Idea About Mission Discussion/Explanation

[almightybob]

Hey folks!

I'm fairly new and just managed to complete Basic 4. The problem is, I'm not sure how I did it. And since I obviously can't post what I did because it would tell other people a solution, I'm in a bit of a pickle. Obviously I don't want to be bothering people demanding a personal explanation, but I don't fully understand how my solution worked, and I'm here to learn so this sort of defeats the point

Anyways, I've also been messing about on a website called Project Euler. Some of you may have heard of it - it's a website with challenges which require maths and programming. I've been trying to teach myself Python by going through the challenges.

Long story short, they have quite a good solution to this problem there: Once you complete a challenge, you are able to view a thread where people detail their solutions and discuss them. I think the same basic principle could work well here.

Once you complete a mission, you are automatically given permission to view that mission's "solution thread", where you can see how other people did it, and not worry about spoilers since everyone who can read the thread has already completed that mission.

I have no idea about how the technical side of this would work, but since HTS missions already say "Notice: you have already completed this level", I'm guessing there's already a similar functionality in place for tying mission success to accounts. I'm sure with all the technological knowledge available here, this would be quite easy to implement.

So, what do you all think?



tl;dr: Make solution threads which are only viewable after you complete the mission in question, so people can discuss without fear of spoilers! Yay!

[godofcereal]

Solution threads... Wouldnt take long to leak outside.

If you want to ask someone why it worked then ask in the IRC where we can give you an answer straight. Or ask in the forums if someone will pm you explaining how it worked. Or you could google why it worked.

[almightybob]

Solution threads... Wouldnt take long to leak outside.

Yeah, but no more so than solutions can be leaked with the current system. The only people who could access the thread in the first place would be people who already have a solution, so they would already be in a position to leak a solution if they were so inclined.

Anyone who wants to just find the answer can already do so. The solutions are already leaked. This is more aimed at helping teach people how and why their solution worked, and if there were any better/easier/neater alternative solutions.

If you want to ask someone why it worked then ask in the IRC where we can give you an answer straight. Or ask in the forums if someone will pm you explaining how it worked. Or you could google why it worked.

Ah OK, I didn't know it was acceptable to ask directly in IRC. I might do that. And I didn't want to be hassling people with PMs, because I'm sure you all get PMed all the time by newbies who don't want to try asking "hey can you tell me how to do basic 4 plz?" etc.

[godofcereal]

Well I have a good few missions done and if something happened to me and I wanted revenge, I could just post the solution threads on blogs or videos or download. You have to remember that you cant trust everyone.

Regarding pm's, you arent aloud to pm other users about missions, you can ask on the correct thread for someone to pm you and explain it.
The IRC is a great tool for us to have, in there you can go to #help and ask someone in there how you did the mission and why it worked.

[almightybob]

Well I have a good few missions done and if something happened to me and I wanted revenge, I could just post the solution threads on blogs or videos or download. You have to remember that you cant trust everyone.

Yes I understand that, but you're missing my point.
You already have a solution, therefore you could as you say post it in a blog or whatever. But you can do that already, with the current system. Having a solution thread wouldn't make the solutions any more exposed than they already are.
What it would do would be to help teach the people who actually want to learn.

Look at it like this: If someone, for whatever reason, wants to expose HTS solutions, they can do the following:

Code: Select all

What they can reveal about:


                      |   with solution thread      |      without solution thread
______________________|_____________________________|_______________________________
A mission they've     |      solutions from         |      their own solution
  completed           |      solution thread        |
______________________|_____________________________|_______________________________
A mission they        |         nothing             |         nothing             
haven't completed     |                             |



So as you can see from the table, adding solution threads won't give anyone the ability to post more spoilers than they are already in a position to do right now.

Regarding pm's, you arent aloud to pm other users about missions, you can ask on the correct thread for someone to pm you and explain it.
The IRC is a great tool for us to have, in there you can go to #help and ask someone in there how you did the mission and why it worked.

I can see how the IRC would be useful for that, but the solution thread would act as a repository for times if there's no-one on IRC, or the available help can't remember that particular mission, or just for people who don't like IRC (some people hate it, I don't really know why but there you go).

[godofcereal]

Ok so I dont think you get it yet. If this happens it WILL get leaked.
And giving special permissions to certain users is difficult.
And the phpBB is so fucked up that only Comperr could do anything like make a new section with permissions to users.

[Monica]

I understand of having private, separate areas on the forum for users who has and hasn't completed the missions. I really do. (IE: There are hidden Staff categories for only Staff.)

Unfortunately, what GodOfCereal stated is absolutely true. Besides, some of the mission solutions are already leaked. There is no way to prevent those who has cheated from having access on the forum, UNLESS if Staff were to verify the legitimacy of EACH completed mission by EACH of the users. We C.B.A do that!

What if a user wanted to distribute mission answers? It also would NOT prevent "newbs" if they cheated on the missions. Just remember...there are a lot of curious ones out there.

My point is this: when you have a newb who cheated on missions and later have access to the private area of forum-- "hi can u halp me how u get the answer?? i did the mission and dont understand."

We're screwed.

[almightybob]

Ah. I hadn't thought of that. Good point.

Oh well, never mind then. The current system is still good, I just thought this might help some people learn. But you're right, it would get bogged down by the nubs who cheated.

[jpmut]

Are newbies really that stupid? ask how people did it, and the section is full of different solutions (and solutions which in most cases will be properly explained)? i know they do ask such questions alot, but i thought its because they don't understand the cryptic hints in the forums, and if they had solutions in front of them, the questions would actually reduce!

[Nines]

I understand of having private, separate areas on the forum for users who has and hasn't completed the missions. I really do. (IE: There are hidden Staff categories for only Staff.)

Unfortunately, what GodOfCereal stated is absolutely true. Besides, some of the mission solutions are already leaked. There is no way to prevent those who has cheated from having access on the forum, UNLESS if Staff were to verify the legitimacy of EACH completed mission by EACH of the users. We C.B.A do that!

What if a user wanted to distribute mission answers? It also would NOT prevent "newbs" if they cheated on the missions. Just remember...there are a lot of curious ones out there.

My point is this: when you have a newb who cheated on missions and later have access to the private area of forum-- "hi can u halp me how u get the answer?? i did the mission and dont understand."

We're screwed.

I don't see what you're getting at here. almightybob has a valid point. If "newbs" get access to a forum for missions that they've cheated on then they might actually LEARN something when it's been explained. Isn't that what we're supposed to be about? The point of a solutions forum isn't intended to be some sort of private club. I've discussed solutions to missions with a ton of people here and traded code with the likes on manonst to see where our solutions differed before.

If you end up with spammy posts, then you delete them. I don't think that the site should suffer the lack of a valid, beneficial and resourceful feature because we aren't prepared to undertake moderation duties?