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Brad's SecretSauce™: Thread Title Engine


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Brad's SecretSauce™: Thread Title Engine
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-15, 22:02

With the resounding success of my "Tangent Tags" I have a new suggestion, which I bring before you now, most humbly, now.... no, NOW:

PROPOSAL
Create a "check" system that allows the website to parse new thread titles, to eliminate non-descriptive titles.

DETAILS
A built-in dictionary (codenamed: Brad's SecretSauce™) that automatically checks submitted thread titles for real words or existing threads with similar verbiage, encouraging users to craft more descriptive titles or to place their posts in existing threads, ultimately resulting in better constructed threads and a reduction of duplicate threads. Also world peace.

SAMPLE USAGE
1. User enters thread title: "Whooo!!"
2. Brad's SecretSauce™ parses thread title string for real words.
3. Finding no matches, Brad's SecretSauce™ cautions user that thread title may not meet Posting Guidelines and quotes the relevant Posting Guidelines warning.
4. User decides whether to embellish thread title before posting new thread.

DISCUSSION
(below)
.

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
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spikeh
BANNED
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
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2007-02-15, 22:09

Are there really enough non-descriptive threads to merit this? I don't see that many, although that's perhaps because they are caught quickly by the mods.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-02-15, 22:10

  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-15, 22:12

Oh it would be a complete bitch to integrate with the vBulletin software, and the mods do a fine job... would just be kind of keen to have the app check the thread title for duplicate threads and say "HEY, are you sure that you don't want to post this in one of THESE threads instead?"

It's really more of an idea for a vBulletin flourish...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
atomicbartbeans
reticulating your mom
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
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2007-02-15, 22:13

I'd hazard a guess that development and implementation of such a "Thread Title Engine" would require orders of magnitude more effort than is spent renaming vague topics.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2007-02-15, 22:14

Drew just wants us to keep him from repeating this mistake again.
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Windowsrookie
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
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2007-02-15, 22:15

Or members who don't follow the rules get to be murbot's bitch for a day.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-15, 22:16

::shudders at the memory of THE NIGHT WHEN EVERBODY'S NAME CHANGED::
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spikeh
BANNED
 
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2007-02-15, 22:32

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
Wrong thread, pickle.
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-02-15, 22:35

Quote:
Originally Posted by spikeh View Post
Wrong thread, pickle.
Nope.
  quote
Wyatt
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
 
2007-02-15, 23:30

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
::shudders at the memory of THE NIGHT WHEN EVERBODY'S NAME CHANGED::
Still my favorite night ever on here.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-15, 23:54

Swedish Doom Metal, Chucker?
I think it fits.... somehow.
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thegeriatric
geri to my friends
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Heaven
 
2007-02-16, 06:26

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
Swedish Doom Metal, Chucker?
I think it fits.... somehow.
WOW. Had the speakers turned up when this started playing, soon turned em down, but then continued to listen. Not bad at all. Hmmmmmmm........... not getting as old as i thought. Thanks Drew.

PS. I have some of my best laughs when you post drunk. Long may booze be your motivation.

I used to be undecided.....But now I'm not so sure.
No trees were harmed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-16, 06:45

Oh no mate, that's not mine... I'm just the enabler.

I Googled to see from whence Chucker's image sprang and listened to the clip from the site with hand held over the mute button, ready to dump it when it started sucking... but, it never did.... thanks to Chucker for the connection, though I'm not exactly certain what message he intended to send....

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-02-16, 08:40

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
though I'm not exactly certain what message he intended to send....
…that your proposal is draconian?
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2007-02-16, 08:56

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
…that your proposal is draconian?
How so? The word draconian comes from the Greek legislator Draco who was (in)famous for enacting outrageously harsh laws which sentenced people to death for most crimes. If a "title suggestion" is considered draconian, does that make our Posting Guidelines even worse?

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-16, 09:05

You know I think Chucker's right, that it would be very Draconian.... I realized that a lot of clever threads might get "profiled" by this "cop" on their way to publication, including mine (which aren't so very clever). As I was realizing this as I wrote the proposal, which is when the thought that it might be good as just a way to ask the thread-starter if their content matched threads that already existed, as happens on DiGG.com when you digg something.... but even THAT is Draconian.

The system works already.

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-02-16, 09:15

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
How so? The word draconian comes from the Greek legislator Draco who was (in)famous for enacting outrageously harsh laws which sentenced people to death for most crimes. If a "title suggestion" is considered draconian, does that make our Posting Guidelines even worse?
No, because at a quick glance at your posting guidelines, none of them seem to be enforced by automatic scripting. Sure, there is some minor stuff that is automatically filtered out or "corrected", e.g. all-caps posts. But nothing too large. Even the example of all-caps posts can get draconian, however: what if the use of all-caps posts was to ridicule those who regularly and seriously do that? The board software will still filter it out, because it is, not being a human, humor-impaired.

As I understand it, Drew is proposing a filter that detects unacceptable titles. But what if the title is deliberately silly? What if it's a joke everyone appreciates and no moderator would mind? The board software still would.

It's why I never understood boards that set up word filters… not only is it always possible to get around them by expressing yourself in subtler ways, but there are also frequently legitimate use cases for many filtered words.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-16, 11:01

That was the original proposal, but as you've stated a machine is not humor-enabled. The secondary idea of a "hey, there may already be a thread about this" is... an idea. But don't you have a DAY JOB Brad?

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
Enki
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
 
2007-02-16, 12:12

Ummm. This is HARD! As in beyond the reasonable reach of the state in CS art today unless you want to accept a really sucky version that we will all complain about. Vociferously.

I vote we jot this down in the <cue Beach Boys> "Wouldn't it be nice" category and move on unless someone has the next few years of their career to spend on unfunded natural language processing.
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Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2007-02-16, 12:14

Does anyone note the irony in the "Similar Thread" section below?
  quote
Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2007-02-16, 12:18

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
How so? The word draconian comes from the Greek legislator Draco who was (in)famous for enacting outrageously harsh laws which sentenced people to death for most crimes.
We're going to get sentenced to death for writing bad thread titles? Holy hell. I knew this forum was tough, but that's going to be tricky. Who's the executioner? As if I didn't know...nailgun it is, then...

Might be an interesting task for the spare cycles of the rampant AI that is the UberBrad.
  quote
Wraven
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Texas
 
2007-02-16, 12:19

Quote:
Originally Posted by Banana View Post
Does anyone note the irony in the "Similar Thread" section below?
Holy Shit! Never noticed that before (shows you how infrequently I bother looking all the way down to the bottom of a web page).
  quote
Fahrenheit
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
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2007-02-16, 14:41

I propose a 4 day long session of naming all threads with hideous accuracy, just to show how boring it would be.
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zippy
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
 
2007-02-16, 15:51

And please, no more talk about Brad's "Special Sauce". That's just gross!
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turbulentfurball
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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2007-02-16, 16:54

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
No, because at a quick glance at your posting guidelines, none of them seem to be enforced by automatic scripting. Sure, there is some minor stuff that is automatically filtered out or "corrected", e.g. all-caps posts. But nothing too large. Even the example of all-caps posts can get draconian, however: what if the use of all-caps posts was to ridicule those who regularly and seriously do that? The board software will still filter it out, because it is, not being a human, humor-impaired.
Don't forget M$!
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-02-16, 17:12

Quote:
Originally Posted by turbulentfurball View Post
Don't forget I'm stupid!
No worries, mate, I won't.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2007-02-16, 17:23

This was such a bad idea!
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turbulentfurball
Right Honourable Member
 
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2007-02-16, 17:28

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
No worries, mate, I won't.


That is all.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2007-02-16, 17:34

Quote:
Originally Posted by turbulentfurball View Post
Don't forget I'm stupid!
Don't worry, furby. We will Never Forget™.
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