No longer amused by Nebula

I like to think I'm a pretty easy going guy, and I love some of the 'characters' on here that may be slightly irritating to others. I thought some of Nebula's stuff was pretty amusing, but now he's spamming the code archives. They're full of posts by him that are either incomprehensible or designed to annoy.

Take this example:
http://www.blitzmax.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=2202
"How to find the <rough> difference between two angles by looping through 360 degrees one degree at a time, if it even does that". Now this guy knows how to program, right? So why's he posting dog slow (or plain incorrect?) code in the archives that could be done much more simply... and this is one of his more constructive posts. A beginner could pick this up and would be none the wiser why their Pong clone needed a 4Ghz quad core to run along at a respectable rate.

Someone sort it out.

Think there's already been a thread about this. I'm sure BRL are aware of Nebula's activities.

I just use 2 temporary pivots and entityyaw :/

Prob not the fastest but im no good at maths anyway

Yeah I know, 10p. I saw that post, and in fact I defended the guy to some extent. I don't think anyone mentioned his code in the archives though. It's not the place for a joke... it just spoils the resource for everyone else.

Lol, perhaps nebula thinks this is good code.

oic

yuck, and I thought my coding was a touch messy! :)

Perhaps, to him, his worklogs make sense too.

Nebula is certainly a unique individual.

Yes, but it gets annoying very quickly.

I just read those. I doubt Nebula could pass the Turing test.

Holland, famous for its open-minded drugs policy! :-)

Isn't that function just ATan2 on acid?

LOL, ATan2 on Horse Tranquilliser, maybe.

I agree with people filling up the code archives with code that doesn't work properly or works very inefficiently, is a bad thing... It's hard enough to find stuff :o)

..which is something I've mentioned for ages already. The archives should be managed/organized by a dedicated person who filters out stuff like 'yay look at my first code, a red oval!' and functions that either don't work, aren't much useful in another enviroment or are badly documented.

Well the code archives are full of stuff that is useless anyway. Nebula has a right to post any code he wants there even if it is useless. If newbies take bad code and use it in their game it's their fault for not knowing any better.

People should write their own code anyway and if they use some free code they should make sure it works first.

<Bangs head against wall>

I disagree, because technically, as a newbie, you dont know any better and have a major lack of experience... Which isnt the persons fault, thats the way it is... And once upon a time, you, me and everyone else would of been in the same position.

I think Nebula has had his fun, and for me, a moderated submission setup for the archives would be good, since it is the offical code resource for the language(s)

and if you dont know its useless ...

new to blitz people say "look in the code archives"
you find one that is titled to just what you want
your not to know its as useless as a chocolate tea pot written by someone with just about as much grasp with programming as you



and people are born with the skills needed to program in blitz?
i dont claim to know 1% of blitz3d so if i saw something that did something like what i was looking to code id think hmm saves me a job
if it turns out to be the most backwards way of coding id probably not know till i was a better coder (or someone points out duff code in any code snippets)



as above but with the "how many times can you remake the wheel" slant
1+2+3 = 6
is the same as
2+1+3
3+2+1
etc

some algorythms cant be rewritten without looking like one of the others

I see the archives simply as an extension of the standard command set, and I wish for same quality then. Functions that work without requiring tons of extra depending things, stuff with tons of globals that will interfere with my own commands, things with an exaggerated amount of generic looking types that will interfere with my own types, etc. etc.

That's a really harsh attitude. People come here trying to learn from others, and why shouldn't they?

I don't want people to misunderstand my point. I'm not having a go at the inexperienced user posting something they think is useful that turns out to be a bad way of doing things. I'm saying that going on his other code archive entries (there are quite a few of late), this is some sort of 'joke'; a joke that frankly isn't funny and ruins the code archives for everyone else.

Why not make your own 'archives'. You would then get exactly what you want!

Some code quality could be required, but demanding that all code be professional plug-in quality is over the mark.

My own submissions are proof of concept code only, with enough code to make people go 'Ahh, that's how it works', and I think that's the most you can really ask for.

After all, we do declare it 'public domain', forfeiting any rights to the stuff.

Well to quote myself.

What I meant was that newbies need to appreciate that the code archives is free code that may or may not work. I think that's something any newbie finds out pretty quickly when browsing free code. My point is that you can't expect free code to have a high standard all the time. That's the problem with free code and why it's better to write your own code. Newbies should be learning the language not trying to throw a game together as quick as possible by grabbing as much free code as they can.

Maybe some sort of ranking system would be a good idea for the code archives? That way people can see at a glance whether the general public thinks code is good or not.

Seems a bit pointless having a code archive of code that doesn't work.

Fair enough if it works but is completely inefficient, at least it is something to learn from.

I've seen some pretty shoddy stuff in the code arcs. It's pretty easy for more experienced users to sort the wheat from the chaff but newbies could easily be lead down the wrong road.

Without some kind of rating system the only way of telling is by reading other people's comments.

Thats a good idea, maybe something like the gallery has :)

Ranking is good, as long as it's relevant. Not as in: ppl rank a B+ gadget low because they only have B3d and were looking for a non-GUI gadget.. :P

>Without some kind of rating system the only way of telling is
>by reading other people's comments.

Which might be from some uberl33t coder wanting da codez...

I agree with ranking. With the list sorted from the top to bottom >>> best to worst, further sorted by date.

Newbies to the language may very well get confused by code that does things a really long way, or that doesn't even work.

I've been guilty of releasing code into the archives, that doesn't fully work. Usually try and fix it though.

So how about a flagging? For say unfinished code, for code that doesn't work properly, then a flag for code that works fine.

thing is we can all agree that feature xyz would be great, but its like us all agreeing that we need a new water well, then someone going and telling the big rock that sits in the desert all about our agreement.

Won't get done.

We could do with a third party support site, similer to the old blitzcoder days which, whatever people say, had at least a decent tutorial and showcase system.

Tried http://www.syntaxbomb.com ?

There's a difference between doing something in a long way in order to make it obvious what's being done and posting stuff that's just wrong-headed for a laugh, though.

Ranking has the fundamental flaw of being open to exactly the same people who might post dodgy code. Just add a comment after the archive entry if you think something is useless and say why.

Common sense, maybe stretch it a little more with a 'report archive' button so one of the mods can look at it, then remove it if it is indeed a load of crap! :)

I agree with Sledge. Cases like the one with Nebula are rather rare. Of course, not all contributions have the same quality. While some people think I am a good coder, the real coders know that I write ugly stoneage code. It's relative.

And isn't the ability to contribute your work to the archives also part of the product Blitz3D (or + or Max)?

I think Nebula has serious problems these days and probably it would feel very offensive to him if we start deleting his contributions. I don't think he was aware some people think he's spaming.

If a code doesn't work, start discussing and debuging it in the archives. Or provide a better solution right there.

As far as I know the archives are "cleaned" from time to time anyway (every other year or so). So comments may help to remove useless things the sooner or later.

Prime example of what we're talking about (not nebula but the archives)

http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=2229#comments

> I agree with ranking. With the list sorted from the top to
> bottom >>> best to worst, further sorted by date.

How do you rank code? Everyone will be ranking it from a different perspective. I would rank code based on how well it conveys a concept... Others would rank it based on how close to production quality plug-in it is, and yet others would rank it based on the clarity of the code, how well commented it is etc.

It begs the fundamental question, 'What are the archives for?'

Is it to provide learning examples, provide concept code, commercial quality plug-in code etc?

>> Just add a comment after the archive entry if you think
>> something is useless and say why

> Common sense, maybe stretch it a little more with a
> 'report archive' button so one of the mods can look at
> it, then remove it if it is indeed a load of crap! :)

And we have a perfect solution.

Two words: Power Mousey. 'nough said.

@snarkbait, I think that must be a wind-up. It's the posters one and only post to date and, I would guess, it is another code archive in response to this thread.

Is it to provide learning examples, provide concept code, commercial quality plug-in code etc?

The latter two.

As for the learning examples: there are tutorial sections for that.

Among others, this the kind of stuff I'd expect from the archive:
- A* algos, ready to use, small/compact
- new/missing string functions
- new gadgets

So, really extensions to the default blitz set. These things could be put away in some kinda functional code archive with small/medium-sized functions.

Furthermore there could be a code-solutions archive with longer pieces of code showing a concept or howto. Also, smaller complete games could be put into this section.

And perhaps finally a beginner section, where beginners can show their "hey look at my red oval"-stuff. However, question is whether the dedicated forums aren't the place for that in the first place.

... quickly checks his own code archives...

OK... Not too bad?!

I have quite a few tutorial / example code / apps in the archives.

I think we shouldn't make such a big deal out of it. IMHO most archive entries are pretty good, some are jewels and some crap. Usually people are searching for a certain solution in the archives. They don't get stuck by things like "red oval" Programs. And even then, it's free entertainment.

Probably the "Add Code" page should contain some guidelines, including the need for a certain level of usability (vs beginner code).

same as JFK ..

Actually, thats four! :)

And mousey is a good lad, I and everyone else at SyntaxBomb find him pleasant... Maybe if you just talk to him you'll find theres a decent bloke behind his online 'mouseyisms'. ;)

I find it pretty tough to see past his quirks. 99% of his posts seem to be an incomprehensible mix of gibberish, odd line breaks, intense (but short lived) obsessions, and "thumbs up" and "winking" emoticons.

But, yeah, I agree that he seems to be a pretty decent guy. I know that I should be more tolerant. We all have our quirks, after all - I probably have enough of them to fill ten forums.

Yeah. Thank goodness we don't have people like that here....

Well, the maybe not rating, but a sort function, sorted on the best entries. I'm sure the mod's don't want to be searching through every archive entry reported as crap, as there is alot of entries.

... robots

(y) ;)

We do, but eventually they go off the deep end and end up being banned. And then they migrate to the SyntaxBomb forums.

He is definatly taking the rip but this site has been running for nearly 6 years without the need for legislation for everyone on this. How about just removing his ability to post to the code archs and leave things as they are. Everyone else has managed to use them responsibly so far apart from this one guy, why punish everyone?

A rating system would definatly be very useful but probably quite a lot of hassel to setup and run.

Personally I stopped using stuff from there because over time I either found bugs or problems with the code, you just can't trust code you haven't written yourself and checked extensively. So while it's handy to be able to just "drop in" stuff from the codearchs while your working eventually I ended up replacing all of it with my own code.

Darkheart

I remember somebody who used to post here every Friday or Saturday night, complaining because he'd been out and couldn't get laid (and was therefore going to top himself), and nonsense about how robots were going to take over the world.

He got banned eventually. Everyone put up with that for a while, too. But it reached a point where it just lost its entertainment value.

Oh, and there was that guy who pretended to be his own mum and posted about him being dead. He got banned as well.

So we *do* get a strange one through the gates every now and again.

Yeh, some of the weird ones do get a bit tiring.

Yeah you do.... er.... I mean, I agree. :P

Oh yeh.

With me it is an elaborate act.

However, we do attract some genuine loons to this site.

who sir me sir?
;)

You're all conspiring against me!!! I can TELL!!!!!

You can't get more looney than me. :)

I've been banned about 9 times and lost 6 accounts. I only managed to get 3 back.

I remeber a thread a while back. You guys didn't know this but 60% of the people that posted in that thread were my accounts. :)

Ahhh! The genocide threads days. They were gooduns. :)

But yeah, Nebula appears to have lost control of reality. Maybe he should be banned for a while until he comes of his 6 year LSD buzz. :)

I wonder if he's read this entire post about him... surely he would have something to say in his defense.

My solution to the code archives: organize it by author rather than code type, that way when a reputed author posts code, people could view and use it. If the author is someone like Nebula, we can all overlook it and not waste our time.

Because it would be difficult to find code to do specifically what you want (since it would not be organized by type anymore), a simple search could be used to match all results, regardless of author.

Solves two problems: we don't have to waste time looking at bogus code, and people like Nebula can't have the satisfaction of knowing people are wasting time on them.

puki wrote:
At last he admits it. I am relieved to know you are just a joker and not clinically insane as you would have us believe.

It is all part of the engineering process.

Maybe I am lying?

Maybe I am perhaps not maybe what you thought I seem probably to quite convincingly be on reflection of what you probably were not, unless you were, wondering whether I might or not be - figuratively speaking.

I simply am the greatest.

You're like Murdock, sane or insane, no-one can tell.

my pay cheques are from a mental health trust _that_ must count for something :)

no i dont work for loonies
i just get paid by em

He may have good intentions and rather than post here, go post in his code threads so the man can learn from mistakes.




Its said that loons are the geniusses who thinks out the products but get outwitted by the $$-guys.

Who says that? Loons and weirdos, I bet.

You gotta admit. Writting a program that can tell when two line rhyme is an interesting challenge...

Maybe but it shouldn't be in the code archives.

Darkheart

>> You gotta admit. Writting a program that can tell when two
>> line rhyme is an interesting challenge...
>
>Maybe but it shouldn't be in the code archives.

Why not? I had the exact same thought when I perused the link.

It's clearly concept code. It might be useful in various ways, parsers, AI etc...