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plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]

by perl_lover_girl (Initiate)
on Aug 25, 2006 at 16:34 UTC ( [id://569618]=monkdiscuss: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

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Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by jeffa (Bishop) on Aug 25, 2006 at 16:45 UTC

    Rule #1 -- You do not talk about Perl Club.

    It is very easy to open the door, announce yourself, and then start complaining about the color of the drapes, the bad taste in carpet ... etc. The way things work around here is fairly simple. If you don't like it, you don't just complain about it -- you do something about it. You participate until you gain enough XP that you are allowed to join pmdev. You inspect the code and start writing patches to change things.

    Apart from that, i feel that site looks great and has extreme usability. The only way we can change the infrastructure is to have volunteers devote their spare time to building a new site. If you would like to volunteer your time to help us make our site better, then please do.

    Remember, we are not getting to paid to help you with your problems. Likewise, we don't get paid to make the site better for you.

    jeffa

    L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
    -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
    B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
    H---H---H---H---H---H---
    (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)
    
      It is very easy to open the door, announce yourself, and then start complaining about the color of the drapes, the bad taste in carpet ... etc.

      Yeah but what takes real chutzpah is coming in uninvited, defecating in the punch bowl, and then incoherently complaining to all passers by about the taste and how this jar of your urine is much better.

      Surprisingly most copies of How to Win Friends and Influence People are missing those pages . . .

Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Aug 25, 2006 at 16:52 UTC

    A flat model like phpBB is very poor when discussions take many diverging paths, as they do here in PM. A flat model would provide no context. Ever notice how boards that use the flat model have posts that quote its parent, grandparent, great-grandparent and great-great-grandparent? A threaded model eliminates this need and the confusion. A flat model would stiffle conversation here on PM.

    Use of the threaded model is hardly "ancient". I quickly came up with http://www.livejournal.com/, http://www.slashdot.org/ and http://www.kuro5hin.org/ as modern examples of threaded forums.

    If you're refering to some other aesthetic aspect, you'll have to be more specific.

      "A threaded model eliminates this need and the confusion. A flat model would stiffle conversation here on PM."

      Indeed. Just take a look at the IMDb message boards. They allow users to view threads in either flat or threaded modes. But the problem there is that when you sign up, your default view mode is flat. What happens is the newbies don't know (or care) to switch to threaded mode while the regulars eventually switch to threaded mode. You have half of the populution looking at conversations in context, and the other half viewing merely by chronolical order. I have seen, many many times, people getting into heated arguments simply because of this dual nature of viewing threads -- they think person A is talking to them when person A was really flaming person B. This has been going on for years, and people still get bitten by it. Despite numorous requests to make threaded mode the default, the IMDb site developers sill have not.

      jeffa

      L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
      -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
      B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
      H---H---H---H---H---H---
      (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)
      
      Back in the days of dial-up BBS systems and then Usenet - threaded mechanisms were very common, and this feature is, I believe, one of the greatest factors in their usability. The old forums on Compuserve were also a good example.

      However the move of many groups to plain mailing lists makes it far more difficult to follow threads of conversation. Several groups I know of have gone to Yahoo, for example, and it is now far more difficult to manage. Excellent threads get lost in the dross of the daya to day, usually irrelevant, noise that these lists generate when un-moderated. Sadly moderation doesn't really work either. Self moderation by thread management is far more effective IMHO.

      jdtoronto

        However the move of many groups to plain mailing lists makes it far more difficult to follow threads
        Use a proper mail client, one that respects threads. This is a solved problem, all mails that are replies have a "References:" header with a list of message ideas it is a followup to — not just of the parent, so the thread structure is retained even if some messages go missing.
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by imp (Priest) on Aug 25, 2006 at 16:58 UTC
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by Fletch (Bishop) on Aug 25, 2006 at 16:42 UTC

    I just have one thing to say:

    OMGWTFBBQSNAKESONAPLANESANDLOLPONYPONYPONYKTHXBYE.

Re: OT: plz replace this ...(Award)
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Aug 25, 2006 at 19:37 UTC

    Congratulations! You win my Troll of the Year Award 2006.

    That might seem premature, but I seriously doubt anyone will top this in the next 4 months, so why wait.

    Your choice of subject is inspired, and the execution impecable.

    Now we've acknowledged you, perhaps you are ready for the next level. Try these guys, they're meant to be really hard to impress.


    Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
    Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
    "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
    In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
      I second this nomination! Move for a full floor vote.
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by Polonius (Friar) on Aug 25, 2006 at 17:55 UTC

    There was a time when trolling was widely seen as an art form. Occasionally, it still is. But that requires finesse, and an understanding of both the community and its subject matter.

    You're right. Perl Monks could be improved. I can see the attraction of a killfile.

    Polonius
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by swampyankee (Parson) on Aug 25, 2006 at 18:04 UTC

    I find a lot of things annoying, including screeds written by people who seem to view spelling, grammar, and punctuation as things to avoid. I make allowances.

    By the way, some of the Monks here probably are the "ancient guys in the internet". They're the ones who keep complaining about poorly written questions, worse code, and even worse specs.

    emc

    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

    Albert Einstein
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Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by Asim (Hermit) on Aug 25, 2006 at 17:05 UTC
    Your board has absolutely no usability

    It seems to have enough for you to not only ask questions on, but also to post a complaint about the usability thereof.

    Perlmonks is not perfect. Yet, somehow, dozens of accounts are created everyday, my "Newest Nodes" and "Recent Threads" lists are full-to-bursting daily, and so on. Perhaps there's a point these users, new and old, have found that you might do well to look for.

    ----Asim, known to some as Woodrow.

Re: OT: plz replace this super ugly.. - netiquette, chatterbox
by shmem (Chancellor) on Aug 28, 2006 at 08:09 UTC
    It's too bad you didn't first ask in the chatterbox whether writing such a node would be a good idea. I would have given you the following advice:
    Please spend some time here being quiet, reading nodes, getting familiar with how this board works and who we are, before even thinking about uttering any diatribe disregarding this site's software. And if you feel a stronge urge, go write it, but don't publish it.

    Read the Netiquette, specially rule 3: first know where you are, who we are and who you are for us: a nameless newcomer without any merits here.

    No way you could shoehorn us into giving up everything for --- a PHP board!

    Now it's happened, and there's no way to change that (you can countervail though, with a better attitude and posts). The text you wrote will eventually remain in the perlmonks database for years to come and for all to see.

    That's one thing people often forget, whilst they use boards with nifty features, avatars and dancing smileys and shiny user interfaces - their utterances are logged and, after being uttered, beyond their control. It's written, and now it's in the book. Nodes are documents.

    OTOH, the chatterbox is volatile. Please use that for any dubious suggestion, for your own sake.

    --shmem

    _($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                                  /\_¯/(q    /
    ----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
    ");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}
Re: OT: please replace this board by a better one
by b10m (Vicar) on Aug 25, 2006 at 19:30 UTC

    There are a lot of things on here I don't like either, but at least people are (were?) working on a NNTP gateway, IIRC, so that's a start. You mention one of the most horrible things that happened to mankind after Mao though: phpBB... but that's probably just too 1337 for me...OMG LOL ROFLMAO! {image}{image}{image}{bold large colored font crap}{image}{image}

    Yes, there are quite a few things that I don't like about this place too, but either I got used to it, or I don't care about it too much to overcome my perpetual state of laziness and actually write a patch for it.

    A threaded setup is vital for Perlmonks, IMHO. Discussions usually fly from left to right here. I don't have time to check this place every 10 seconds, so -with my bad memory- I need to see the structure, and I fear a lot of monks are like me in that way.

    phpBB (yeah, as if we'd use a PHP solution) is bad in another way. It gives out a big list with all its members, including their email addresses (although I think at least they don't enable that "feature" by default anymore). WWW::Mechanize would love that though ...

    Last but not least: since you can alter your CSS stylesheet, you can change it as much as you'd like. So, here's a challenge for you: create a stylesheet (Greasemonkey script for all I care) that transforms Perlmonks into a phpBB board! Would be fun to work on, and I'd like to see the result!

    --
    b10m

    All code is usually tested, but rarely trusted.
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Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Aug 25, 2006 at 20:40 UTC
        The threadstructure here and the usability is very very bad.

    I supposed you were voted "Miss Congeniality" in High School, weren't you?

    Was there a Perl related question in there? I must have missed it.

    My Dear Lady,
    Imagine if you will, I come to your house. I sit at your kitchen table and I commence to tell you that the style of your house reminds me of a Sears Roebuck mail order house and the curtains look like something that was on sale at Odd Job Lot and the carpets must have come from K-Mart. I don't think you'd appreciate that much.

    When coming to a new on line community I'd suggest you hang around for a while, see what's going on gain some "street cred" before making creative suggestions about he decor.

    Unless, of course, your just a troll. Then I'd suggest you just go back under your bridge.

    Considered (DaWolf): unnecessary personal attack in first sentence. Reap?
    Unconsidered (holli): Enough Keep votes (Keep: 12, Edit: 2, Reap: 9)


    Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
    Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by gellyfish (Monsignor) on Aug 25, 2006 at 17:05 UTC

    Code speaks louder than words.

    /J\

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Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by theorbtwo (Prior) on Aug 25, 2006 at 19:32 UTC

    I wish you'd give some more specific complaints, so I could start to address them, but as a start: if you don't like the look, change it. The user settings page has a theme drop-down. I like teh perl-blue theme myself. If you don't like any of those, write some custom CSS on that same page, and share it with the world; possibly it will become one of the well-supported themes later.


    Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by Milamber (Beadle) on Aug 26, 2006 at 21:16 UTC

    Supergood? As in the ability to slap gloss on a post with a bunch of animated smileys, font changes and other l33tn3ss? Or is that l33+n355? Hell, I can't keep up.

    Anyway, the short of it is, polish does not a good product make. Perl Monks works the way it is. Too much of the web is shopping mall meets lifestyle emphorium anyway. It's pleasant to spend time on a site where content, information and resource takes priority over eye candy.

Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by derby (Abbot) on Aug 25, 2006 at 17:49 UTC

    Well ... there's always room for improvement but geez ... I cannot get past your nym. Now I like perl and I like girls and my wife tells me I'm a grea^H^H^H^Hgoo^H^H^Hdecen^H^H^H^H^Hokay l-word but those three words do not go together ... at all (unless your canadian and an early 80s music fan, then perl_lover_boy would be ok - not great - but ok).

    -derby

      How about "flock_of_C_gulls"?

Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by nothingmuch (Priest) on Aug 25, 2006 at 20:03 UTC
    You cen install vbulletin on the perlmonsk machin the root passowrd is ponies i love you 2 kthx bye

    Update: wow, still no downvotes... I think you guys are biased ;-)

    -nuffin
    zz zZ Z Z #!perl
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Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by xorl (Deacon) on Aug 29, 2006 at 15:21 UTC

    Back in '99 when I was stuck with a problem and knew I wasn't going to figure it out before the project had to be completed, I ventured over to devshed. It soon became my favorite resource. Then I found perlmonks a year or two later and have only been back to devshed once in a while.

    The thing that keeps me at perlmonks is that I usually get correct answers whereas devshed usually sends me off on a wild goose chase. That is the only major difference I see between the two.

    The forum software seems basically the same to me. Although I think an expert user will find that PM will allow you to do more. You can use HTML in your posts, and create your own CSS for the entire site. Home nodes are much more flexiable.

    From all of your replies, it sounds like to me you're looking for newest nodes. PerlMonks FAQ, and What shortcuts can I use for linking to other information?.

    The only flaw with PM is the existance of the experience point system, which lacks accountability. However in this case it seems to have worked since I found almost all of your nodes in Worst Nodes, exactly where they belongs.

      Not that I really want to prolong this thread, but I am curious as to what you mean about the XP system lacking accountability. To me the XP system is basically the means by which the community holds users accountable for what they have posted. SO perhaps you could explain. And please folks, lets not digress into another "the XP system is broken" discussion, im just curious about the accountability angle.

      ---
      $world=~s/war/peace/g

      I agree with perl_lover_girl for one thing, the first time on this forum, I was a bit lost. But after 15 minutes of wandering around you find out it is not so bad. And now I do think it is one of the best forum I have seen so far. Once you get how to post and what are the tags, everything is "nice and sweet". You should always take the time to know something before you actually try to judge it. Except that I don't really understand that experience point system, I think the site is great.
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by demerphq (Chancellor) on Aug 26, 2006 at 21:17 UTC

    Ill just add to the chorus of pmdevils who want to know, what is it that you find better about these other sites? What is it about the thread structure here that you dont like?

    I mean, the site is slow, but other than that?

    ---
    $world=~s/war/peace/g

      Slow? It is so from time to time when one of the servers (can't remember which one) gets a hiccup and starts swapping/thrashing. But most of the time I find the site quite responsive.


      holli, /regexed monk/
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by bart (Canon) on Sep 07, 2006 at 22:17 UTC
    The threadstructure here and the usability is very very bad.
    Eh, what? You want to remove our beloved thread tree structure and replace it with a flat system (http://phpbb.com), where you can't reply to a particular post, but only append a post at the end of the whole thread? Ugh. Their usability is extremely bad, in my eyes.
Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by zentara (Archbishop) on Aug 26, 2006 at 13:57 UTC
    One of my favorite quotes, from Saturday Night Live seems appropos here

    Jane! you ignorant slut.


    I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. Cogito ergo sum a bum

    Considered: grep: indirect personal insult are really not needed
    Unconsidered: g0n: Enough keep votes (Keep: 8, Edit: 1, Reap: 10)

Re: plz replace this super ugly & damned bad board by a supergood one: take open source [of course]
by sake (Initiate) on Aug 27, 2006 at 00:58 UTC
    Some people just want attention and will go out of their way to do so for this is highly uncalled for.
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