Discuss Hygiene and Editorial Feedback

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Hi Codechef community,

I have been a part of the discuss forum for quite a while now and have seen that there are a few issues which needs to be addressed soon to maintain the hygiene of this forum.

  1. Please don’t paste code for your working solution unless the idea is different or you feel you have added some useful comments which are not part of editorial and can be beneficial for new comers. Even while pasting your code, please use ideone and pastebin and give link to your codes instead of directly pasting the code. This makes the page look awful and irritating to scroll down while trying to answer doubts of other users.
  2. For people trying to ask why your code is wrong or inefficient, it is advised to at-least explain what your solution or approach is (may 2-3 lines) and what some of your variables mean. It is hard to read randomly non-indented codes and find error in them. It is not that people do not want to help here, it is because of the way you present your work, you are not on the the side receiving help. This many a times demotivates many but before asking help, make sure you value other person’s time too and clearly state where you faced the problem. This also gives you a better understanding of the issue and many a times while writing the blog/comment you get your own mistake. Also, please go through the editorials or solution manual by other people before directly asking for help and puttin duplication questions regarding the same doubts.
  3. I have been writing editorials for quite some time now. I understand that not all editorials written by be are good and easy to understand. In case of any problem, you are free to comment on them, maybe directly saying “The editorial was bad and hard to comprehend”. But again, tell where you are facing problem and how far could you get through the editorial. This gives the person a chance to understand how to improve the existing one and make sure mistake is not repeated in future. Also, comments and solution regarding the same approach as mentioned in the editorial is not required I think as it just confuses new comers to find the relevant information through such a large database. Only if your approach is different or unique and the solution is explained/commented, post them as it helps to maintain a good discuss forum hygiene.
  4. Lastly, instead of trying to help and answer people on the forum, please use the comment section instead of using a new answer box again. If you don’t have the required karma for it, ask @admin or @vijju123 for help (I remember a blog for it but don’t have the link for it now). Also, as fas as I remember, everyone can comment on their own answer/blog irrespective of the karma points.

It is important that we maintain a goof hygiene on the discuss forum nowwards.

Regards,
Bhuvnesh Jain
(likecs)

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Minimum reputation to comment - 50
If we can reduce this limit?

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When I read the word Hygiene in the title I was the most confused soul on Earth xD

Who discusses bathing habits here on forum?

Regarding point 1 , agreed, thats a very common issue which shouldnt happen. But the problem is, its usually done by newbies. Almost everyday one new guy comes, does that and then disappears forever. I dont know how to fix that. Currently I asked @admin to implement something like Pinned Post for the forum, along with separate sections for editorials, tutorials etc. I hope something is done soon for that. But aside from that, is there any solution visible to you guys on what can we do about this? Any suggestions?

Point 2, arguments are same. While I see many people actively prompting to do so at the question under comments (and the user fixing it when he sees that), the problem that newbies do that still remains. It seems impossible to eliminate it until we do something about it. The problem is, a newbie is a newbie. No experience on where to look stuff, how to search, or what are the rules. Not exactly sure how to tackle it. Any suggestions will be welcome :slight_smile:

Point 3 is really true! Though, I am a little strict there. Like, I carefully monitor feedbacks - its my duty to make sure nothing offensive is posted. Thankfully, things never got upto there :slight_smile:

But again, tell where you are facing problem and how far could you get through the editorial.

This is missing from many feedback. They just rant so and so and go. Nothing constructive comes out of that.

For point 4-

Lastly, instead of trying to help and answer people on the forum, please use the comment section instead of using a new answer box again.

True. I admit I have been quite lenient in this regard- one of the reason being an acute lack of time to go over every thread in discuss. I will also try to enforce it more strictly. Thanks :slight_smile:

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@aryanc403 - I think thats possible. Will talk to @admin about it tomorrow.

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Point 1 soln -

Click to view

“Hello World” xD

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Lmao wtf @aryanc403 xD xD

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Just a suggestion…
We can improve the “ask a question” page and comments section. We can add the fields - “Solution link”, “explanation of approach” so that no direct copy/paste of code is done on these pages. If these fields exist, people will definitely use it rather than copy paste there itself.

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I like this. I will forward it to @admin for consideration.

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Don’t have reputation to add comment so adding a new answer here. A solution to problem 1 mentioned by @vijju123 can be that a newbie should be forced to read the FAQs and rules the first time he joins the forum. After it a quick quiz can be taken to assure that he has indeed read the stuff. After the newbies pass the test they should be allowed to use forum. What I think it is not that people don’t want to follow the rules but most of them don’t know about them.

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Excellent idea @abhineet14 :slight_smile:

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We shouldn’t force people not to add codes in their questions or answer… sometimes adding codes helps a lot than to add a link… U can use I hide box also to make it more readable… See this post… It has codes in it… but it is more clearer as compared to giving link also…
It depends on how is the requirement…

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Personally I usually give my soln link or sometimes give code if needed… I completely don’t like pastebin…

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The requirement can be like I need a help with a specific part of my code… so giving whole code’s soln link is not beneficial in such cases…

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Further if I m writing an editorial or an explanation and I need codes in it then I ll be explaining a small part and then give implementation of the same and repeat… so I ll be needing to add codes… And it won’t look bad if proper care is taken… Like adding hide box

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@vijju123 Minimum reputation to comment - 50 If we can reduce this limit?

This has not yet been reduced.