cplusplus.com suggestion

[honeyoak]

I wanted to raise the possibility of permitting a popularity feature for members. some websites have a "hat tip/like/recommended" function that allows active forum members to be given feedback and rewarded by their peers(a special star perhaps?) for posting and such(sort of like what ebay has going on). Computergeek01 was very helpful to me and I would like for there to be a system in place for his efforts to be acknowledged beyond the number of posts that he has.

thanks.honeyoak.

[Bazzy]

I disagree with the above
Forums with ranking options are usually messy and bloated. I like this forum for its simplicity.
Something like that has been suggested several times but always rejected.

[chrisname]

I was about to say what Bazzy said and I'm sure many other members will have the same sentiment.

[Return 0]

I'm in agreement with Bazzy and chrisname on this. No to ranking.

[z05DSL3A]

+1 Bazzy, chrisname, and Return 0.

[filipe]

I agree that it should be kept as it is. I really like the clean design of cplusplus.com, too.

[thepedestrian]

+1 honeyoak

I think its a pretty good idea. Probably because i'm on the receiving end of help but still, I think it shows the helpe's appreciation and a good validation for the work that helper has done. For example, I would like to give Return 0 a kudos or check for his insight in the "Masters Degree in Computer Science". Nothing much, just shows that he has helped me and if I were in his place, I would feel good getting a star or something indicating that I have helped someone.

But I can also see this feature failing because 99% of the people on this forum are very helpful and insightful; and so everyone would have stars or the equivalent.

I'm torn but I think this feature should be tried out.

[3hM2Nwbp]

I'm not sure how the administration feels here, but instead of explicit replies to topics just saying "Thanks for the help", a few boards I've been to have a thanks button that just adds a little "Thanked By: [name1], [name2]" appendage to the post that was thanked. I'm neutral here, thanking explicitly or clicking a button is all the same in my book.

[sohguanh]

I don't know about other developers but when I help, I genuinely want to help without getting any rewards. I get to learn also in the process so it is a win-win situation for me.

As for those thanks, ranking etc concept, I feel it is not mandatory and can "bloat" the ego of developers once his/her ranking is high. This is a developer forum so I think most of us prefer to work "silently" and share ideas and pointers with each other when we encounter problems.

[Bazzy]

Another problem is that the situation is usually not as simple as in Question -> Answer.
It could be Question -> Link to thread with answer.
The OP can give credit to:
- the person posting the link as was directly helping
- the person who posted the answer in the linked thread as it's the one who knew the answer
- the person who asked the same question in the other thread ( good answers come from good questions )
- every person involved

IMO Each of the choices is pointless

[z05DSL3A]

Unknown Author wrote:

A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.

I would much profer to see the OP state that his problem is solved and thank all involved, than have them deal out popularity points. I'm not in it for flattery but believe that 'manners maketh man'.

[z05DSL3A]

While we are on the subject of cplusplus.com suggestions

I think that it would be nice to have a 'page', similar to the My topics one, where only unanswered questions are displayed (maybe from the past 24 or 48 hours).

[Return 0]

Grey Wolf wrote:

I think that it would be nice to have a 'page', similar to the My topics one, where only unanswered questions are displayed (maybe from the past 24 or 48 hours).

Great idea, but its effectiveness would be determined by the OP setting the state to solved.

[z05DSL3A]

I was just thinking in terms of posts that have 0 replies. I often go searching for them in coffee breaks and other downtimes (after checking My topics).

[Return 0]

I do the same thing. That would be very useful.

[chrisname]

That's an excellent idea; or maybe if we could change the order topics are displayed in.

[cran]

Aw, I can just feel the warm fuzzies tingling up my spine when someone hits the plus on a post I did... Nope, not feelin' it! It's a no for me... I would like a quote button on other posts at times, but that's not really necessary either since I can copy and paste from any computer.