Feature Request - Answered Post

[Jorg]

UpCase, this looks awesome!

What I can do now (since I am able to create multiple DB's now) is set up a second test DB in which we can play around. I will set up a shadow forum which we can use to see if it works as it should.

And uhm I really recommend making this a MOD and post it to the PhpBB forum because this really looks neat and can be useful for others as well!

- Jorgen

[Tyler]

Nice work upCASE! I was just thinking about this the other day but you beat me to the punch and did a really nice job on the graphics. I'm looking forward to seeing it implimented, and as Jorg mentions, posted as a mod.

The only way it could be any cooler is if marking someone's answer as accepted somehow increased their "karma" (like how points are awarded on experts-exchange).

Take care,

-Tyler

[Jorg]

I was thinking about that too. Something like a "Credits" system. I already searched the phpBB mod archives for that but could not find anything.

If the answer of the poster is good, every post that is marked as "answered" or "solved" should give the poster an experience point. As for the fun of it, we might consider decreasing the original poster with one experience point. Maybe this way people feel more "driven" to posting an answer to gain points.

As for the point mechanism, it serves no purpose, but we could make a "all-time" list of experienced people

- Jorgen

[upCASE]

Hi!
Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I had some problems with my router (stupid thing was completely hung up so I couldn't even configure it... reseting solved the problem. Still curious what caused it..)

What I can do now (since I am able to create multiple DB's now) is set up a second test DB in which we can play around. I will set up a shadow forum which we can use to see if it works as it should.

Good thing. Tested and "developed" it on a local EasyPHP installation using the standard subSilver template.

And uhm I really recommend making this a MOD and post it to the PhpBB forum because this really looks neat and can be useful for others as well!

Uuuhh... I thought I could simply tell you what to do
Just kidding. I can try and make a MOD out of this. The problem is that it will take some time as I never did that. Does someone know if it is possible to "MOD" templates? I need to update the templates in order to change the look.
Well, maybe I could hack it a different way and add new stuff to existing markers in a template...

The only way it could be any cooler is if marking someone's answer as accepted somehow increased their "karma" (like how points are awarded on experts-exchange).

Should be possible. There could also be a "Assisted answer" tag. Like in experts-exchange where you can have the "Accepted Answer", "Assisted answer" and comments, a normal post would be a comment and only accepted answers would mark a thread solved.
I'll look into that.

If the answer of the poster is good, every post that is marked as "answered" or "solved" should give the poster an experience point. As for the fun of it, we might consider decreasing the original poster with one experience point. Maybe this way people feel more "driven" to posting an answer to gain points.

Feeling "competative"?

I would have to alter the user table to do this. Question: How many points would a user have on start to award others with? And what happens if he has no points left to award? If a mod marks a thread, would he get the points?

I'm not really sure if the "point accounting" is a good thing, especially for the newbies and "guest" posters. I'm sure I can do something like that, but I'll start with Tylers idea of simply awarding one point for an accepted answer to the one how wrote the answer.

Jorg: Please let me know when you're ready with the second forum. I really have to try this with all the mods you allready use.

Anyway: Open for suggestions
Back to hacking a MOD!

[upCASE]

Hi!
A little update: I just implemented the "Awards" stuff.
There now is a second option with which the original poster can mark a question as an "assiting answer", meaning it does not completely solve the problem, but parts of it or gives some good ideas. An assisting answer gets awarded 1 wxAward and and "Accepted Answer" gets 5 wxAwards.
"Assisting answers" show up like this


The member list shows the awarded points and I added a search option to show the top ten awarded members.


Hope you like it
I'll now try and change the "Morpheus" template.

Question: Should only the original poster be able to award or mods too? The question: Do we trust the mods so that they don't award point for themselfs :D

Jorg: You don't happen to use the EasyMOD mod? I tried writing a MOD file and updating a fresh installation with EasyMOD -> didn't work. I guess you'll have to do it by hand...

[Jorg]

Feeling "competative"?

Hehe not at all. But it will put people to posting more, if they know an answer.

I would have to alter the user table to do this. Question: How many points would a user have on start to award others with? And what happens if he has no points left to award? If a mod marks a thread, would he get the points?

As it is just a fun thing that has no value over the board, I would say, negative points do not exist. People get like 25 credits, and for every satisfying answer they gain a point, and for every question they start they lose two or so. If they have no credits left they are still allowed to post, it is more like a "status" thingy. Ryan will probably win and be filthy rich as he knows a lot

I'm not really sure if the "point accounting" is a good thing, especially for the newbies and "guest" posters. I'm sure I can do something like that, but I'll start with Tylers idea of simply awarding one point for an accepted answer to the one how wrote the answer.

That's also possible ofcourse. I leave it totally up to you

Jorg: Please let me know when you're ready with the second forum. I really have to try this with all the mods you allready use.

Well I don't think I can manage that before the weekend unfortunately. Tonight I am off to the gym, tomorrow playing snooker so friday at the earliest. What I will do is this;

- Create a new test DB
- Copy over the posts from this one
- Prune it heavily
- Copy the php code over from this forum to the test forum

This way we can have the new test forum in place.

A little update: I just implemented the "Awards" stuff.
There now is a second option with which the original poster can mark a question as an "assiting answer", meaning it does not completely solve the problem, but parts of it or gives some good ideas. An assisting answer gets awarded 1 wxAward and and "Accepted Answer" gets 5 wxAwards.
"Assisting answers" show up like this

Neat! This looks really cool and I like the wxAward name Maybe I can make a few small gfx with a medal thing, where 5 top 'solvers' are placed.. I like the assisting answer idea, it happens a lot that people solve their own problem after a hint from somebody else, and I assume the "assisted answer" can be used for that as well

By the way, what happens when a person marks his own answer as "Accepted" ?

Jorg: You don't happen to use the EasyMOD mod? I tried writing a MOD file and updating a fresh installation with EasyMOD -> didn't work. I guess you'll have to do it by hand...

Updating by hand is ok, you can also make a diff / patch if you want to. I will try to merge the two using a merge tool anyway, or when you have a mod file I will do it using that. The mod file is simply a file that looks like;

--------------------------
IN: somefile.php
--------------------------

--------------------------
SEARCH FOR:
--------------------------

for(i = 0; i < 0; i++)

--------------------------
ADD AFTER
--------------------------

etc etc etc

I don't know if there is a tool that can do that ..

Regards,
- Jorgen

[upCASE]

I'm not really sure if the "point accounting" is a good thing, especially for the newbies and "guest" posters. I'm sure I can do something like that, but I'll start with Tylers idea of simply awarding one point for an accepted answer to the one how wrote the answer.

That's also possible ofcourse. I leave it totally up to you

I decided on Tylers idea for now. Only wxAwards are tracked, so that people will know how much "knowledge" a user has
Your idea isn't bad either, but I think it's somewhat senseless until we find a better system, as it leads to nothing. If a user has an account of wxAwards he can spend, but nothing happens if the count goes down to zero, it's meaningless. The only meaning would be that I would think twice before I answer a posting for someone who can award me points

Well I don't think I can manage that before the weekend unfortunately. Tonight I am off to the gym, tomorrow playing snooker so friday at the earliest. What I will do is this;

- Create a new test DB
- Copy over the posts from this one
- Prune it heavily
- Copy the php code over from this forum to the test forum

This way we can have the new test forum in place.

Fine with me...

A little update: I just implemented the "Awards" stuff.
There now is a second option with which the original poster can mark a question as an "assiting answer", meaning it does not completely solve the problem, but parts of it or gives some good ideas. An assisting answer gets awarded 1 wxAward and and "Accepted Answer" gets 5 wxAwards.
"Assisting answers" show up like this

Neat! This looks really cool and I like the wxAward name Maybe I can make a few small gfx with a medal thing, where 5 top 'solvers' are placed.. I like the assisting answer idea, it happens a lot that people solve their own problem after a hint from somebody else, and I assume the "assisted answer" can be used for that as well

By the way, what happens when a person marks his own answer as "Accepted" ?

I will definitly need someone who does the gfx. Icons look crappy now as I never was any good at this.

I'd be more like this:
An assisted answer doesn't mark the thread solved as it isn't a full solution. But assisted answer can still be marked accepted, if no other idea comes up, or the assisted answer leads to solving the problem.

I guess in the case you mention, there should be no points awarded... I'll implement it that way. But a poster should still be able to mark his own posting as an accepted answer, just to close the thread. So if someone posts, marks some assisting answers and then finds his own solution with the assisted answers help, he can "accept" his answer and mark the thread, but gets no wxAwards for it. So only the other posters that help profit from helping.

Updating by hand is ok, you can also make a diff / patch if you want to. I will try to merge the two using a merge tool anyway, or when you have a mod file I will do it using that. The mod file is simply a file that looks like;

--------------------------
IN: somefile.php
--------------------------

--------------------------
SEARCH FOR:
--------------------------

for(i = 0; i < 0; i++)

--------------------------
ADD AFTER
--------------------------

etc etc etc

I don't know if there is a tool that can do that ..

Unfortunatly none that I know off. Using a patch file isn't advisable too, as the basic installation would be very different from yours.

Another option: Can you dump the forum with no data and send it to me? So I could try it localy and update the files and the DB. When it's ready you'd only have to set up my stuff as a second forum to try it...
Fortunatly I do hve some time I could spend until the weekend

[Jorg]

I will try to send you a forum, full blown with DB SQL data+struct. I cannot send it with empty data as you will have no forum info as well.

I can do this tonight as I simply zip up my forum and backup my DB for you ... this way you can test it, and the migration will be nothing more but replacing the files

- Jorgen

[upCASE]

Great!
Looking forward to your mail!

BTW: Having internet access again in your company?

[Jorg]

Is it noticable ??? well it was no internet access I missed, only the www.solidsteel.nl they blocked.

- Jorgen

[GianT]

Wooow, what a nice discussion... Well just a thing concerning your awards system: this will provoke a conflict with the system relative to the number of posts. I mean that after some 100+ posts, the poster get the status of wxwidgets junior expert, but actually he is not inevitably an expert... If this system was relative to the system of awards you are talking about, this would be more close to the reality.
To be thought about...

[upCASE]

Hi!
Jorg, I just got your files. I'll start right away and let you how it works. Should I send the forum code back via email or upload it somewhere?
Hmm... Maybe I'll setup that shadow forum on my site for quick access and PM the mods with a location. Would that be ok?

Well just a thing concerning your awards system: this will provoke a conflict with the system relative to the number of posts. I mean that after some 100+ posts, the poster get the status of wxwidgets junior expert, but actually he is not inevitably an expert... If this system was relative to the system of awards you are talking about, this would be more close to the reality.
To be thought about...

Great idea! Thanks for mentioning this.
True, normaly for a forum using ranks it makes sense to have something like "regular poster" etc., but with the award system this would definitly get more meaningfull. I'll see what I can do and link the ranks to the awards.

EDIT: Holy moly! Guess it will take about 30 min to import the db
When I set it up on my site, I'll dump users and posts so it will be quicker.

[Jorg]

I told you so upCase, it is a HUGE DB.

I have to D/L the SQL file every day for backup which is about 60 Mb. Somehow the ZIPPED function of phpbb does not work, I don't mind but in the future I would like to see if I can get a cron job going on my site, that simply dumps the SQL code to a new DB or so, and copy that file. It would get rid of the need to convert to text first.

Good luck with the stripping !

And if you PM the moderators and me to take a look and experiment that's a good idea.. I am really curious how it looks. When it is working, I will copy your code over my version, there will be no need then to start merging..

- Jorgen

[upCASE]

Hi!
Oh man.... I tried importing. First MySQL-Front reported 30 mins, now about 58 min left... I guess I'll strip first and then try again...

EDIT: Ok... Typical "know your tools" issue. MySQL-Front is a great tool, but as allways -> GUI processing costs time. Imported it from the prompt and it didn't take any longer than 3 minutes
Gosh, I really should drink coffee first, then start work

[upCASE]

Hi!
Ok, I guess I'm done with it. It doesn't look perfect, but seems to work.

I'll post in the mods hideout with a location where you can check it out.