There appears to be some confusion about what c++ code snippets are supposed to be. I've seen two threads already that are just normal c++ questions but posted as code snippets. I really don't like intermingling the c++ forum with code snippets for two reasons

  1. Much more difficult to find specific code snippets
  2. Newbe confusion about what is or is not a code snippet

IMO code snippets should be code that requires mod approval to get posted. I saw nothing wrong with it they way it was before -- at least everyone knew where to find them.

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I agree. They're just another road hazard for noobs to trip over as it stands.

IMO code snippets should be code that requires mod approval to get posted. I saw nothing wrong with it they way it was before -- at least everyone knew where to find them.

I liked it the way they were where they had their own section. I don't know about requiring mod approval before posting them, though. Take for example the C# forum -- we rarely have mods post in there so who would be the authority on approving those snippets? Plus if it was bad code they could just throw it in a thread anyway.

I don't know about requiring mod approval before posting them, though. Take for example the C# forum -- we rarely have mods post in there so who would be the authority on approving those snippets? Plus if it was bad code they could just throw it in a thread anyway.

There are several mods who are responsible for ALL the forums in Software Development, whether they post in them or not. And I believe the snippets forums required mod approval anyway, but I may be wrong about that. That's the way it works in PFO.

I agree. They're just another road hazard for noobs to trip over as it stands.

Exactly my point -- see this thread.

They're coming up everywhere, I've seen many questions marked as code snippets in the C++ forum, and just spotted this one.

It's definitely causing a lot of confusion.

The reason why only a handful of people used to post non-snippets in the snippet section was because only a handful of people realized that we had a code snippet library to begin with. By keeping it separate, it took double the marketing effort to promote the [popular] forums and separately promote the blogs, the code snippets, etc. By having everything integrated into one popular system, everything can grow together much faster.

Additionally, someone who wants to learn about PHP can find everything in ONE place: tutorials, code snippets, forum threads, etc. All about their topic of interest, all in one place.

There were always non-snippets being posted in the snippet section. However, we had no means to move them into the forum system so they just got deleted constantly or moved to the old Code Graveyard. Is that a better solution than taking a second to convert them into forum threads?

I honestly think that it will just take some time for members to learn how to use the new system. However, code snippets are already getting a lot more attention than they used to, a lot more views, and we already have members posting their first code snippets on the site ... now that they realize that we offer the feature.

Also ... snippets never required moderator approval. The only difference is they're now easier to find and post ... and are getting more attention. Which I honestly truly believe is the best step for the future growth of our library moving forward.

Oh ... also ... additional benefits to having the code snippet library in the forum threads is that you can now include attachments :) Working screenshots, etc.

I suppose users posting questions as code snippets might not be that different from people asking questions with an irrelevant poll message tacked on their post. Even though I think Dani has settled the subject I liked code snippets in their own place :X

You can still browse code snippets in their own place (www.daniweb.com/code). But I think, moving forward, having the option to see everything related to a particular topic in one central location, and not making code snippets or blog entries the ugly stepchildren that we push off into a corner and don't acknowledge most of the time isn't the right way moving forward and trying to grow those sections.

How do you view all code snippets by one particular person? I can't find it :\
I used that occasionally.

A premade link to do that is not available as of right now. You have to do an advanced search.

Go to www.daniweb.com/forums/search.php

Username => username
Check threads started by this user
In the prefix section select "Code Snippet"
And Show results as "Threads"
Optionally, you can also specify just a particular forum to just get their PHP snippets or just their C++ snippets.

Searches is not the problem -- the problem is newbe confusion about what is and is not a code snippet. They are making normal questions code snippets without know what they are doing. My suggestion is to remove the "What are you posting? " option that appears in new thread and create some other way to create code snippets.

> Searches is not the problem -- the problem is newbe confusion about what is and is not a code snippet. They are making normal questions code snippets without know what they are doing.
They were doing this before, too. The same percentage of people who see the code snippet option screw it up. The only difference is there's a larger group of people now.

> My suggestion is to remove that option when posting a new thread, or make it more difficult to create code snippets.
Similarly ... If people don't know understand to post a thread, make posting a thread more difficult to do? The idea is that we want MORE people to realize we have a free library where anyone can submit snippets ... not fewer. If people don't know how to do that, we educate those that don't. We don't hide the feature to make it hard for everyone.

> Searches is not the problem -- the problem is newbe confusion about what is and is not a code snippet. They are making normal questions code snippets without know what they are doing.
They were doing this before, too. The same percentage of people who see the code snippet option screw it up. The only difference is there's a larger group of people now.

This was never ever a problem in C or C++ forums before now.

> My suggestion is to remove that option when posting a new thread, or make it more difficult to create code snippets.
Similarly ... If people don't know understand to post a thread, make posting a thread more difficult to do? The idea is that we want MORE people to realize we have a free library where anyone can submit snippets ... not fewer. If people don't know how to do that, we educate those that don't. We don't hide the feature to make it hard for everyone.

No -- not createing a new thread more difficult, only creating code snippets. Newbes don't post code snippets -- only members who have been around for awhile do that, and they (should) know what they are doing.

> only members who have been around for awhile do that, and they (should) know what they are doing.

That's because, until now, only the most loyal DaniWeb fans knew we had a code library! Just yesterday we had a new member's first post on DaniWeb be a legitimate code snippet ... for the first time ever. This is the first step to making the code snippet library a large portion of DaniWeb as a whole, and, in effect, attract a more experienced audience.

As far as the newbies ... well, it will just take them time to learn not to post code snippets the same way we have to educate them about using code tags.

But the idea is that the code snippet section should reach out to experienced programmers, but NOT NECESSARILY experienced DaniWebbers.

Oh ... also ... additional benefits to having the code snippet library in the forum threads is that you can now include attachments :) Working screenshots, etc.

YYesss! And that only took about 1.5 years of nagging :)
Don't have time at the moment (or in the near future for that matter), but I'll be using this!

On the subject of snippets: In the past newbies posted non-snippets in the snippetssection to. I flagged quite a few of them, because I visited the snippetsection often. I personally haven't seen an enormous increase in fake-snippets in the C++ section. Perhaps it's just that you notice them sooner because they are in the forum now?

> YYesss! And that only took about 1.5 years of nagging
It's not that I didn't want the feature all along. It's that it was not really feasable with the preexisting code script that I had written. It took code snippets to be in the forum system ;)

Agree with niek_e :)

Sorry to go off-topic, but you just repped me for my previous post and it's a grey block... I think your rep-power >= 10 so shouldn't it be either red or green?

It's somewhat of a bug (but one that I'm too lazy to fix atm). It's a result of the new way the code is written to not count rep in the Community Center.

Hopefully the signal to noise ratio will be tolerable.

Hopefully the signal to noise ratio will be tolerable.

So far in the C and C++ sections, I think it's been all noise and no signal.

Dani, I really like what you did with those "<language> Features" on the right side of the screen. That was a greate improvement. Now we have a very easy way to find snippets, tutorials, etc. :*

Is there a way to encourage folks to put the description text in a description area and the code text in the code area? Most recent attempts have been backwards (although most recent attempts haven't been snippets, per se, but forum posts misplaced)?

This one seems like it needs some TLC.

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