Is it possible to increase the limit of 512 characters for the "story"? Sometimes I copy one of your stories (Fuaburisu), but I have to cut it because of the 512 chars limit.

Thank you in advance!

Marta wrote:

Is it possible to increase the limit of 512 characters for the "story"? Sometimes I copy one of your stories (Fuaburisu), but I have to cut it because of the 512 chars limit.

The limit can be seen as a restriction but it is also there to help users cut to the essential of their stories. Having no limit would be bad. I don't see a reason for increasing the limit overall.

Now it is true that a couple of my stories (EDIT)were longer. That is because there is no limit in the database per se, but it is in the code. Those stories came from PDF files that I converted with a script. I thought some users may enjoy as is so I didn't reduce their length (I'm thinking of chrysanthemum in particular, I don't remember the others). I didn't think about the Copy issue though.

I'm going to edit them so there are no exceptions (just checked and there are 10).

PS: in case I need it later, those were the stories I edited : 722, 756, 763, 784, 807, 833, 836, 927, 932, 951. The one for "incur" I deleted seeing as gorgon's story got 100 votes (+1) and is much better.

Yes, this would be great. I personally work better when I can compare my progress to people. I tend to look at the number of members who have made it through RTK (on the members list) and this gives me significant amounts of motivation.

The idea still has merit for those that have not finished.

Sorry, ranks are a retarded idea... Do people really need to show off how many kanji they've learned? There are much more useful additions that could be done to the forum, like the ability to do searches for Japanese text.

playadom wrote:

What about badges all the way up through RTK3?
Also, I have to ask...why have a 2000 badge and not a 2042 badge?

I agree.  I want the world to know I'm going to be a kanji god.

Jarvik7 wrote:

Sorry, ranks are a retarded idea... Do people really need to show off how many kanji they've learned? There are much more useful additions that could be done to the forum, like the ability to do searches for Japanese text.

Seriously... Most MMOs are getting in on something similar.  They're all adding "Achievements".  It's a chance for people to show the things they've done in game.  So I'd have to say yeah.. People have a need to show off.  It motivates them to work harder and that's a great thing.

I am against badges (or at least on this forum) - all forums I know with a badge system are imo worse than this forum.

A kanji count isn't such a bad idea. Problem with the kanji count is that it doesn't reflect the user's progress as many members are either using their SRS of choice, or may even have completed RtK before and haven't added the cards onto their account.

I'm not too fond of "titles" though. On a forum it makes a kind of hierarchy which is something I want to avoid. Sometimes I wish there was a reward for the most helpful members on the forum but I guess the reward is your own reward. There is something silly and wrong on all those community sites where users exchange stars and race for posting anwsers to questions to rise their profile. I can see that it is a kind of game and many users may enjoy it.

On this forum actually, I was very interested by the Japanese system. Some Japanese forums (correct me if I'm wrong) don't even have usernames. Everyone is like a guest. This is very interesting because what matters is the content. I figured this is primarily a Western audience and so I used a type of forum that everybody's used to, but without all the fancy user profile features. In retrospect I might have used something a little more fancy than PunBB but I think it's doing fine.

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On the subject of the "huge fixed-size margin" on the Study page, all I can think of is the left column. I have tried to swap the columns but it doesn't feel right. The first step on the page is the search box, so it needs to be in a prominent area.

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Anyway, I am working on the main site redesign. I have been stuck on the Study page for more than a week. I am also wondering if I didn't take too much inspiration from www.thinkvitamin.com. I love their design and I thought the bars and boxes would work well in a web app. But maybe I loved them a little too much, I almost want to restart it all. Ufff...  X_X

I agree we don't need an artificial hierarchy.  I hate sites that have that.  Everyone's views should be treated pretty equally, with no more or less weight given by 'status'.  I don't even like the post count on this forum, but I didn't even really notice it for about six months anyway.

True anonymity would probably be a pain, though.  That sounds quite chan-ish, not having a name also means no responsibility for what you say, plus it's confusing.  It brings out the worst in people, IMHO.

i hope it can be made posseble to change the keywords?
for example i keep failing some kanji becousesome english keywords are obscure to me some i never heared before i came across remembering the kanji, like perusal or interment.

if i could replace those keywords with dutch keywords  it would be much simpler.

i just noticed death dragon making his post at the same time as i made mine.
could you point where to get that script?

Last edited by ivoSF (2008 December 05, 8:55 am)

ivoSF wrote:

could you point where to get that script?

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/7118

If you don't have Greasemonkey or even Firefox yet, you should probably get them. There are some other useful Kanji.koohii scripts as well.

Point is, I doubt they will still work after the redesign.

phauna wrote:

I agree we don't need an artificial hierarchy.  I hate sites that have that.  Everyone's views should be treated pretty equally, with no more or less weight given by 'status'.  I don't even like the post count on this forum, but I didn't even really notice it for about six months anyway.

True anonymity would probably be a pain, though.  That sounds quite chan-ish, not having a name also means no responsibility for what you say, plus it's confusing.  It brings out the worst in people, IMHO.

I personally think there are uses to status. Post count is irrelevant, but ability in Japanese isn't. I realize that just because someone has studied for 6 years and another one just for 1 year, we can't know for sure that the 6 year student is a better source. But I would personally prefer advice from someone who has passed JLPT1 than someone who is working on JLPT4, if you know what I mean. Not to say that the opinion of the second person should be ignored, but it might be relevant to know, in some cases.