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18:11
What's with all the trivial questions recently? :|
 
2 hours later…
19:48
@Joey I'm guessing it's a feedback situation related to low traffic.
People stop by don't see much interesting, but do see that they can ask "anything". So they do. Maybe we should goad all the regulars (and LiraNuna!) to write one good problem in the next two weeks.
You know, try to establish a feedback pattern for interesting problems.
20:20
@dmckee good problems with clearly-defined rules and, most importantly, test cases that can be run automatically by the submitters :)
I can only think of ASCII art problems recently, for some reason, sadly.
but indeed, there is too little going on currently
 
1 hour later…
21:25
@Joey Is there a meta post on the topic of answer validation?
I'm working on a meta post announcing the First Occasional Premier Programming Puzzle Push. Then we can ask the team if a on-site banner would be appropriate for getting the word out.
Otherwise only the the people who frequent meta or the chat will see it.
Hmm...*Periodic Programming Puzzle Push* is even more alliterative, though I doubt they will actually be periodic.
@dmckee Not that I know of. There was, however, very positive response to our first try giving actual test scripts.
9
Q: Finding maximum paths

JoeyGiven a square of positive, natural numbers write a program find a horizontal and a vertical path with the sum of numbers along them being maximal. A horizontal path goes from the first column to the last and has to increase its column position by one in each step. A vertical path goes from the f...

That was the question. There was another one (JSON validator, if I remember correctly) that also gave a test script. At least for me a bash script doesn't suffice, though, so I didn't give that task too much attention ;)
Here's another one that provided some support
3
Q: Program that runs when rows and columns are transposed

mehaaseI posted this to The Daily WTF coder challenge forum a few years ago but only got one response. I figure CodeGolf stack exchange might generate more interest! Description Write a program that runs when the rows and columns of the source code are transposed. In other words, imagine each charac...

He provides a transposer for the source code, but you have to try to run it yourself.
Does that qualify in your mind?
BTW--I also see the rather low voting rate we're experiencing as a problem.
People won't play if they don't get any encouragement.
So, that is going to be part of my proposal on meta: to write a one good question, to provide two good answers, and to vote on four questions and eight answers.
21:48
I used two downvotes today ;)
I wonder whether we could get some sort of score system in the site. So that submissions are ranked in their language and globally and you gain a little from every answer
kinda next to the reputation
There were some voices that were against such a thing, since it's already an integral part of Anarchy Golf and Codegolf.com as well
But it could serve well as an encouragement
0
Q: Announcing the CodeGolf.SE First Periodic Permier Programming Puzzle Push

dmckeeWhereas The site has suffered from low traffic for weeks We've been in beta for 86 days and our numbers are marginal Too many recent question have been both too easy and poorly specified Users are complaining of lack of motivation due to a low voting rate we are seeking users willing to commi...

4
I've made that a wiki so that others can contribute useful links, extra verbiage, and so on.
reads
(kinda beside that noble goal there: I wondered whether it would be useful to add test cases with scripts to earlier questions.)
I also wonder whether we could force users in some way through the Puzzle Lab or Sandbox before they go on to post YALQT (Yet Another Loq-Quality Task).
Also, many problems with the specification of problems can be corrected by having at least two independent solutions to the problem. Something that shouldn't be too hard in many cases. But how to communicate that?
22:05
We can certainly add pointers to the Puzzle Lab or Sandbox to the FAQ.
Which will help all four of the user who actually read the thing...
I forwarded it to Ventero who is semi-active and in similar bursts as I ;)
however, he expressed doubt that this will change much, already
I might resurrect one of my currently-underspecified tasks for that one, though. But it takes time to build a good task around a rough idea. For me at least. Some people just throw ideas at the site and that's what we're suffering from currently ;)
@dmckee I could visit it with another browser to bring that number up to five, if it helps ;)
@Joey LOL. I fear that they're all good users anyway.
I've added a bullet point to the FAQ.
Well, anyway, I'm off to bed for today :-)
Sleep well.
@dmckee ooh, regarding the puzzle lab and sandbox?
nice, nice
This could benefit the half person in a year who actually reads the FAQ :D
(Random thought: We could prefix tasks being launched as part of that Periodic Premier Programming Puzzle Push with 1P5 (for the 1st of those))
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