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12:00 PM
@Louis me too...comments always end bad for me...also, flags don't remain anonymous if you comment
I avoid anything that requires leaving a comment
 
A moment ago, in my head. "OMG! +98?! Did one of my answers on a bounty question come to fruition? Hmm.... er... no... it's the Drupal association bonus..."
I'm careful about comments.
I've not had a terrible experience but I've gotten revenge downvotes and got sucked into pointless "discussions" a few times.
 
@InfiniteRecursion ok... then why not downvote?
 
@JanDvorak read all of them and form your opinion
 
12:08 PM
also, I was saying downvoting spam answer isn't bad...and Patrick did the right thing. As for the rest, read and form your own opinion.
@JanDvorak I never said don't downvote spam, you are the one telling everyone not to downvote spam...it dilutes signal and something something which I don't read :P
 
user259867
 
user259867
^ do not downvote, as to not dilute the signal.
 
What's the flag for a spam comment. I've flagged as rude, since spamming is rude.
 
@Louis it would depend on the comment
 
flagged other
 
12:39 PM
Well, assuming there is no clear specific flag that applies.
I thought about other but I get the impression that "other" is not presented to the mods with urgency by the system.
 
@Louis comments are slightly different because they appear in a different queue and they are very easy to act on
 
user259867
I think "other" flags do not auto-kill the comment, no matter how many. So I flag not constructive, which should kill automatically.
 
@Rafflesiaarnoldii not necessarily automatic
 
user259867
@bluefeet In sufficient quantity?
 
@Rafflesiaarnoldii depends on if the comment contains "black-listed" content or if the comment has other flags - then it potentially would disappear
 
user259867
12:42 PM
Yes, the multiple flags is what I am going after -- posting in the Tavern should bring a few of them to the comment.
 
user259867
Part of consideration is that there are no "real" mods on Meta, so flags are not very quick to be processed.
 
It's a pretty sad day when a guy does not know whether an abused rock or his wife broke his wrist.
 
Low Quality A (31.7%): EXTM3U EXT-X-VERSION:3 EX..., by Brar Saab, on superuser.com.
 
spam^
 
[ SmokeDetector ] URL in title: Que problemas podem ocorrer ao usar a namespace “tempuri.org” em nossos webServices? by Guilherme J Santos on pt.stackoverflow.com
 
1:43 PM
" I posted a question on Programmers because I am blocked from asking on Stack overflow" -- WRONG!!! — Jan Dvorak 14 secs ago
too rude?
 
Kinda
 
Then again, there's a reason why you are blocked...
 
Martijn to the rescue.
 
I also think the downvotes on that question are a little unfortunate. The user seems to be genuinely asking what they're doing wrong.
 
Myeah, meta voting culture has been annoying me for a while now.
 
1:46 PM
+1/-1, neither of which is mine
 
Wow, I just checked back but that ELU meta post doesn't really provide high hopes for the site.
 
@Bart, ELU?
 
English Language & Usage
 
ah.... I know the site, but "ELU" does not immediately bring up that site in my head unless I have prior context that it is what we are talking about.
 
You missed the earlier discussion about meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/5345/…
 
2:00 PM
Hey all... What does "justify" mean? Sorry for stupid question
 
Verb: justify (third-person singular simple present justifies, present participle justifying, simple past and past participle justified)
  1. (transitive) To provide an acceptable explanation for.
  2. (transitive) To be a good, acceptable reason for; warrant.
  3. (transitive) To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.
  4. (transitive) To absolve, and declare to be free of blame or sin
  5. Bible, Acts xiii. 39
  6. To prove; to ratify; to confirm.
 
o/
 
\o
 
My shortest answer yet:
0
A: what to do with obsolete comments

J. MusserYes.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

 
One third of that answer is written in upper case. Stop shouting please.
 
2:04 PM
@Bart one fourth
 
:D
Fair enough. I'll let it go this time.
 
@Bart Well now. I should have posted, 'yes'
 
@Bart If ELU starts allowing irrelevant contents in answers, they are headed towards the garbage heap. I'm surpised no mod has weighed in with an actual answer to that meta post.
 
Exactly @Louis. Such an attitude won't scale, especially not if the site grows substantially.
But that might be one of those "they'll find out he hard way" cases.
 
*the
 
2:10 PM
My offensive flag nuked the comment
 
Haha, my 4 char answer just got accepted.
 
There really needs to be a "severly trivial" close reason!
I think that question can be solved by searching MSE... there's a guide for comment flagging, it answers what to do with obsolete comments
 
@Unihedron It's good to have an on-meta reference also, with a straightforward simple answer.
 
@Unihedron grr, now I can't edit ...
 
@Bart I waited for 2 minutes. ;)
@Frank s,simple,your
 
2:16 PM
@Unihedron /me takes mental note ... one day ...
 
Yes, a mind of revenge full of you are! Keep calm!
And uh, may the force be with you. I gotta do something. I might be back later.
 
@Unihedron cya
 
ELU does have issues, not just today, have been on that site for some time and observed them. This user often compares everything to SO for some inexplicable reason:
Seriously, on Stack Overflow I'm sure much worse happens. Do I need to trudge through the posts and pick out the memes that have become legendary over there? Can't we have some "related" banter and exchange between ourselves? The question itself was not exactly high brow stuff was it? — Mari-Lou A 12 mins ago
A mod left a tiny comment, good to see they are noticing the issue.
Keep it civil, folks. — Matt Эллен ♦ 3 hours ago
 
2:26 PM
Noticing that issue? I'd expect a mod to actually step in with, you know, an actual answer.
 
It might not be the answer you'd hope for
 
I didn't even expect this tiny comment, I don't keep very high expectations from that community
 
It's an interesting site. I've followed it for a while and thought about joining it. But something about it makes me hold back.
 
Same for me, I like tchrist's posts a lot.
 
I know a guy on there who has over 30k.
 
2:34 PM
@uni: justify means the act of providing arguments to support a side ( may be a person, cause or anything). Like they do in a courtroom, each side justifies itself to obtain justice. The act of establishing your point as the truth.
Speaking from a Stack Overflow perspective, sure, much worse has happened @Mari-LouA. Not so much on the meme level (that is more Meta SO than SO) but the site has its history. But it has changed. And you know why? Because it simply doesn't scale. Small communities can manage a bit of "banter". And there is indeed an aspect of "between ourselves" when you start of. But as you grow (and let's hope that happens) you'll notice sooner or later that you'll need to narrow down and focus. Focus on the real answer. And that's what the edit did. It was substantial, but it highlighted. — Bart 11 mins ago
 
Oh holy crap. "start of" .... really Bart? Grr. I give up.
 
88
Q: On beta sites, the monospace formatting in a spoiler quote is evil.

DanielIt doesn't reproduce on Meta, but it will on any beta site. To see an example, check out this meta.chess post: Edit: I noticed that on SciFi, English, Area 51, and Electrical Engineering (at least - those are the only ones I've tried), spoilers with monospace will show the monospace part...

I like that one^
 
Good for you @Bart, some things can be learnt only when one uses the site for a longer time. No matter what you say, she won't understand it.
 
I officially proposed renaming pizza flavoured chips to bacon flavoured. They taste nothing like pizza, anyway.
 
The quote that - There is great difference between knowing a thing and understanding a thing, is something I learnt on wikipedia, and hopefully they will learn on ELU.
 
2:44 PM
[ SmokeDetector ] URL in title: Que problemas podem ocorrer ao usar a namespace “tempuri.org” em nossos webServices? by Guilherme J Santos on pt.stackoverflow.com
 
Then again @InfiniteRecursion, I'm primarily a Stack Overflow user. (And even that in limited for lately) I can't pretend to have the full knowledge on what will work for every site. Heck, not even for SO. So there needs to be a liberal grain of salt added to whatever I say there.
 
You are primarily a MSE user @Bart, your account with highest rep is MSE :D
 
Hahaha, nah. Rep there is far too easy to get.
 
*here
 
^^ made you look
 
2:48 PM
Which one @uni? All of Bart's messages are pointless in general, I am confused. Which one are you referring to?
 
@InfiniteRecursion I seeded that pointless message so I can correct Bart's grammar in place without his ability to fix it, laugh out loud zebras.
 
Troll :P
 
@Unihedron nope, "there". This is chat, not the site. :p
 
shrug.
 
^he "justified"
 
2:52 PM
looks away like nothing happened
heya folks!
 
Heya!
 
when did sede last update?
 
Monday.
 
k
 
2:55 PM
Sunday, 3 am UTC
 
Well, it depends on which timezone you're referring to, @Frank.
 
What time utc
@InfiniteRecursion Oh, cool.
 
Unnecessary Exclamation point! — Won't 12 mins ago
 
That means I'm 12 questions away from socratic gold.
On GL.
My GL profile has ten times the views of my profile on the child meta there.
298 on GL, 29 on their meta.
 
Child metas get much less traffic, read that in some post by one of the CMs on MSO
 
3:00 PM
I know.
 
I think by Shog where he mentioned why SE posts the proposals on MSO instead of posting them on blogs. Somewhere they wrote child metas get a tiny fraction of the traffic.
 
This post got even more views than the pro-tem announcement. by like 3
 
Popular question badge anytime soon? :)
 
Unnecessary recursion. — Won't 1 min ago
:D
 
Now it's just waiting for "Necessary comment cleanup."
 
3:09 PM
soo many comments to flag as too chatty
 
Nooooo
Meta is more lenient in terms of comments
 
@AndrewT. flagged
 
You don't flag @bluefeet. You nuke and suspend.
 
@Bart I can't it's MSE
 
Nooooooooooooooooooooo
 
3:12 PM
we lost our meta privs with the split
 
Unnecessary last word. — Won't 2 mins ago
Unnecessary recursion of the last word @Won't — Infinite Recursion 48 secs ago
You are conspiring to get me suspended @Bart !!
 
@InfiniteRecursion @Bart is always conspiring something, so it's not weird
 
It saves me from using my smiting stick too often @Braiam. They are too expensive to use all the time.
 
Unnecessary failed attempt to have the last word @Won't — Infinite Recursion 1 min ago
Unnecessary admission that I have lost and concede the unnecessary battle. — Won't 47 secs ago
 
3:19 PM
I miss him as a mod.
 
Won't
Will
Either
 
Was he a mod?
 
LOL, comment thread nuked
 
Hahaha! Read the conversation.
 
3:22 PM
Will/Won't is one of my favourite users...his sense of humour is adorable.
 
59
Q: What happened to Will?

UndoI just noticed Will's profile on Stack Overflow (and Wont's on MSO.) I could have sworn Will used to have a Diamond. Now he does not. I've searched Meta for an explanation. Nothing found. What happened to everyone's favorite moderator?

 
Ohh noes!! Who flagged those comments?? :/
 
> That last post, by me, comes across as rude, and I’m sorry. If you could sprinkle that with a few ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and a little humility, that would be great.
 
I think Shog nuked those comments :(
 
mm... SE dies for me from time to time...
should we help bringing this whole QA score down?
 
3:35 PM
No, we don't gang-vote
 
err... is CW'ed, and closed
 
I sometimes gang-vote by myself, but don't have the priv on SO.
:D
 
want to install VS 2013 Community, but look at other Microsoft's mess on "Uninstall Programs" list. Decided to removed everything that can be removed, I hope I'm still alive in the next 5 hours
 
Unnecessary complement. @InfiniteRecursion — Won't 4 mins ago
:D
 
You said 'most favourite'. The 'most' is bad grammar.
 
3:43 PM
True, favourite is only one...but it's too late to edit out the "most" now.
 
I wonder why you wrote it in the first place. That would be a wild typo...
 
@AndrewT. Please be safe!
and be sure to google and make sure they're bloatware, and not some executable your browser would not run without.
 
Now and then when I try to type 'to', and end up with 'typo' because of hitting too many keys.
 
I was emotional after reading the post @Frank, that's the secret behind the wild typo.
Words are powerful, they move you.
So are flags, someone nuked our comments :(
 
:D
Were they constructive?
 
3:50 PM
No.
 
Well then.
 
:)
 
:)
 
3:52 PM
):
 
[ SmokeDetector ] All-caps title: ABOUT FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES IN HYDROGEN by vamshi krishna potluri on physics.stackexchange.com
 
Ole smokey does his best to join face-train...
 
@InfiniteRecursion Especially if the words are "Fus Ro Dah"
2
 
@SPArchaeologist lol
 
This is sick:
 
4:02 PM
@InfiniteRecursion naw, still waking up - but that is how I found it (and fixed it)
 
pass along the coffee jar to @Shog9
 
o/
 
Sam
\o/
 
4:25 PM
Does anyone have examples where SE had to step in to bring back in line a "rogue" SE site?
2
 
Does beta sites count?
 
@Louis I recall islam.se
 
A site that is out of beta would be more persuasive. I'm asking in the context of the nonsense going on at ELU.
 
Hey look, people finally starred a message that wasn't a joke/dumb! Way to go users
 
@Braiam Thanks.
 
4:30 PM
How to flag:
 
NAA
or spam
 
user259867
Spam
 
@Braiam Do you recall what the issue was with that site?
 
user259867
23
Q: Take pride in your community, and work to build a site you can be proud of

Shog9I wish I didn't have to write this. But this site is in trouble. Nearly two years ago, one of my co-workers at the time wrote Why Sectarianism is Ruining Your Site, warning y'all about the dangers of allowing inflammatory, accusatory discourse to flourish. And yet here we are, many months la...

 
user259867
And something to balance it off with...
 
user259867
4:31 PM
Aug 4 at 17:21, by Shog9
A lesson hard-learned during my time with SE has been that it is near-impossible to solve large behavioral problems by attacking them head-on. You have to convince a few people that there's a better way, and they'll do the same for a few more, and eventually you have enough believers to actually make a dent in it.
 
thanks!
 
@Shog9 Good Morning and thanks for fixing it :)
 
How about NotProgramming.SE?
(was it the name?)
 
@AndrewT. Yeah. I thought about that one.
 
4:43 PM
@AndrewT. Yahoo Answers?
 
I'm unsure how it played out though. Was it that the mods there pulled the alarm and said, let's clean house? Or did SE step in to clean the mess?
 
@Rafflesiaarnoldii Not sure how much that post helped improve the quality of the site though. IMO it's still a disaster.
 
64
Q: Are you still confused about what Programmers is for?

Robert HarveyI'm going to try and keep this short, because a lot of it has already been discussed. If you are interested in the history, you can find it here on Programmers Meta, but here's a very brief recap: Programmers started out life as "Not Programming Related." It was supposed to be a haven for all...

Maybe there is a former post
 
1
A: Markdown to HTML, again

konijnContrary to your claims to not be crazy, I am not convinced. Using random characters is simply crazy. If I were you I would change the charCode in the string to charCodes with a value under 32 (control characters) that are not 9, 10 or 13. Since you need 14 replacement chars I would go for 1 (S...

\o/
 
@AndrewT. Thanks. this is extremely useful.
 
4:47 PM
31
Q: The Six Subjective Question Guidelines -- Enforcement Notice

Jeff AtwoodJust a quick note here on meta to let everyone know we will be enforcing these six subjective question guidelines. Great subjective questions... inspire answers that explain “why” and “how”. tend to have long, not short, answers. have a constructive, fair, and impartial tone. invite sharing e...

 
@JanDvorak Are you are a contributer on Yahoo answers? You always mention it. Never heard of it before coming to the tavern.
 
Shog9, did you see this?
-1
Q: Editing policy for responses to Questions: should we allow the edit to change the response?

Roaring FishI am aware that we already have this question about editing OP posts, but I would like to raise a similar issue about editing answers to the OP. I recently had a response edited in this thread, where the edit was deleting the whole post except the first sentence. Naturally, I rolled it back. Thi...

 
@InfiniteRecursion no
 
That's what prompted me to check whether SE ever stepped in to reassert the common values of the whole network.
An edit was made there to remove irrelevant contents, and the response from the community over at ELU is utterly baffling.
I read it basically as "irrelevant contents does not matter. We're okay with it. It can stay."
 
@Louis what about it?
 
4:53 PM
@Shog9 The response seems to indicate that irrelevant contents is okay as far as that community is concerned. Note that I've check that earlier when the votes were different than they are now so it seems that the tide is changing now but I'm still baffled that there is support at all for irrelevant content. (and I find the silence of the moderators there troubling.)
 
@Louis moderators don't need to weigh in on every discussion.
 
perhaps they don't consider the content irrelevant?
 
That said, I am struggling a bit to understand why this wasn't posted on Movies & TV
5
 
@Shog9 True but since keeping the answers relevant to the site is such a core notion, and because there seem to be such support for keeping the irrelevant content, I'd expect a mod to, you know, say something.
 
Looks like I will be the first user on SO to get the Marshal badge with only an association bonus for rep. Cool.
 
4:57 PM
@Shog9 Lightness will be glad to hear that you agree. :)
 
meh; fixing that one answer doesn't really address the issue here
 
@JanDvorak the answers I've seen (formal answers and comments) seem to take the relevance for granted. Nobody is explaining why it is relevant.
 
But, EL&U does have something of a history of these sorts of questions
"Here's a really specific scenario - what's a word that describes it?"
 
@Louis I don't find the irrelevant parts to be actively harmful to keep
 
31
Q: Single word requests, crosswords, and the fight against mediocrity

Shog9A call to action This topic has been brought up here numerous times before, most recently by JSBangs: I'm now of the opinion that single word requests should be either disallowed entirely or subject to much more stringent requirements. The reasons are as follows: We get lots of...

 
4:59 PM
... and radical edits are frequently rejected even if correct
 
@JanDvorak So, post an answer and include with it something which is a long reflection about something utterly tangential? That's not my idea of a quality Q&A site.
 
noted
 
It does give out the signal that it's acceptable, which lowers the overall quality.
3
 
noted
the meta question is at -1 now
 
Is c# the gold tag badge awarded the most times?
 
5:02 PM
Your edit might get reapplied
@Frank Most of the awards go to Jon Skeet
 
Who are you, Shog9? Your words are true, but your identity is new; how do you know so well our problems? I was about to post a question to meta asking if we could add an option for closing called 'question is dumb'. — Mitch Nov 15 '11 at 20:16
Haha
@JanDvorak So I saw.
 
Jon Skeet has so much reputation he's got the gold C# badge multiple times.
 
@Frank yeah, ELU doesn't like any external or third point of view about how they use their site
 
@Braiam which could lead to their demise
 
for some reason starts remembering the spam fiasco
 
5:06 PM
They don't edit their spam anymore, do they?
 
beats me...
 
[ SmokeDetector ] Bad keyword in title, Phone number detected: +91-9950211818 vash ikaran specialist baba ji in agra by mojalaji on english.stackexchange.com
 
@SmokeDetector tp
 
@JanDvorak Registered as true positive: added title to Bayesian doctype 'bad'.
 
actually...
@SmokeDetector tpu
 
5:10 PM
@JanDvorak Registered as true positive: added title to Bayesian doctype 'bad' and blacklisted user.
 
(still at -2)
 
Just flagged'
64
Q: Why this code throws 'Collection was modified' and when I iterate something before it, it doesn't?

LyingOnTheSkyvar ints = new List< int >( new[ ] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 } ); var first = true; foreach( var v in ints ) { if ( first ) { for ( long i = 0 ; i < int.MaxValue ; ++i ) { //<-- The thing I iterate ints.Add( 1 ); ints.RemoveAt( ints.Count - 1 ); } ints.Ad...

Skeet really needs the +200 bounty.
He's not at 1m yet.
 
@SmokeDetector so ironic that we were just discussing about that site
 
still not edited though
 
@SmokeDetector a slice of spam gone
 
5:15 PM
I haz only 8 helpful flags on tat site...
 
1
Q: What is that word?

SrJovenYou know, that word that's on the tip of your tongue. It's that elusive word that escapes the brain but you know it's there. I can't exactly place it. But if you mention it, I'll recognize it immediately. I tried searching the web for it but I don't know the search terms for that word. I'd fin...

@Jan ^that is a true lazy op
 
5
A: what to do with obsolete comments

J. MusserYes.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Haha! 5 now.
That was so dumb.
 
@ermanen I will accept that it's a duplicate. I was having a bit of fun and was interested to see comments and answers. Ah, well. — SrJoven 54 mins ago
@SrJoven: Ah, sorry to be the killjoy then :) But at least I secured your question and it won't be closed. — ermanen 52 mins ago
^SO never has that kind of fun between close voter and asker :(
That canonical dupe is so funny, I still didn't figure how they answered it.
@Rafflesiaarnoldii, you should try a Chinese name once they implement this meta.stackexchange.com/q/243577/245167
 
5:37 PM
I stumbled upon a forum from an answer on android.se
The forum itself has a section called "SPAM" that stores... spam post? (the spammers were banned though)
First time I saw someone doing that...
 
Well, I stepped into the fray...
0
A: Editing policy for responses to Questions: should we allow the edit to change the response?

LouisThe Immediate Issue As deleting 90+% of a post is without a doubt changing the nature and content of the response, what is the purpose of an edit: tidy up the language and formatting, or change the answer? The amount of change is not in and of itself determinative of whether an edit is corr...

 
> I'll note here that I the time [...]
@Louis 3rd paragraph, typo?
 
@AndrewT. Yes, thanks.
I don't care if someone can go into my history, point and laugh.
But I do appreciate the help in fixing what I have published.:)
@InfiniteRecursion What was the typo you saw?
 
No it's fine...my mistake, I thought it's a typo.
 
> Allowing irrelevant contents degrades quality, and this goes to the core of what being a quality Questions and Answers site means
 
5:48 PM
@InfiniteRecursion okay :)
 
Kudos for making the effort...very well written @Louis
 
not to be nitpicking, but I think it's either "Q&A" or "question and answer" (no capital)
final paragraph btw
 
Jan, have I killed your grammar nazi enthusiasm completely?
 
@AndrewT. I've changed it.
 
@InfiniteRecursion well, you didn't like it, did you?
 
5:53 PM
@Louis ok, looks good to me, +1
 
Thanks.
 
@JanDvorak Eeek!! Not like questions again.
 
well then...
@InfiniteRecursion *"I thought it was a typo". You have to match the tenses
 
user259867
@JanDvorak why is tpu ever needed? Spammers are usually destroyed and in any case rarely use same account twice on the same site.
 
Sam
Grammar nazi on patrol, again...
 
5:58 PM
@Rafflesiaarnoldii a community-nuke doesn't destroy the account
 
user259867
I know, but reviewing the helpful flags I usually find users destroyed
 
@JanDvorak ...
 

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