General > General Technical Chat
Designated "Expert" Forum Users?
tautech:
Ah mnementh, our tame TEA dwagon. He likes to engage and thank replies, please don't hold that against him.
EEVblog:
IIRC there is an option for the Thanks system where it displays under the username. I think we turned that one on once and it was voted off the island!
Brumby:
First it is important to understand what the intended objective of any change is:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on February 15, 2022, 03:45:38 am ---This could potentially help newbies or generally just anyone asking a question to perhaps be more confident in a technical answer if it comes from a designated "Expert" in that field. Help weed out the weat from the chaff so to speak.
--- End quote ---
This needs to be consistently kept in mind as ideas are floated - and these ideas need to be closely considered as to how they will achieve that improvement.
What usually comes next is the discussion of how this could be achieved, which we have seen. However, I feel it is important to not completely ignore the current situation.
First is the nature of the community and "the vibe" we have here that has developed under the existing conditions:
--- Quote from: Siwastaja on February 16, 2022, 06:39:04 am ---These sites are fundamentally different. Stack Overflow/Exchange are question-answer services run by peers. EEVBlog forum is a discussion forum. It's a nice, even desirable side effect if the OP gets a straight answer to their exact question, but it's not the primary point.
--- End quote ---
Second, we should remain mindful of what it offers:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on February 15, 2022, 09:59:48 pm ---Firstly determining who is (not) worth listening to is a valuable life skill for many reasons and in many circumstances. Newbies might as well learn such discrimination ASAP.
--- End quote ---
This is no small thing in itself. It particularly deals with the concept of critical thinking and people taking responsibility for their own actions - instead of just blindly following whatever they believe they read. There is an argument for helping a beginner with those first stumbling steps - but that is available right now. All it takes is for a member to take a little time.
I'm not going to speak to how effective any given change may be as I feel there is a far more important aspect to be considered: What can go wrong.
--- Quote from: T3sl4co1l on February 15, 2022, 07:21:00 pm ---Anyway, going back to this, for sure, any kind of metric needs to be chosen very, very carefully. Never underestimate the psychological will to make line go up. As soon as you make an indicator a metric, it is no longer a good metric
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: Cerebus on February 16, 2022, 02:16:52 pm ---"Any metric once created will be gamed". Someone will play in such a way as to inflate the metric rather than to behave in the way the metric was supposed to measure positively for, wasting time trying to bolster the metric rather than doing something useful to produce the outcome the metric was intended to measure.
--- End quote ---
This is a certainty. There are many examples reported and I have witnessed exactly this in KRA/KPI evaluations. Pretty much guaranteed to screw up any system.
As has been said before, as well as the direct impact on anyone with such an "Expert" badge - which could drive them away - the dynamic would most certainly change:
--- Quote from: HobGoblyn on February 15, 2022, 10:39:53 pm ---The problem I can foresee is that people may skip the non experts advice and only take notice of those deemed knowledgeable.
This would stop many people bothering to try to help as they are ignored, and those really knowledgable people would effectively have a full time job just answering questions.
I often learn more from a thread where two or three people have different opinions on how to do something properly than one person giving the “correct” answer.
--- End quote ---
There are other issues - but I'm going to stop there.
So, the question is - as I see it: "Will a change provide improvement or risk destabilising what we already have?"
To me, the risk/reward equation falls clearly on the side of not changing - at least as far as the "Expert" badge proposition is concerned.
thinkfat:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on February 17, 2022, 09:23:38 am ---IIRC there is an option for the Thanks system where it displays under the username. I think we turned that one on once and it was voted off the island!
--- End quote ---
I don't think the "thanked" counter is an appropriate measure for expertise, but it is the only available data that is readily available and without personal bias. "Expert" badges on the other hand will require setting up rules and procedures for people to elect an "elite" caste and I generally dislike any approach that is not truly merit based.
I also don't think it'll do anyone any good to stop thinking for themselves and rely on a display of "rank" instead. Experts can be wrong.
RoGeorge:
Sounds like "Social score" pilot test for EEVblog. :-DD
Joke aside, we are talking HR language here, "potentially help", "more confident", etc.
--- Quote from: EEVblog on February 15, 2022, 03:45:38 am ---This could potentially help newbies or generally just anyone asking a question to perhaps be more confident in a technical answer if it comes from a designated "Expert" in that field. Help weed out the weat from the chaff so to speak.
--- End quote ---
I'm not aware of this being a problem on EEVblog, but maybe I didn't pay attention. From my own memory, each time I was wrong, other more knowledgeable users corrected me almost instantly. So again, what lost beginners are we talking about?
Can you, Dave, or maybe the proposer of the initial idea, please give 5-10 links to such threads where the beginner was lost, but a score or a badge would have helped the beginner?
Without some examples, we are just talking words.
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