Maybe so, but the first step of problem solving is identifying the problem. And problems come from people.
(from that comment you referenced) > So maybe if this were to be adjusted so that it was more of a place to talk about problems you wish people would solve. > Why not structure it as a place for people to complain about inefficiencies.
This is what "Issues" on Thinkerous are. We'll make it more clear. Thanks!
What? Ranking by the number of likes/upvotes (which is the method I see when looking at the Hot view) is not "ranking ideas based on the importance of the issues they solve."
I know CMU teaches actual algorithms for this type of ranking, because I went there. :P
Issues are a bit simpler in that they mostly are based on activity related to them. However doesn't it make sense that an issue that's popular would reflect the magnitude of it's importance?
Not exactly. You're confusing correlation with causation.
On sites with Reddit-like rankings, the number of votes which a submission receives is one of the primary causes for the subsequent number of comments/activity of those respective submissions. And "importance" is not necessarily causal to submission ranking (aggregators are weird).
Nothing on the site seems to force people to implement solutions to the problems - which means it's an option not a requirement of the service and definitely doesn't "come first."
I think there is power in a "pain-point" ranking service, if that is what you guys are going for. Definitely needs to be redesigned to make that clear if that is the case.
Ideas are just ideas. Actually solving problems requires a different skillset that can't be accomplished with the "magic" of crowdsourcing. Calling this a "problem solving website" is incredibly misleading.