Tavern on the Meta

12:00 AM

bbspot.com/news/2000/6/php_suspend.html

"A teacher overheard him say that he was using PHP, and as part of our Zero-Tolerance policy against drug use, he was immediately suspended. No questions asked," said Principal Clyde Thurlow. "We're not quite sure what PHP is, but we suspect it may be a derivative of PCP, or maybe a new designer drug like GHB."

Jason C

@hichris123 No.

The Wobbuffet

Meh

anyway, as far as I know, there's a mod tool that can find correlations between users magically

Jason C

@TheWobbuffet You cannot get the MAC address. The MAC address is not transmitted outside the physical segment of the source. It wouldn't even make it past the client's router.

Braiam

@TheWobbuffet that has to be trolling

The Wobbuffet

Okay

Must be... read the end

hichris123

12:03 AM

@TheWobbuffet How'd you find that?

The Wobbuffet

Doorknob sent me a link on skype

Braiam

@Braiam that's Mr. Community♦ to you. :P — terdon ♦ 9 mins ago

Jason C

@Braiam "Mister" Community♦ LOL

The Wobbuffet

Anyway, I don't see how it could be harmful for the community to know how this mod tool works

hichris123

@TheWobbuffet Because people can try to get around it.

Jason C

12:07 AM

@TheWobbuffet You don't even need to read the end. bbspot is a tech humor blog.

The Wobbuffet

okay

@hichris123 I bet there's a website that lists even more things than the mod tool does

hichris123

@TheWobbuffet ... maybe? I'm not sure what you're getting at. The mod tools aren't revealed as then people can say, "They figured out my voting ring because of ______________. I should do ___________."

Mooseman

Thoughts?

0

Q: Reference tag of any site in chat

Right now, in chat, we can use [tag:tagname] and [meta-tag:tagname]. But in MSE chat, I think it would be useful to reference a tag on any site through this format. For example: [tag-stackoverflow.com:tagname] or [tag-puzzling.stackexchange.com:tagname] Is this possible reasonably doable?

The Wobbuffet

Meh

Jason C

@TheWobbuffet I have no idea how SO's works but typically, at least in other places I've seen / worked on, the most basic way is to maintain a list of IP addresses that have been seen from a given account. Then if another account is seen from one of those addresses, there is now a correlation between all addresses of both accounts. Sort of, union-find on IP addresses.

I would imagine something like that is at least the basis.

Plus whatever other info SE chooses to include there, e.g. email addresses, etc.

The Wobbuffet

12:11 AM

yeah, but without any ip relations?

and other than email addresses

someone told me it can go further... they said they have a mod agreement so they can't tell me more

user259867

A few old screenshots of mod tools. They may have built more since then.

The Wobbuffet

like further than rep stuff

Jason C

@TheWobbuffet Who knows. If you have access to the entire activity database, and you have sets of users you know to be equivalent and sets you don't, I'm sure you could do some data mining and find all sorts of patterns to watch out for.

The Wobbuffet

mehhh

Braiam

@Rafflesiaarnoldii check the first comment

Jason C

12:14 AM

E.g. certain types of edits consistently done on user A's posts from user B, comments left, etc. Imagine, for example, all the strange patterns that would emerge if a user with a duplicate account consistently forgot which account he was logged into.

hichris123

@TheWobbuffet stackoverflow.com/legal/moderator-agreement

Gilles

@TheWobbuffet Most of the mod tools are documented on Meta Stack Exchange (not always in ways that are easy to find when you need it). Some of the details are confidential (sometimes even to mods, e.g. heuristics to detect possible fraud) because that way, people who want to do things like vote fraud have to do some trial and error to figure out what falls under the radar and what doesn't.

The tools evolve, not very fast but fast enough that by the time someone figures out enough to be useful, the thresholds won't be exactly the same.

Fraudsters are by and large interested in gaining things for their own (mainly to gain reputation to look good, to spam, or to troll), so they tend to have little interest in collaboration.

Mooseman

@Gilles mmm... spam...

The Wobbuffet

well, then

im going to do this terrible thing called homework now

I have homework every single day, even on weekends (which I do on Sunday)

For people who are unfamiliar with 'homework' :P

I guess it's like business paperwork

Anyone here own a small business building? Then you get it, maybe

Or hichris who is around my age... :P

Mooseman

@TheWobbuffet just posted 7 messages in a row. TRAIN ALERT!

bjb568

12:32 AM

@TheWobbuffet Or meeeee!

Doorknob, Santa, AstroCB, Qantas94Heavy

user259867

I also have a pile of homework on my desk... it stubbornly refuses to grade itself.

Jason C

@Rafflesiaarnoldii f's all around!

Mooseman

12:48 AM

@Rafflesiaarnoldii Give somebody an E-. Make them look twice.

The Wobbuffet

@bjb568 And Undo

@Mooseman Wat?

That php thing made me think of this:

bjb568

:P

Braiam

@TheWobbuffet he's addict to water... wtf?

bjb568

@Braiam That took you a while…

Anna Lear

Oh good. DHMO needs more awareness.

2

Ben Collins

12:59 AM

bahahahaha

I especially love

> Dihydrogen Monoxide is linked to gun violence

Jason C

@BenCollins Check out one of the originals web.archive.org/web/19961031232918/http://media.circus.com/… (circa 1996)

> ... in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.

Ben Collins

how have I never seen this before? it's hysterical!

> Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal.

I'm going to introduce this as a resolution at my next political convention and see who bites =P

Jason C

@BenCollins There was a counter site, too; armory.com/~crisper/DHMO

Ah here you go Ben: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax all the history you want

Ben Collins

this is great. we have a guy in our local party who introduces a chemtrails resolution every single time, so I should do this right after that

I would have to practice for months to be able to pull it off with a straight face

Jason C

►

^ Model of a straight face

Braiam

1:07 AM

@BenCollins eh? but your innocent and clueless tiger face should help, no?

Ben Collins

I would have to print it out and hold it in front of my real face

Jason C

Yes, talk about dihydrogen monoxide while holding up a hobbes mask at your next town meeting. I support this on so many levels.

I'm sure it will go over well.

Ben Collins

lol

The Wobbuffet

Dihydrogen Monoxide is deadly through inhalation

bjb568

Kittens have drowned in dihydrogen monoxide.

The Wobbuffet

1:21 AM

dihydrogen monoxide is used as a pesticide for killing bugs, but can be harmful to humans when mixed with sodium or in greater quantities

Jason C

Huh

Hey, in theory, I can uses careers.se to see if se is hiring in nyc, right?

Oh I totally can

Man it's all web development. Curse you, NYC. Same problem I had when I moved here. All web dev or boring stuff in finance.

Of course it's all web development, it's a web site.

bjb568

Work for devdoodle! Check my pull request!

Oh yeah, you don't even have access to the repo.

Jason C

Lol: bit.ly/1ut4M85 Turn right 90 degrees.

user259867

1:41 AM

They were also hiring a Data Scientist last time I checked. Or rather, Data Science Engineer.

hichris123

@BenCollins I know you work(ed) on the iOS app, but a) are you still working on it, and b) if not, are you working on the ML stuff? Just curious.

Andy

@Rafflesiaarnoldii That looks like an interesting position, actually

@JasonC Wasn't what I expected to see there. I was expecting a group of people just staring at me

bjb568

@hichris123 ML?

hichris123

@bjb568 machine learning.

bjb568

Ah.

euphoria overlord

1:48 AM

Anyone active?

hichris123

no.

;)

euphoria overlord

Dang

Just bots in this room

hichris123

!!/alive

SmokeDetector

@hichris123 Yup

euphoria overlord

ooh maybe I can try commands

go into house

light fireplace

go south

enter stream

hichris123

1:49 AM

!!/yell at @euphoriaoverlord

euphoria overlord

I have a serious question

12

Q: Beta site degrading in quality, per-site Meta discussion reveals that it's not perceived as a issue; what more can I do?

Per JoshCaswell's advice: This is quite specific to Puzzling at the moment, and I think it's really more appropriate for that Meta; I understand, however, that this topic is already open there, and you don't feel that it's being considered properly. That -- the more general question -- ...

discussion support beta-sites quality

Jason C

@euphoriaoverlord You are standing in a dark, musty room. The smell of old cardboard fills the air. In the corner there is a small wooden box. There is an entrance to the west. There is a trap door in the ceiling.

euphoria overlord

So I asked this question, as a generalized question

People are posting comments that are derailing the conversation towards another issue

Can I flag those comments?

Jason C

@euphoriaoverlord Custom flag the post, request general comment cleanup; unless it is just a few comments, then flag comments nc.

euphoria overlord

Got it.

hichris123

1:52 AM

@JasonC and/or too chatty

Jason C

@euphoriaoverlord It's unfortunate that the topic of the original source of your quote opens the discussion to being sidetracked.

euphoria overlord

@JasonC Yeah, I intended it to use as a reference

that someone asked me to post a generalized question, so here I was

but people took it as a "well you posted about something else, yada yada yada"

Jason C

If possible, you may want to see if you can rework your intro a bit to remove that quote, the link, and mentions of Puzzling. The question does stand alone without that info.

euphoria overlord

@JasonC Cool, got it, I'll get on it

So. uh.....

@JasonC Can I continue

Jason C

@euphoriaoverlord sure but i'm tired right now so I can't promise much creativity.

euphoria overlord

1:56 AM

Never mind then

Jason C

You may die quickly in all possible paths.

No no, go on.

euphoria overlord

"I open the box....then I die"

:C

Jason C

Lol

euphoria overlord

Actually I take that back

that's perfect for a Hollywood script

Jason C

You can never take it back. Step forward, I dare you.

Actually, I'm going to go play Super Metroid. So yeah, the room fills with lava and you die.

Andrew T.

1:59 AM

@euphoriaoverlord Hi, we don't even yet have a definition of quality or a clear scope of on-topicness over there. There have been many productive and hot discussions about what we are doing internally. On a personal note, you have participated in NONE of those productive discussions. Also, why is someone who has NO questions and NO answers on a site so concerned about its quality?! "I think all you can do is contribute to your fullest" is a polite way of way of asking "what are you doing?"... — d'alar'cop 3 hours ago

^ that reminds me of recent case...

(not intended to offense anyone specifically, of course)

bjb568

2:19 AM

I notice google "street" view is processor intensive.

Even tho it looks awful and old.

hichris123

new design!

bjb568

@AndrewT. Just everybody a lot, equally?

Yay!

user259867

Comment font is kind of small.

user259867

In other news, where is 3:00 UTC deletion script?

Andrew T.

it's not yet 3:00 UTC?

hichris123

2:25 AM

0

A: Feedback Requested: Stack Overflow design update

Can this please be a little more grayscale -- or at least a different color than Stack Overflow? Switching sites, each has a different design. Metas are usually grayscale. But when going from Stack Overflow to Meta Stack Overflow... there isn't too much of a difference, color scheme wise. It look...

I miss my grey. :(

@AndrewT. 35 min.

user259867

Was it 'Helvetica Neue' before? The font looks different now.

hichris123

I dunno. But I do like that.

user259867

It was Arial. The main site still has Arial. Yes, I don't like Arial either.

Andrew T.

Arial!? :O

user259867

It went live in 2008, you know.

user259867

2:30 AM

I do think the comment font is too small... no, I'm not getting eyeglasses/contacts, I'm not that old.

hichris123

Yeah! Evil and horrible. Like meta. @bjb568 — Shog9 ♦ 24 secs ago

:P

Meta is murder, y'know.

user259867

This is the current meta sprite

user259867

Versus the current Stack Overflow sprite. Different organization of icons.

user259867

The SO sprite still has the old Twitter logo in it.

user259867

@AndrewT. That's right, off-by-hour error.

Shog9

2:50 AM

@Rafflesiaarnoldii so, there's actually a better reason to put Arial before Helv: some folks on Windows machines have really bad Helvetica fonts installed. Like, fonts so bad they make the whole page look bad. And throw IE into compatibility mode. Bad, bad stuff.

But, hopefully that too was a problem of the past.

hichris123

@Shog9 If people use IE... isn't that their problem? ;)

Shog9

IE is everyone's problem, @hichris123. Just like Apartheid and AIDS

hichris123

Some supergroup needs to form & write a song about it. I.... ain't gonna use Internet Explorer doesn't really roll of the tongue, though.

user259867

3:07 AM

Trivia: what was the first SE site to use a serif font for posts?

hichris123

... web apps?

user259867

No, they are Helvetica too.

hichris123

It does have it as a fallback though:

font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;

user259867

So, those are sans-serif fonts.

hichris123

Oh you meant true serif.

Andrew T.

3:10 AM

ELU?

Well, I don't check every sites, so I dunno

user259867

Yes, it's a boring question. ELU is indeed one of serif sites. But the oldest of those is Mathematics.

hichris123

Ha, I read some blog about Helvetica... and Jin's name comes up. hanselman.com/blog/…

user259867

The complete list of serif SE sites: ELU, RPG, Judaism, Christianity ... softer subjects for the most part, balanced by Math and EE.

Unihedron

3:42 AM

I couldn't find that online IDE I liked with green text - any idea?

@hichris123 Yay winterbash! Winterbash!!

bjb568

Solution: Drop IE support.

Unihedron

^^^^^^

Does DevDoodle support IE?

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