New ability to follow members of Brilliant and an update to your profiles

Hi everyone,

We have been tinkering some more. Today we launched the ability to follow other people you admire on brilliant, without having to be connected to them by Facebook or email. When you follow someone, their profile will appear in your sidebar on the main page. This will allow you to have easy access to the profiles, and problem solving efforts of others on Brilliant.

We also did a design update on your profiles. It is still a work in progress. Your levels and up-votes are currently missing from your profiles. They will return shortly :)

#BrilliantAnnouncements

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

I really appreciate efforts of you and your team Peter sir.. My very best wishes.. :)

Snehal Shekatkar - 7 years, 7 months ago

Please bring the previous layout of the problem solving page! I miss the GREEN "You are correct!"....

A Brilliant Member - 7 years, 7 months ago

I don't think too many changes are good for Brill. I love it simple.

Akshat Jain - 7 years, 7 months ago

I agree.. we can start new discussion about it! :)

Snehal Shekatkar - 7 years, 7 months ago

The sidebar just got a whole lot better, thanks. Some things that still bug me, though:

The friend invite suggestions don't make any sense. Could those be removed, or at least be optional? I have invited everyone to this site who might be interested to join. The list itself is now smaller than the invite suggestions, which makes it hard to quickly see how well my friends are doing.
The 'This week' tab seems to show how many points my friends have earned in the last 7 days, and not actually during the current week. I would be much more interested in seeing how well my friends are doing since the release of the latest problem sets.

Tim Vermeulen - 7 years, 7 months ago

you guys are doing a great thing by simply having this website in existence imo, thanks

Jord W - 7 years, 7 months ago

Wait darn brilliant now shows full names?

Ryan Soedjak - 7 years, 7 months ago

I like this feature, IMHO! For example, there are many "Ryan S"s in the world. I'd have to click on the profile to identify the right one.

Ahaan Rungta - 7 years, 7 months ago

I don't know why, but I don't like this feature. People may compare eachother on the basis of the number of followers one has. Even the previous look of Brilliant profiles was better than now. Brilliant is changing at an unneeded high speed. I hope this beloved community doesn't transform into a math-cum-social networking site. $\ddot\frown$

Akshat Jain - 7 years, 7 months ago

If people don't brag about their levels, what makes you think they'll brag about their followers?

Michael Tong - 7 years, 7 months ago

I hope what you mean comes out to be the truth. But tell me one thing, don't you think this twitter-like step is not so good for Brilliant?

Akshat Jain - 7 years, 7 months ago

Being that this is a community of people who do math in their own time, I don't think very many people will care about the number of followers someone has.

Logan Dymond - 7 years, 7 months ago

There is no problem if that happens Akshat! :)

Snehal Shekatkar - 7 years, 7 months ago

I think there is a problem. People will create opinions by just seeing the number of followers.

Akshat Jain - 7 years, 7 months ago

@Akshat Jain – Let them do.. let us keep doing maths and physics.. :)

Snehal Shekatkar - 7 years, 7 months ago

Am i able to search for a user?

Yan Yau Cheng - 7 years, 7 months ago

Soon!

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 7 months ago

Great job again by Brilliant staff! :)

I have found a bug. I have removed a few people from my "Following" list (those were Facebook friends who registered and stayed for a short time) but when I Log In again at this site, those removed profiles are back in the list.

Another bug is that when I hover my mouse over my name, a "Follow" button is present. Clicking on it doesn't do anything but I am sure it was not intended. Here's a picture: Image

Please kindly look into this. Many Thanks!

Pranav Arora - 7 years, 7 months ago

Another good effort. What if we can also search people by name and then follow them instead of just depending over the links present on various pages!

Also, there should be some icon of notification displaying recent activity of subscribed threads and tags.

Ankit Chabarwal - 7 years, 7 months ago

By the way, do you know that you can follow yourself?

Follow people who you admire on Brilliant...

Well, I admire myself, I guess... :)

Mursalin Habib - 7 years, 7 months ago

And in case you're wondering: when you follow yourself, you don't end up in your 'followers' and 'following' lists.

Mursalin Habib - 7 years, 7 months ago

I truly agree with akshat..the brilliant would loose it's unique flavor if it turns out to be like facebook or any social networking site

jawwad shadman siddique - 7 years, 7 months ago

Can you explain more? What are you afraid that Brilliant is losing?

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 6 months ago

it is good way............CHALLENGE a friend

Ujjwal Mani Tripathi - 7 years, 7 months ago

Where is the up votes indicator,please tell me.

Soham Dibyachintan - 7 years, 7 months ago

As stated, " Your levels and up-votes are currently missing from your profiles. They will return shortly :)"

Calvin Lin Staff - 7 years, 7 months ago

Upvotes for solutions are live on profiles now.

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 6 months ago

good over here

Raman Tejaswi - 7 years, 7 months ago

Now I can't see the number of upvotes :(

Diego E. Nazario Ojeda - 7 years, 7 months ago

Solution upvote counts are back! (You have 10.)

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 6 months ago

Thanks!! :)

Diego E. Nazario Ojeda - 7 years, 6 months ago

Upvotes are coming back soon!

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 7 months ago

How do i do to follow someone?

Felipe Sousa - 7 years, 7 months ago

Just go to that user's profile. On the right hand side you would see the option.

Snehal Shekatkar - 7 years, 7 months ago

i am not able to search for a user??

yash gupta - 7 years, 7 months ago

Not yet, but coming soon!

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 7 months ago

Why don't I see number of points when I go to somebody else's profile??

Snehal Shekatkar - 7 years, 6 months ago

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}`	$\boxed{123}$