Has our pagerank or something gone down?

I've noticed a consistent lack of newbie questions over the last month or two, and I've realised they are the glue which holds TPU together.

I also noticed this. There has been hardly any activity.

I noticed that, too. Does it have something to do with the wiki? (hmmm... I should probably look at it if I want to know that...)
EDIT: *sees note on wiki not to use it* ... maybe not

I think our membership has dropped. I have foggy memories of an average of 36 members logging on every 24 hours when I joined.

And what about Sarahoney?

We don't have Vlad here anymore either.

No worries. TPU has still had little value when it was busy helping people cheat on their homework assignments. Feel free to post ideas that we can use when we try to make things good again this summer.

I think psion just fixed the problem by starting another bash-c++-thread.

*gets some popcorn and cola*

Go on... =)

my thoughts exactly

Vlad's been busy...'philosophising and doing math. Also messing around with Micosoft FPS 4.0 QuickWin thing'.
So I don't think he's really gone, just 'away' for a while.

I shall enter a competition held over the summer though, with projects submitted at about mid August.

No COMPETITIONS. This is an opportunity for people to show others what they have created, and hopefully teach others a thing or two about the methods they used.

whatever you want to call it, an exhibition then.

"No worries. TPU has still had little value when it was busy helping people cheat on their homework assignments. Feel free to post ideas that we can use when we try to make things good again this summer."

What kind of moron would come to TPU.org specifically for help on homework?

Why not some other site like the NASA messageboards or the bibliophile chat.

They would certainly get better help.

Nope, teens would see "teen" and think they could get away with posting homework help questions here.

I don't mind newbie questions as long as
a) they aren't blatantly obviously homework questions
b) "I'm feeling lucky" doesn't answer the question.

So shall we have an actual exhibition in the summer?

I think I'v seen several times when people have phrased home work questions. And, why would they go to NASA for programming help [Ya, sure for a science/aerospace project, but programming?!]??

How many of those who signed up for the last exhibition actually submitted something?

u_l said something in the forums about submitting; I sent something.. anybody else?

I didnt send one, because I havent been activly working on my AI project. (>_<)

I actually withdrew my application on the day I submitted it, but its at a bad time at the moment, 'cause exams are coming up, and half our members were not eligible to join.

"How many of those who signed up for the last exhibition actually submitted something?

u_l said something in the forums about submitting; I sent something.. anybody else?"

I think there was one official submission from Unknown_Lamer.


"I think I'v seen several times when people have phrased home work questions. And, why would they go to NASA for programming help [Ya, sure for a science/aerospace project, but programming?!]??"

I was actually talking about other types of homework like Mathematics and Science.

Actually, most Astronomers or people in the field of Astronomy usually not only know how to program but have a degree in Computer Science or have studied it. This is required because Astronomers now need to use highly sophisticated equipment to take pictures of star clusters or to record sound in space. Or even just to navigate something.

Keep in mind, even the Telescope in the observatory is computerized.


"So shall we have an actual exhibition in the summer? "


I always get yelled at for saying this but I believe that any future exhition will be a failure. Now wait! Don't click on that reply button just yet to tell me what a moron I am...first hear me out.

Last time I said that, people jumped to let me have it but guess what happened? My prognostications about the exhibition were correct.

Why? Think of it this way. "Teens" (the teens left at TPU and the general public), have enough trouble as it is handing in things like their math homework in school which is mandatory. You guys expect them to hand in a big project into TPU when they can barely hand in work at school!?

Some people would say "Not the teens at TPU." Well, not really. Take a look at the long list of people interested and joining up for the exhibition. Count the teens and count how many of them handed in something. I am talking about those between the ages of 13-19.

Maybe TPU should consider making this a competition with something like a Sega Dreamcast or MP3 player as a prize. No offense to Psion but the more against he is towards this idea the more this exhibition idea won't see success. At least consider the benefits of it.

I'm sure more people will actually join and hand in something. Joining the exhition isn't the important part, going through and presenting something is.

And just for the record...I did not sign-up. Hence I did not turn in anything. I do not have the skill, time or will to do that...I would rather go sleep.

Like I've said, this was not carried out appropriately, and it was obvious to pretty much everyone from the start that it had no chance of success. The _idea_, however, is a good one, regardless of the success of premature attempts. The community atmosphere of showing what you've done in an entertaining and educational way is the key aspect. It's what we did in the Old Days, and it's what would be necessary to succeed in a way that I'm comfortable with.

"It's what we did in the Old Days"


That doesn't neccesarily mean it's the right way. Look at TPU now like Rdd said. It's traffic has slowed down. Could it be because of the way things are being run?

They use to promote racism in the old days too. And in the renissiance if you had a cold, they would think that a demon possessed you and they would kill you.

Was that the right way?

Trying something new couldn't help the exhibition idea. Afterall, the continuing ways haven't succeeded so far. What's the harm in experimenting?

A competition is very different from an exhibition (the difference being whether there is a prize and winner). We want an exhibition. We do not want a competition. (For that, go to TopCoder or whatever.)

Two people submitted things out of the approx. 10 people who expressed interest. Judge it how you like.

- taubz

"Could it be because of the way things are being run? "

The only person that runs TPU in any way right now is our beloved server Abulafia. I don't think we can blame him.

I personnaly don't think that the decrease in the number of people visiting the site is significant. There was already a pretty small number of people visiting the site few months ago. We went to a small number of people per day to a little bit smaller number of people per day.

I would think differently if we went from 2500 individual/days to 25 individuals/days.

Make that three submissions.

- taubz

I'm just here to argue, it is an excellent stress reliever.

No you're not. You're here for an argument.