Adopting the Stack Exchange approach

feedback
, , ,
1

The Stack Exchange Network is one the most successful forum models on the internet. It would be very sensible if codechef started to follow their rules and guidelines. Codechef is already using the “karma” system which is very similar to reputation on stack exchange. Some of the noteworthy changes to codechef discuss would be:

  1. Separation of answers and comments. According to me this is very important and helps a viewer to focus on the answer instead of many one-liner comments. A typical question on discuss looks like a Whatsapp chat.
  2. Using their flag menu. It has many more options to let moderators know the exact problem.
  3. MRE.
  4. Adopting the Code of Conduct
  5. Closing duplicate tags. There is a dp tag and also a dynamic programming tag. This creates confusion on which tag to select for your question. Also the privilege of making new tags should be given to only the reputed members.
  6. The ability to accept answers. This gives a sense of finality to the question.
  7. The ability to downvote a answer. The only two options on the discuss forum right now are:a) to like the post or b) to flag it. This is just too polarising. A better option would be to also provide a downvote or a "dislike.

I know it would be a very difficult thing for the amazing codechef team to implement all of these feature but some of these features are a must have(like the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th) one. But this is my two cents worth of advice for the Codechef Discuss Forum which is, in all honesty, doing a fantastic job but there is always room for improvement.

Hope to see a better forum in the future!!
What do you think @admin, @vijju123?

6 Likes
2

Our old discuss was a lot based on the Stack Exchange :stuck_out_tongue:

  1. Regarding comments - Even we hate that there are no comments here. That was a tradeoff we had to do :frowning: . We are trying to figure out if we can introduce comments without any major changes though.
  2. Regarding Moderator Elections - I think its better if admins chose the moderators, because mods will have to work with the team to moderate discuss.
  3. Duplicate tags- Yes, this is an issue.
  4. Accepting answers, Ability to Downvote - I miss it as well. Lets see what we can do about that.
  5. Chatrooms - No. We can have it here, but we wont as then there would be mass cheating in contests like long.

PS - Dont use bullet points, but number them as “1.” , “2.” etc if you are going to ask us to refer to some point again, eg- "Please see if you can do something about Point 6. ". Will save us counting from top and bottom to see what the point is :stuck_out_tongue:

6 Likes
3

Thanks for your comment! I have made it a numbered list now and removed the irrelevant points. I think point number 2 is the easiest one to implement right now without any problems in backward compatibility.

1 Like
4

Also if possible, making groups of some questions that user finds interesting. Now we have a todo list, but as the question is solved, it is removed from there.

2 Likes
5

This suggestion is not related to the question. You can make a separate discussion to give it more coverage

2 Likes