Contributors metainfo: reputation and more

As asked by Vieniava in "How to make a list of user's reputation?", some of us came up with interesting ideas on how to fill an updated list with the reputation scores of the contributors to Answers.

I took the initiative to compile a public list of users with meta info:

• position (desc ordering by reputation)
• id
• nickname (truncated to fit the page)
• reputation
• # of comments
• # of questions asked
• % accept rate
• # of posts answered
• # of accepted answers

The code used to compile the list is available at the bottom.

EDIT

TMW team implemented a page with the metascores: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/contributors

Please refer to it and congrats to the team!

Use this function to retrieve info from the link above:

function [metainfo, elapsedTime] = metainfo(type,order)
% METAINFO - Retrieve metainfo on contributors to www.matworks.com/.../answers
%
%   METAINFO Retrieve data sorted by reputation in descending order 
%
%   METAINFO(TYPE,ORDER) Specify TYPE and sorting ORDER as
%       type :  'reputation'
%               'questions'
%               'answered'
%               'accepted'
%
%       order:  'asc'
%               'desc'
%   
% Examples:
%
%     % Standard call (rep, disc)
%     info = metainfo;
%       
%     % Sort by question answered in descending order
%     info = metainfo('an','d');
%
% See also: URLREAD, REGEXP

% Author: Oleg Komarov ([e-mail]) 
% Tested on R14SP3 (7.1) and on R2009b. In-between compatibility is assumed. 
% 28 feb 2011 - Created

tic

% Check # inputs
error(nargchk(0,2,nargin))

% Retrieve inputs
if nargin == 0
    type  = 'reputation';
    order = 'desc';
end
if ~exist(type,'var')
    sortTypes = {'reputation','questions','answered','accepted'};
    type  = sortTypes{strncmp(type,sortTypes,numel(type))};
    order = 'desc';
end        
if ~exist(order,'var')
    orderTypes = {'asc','desc'};
    type  = orderTypes{strncmp(order,orderTypes,numel(order))};
end        

% Build url string
url = ['http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/contributors?'...
       'dir=' order '&sort=' type '&page='];

% First read
[page, ok] = urlread([url '1']);

% Catch number of pages to read
if ok
    totcon = regexp(page,'>1 - 50 of (\d+)','tokens');
    totcon = dataread('string',totcon{1}{1},'%d');
    nPages = ceil(totcon/50);
else
    error('Cannot read ".../contributors?page=1"')
end

% Loop over contributors pages
metainfo = cell(totcon,7);
metainfo(1:end,1) = num2cell(1:size(metainfo,1));
for p = 1:nPages
    if ok
        endpos = 50*p;
        % Id, Rep
        expr = '><a href="\/matlabcentral\/answers\/contributors\/(\d+)';
        data = regexp(page, expr,'tokens');
        if 50*p > totcon; endpos = 50*(p-1)+numel(data); end
        metainfo(1+(p-1)*50:endpos,2) = [data{:}];
        % Nickname
        expr = ['"Reputation: (\d+)">([\w\ ' reshape([repmat(92,1,137);33:59,61:64,91:97,123:126,161:255],1,[]) ']+)</a></h2>'];
        data = regexp(page, expr,'tokens');
        metainfo(1+(p-1)*50:endpos,[4,3]) =  cat(1,data{:});
        % Qcount, Ans, Acc
        data = regexp(page, '<span >(\d+)</span>[A-z<>"-\s\/]+','tokens');
        metainfo(1+(p-1)*50:endpos,5:7) = reshape(cat(1,data{:}),3,[]).';
    else
        error('Metainfo import stopped. \nCannot read ".../contributors?page=%d"',p)
    end
    [page, ok] = urlread([url sprintf('%d',p+1)]);
end

% Convert to doubles
metainfo(:,[2,4:7]) = cellfun(@str2double,metainfo(:,[2,4:7]),'un',false);

elapsedTime = toc;

[Walter Roberson]

Now if it can be charted day by day...

[Oleg Komarov]

Efficiency gain would stem from the fact that a single post will serve as a reference and it will eventually grow and stay on top as people post here. The retrieval of scores would be faster since only one urlread would be virtually needed and the number of records per author is reduced to 1 (the perfect case)

@Walter: it could be charted day by day. It would be easier if not just I had the ability to edit the initial post (in order to updated the chart)

[Andrew Newell]

Walter should get a handicap. ;)

[Walter Roberson]

I was thinking maybe log scale ;-)

[Vieniava]

Walter Roberson, do you sleep? :)

[Walter Roberson]

I subcontract out my sleep to villages in developing countries, through an Eco-Trade Network.

[Sean de Wolski]

Vieniava, I was wondering the same thing.

[Aurelien Queffurust]

Does the above code still worK?

I still get the following error message:

>> [metainfo, elapsedTime] = metainfo('reputation','asc')

??? Error using ==> reshape

Product of known dimensions, 3, not divisible into total number of elements, 200.

Error in ==> metainfo at 82

metainfo(1+(p-1)*50:endpos,5:7) = reshape(cat(1,data{:}),3,[]).';

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Congratulations to Matt Fig for making it to 500 before I made it to 1000! He increased from 388 to 501 in about a day and a half, during which time I only increased from 901 to 966.

Numerical projections last night based upon answer acceptance rates were that it would take another 1310 questions answered each before he caught up, so clearly his solutions have been found vote-worthy.

[Walter Roberson]

Yee haw! I made it to 1024 and beyond! I am now a Level 2 Matlab User, with a gain of +1 Wisdom and +1 Charisma!

[Oleg Komarov]

So, next level 1048576...

Btw, can you give a look at the function in the first post...it stops whenever finds 'strange' chars (I don't understand much about character encoding).

Thanks

[Walter Roberson]

So it turns out Steven Lord was right, that reputations do not "wrap" at 65536...

[Cedric Wannaz]

Congratz! Next test at max uint32 ;-)

[Walter Roberson]

Next test is at max int32 :-)

Answer 2

[Rena Berman]

CONGRATULATIONS to Walter Roberson for for reaching 100k points!!!!!! We hope you like your new badge named for you for a contributor that reaches 100k, the Roberson Cup! Thank you for helping shape Answers to what it is today and helping so many people worldwide!!!!!!

[Anusha Sridharan]

Walter Roberson, Congratulations, this is an amazing milestone. Thank you for all your contributions to the Community!

[Tushal Desai]

Congratulations Walter on this incredible milestone and thank you so much for helping so many community users!

[Hollis]

[Hans Scharler]

CONGRATS!

[Cedric Wannaz]

Congratulations!!!

[the cyclist]

Congratulations, Walter!

[Jitin Beri]

Congratulations Walter, its a stunning milestone!! Thank you so much for your valuable contributions.

[Chen Lin]

Huge congratulations! Thank you for generously offering your time and expertise to help millions of community users.

[Adam Danz]

Amazing achievement but what's more impressive is the quality of WR's answers, comments, and overall contribution to this community. Legendary.

[Star Strider]

Congratulations!

You’re an inspiration!

[Manju Jonchhe]

Congratulation! Thank you for your time helping so many MATLAB & Simulink users.

[Fangjun Jiang]

Congratulations Walter.

[Stephan]

Congratulations and thank you for all the insight you give to everyone here!

[Image Analyst]

Yes, congratulations!

[Stephen23]

Curiouser and curiouser:

numel('100k') = 4

uint8(sqrt(log2(100000))) = 4

log10(100000)-NumberOfWinnnersOfTheRobersonCup = 4

Congratulations Walter Roberson!

[John Kelly]

Congrats

[Kent Millard]

Thank you for all that you've done and continue to do for the Community!

[Steven Lord]

Congrats Walter!

[Abdolkarim Mohammadi]

Congrats on such an inspiring effort, Walter!

[Ameer Hamza]

Congratulations!!! Thanks for your tremendous efforts.

[Walter Roberson]

It took another 2 years (and a couple of weeks), but I reached 125000 this morning.

[Rena Berman]

Congratulations @Walter Roberson!!! Your contributions are off the charts!!

[David]

Staggering milestone. Well done!

Answer 3

[Stephen23]

Congratulations to John D'Errico for reaching 10,000!

And with only 1520 accepted answers too... impressive.

[madhan ravi]

Congratulations John D'Errico!!!

[Kent Millard]

Well done John!

Thanks for your ongoing contributions to the community.

[Walter Roberson]

John's worth to the community is far about that 10000 measurement!

[Anusha Sridharan]

Many Congratulations, John. Thank you for all your contributions here!

[Chen Lin]

Big congratulations, John! What an amazing milestone.

[John D'Errico]

Thank you. Reputation is not my goal on Answers. Solving problems is the goal in my eyes, and I do my best to not let reputation cloud my thinking in any way. Anyway, rep just happens when you are not looking.

[Rena Berman]

(Answers Dev) Congratulations! Thank you so much for your efforts in Answers!

Answer 4

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congrats to Star Strider who passed 20,000 points!

[Chen Lin]

Congratulations, Star strider!

[John Kelly]

Congratulations

[Star Strider]

Thank you, all!

[Jan]

@Star Strider: After I've read this in your profile message:

 MATLAB Answers: Third participant to achieve 20,000 Reputation
 (09 Apr 2017)

I thought of inserting this in mine:

 MATLAB Answers: First participant to achieve 20,000 Reputation
 after Star Strider (02 Oct 2017)

Unfortunately I'm not funny, therefore I left it. ;-)

Answer 5

[Sven]

Recent news:

... and BAM! Walter hits 25,000! Congratulations are in order again. It's impressive to see, but depressing to compare :)

Timeline:

that was 10,000 on 2012-02-05
and then 15,000 on 2012-07-21
and then 20,000 on 2013-03-02
and then 25,000 on 2013-11-09
The countdown to 100,000 continues...

Original:

Has it been noted yet that Walter has reached five figures in reputation? Wow!

Congratulations on 10000 Walter!

Cheers, Sven.

[Andrew Newell]

It's a feat that will not soon be repeated.

[Daniel Shub]

This one is impressive enough that I am up voting it. Well done Walter.

[Matt Tearle]

So what -- five figures isn't that m... Oh. You don't mean in binary, do you...

Holy crap. Nicely done, Walter. I join Daniel in voting this up to the top.

[Walter Roberson]

I don't know how I managed to sneak in another 1000 in the last 30 days -- I was mostly huddling in bed sleeping off the February Blahs.

[Walter Roberson]

This afternoon, July 21 2012, I reached 15000 reputation -- and I still have two lives and one power-up pill remaining!

[Walter Roberson]

March 3, 2013 -- apparently I'm slowing down in my old age.

[Image Analyst]

You just passed 20,000 though! Almost 3 times as much as anyone else! You got 5000 points in like 7 months and it takes me maybe a year or two to accumulate 5000 points. Has anyone ever done a trendy on reputation? I think it would show Walter pulling away from the pack.

[Sven]

I've considered turning Oleg's code above into a trendy... I'd need to plot things on log scale however to give the rest of us some pixels on the graph.

[Walter Roberson]

The sampling a year ago, needed log log for useful representation.

[Walter Roberson]

April 1, 2013 - 21000. The end-of-year rush for assignments helps.

[Walter Roberson]

May 2, 2013 - over 4000 Accepted Answers.

[Walter Roberson]

Today I crossed 25009 reputation.

[Walter Roberson]

Dec 18 2013, 26003. (Noted for my own purposes.)

[Image Analyst]

Congratulations on attaining a reputation of 27003 on Jan 29, 2014.

[Image Analyst]

And today or yesterday Answers surpassed 100,000 questions. It's at 100,175 now.

[Sven]

Jan just entered the elite 5 figure club! Well done indeed.

[Walter Roberson]

Congratulations Jan!

[Walter Roberson]

For the record, it was another year and a half for the next 5000; I reached 30000 today May 21, 2015.

[Walter Roberson]

It turns out that Mathworks does not use a 16 bit signed integer to store reputation. It would have amused me to have "wrapped the table" at 32768 ;-)

[Cedric Wannaz]

Next check a little after 65535! ;-) And congratulations!

[Steven Lord]

Nah, a 32 bit integer should be good enough for anyone (unless you're planning to post an answer as popular as Gangnam Style.) grin

[Image Analyst]

Even if you did rollover/start over, you'd soon "lap" the rest of us and be in the lead again!

[Cedric Wannaz]

He would restart at −32,768, which would give us a few weeks ;-)

[Walter Roberson]

October 4, 2015: I reached 35002.

[Walter Roberson]

January 30, 2016: 40000 this morning.

[Star Strider]

Congratulations, Walter!

A very well-earned 40K!

[Image Analyst]

Yeah but not for long. 50 will be here before you know it.

[Walter Roberson]

Nah, this generation is like ours, never trust anyone over 40.

[Star Strider]

That allusion’s completely lost on anyone under 40!

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congratulations Walter!

[Chen Lin]

Congratulations, Walter! Awesome!

[Star Strider]

Congratulations to Image Analyst for 30,000!

Well earned!

[Image Analyst]

Thanks Star - I didn't even know until now.

[Star Strider]

My pleasure.

I sort of had a hand in that last vote!

[Walter Roberson]

Excellent! I have been watching Image Analyst get so close, but missed seeing the odometer roll over ;-)

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congratulations Image Analyst!

[Chen Lin]

Congratulations, Image Analyst! Thanks for your outstanding contributions.

[Walter Roberson]

May 18, 2016: 45000 reputation today. I passed 25000 Answers last week.

[Star Strider]

Congratulations, Walter!

You’ll likely be at 50K before the end of the year!

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congratulations Walter!

[Star Strider]

Congratulations again to Walter Roberson who has (as of the time of this Comment) achieved —

50011!

[Image Analyst]

Yes, congratulations!

[Rena Berman]

(Answers Dev) Congratulations!!!

[Walter Roberson]

I just reached 10000 Accepted ;-)

[Rena Berman]

Congratulations!!

[Chen Lin]

@walter Congratulations! Another milestone.

[Walter Roberson]

I reached 55000 reputation in the last couple of days, just shy of 5 months after 50000; so I am averaging about 1000 per month now, which is a little slower than before. About 1 1/3 points per hour ;-)

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) You'll be at 60,000 before we know it!

[Walter Roberson]

60000+ on July 6, 2017, so about 8 1/2 months for the last 10000.

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congratulations Walter!!!

[Chen Lin]

What a milestone! Congratulations.

[Kent Millard]

Well done!

[Walter Roberson]

75003 on June 17, 2018, so this 15000 took 11 1/4 months.

So I am still averaging less than 2 points per calendar hour ;-(

[Image Analyst]

Congratulations, but you'd better quit goofing off and get to work.

[Rena Berman]

(Answers Dev) Congratulations on an amazing achievement!!

[madhan ravi]

+1 nice to see the data logs it’s amazing to know the records being shattered by sir Walter

[Walter Roberson]

85001 on May 1, 2019, so 10000 in 10 1/2 months, definitely a slow down for me.

[Jan]

@Walter: The "slow down" does not necessarily reflect the intensity of your participation, but it can be a result of a changed behavior at voting and accepting.

[Image Analyst]

Well a lot of Walter's answers have actually been in places where they could earn no points, such as in a comment to someone else's answer, or in a comment to the poster up at the top. So changing that could get you back up to your normal warp speed pace.

[Walter Roberson]

I took some time off to play some random computer games.

[Jan]

For some years I've voted for any working solution and nice Matlab code. I admit that I have reduced my voting frequency without a good reason.

[Rena Berman]

(Answers Dev) Congratulations on passing 90,000!!! Amazing!

[Walter Roberson]

100k today. 8 months for the last 10k; and 50k took 46 months.

Answer 6

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congrats to Jan Simon who passed 20,000 points!

[Cedric Wannaz]

Congrats Jan!

[Walter Roberson]

Congratulations !

[Jan]

Thank you!

[Chen Lin]

Congratulations, Jan!

[Stephen23]

+1 for Jan Simon!

[Andrei Bobrov]

Super! You Jan and Walter - my MATLAB's mentors!

[Stephen23]

And now also congratuations to Jan on 30,000 points!

High quality advice and useful insights into MATLAB: thank you Jan!

[Walter Roberson]

Thanks to Jan!

[madhan ravi]

Thank you very much Jan!

[Rena Berman]

Congratulations Jan!! Thank you for all you do in MATLAB Answers!

[Jan]

Thanky you very much. It was a pleasure to participate in this forum.

Unfortunately I have severe problems on my 3 computers to use the interface of the forum in my favorite browser Firefox. I see attached images partially only and cannot use the buttons for flags, delete, insert links or images. The missing auto-correction is hard for me and the too smart auto-indentation and code-completion forces me to delete elements I did not insert before. To reduce such problems I've used an external editor to type my messages, but since the last change of the interface copy&paste of formatting characters does not work anymore.

I'm aware that other people do not suffer from such problems. I've re-installed Firefox, deleted all caches and settings, but to no avail. I do not have such problems in any other web service. I struggle too hard with the usability of the forum's interface and it is time for me to choose another hobby. Therefore I restrict myself now to answer questions for clarifications in my former contributions.

[Rik]

It is sad to see you leave (partially?), especially for a reason like this. I have learned much from you, and I am sure I'm not alone in that, so I hope to see in future posts as well. I want to thank you for the work you have done to make this community exactly that: a community. Thank you for being a random person on the internet that spends their time helping people.

[Adam Danz]

I remember when I first started using this forum to find answers I always found Jan's profile picture somehow comforting in my early years of using Matlab.

[Walter Roberson]

I kidded Jan that the reason he received so many private requests for help was due to his handsome friendly profile picture. He changed it. Turned out I was accidentally right: the number of requests he got dropped off notably.

[Adam Danz]

That's both hilarious and intriguing! Now I'm trying to remember his previous picture. Makes me want to try some AB testing on my own profile image.

[Image Analyst]

Do you mean this one:

or the prior one, where I think he had curly hair?

Answer 7

[Rena Berman]

(Answers dev) Congratulations to Madhan Ravi our newest (and probably fastest) rising star to get editor status at 3000 reputation points! Thank you so much for your efforts in answers!

[Steven Lord]

Congrats!

[Chen Lin]

This is an amazing achievement. Congratulations!

[Kent Millard]

Well done Madhan! Thanks for helping the community.

[madhan ravi]

Thank you everyone!

[Rik]

Congrats with this milestone. If you keep this up you'll overtake Walter within a year or two ;)

[madhan ravi]

Thank you , I don't think so Rik there are many milestones and sir Walter is a Matlab Legend (GOAT) - the patience and the humbleness that he has is extraordinary!

[Rena Berman]

Congratulations Madhan for being our latest to get the Master badge at 10000!!!! Thank you for all you have ben doing in Answers!

[Stephen23]

Welcome to the Master's club madhan ravi!

[madhan ravi]

Thank you Rena and Stephen!

[Stephan]

Congratulations Madhan!

[madhan ravi]

Thank you Stephan!

Answer 8

[Star Strider]

Congratulations to Guillaume who achieved 10000 Reputation Points today!

[Cedric Wannaz]

Well, belated congratulations as I spot this comment now!

Answer 9

[Rena Berman]

(Answers Dev) Congratulations to Stephen Cobeldick who passed 10,000 points and earned the Master Badge!

[Cedric Wannaz]

Congratz Stephen!

[Chen Lin]

Congratulations, Stephen. What a milestone!

[Stephen23]

Thank you all! It did rather creep up on me, I only noticed yesterday.

[Walter Roberson]

Congrats!