Add function implemented
Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:59 am
First off, I would like to apologize for screwing up the dates in the RSS feed
yesterday. It was due to a really silly mistake that one single PHP file didn't
make it to the server (despite repeated uploads). So everything tested alright
on my machine, but it didn't work properly on the server. Took me quite a while
to figure that out...
With that aside, I would like to announce the single biggest change to TPFC
that has happened for awhile, possibly EVER! Yup, this one is bigger than
comments, voting, even the edit function. It took me many weeks of head banging,
hair tearing and sessions on the toilet seat to figure this one out. At times,
I wished I hadn't started, 'cos I became so obsessed with it I had very little
sleep during all that time. My day job suffered (I am glad the end of the year
is not exactly the busiest time for me...). My wife complained. You get the
idea...
I present to you, the ADD function. *drum rolls*
Yes, now TPFC takes a giant step from mostly dictatorship to budding democracy.
With this function, anyone can add applications directly to the database
without going through me or the other mods, who are always busy, sleeping or
simply not that impressed with the submitted application. Now, you can do it
yourself, directly.
Well, that's all very liberating, but wouldn't that impact the quality of the
portable apps in the database? Well, with some rules in place, I hope not.
Please hear me out.
First off, anyone who has joined the forum for at least a week can add
applications directly to the database using the new 'Add Entry' function
located at the top-right of the page (after the username). However, the
application goes into a private "favorites" list and not the main page. In
order to make it to the main page, the application needs to accumulate a
sufficiently high score to become "public".
Here's how the scoring process works. Each member is given a rank (0 to 5)
based on his forum activity and the number of submitted apps that made it to
the main page. For example, a user with 50 posts with get rank 1. A user with
two public apps under his folds will also get rank 1. A user with both will get
rank 2 etc. The rank appears as a little number ("R1") above the username in
the top-right corner of the page. The maximum rank for a user is 5 ('cos
absolute power corrupts absolutely).
Every member is able to add an app in the database to his favorites list using
the "This app rocks!" button (he can remove it using the "This app sucks!"
button). The score of an app is the sum total of the ranks of all the members
who have added it to his favorites list. Once the score>=10, the app becomes
public. (The score of the app is displayed after the popularity score i.e.
XXXXX/YY, where XXXXX is the public+member rating, and YY is the member-only
rating).
Now to put things in perspective, there are only 70+ members who are rank 1 and
above. There are 17 members who are rank 5. So it takes at least two members
with rank 5 to push an app to the main page, or significantly more for lower
ranking members. So I believe that provides a sufficient vetting process for
pushing quality apps to the front.
The way to display what's in your favorites list is to enter "[Username]"
(without the quotes) in the search box. For example, if I type "[Andrew Lee]",
I get all the apps I have added to my favorites list, plus all the apps I have
personally submitted. I can even search my favorites list by typing "[Andrew
Lee] jpeg". This will search for "jpeg" in all the apps on my favorites list. I
can also look at other user's favorite list in this way.
More importantly, I can look at all the apps (public + private) by using the
special "[@]" operator. In this way, I can see what are the apps recently added
to the database and decide whether to add them to my favorites list (after
testing for portability, of course).
Note that because the scores are not available for existing applications yet,
they are currently supported by a "superuser" with a "10" score (because
otherwise, the main page will be empty with this new system). Once actual
ranking become available gradually, I will withdraw the artificial support,
which means some of the existing entries in the database (hopefully the
not-so-good ones) will disappear from the main page.
I suspect many submitted apps will remain as private, while the few good ones will
surface to the top. Anyway that's what the system is designed to achieve, and we
will tweak the system where necessary to achieve this objective.
I hope you are as excited about this new system as I am. For existing users who
are mainly consumer of the information generated by TPFC, nothing has changed
for them. But for more adventurous users who have always wanted to participate
in the TPFC information production process, I hope this feature is one big win
for all of us.
yesterday. It was due to a really silly mistake that one single PHP file didn't
make it to the server (despite repeated uploads). So everything tested alright
on my machine, but it didn't work properly on the server. Took me quite a while
to figure that out...
With that aside, I would like to announce the single biggest change to TPFC
that has happened for awhile, possibly EVER! Yup, this one is bigger than
comments, voting, even the edit function. It took me many weeks of head banging,
hair tearing and sessions on the toilet seat to figure this one out. At times,
I wished I hadn't started, 'cos I became so obsessed with it I had very little
sleep during all that time. My day job suffered (I am glad the end of the year
is not exactly the busiest time for me...). My wife complained. You get the
idea...
I present to you, the ADD function. *drum rolls*
Yes, now TPFC takes a giant step from mostly dictatorship to budding democracy.
With this function, anyone can add applications directly to the database
without going through me or the other mods, who are always busy, sleeping or
simply not that impressed with the submitted application. Now, you can do it
yourself, directly.
Well, that's all very liberating, but wouldn't that impact the quality of the
portable apps in the database? Well, with some rules in place, I hope not.
Please hear me out.
First off, anyone who has joined the forum for at least a week can add
applications directly to the database using the new 'Add Entry' function
located at the top-right of the page (after the username). However, the
application goes into a private "favorites" list and not the main page. In
order to make it to the main page, the application needs to accumulate a
sufficiently high score to become "public".
Here's how the scoring process works. Each member is given a rank (0 to 5)
based on his forum activity and the number of submitted apps that made it to
the main page. For example, a user with 50 posts with get rank 1. A user with
two public apps under his folds will also get rank 1. A user with both will get
rank 2 etc. The rank appears as a little number ("R1") above the username in
the top-right corner of the page. The maximum rank for a user is 5 ('cos
absolute power corrupts absolutely).
Every member is able to add an app in the database to his favorites list using
the "This app rocks!" button (he can remove it using the "This app sucks!"
button). The score of an app is the sum total of the ranks of all the members
who have added it to his favorites list. Once the score>=10, the app becomes
public. (The score of the app is displayed after the popularity score i.e.
XXXXX/YY, where XXXXX is the public+member rating, and YY is the member-only
rating).
Now to put things in perspective, there are only 70+ members who are rank 1 and
above. There are 17 members who are rank 5. So it takes at least two members
with rank 5 to push an app to the main page, or significantly more for lower
ranking members. So I believe that provides a sufficient vetting process for
pushing quality apps to the front.
The way to display what's in your favorites list is to enter "[Username]"
(without the quotes) in the search box. For example, if I type "[Andrew Lee]",
I get all the apps I have added to my favorites list, plus all the apps I have
personally submitted. I can even search my favorites list by typing "[Andrew
Lee] jpeg". This will search for "jpeg" in all the apps on my favorites list. I
can also look at other user's favorite list in this way.
More importantly, I can look at all the apps (public + private) by using the
special "[@]" operator. In this way, I can see what are the apps recently added
to the database and decide whether to add them to my favorites list (after
testing for portability, of course).
Note that because the scores are not available for existing applications yet,
they are currently supported by a "superuser" with a "10" score (because
otherwise, the main page will be empty with this new system). Once actual
ranking become available gradually, I will withdraw the artificial support,
which means some of the existing entries in the database (hopefully the
not-so-good ones) will disappear from the main page.
I suspect many submitted apps will remain as private, while the few good ones will
surface to the top. Anyway that's what the system is designed to achieve, and we
will tweak the system where necessary to achieve this objective.
I hope you are as excited about this new system as I am. For existing users who
are mainly consumer of the information generated by TPFC, nothing has changed
for them. But for more adventurous users who have always wanted to participate
in the TPFC information production process, I hope this feature is one big win
for all of us.