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Title: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: ByteCoin on May 20, 2011, 08:43:09 PM I perceive that the number of posts that one has to read to come across any useful content has increased dramatically over this year.
I'm very suspicious of such perceptions however as a reasonable explanation would be that my perceptions have changed while the forum remains the same. Now normally "me too" responses are exactly what I wouldn't want to see in replies but in this case I'm soliciting opinions on whether it's just me or if there's a real problem. If it's a real problem then what's the best way to fix it? ByteCoin Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: MoonShadow on May 20, 2011, 08:59:49 PM There is no way to fix it. That is the normal progression of a niche forum going mainstream. That's the way of the Internet. The average poster's contributions trend toward the Internet's greater average, which is terrible. I've seen it happen on a number of forums that I've participated in.
Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: theymos on May 20, 2011, 11:18:49 PM I've noticed that, as well. I think we need a NNTP server.
Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: MoonShadow on May 20, 2011, 11:26:16 PM I've noticed that, as well. I think we need a NNTP server. Yeah, that will improve things! ::) Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: k on May 20, 2011, 11:29:42 PM perhaps the answer is a different type of site.
there was a suggestion of a BitCoin StackExchange in a previous thread. http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=5117.msg74758#msg74758 (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=5117.msg74758#msg74758) Never really used StackExchange (I'm not a coder) but have looked a bit and heard about it previously and it may be an improvement over a traditional forum in terms of signal/noise. As an aside it looks like the BitCoin StackExchange proposal is close to moving to the next stage of becoming a stack exchange. http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin (http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin) Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: theymos on May 20, 2011, 11:30:11 PM Yeah, that will improve things! ::) I think it will, since you can more easily ignore certain people and the barrier to entry is higher. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: cuddlefish on May 20, 2011, 11:33:21 PM There is no way to fix it. That is the normal progression of a niche forum going mainstream. That's the way of the Internet. The average poster's contributions trend toward the Internet's greater average, which is terrible. I've seen it happen on a number of forums that I've participated in. That's why I created #bitcoin-cabal. IRC, not forums, but we're trying to keep the "can know everyone by name" factor high. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: SgtSpike on May 20, 2011, 11:35:08 PM There is no way to fix it. That is the normal progression of a niche forum going mainstream. That's the way of the Internet. The average poster's contributions trend toward the Internet's greater average, which is terrible. I've seen it happen on a number of forums that I've participated in. This.You WERE in a niche forum with many like-minded people. Now, more and more people of diverse cultures, different intelligence and education levels, different age groups, different financial class groups, are all joining up. There's going to be a lot of "stupid questions", a lot of repeated answers, a lot of facepalming. Just deal with it and move on. It's the nature of an open-ended forum. Forums are not meant to be places of quality content. They are meant to be places of discussion. Start a blog and read other people's blogs if you are looking for 100% quality content. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: N12 on May 21, 2011, 12:02:46 AM There is no way to fix it. That is the normal progression of a niche forum going mainstream. That's the way of the Internet. The average poster's contributions trend toward the Internet's greater average, which is terrible. I've seen it happen on a number of forums that I've participated in. Which is a good sign.Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: FooDSt4mP on May 21, 2011, 04:39:39 AM There is no way to fix it. That is the normal progression of a niche forum going mainstream. That's the way of the Internet. The average poster's contributions trend toward the Internet's greater average, which is terrible. I've seen it happen on a number of forums that I've participated in. This.You WERE in a niche forum with many like-minded people. Now, more and more people of diverse cultures, different intelligence and education levels, different age groups, different financial class groups, are all joining up. There's going to be a lot of "stupid questions", a lot of repeated answers, a lot of facepalming. Just deal with it and move on. It's the nature of an open-ended forum. Forums are not meant to be places of quality content. They are meant to be places of discussion. Start a blog and read other people's blogs if you are looking for 100% quality content. lol @ 100% quality content on blogs Sometimes, but definitely not the norm. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: FreeMoney on May 21, 2011, 06:03:22 AM There is no way to fix it. That is the normal progression of a niche forum going mainstream. That's the way of the Internet. The average poster's contributions trend toward the Internet's greater average, which is terrible. I've seen it happen on a number of forums that I've participated in. This.You WERE in a niche forum with many like-minded people. Now, more and more people of diverse cultures, different intelligence and education levels, different age groups, different financial class groups, are all joining up. There's going to be a lot of "stupid questions", a lot of repeated answers, a lot of facepalming. Just deal with it and move on. It's the nature of an open-ended forum. Forums are not meant to be places of quality content. They are meant to be places of discussion. Start a blog and read other people's blogs if you are looking for 100% quality content. lol @ 100% quality content on blogs Sometimes, but definitely not the norm. I think he's suggesting you go read the quality ones. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: gigitrix on May 23, 2011, 05:27:09 PM There's tons of new users, who not only need help setting up, they also need to ask the same questions you guys did in the first place. So it seems like you are repeating "the network verifies the transactions, people can't doublespend" etc etc millions of times, but you know you did the same thing. I think it's important that people ask these questions and it helps convince them that bitcoin is solid. In an ideal world, sure, everyone would use the search function, but we don't live in that world. So I say that it's a good thing.
Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: Anonanon on May 23, 2011, 09:36:34 PM We could collate the most commonly asked questions into an easy to find, stickied FAQ thread and hold bounties for the most unbiased, informative answers. Alternatively, break each question into separate stickied threads so people can have a clearly visible archive of discussion on that certain question.
I know there's a Bitcoin FAQ on the Wiki, but having certain questions answered and archived for all to see here on the forum might help dissuade the users who are new from creating endless samey topics. Well, unless it's an intentional smear campaign by Anti-Bitcoin trolls. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: k on May 23, 2011, 10:16:05 PM the Bitcoin and Crypto Currency stack exchange proposal has moved to the next stage.
http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin (http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin) now needs enough people to commit to be active. I believe it could be a good site to have FAQs answered and to improve the signal to noise ratio. If you're interested you can sign up. Title: Re: Decline in the signal to noise ratio in the forum Post by: cuddlefish on May 23, 2011, 10:48:08 PM Really, check out #bitcoin-cabal. We're not always talking, but when we are it's not easily derailed.
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