox and the other hangouts of us crazies, of course).
Besides, when future enhancements are deployed, less hamster fuel will be required. Smile | :)

Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994.

Luc Pattyn3-Jun-10 16:35

3-Jun-10 16:35

Hi Peter,

IMO those stickies should not be look-alike or would-be identical, there should be only one, that gets shown in all relevant forums. That way only one needs to be maintained. And such simplification would make improvements a lot easier to suggest and to implement.

Also their subject line should be consistent; it does not help at all that in some forums one is called "how to ask a question" whereas in others it is "how to get an answer". That makes referring to them correctlly (while editing a reply) needlessly difficult.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).

Peter_in_27803-Jun-10 17:07

Peter_in_2780

3-Jun-10 17:07

Luc Pattyn wrote:
there should be only one

Agreed. That was my point about saving hamster fuel... Smile | :)

Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994.

Chris Maunder4-Jun-10 2:05

Chris Maunder

4-Jun-10 2:05

Luc Pattyn wrote:
IMO those stickies should not be look-alike or would-be identical, there should be only one, that gets shown in all relevant forums

Unfortunately the forums have not been built to allow this. For now we make do with what we have.

As long as the message gets across I am satisfied, but I also know from experience that very, VERY few people bother reading such messages. Still, we try.

cheers,
Chris Maunder

The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP

Luc Pattyn4-Jun-10 7:05

4-Jun-10 7:05

I don't give up that easily!

1.
I would then consider using a little script that copies the master from its forum to all other programming forums. The script could run automatically, either triggered by a change in the master message, or on a time base (say daily). The ROI would be great, you'd never have to edit more than one howto message then.

2.

Chris Maunder wrote:
VERY few people bother reading such messages

Most people behave well, either because they have been well educated, or they have read them, or they mimic other's behavior. All that is fine. It is only the offenders that stand out, but they aren't that many.

For those who read, and for those who bother referring offenders to the howto messages, it is beneficial to have the howto's as clear and accurate as possible. So please keep giving your sheriffs adequate tools.

NEW: I also suggest you add a howto hyperlink to the edit message page; and/or an easy way for repliers to paste such link in their reply.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).

Spammer

Nuri Ismail3-Jun-10 7:18

Nuri Ismail

3-Jun-10 7:18

This[^] guy is spamming C/C++/MFC[^], C#[^] and Linux[^] forums.

Re: Spammer

Sandeep Mewara3-Jun-10 9:10

Sandeep Mewara

3-Jun-10 9:10

Looks like he has been escorted out of the premises! Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

Deleted comments?

Johnny J.3-Jun-10 3:39

3-Jun-10 3:39

I just wrote a comment to a QA, but then I noticed that it was wrong. So I deleted the comment.

However, I still see the comment, but it says "deleted" to the right of it.

Is it only me that can see it or is it in fact not deleted?

Tom Deketelaere3-Jun-10 3:51

3-Jun-10 3:51

I can see it when I click the 'show deleted' button.

I don't know if that button is visible for everyone or if it depends on reputation.

Initially the comment isn't visible tho.

Johnny J.3-Jun-10 3:54

3-Jun-10 3:54

So it's just visible to me right off...

Good to know, problem solved! Smile | :)

Sandeep Mewara3-Jun-10 6:50

Sandeep Mewara

3-Jun-10 6:50

Johnny J. wrote:
So it's just visible to me all Platinum authority people

FTFY

Tom Deketelaere3-Jun-10 21:45

3-Jun-10 21:45

Sandeep Mewara wrote:
Johnny J. wrote:
So it's just visible to me all ~~Platinum~~ Gold authority people

FTFY

Johnny J.3-Jun-10 22:12

3-Jun-10 22:12

Basically everybody, that is.

Then what's the point of having a "delete" option???

Sandeep Mewara3-Jun-10 22:53

Sandeep Mewara

3-Jun-10 22:53

Johnny J. wrote:
Basically everybody, that is.

No. Not everybody. Only people with Gold+ members. They are very limited. Check one of the Luc's article to see the exact number if you want. Initially it was only Platinum members, but looks like it is extended to Gold now. (For situations where spamming is at peak and more people are required to handle them.)

Johnny J.3-Jun-10 23:23

3-Jun-10 23:23

But again: What's the point of "deleting" a comment and then it's still visible? You might have written something that was completely wrong that you really don't want anybody else seeing?

Tom Deketelaere3-Jun-10 23:32

3-Jun-10 23:32

The fact that you deleted it means that you consider it to be wrong therefor nobody is going to hold it against you Smile | :)

The point might be that when you post a comment, another user posts one building upon yours or simply saying it's wrong or something, then you delete yours leaving only the response to yours, people might wonder why that 1 comment is there making no sense at all.

Tom Deketelaere3-Jun-10 23:27

View next thread [modified]

3-Jun-10 23:27

Sandeep Mewara wrote:
Check one of the Luc's article to see the exact number if you want

You can't get the exact number, the tool Luc wrote will only get the top 181 users (according to message count (I think)).
It's a shame but I guess he had to implement some sort of filter otherwise the loading would have taken days Smile | :)

For instance you won't find me in that list but I do have gold authority.

As far as I can gather you have to have 2500+ messages to be on the list.
Only 500 to go Poke tongue | ;-P

From the list there are 40 members with those rights.

[EDIT]
Seems like it's the first 4 pages of the who's who by article count and the first 4 by message count.

So you'll have to either have 5000+ messages
Or 15 + articles

I have a long way to go until I show up in his list Frown | :(

[/EDIT]

Luc Pattyn3-Jun-10 2:36

3-Jun-10 2:36

I don't recall having seen this one before, but I'm sure it must have been discussed before, as it is rather obvious. My apologies in advance.

When switching from normal forum view to "View Thread", all works fine as expected. However when the thread has been read, one probably wants to continue seeing the next/previous (older/younger) thread. But AFAICT the only available tool is "View All Threads". When clicking this, it returns to the first page of the forum, i.e. the most recent thread, possibly resulting in a need for a lot of "Next page" clicks to return to where we were.

How about adding all or some of these:
0. view all threads starting at this very thread
1. view all threads starting at next older one
2. view all threads starting at next younger one.
3. view next older thread
4. view next younger thread

having at least (0) or (1) or (2) would be a dramatic improvement.

[EDIT]
(0) could become the normal behavior of the "View All Threads" widget that is already there.
(3) and (4) could become regular "Next" and "Prev" widgets, currently absent in View Thread mode.

Of course one can use the browser's "Back" button, but that seems a bit odd, as all other navigation is supported by the forum pages themselves.
[/EDIT]

TIA.

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).

modified on Thursday, June 3, 2010 9:11 AM

Re: View next thread

Tom Deketelaere3-Jun-10 2:51

3-Jun-10 2:51

Hmmm been a member of CP for more than 4 years now and it's the first time I used the thread view.

Have to say: I don't like it Smile | :)

back to normal view.
And I'm guessing most if not all use the normal view Smile | :)

Re: View next thread

Luc Pattyn3-Jun-10 2:57

3-Jun-10 2:57

I'm always in normal view, except when I want to dig deep into a topic; thread view allows you to get the top message (the original question) at the top of the list, and probably all the replies on the same page. It solves the problem you get when a thread has a few messages at the bottom of one page, and a few more at the top of the next page. That's all. Getting out of that mode and continuing normal reading is what I would like to see improved a bit.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]

I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.

I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).

Re: View next thread

Tom Deketelaere3-Jun-10 3:02