Bugs and Suggestions

Chris Maunder13-Mar-09 3:32

13-Mar-09 3:32

I like the idea. I'd have to do some simulations to see who would lose and who would gain, then work out if the losers were bigger at me and would yell, and then adjust accordingly.

But seriously: I do like the points based idea and have been working on revamping the entire system because straight out 'number of articles' doesn't say anything.

However, MVP status is calculated on the articles you post and the rating of the articles as well as the ratings of your answers in the programming forums. My plan was to use the MVP calculation system to generate point for everyone (not just to rank everyone) and so give everyone a more solid idea of how they and everyone else is going (for those that care). Further, I want to award members for as many actions as I can that help another member find an answer:

- posting an article
- answering a question posted on an article
- answering a question in a forum
- voting on articles, questions and answers (this helps
immensely in the job of sorting the good from the bad
- moderating programming content

There is also scope to have a separate points system that is purely for community participation. Have you joined collaborative groups, have you been a Nishbot, have you moved messages into the correct forums, have you hung around for a long time

cheers,
Chris Maunder

CodeProject.com : C++ MVP

#realJSOP13-Mar-09 4:05

13-Mar-09 4:05

Well, I figured that awarding of MVP (which already has math behind it regarding message counts/quality) was what I call a "tangible". You don't really want to expose the criteria for calculating MVP, so just the fact that someone *is* awarded should be enough, and is visible in the user's profile. My idea was formatted in such a way as to create as little *new* work as possible for you. It also presents an easy job for Joe Sixpack users to verify their own status without having to bother you.

You already know my opinion on user level - it should be earned, and difficult to earn. Under the system I proposed, many users will find that they have been "demoted" by at least one level (and I suspect a lot of gold members would become Bronze as a result).

"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
-----
"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

Pete O'Hanlon13-Mar-09 10:19

13-Mar-09 10:19

OK - I'd be a loser here, and I'm definitely bigger than you Chris. I'd have a grand total of 38 points.

"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith

As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.

Luc Pattyn13-Mar-09 10:38

13-Mar-09 10:38

Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
I'd be a loser here

start yelling, I'll join you. Chris asked for it after all. Big Grin | :-D

The basic idea seems sound, but clearly the 31 and 61 thresholds John proposed are too high, there should be more of an exponential curve there.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]

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martin_hughes13-Mar-09 10:40

martin_hughes

13-Mar-09 10:40

Arctic Jim on 38 points? Doesn't sound right to me.

print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text

Ain't that Groovy?

Pete O'Hanlon13-Mar-09 11:21

13-Mar-09 11:21

martin_hughes wrote:
Arctic Jim on 38 points? Doesn't sound right to me.

I spend a lot of time out on the lash.

"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith

As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.

#realJSOP13-Mar-09 10:52

13-Mar-09 10:52

Yeah, I kinda figured some folks would get caught in that net, and it's a perfect of example illustrating how hard it would be to make gold (and subsequently, platinum) status. Gold requires 15 articles right now (30 points in my proposed system).

Chris Maunder13-Mar-09 10:54

13-Mar-09 10:54

There are currently only around 950 Gold members.

Do we really want to reduce this number even further? Personally I'd like to make it slightly easier

cheers,
Chris Maunder

CodeProject.com : C++ MVP

#realJSOP13-Mar-09 11:02

13-Mar-09 11:02

Only 950 gold members, and about 30 platinum members certainly is an exclusive club on a site with almost 6 million users. Just ignore me then. Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn13-Mar-09 12:58

13-Mar-09 12:58

I'm afraid you are mistaken, there most likely is a big difference between accounts, people and active users.

There are 950 golden accounts, probably all belonging to different people;
there are almost 6 million accounts in total, the number of people involved is unknown.

It would be my guess the number of active users (lets say people having an account and logging in at CP at least once a year) could be well below one million.

I do recall we recently had an account with just the single message asking how to delete his account; the recent flock of "doubting" people just today have proven to have more accounts than people; and I don't hear or see several people anymore that were very active some 12 months ago.

So things being very dynamic, and accounts being somewhat hard to get rid of, I would stay far away from mentioning 6 million users. After all, every page mentions there are some 20,000 people on-line at this very moment. Did you ever notice a much higher number? and do you think most people log in and out all the time?

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]

#realJSOP14-Mar-09 0:10

14-Mar-09 0:10

It would be interesting to see how many actually active accounts there are, but I don't think Chris would give that number up for fear of loosing advertisers. Smile | :)

martin_hughes13-Mar-09 10:58

martin_hughes

13-Mar-09 10:58

Why not just have MVP and bugger all else in terms of rating?

It would seem more democratic to me. The Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum statuses don't really make much sense - especially for lounge lizards like me - and could be replaced by the Messages posted description (expand it though - I'm much more than a "personality"!).

Hold elections on MVP status, and hold them more regularly. Members could nominate people who have been useful and/or re-elect those they consider still worthy. This would both involve the entire community in the process, and keep MVP's (like Moobs) on their toes (and maybe, just maybe, stamp out the Lord of the Flies mentality that rewards unpleasantness on this site, on occasion.)

Just a thought. Just a thought.

print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text

Ain't that Groovy?

martin_hughes13-Mar-09 12:56

martin_hughes

13-Mar-09 12:56

Nice one, Moobs.

How about -10 points for each and every post on bowel movements and -100 points for racist commentary?

print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text

Ain't that Groovy?

Luc Pattyn13-Mar-09 14:01

13-Mar-09 14:01

Why is it messages get accounted for only through a possible MVP status (of which only 40 are awarded, so message quality isn't absolute, it is a competition of kinds), whereas articles count directly and absolutely?

Since in the end you get what you award, some people will start calculating "How many (possibly crap) articles do I need to keep my silver/golden nugget?"

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]

#realJSOP14-Mar-09 0:06

14-Mar-09 0:06

MVP indicates a person that is actively helping the community. This help is effected via answering questions in the forums and through posting articles. I believe (but I'm not sure) that it's not merely message count but might also include some sort of "worth" calculation based on votes you receive on the messages you post (in the programming forums).

Luc Pattyn wrote:
How many (possibly crap) articles

Hopefully, the "crap" is caught by the pre-screeners. Besides, that's one of the reasons I suggested such high points values for progressing from one level to the next.

Tom Deketelaere18-Mar-09 0:19

Tom Deketelaere

18-Mar-09 0:19

John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
Hopefully, the "crap" is caught by the pre-screeners. Besides, that's one of the reasons I suggested such high points values for progressing from one level to the next.

Wouldn't your system make it 'easier' for these "crap" articles to make it into the general article pool?
As I understand it now the articles are screened in large bye the gold members. But with your system there will be less gold members to do this, therefor increasing the chances for these articles to go unchecked.
I know the code project staff screens them as well, but still.

I do agree with the general idea however.

In my case I'd be bumped down to bronze again, I think, but I don't really care about the status, I give help (where I can), and receive help when needed. That's a reward on its own.

#realJSOP18-Mar-09 1:25

18-Mar-09 1:25

Actually, they would probably sit in the pending approval queue longer because there would be fewer gold members to go through them, and the remaining gold members (after the level adjustment) would probably be much more selective about what gets through.

Chris Maunder15-Mar-09 13:23

15-Mar-09 13:23

Messages are accounted for (in absolute terms) in Gold/Silver etc status too.

Luc Pattyn wrote:
Since in the end you get what you award, some people will start calculating "How many (possibly crap) articles do I need to keep my silver/golden nugget?"

As they have been doing for years and will continue to do.

cheers,
Chris Maunder

CodeProject.com : C++ MVP

Luc Pattyn15-Mar-09 13:47

15-Mar-09 13:47

Chris Maunder wrote:
Messages are accounted for (in absolute terms) in Gold/Silver etc status too.

Yes, and I accept that; however it's the one point John did not justify in his proposal. So I asked.

Chris Maunder wrote:
As they have been doing for years and will continue to do.

Of course. All I'm saying is be careful when considering such changes. And please don't change fundamental things often, consider them well then keep the rules constant for several years.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]

Remove account

aspsidan12-Mar-09 13:31

aspsidan

12-Mar-09 13:31

I whant to remove my account.
Cant find the anyting about howto.
Please someone help me.

Pete O'Hanlon12-Mar-09 23:31

12-Mar-09 23:31

You can't remove your account. You can simply choose not to use it. If you removed your account, it would break the referential integrity.

"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith

As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.

#realJSOP12-Mar-09 23:46

12-Mar-09 23:46

Actually, Chris just has to give us a way to mark it as disabled (which would not be something we could un-do). This would essentially delete the email address so no further emails would be sent from CP. To be honest, they really need to add this functionality.

Pete O'Hanlon12-Mar-09 23:51

12-Mar-09 23:51

Oh I agree. We generally use status fields to mark records as active or closed, but until he adds it in, the OP is stuck with the relevant solution. Really though, is it that hard not to use the account again?

"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith

As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.

Chris Maunder13-Mar-09 3:37

13-Mar-09 3:37

Yeah, I know. My faded memory is that we had it and I kept getting tons of 'I can't get access to my account' emails, followed by 'yes, I checked the 'remove account' box. Why?' discussions.

cheers,
Chris Maunder

CodeProject.com : C++ MVP

#realJSOP13-Mar-09 3:58