I believe that if you have to do anything, you should organize the folders into more sub-folders. This would be the easiest way to take care of this problem. Just deleting files you don't like would make a lot of people mad and the rating system that was suggested would be more trouble than it's worth. So if some action must be taken, you should organize the folders into more sub-folders.

I don't like too many sub-folders, it's too hard to click through all of them. We should do ratings, or "bad" folders.

I agree that clicking through the sub-folders is annoying, so why not just make something like drop-down menus to access them, instead of going through separate pages?

I think a ratings system would be okay as well, except that not many people will take the time to rate programs, even if it just means pressing two buttons.

ARRG! I hate drop down menus!

It might work to have an index that lists more than one category at once in an outline for those who don't mind longer index pages. Then you wouldn't have to go through as many levels of pages.

For instance, after selecting a calculator:

* asm
- games
o category 1
o category 2
...
- shells
...

* basic
- games
...
...

But it might result in longer pages, which might mean you'd have to have two versions of the index for those who don't like really long pages. And it might be harder to maintain unless the pages are generated with a script.

Oops, the post script deletes leading spaces. Well, it's a good thing I used different styles of bullets for each level. Hopefully you get the idea.

Yeah. Remember to use ALT+0160, if it still works.

Level 1,
 Level 2,
  Level 3.

I was thinking something like that too.

I say 2 and 3, so junk can be weeded out before screenshotters (sorry, I just don't have much time) have to take pictures, and so people can find out which games, I mean programs, are good. I always have hated the volume of "basic OSes" and "do it all math programs". I could be wrong, but afaik those two categories are nearly useless.

whoops, that's 1 and 2

Yeah, those are 2 categories of programs that I REALLY hate, along with the quadratic and equation solvers. ;-)

"basic OSes" are kind of useful, but use Mirage or something.

"do it all math programs" are at least better than QuadForm programs.

I'd love to know who'd take the time to sift through the current archive to throw away all the crappy programs and whatnot...even more so, how long would it take? The 83+ Basic games alone has over 2000 files...

Maybe what might be a delaying tactic is have pages for the sections. Rather than display them all on 1 page, break it down like alphabetically. That would decrease page load times and wouldn't be that hard to do. Maybe even have selections to sort alphabetically, date added, # of downloads, etc.

I think that categorising stuff a little more is a good idea. Although it may take some time to sieve through everything.

I strongly agree with all the ideas (except the last one!) I think that the sub-directory idea would be especially useful. That way you could just click on games/rpg, instead of scrolling through a million guess the number games.

I like the second and third options equally. I think that a rating system should be put into place and that the filing system should have sub-categories for different types of games/programs.

I definitely think things shouldn't be deleted. Maybe a slashdot like moderation system should be implemented. Let long-time users who have uploaded and comented get an occational point, which they can use to raise or lower a program's rating. Then let ordinary users set a threshold for which ratings apear and which don't. There would be a way for moderators to list programs in the order they were added to the archive, so new files wouldn't be neglected.

Who makes a final decision on this? Staff? Archive editors? A poll? Should we have a realtime chat conference to discuss it? We could spend a long time deciding how to decide. <Place endless loop here.>

Don't know yet, however we strongly suggest you vote on the survey.

I'm not sayin it would be easy, but what about labeling all the files with their rating and # of downloads, etc....... then letting the user decide which way he wants to view the archives, whether by name, date, rating, downloads. so you could click on "ti-89", "asm", "games", then they can choose to sort it however they want. that way theres no grumbling over what way is chosen to sort the files.

Like Burger King say's, "Have it your way"

I believe that you should go to sub-groups. Not everone likes the same games, so we need to seperate the games by their gameplay so people would be on a straighter line to finding a game the would like. The way we have the TI-83+ Basic Games list, no one could find a game they would like because people make different gameplays to the same game, like Tic-Tac-Toe, there has to be 10 different downloads for the same basic game, and that takes up alot of room. Also the game-makers dont put a picture or two, or even a description, how could we tell what the game looks like. There could be a bug on it, thats why people should put a description on the game. So I believe we should create sub-groups and look at the program before we put it on the website to make sure we dont have 100 downloads for the same game.

If we begin to delete programs off of the server, then at the same time we will be breaking down the very principles from which this site was created. To judge a program based on its worth would be a hard proposition. This is because a program created by a beginner programmer might not be as good as those created later in his/her programming career.(personally I started with the small programs) Most all of the members on ticalc.org have at one time started with the elementary programs. Although I do agree with deleting highly repetitive programs with a review board committee.

I, being one of the begginer programmers, find it very nice to be able to put my programs on here. it makes you feel like you accomplished something, and it encourages you to make more (better) programs. I say this partly because i am one of the people that made yet another quadratic solver {the program has other usefull things of course} : )

I partly agree with you. I think that beginners should be able to upload programs, but they should have a low rating so as not to clutter up the archives. Definitely, a programmer should not be penalized for having bad programs. I uploaded a quadratic solver program over a year ago, but now I am much better, and I do not want to have my rating lowered because I uploaded when I was still learning.

Thank you! A few people who partially agree with me! (See above)

We shouldn't delete the "junk" programs at all. Why? A person who has just started programming will probably have bad programs. As they improve, the programs get better. Often times, I have looked back to when I was still learning BASIC in 7th grade. I thought that those "arena" games that I made were awesome. Now... I think that it's a pathetic. However, without this first step, SOME beginner programmers may stop programming due to repeated program rejections.

Um, what are the basic principles of which this site was created?

To answer frequently asked questions about ZShell. :-D

That's the point I was making. This site was created by zshell and does not have a lofty purpose like the poster I responded to was insinuating.