How should we organize the Community tab?

There are 2 options:

Keep problems and notes in separate tabs in Community, the way that we have it now. Add a "see latest problems in all topics" filter to problems and a "see latest notes in all topics" filter to notes, so that you can easily see a list of all of the new problems or all of the new notes
Merge problems and notes into one tab in Community called Explore. So when you go to Community, you would see 2 tabs: Recommended for you and Explore. In Explore, you would see a merged stream of problems AND notes that you can filter by topic and level. By default, you would see the latest popular problems and notes in all topics, and you could toggle to see all latest problems and notes in any topic.

Let us know which you would prefer, and why.

As a preview of a feature change that is coming up, note that we are planning to remove the Resharing feature. We originally made this feature to make it easier for users to discover "old" problems and notes (i.e., ones that weren't just posted today).

However, the new and better mechanism for doing this is to visit the Wiki, into which we are organizing the best community problems and notes. More importantly, we've found that reshares bury the best new posts so that it's harder for them to get attention, because for people who follow a lot of other members on Brilliant, reshares take up half or more of the "Recommended for you" newsfeed (previously, this was the newsfeed that appeared on your homepage).

Is there anything else you would like to see in the Community tab?

Let us know in the comments! We love feedback.

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print "hello world"

Math

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Remember to wrap math in $ ... $ or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.

2 \times 3

2 \times 3

2^{34}

2^{34}

a_{i-1}

a_{i-1}

\frac{2}{3}

\frac{2}{3}

\sqrt{2}

\sqrt{2}

\sum_{i=1}^3

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Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Here's the crux of the problem:

1) New content is generated every day, so that there are accumulating thousands of problems and notes
2) The opening page can only show a tiny part of it

There are really two separate problems, which are:

1) How can one easily scan the accumulating thousands of problems and notes?
2) Which ones should be featured for maximum opening page impact?

Generated context isn't best simply because it's new. The resharing feature allowed for a kind of a filtering for the best or most popular problems, because, after all, the problem of "being buried" can cut both ways, i.e. new posts can be buried by reshared posts, and interesting posts can be buried by trivial new posts. There is no mechanism curbing a surplus of low level problems of average interest, and that can be a problem if Brilliant wants to excite the best minds. If the resharing feature is removed, something else needs to be implemented that will provide the best mix of posts for maximum opening page impact. Because of the importance of maximum opening page impact, special consideration should be granted it.

Once we have the Totally Exciting And Happening Opening Page, then we go into the other problem, which is about easily assessing the accumulating thousands of problems and notes. There is now a big effort to develop Wiki pages, but as of right now, there is no easy way to conveniently scan what's available out there. We don't even know about how many wiki pages there are. Likewise problems. Brilliant does offer a search tool, but more should be done. One philosophy Brilliant can have is that notes and problems are disposable, here now gone tomorrow, or at least obscure and buried and pretty lost somewhere. Another philosophy is to build and maintain libraries in usable and interesting form, where maybe there could be a table of content or indexes, where one can readily see what's there, and click onto things that look interesting. Right now, using the search feature, or even sets being offered by users, we have to do a lot of surmising based on titles given. It's possible that there is no easy way to implement the latter philosophy with a finite staff, so that we have to fall back to the former. But in my opinion, that could discourage users from spending a lot of time and effort in crafting posts that basically become disposable.

It's all about effective filtering. I think the success of Brilliant depends on it.

Michael Mendrin - 6 years, 7 months ago

I would prefer to have the problems and notes kept in separate tabs, as my preference is to solve, (or at least attempt), recently posted or reshared problems. However, you mention that for the second option the default is the exposition of popular new problems, with the option of toggling to all new problems, whereas for the first option only the latest problems/notes are shown. Is it possible to have the "popular new problem/note" default available in the first option as well? I am assuming that the "Recommended for you" tab remains in place for the first option.

I am also assuming that the popularity of a question will be determined by the number of 'likes' it receives. If so, then it would be preferable, (vital, in fact), to be able to filter the popular problems by levels. Otherwise, the popular higher level problems would be swamped by those in the lower levels. I like working on good problems at all levels, so depending on the amount of time I have and how my mind is functioning I would like to be able to zero in on well-posed questions at a particular level.

I'm concerned about the loss of the reshare feature. I can understand the motive behind this plan of action, but I find it helpful to know which specific questions are of interest to those I have chosen to follow. It makes me wonder what the point would then be of following others, and how the "Recommended for you" feed will be filtered and personalized.

I believe in the role that Brilliant aspires to play and commend you for your vision and efforts. As your site continues to expand, I think the key will be effective filtering, as @Michael Mendrin has so wisely stated. This is crucial to the harnessing and facilitation of the community's abilities and enthusiasm.

Thanks for your time, and I'm sure, given your openness to feedback, that the evolution of this site will be successful. Regards.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 7 months ago

Please, don't remove the reshare option.

Karan Siwach - 6 years, 7 months ago

I liked the new look of brilliant,but the home page is not that much attractive.I know brilliant guys can do much better . And I'll go with option 1 because it looks much better. Also the reshare button should not be removed because it gives new comers opportunities as I feel .:P

Abhishek Singh - 6 years, 7 months ago

I like the second option. And please, do not remove the reshare option as it helps good questions posted by people with few followers reach a wider base. Basically, it helps us access problems by even obscure users. Removing it would isolate those problems.

Ashu Dablo - 6 years, 7 months ago

I don't know about everything else, but the reshare option is one of the greatest motivators for a problem-maker like me on this website.

Please don't take it away.

~J@M

John M. - 6 years, 7 months ago

I think it is better to keep Problem and Notes seperate.

Also, the current Explore page should be added to the Community tab

Agnishom Chattopadhyay - 6 years, 7 months ago

@Agnishom Chattopadhyay Just to be clear - instead of having a filter on the problems tab "see latest problems in all topics", and a filter on the notes tab to "see latest notes in all topics", you would prefer to have separate tabs for problems, notes, AND explore? Why is that more convenient?

Suyeon Khim Staff - 6 years, 7 months ago

I am sorry. I did not notice that before.

I think removing reshare opetion would not be a great idea because it helps to discover people posting good problems and notes.....i think there should be two sub tabs in community problems tab...latest problems and reshared problems

Aman Sharma - 6 years, 7 months ago

Do you feel like reshares are an important way for you to discover content? We can consider perhaps having a "best oldies but goodies" section on the homepage, where from time to time we resurface great old content that you haven't seen yet. Would you prefer that, or do you like the resharing feature specifically?

Yeah! Resharing must not be removed! Though 'best oldies but goodies' is not a bad idea! Can we have both of these together? One more thing... If a question is deleted from a set, and we solve all other questions then why does our name do not appear in leaderboards? Do we need to solve a deleted question for that? :( @Suyeon Khim @Calvin Lin

Pranjal Jain - 6 years, 7 months ago

In my opinion reshare feature is better.....however in order to prevent new and old content getting mixed reshared problems and orignal problems should be kept in different tabs

I am also with @Aman Sharma

Rajdeep Dhingra - 6 years, 7 months ago

Are you *planning * to delete reshare? I just noticed that some problems already didn't have the reshare button. What would happen to our feed after reshare is deleted? :)

Shreya R - 6 years, 7 months ago

Hi Shreya, the practice problems do not have a resharing option, but the problems posted by the community can all be reshared. When we remove the feature, your feed would contain only new posts by the community, rather than new posts mixed in with reshares of older problems and notes. To discover older problems and notes, you would use the search bar or browse the wiki pages, to see our collections of the best stuff from the community in each topic.

This will make it so that everyone in the community sees great new posts and notes right away, and can participate in active solution discussions and comments. We are hoping this change will result in a better experience for everyone. Let us know if you have any further thoughts or feedback!

@Suyeon Khim removing the.reshare option takes away the option of the newbies to look at the all time classics

Sualeh Asif - 6 years, 7 months ago

Oh ok ..

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$