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Well, I'm not sure the Q/A system is engineered appropriately, but I don't have any recommendations to make it better, so I haven't said much about it other than what you just said - people are trying to use it like a forum.
What I'm curious about is why the people ask questions in Q/A don't ask in the forums instead....
Maybe the following would be a better idea :
0) Refactor Q/A to support "answer threads". Each answer will have it's own thread by which the op and the answerer can continue to communicate.
1) Remove the ability for other users to delete anything.
2) Allow voting on comments
3) Allow an answer to be *proposed* as "the" answer, and for others to vote that answer as "the" answer.
4) Once an answer has been marked as "the answer" by the questioner, no further answers to that thread can be marked as such, but CAN be proposed as "the" answer.
5) Have the voting system work the same was forums do now, and if an answer or comment is *voted* to be removed, it gets removed.
6) Have answers and comments that have been voted to be removed have a red rectangle outline (or some other obvious indication of it's status).
7) Disallow people from adding "official" tags, but give them the ability to specify "user tags". Filters would then show questions by their "official" tags, and would allow the user to further filter by "user" tags, such as "gimmecode", or "homework".
I think the Q/A section is more visually appealing than the forums, and should be used to replace the forums, but only after Q/A has been re-engineered. Since it can already be filtered by tag(s), this would keep people from seeing questions about stuff they're not knowledgeable in. It would also make the Q&A menu system pretty much obsolete.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001
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I recently got a mobile newsletter from Code Project. I don't remember getting those before. Is this something new from Code Project that I've automatically been subscribed to?
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As it said at the top of the newsletter it's a new newsletter that's essentially a slice of the current newsletter for those interested in mobile dev. We'll send it out a few more times and if you're not interested or don't want it then you won't get it any more.
We know a lot of readers like having all articles in a single weekly digest but we, as users of the site as well, find it easier if we get information in nicely packaged formats. We're starting with mobile since it's our current favourite, and the add others as demand and content dictate.
My goal is to have newsletters on different topics that allow me, in a single sensibly sized read, to catch up on all the news and articles for a single subject.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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I received this as well, and although I'm not doing anything with mobile at the moment I think it's a(nother) great idea from The CodeProject. Keep it up!
Just say 'NO' to evaluated arguments for diadic functions! Ash
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Interesting idea. I for one would only like the 1 email from Code Project. Have you considered allowing users to select their areas of interest and then programmatically packaging a custom email for the users with only the content they select?
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reading it might help you.
you're not complaining about the 50 rep points that came with it?
you can get rid of both, if that is what you want, see My Settings.
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I'm not complaining about anything. I was just reporting what I thought might have been a bug (I also noticed "Allow private email replies to this message" and "Encode HTML characters when pasting" got unchecked for new messages). Thought maybe there were setting toggle issues, but sounds like it is just an automatic subscription.
I assumed the newsletter was a mobile version of the main newsletter (i.e., one that is more readable on mobile phones) rather than a subsection of the newsletter that focuses on mobile programming. Now that I know what it is, that makes more sense.
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I understand.
IMO it should have been a subsection of the existing newsletter anyway. I don't need a separate WPF newsletter, a database newsletter, nor a mobile newsletter. One newsletter a day should suffice.
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Luc Pattyn wrote: One newsletter a day should suffice.
Especially if you tear it into small enough squares.
Henry Minute
Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain
Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?"
“I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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I didn't mention size at all, it could be huge if circumstances warrant that.
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This user just signed up and is spamming QA with functional requirements. 5 so far, and this user has contributed nothing of value. Methinks it's time to go atomic.
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aspdotnetdev wrote: This user just signed up and has posted 5 requirements such as this. I have 1-voted each question and have reported the user to the site admins. I am posting this notice on each of the "questions" so others will know not to answer them. Thought I'd leave them here instead of deleting them so the site admins could see the user's abuse of the site themselves.
Yeah, I noticed - I replied to each of them before you did this in order to remove them from the unanswered list.
I think this is the same idiot that did the same yesterday, but with different "questions".
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together.
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Huh, the only 3 answers I saw were from somebody other than you and the only comments I saw were my own. In any event, looks like they have been deleted now.
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Delete his questions and move on.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Reputation History is a great new feature. It seems to work well, however I do have some suggestions:
1. the datetime format is pretty weird, I'd never put time in front of date. I personally would use "dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm", or alternatively "yyyy-MMM-dd HH:mm".
[EDIT] The order has been fixed, now the hour format is still weird, it has both 24 hours and AM/PM! [EDIT]
2. I would put the Reputation column to the right of the Points column (they belong together), and right-align the Points column; perhaps even merge both columns.
3. I would appreciate the forum name be mentioned when the item is "Forum Message..."
4. Maybe you could add an active/passive column or a background code to differentiate own activities (e.g. post message) and other's activities (e.g. message got up-voted).
There is one bug (or at least a very bad feature): when not viewing page 1, and altering the search criteria, the page number is not reset to 1, causing an unexpected and possibly empty result. BTW: the same behavior is present in all your search facilities AFAICR.
And a wish list would include more search criteria, such as searching a specific rep category, negative points only, etc.
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code. modified on Monday, December 20, 2010 11:16 AM
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Rep history has a massive, ugly bug and was not meant to be public just yet. You also spotted this a couple of days ago. I've left the page up ther since you know about it and if you think it's useful in it's current form then great - but I am planning on fixing it properly this weekend and then releasing.
On a broader topic I've been planning to rerun the rep calculations to take into account further things like points for bookmarking but I'm loathe to do it 2 weeks before I announce MVPs, but I think it's important we have MVPs for 2011 be based on what the rep calculations should be, not what they are.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: points for bookmarking
You know, this post you've just made seems important. I believe I'll bookmark it. 
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Yes I think it could be useful, especially for (a) putting some minds at ease, and (b) spotting rep bugs if and when they occur. I would even suggest to offer the same info through the web service to be (there may be an identification problem to be dealt with first).
Not sure why you resent recalculating rep points if there is a need; all I would suggest is to organize it in such a way that nobody notices, i.e. have distinct accumulator fields while calculating, and just copy the results when all is done (I have more ideas on the subject). That way it is only some disk space and a lot of server load, no continuous visible change in rep values and colors and privileges.
Personally I don't expect big changes (AFAIK my total is off by 10 points), except indeed I suspect you only have captured recent bookmarking. A few people of the top-10 may be juggled a bit (up to 3K is my estimate) as they have lots of articles and bookmarks, so be it (one could argue it is unfair you change the rules after the facts, I won't). JSOP and POH might swap places once more.
Judging by the dates this year's MVP awards got published, you still have 4 weeks, however sooner would indeed be better. I'm also not expecting a strict relationship between rep points and MVPship; there may still be some relevant factors that escape the rep system.
IMO you should bite the bullet.
[EDIT]
Estimate was way off: by articles being bookmarked alone Sacha may gain 70K author rep, Marc 50K, Nish 37K, CG 15K, John 10K, Pete 5K, etc.
I'm in favor of articles getting rewarded more, as you well know.
[/EDIT]
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code. modified on Friday, December 17, 2010 9:02 PM
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Or... OR, he could assign MVP's based on both the old AND the new rep points. The more the merrier.
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I'm afraid you've been reading too many Vilmos sigs.
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You misread me: I certainly don't resent recalculting. It's just a button click
What I worry about is the endless round of "but where did my points go????".
However, points should all go up, not down.
I will recalc, but I will put on a flame proof suit first. And yes, the rep list is designed specifically for you guys to see more clearly what's happening to save confusion and also help out with diagnostics if anything is amiss.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: where did my points go?
There's two aspects: during recalculation and afterwards.
1.
I think the main problem is what happens during recalculation: everyone gets back to zero, some are surprised, all colors and privileges are gone, long-term members can't edit/delete any longer, etc. That is why I recommend you recalculate in the background (using separate counters), while you continue to use the old values for displaying and decision making.
2.
I agree, the end result is bound to rise. And anyhow, it should fit what the FAQ says, however I still feel the FAQ still isn't good enough. It isn't always clear (some descriptions are long and confusing), it does not mention weight factors, etc.
And yes, some points might go down due to the large number of daily limits which seem to have been added recently; I remember that column being almost empty not so long ago; did you really implement all those limits?
If you want to avoid complaints about sudden changes, I recommend you stop applying rule changes retro-actively. You don't want the tax law changes to work retro-actively either, do you?
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Luc Pattyn wrote: You don't want the tax law changes to work retro-actively either, do you
Oh, but they do. What was legal years back can be re-evaluated and found to have a different interpretation.
But anyway, point (1) has been mitigated in that we use a new method of calculating that drastically minimises the time your points are reset to 0.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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let's have it!
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