livethedead Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Well, as a PHP newbie and learning on my own; I'm realising I have lack of things to actually work on. I believe the best way to learn is to do. I was thinking that an admin, or a knowledgeable member could create a thread or board where a challenge(s) is posted every day/week in varying difficultly. Giving members who are learning for the sake of learning, rather than learning with a specific short-term goal, something to challenge themselves with. I think this would go over quite well. Sincerely, livethedead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Once upon a time we tried to implement contests. We had judges ready, plenty of contestants, some decent ideas for difficult tasks.. but in the longrun, we were not able to afford decent prizes to give away. When we tried again a year or so later, there was no motivation to compete. So that idea was dead in the water until we could come up with actual prizes. I really doubt we will have any motivation to create a daily puzzle type thing. While it is a good idea, it involves dedication. If someone has any puzzles to post, they can post them in the Miscellaneous board. It would be excellent if that trend took off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 So that idea was dead in the water until we could come up with actual prizes. Prizes? Who needs prizes? I am in it for the glory! Something like a badge with the ratio of solved problems beneath my name will suffice That said, the challenges have to be open enough that everyone has a chance of solving it or are we really going to discriminate as a community and create A, B, and C groups? And it has to be done in any language supported on this forum. So Fizzbuzz in Python or Perl is a no-go. This should have a thread on it's own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
requinix Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 That said, the challenges have to be open enough that everyone has a chance of solving it or are we really going to discriminate as a community and create A, B, and C groups? Let them classify themselves. Present three challenges ranked low, medium, and high, and open enrollment to everybody. I like to think the staff knows enough people well enough that we could tell when an A-rank coder solved the C-rank challenge. With that said, if there were badges respective of the challenge then that coder bragging about the "I can solve basic math equations" badge might not look for good for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Yeah...our previous attempts were a whole lot of fail. Not a whole lot of interest in coming up w/ contest ideas/details (We did IMO come up with some good ideas, just not a whole lot of people participated in the brainstorming/hashing it out). Maybe a dozen people signed up tops, only 3-4 actually submitted something, judges didn't really wanna judge. And we actually did offer prizes, but the prizes TBH kinda sucked. If I remember correct, prizes were along the lines of something like subscription to some no-name online publication. Nothin' really substantial like "Free copy of xyz book! Personal robot! Free t-shirt!" And that probably made for a downward spiraling lack of interest for every step of the way... But we really liked the idea of having contests and we even approached the owner asking if he would be interested in ponying up real prizes, or maybe a percentage of the ad money and donations made here. But we got shot down on that count (Owner basically said that money is barely enough to keep the lights on (and sometimes isn't enough). Soo... we do have a desire to do this sort of thing, but no resources to offer prizes substantial enough to interest anybody or be worth it. Also, I do like the idea of some kind of badge/title for winners and that may be enough for a few people, but not really enough for most people.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Kids these days aren't happy if it isn't an iPhone.. In my time we had sticks and stones, and we made chess pieces out of it. And then beat the crap out of the other kids with them, since none of us was smart enough to figure out what the pieces were for anyway.. Good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu2000 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 TBH I'd really like to see the contests come back. At first there might not be prizes, yeah... but as time goes along and the contests get more popular sponsors will likely be willing to donate some products or $$ and we can get some kicakss prizes. I do have a couple of ideas, I'll kick around with the staff. Maybe we can get these going again If I remember correct, prizes were along the lines of something like subscription to some no-name online publication. Which is still around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
requinix Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. How did you make fire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. How did you make fire? Through the sheer force of will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. How did you make fire? Through the sheer force of will. Don't you mean...the sheer will of the force? *.josh busts out lightsaber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. How did you make fire? The very fear of not being able to light up their cig forced them to invent the lighter.. no need for sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu2000 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. How did you make fire? Scared the fat women so they'd run, and let thigh friction do the rest . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyKay47 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 In my day, we didn't even have sticks. How did you make fire? Scared the fat women so they'd run, and let thigh friction do the rest . . . oh my.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 As an update for those that just check "Show new replies to your posts". Official thread about contests has been started here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 As an update for those that just check "Show new replies to your posts". LOL. So true. Thx Philip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livethedead Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Sorry I haven't gotten around to replying to the thread. I just made a move from Moline, Illinois to Indianapolis, IN took about a week breather haha. Anyways I wasn't even thinking about prizes when I wrote the thread, though that would be pretty cool. I just thought about it for the sake of bettering y(our)selves. But then again I suppose nobody would compete if that was the case like you guys were saying haha . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.