[wp-forums] Pasting Code

[Handy]

On 9/8/06, Austin Matzko <if.website at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 9/8/06, Michael B <miklb.online at gmail.com> wrote:
> > We could have wordpress.pastebin.ca and encourage all code pasted there.
> > Looking at their features, the code is permanently archived, unless the
> user
> > sets a time frame for the code.
>
> I'm concerned that in our zeal to clean up the appearance of the
> forums, we're going to hurt those who would otherwise find helpful
> code snippets in the future.  The odds are probably not that good that
> whatever external pastebin site will maintain links and/or still be
> around as long as the WordPress support forums.
>
> As far as server space goes, code is cheap--it's just text.  How about
> using CSS (and perhaps JavaScript for IE support) to give <code>
> blocks a maximum height, beyond which scroll bars appear?  That way
> those who are offended by code won't have to see it, and those who
> find it helpful can scroll to get what they want.
>

Snippets will always be there.
Everyone loves snippets, even Aunt Millie.

But it's stunning how many people want to paste in an entire sidebar.php.
Or single.php.  Or... maybe it's stunning how often we resort to asking to
see the bloody thing so that we might figure out what the theme author was
up to.

Paste it in wrong (no backticks) and the thread is borked.  lists and links
are converted, etc.  I'm dismayed at how much time I spend quietly following
after people fixing code pastes.  Sick compulsion of mine, sure.  But man, a
good sidebar paste can thoroughly wreck our forums!

And I absolutely hate scrolling more than I have to.

If the concern is longevity, why not propose that Matt host the pastebin?
Hell, people can put the junk in their codex userspace with <pre> and <code>
tags.  Ok, that last part was wishful thinking.