Some thoughts about the forum

[mzhang]

I know that I just started here, but I have some suggestions that could be used to improve the site.

1. For each user, one could label which languages they program in. This could be used for users to easily locate others who program in the same language.

2. The forum has no "Improvements" section, that's why I'm posting here.

If this post is against any forum rules then please remove it.

[Hikaru79]

We don't have an "Improvements" forum, but we have a "Suggestions for V3" thread around here somewhere, which are basically feature requests for the upcoming version of the forum. You can post your ideas there

[Tony]

programming language labels would have a lot of issues.

Mostly because users who do not know what they are doing will list every language they've heard of, and programmers who are to some level proficient will actually be aware that they don't know that much.

Besides, there are a lot of languages out there. I have to pick and choose which ones go on my resume, because they all don't fit on a single line

[[Gandalf]]

Who said it has to be a line?

Well, this was discussed, I brought it up, and I still think it would be pretty useful. The problem is that yes, it would be like putting a 'label' on someones knowledge, and it would have to be proven (which would take considerable effort).

I'm not sure, but one thing I just came up with is. Maybe we could make it so that it matters on the amount of posts you have in a certain area? Usually when someone has a bunch of posts in an area they have some knowledge ofthe subject. Still, there are obvious problems with this solution. No matter which method we use, it can't really be accurate, so...

[Amailer]

Nah bad idea... people are skilled in many languages sometimes (WTD) it could be just that the forum of that language isn't that active (popular), its really no use XD

[[Gandalf]]

Then you could do it for the percentage of posts in total for that forum?

[Tony]

We could then add emphasis on posting tutorials and introduce ranking systems..

But then this information cannot be in real time. Too much computing and database access to figure it out for each user. So perhaps during weekly updates or something..

But then again.. what about very knowledgable users that do not post often? Regularly, but in small amounts

[[Gandalf]]

Yea... It's just an idea. Another possibility is to allow mods to rank users (but this would put lots of work on you).

Maybe you could do it for the percentage of that persons post count, now thats starting to get complicated (but yes, it could be done weekly).

[Bacchus]

Or maybe even have regular post ranks like we have now and have an option for MODs that when they read a post/tutorial/code they can add special points that can go towards getting special titles and the such.

[[Gandalf]]

Glad my idea is finally getting some inspiration , still we will have to see. Bacchus, I think that might be too much since its really similar to bits right now. It would be simpler to just have a 'rank' or 'point' system for each language, which still isn't overly simple...

[Bacchus]

Yes that would be interesting having different bits for each type of language. But then again this itself would present more problem because would some bits be better then others? Universal is the way to go on this I think so all people can get them. I guess the main thing behind my post was that we need more stuff in the shop.
Also I'm loving my bits right now lol

[[Gandalf]]

Burn him at the stake!

Yep, more stuff in the shop would be good, but having many types of bits would be hectic (how the heck do you spell hecktic). It's just good to know who know what language so you can ask them without looking at all their posts, especially for newerbies. It's also good to get some 'promotion' once in a while .

[Tony]

Bacchus wrote:

would some bits be better then others?

Yes, different bits will be like foreighn currency. We'll then be monitoring inflation and exchange rates.

[Martin]

What we need is a reputation system and to get rid of post counts.

[[Gandalf]]

And we could have a stock market!

Well, I personally don't know what a forum would be without a post count, but reputation isn't a bad idea .