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Hi from the "paradise" of Lanna (that's northern Thailand),
I'd like to give a few personal opinions on the current style and format of the "Daily News" from CodeProject. But I'd like to emphasize that I am devoted enthusiast for CodeProject, and it's the only site where I often click-through on ads just to express my support for CP and its unique group of participans and dedicated staff.
1. for me "Daily News" is too often with too low content to ad ratio.
2. vendors' ads which don't name the vendor and/or product(s) are ones I am not motivated to click on no matter what the ad says.
3. the constant addition of slightly satirical (or facetious or ironic or whatever) subtitles to the brief blurbs on the actual content for me becomes tiresome. For me few are actually funny, and they are distracting. I feel like that space they take up could be used to say more about what the linked content is actually about.
Some of the content titles ... as well as the comments ... are, for me, actually cryptic : I don't have time to go to Easter Island let alone on easter-egg hunts
I'd much prefer a CodeProject weekly news, with vendor names and products clearly identified. More information about what the linked content is, and maybe just a smidgen of the hip-ironic asides when the editor just has to let it out
best, Bill Woodruff
dotScience
"The greater the social and cultural distances between people, the more magical the light that can spring from their contact." Milan Kundera in Testaments Trahis
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Thanks for the comments Bill.
1. I'm not sure making the daily news less frequent than, say, once a day really makes sense. What about a weekly digest of it?
2. It's funny but until you mentioned this I never even thought about that. Advertising is a tricky thing to get right and what we keep telling our advertisers is "Our guys are smart and have no time for crap. Tell them what you have to offer, explain why it may be important to them, and avoid the marketing gump and hyperbole". Marketing often are so focussed on new, subtle features of their latest release that they often forget to mention the product itself. And in fact fail to mention their company, too! I've sent our adOps guys a request that they work with advertisers to make things even clearer
3. We like Kent's style because a) it makes you think, b) he's often saying what many of us think, and c) he worked at Microsoft for many years and has a unique perspective on our industry. Kent understands (well, has been a witness to) the decision processes inside Microsoft and also understands the constraints and limitations the developers are under that shape the way things turn out. He's cynical, yes, but he, like us, is cynical because he loves this industry and has been around long enough to sometimes be frustrated by seemingly bizarre actions that go on in this industry. He's cynical because he cares.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Hi Chris,
Thanks for your thoughful reply.
For me a "weekly digest" would be ideal, but this is a community, and many folks may like a daily fix.
In re-reading my original post, I found myself wishing I had said to the editor (who I now know is Kent) that the selection of articles he or she chooses is spot-on, and often interesting.
Every time I look in the mirror I see a cynic , and also other frightening things I won't mention, but which do provide fuel for my quondam career as poet and novelist. And after twenty years in the software business, and my own "fifteen minutes of fame" at Adobe, I have seen it all, also.
I think if the summary of what the linked article is about is a little more full, and the ironic asides a little less frequent that would be better reading for me. Or if Kent might choose to publish a weekly piece in which he more fully shoots his flaming arrows of pathos, bathos, irony, sarcasm, facetiousness, etc. into un-missable lumbering elephantine targets like Ballmer, Jobs, the intoxicated ravings of the promoters of the "next great thing," etc., for me that might be very interesting !
That would be [valley-speak] like so really cool [/valley-speak].
Again a huge thank you to you, and Kent, and all the other CodeProject folks, that make this the undisputed (and still heavy-weight) champion "mother of all .NET sites."
And, believe me, Kent and Chris, I do realize I am one small atom in the matrix of this fine community, and these are just my personal opines.
best, Bill
"Given the choice between two evils, I'd pick the one I hadn't tried before." Mae West
"The greater the social and cultural distances between people, the more magical the light that can spring from their contact." Milan Kundera in Testaments Trahis
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BillWoodruff wrote: I think if the summary of what the linked article is about is a little more full
I had *exactly* this debate with Kent and Jeff and swore black and blue that this would result in a better, deeper, more useful and (ultimately) more clicked newsletter. So Kent did the test. He was mature. He was restrained. He was explanatory.
And I was wrong.
Clicks went down and we got 'Wow, when did the newsletter get so boring' emails. Kent was incredibly gracious and not once said 'I told you so'. And I was just bemused. Ah well!
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Chris,
Still I am not able to vote for any messages. It says Forbidden. Is there any way to solve this ?
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Aha, the univoter has been identified.
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Many of my recent articles already specify public domain the article and the readme file. I don't want to use any of the current choices because a) I already know which license I want, and b) doing so would make the article page list two different licenses (and would be inconsistent with the readme).
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Is this[^] what you are after? Or is there other wording you'd like to use?
I know it's a hassle but just make sure you're protecting yourself when you choose a license. Having a "Don't blame me if it blows up" is always a nice thing, and licenses such as the MIT license, while not really having any teeth, at least contain the "I can't believe I actually have to have this disclaimer" disclaimer
(yeah, I'm jaded and cynical when it comes to licenses because I abhor people who sue others to cover their own mistakes)
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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That wording looks good. I will definitely review the licenses you've already put in the list, if you think it's a good idea to have some kind of disclaimer. (I must admit I'm not up on the exact wording of licenses, I just know generalities.)
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I definitely, strongly, can't recommend enough that you put in some protection for yourself. It costs nothing and once you've read through the licenses, worked out their pros and cons, and settled on one then you won't have to do it again and you will save questions and potential hassle (on both sides)
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Is there any way of deleting one votes from a member? I must've pissed someone off by calling them out and now have a flurry of one votes for many posts irregardless of content.
http://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/LatestComments.aspx?fmid=1428047[^]
I guess from now on I'll just report plaigerized/junk articles instead of posting a comment first. Not sure if it even matters. Every time I call out an article, most likely the author one votes comments instead of thinking to themselves, "Heck, I was wrong and got caught cheating".
If the one votes come from various posters, then it's fair. If it's from one, then it would be nice to clean it up and delete their account from CP.
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Wow, you got so many 1's!
Maxwell Chen
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Yeah, I always had either none of 3-5's, so it must've been something I said?
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Bert delaVega wrote: Yeah, I always had either none of 3-5's, so it must've been something I said?
Come to VC++ forum, and answer Robo George's questions. And you will get many 5s. Really!!!
(PS: Robo George's user name is actually George_George )
Maxwell Chen
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I see you're in Taiwan. I bet you have all the coolest stuff around! A friend of mine was out your way for a consulting assignment and probably came home broke after buying everything in sight, lol. I'm very jealous here!
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Bert delaVega wrote: I see you're in Taiwan. I bet you have all the coolest stuff around!
Not actually. They are still at their stores; I have not brought them home.
Maxwell Chen
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Bert delaVega wrote: Is there any way of deleting one votes from a member?
We are working on removing all "ones" that were given by a single member.
All the votes, that specific member had been given will be reset.
Sincerely,
Elina
Life is great!!!
Enjoy every moment of it!
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Thanks Elina. It's no big deal, really, if it's too much of a hassle. I was just trying to let you know that sometimes people that help self-moderate the boards come under fire. Thanks again.
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No problem, Bert delaVega.
Bert delaVega wrote: I was just trying to let you know that sometimes people that help self-moderate the boards come under fire.
Unfortunatelly, this is a very common case, that will show itself in many ocasions, not juts in forums.
Sincerely,
Elina
Life is great!!!
Enjoy every moment of it!
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First of all we can't delete votes because someone disagrees with someone else. The whole point of the voting system is to give everyone a say, and to allow members to have that say without fear of retribution.
However, we do have a system that spots patterns of voting that we do investigate if the system is being abused.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: First of all we can't delete votes because someone disagrees with someone else. The whole point of the voting system is to give everyone a say, and to allow members to have that say without fear of retribution.
Nowadays pretty much anyone who gets a 1 vote immediately claims it's the uni-voter. It's probably a way to reduce the embarrassment of having been voted down. By blaming the uni-voter they deny the fact that their post was probably way off mark or was utterly nonsensical.
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Sorry, Nishant, I disagree. It's not a coincidence when your list of posts are clean one day and the next day they're all marked as 1. Yes, I had a few that were marked 1 when I called out the author for plaigerism (that's expected). But then everything was marked. So I just wanted to see if it was one particular poster, if it could be reversed. I'll accept legitimate 1's!
I'm not trying to be a jerk to you. I've probably voted 5 for all your article and think you're a really good author and authority. But I don't think your statement is as cut and dry as you make it out to be.
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Bert delaVega wrote: Sorry, Nishant, I disagree. It's not a coincidence when your list of posts are clean one day and the next day they're all marked as 1.
Hey Bert,
I was not referring to you at all. I was referring to a Lounge practice that's generally observed of late.
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No problem and sorry for being snippy. I misread it as pertaining to me. Email will never ever be "the great communicator".
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