Recent Posts

26376

Living Room / Re: totally pathetic comparison about apple and microsoft

« Last post by mouser on July 05, 2007, 07:01 AM »

It's a very clever spoof, and very well done.
But i agree, and i want some f*cking specs and feature lists on my box -- i want to see what features they think are most important.

Again, not knocking apple products, which can be outstanding.  Just a knock against the marketing approach.

26377

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Post your FARR v2 Plugin Idea Requests Here - Plugin Writers Read In

« Last post by mouser on July 05, 2007, 06:53 AM »

Justice,

Adding an indexing *option* to FARR is planned.  Not as part of the version 2 release though.
There is a reasonable chance that I will actually use the Locate32 codebase, since the Locate32 author comes here occasionally and is a nice person, with lots of fans here of his excellent program.  Not sure yet though.

But anyway, as tempting as it might be to try to write an indexing plugin, or a plugin that tries to emulate this by searching locate databases, it's probably not an ideal solution to do it as a plugin -- it should be part of the core functionality.

(if there are any ambitious good c++ coders who want to work with me on adding some really fast and custom indexing code to FARR let me know!)

26378

Developer's Corner / Create web2.0 style stripe textures online with this fun tool

« Last post by mouser on July 05, 2007, 12:28 AM »

Create web2.0 style stripe textures online with this fun tool..

http://www.stripegenerator.com

26379

Coding Snacks / Re: CLIPSTEP from Skrommel; Script MOD

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 11:30 PM »

I don't use clipstep myself so i can't comment on the specifics, but i just wanted to say thanks for sharing your improvements! 

26380

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Requesting good alias files

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 10:24 PM »

How about someone making an alias file with programming-related internet searches?

26381

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.121 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - July 1, 2007

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:50 PM »

oops, good point, forgot about that.

26382

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:41 PM »

Here's a really good idea come up with on the irc channel with hamradio:

Right now if you search using the editbox at top of the forum, while you are in a forum section, it will ONLY search in that forum section.

This is very disorienting and most people don't realize it.

What if ZillaRank changed this behavior and always searched the whole board, BUT (here is the clever part), gave a higher score bonus to results from the section you are in at the time of search.

26383

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.12.05 - JUN 30, 2007

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:38 PM »

By the way if you drag that panel at the bottom (see the dotted line in the middle) up a bit and select an item it will tell you a lot of info about the files its using and where.

26384

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.12.05 - JUN 30, 2007

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:37 PM »

there are 2 places the updater gets info about programs it can update:

• The custom list in the "Extra Update Files" tab
• The directory C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DonationCoder\DcUpdater\RedirectFiles

You probably have an entry in the second place i'm guessing.

26385

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:23 PM »

yep, just start searching for all those posts you couldnt find before

26386

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: OnScreen Display for Mute Status

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:13 PM »

app, what is that fancy program you are using for your windows background -- are you sure it doesnt have the ability to show mute status?

26387

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.121 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - July 1, 2007

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 09:10 PM »

sounds reasonable -- i'll add back the option to use tab as normal, and alt+tab for autocomplete.

taichi has earned himself several feature requests, so anyone who can get taichi to support their request will find it on the todo list

26388

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.121 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - July 1, 2007

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 08:22 PM »

yes, jbali this was a recent change.
my reasoning was that the down arrow key can be used in edit box to switch to results view, and escape from results brings you back up to edit box, so i thought we could use tab for autocomplete.

26389

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Serial Dealers - a new discount software site

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 08:10 PM »

As I understand it, the licenses offered by Serial Dealers may have some limitations compared to normal, full licenses - not in functionality, but in support, transferability, no refunds, and limited upgrade lifetimes.

very interesting.. keep us posted on your experiences.  they do seem legit and it might be a reasonable choice for some people in some circumstances.

26390

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: OnScreen Display for Mute Status

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 06:38 PM »

This is surely a good idea, and you could expand it to include something if your numlock or caps lock is on too.

26391

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: PrinterList 0.0.0.4 - My FARR2 Plugin Contest Submission #1

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 06:23 PM »

I simply placed another copy of the plugin in another folder renamed to ShowPrinter. Then in the alias override box I gave them unique aliases.

you clever hobbit!   

there should be an easier way for plugin coder to support this though, without requiring multiple copies.  in fact taichi could do it now, by simply making an alias file for this plugin, and creating two aliases that trigger it, and then checking which one is actually used by the user during triggeing.

26392

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 06:21 PM »

If this turns out well, are you going to contribute this back to the SMF people?

Of course.  What a ridiculous question! we're not savages here! 

26393

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: CPU monitor that plays sound according to activity

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 03:05 PM »

this is a fun idea.. might be something worth adding to my process tamer tool.

26394

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: NirCmd Setup, a guide of sorts

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 02:26 PM »

Here's a starter alias pack for nircmd, based on nontroppo's aliases above.

It includes some icons by hamradio, and the nircmd.exe itself, all ready to go -- just put it in your AliasGroups\Installed directory of farr and restart (or maybe just open up options and close options will reload new aliases).

You can see now the idea of alias packs as totally self-contains addons you can install into your farr and share with others.

Note that we still need people to improve this alias file and add some more icons, etc., so by all means please improve it and send it or post it to me so it can be official.

26395

Living Room / Fascinating article about harm of monetary incentives: v. relevant to dc ideas

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 02:12 PM »

This is an article about how offering people monetary rewards can have a negative effect on things.
Very relevant reading for dc ideas and stuff.  Definitely food for thought.

It may be behind NY times firewall for members so i'll make a lengthy quote.

I think some take home messages for donationware in general and DC specifically is:

• As a donationware author, you are never going to make sufficient money to make this a good path for you if your aim is to make money.  That is, there isn't enough money to be made for it to be a dominant motivator, and if you try to look for money to be your motivator you are going to be in trouble.
• It's not feasible for a site like DC to have money be the reward that motivates people.  And furthermore, care must be taken that the ability for people to receive donations doesn't actually diminish the pleasure that you get from doing stuff for the pure enjoyment of it.
• In other words, don't focus on donationcredits here, they are a fun little extra way of people saying thanks -- not a way to measure your "success" or impact.
• It means that a public thank you, or a nice note with a 0.01 donationcredit gift, might be more meaningful and make someone happier than a larger donation without a fun thank you note.

NEW YORK CITY has decided to offer cash rewards to some students based on their attendance records and exam performance. Diligent, high-achieving seventh graders will be able to earn up to $500 in a year. The plan is the brainchild of Roland G. Fryer, an economist who has been appointed as “chief equality officer” of the city’s Department of Education.

The assumption that underlies the project is simple: people respond to incentives. If you want people to do something, you have to make it worth their while. This assumption drives virtually all of economic theory.

Sure, there are already many rewards in learning: gaining understanding (of yourself and others), having mysterious or unfamiliar aspects of the world opened up to you, demonstrating mastery, satisfying curiosity, inhabiting imaginary worlds created by others, and so on. Learning is also the route to more prosaic rewards, like getting into good colleges and getting good jobs. But these rewards are not doing the job. If they were, children would be doing better in school.

The logic of the plan reveals a second assumption that economists make: the more motives the better. Give people two reasons to do something, the thinking goes, and they will be more likely to do it, and they’ll do it better, than if they have only one. Providing some cash won’t disturb the other rewards of learning, rewards that are intrinsic to the process itself. They will only provide a little boost. Mr. Fryer’s reward scheme is intended to add incentives to the ones that already exist.

Unfortunately, these assumptions that economists make about human motivation, though intuitive and straightforward, are false. In particular, the idea that adding motives always helps is false. There are circumstances in which adding an incentive competes with other motives and diminishes their impact. Psychologists have known this for more than 30 years.

In one experiment, nursery school children were given the opportunity to draw with special markers. After playing, some of the children were given “good player” awards and others were not. Some time later, the markers were reintroduced to the classroom. The researchers kept track of which children used the markers, and they collected the pictures that had been drawn. The youngsters given awards were less likely to draw at all, and drew worse pictures, than those who were not given the awards.

Why did this happen? Children draw because drawing is fun and because it leads to a result: a picture. The rewards of drawing are intrinsic to the activity itself. The “good player” award gives children another reason to draw: to earn a reward. And it matters — children want recognition. But the recognition undermines the fun, so that later, in the absence of a chance to earn an award, the children aren’t interested in drawing.

Similar results have been obtained with adults. When you pay them for doing things they like, they come to like these activities less and will no longer participate in them without a financial incentive. The intrinsic satisfaction of the activities gets “crowded out” by the extrinsic payoff.

An especially striking example of this was reported in a study of Swiss citizens about a decade ago. Switzerland was holding a referendum about where to put nuclear waste dumps. Researchers went door-to-door in two Swiss cantons and asked people if they would accept a dump in their communities. Though people thought such dumps might be dangerous and might decrease property values, 50 percent of those who were asked said they would accept one. People felt responsibility as Swiss citizens. The dumps had to go somewhere, after all.

But when people were asked if they would accept a nuclear waste dump if they were paid a substantial sum each year (equal to about six weeks’ pay for the average worker), a remarkable thing happened. Now, with two reasons to say yes, only about 25 percent of respondents agreed. The offer of cash undermined the motive to be a good citizen.

It is as if, when asked the question, people asked themselves whether they should respond based on considerations of self-interest or considerations of public responsibility. Half of the people in the uncompensated condition of the study thought they should focus on their responsibilities. But the offer of money, in effect, told people that they should consider only their self-interest. And as it turned out, through the lens of self-interest, even six weeks’ pay wasn’t enough.
...

http://www.nytimes.c...ogin&oref=slogin

from http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/ (great blog)

26396

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: List Printer 0.0.0.3 - My FARR2 Plugin Contest Submission #1

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 01:59 PM »

how do you set up the different a different alias to do these two dif things?

26397

Official Announcements / ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 01:48 PM »

As many of you know, we often joke that the SMF search function on the forum sucks, and seems to miss returning search results that we know are there.

Well, our own Wordzilla has been immersing himself in the SMF code, and has begun totally revamping the search code used by the forum.

He's just gotten started, but we need your help to:

• test it and see if you can find any posts that should be returned during a search but aren't -- this is most important request -- try to find searches that are missing results that should have been found
• make other suggestions on what you'd like to see improved (one thing already planned by wordzilla is to be able to sort results easily by date, author, relevancy).

We look forward to your help in bughunting!


NOTE: SEE ALSO THIS THREAD: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=9134.0

26398

Find And Run Robot / Re: [feature request] style alias results...

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 01:36 PM »

this might actually be possible but i'm not sure.. and im definitely going to put it off till well after v2 release.

yes now i remember it was nitrix, and i'm very glad you insisted on custom icons for results -- really makes a nice difference 

26399

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Requesting good alias files

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 01:35 PM »

http://www.microsoft...ilities/PsTools.mspx

You know this brings up an idea for another plugin: one that will simply run a commandline tool and grab its output and show it in farr results memo mode.

FARR is set up to let you do this with a plugin quite easily and you could make a simple alias file whose results were calls to the dll, i can show you how if someone wants to write this plugin, which would be quite useful for a lot of stuff.

26400

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Post your FARR v2 Plugin Idea Requests Here - Plugin Writers Read In

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2007, 12:23 PM »

very nice idea.. (i can't remember if this has been suggested yet).

i've included in the plugin sdk the full source of my farrfox plugin, which lets you search favorites of firefox, ie, and opera, so it might be a good starting point for anyone who wants to add a history search.  i'm not sure if history searching would be best added to farrfox or created as a standalone plugin with a different trigger.