# Have we lost Codinghorror? **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [October 25, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884 "2020-10-25T23:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/101 "2020-11-03T02:37:07Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I USED to know the magic sacred cryptic secret. > > It was being able to find the keys with “n” and “m”. Then they changed it. Now I find _it_ isn’t what I’m with, and what is _it_ seems weird and scary to me. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/102 "2020-11-07T01:32:07Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > nm  That’s not a two-letter post – it’s an eight-character post with six of the characters not displaying. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/103 "2020-11-07T01:41:58Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Damn it![sup]2[/sup] Angle brackets, not square brackets. \2\ ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/104 "2020-11-07T06:32:53Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > That’s not a two-letter post – it’s an eight-character post with six of the characters not displaying. Hey, at least Discobot didn’t fuss at me for not writing a complete sentence! I wonder what its real rules are. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/105 "2020-11-11T01:18:47Z")
The main thing is that he specifically asked us to do everything we were doing. Trying to paint us as having done something wrong when he told us to make recommendations to him on this board is silly. If he didn’t like that anymore, it would be up to him to rescind his request. Say you’re getting too many, and that you’d rather people make suggestions on the other board. And then give people a chance to do that. Using your special powers to deactivate your account can easily come off as being out of spite. Just like when he decided to use our (old) forum as the bad example in his ads for Discourse after people got mad at him—not asking us, but just telling us. Expecially when the mods were being extra gracious by relaxing the anti spam rules for him. (Normally coming and promoting your own personal project is against the rules, unless you ask first.) Codinghorror seemed to take complaints with his software personally. That is indeed a negative trait among software engineers. It doesn’t mean he’s bad at his job in every way. And, as I pointed out, he’s gotten better than he was in the original post where he dismissed all our suggestions after specifically saying he was there to get suggestions. But it is still an area in which he could improve. As are his communication abilities as long as he chooses to be the face of his project. Finally, the perfect forum software would indeed be perfect for the SDMB because the perfect forum software is customizable to the needs of any forum. And it does appear that is the design philosophy of Discourse. That even though he got mad at us back in theday, he did eventually realize that Discourse needs to be as customizable as possible. Most of the things people didn’t like are configurable. Discourse isn’t bad, but it has flaws. The people here didn’t do anything wrong by taking codinghorror at his word. At the time, if he was getting frustrated, he had the right to back off (though he could have done it better). But mostly I think we need an active admin that can fix the things an admin can fix. I still recommend a second admin account, held by a mod who knows how to keep it secure. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/106 "2021-01-18T00:11:48Z")
I elaborated a bit here > [@How are people feeling about Discourse?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-people-feeling-about-discourse/926428/227): > > Sorry I haven’t been around. I needed to take a break. I tend to get too involved, you know, like the parent who is “coaching” a bit too fervently from the sidelines during a game … that’s completely my bad, not y’alls. two_hearts As for as the name @ mentioning issue, I suggest it would be much easier to process that feedback if it was in a distinct topic in the #site-feedback category? One way to accomplish this: a moderator could use the admin wrench wrench on this topic, select the pos… Like many of us, I am a highly imperfect person… but I try. > **[To Serve Man, with Software](https://blog.codinghorror.com/to-serve-man-with-software/)** > > I didn't choose to be a programmer. Somehow, it seemed, the computers chose me > \[https://blog.codinghorror.com/if-loving-computers-is-wrong-i-dont-want-to-be-right/\]. For a > long time, that was fine, that was enough; that was all I needed. But along... ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/107 "2021-01-18T02:01:32Z")
Welcome back, Telemark, fellow coder and support guy ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884/108 "2021-01-18T04:11:41Z")
Great to see you back. I have gradually been learning how to use Discourse and I find it a major improvement over the old Vbulletin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-lost-codinghorror/923884.md?page=5)