"Unanswered in a Language I want to Understand" C&R Challenge Thread

Question

I want to suggest an idea for a non-conventional non-meta post. Can I make a well thought out thread where, as answers, people will post links to questions and name a language? I want a thread for "cops" the people who will respond to the "robbers" who will be asking for people to implement question X in language Y. Then I want a "cops" thread for the responses to aforementioned questions. This is quite unlike any other "challenge" ever posted, so I thought I'd suggest it in the meta section itself instead of sandbox. Is this type of "meta-c&r" allowed?

I feel like this would:

• Encourage answers in rare languages.
• Revive old questions.
• Help new users understand languages!
• Most importantly: It'd be fun to post a "hey, bet you can't do THIS in Brainflak!" then have someone prove you wrong :).

Let me know what you think.

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Robbers Layout:

#[Link to Question](Question URL)

I would like this answered in [Langauge TIO Name](Language TIO Link) b/c X, Y and Z.

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Cops Layout:

#[Link to Robbers Request](Request URL)

<CODE/TIO LINK>

[HELPFUL EXPLANATION, RESPONDING TO X, Y AND Z]

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This would also be a good way to encourage bounties imho.

Answer 1

What if we don't make it a challenge?

I like the idea of having a thread open to solution-requests. However, stretching the rules and making it a challenge makes no sense to me. I suggest another model, which I think would be on-topic if we all come to an agreement:

• Write a post (question) in which you clearly describe the purposes of this initiative. Ideally, make it a community wiki (this is solely my opinion).

• Each answer to that question would be a proposal in the format:

  # [Challenge title](challenge link) in [Language X](language link)
  
  A short description of the challenge + the reasons they think a solution in that
  language would be beneficial.
  

• Other people submit solutions to the challenges linked and then comment under the proposal. Naturally, multiple solutions can be posted to incentivize competition.

IMHO, such a post is worthy of having on PPCG. Not only will it be a catalogue of non-trivial solutions that gives those more visibility, but it would also help the newcomers learn other languages in a more efficient manner. Plus, as already mentioned by Leo, it would play well with our relatively new "Language of the Month" event. There are downsides too, however:

• The activity will eventually decrease and the post will most likely stagnate and lose visibility.
• It kind of bends our rules, and is somewhat conflicting the Q&A format SE provides. I don't think that's a major problem, though. I think we can make this work.

Answer 2

This is basically a duplicate of: List of bounties with no deadline

1. The bounty list has posts asking for solutions to specific challenges in specific languages (combinations that are often difficult and worthy of a bounty.) Examples:

   • Fitting but Unsuitable Languages: 3 x 500 points
   • 200 rep for a segfault in Actually
   • 100 bounty: Minecraft prime checker

2. When someone asks for a solution like what you are suggesting, it's often difficult. Having a bounty makes it more likely that someone will put in the effort. It also makes finding a solution more gratifying when you receive a bounty for it.

3. Part of this is already covered by searching for unanswered challenges, in which case any solution is welcome.

This would also be a good way to encourage bounties imho.

Again, this is already covered by the list of bounties with no deadline. I don't think there's any reason to create another list and disguise it as a challenge when we already have something that fulfills this purpose.

I think we would be better off organizing the existing page, or perhaps recreating it with each "request" posted as an answer rather than edited into the question (this is already suggested in the comments, but some people haven't been doing that.) -- Just saw that Peter Taylor edited the question to fix this a few days ago.

We should instead work to do a better job of promoting the existing list of bounties.

Answer 3

I don't think this fits on the main site

While I understand that you want to put this somewhere more visible than Meta because one of the goals is to provide this to people who don't have the reputation to post a Bounty for the List of bounties with no deadline, among other reasons, I don't think your attempt to coerce your desired result (help people who want to see challenge X answered in language Y) into an accepted PPCG format (Cops and Robbers) was successful. There are some superficial similarities that you put in intentionally, I think they both detract from the main purpose, and at the same time they don't actually accomplish the goal. For example, I can't think of a useful "Winning-criterion" or even a reasonable way of scoring either side. The coat of paint that you tried to put on your idea to pretend it's on-topic was not successful, and I don't think additional paint can fix the problem.

It's still a good idea

Or, I like it at least. I would much prefer if all the weird Cops and Robbers veneer were completely ditched and we just abuse the Q&A format even more than we already do. Basically, every "answer" would just be a request, then if someone fulfilled the request they should indicate that they did in a comment with a link and the poster of the request can edit that link into their "answer" (This pattern is common in CnR, so it doesn't seem like too much of an abuse of the comment system to be acceptable). I'll admit that I'm often in favor of not adhering too strictly to "Stack Exchange must be Q&A format", but there are conflicting view points.

Without rephrasing it as a challenge, it could be on-topic

The main PPCG site isn't solely restricted to challenges. For example, "Tips for golfing in [language]" posts are hosted there rather than Meta, and there are occasional "Help with X" questions, some of which are considered on-topic. I wouldn't take those as sufficient evidence that this could just be posted without worries, but in my opinion it does mean that this suggestion would be equally on- or off-topic regardless of attempts to rephrase as a challenge. If it's not allowed on the main site then it would definitely be acceptable in Meta, though that runs into the Sandbox Problem where new users that would benefit most just don't see it.

Speaking of the Sandbox, I think that's the biggest evidence that this belongs in Meta. This strikes me as very similar to the Sandbox, and the Sandbox is very firmly in Meta. It's not indisputable, but I wouldn't try posting in Main unless there's a very strong consensus first.