Tavern on the Meta

michaelb958

12:23 AM

Fun fact: There was a really big spike in upvotes on SO on 19 December 2012.

ajax333221

1:44 AM

maybe I contributed that day

unlikely, I didn't do any actions that day. edit: maybe I was too busy upvoting? edit2: not even with all my votes I couldn't possibly do any difference

ɥʇǝS

4:11 AM

Getting some spam on ham.se beta.. ham.stackexchange.com/questions/614/…

Any CMs around?

Well, gone now. Didn't expect such fast removal.

jmac

5:09 AM

@ajax333221 Want the badge? It isn't tough, just follow this helpful advice from jmort:

Pro-tip: To earn a gold badge on Stack Overflow, do a search for "same problem" and have a "not an answer" flag heyday!

Tweeted by jmort253 on November 6, 2013 at 7:19 AM

Johannes Kuhn

7:15 AM

How to farm reputation: regex

1

Q: How to get whole string after first slash(/) using regexp in tcl

I have been trying to get all the characters after the first slash using regexp in Tcl. What is want is this: abc/def/ghi from the above string i want def/ghi. I tried using the below command, but its only giving ghi set abc [regexp {([^/]*)$} $string match]

balpha

8:28 AM

@ThiefMaster Yes, it should indeed. Fixed.

brasofilo

10:48 AM

A Shopping Question to rule them all
http://stackoverflow.com/q/19856695

Cole Johnson

6:40 PM

I know a close flag on a question puts it in the queue. But because I have over 3k rep, I can cast close votes. Do those close votes push them to the queue? Would a flag+close push it to the queue?

I ask because I came across some old questions (from last year) and cast a close vote on them, but they were never closed. Err. Put on hold

Were they pushed to the queue and just less than 4 others thought the same?

Bart

6:55 PM

Given the size of the queue reviewers might not have gotten to them before votes expired?

Bart

7:24 PM

You've got to love Packt publishing. If they don't ask me to write a book because I'm an "expert" in a topic I know very little about, they ask me to review things because I'm such a pro in a subject I've only ever answered a question or two about on SO.

Anna Lear

7:49 PM

@gparyani Please stop flagging the same post as not an answer. Thanks.

@Bart Once in a while I'm tempted to accept one of those offers and see about producing the worst book on the subject ever.

@ColeJohnson A close vote will also place the question in /review, but the queue is large so right now some close votes age off before the question actually goes through review.

Bart

If anything they've achieved that I will never ever buy a book they're publishing @AnnaLear.

user215114

8:17 PM

@AnnaLear But it isn't an answer...

Anna Lear

@gparyani It's meta. There are a lot of things (especially on old posts) that aren't an answer. That question alone probably has at least two more. Don't worry about it.

user215114

@AnnaLear It's so controversial, isn't it? 2 times helpful, 2 times disputed, and 1 time declined. But why is there no evidence to support the flag?

Anna Lear

@gparyani Three different mods looked at those flags + all the users who marked "not an answer" flags as invalid (that's how you get to "disputed"). It's time to let that one go.

Out of curiosity, though, (and not as an invitation to go flag others as well), why only flag one of the technically-not-answers on that page?

user215114

@AnnaLear Anyway' I'll stop. I only reflag if it is disputed or deemed helpful with no action taken.

user215114

@AnnaLear One time, I even had a post that I flagged and reflagged and it wad "declined - are you still flagging this, really?" Who did that?

Anna Lear

8:25 PM

no idea, but in general reflagging the same post with the same flag is frowned upon

if you think a mod made the wrong call, flag as "other" and explain your reasoning

user215114

Then that bug that allows one to circumvent the restriction of flagging as "not an answer" that uses custom flags should be fixed.

Bart

What bug is that?

user215114

If you try to use the "it is not an answer" option twice, it will fail, but if you custom flag and type in "not an answer" exactly, it will treat it as a normal not an answer flag.

user215114

This permits others to flag as "not an answer" more than once on the same post.

user215114

Interestingly, the same behavior does not occur with "very low quality"...

user215114

8:28 PM

See here: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/202336/…

user215114

4

Q: How was my custom flag disputed?

Once upon a time, I flagged this answer as "not an answer", which was deemed helpful, but no action was taken on it. However, I flagged it again recently with a custom flag and I typed in "not an answer" for the reason, and it was disputed. I thought that custom flags were treated with confidenti...

support flags disputed-flags

Bart

Meh, like Animuson says, not that big a deal. So you found a loophole. Just don't use it.

Anna Lear

Or report it on meta so that it can be fixed.

user215114

If this issue is fixed, what will happen to my existing flags?

user215114

Is there anyone else (aside frome me and animuson) who has taken advantage of this loophole?

Anna Lear

8:35 PM

they'd probably get reviewed eventually?

are you actually avoiding reporting a bug because you enjoy abusing it? ;)

user215114

No, I'm going to report it.

Anna Lear

it's not a big deal either way

user215114

But it will take some time for someone to fix it...

user215114

Okay, let's talk about something else now.

user215114

What has been the progress on this bug?

user215114

8:37 PM

35

Q: "This edit would have to be a suggested edit" / edit button grayed out

A couple of times recently when I attempted to edit a post while reviewing it from the "First Posts" queue, I received the following message when I tried to submit the form: This edit would have to be a suggested edit. (x) This is a rather cryptic message, considering that edits made from a re...

support editing review suggested-edits error-message

Bart

Not really a bug, is it? Just the message that could use some rewording.

user215114

That's what I meant.

Johannes Kuhn

I have a question that I'd like to ask on The Workplace, the type "I think something at my workplace is going wrong, what can I do to change it?". But I don't really like that someone who knows where I'm working knows that about my employer.

Bart

So create a different account for the question @JohannesKuhn?

Johannes Kuhn

Won't it associate the accounts?

ThiefMaster

8:43 PM

use a separate browser/profile and a different email address/openid

Bart

Just use different OpenIDs

user215114

Just sign in with a different one-click-logon profile.

Anna Lear

Workplace also allows anonymous questions, so you could log out and make an Unregistered profile at the time of asking. (But do use a completely unrelated email.)

ThiefMaster

workplace is actually one of the SE sites where being able to post anonymously without losing the benefits of being logged in would be nice

Anna Lear

If it does get linked to your main profile, give me a shout and I'll disassociate.

Bart

8:44 PM

Added bonus of an extra account: you can use it as a sock-puppet to upvote your other accounts .......

Johannes Kuhn

BART!!!

user215114

@Bart Those would be reverted anyway, right?

Johannes Kuhn

I wouldn't do that.

user215114

I heard someone got suspended for doing that.

Johannes Kuhn

not if you just upvote a few. and some posts of others as well.

Bart

8:45 PM

That's how I got my ... I mean ... I've heard that some .... a friend of a friend ..... drat.

user215114

"voting irregularities"

Bart

@gparyani top tip: 95% of what I say is nonsense. The other 5% is suspicious.

3

user215114

Speaking of one-click logons, is Stack Exchange planning to add the Microsoft account as a logon provider?

Bart

Is that OpenID?

user215114

I only use my Google account as a one-click logon provider since many sites support it. I mostly use only my Microsoft account.

user215114

8:48 PM

If sites had supported it from the start, I would have not created it...

Johannes Kuhn

It would be nice if you can't see that I have an account on religon/workplace in my SO profile.

Anna Lear

@gparyani No plans at the moment.

user215114

About the Wheel of Blame...is it a good idea if Community gets added to that wheel?

Anna Lear

@gparyani as in, Community user or community team? ;)

When in doubt, blame Shog9.

user215114

user -1

user215114

8:55 PM

The user with the Stack Exchange logo.

Bart

Ah, Dave.

user215114

Speaking of Shog9, did he change his name to ShogDYIN' on Halloween? Does he do that every year?

Anna Lear

He did. And not that I recall.

To be fair, I barely recall what happened earlier this week, nevermind what happened on previous Halloweens.

user215114

Other than that, I wanted to talk to you about a feature request that I created that is good for me given the kinds of questions that I ask, but has been downvoted by the community as they don't like it.

user215114

-6

Q: Is there any way to get notified of someone posting a duplicate of your own question?

I've been known for asking really interesting questions here on Meta. I know about the "Linked" bar at the right side of the question that inludes all of the linked as well as backlinked questions and duplicate questions. My question is: does the Stack Exchange notification system send me a notif...

discussion support exact-duplicates notifications

Anna Lear

8:59 PM

Okay, what about it?

user215114

I made it into a feature request at one point, but then rolled it back. Take a look at the revision history.

user215114

Besides, what's wrong about it?

Anna Lear

It's tagged [feature-request] now, so that seems to have resolved itself.

user215114

The edit message "typo" was just me overlooking the existence of the 5-minute grace period

Anna Lear

It's not phrased as a feature request, which is probably why someone rolled it back, but I see where you're going with it.

user215114

9:01 PM

I rolled it back.

Bart

And the feature-request might explain the downvotes as well

Anna Lear

As far as the actual request goes, I agree with Woobles - people who once upon a time asked a common/popular questions would likely hate that feature. We don't have any plans to implement something like that right now.

user215114

I don't want to have to keep checking the Linked bar for duplicate questions.

user215114

I feel scared to fix a typo on it, as it would go to the homepage, possibly incurring me more downvotes.

user215114

What should I do?

Anna Lear

9:04 PM

Leave it?

Don't worry about downvotes?

Remove the feature-request tag?

:)

Bart

Would it appear on there at all at -6?

Anna Lear

yes

-8 is the cutoff on meta

Bart

Ah, -5 is SO?

Anna Lear

-4

Bart

Well, we could downvote it a little, so you can safely edit it, and won't have to worry about downvotes.

Anna Lear

9:06 PM

@Bart hah

user215114

Another question: What is the fate of most heavily-downvoted questions in which someone puts a bounty on it?

Anna Lear

@gparyani Depends on the question?

In most cases putting a bounty on them is probably a waste of your rep.

user215114

I said, "most questions".

user215114

Are the bounties removed most of the time?

Anna Lear

No

Bart

9:08 PM

Why would they be?

user215114

Just asking.

user215114

I proposed an FAQ about aged away flags. But there is still something unresolved about it:

user215114

12

Q: When are moderator flags automatically dismissed as "aged away" by the system?

Moderator flags can be dismissed as aged away. What does this dismiss reason mean? What causes flags to be dismissed with this reason? Do aged away flags affect my daily flag amount? Return to FAQ index

support flags faq-proposed aged-away

Anna Lear

@gparyani what do you mean?

user215114

Look at my comment on the answer.

Anna Lear

9:12 PM

hmm

I'll double-check that later

user215114

9:23 PM

Anyhow, do you know of anyone else who has aged away flags?

Transcript for