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From: "John D'Errico" <woodchips@rochester.rr.com>
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.matlab
Subject: Re: What is the model for the File Exchange?
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:58:01 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: John D'Errico (1-3LEW5R)
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"Ned Gulley" <gulley@mathworks.com> wrote in message <gr2toh$n4k$1@fred.mathworks.com>...

> For these reasons, we believe it's appropriate and important to move the File Exchange in the direction of inclusivity with outbound filters. That doesn't mean we think everything is perfect now. We believe that there is a lot we can do to improve the filtering so that you don't see files that you don't care to see. But we believe that there is room enough for everyone to contribute, so long as the code runs, is not malicious, and is offered in good faith. The tent is big, and civility matters. By working with, rather than rejecting outright, the work of naive newcomers, we can help them grow into pillars of this community. Keep in mind the people behind the code. We all started somewhere, and everyone is on their own trajectory of learning.
> 
> Help us design an interface that make the use of the site more pleasant. Tell us your preferred mental model of the File Exchange. But please try to recognize there is room enough for many kinds of contributions.
> 

I recognize there are various goals for a file exchange.

The problem with an all inclusive tent is you need
to make it work for all users. My own tendency is
to look at two aspects:

- A teaching component. Users and students can
emulate examples from the FEX as well written code.
The problem here is if you put dreck on the FEX, a
student will have no idea what is good and what is
not. Bad habits learned early in a career must then
be broken.

- A repository of useful code, filling the niches that
The Mathworks has not filled with their toolboxes.
TMW cannot write code to solve all problems. So
they naturally target the big problems, the things
that many users will find valuable. And of course,
TMW has only finite resources. So in some cases
they may not have an expert resource to write the
necessary tools for them. The FEX provides a source
to fill in the gaps.

Surely there will be other aspects of the FEX. As Ned
has said, the tent can be big, covering many goals.
But if you expand the tent, you still need to serve
the goals above. 

For example, one might choose to push the FEX
and Matlab Central more in the direction of a social
networking site for Matlab users. Or, some might
wish to use it for homework exchange (not that
I'd be happy to see that happen.) Another direction
for the FEX is to provide beta code. There are
surely many utilities out there that are not fully
complete, but the author would like some feedback.

I won't dispute that some subsets of users might
look for all of these things in a file exchange. At
the same time, the FEX must still serve the goals I
mentioned above. It must work easily for those
users still.

Finally, the tools must encourage people to be
good citizens of this forum. When I've seen any
site like this fail, a common characteristic was
they did not keep it well enough moderated, and
they provided incentives for the wrong things.

Some moderation is valuable, regardless if it is
provided from the more heavy users or from
administrative staff. The problem with paid
moderation is it cost money. So dynamic user
moderation makes more sense.

John