Tavern on the Meta

user400654

00:17

yup

you can also end up with some really weird looking graph results, like being below the rep cap for a day that you repcapped, or above it, etc

stackoverflow.com/users/400654/…

the majority of that rep came from one answer

no answers on the days after, just me casting downvotes here and there

err, it didn't save my selection of date/time...

that's not cool

David A

01:14

"What about the community is "toxic"?" was actually a pretty good question. It's nice to see people thinking logically about failed interactions instead of emotionally.

"Toxic" has become almost as useless of a word as "problematic" lately.

Journeyman Geek

@DavidA I actually think that's the wrong question.

It's just as important to realize why the community is toxic, that feeds it, and what can be done to help

David A

01:29

Whether or not it actually is toxic, it certainly is perceived that way by some, and that perception can be fixed.

user400654

01:58

only if said people are open to it being fixed

Rob

04:04

Part of the discussion about welcoming and toxicity started almost two years ago. Do the gains and losses equalize, apparently so; unless you feel we're way ahead or far worse off:

95

Q: "Stack Overflow Isn't Very Welcoming" especially [...] marginalized groups?

In today's blog post "Stack Overflow isn't very welcoming" Jay Hanlon writes: Too many people experience Stack Overflow as a hostile or elitist place, especially newer coders, women, people of color, and others in marginalized groups. I can perfectly understand why newer coders might feel ...

V2Blast

07:08

so much smoke

Magisch

morning

V2Blast

night :P

Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog

Not sure why this message was moved to Chimney; it wasn't a comment on the report, but asking me a question

Magisch

@SonictheAnonymousHedgehog the userscript we use to move these views anything with atSmokedetector as a command or reply.

V2Blast

ah

rene

07:41

→ 20 messages moved to Chimney

@V2Blast and gone ...

Magisch

@Rob depends on who you ask and what data you look at, probably

Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog

@JNat Cross-site spammer: stackexchange.com/users/17604411/swati-saxena

Gimby

08:39

Squawk, polly says good morning.

Tinkeringbell

morning ;)

Magisch

three parrots in the room

it seems like bird is indeed the word

Tinkeringbell

parrots are just cool :)

Magisch

yours looks more like a demon of vengeance

the parrot of the apocalypse

Tinkeringbell

Yep. I'm done being cute here.

Given all the crap lately, being too red just isn't fun anymore.

Gimby

08:50

@Tinkeringbell That's fine, I'm cute enough for both of us.

Tinkeringbell

You'd wish.

Mithical

buncha parrots jabbering in the tavern, what have we come to

Gimby

The silence before the storm, it's only a matter of time before the pirates arrive.

Tinkeringbell

It's a sign of the apocalypse. We're gathering, we only need 1 more.

Magisch

Thankfully nobody expects me to be cute

Gimby

08:51

No that's a given.

rene

No that's a given

Magisch

at least we're all interesting

there's even a rubiks cube who is also a moose in here somewhere

Gimby

Yeah fascinating.

Magisch

@Tinkeringbell you're not supposed to tell!

Tinkeringbell

@Magisch As if people hadn't interpreted the signs by now...

Rob

09:20

I did my part long ago, no one notices the tiger blocking the sidewalk except the passenger in the truck.

BlueSoul

09:36

Mumble....

> Parrots have been considered an omen of good luck since ancient times and in many cultures throughout the world. Roosters are also considered as signs of prosperity and abundance, and because of that roosters were often depicted in houses to attract such fortune to the family living in the house.

but also...

> Dreaming of a parrot means that someone is trying to back bite about you. ... A parrot represents mocking attitude of others, mocking attitude of self, betrayal, gossip, back biting and also grapevine. Dreaming of a parrot talking means that there is a friend who is going to betray you in your waking life.

or even...

> Parrots were a kind of status symbols; therefore, they symbolize style, high class, royalty, nobility, richness and well-being. Parrots also represent something that is at the spotlight, something eye-catching and easily noticeable. Parrots symbolize attraction, pride and self-confidence.

Status: inconclusive. Too many contradicting info.

Raise danger level to code orange

Deploy additional units to keep the parrots under surveillance

Alert the cats squadron - we need backup.

Mithical

*pads arm so that Mag can land on it*

BlueSoul

@Mithical I doubt that you can train Magish for falconry use :P

Mithical

> Need less chat pings and faster answers to your questions? Enable your team to share knowledge in a way that works with their existing workflow, with a direct Slack integration. Try Stack Overflow for Teams, free.

.....*fewer.

@BlueSoul Hey @Mag can I train you to hunt? Maybe socks?

Gimby

Oi, Magisch is a free bird. Stop treating him like a pet.

Mithical

but.. but birb

Magisch

09:52

@Mithical I completly forgot you yesterday sorry

Gimby

... alright, I take that back. Lock him up.

Magisch

@Gimby hey!

Mithical

@Magisch No worries, but I won't be available until Saturday night by this point

Magisch

No problem

BlueSoul

still quite baffled that they didn't yet add @Magisch to Ultimate Chicken Horse

I mean, they already have a chicken, why not adding a green parrot?

Gimby

09:58

Nah I need an Untitled Parrot Game.

BlueSoul

@Gimby Well, this is what I found..... Very high quality as you can see

Tinkeringbell

I need that one.

Gimby

Aw man, that looks like a really poor ripoff of Pigeon Simulator (another hilarious game)

V2Blast

[insert joke about tweets here]

Tinkeringbell

tweet?

Magisch

10:08

seems to be in the vein of goat simulator

Gimby

yes very much

JNat

10:39

@SonictheAnonymousHedgehog gone

Rob

11:01

That mention of Falconry reminded me of that Mongolian Eagle Hunter video

The Ancient Practice of Mongolian Eagle Hunting | The Red Bulletin Presents

►

Mithical

11:26

bonk

Rob

Went from table C to table D

PM 2Ring

11:43

@Mithical I assume you aren't using the British definition (also fairly common in Australia). lexico.com/en/definition/bonk

Mithical

@PM2Ring ...right. Although I kinda bonked yesterday (third definition).

PM 2Ring

:)

Mithical

Nearly fell off the trainer.

BlueSoul

Magisch

derp

BlueSoul

11:53

and also... you forgot about this.

Magisch

about what?

BlueSoul

Magisch

confused looking around

PM 2Ring

FWIW, in Australia, "bonk" is probably one of the least uncouth euphemisms for having sex.

Mithical

@Magisch mag is derpy birb

BlueSoul

11:55

PC-Genjin , know outside Japan as Bonk. Basically the PC Engine mascot.

Mithical

(sorry, I'm in that kind of mood today)

terdon

@PM2Ring I don't think that's exclusively Australian. At least, I know it's also British. Not sure about US or others.

OK, "chiefly British" according to M-W.. Which presumably includes Australian, I guess. AuE is pretty closely related to BrE.

Journeyman Geek

@PM2Ring it's British 😁

BlueSoul

oh, I mentioned Ultimate Chicken Horse and a monkey actually appeared in the room :P

Mithical

blog post by Meg Risdal on transparency in online communities

2

PM 2Ring

12:03

@JourneymanGeek Yes, that's what I said in my 1st message on the topic. But I'm just not clear how uncouth it is in Britain. I assume it's similar to Australia, where it's only slightly cruder & more explicit than "sleep with".

Magisch

i've always taken it to mean "hit your head (on something)"

BlueSoul

@Magisch and guess how Bonk/PC-Genjin attacks the various enemies in that game?

PM 2Ring

@terdon Aussie slang uses most British slang, plus a lot of American slang (especially among the younger generations), plus a few terms of our own invention. Sadly, some of the old colourful Aussie terms are dying out, being displaced by American terms from movies, TV shows, and music.

terdon

@PM2Ring yeah, well, join the club ;) Everyone's taking on Hollywoodspeak.

user1306322

12:30

@PM2Ring actually it's a euphemism for distracting the sentry by means of imbibing a carbonated soda drink while the rest of the team struggles with the concept that in the meantime it could be safely approached for the purpose of destruction...

ahorn

I found a weird character:

Mithical

o/

Tinkeringbell

@ahorn Just flag.

ahorn

It messed up a URL I tried to click on in a PDF.

Tinkeringbell

There's a bunch of those around on the internet ;)

terdon

12:35

@ahorn That's just a normal space.

$ uniprops ' '
U+0020 ‹U+0020› \N{SPACE}
    \s \h \pZ \p{Zs}
    All Any ASCII Assigned Basic_Latin Blank X_POSIX_Blank Common Zyyy Z Zs
       Gr_Base Grapheme_Base GrBase HorizSpace Pat_WS Pattern_White_Space PatWS
       PerlSpace POSIX_Space POSIX_Blank POSIX_Print Print X_POSIX_Print
       Separator Space White_Space Space_Separator SpacePerl X_POSIX_Space
       Unicode WSpace XPerlSpace

Magisch

it has begun: workplace.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6499

~~The licensepocalypse~~ Someone seems to actually be serious about wanting to delete their content

user1306322

see also:

15

Q: Answers defaced with "(Answer not available under cc by-sa 4.0)"?

Why were so many answers defaced by replacing the text with: (Answer not available under cc by-sa 4.0) for example: https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/140306/7777

discussion

at this point I suppose only a law suit could result in any meaningful response from the company

Tinkeringbell

Yeah, so canonical answer for anyone that wants their stuff deleted for this reason, use 'contact us'. We mods aren't lawyers and we'll most likely end up treating it like any other case of self-destruction of useful content (which is a suspension and undeletion). You can save us a lot of work by not defacing stuff in the first place :)

user1306322

I get the sentiment that the "job" (volunteer) of the mods is to retain and improve the quality of content on the site, but then again, why resign or quit? isn't that directly against that goal? I think this is kinda the same thing with this issue.

Magisch

using contact us will likely not yield a response

Tinkeringbell

12:49

@user1306322 There's a myriad of reasons for that. I can't speak for others... but it might be just being able to sleep at night not worrying about whatever crap will be next or wondering about the crap of the day.

Some have resigned in protest

Others because they won't volunteer for an 'evil' company... just like people won't volunteer for volunteer organisations that are somehow involved in scandals like extortion, rape or human trafficking...

Mithical

@user1306322 Saying "I'm giving up the additional volunteer work I took on" is not the same as "I'm removing all value I gave in the past"

user1306322

@Mithical ok this point I can agree with

what was the purpose of updating the license?

BlueSoul

mumble....

Should we "for fun" open a question on Laws?

Tinkeringbell

@BlueSoul Depends on who you think will have 'fun' with that. If the answer is everybody, go for it.

BlueSoul

@Tinkeringbell oh, just kinda curious of what kind of answers a question like "Was the recent unilateral relicensing of Stack Exchange users contributed content really illegal as some claim" would get.

Tinkeringbell

13:00

@BlueSoul I'd search the site first, I'd be surprised if there hadn't been one already... but doesn't law also have one of these big IANAL disclaimers? :P

BlueSoul

yep, but to be fair some users there ARE lawyers. And even those who aren't... probably can at least provide some more insightful comments than the mass guessing that we get on meta and other sites.

as I said probably

Gimby

@BlueSoul Hey, a familiar picture. Back in my youth that game was called BC Kid.

BlueSoul

@Gimby PC-Engine (the console name) -> PC-Genjin (the game name, similar sound)

PC-Genjin stands for PC-Caveman

PC is usually reported to mean "Pithecanthropus Computerus", that also a pun on the original PC in the "PC-Engine" name and the species name Pithecanthropus Erectus , aka Homo erectus erectus

Gimby

Yeah BC Kid was the European name, Google tells me

BlueSoul

From there... the name was translated to PC-Kid and that became BC/FC-Kid in some countries.

some instead used the "Bonk's Adventure" name

Rubiksmoose

13:19

@BlueSoul Fairly certain someone already had?

Journeyman Geek

@BlueSoul pretty bad ones 😁

BlueSoul

@Rubiksmoose yep, there is a "recent" one I didn't saw before.

10

Q: Is Stack Exchange allowed to unilaterally change previously published content license?

The original thread can be found here: Stack Exchange and Stack Overflow are moving to CC BY-SA 4.0 As far as I understand, Stack Exchange can move on to CC BY-SA 4.0 for content published in the future, but they are not allowed to unilaterally change the license of previous publications. Severa...

licensing

@JourneymanGeek and yep, your expectations are quite true too.

that said user6726 answers is still interesting for it notices something. The ToS never mentioning a version of the license, the fact that the ToS defines itself as self-contained so that the fact that a link on the site previously pointed to a specific version of the license can't be used to prove that that was the "official license" and the fact that the ToS basically say "we can change things anytime"

Journeyman Geek

13:38

@BlueSoul and my interpretation of the licencing is... rather different

I don't think we have ever licenced our content to the company under CC-By-SA N.N

Actually the top answer is pretty similar to how I see it, but better written :D

@BlueSoul meta.stackexchange.com/a/333220/135565

Its not about the licence at all IMO, Its about trust

BlueSoul

13:57

@JourneymanGeek as someone pointed out, at some point the ToS contained the following notice:

> From the TOS:
You agree that any and all content, including without limitation any and all text, graphics, logos, tools, photographs, images, illustrations, software or source code, audio and video, animations, and product feedback (collectively, “Content”) that you provide to the public Network (collectively, “Subscriber Content”), is perpetually and irrevocably licensed to Stack Overflow on a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive basis pursuant to Creative Commons licensing terms (CC-BY-SA), and you grant Stack Overflow the perpetual and irrevocable right and license to access, use, pr…

@JourneymanGeek I probably said this somewhere in the other room. It is not even a trust thing for me. I couldn't probably care less about what the license number is....

What annoy me is the somehow condescending undertone that recently is often used when similar changes are discussed

the "why should you care? are you there just to create troubles" thing.

Journeyman Geek

That's what I meant by trust

Tinkeringbell

@BlueSoul To be honest though... it does help to explain why you care if you're posting on meta. Just saying 'I care' is... meh. That's what voting buttons are for XD

Journeyman Geek

:D

BlueSoul

I meant that often whenever someone post a question asking about something that was made on the site saying they don't like it a common passive-agressive reply strategy that I see quite often used is to move the blame on the poster. For example one asks why Ads are animated , contains fingerprint or other bad things and they get attacked by folks telling them to "stop ranting", "use ads blocker like smart persons do" and so on.

other example - an user with actual issues says that a certain april fool is causing them pain. Reply ? "Just log of for the day and stop posting rants"

PM 2Ring

14:13

It's not just trust, though. It's about the process. The TOS should've said something like "...pursuant to Creative Commons licensing terms (CC-BY-SA). This licence is currently at version 3.0, and we will automatically update to subsequent versions, when such versions are published".

But since the TOS doesn't say that, the process should've been to announce on all the metas "Hey, there's a new improved version of the CC-BY-SA licence! We intend to upgrade the licence in 1 month. Let us know if you see any problems with that". But instead we got a fait accompli announcement. And they don't seem to understand why some people are upset by that process.

Tinkeringbell

@BlueSoul I did delete that one, I hope?

And yes. Those replies aren't good. Some of them can be 'blocked' by explaining why you care... others just need a whack on the head for the person leaving them.

BlueSoul

now, when that kind of behavior and comments comes from users... a parrot or a dog will come and delete them

Magisch

join the parrots

we are legion

BlueSoul

problem is that recently some company posted remarks seems to use a similar approach of claiming the users are the problem for ranting about everything

Tinkeringbell

@PM2Ring I dunno. If there's no legal things blocking you from upgrading the license, what good is a bunch of armchair lawyers arguing that you shouldn't anyways for a month?

@BlueSoul Well we are, to an extent.

Magisch

14:16

cause and effect say it's not "our" fault though

cause we're not an organized group

BlueSoul

@Tinkeringbell true to some extend but a good dose of "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater" should also be included somewhere

Tinkeringbell

assigning 'fault' isn't a good approach to this, I think... Even though it might not be an organized group doing this, if a few people consistently do it, others may follow.

Enough for it to become a pattern anyways.

Magisch

yeah but the people with power to stop it aren't the other users

Tinkeringbell

@BlueSoul Yeah, better get rid of the baby before it poops in it.

Waste of nice hot bathwater otherwise.

Magisch

that's a "broken windows" type scenario. moderation needs to be established

Journeyman Geek

14:20

@BlueSoul lots of people are unhappy about that :D

Tinkeringbell

In a way though... moderation relies on other users pointing out the broken windows. Not just in flags, if you have a bit of soft skill energy left, edit a post, write a comment...

Don't throw in other windows.

I know I've probably been the worst example of that lately but... it's still something people can do.

PM 2Ring

@Tinkeringbell Fair call. Most of us aren't lawyers, and aren't really competent to have significant input on such a discussion. OTOH, coders (and anyone else who creates intellectual property for a living) ought to know a little bit about copyright & licensing.

But my point is that the community feels more respected if they're asked in advanced, rather than being told after the change has been done without even giving any prior notice, or attempting to solicit community input. It's that pattern of interaction that has put the community offside for the last few years.

Tinkeringbell

@PM2Ring 'feel more respected if asked in advance'... Maybe, but only if and as long as the community gets what it wants from such discussions. It makes no sense to ask, hear a big fat no, then do it anyway... that won't make people feel respected.

"It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission" in some cases

Machavity

@Magisch Silly Parrots Quietly Revolt. Or something. It's all Latin to me

PM 2Ring

@Tinkeringbell Yeah, ok. But on the licensing issue, the community probably would have agreed that the 4.0 licence is better.

Tinkeringbell

14:28

@PM2Ring I wouldn't be so sure..

PM 2Ring

The company tell us that under the existing TOS, they are legally allowed to upgrade the licence. And maybe they are. But due to the loss of trust, people just see it as yet another case of the company doing stuff to us with zero prior consultation.

Machavity

@PM2Ring Welcome to the Internet! We have people here who are wrong

ColeValleyGirl

@BlueSoul Yep. That example really got my goat.

Feeds

The Overflow #9: Rust and Redux

Ryan Donovan on January 24, 2020

Welcome to ISSUE #9 of The Overflow, a newsletter by developers, for developers, written and curated by the Stack Overflow team and Cassidy Williams of React Training. You can read more about it here. This week, we get a peek into the future of Stack Overflow, discover the longest possible free ride, and check out a mobile OS made from React Native.

What is Rust and why is it so popular? stackoverflow.blog Rust has been Stack Overflow’s most loved language for four years in a row, indicating that many of those who have had the opportunity to use Rust have fallen …

Tinkeringbell

This sounds familiar? Have I seen that elsewhere already this week?

Das_Geek

14:36

Oops, I can't read :D

BlueSoul

It is 'bout React. That gets my unconditional hate just for that :P

curious

→ 15 messages moved to Chimney

rene

15:22

we have a selfie ..

Tinkeringbell

@rene Flag delete :)

rene

You can put me in the anti-selfie group

I want to hit people with their selfie-stick.

terdon

Oh GAHD yes.

Tinkeringbell

:(

terdon

But what's the point of posting something like that? Some sort of weird spam seed?

Tinkeringbell

15:28

'Free image upload service' :D

Rob

The benefit of having their question deleted.

Journeyman Geek

uhm

is it just me, or did tags suddenly lose their borders?

user1306322

test test2

it's different in here

I think it might be just you

Journeyman Geek

@user1306322 oh on main sites

or meta

Gimby

I see tags without a border... but now I have to think hard what they looked like before then.

Journeyman Geek

15:41

ya same thing

user1306322

oh caching

Journeyman Geek

and the special tags have em

user1306322

it literally just changed for me

Journeyman Geek

so... I THINK its a bug

user1306322

does anyone happen to know a convenient way to do personal (not for the entire company, just myself) issue tracking using Outlook so I can keep track of which emails contain which issues and whether I fixed them?

I'm googling but all I see are corporate-scale zendesks and jiras...

Journeyman Geek

15:43

@user1306322 just run your own issue tracker :D

user1306322

sure but which

Tinkeringbell

@user1306322 Colored categories?

user1306322

or do you mean code one up myself :p

@Tinkeringbell how do I color emails

Tinkeringbell

@user1306322 My corporate outlouk inbox has a 'category' button... it adds a little colored square... not very clear though.

I'd suggest just using the free version of JIRA if it's just you: atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing

user1306322

I'm using a desktop Outlook client, nothing fancy like 365 web apps

ok I'll look into Jira just for myself then

Tinkeringbell

15:46

You can even add the e-mails as attachments to the JIRA items, though I'd recommend against that if they're confidential and you're not on a company JIRA ;)

Journeyman Geek

sidebar looks off too

user1306322

yea I kinda thought maybe I could cheese it with drag-n-dropping emails into OneNote and just having one issue per note with onenote:\\ URIs... which I might end up doing if Jira doesn't work out

but that still doesn't solve the problem of knowing which emails I've already added to "tracking" and which I missed

I just might create an app for that too...

it's bad when you know you can actually do it but it's going to take time and effort

gonna check out Jira first though, I can't be doing everything lol

Journeyman Geek

@user1306322 essentially - what you really need is labels and searching :D

user1306322

one of the key things I need is figuring out if some issue turned out to be not an issue after all (error during testing resulted in a false issue being reported and later retracted, happens all the time)

Journeyman Geek

@user1306322 so... you just have a label for "Case Cancelled"

user1306322

15:51

email chains would help to see that later down the chain

just looking at a linear search results list is not great

Journeyman Geek

and you can track those with an issue id (even manually generated) and replies

user1306322

(or I could ask my managers to do their thing a lil better but they're even more lost than me :p)

Journeyman Geek

(for all my sins, I work helpdesk, and I use Jira :D )

so

1) Emails suck for issue tracking

2) there's software for this for a reason

user1306322

some emails contain multiple issues, so this is a problem if I try to add multiple IDs per email

Journeyman Geek

Log each as one case, and email back the user all the case IDs

user1306322

15:52

ya that's why I'm looking at Jira and Zendesk even though it would end up being just for me >.>

Machavity

Jira is good. Couple of quirks in how it runs, but decent overall

user1306322

@JourneymanGeek i already tried that, the customers said not to clutter up their inboxes with technical trash :s

terdon

@JourneymanGeek sadly, jira's support desk software is convoluted, buggy, and awful. Not fit for purpose.

Journeyman Geek

@user1306322 If your customers need follow ups, they need reference to find it

@terdon :D

I HAVE NO DISAGREEMENT HERE

user1306322

thing is none of us have issue tracking

Journeyman Geek

15:54

and the specific setup my employer runs is..

@user1306322 that's a bug, not an excuse

user1306322

but we all have an issue tracking :p

terdon

I really, really hate it. I have to use it too, and it has an annoying habit of sometimes, every now and then, not actually sending out my response to the client!

Journeyman Geek

@terdon ours dies often enough that we have a protocol for when it fails

user1306322

oh? do you happen to know a better alternative?

Journeyman Geek

@user1306322 no matter what you use, its about the workflow

user1306322

15:56

I've already done a couple small apps with MSO interop, I can probably do it again if I find my old sources

terdon

@user1306322 it's the only one I've used. If you find an alternative, please let me know!

Journeyman Geek

@user1306322 even a spreadsheet is better than email

at one point I was debating issue tracking with a google form :D

user1306322

@terdon I'll probably just write something for myself then :p

Rob

@JourneymanGeek Some sites are unaffected while for others it's just the regular tags:

Journeyman Geek

@Rob ah, can you give me an example of an unaffected site?

user1306322

15:58

I'm an avid OneNote user myself and it's pretty good for making a note per issue and then seeing a tall list of notes, each describing an issue on the side of it

Rob

user1306322

but when the list goes beyond the screen borders...

MSO interop time it is

@rob can you do a Ctrl+Shift+R and see again?

Rob

No, mobile touchscreen.

user1306322

just… attach a usb keyboard :D

Rob

Caching isn't the answer to everything, it's what we tell new people; or 6-8 weeks.

terdon

16:01

@Rob Are you sure? I usually ask shouldiblamecaching.com

Rob

I could install Hacker's Keyboard, where truly any keystroke combination is possible.

user1306322

I think a lot of the desktop key combos don't work on mobile

at least I had a bad time coding userstyles on firefox on a tablet

stylus just kept crashing

Journeyman Geek

@Rob it does look very different between chrome and vivaldi ...

user1306322

and greasemonkey editor too

Journeyman Geek

which makes me wonder

Rob

16:03

Médecins Sans Frontières

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced [medsɛ̃ sɑ̃ fʁɔ̃tjɛʁ] (listen)), sometimes rendered in English as Doctors Without Borders, is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. In 2015, over 30,000 personnel—mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers and administrators—provided medical aid in over 70 countries. Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate...

Dan is Fiddling by Firelight

16:31

The only thing hackers keyboard is missing on android is emoji support. At some point I really should try and find a keyboard with a complete layout and those so I can stop having to switch every time I want to roll my eyes in a message.

Journeyman Geek

🙄

Rob

It's actually been happening for a few days, that's rev 2020.1. 22.35866

Journeyman Geek

@Rob If no one else has, I'll do a bug report on sunday or monday

when I have my home PC :D

Rob

user1306322

here's what I'm learning from documentation on MS Office interop:

Rob

16:43

Rolls one eye

user1306322

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/…

Dan is Fiddling by Firelight

that documentation looks like almost as much of a dumpsterfire as the .net wrapper of the Excel interop com library was to use.

user1306322

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/… is this what a placeholder content article on ms docs looks like?

I feel like I'm reading generic "this is documentation" text

looks like something created from /// <summary> comments

and then the remarks is just robo-text

David A

17:05

@DanisFiddlingbyFirelight github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard/issues/765 :-/

canon

@Rob o.O

user1306322

:I

Rob

Don't worry, it's just a U$50 marble, not an ocular prosthesis.

πάντα ῥεῖ

@canon @Rob Would have been x_O otherwise :D

Rob

17:27

Fill this machine with eyeballs:

Wintergatan - Marble Machine (music instrument using 2000 marbles)

►

Magisch

@Rob That actually looks really really cool

imagine how much work it took to make that

Journeyman Geek

@Magisch I think he has build videos - either of that or the new improved one...

how much work? Lots ._.

Magisch

I mean, it's a masterpiece

Feeds

LOOK, THE LATENCY FALLS EVERY TIME YOU CLAP YOUR HANDS AND SAY YOU BELIEVE

Rob

17:44

@Magisch and @JourneymanGeek, @others:

Rock You Like a Hurricane on FLOPPOTRON

►

The Floppotron: The Final Countdown

►

The second is way better.

πάντα ῥεῖ

@Rob I feel a bit offended that you file me under @others :-/

Rob

I didn't know that would be of interest, and don't believe in randomly pinging people about things that are of no interest to them. I suspect JG is listening to them a second time or perusing the large selection of music.

Journeyman Geek

Oh, came across the floppotron on HAD

rene

18:04

I'm status-completed ...

Magisch

status-blurred

Rob

More weirdness: youtu.be/wl1ZrEza7uY?t=3m44s youtu.be/Q3oItpVa9fs - The second one is way better.

πάντα ῥεῖ

Nice

@rene Weird that one can earn badges for status tags ;D

Cindy Meister

18:21

@user1306322 Which programming language / environment are you planning to use? For something "local" I recommend using the built-in programming interface, which would be VBA. Those Help topics should be fairly complete, too...

user1306322

@CindyMeister c#

I already have some OneNote and Excel interop experience

and it turned out Outlook is not really that difficlt

Cindy Meister

Why?

user1306322

coz I'm smart yo xD

I already figured out how to get all messages from my inbox and how to open em up in a new window from my app

Rob

@πάνταῥεῖ That one is somewhat rare: meta.stackexchange.com/help/badges/86/status-completed

Cindy Meister

Hey, I can automate Office applications using VBA, VB.NET and C# - but I choose what's most relevant to the task... Anyway, the documentation you linked to looked like C++ from the code sample.

πάντα ῥεῖ

18:24

@Rob Sure. At least for a non-mod. You earn that almost purely by chance.

user1306322

@CindyMeister well, the code sample indeed shows C++ above it

I described my problem with issue tracking to the team and was offered a bunch of Jira-like software suites which are all super overkill and I don't want to incorporate having to select a project, a manager, a deadline and the assignee at any point in this process

so the fastest way was to just write my own which seems like I'll be able to finish by the end of next week

and I'm gonna do it in my free time coz I don't want it to be company IP

Rob

@πάνταῥεῖ He has a gold Support badge which is far rarer, more valuable, and equally hard.

πάντα ῥεῖ

@Rob I know, and that would make happening such more likely.

I love blurry flowers ;)

Rob

His SC badge is just bronze.

user1306322

howto-outlook.com/howto/commandlineswitches.htm this is a cool page with a list of things you can do if you don't want interop

Rob

18:40

Old jokes should be excluded from HNQ:

2

A: I can run, but I cannot walk - What am I?

haha Ive seen some really gross ones that probably did have bugs in them. They do also have a different name in every language.

user1306322

I thought I'd add something new by saying "an app" but that's apparently the answer :I

these just seem like too broad and the main value is in hoping the answerers will come up with ridiculous ways to give technically correct answers

so I guess these are fine in a weird way

user400654

20:11

🚽

djsmiley2k TMW

@Rob i was going to say 'a program' lol

Das_Geek

@JourneymanGeek @Magisch Yeah, the new machine is called the "Marble Machine X"; I've been following the progress over the last few years as he's been designing and building it. It's a machinist's wet dream, is what it is. I do love me some good gears. Here's a more recent video showcasing the progress he's made with it

djsmiley2k TMW

god bless wintergan

Das_Geek

So say we all

Rob

20:29

All programming, but would have been better with eyeballs:

Animusic HD - Pipe Dreams (1080p)

►

Das_Geek

Ah, a classic

πάντα ῥεῖ

Cool

Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog

20:53

@JNat Cross-site spammer: stackexchange.com/users/15918879/md-omar-faruk

@JourneymanGeek Spam accounts: meta.stackexchange.com/users/691844/delighterp meta.stackexchange.com/users/691948/zenithlabsblood

Das_Geek

Can confirm for the first one. I've seen their posts in Charcoal HQ

Rob

Too much time on their hands:

Playing with 60 000 Magnetic Balls ⭐ Slow Motion ⭐ 100+1% Satisfying Video

►

Das_Geek

@Das_Geek You can see all their caught posts here

Rob

Should that have been over at CHQ?

Journeyman Geek

@Das_Geek oh, we sometimes make the spammers... extra dead.

@SonictheAnonymousHedgehog hm I think the second one, I nuked once before

Das_Geek

21:17

@JourneymanGeek I'm aware of nuking. I was just providing extra info to help ease the blasting process :)

Journeyman Geek

@Das_Geek I also have RSS feeds on spammers on both sides I mod :D

Das_Geek

@JourneymanGeek Oh nice. I'm sure that comes in super handy :D

Or paw-y?

Journeyman Geek

depends on my boredom levels :D

Das_Geek

I would imagine a lot of choice in moderation tasks comes down to boredom levels

user1271772

Is @Tinkeringbell here?

Magisch

21:25

Interestingly, the CEO seems to be personally responding to a lot of the answers on his post

If nothing else, a pretty good look. Less cynically speaking they might be trying to turn a leaf in at least PR strategy

user1271772

@Magisch : CEO has enough salary that he can afford to spend time on answering things.

Magisch

you could flip that and say that with his salary, his hours are pretty expensive, so spending some of them answering inquiries on meta is a substantial resource commitment

(not that your interpretation is invalid but we can't be all doom & gloom all the time)

user400654

meh

rene

@user1271772 who is asking?

V2Blast

21:50

@rene Congrats! ;)

@Magisch Hopefully there is equal follow-through

Disappointed in SE

22:09

@Magisch This could have been a good sign a few weeks ago. I'm rather skeptical about any kind of outreach like that after they fired Shog. If they were truly interested in reparing the trust between the community and SE, they wouldn't have done that (or they don't understand the community at all and don't know what they've done)

3

user400654

23:11

🍺

Rob

23:23

🍻

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