Zeerph's recent activity

  5. Comment on The voting on topics and comments now ends when they're 30 days old and all individual vote records are deleted, retaining only the count in ~tildes.official

    Zeerph
    Link Parent
    Somehow I missed that last time I looked at a locked topic. Maybe it's because I'm using the Dracula theme and the colours do not stand out so much? Although I'm curious, why not display that a...

    And the notification about a topic being locked is quite large/bright and at the top of its comments.

    Somehow I missed that last time I looked at a locked topic. Maybe it's because I'm using the Dracula theme and the colours do not stand out so much? Although I'm curious, why not display that a thread is locked before the user goes into the locked topic?

    1 vote

  6. Comment on The voting on topics and comments now ends when they're 30 days old and all individual vote records are deleted, retaining only the count in ~tildes.official

    Zeerph
    Link
    Potential confusing use case If using all-time activity sort and a thread comes up that the user has yet to see, it's not immediately obvious why the user can't vote on it until they click on the...

    Potential confusing use case

    If using all-time activity sort and a thread comes up that the user has yet to see, it's not immediately obvious why the user can't vote on it until they click on the thread and scroll all the way down to the bottom. While there is a date that the topic was posted, without foreknowledge a user could not know that voting on the topic or post was expired.

    e.g. This post was bumped back to the top of the activity feed, and having missed it the first time around, I wanted to vote on it, but couldn't.

    Solution(s)?

    Perhaps making the "vote" button show differently on hover to indicate that the post is beyond the time limit. Maybe an "X" or a strikethrough would be useful?

    Show a box on hover that says that voting has expired? Or show the expiry date for all votes?
    Examples include: Voting expired or ## days left to vote or Best voted on by YYYY-MM-DD (not that anyone can actually agree on a dating format)

    Something like these labels on hover might, potentially, make the initial encounter of an out-of-date post less confusing, and it would be a good reminder if the lack of ability to vote is encountered again.

    Addendum

    On a slightly unrelated note, it's a little hard to know when a topic is locked without going to the bottom of said topic (unless something has changed since I last saw a locked topic). Perhaps changing the background of the topic to diagonal stripes would be a good visual cue.

    11 votes

  10. Comment on Some <details> about more <small> updates (you'll get that in a minute) and general Tildes feedback/questions/comments in ~tildes.official

    Zeerph
    Link Parent
    I like both options, especially since the second option could give more control over viewing new comments, but it's definitely not a feature that needs to be implemented soon. That said, the first...

    Do either of those seem reasonable? I think the first option would probably be pretty easy to do.

    I like both options, especially since the second option could give more control over viewing new comments, but it's definitely not a feature that needs to be implemented soon. That said, the first one really appeals to my desire for simplicity and I would probably look at more comments, knowing that the new comment designation wouldn't be immediately discarded if I have to refresh.

    I would be content with the first option.

    Another option available right now is just repeatedly clicking the "Parent" link in the comment header until you get back up to the top-level comment, and then collapsing that one. I've been thinking a little about adding another link like "Root" that would go directly to the top-level one.

    Well, going to the top of rather large comments is sometimes difficult on mobile. Could a root link or top link be added to the bottom right of a comment? It could just be something like ^ to save space.

    Yes, this is actually part of the changes to the group system I was working on that have ended up difficult. I'm trying to significantly rework how subscribing works, and part of it is being able to base it more on tags. So hopefully things will start moving in that direction pretty soon, once I can work through more of that tangle.

    That's good news, thanks for the hard work!

    Do you not see the superscript/subscript in there? Maybe it's a platform/browser/font issue? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean?

    Never mind, I had set the minimum font size at 13 in Firefox, so it didn't make the size difference distinct. I've set the minimum size to 10, and I can see the difference now. Sorry about the confusion.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on Some <details> about more <small> updates (you'll get that in a minute) and general Tildes feedback/questions/comments in ~tildes.official

    Zeerph
    (edited )
    Link
    Thanks for the changes, I'll definitely be using <small> tags for my endnotes. Three quality of life features that would be nice An ability to see the last set of new comments Case: sometimes...

    Thanks for the changes, I'll definitely be using <small> tags for my endnotes.

    Three quality of life features that would be nice

    1. An ability to see the last set of new comments
    • Case: sometimes connection is lost when loading a page to look at new comments1, if the page is loaded again, the new comment markers are erased. From there, the new comments have to be guessed.
    • Possible solution: Perhaps a link upon loading a thread to see "last set of new comments"
    1. An ability to hide threads from inside the thread, especially on mobile
    • Case: Sometimes it takes a little while to decide that something isn't interesting enough to read, it takes some scrolling and finding where the top comment is that you want to hide
    • The only thing from the new design of Reddit that I liked was the ability to hide threads from the level designations on the left side
    1. An ability to subscribe or filter-in a specific topic to my front page from a top-level group that I may not want to subscribe to.2
    • example: I don't really want to subscribe to ~games, but I do want to see the table-top roleplaying topics

    1Yes, I sometimes have an unstable connection and the comment page doesn't load or only partly loads.
    2Yes, I know it's been mentioned before ... it would just be nice to have, so I don't have to be subscribed to groups that I don't really want to see, but there is a sub-topic that I like.

    3 Is <sup> and <sub> not being changed by the <small> tag working as intended?

    Edit: Struckthrough an error on the my end.

    8 votes

  12. Comment on China orders halt to history tests for students seeking credits for US university courses in ~humanities.history

    Zeerph
    Link
    To add context, the test-preparation industry is rather large in China1. There are not just "schools" devoted to teaching to pass the Advanced Placement (AP) tests2, but teachers who've made it...

    To add context, the test-preparation industry is rather large in China1. There are not just "schools" devoted to teaching to pass the Advanced Placement (AP) tests2, but teachers who've made it their specialty, as well as schools who devote resources to holding the actual tests. In addition, Chinese students use AP tests as a way to further expand their applications sent to Anglophone universities, not just the US, and differentiate themselves from other Chinese applicants.

    That being said, generally the relatively affluent students who want to take the AP tests are perfectly capable of travelling to other countries or areas where these exams are offered3. As such, this will only push people who want to take these exams, to take them outside of mainland China. It won't actually stop students from "learning"4 the material, or most students from taking the test. In the end, the policy has limited effectiveness and only serves to further separate those in China that can afford a truly international education and those that cannot.

    However, their true aim could be to totally ban AP exams from China and this is the first step toward that goal.

    1 The test preparation industry is huge in China and other East Asian countries and is used as a way to get ahead of (read: keep pace with) other students
    2 Students can also take classes devoted to teaching them techniques to pass the SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, and A-levels, among others
    3 Students are already ferried about south-east Asia in order to get better scores on the SAT
    4 Their main tactic for learning is rote memorisation and regurgitation for the exam

    4 votes

  18. Comment on I'm working on an app for learning Chinese, anyone interested in helping me test it? in ~tech

    Zeerph
    Link Parent
    Great, thanks. It seems to work just fine, and I'm not to worried about the Google log-in anyway. Ah, I was afraid I would get points from writing the second instance of the character correctly....

    I just uploaded it now, so I haven't actually verified yet whether or not it will function correctly. I think everything should work normally, except that I'm pretty sure that the log-in with Google function will not work since this APK file isn't signed with the Google play key.

    Great, thanks. It seems to work just fine, and I'm not to worried about the Google log-in anyway.

    If the user writes the first 是 incorrectly, it will be already be marked as incorrect for that sentence and they won't get any credit for writing the second one correctly. Given that, I don't see any harm in letting them copy from the revealed character.

    Ah, I was afraid I would get points from writing the second instance of the character correctly. Perhaps, either skipping the second instance or having something like a label or banner saying "for practice only, no proficiency points awarded" on the second one, would be helpful.

    ... the only thing I'm worried about is people who don't have a Chinese keyboard installed and don't know how to input characters in a text field. By default I'll probably leave it as it is now, but maybe I'll add an option in the settings to enable something like that.

    While I find it odd that someone would learn a language without using the appropriate input method, I do not doubt that it happens. Anyway, I'm all for an option, as that's one of the few things I like about similar apps.

    How to make a listening exercise where you can't "cheat" by reading ..

    There could be some ways to get around this:

    • dictation: where the listener has to write exactly what they heard (no reading involved)
    • writing half the sentence: the listener has to write either the front half or the back half of the sentence they just heard
    • every time the listener has to press the listen button, listening proficiency reduces
    • if the listening is still playing, then the reading part is invisible

    How will listening progress interact with reading/writing progress?

    Usually listening is more tied to speaking, as such I would consider it a completely separate skill that's only tangentially related to reading and writing.
    Unless you wanted to do some combined tasks like:

    • write this character you just heard
    • in this reading, listen for the words that do not match
      Then it might be wise to tie those specific tasks to the other skills.

    Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

    You're welcome! There's more where that came from, I assure you.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on I'm working on an app for learning Chinese, anyone interested in helping me test it? in ~tech

    Zeerph
    Link
    I've used the web-app a couple times now Though, I do have an Android device, I do not have access to the Google play store. It would be nice if there was just an APK download. For now, I have one...

    I've used the web-app a couple times now
    Though, I do have an Android device, I do not have access to the Google play store. It would be nice if there was just an APK download.

    For now, I have one feature request for the writing practice.
    When a sentence comes up with two of the same character, e.g. 是不是, if the first character is failed or skipped, it shouldn't reveal that character if another exists in the same sentence. That way the second 是 can't be copied from the revealed 是 if the first one is skipped.

    Also, I would definitely prefer (to reiterate another poster), for the reading, an ability to type the Chinese text that I want, instead of having to select from a group. As I find I learn better when I have to type it, and it's more fulfilling.

    Are there any plans for a listening section? Even something as basic as TTS where the learner then has to either fill in the blank(s) or write what they heard?

    Anyway, thanks for the app! I've been looking for something that focuses more on frequency and sentences.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on What are your top three favorite games of all time? in ~games

    Zeerph
    Link Parent
    As someone who has played Paradox games since Hearts of Iron 2, their games are broad, but with little depth upon release. I do remember that upon release of some of their latest games, like CK2,...

    As someone who has played Paradox games since Hearts of Iron 2, their games are broad, but with little depth upon release. I do remember that upon release of some of their latest games, like CK2, the only thing you could play were the Christian monarchies and I remember just waiting around for a while to do much of anything. And for EU4, I couldn't even get into it until after a few DLC/patches added some content besides map painting. To be frank, their games are rather bare without all that DLC (especially Stellaris) and if they can pump out more than two expansion packs like they did for their earlier games, why not help them fund it?

    All those DLC and patches help expand the game and increase replayability and that's definitely the metric that Paradox is going for. All the development time that the studio puts into these games needs to be compensated somehow. The other options would be to keep releasing sequels and the occasional expansion and dropping support of old titles after a year or so. But, with the immense expandability of grand strategy titles, why should Paradox not take advantage of that?

    but it makes getting into their games or staying up-to-date with them quite an investment.

    I'm not sure why this is an issue, yes they add changes to the DLC that are useful in the game (so people will buy them), but they don't push an update that stops you from playing lest you have bought the most recent patch. If you were forced to purchase all the DLC to be able to play the game, then OK, sure, I can see that argument, but customers are not forced to do so, and they even get to play on free patches that add some things to the game.