Dave successfully answered Rich Collins's question:

What is the most important thing that we can do to improve Guruza?

I will select the 5 "best" answers and then pick one at random for the reward!

rich-collins-computer:~ rcollins$ irb
irb(main):001:0> require 'rubygems'
=> true
irb(main):002:0> require 'facet/array/at_rand'
=> true
irb(main):003:0> "Dave | nerkles | AgeKay | Jake McArthur | funnyguilly | larry | jer | bryce".split(' | ').at_rand
=> "Dave"
irb(main):004:0>

Congrats Dave and thanks for all of the suggestions from everyone!

People succeed in answering Rich Collins's questions 37% of the time (32 successes in 86 attempts).

Answers by: Dave | nerkles | AgeKay | Jake McArthur | funnyguilly | larry | jer | bryce

Jake McArthur's Answer:

Reply by Jake McArthur 909 days ago

Two things:

I think the ability to split a reward between/among multiple people would be nice in the case that answers complement each other in order to provide the solution. It wouldn't be fair for a single person to get all of the reward. People already will try to outdo each others' answers, but if they can receive split rewards then it may encourage them to actually support and complement others' answers, giving the poster his money's worth.

Also, I remember a little while ago the site had a (very bad and very huge) tag cloud. I still believe the site could benefit from one if implemented similarly to the tag cloud on, say, 43things.com. Pick x random tags for each page load and size their text according to their popularity.

Reply by Rich Collins 909 days ago

I always feel conflicted about tag clouds. They are pretty neat, but then I never find myself using them. How do you think they would improve the user experience?

We added topics (tags) to the site to provide more meta-data for search, not for creating a folksonomy. Could a tag cloud have topics that are linked to searches with the topics as key phrases? If we had such a cloud do you think it would result in users exploring the site more?

Reply by Rich Collins 909 days ago

Also, we are pretty sure we will have some way to split rewards. It keeps coming up again and again.

Reply by Jake McArthur 909 days ago

A tag cloud would probably only help once the site reaches a level of popularity such that it is not practical for the occasional visitor to check every question that is posted. I like tag clouds on popular sites because it gives me ideas that I may not have thought to search for before.

Chat Conversation 909 days ago

hey jake Rich Collins at 10:42 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
hi Jake McArthur at 10:42 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
thanks for the feedback Rich Collins at 10:43 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
wondering if we could talk about tags Rich Collins at 10:43 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
okay Jake McArthur at 10:43 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
We planned our search feature to Rich Collins at 10:43 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
take care of filtering Rich Collins at 10:43 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
let me send you an example Rich Collins at 10:44 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
http://guruza.com/searches/rss/2 Rich Collins at 10:44 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
however I think tags can help users explore the site Rich Collins at 10:44 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
and sort of find out what it is all about Rich Collins at 10:45 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
yes Jake McArthur at 10:45 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I think tag clouds are pretty good at giving the user an idea Rich Collins at 10:45 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
sorry, i have to pull something out of the oven real quick, brb Jake McArthur at 10:45 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
of what types of questions are likely to be answered Rich Collins at 10:45 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
ok np Rich Collins at 10:45 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
just send me an alert Rich Collins at 10:46 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
back Jake McArthur at 10:48 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006

Reply by Jake McArthur 909 days ago

A more reliable way of maintaining chat would be nice. :)

Chat Conversation 909 days ago

hey Rich Collins at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
yeah I know Rich Collins at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
there we go Jake McArthur at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
good chat through the browser is tough Rich Collins at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
there is no way to tell if the focus is on another app Rich Collins at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i know :) Jake McArthur at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
we will probably add sound Rich Collins at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
ala campfire Rich Collins at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
that's what i was thinking Jake McArthur at 10:52 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
so I can see the value of tags for exploration and getting a feel for the site Rich Collins at 10:53 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
agreed Jake McArthur at 10:53 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I'm not sure a tag cloud is the best way to implement exploration Rich Collins at 10:53 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
but? Jake McArthur at 10:53 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
if you do a search Rich Collins at 10:53 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
you will see the tags listed next to each result Rich Collins at 10:53 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I think search with tags linked to more searches may be a better way to go Rich Collins at 10:54 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
(for exploration) Rich Collins at 10:54 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
maybe it isn't so much the tag cloud that i like, but the fact that it brings up some random questions Jake McArthur at 10:54 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
maybe a 'random question' link would be better? Jake McArthur at 10:54 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
or a link to a list of random questions and their tags Jake McArthur at 10:54 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
what about the latest page and just moving through the results? Rich Collins at 10:55 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i don't understand the question Jake McArthur at 10:55 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
http://guruza.com/searches/show/47 Rich Collins at 10:55 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
hmm looks like a bug Rich Collins at 10:55 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I mean you can get a good feel for the site Rich Collins at 10:55 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
just by going to the latest questions page: Rich Collins at 10:56 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
http://guruza.com/searches/show/11 Rich Collins at 10:56 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
aha Jake McArthur at 10:56 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
and then clicking through the results Rich Collins at 10:56 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i lost that last link btw, i forgot to middle click it and it destroyed our chat Jake McArthur at 10:56 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
links in chat should open in new windows :) Jake McArthur at 10:56 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
hmm did it not tell you in the other chat? Rich Collins at 10:57 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
when you have one chat open Rich Collins at 10:57 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
tell me what? Jake McArthur at 10:57 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
then you open another one Rich Collins at 10:57 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
the first one should have a message that the session is over Rich Collins at 10:57 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
and to go to the other page Rich Collins at 10:57 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
or reload the page Rich Collins at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
no that's not what i did Jake McArthur at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
looks like another bug Rich Collins at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
will add tat Rich Collins at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i followed one of the links you gave me, then i hit the back button immediately Jake McArthur at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
loaded from cache Jake McArthur at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
ah Rich Collins at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
and only had what we started with when i first loaded the page Jake McArthur at 10:58 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
hmm rather than have it open another window Rich Collins at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
chat should just work when you come back Rich Collins at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
let me see what happens Rich Collins at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
it does, but it didn't keep the activity between first page load and page reload Jake McArthur at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
shows the old page Rich Collins at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
right Rich Collins at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
that is a bug Rich Collins at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
it works this way Jake McArthur at 10:59 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
just not when using back button Jake McArthur at 11:00 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
back button should always work Rich Collins at 11:00 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
users expect it to ;) Rich Collins at 11:00 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
ok well I will definitely add a feature to link topics to search results Rich Collins at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
so if linux were a topic Rich Collins at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i can't think of a way to make that work since this chat is very AJAXy Jake McArthur at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
you could click on it and go to the linux search results page Rich Collins at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
yes Jake McArthur at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
well you may be able to detect the back Rich Collins at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
and reload the page Rich Collins at 11:01 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
hmm are you still there? Rich Collins at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
looks like an Ajax bug just happened Rich Collins at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i think whenever you show tags (next to questions in search results, under questions when viewing a question, etc.) the most popular ones should be in bold or something though... a popularity metric really helps me navigate a site sometimes Jake McArthur at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i'm still here Jake McArthur at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i didn't see anything if you did anything Jake McArthur at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
someone said yep Rich Collins at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
and it caused an error Rich Collins at 11:02 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
(got an email) Rich Collins at 11:03 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
so most popular tags Rich Collins at 11:03 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
like top 5% in bold? Rich Collins at 11:03 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
something like that Jake McArthur at 11:04 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
ok thanks for the suggestions Rich Collins at 11:04 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I will get something out today if I can Rich Collins at 11:04 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
no prob Jake McArthur at 11:04 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
defintely the links on the topics Rich Collins at 11:04 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
maybe the top 5% Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
/ popular Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i wish i had the time to get my own rails project idea rolling :) Jake McArthur at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
although tag fragmentation is always an issue Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
ah it a secret? Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I do this fulltime Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
so I have time Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
luckily Rich Collins at 11:05 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
well, i am a believer of early deployment, but it is way to early to say anything yet methinks Jake McArthur at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
/envy Jake McArthur at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
heh ok I would be interested to hear about it if you want to talk about it offline Rich Collins at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
heh Rich Collins at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
i could talk about it in an unlogged medium maybe Jake McArthur at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
I am going to have to do some contract work soon though Rich Collins at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
money is low Rich Collins at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
how about freenode Rich Collins at 11:06 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
? Rich Collins at 11:07 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
sure, /msg me Jake McArthur at 11:07 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
k Rich Collins at 11:07 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
/msg geezusfreeek Jake McArthur at 11:07 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
thanks for the advice - see you on freenode Rich Collins at 11:07 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006
welcome, see you Jake McArthur at 11:08 AM on Wednesday July 12th, 2006