Word suggestions

[Alan W]

In another topic it was noted that I hadn't been responding to word suggestions in recent weeks. Here for your convenience are the comments made.

Jacki asked -

Is it just me or has Alan taken a hiatus on responding to word suggestions? Maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe I’m imagining it, but he seemed to respond more often before RTT’s myriad of suggestions.
Are you ok Alan?

And I replied -

I'm fine, Jacki. Thanks for asking. I'm fine perhaps because I haven't been looking at the outstanding word suggestions much. When I do look at them I get depressed about how many there are. That's not all down to RTT. There was a big backlog before.

There are probably a few options for dealing with this situation, but one of them is to ignore it, and that's what I've been mostly doing for the last few weeks. It seems to be working.

Jacki responded -

You poor thing! How about a hiatus on new word suggestions unless ten or more people agree with the suggestion? Then you can look at it. Just an idea.

And Roddles said -

I'd second that, although I would think five in agreement would be sufficient to warrant submission.

Also ridethetalk wrote to me by Private Message asking if there was any way forumites could lend a hand in dealing with word suggestions.

I'd be interested to hear what other people think. I can see three main options:

• Continue allowing the suggestions to pile up, with no responses. This could probably continue indefinitely with no great detriment to Chihuahua.
• I could continue dealing with them unaided, but in a much more peremptory manner. E.g. new words could be accepted if and only if they are listed in at least one reputable dictionary. Changes from rare to common status or vice versa could be decided as they were in the early days: by my judgement call, with no reasons given.
• Other members of the Chihuahua community could help out in some way, either as Jacki suggested, or by individual forumites becoming adjudicators on a rotating basis, or via some other mechanism.

Those are just some initial thoughts. Over to you...

[Morbius]

Given the enormous backlog of suggestions, I propose that we start any new approach by wiping the slate clean (or nearly clean) by simply deleting any suggestions made more than, say, three months ago.  There are suggestions dating back years, and quite a few of them are mine.  To be honest, I've forgotten most of them and wouldn't mind at all if they were expunged from the system. 

[Greynomad]

I know I only play based on finding seed words, so I really consider myself pretty unaffected by this, but agree the process could do with a bit of an update, especially as we all face ever shortening days, months and years as we enter the Twilight Zone.

I put forward this as a possible discussion starter.

1) allow Alan to gracefully step back from this particular aspect of the game after all his years of loving and singular service, if he would like to.

2) all words should be mentioned in two or three major dictionaries agreed by the more involved and better wordsmiths than I who play. If a word is not yet so represented, then bad luck for that suggestion.

3) words are submitted via the forum, and discussed by a small committee of game players happy to form the group, in PM mode, and advise decision in due course.

4) the rare or common argument is a more problematic matter, but perhaps words described as obsolete, archaic, slang, work/recreation/hobby specific, or colloquial/ regional could be rare for starters, or as otherwise decided after discussion between Alan and the word panel. Perhaps also a clear definition of well read person could be presented, as I consider myself reasonable well read in a general knowledge manner, and I shudder at some common (phantasy leaps tp mind)!

As I say, just some thoughts to get things moving. PS I agree with Morbius on reducing the current outstanding list to more manageable levels now.

[Jacki]

Who would be interested in the role of assessing new suggestions? Personally I’m not tech-savvy or word-nerdy enough to be qualified.

[pat]

Just over a year ago I suggested cracid for inclusion, a word that Alan originally rejected, causing me to question why, as it's a perfectly valid word. You can see the thread here.

Not many contributed but of those who did, most seemed to think that if a word exists in any 'reputable' dictionary then it should be accepted, regardless of how specialized it was. So why not simply apply that rule, which would mean that all Alan has to do is look up the word and then accept it or reject it with no reason given, as suggested in his 2nd option right at the beginning of this thread. Unless the word obviously warrants common status (unlikely), all words could be accepted as rare, and, should Alan be willing, he could still continue to treat changes from common to rare or vice versa on a case by case basis. I don't think handing over the adjudication to other people would work as it would probably cause arguments.

Since there would appear to be a depressingly large backlog of suggestions we could adopt Morbius's suggestion of simply deleting all suggestions that are more than three months old. Any request containing multiple suggestions could also be disregarded (sorry, RTT). I would imagine that if Alan was able to get on top of the job and adopt the practice of simply looking up the word in a reputable dictionary he'd be able to deal with future requests promptly, thus avoiding another backlog building up.

[Jacki]

Or how’s this for an idea - as I said I’m not tech-savvy so not sure if it’s doable but you could have a SUGGESTED CHANGES section with the word in question, then three options to choose - Rare to Common, Common to Rare, New Word.
Then there would be a LIKE or AGREE button and Forumites could vote - anonymously even.
And if it reached a threshold that was acceptable - I suggested ten votes, Roddles suggested five, whatever is agreeable then it could reach the next level of consideration.
You don’t have to have a NO button, it’s an opt-in to show your support kind of system.

[ridethetalk]

Perhaps the "Add Poll" button could be utilised to help with this and then the only work required would be to add/change from rare to common/change from common to rare for whomever is tasked with updating the database...

[Maudland]

I reckon any new word being in at least one reputable dictionary is a good criterion for acceptance. I’d go for that rather than a vote to accept. (Anyone up for Dictionary Corner?) Maybe anyone suggesting a new word could include evidence of this?

The issue then is whether it’s common or rare, and I think that is much more nuanced, in the same way as debates about changing status can get heated (in a civilised Chi way, obviously! Remembering Apothecarygate.) That could be voted on, in the ‘opt in’ way suggested? Or any new word could just be automatically rare. And we can just argue about the rest 😜

Unfortunately, Alan has spoiled us with his fascinating and witty analyses. It would be a treat to get one of those now and again. Maybe Alan could have a pick of the month, or something? Or pick a word that tickles him? (Unless you’ve just had enough of it, Alan?)

Wiping out older suggestions seems like a good idea. If anyone cares that much, they’ll suggest it again!

I wonder if you have any preference, Alan, for the options you suggest? Or anyone else’s suggestions?

[lilys field]

Why not toss the suggestion box altogether. And simply play the game w the words currently deemed acceptable 

[pat]

Why not toss the suggestion box altogether. And simply play the game w the words currently deemed acceptable

That's an option but I'd be disappointed if it was the one chosen. One thing I've always liked about Chi is the ability to suggest words for inclusion. I think it must be pretty unique in that respect.

[Roddles]

I would be disappointed not to be treated to Alan's erudite analyses of decisions. As long as he feels willing to continue I would be in favour of his second suggestion, but perhaps with an initial filter that only words receiving support from multiple players be considered to start with, in order to control the volume to be dealt with. Erasing the backlog and starting afresh might well be a good way to start. I have not been a great fan of the argument that every word used in the English speaking world no matter how specialised or slang should be considered, but if a quorum (3, 5, 10,...) argue for it then so be it.

[Jacki]

I agree with that Roddles.

[auntiemo]

Me too, Roddles/Jacki/Alan.

[ridethetalk]

Me three, Roddles/Jacki/Alan/auntiemo...

[blackrockrose]

Adding my backing to Roddles' eminently sensible version of a solution.