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The free tools forum has the 'good question' & 'bad question' voting links.
Wouldn't the normal '1-5' voting be better?
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I think the free tools forum (which was a top-notch idea IMO!) might be better transferred wholesale to a Q&A format (even if the rep points gained are the same as the message board) though not as part of Q&A. That way posters can tag the tool under different categories, e.g. "text editor", "graphics" etc.
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I don't. At least not until the Q&A format is fixed so it doesn't resemble the personal diary of Charles Manson.
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Interesting analogy. Anything specific you dislike?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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I haven't kept up with all the changes going on, so some of this may be out of date now, but here is my short list:
1. Answers to the OP's question are sorted based on which tab is selected. So it is common to see Answer 3, Answer 1, Answer 2, Answer 4. This by itself is disconcerting, but what makes it egregious is the fact that posters often refer to "the previous answer", and you have no clue whether they're referring to the previous answer that they are currently seeing, or Answer N-1. Of all the UI faux pas on the site, this is in the Top Ten Worst.
2. Having two tabs in the first place is absurd. There just are never enough answers to justify the complexity and confusion. Anybody that can't look at 4 answers and figure out which is the top-rated is a moron (to borrow Christian's term).
3. On top of the mess caused by (1) and (2), there are hierarchical comments. So now we're all of a sudden back to the CP classic forum structure, with comments, sub-comments. sub-sub-comments, etc. However, unlike the classic forum, the comments in Q&A are presented on a white background with no delineation whatsoever. Again, hard to read and confusing.
4. Do the Q&A answers still get re-numbered? Haven't checked that lately. God I hope not.
To sum up: the Q&A format is confusing, overly complex, and completely unnecessary; the classic forums do a better job and are much more readable.
I understand the motivation behind the Q&A format, but please don't convert any of the classic forums to Q&A format. That would be a big mistake, and very distressing. If you were going to do anything, I would suggest 1) get rid of the two tabs and stop re-ordering answers; and 2) add some visual demarcations for both answers and comments (and no, mouseover coloring don't cut it).
p.s. I tried to find it, but couldn't - I believe Luc has posted some very detailed comments on the Q&A format. I'm in a crunch right now, so I don't have time to find it. Maybe he can give a link.
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I have Luc's list - no need to hunt around, but thanks for the offer.
With regards to sorting answers, I disagree with keeping answers in the order they were posted.
When you post a question, or when you search for an answer and find a similar question, you want the best answer. This is the entire goal of QA - solicit and present the best answer to a question. By design the questions should be ordered in descending order of rating.
We made the change a while back that kept the answers' numbers static. It's now simple to refer to "solution X" or "The answer by Joe Blogs"
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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I'm with you on that one, the "best" answer should be at the top - since it's the only one most people are going to read...
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together.
Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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This[^] user has decided that he can spam with impunity. Beware the mighty hand of the spam slayer.
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Poor Chris. Despite repeated requests to members asking them to use the Report Member link in the profiles, people post threads here. 
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I had reported this user, but I was alone in the reporting - people chose to be apathetic, and I take this spam seriously. I would expect others to take the same stance against me if I started tendering my company's services here.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: I had reported this user, but I was alone in the reporting - people chose to be
apathetic, and I take this spam seriously. I would expect others to take the
same stance against me if I started tendering my company's services here.
Then the Lounge would be a better place to post this thread, why bother an already busy Chris? The fewer the threads here, the better he can tackle them. That's what I feel on this anyway.
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Hey - I asked for whackamole powers for higher rep users a long time back and was told no - and AFAIK it's not just Chris here, I'm pretty sure this isn't a one man band. If he wants spam left lying around because of apathy, then fine - I'll not bother. But I don't agree that the lounge is the place to report this; it's a site issue.
That's what I feel on this anyway.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: That's what I feel on this anyway.
Yeah, that was already known. Since you are one of the biggest starters of threads here reporting spammers 
Pete O'Hanlon wrote: it's a site issue.
And the site has a system to handle it.
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As I said. I'll not bother - I'm not going to get into an argument on it, but I'll let the spammers in (I'll still report them, but if others don't bother then I am not going to do anything about it) since it's fairly clear now that my posting about the spammers is causing undue noise here in S&B.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: since it's fairly clear now that my caring about keeping the spammers out is a
bother.
Well, I don't know if it actually bothers Chris, and even if it did I'd say there are other far more superficial threads people post in this forum.
This site gets so much traffic that if someone spams in a popular/active forum, I think it won't take long for 5 guys to report the spammer. Right now, the core issue is that this feature was silently put in so except for a few hardcode CPians not many others even know they can report an user.
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I edited my reply because rereading it made it come out fairly harsh. You may want to read the updated Pete version.
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OK - I've re-reedited it. Now it makes sense.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: since it's fairly clear now that my caring about keeping the spammers out is a bother.
Mate - I'm not sure what's giving you that impression. Every single spam report we get we review and take seriously. I've deleted the single post that guy posted about offering for websites, and the other posts, while lame and lazy, don't count as actual spam.
You're a Godsend to us, Pete. Honestly. Never stop reporting.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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You two replied before my updated post got in. Rereading it made it clear that what I'd put in was too harsh. Perhaps you'd care to read the updated version.
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Well, no one can say P O'H is not passionate about supporting this site and keeping spammers/site-abusers at bay
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Pete. Big-stick. What more can I say?
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: since it's fairly clear now that my posting about the spammers is causing undue noise here in S&B.
I still disagree. 
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Cool. I'll continue to whackamole then.
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I still believe that's not the best option. If a popular member like you does that, others will do the same. The best option is to report a profile and if you want to quickly get 4 others to do it, you might want to take advantage of a certain mailing list
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote: might want to take advantage of a certain mailing list
Good idea - I'll do that.
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