What about a coding contest?

I was thinking about contests of webdigity, and as our last contests were all about web design (logos, graphics, etc) this time we could try a coding contest.

Before I continue I must say that we will definitely host another logo design contest soon as we need a logo to be designed.

Now back to the coding contest idea, I have to say that we haven't done one yet because actually I am not sure how this could work. For instance we could host a contest for posting new tutorials on our tutorial database but I am not sure how we would give the prize.

Can you please help us find a plan on how we could publish a coding contest? Any feedback will be deeply appreciated :)

I think I joined most of the contests before... :)

most of the time its based on votes, people submit their code and after wards the script with the most votes is getting the price.

The contest at weberdev.com is different: the one with the most submissions gets a price. (they have more than one price, so everyone with at last 2 submissions gets a price)

for both systems is one rule, the script has to useful to the community and must work! just copy / past some example code from the manual is not allowed, Nick it up to you what code is acceptable.
Of course the code need to be documented that other people can use the snippet too.

Using a subject for this contest is maybe too much...

Then maybe we should follow that "the one with the most submissions gets a price" plan. After all the tutorials section need some content, I guess a contest like that will help anyway.

Anyone else has to comment on this?

don't forget that each submission need to be accepted by the admin ;)

 if we follow that plan we should be sure that the site wont be spammed :)

how do you make sure its unique tutorial? not just ripped from another site

That's another problem. Maybe copyscape could help us with this, or maybe I should not start that contest :)

Yes, I wonder if it would be hard to prove whether or not the tutorial was original. With PLR articles this may be even more difficult. And some of the better tutorial sites I've been to lately are putting the tutorials up as images to help prevent copying, but that also prevents them from being spidered and protected by Copyscape.

Maybe we could combine the design contest concept with a coding contest? Everyone starts out with the same PSD template and then the person who creates the best code for that template wins? Could be judged on shortest HTML, quickest loading or some other set of criteria. This would also open the contest to more folks. The design should be such that it is complicated enough to be a challenge.

Interesting idea, or perhaps go zen garden esque,
Provide a default template layout and then let people code to their hearts content :)

hey guys (and girls)

its a code contest, I think we php geeks recognize a example from the manual, and must say that this was not a item before.

if someone (like me) submit 10 tutorials there must be some site, no one will contribute a lot of examples for a smaller price. And don't accept the same number of contribution as in a logo contest.

I'm sure you see directly if some is submitting code from other sites...(like mine ;))

I think the tutorial submitting contest is a great idea but making the person with the most submissions win could cause a lot of very small tutorials to be submitted. Its not really a problem if they are useful so good moderation is needed, and maybe the contest entries should remain invisible until the contest is over.

check the code gallery from weberdev.com, that system is working for more than 3 years (he is holding a contest very month)

How do they test how well-written the tutorials are?

I think the hardest and best test of any tutorial is to take a true newbie and see if they can actually do what the tutorial is supposed to teach. If a bunch of php gurus are "grading" and "ranking" each other's tutorials - I'm not sure that's a true valuation of the instructiveness (is that even a word?) of the tutorial.

Why dont we choose a platform for example for the first contest like COntest 1: Platform: Joomla   Contest 2: Platform: Drupal .... etc.... Then have a contest where the first two weeks we accept submissions, then after that three weeks we close the submissions thread and open a poll for votation that would last about a week... The winner is decided by a poll... THe project would be best plugins or modules for the platform presented....  that should get enough buzz... and the best plugin could get popular pretty quick...

he test every script, if its OK it's added to the list and else not. I don't think it becomes to heavy...it must be quality content thats important

this is OK, but don't forget that this will make the (small) group smaller

Besides the small group problem, that would be very time consuming for moderators and me. As we will have to validate each and every submission and that requires a lot of work.

Maybe I should think more of this contest idea or wait some time to have more free time (at this point I am very busy and I think I will be that way for at least one month).

do you really accept so much submissions?

Not really, but even with one submission per day you may need 1 hour just to check if the code is unique and if it works :)

I agree with a test that it works ;)

maybe we need to wait until there are enough members here (php coder), this way we can say only for members with more than xxx postings...

The coder must provide a working sample, i.e. a demo page... but that was just an idea...

Another one which isn't really moderating-extensive is a contest for best AJAX snippets and codes...

i must say i agree with Olaf whole heartedly, as i'm still learning php myself (don't ever thing the learning can stop either!); i do however like the idea of a platform contest like designer had mentioned, but of course this kind of contest as everyone has mentioned would take some time to iron out and figure out all of the specific details :P i'd help in any way I could as a moderator and even maybe contestant 8) its a great idea overall though, Nik, and I think you should go with it when you have some time! :D