Redo The Spork Function

[OldPhiKap]

I'm truly honored to be included with this esteemed group of DBR posters...not once, but twice!

My only regret is not coming up with a more creative moniker (such as my favorite, UrinalCake)

The Rich just get Richer.

A shout to SkyBrickey, whose moniker brings me joy whenever he/she posts.

[Steven43]

I'm truly honored to be included with this esteemed group of DBR posters...not once, but twice!

I was wondering if you’d catch that.😉

[Neals384]

"you must spread sporks around before giving them to newphikap again"

I think "AncientPhiCap" might be more appropriate. None of us are getting any younger.

Good point, and thanks again.

You know, a previous poster suggested the number of possible sporks should not be capped at eleven, and maybe they’re right. But I can only imagine how many sporks you, pfr, im, Jason, OPK, Mike, Bud, Sage, jk, Stray, Crazy, Cameron, Dudog, Jeff, Rich, Bob, Elvis, Trouble, CDu, Scott, Moon, BD, David, Mark, uh no, MCh, jv, rev, throaty, indoor, COYS, Rich, fuse, bundaberg, Wander, grad, Truth et al. would have if there were no cap.

It would be a bit embarrassing for the rest of us who have a comparatively meager number of sporks. Many DBR denizens would probably skip our posts altogether thinking “What does this guy/gal know? He/she only has eight sporks while Mtn. Devil over here has 37.” The current spork system helps give a perception of a more level playing field, even if we all know it really isn’t.

If they raise the limit I might just have to quit the board, especially if the new limit were, say, 23.

[TruBlu]

I think "AncientPhiCap" might be more appropriate. None of us are getting any younger.



If they raise the limit I might just have to quit the board, especially if the new limit were, say, 23.

My nephew (a unc grad, but otherwise an great guy) lives in a nice subdivision in the Chapel Hill area. The speed limit in his subdivision is 23. When I visit him, I make a point of driving either 32 or 33.

[rsvman]

Good point, and thanks again.

You know, a previous poster suggested the number of possible sporks should not be capped at eleven, and maybe they’re right. But I can only imagine how many sporks you, pfr, im, Jason, OPK, Mike, Bud, Sage, jk, Stray, Crazy, Cameron, Dudog, Jeff, Rich, Bob, Elvis, Trouble, CDu, Scott, Moon, BD, David, Mark, uh no, MCh, jv, rev, throaty, indoor, COYS, Rich, fuse, bundaberg, Wander, grad, Truth et al. would have if there were no cap.

It would be a bit embarrassing for the rest of us who have a comparatively meager number of sporks. Many DBR denizens would probably skip our posts altogether thinking “What does this guy/gal know? He/she only has eight sporks while Mtn. Devil over here has 37.” The current spork system helps give a perception of a more level playing field, even if we all know it really isn’t.

Just a tiny bit unhappy to have not been mentioned in the pantheon......

Sigh. I guess I'll make it through the day somehow....

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Just a tiny bit unhappy to have not been mentioned in the pantheon...

Sigh. I guess I'll make it through the day somehow...

Perhaps the poster doesn't visit the COVID-19 thread, where you do yeoman work.

[Steven43]

Just a tiny bit unhappy to have not been mentioned in the pantheon...

Sigh. I guess I'll make it through the day somehow...

Rest assured you absolutely were mentioned. I just mistakenly wrote “rev” instead of “rsv”. It was very late and I didn’t have time to go back and check for misspellings.

Even still, I forgot to mention several very esteemed posters. My memory isn’t quite what it was 25 years ago. Back then if somebody were to tell me their phone number I could commit it to long-term memory and instantly recall it when needed. Those days seem like another lifetime ago. I can’t even conceive of being able to do that now.

[rsvman]

I feel so much better now... I'll take the misspelled nod.....

[DukieInKansas]

Rest assured you absolutely were mentioned. I just mistakenly wrote “rev” instead of “rsv”. It was very late and I didn’t have time to go back and check for misspellings.

Even still, I forgot to mention several very esteemed posters. My memory isn’t quite what it was 25 years ago. Back then if somebody were to tell me their phone number I could commit it to long-term memory and instantly recall it when needed. Those days seem like another lifetime ago. I can’t even conceive of being able to do that now.

I feel so much better now... I'll take the misspelled nod....

Glad to know it was a misspelling/typo - I was trying to figure out who rev was and what posts I had missed.

[DevilHorse]

I'm truly honored to be included with this esteemed group of DBR posters...not once, but twice!

My only regret is not coming up with a more creative moniker (such as my favorite, UrinalCake)

And where's Orin, a.k.a. Lobster. The most likely poster to be-steamed?

Larry
DevilHorse

[weezie]

You left out brevity, easily the funniest guy here and Esteemed Founder Of The Sacred Chat Room Halftime Trivia Symposium.

[Indoor66]

You left out brevity, easily the funniest guy here and Esteemed Founder Of The Sacred Chat Room Halftime Trivia Symposium.

Hah, he never says enough. 😂

[Steven43]

Blatant sporks farming, calling out all the most esteemed posters...



J/K

I’ve been accused of much worse! Besides, a little sporks farming never hurt anyone.

But seriously, all of the posters I mentioned — along with others such as Kedsy (of course), Billy, weezie, Dukehky, arnie,TKG, duke4ever, JB, El Diablo, Acy, DIB, BandAlum, FDD, burnspb, subzero, kAzE, Saratoga, Tru, devildeac, bedeviled, lotus, slower, Ferry, brevity, Furniture, DIK, House, jipops, Reilly, Urinal, jacone, Roy and so many other really good posters (you know who you are) — are collectively what makes DBR the best discussion board I have ever seen. And it’s not close.

As for me, I’m certainly not the best and I’m probably not the worst. I’m just hoping that Jason and the other mods don’t follow through one day on their previous threat to give me a Cat X. 😉

[BLPOG]

It's been a while since I've gone on one of my spork rants. Generally it happens in March after I've had a lot of whiskey.

IMO there are really three issues, at least two of which should be easily solvable.

There is a cap on maximum number of sporks given in a certain period (a day?). Ninety percent of the time that's fine, but during certain intense moments with lots of great contributions, we could use a higher limit.

More frequently, we run into the limit on how often you can give sporks to someone else without "spreading them around." This limit could also use some relaxation.

The trickier issue is that the "spread" doesn't expire. Since a lot of the great contributions come from a handful of posters, and since some of us come and go cyclically, we can stop active participation for a couple of months and then come back to find that we still can't spork OPK or devildeac or Troublemaker.

I read upthread (and think I've seen it mentioned before) that the feature is embedded deep in the board software and the old maintainer isn't available; my question is, why can't we have new maintainers? Is the source available? Why not set up a shared Subversion or Git repository, have a few folks take a look, and see if we can't tweak things a bit?

[devil84]

It's been a while since I've gone on one of my spork rants. Generally it happens in March after I've had a lot of whiskey.

IMO there are really three issues, at least two of which should be easily solvable.

There is a cap on maximum number of sporks given in a certain period (a day?). Ninety percent of the time that's fine, but during certain intense moments with lots of great contributions, we could use a higher limit.

More frequently, we run into the limit on how often you can give sporks to someone else without "spreading them around." This limit could also use some relaxation.

The trickier issue is that the "spread" doesn't expire. Since a lot of the great contributions come from a handful of posters, and since some of us come and go cyclically, we can stop active participation for a couple of months and then come back to find that we still can't spork OPK or devildeac or Troublemaker.

I read upthread (and think I've seen it mentioned before) that the feature is embedded deep in the board software and the old maintainer isn't available; my question is, why can't we have new maintainers? Is the source available? Why not set up a shared Subversion or Git repository, have a few folks take a look, and see if we can't tweak things a bit?

The source code is available and the old maintainer is still here (I'm even older now!). Making changes to source code is tricky, because when new updates (with necessary security patches) are issued, we have to go through the new code and add those custom changes all over again (in other words, we're not partaking of a bad programming practice). The software does have a system to make some major customization (a nice series of hooks, for those of you who are geeks) to add certain kinds of changes aren't lost when upgrades are necessary, but they still need to be tested after every upgrade (and we're volunteers with lives outside of DBR, despite the inordinate amount of time we already spend here). Some things we can change, some things we can't. While we have some flexibility, the things we can change won't materially affect those things that everyone is asking for. Whatever the limits are, users will always find them limiting. And that's the very design of this feature: you have your own limited resource of kudos to give and you're encouraged to read what many posters say and not keep rewarding your own group. It helps to remember that this is a feature baked into the software to encourage people to become a community -- DBR has had that down pat for decades.

The good news is that there is an easy solution: find other posters to compliment.

It's really that easy. Is there somebody new to the board that has a particularly insightful post? How 'bout that post that made a good point that caused you to look at the poster's name again and you realize that you'd like to see them post more? Maybe sporks aren't just for incredible analysis of an impressive number of stats, detailed breakdowns of opponents, insightful history, or other absolutely amazing content that some of our posters are known for. Maybe sporks can also be little gifts to tell infrequent or new posters that you valued their contribution and encourage them to keep posting.

Spork a lot. But there are limits to keep you from being promiscuous. Find some new people to spork occasionally and you'll find you won't notice the limitations.

[moonpie23]

i think you can buy them on the internets...

[wsb3]

Generally it happens in March after I've had a lot of whiskey.

You lost me after this because I am still chuckling. thank you.

[DukieInKansas]

You lost me after this because I am still chuckling. thank you.

But did you spork him/her?

[richardjackson199]

Rest assured you absolutely were mentioned. I just mistakenly wrote “rev” instead of “rsv”. It was very late and I didn’t have time to go back and check for misspellings.

Even still, I forgot to mention several very esteemed posters. My memory isn’t quite what it was 25 years ago. Back then if somebody were to tell me their phone number I could commit it to long-term memory and instantly recall it when needed. Those days seem like another lifetime ago. I can’t even conceive of being able to do that now.

just a point mutation to rsv

may not seem like much, but keep an eye on it. He may not have to spread so many comments around now and thus could spread sporks more easily

who knew rsv could be so shifty

[OldPhiKap]

His ideas are certainly communicable. And almost always commendable.

What’s the R_0 on that?