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wouldn't it be fun to calculate the signal to noise ratio of forum topics?

say, it's defined as SNR = 10log(#posts on topic / #posts off-topic)

immediate inspiration came from this topic which (next to the question) at point of writing had 6 on-topic responses and 11 off-topic responses according to my personal judgement (feel free to disagree!)

e.g. a SNR of -2.6 dB.

just wondering.

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QUOTE (Dirk J. @ Jul 1 2008, 02:31 PM)

wouldn't it be fun to calculate the signal to noise ratio of forum topics?

say, it's defined as SNR = 10log(#posts on topic / #posts off-topic)

immediate inspiration came from http://forums.lavag.org/FrontPanel-Transparency-t11294.html&p=47877#entry47877' target="_blank">this topic which (next to the question) at point of writing had 6 on-topic responses and 11 off-topic responses according to my personal judgement (feel free to disagree!)

e.g. a SNR of -2.6 dB.

just wondering.

Mine and yours together add two to the noise side of all topic SNR.

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I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what you mean, but I'm pretty sure I disagree on both accounts

(the beauty of it being, of course, that you can add to /this/ topic allmost endlessly on the 'signal' side)

QUOTE (mross @ Jul 1 2008, 08:51 PM)

Mine and yours together add two to the noise side of all topic SNR.
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I think we are pretty good at staying on topic here. We have the Lounge for anything noisy. And if we start assigning SNR's to topics eventually someone might start assigning SNR's to members. That could lead to some of us starting to feel bad about ourselves. :o

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QUOTE (Dirk J. @ Jul 1 2008, 03:36 PM)

I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what you mean, but I'm pretty sure I disagree on both accounts

(the beauty of it being, of course, that you can add to /this/ topic allmost endlessly on the 'signal' side)

Complaints about noise are always themselves noise, now I have added yet another.

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I'm generally pretty satisfied with the SNR of most threads around here (although I say that knowing that I certainly fall on the noise side pretty often). I think it's pretty rare that we toddle off into truly off-topic territory without first answering the question at hand.

I also read almost all the threads on LAVA even if they don't immediately interest me, because I expect the discussion itself to be entertaining.

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QUOTE (crelf @ Jul 1 2008, 08:55 PM)

Noise (in this context, at least) isn't always a bad thing - it's amazing what I've learned from posts that had strayed from the original thread title... (that's what tags are for :) )

I agree completely with Crelf on this... Very often the greater tragedy is not that the original thread has been hijacked, but that the thread title doesn't reflect the newly evolved topic of the thread. And I suppose that tags can be used to fix that problem.

Louis

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QUOTE (Louis Manfredi @ Jul 2 2008, 07:54 PM)

Of course you do - crelf's awesome.

QUOTE (Dirk J. @ Jul 1 2008, 01:31 PM)

wouldn't it be fun to calculate the signal to noise ratio of forum topics?

One good method of increasing the SNR is to post in an appropriate sub-forum :P

(I've just moved this topic from "LabVIEW General" to the lounge).

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Not to mention that some good replies can increase the SNR even in a sea of noise more than others...

Actually, SNR should be measured by how much the answers are on target compared with background chatting.

Take the spectrum of a radio signal and you'll find 99% of the frequencies are just noise, but then there are three peaks with 30dB+ SNR that stand out of the background. We wouldn't say it's got a -20dB SNR... To keep with the analogy, the initial post would be the carrier wave, and side bands will deconvolute in topic replies... Of course, we also reject one of the sidebands (off-topic chat) because it contains no new information than what's provided by the first, without necessarily decreasing the SNR.

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QUOTE (crelf @ Jul 3 2008, 07:59 AM)

You said touchie :D

I don't see much hijacking going on, but noise? Some of that noise are more "resonant responses" to non-linear functions. Tolkien wrote in the Silmarilian of the music evolving over time. The final result of the repeated themes was the creation of Middle Earth.

If we set up filters to accept only what we expect to hear, we'll never appreciate the harmonics of of the cerebral cords we share. Limiting the bandwidth will only stiffle the creative process.

Nipples aside, aside I find LAVA a wondeful place to brainstorm with some of the greatest engineers and scientist in the world.

Ben

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QUOTE (crelf @ Jul 3 2008, 01:59 PM)

aargh.

ok, your comment about tags was much better...

QUOTE (neB @ Jul 3 2008, 02:14 PM)

I don't see much hijacking going on, but noise? Some of that noise are more "resonant responses" to non-linear functions. Tolkien wrote in the Silmarilian of the music evolving over time. The final result of the repeated themes was the creation of Middle Earth.

If we set up filters to accept only what we expect to hear, we'll never appreciate the harmonics of of the cerebral cords we share. Limiting the bandwidth will only stiffle the creative process.

Nipples aside, aside I find LAVA a wondeful place to brainstorm with some of the greatest engineers and scientist in the world.

Ben

point is, sometimes its hard to actually find answers to a particular question, if half the topic consists of resonant responses.

I agree with the nipples aside, but I don't have the spare hours to read all topics each day.

anyway, tags and ratings....

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