Tavern on the Meta

5:21 AM

@Feeds Writing the roadmap from onebox to nobox

6:56 AM

@JourneymanGeek It wakes me up/keeps me awake!

7:09 AM

@JcbJoe please be nice to Stack Apps. At least we don't get a ton of low quality stuff we have to get rid of. And the few visitors that do show up are knowledgeable. Allow for 6 to 8 as it is a laid back site.

Journeyman Geek

@rene just a lot of placeholders? 😅

Yeah, those place holders ...

I was thinking about asking for an answer to be enough to authorize write-access. Then we can have one question with a bunch of placeholder answers

7:44 AM

@rene That would remove 90% of your questions ;)

8:01 AM

@Luuklag only 75 ...

only 2,8% then ;)

Only 75 question/page left if place holders tag have burninate-request?

9:07 AM

@Shree I understood it as meaning that only 75 of rene's total questions on StackApps would be deleted then... which is only 2.8% of his total questions, not the 90 Luuklag mentioned first :D

:)

SD have also one place holders ? Try to search but unable to find.

I think placeholders are used when you don't want to detail your script/bot yet, right @rene?

or just want a code for funz

@Luuklag I didn't able to autoflag any thing via API before I get write access , write access need placeholders . So why I registered.

I think registering for SmokeDetector is something different... but it's been a loooong time ago since I registered there myself.

(things may have changed)

+ @Luuklag Otherwise I am not big fan what ever I do what SO/SE give me access / privilege's to do is registered some where.

9:51 AM

It's not about funz ? Other wise all bots falls under funz. Besid SD there are so many SO/ SE bots who helps SO cleans.

10:08 AM

@Luuklag yeah, and your script / bot needs write access. If you don't need write-access you don't need a placeholder post.

Feeds

2:02 PM

stackoverflow.blog/2021/09/17/…

@Feeds I fail to observe your onebox

TFW you see a mod abuse their powers inappropriately... /sigh

Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica

@Mgetz You need the link to the 'what to do when a mod abuses power' post or you good? :D

@Mgetz post (constructively) on the per-site meta about it.

it's debatable and nothing will happen. I'm just going to /sigh about it and move on

it's not egregious enough to warrant any serious escalation. It was just inappropriately moving comments on a question to chat (when it wasn't an extended discussion)

2:10 PM

@rene Thanks I will wait. i had a feeling they where busy coding or something =)

@Mgetz Oh well, 'extended discussion' isn't the sole reason to move to chat ;) But sighing and doing nothing will probably work then :) Just.. don't sigh in my direction, there's still a pandemic going on! XD

I won't, and I'll wear a mask despite being fully vaccinated 😉

Much appreciated! I'm fully vaccinated too.... but you never know these days XD

agreed

I think some mods also use it to prevent extended discussion on the comment thread in the first place by providing a proper chat room.

2:27 PM

@Mgetz Do either of these answer your complaint: How many comments prompt the "move the discussion to chat" suggestion? (And has it decreased recently?) or Reposting comments accidentally moved to chat that don’t belong there ?

no because it wasn't a question

Sometimes there's a "No longer needed flag", and rather than deleting they are saved that way.

I did not suggest that you have a question.

I guess more to the point that had already been adjudicated prior; it did not require followup?

Well, I dunno, personally I moved a dormant comment thread with 20+ comments to chat just so that the comment thread is clean...

Which could actually damage the question by removing valuable context not reintegrated into the OP

IMO moving to chat should only be done if it's very clear it's an extended discussion and provides no further value to the question or answer

But I guess I also come from a culture where the commentary on the question can be more valuable than the question or the answers

2:43 PM

Well, on Android.SE, which is infamous due to fragmentation and the many unexpected possibilities, I feel the 20+ comments for troubleshooting is not that interesting for future readers... (and yes, we know we have a bigger issue on Android.SE)

There is a reason I said "could" it may be worth moving some but not all etc.

I would actually say that in that case, the comments are just no longer needed and don't need to be moved to chat. The idea of moving to chat, for me, is to give a space where extended discussion can take place (sure), but if the discussion isn't looking like it's going to end up improving the post... (e.g. the comments are just opinionating on things), they don't belong in chat.

What goes to chat should be extended discussion that *does* provide further value to the question or answer eventually.

Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica

@Tinkeringbell Which would be nice, if not for the fact that chatrooms age away. Meaning that unless that context is updated into the questions and answers (which it rarely is) then it's lost completely

Why is this status-completed?

@Mgetz Well... yeah... I'm of the unpopular opinion that if no one can be bothered to edit and update the post, the entire discussion wasn't needed either :P

2:51 PM

Guess I'm also one of the unpopular opinions that have a very strict comment policy on tech-related site.

@EkadhSingh-ReinstateMonica because Jeff said so

How often does extended discussion happen after moving it to chat?

in my experience, it most of the time is no different than just deleting the comments

Moving the discussion to chat removes it from view of people there to read about/discuss the topic. It immediately pushes it aside to a location people aren't looking, akin to sweeping it under the rug. The discussion could certainly continue for a few more minutes, but it's effectively ended by moving it to chat as once you leave, there's no more easy indicator on the question/answer itself to indicate there's new activity there.

Mithical

@KevinB Not often, which is why you'll sometimes see "Comments archived" on such messages, usually by Shog.

@KevinB In my experience, almost never.

@KevinB Not often, it's rare for a mod to come across an active extended discussion anyways.

Which is probably also why if two users exchange enough comments, the system prompts a move to chat. At least then it's somewhat active at the moment things move...

3:06 PM

I think the prompt is fine

that does get used effectively, at least on main sites

It just doesn't work if the 'active' part is more than two users.

Like, if there's two users helping a single other user improve their post... the thing already starts to show cracks.

but what's counter intuitive is to constantly push for people to do less voting and more discussing, and then to... well, end active discussion.

@KevinB If that's a grumble about that discussion I moved to chat a few days back: That was also in response to such a prompt, and chat does allow for more active discussion and better discussion than comments.

that's just one instance, it's not a new phenomenon

It only "ends" active discussion if users choose to not chat.

2

3:10 PM

Moving the discussion elsewhere, smothers it by eliminating the possibility of new views entering the discussion

Particularly when the existing discussion is moved with it

It doesn't, the link to chat is still there.

Anyone can click it, and 'enter'.

unlike, on main sites when the OP decides to use the prompt, the disussion stays

Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica

Even then a mod will clean up the comments if they come across stuff that's moved to chat, and at least on sites I frequest, community members will either self-delete or flag stuff as no-longer-needed after doing that.

3:30 PM

@MetaAndrewT. as far as I can tell most (all?) of the stuff linked to by Jeff is now outdated.

it's "completed", in that a system is in place that serves the same purpose

The problem that was presented, is solved

4:12 PM

@JourneymanGeek gone

@Luuklag gone

@Spevacus gone

JNat's on the job again ;)

@Luuklag gone

@Spevacus gone

@Tinkeringbell yeah variants cut through vaccine easily. :/

@Rob that's good. For the producer.

@Luuklag gone

@Spevacus gone

@JourneymanGeek gone

@Luuklag gone somewhere above

*NSYNC - Bye Bye Bye (Official Music Video)

►

4:25 PM

@Ollie gone

@Catija bye bye spammers?

@ShadowWizardIsVaccinatedV3 yeah right.

:D

@Spevacus this was an unregistered account, but gone

@Luuklag one legit answer on SO, and only actual spam in one site — mod-messaged there instead, and will go from there. If you see 'em again, I won't be lenient next time

@Luuklag gone

@JourneymanGeek gone somewhere above

@Luuklag has legit (albeit low-q) contributions on SO. Got rid of the other profile and cleared sessions, in case this was a case of a compromised profile

@JourneymanGeek gone

@JNat this isn't legit, it's spam comment. I'd say it's one of those spammers trying to post fake content so that they appear legit.

4:38 PM

@Luuklag gone

@ShadowWizardIsVaccinatedV3 plus, they're affiliated from the profile. cc @JNat

@ShadowWizardIsVaccinatedV3 missed that comment, but that was from ~17 days ago and the post is from '19

@JNat idle spammer? Some are just patient. ;)

The profile change to include that link was recent too — I just removed it

this looks much more like a potentially compromised profile

if you see more shenanigans from 'em, point me to 'em — happy to destroy then

^_^

@JNat :)

4:41 PM

@Luuklag gone

@ShadowWizardIsVaccinatedV3 Try it triple pistilled.

@Luuklag gone

@ShadowWizardIsVaccinatedV3 Not so much variants... but I'm a bit appalled at how many people (both in my immediate surroundings and further away) are either ranting against measures like requiring a certificate (negative test or vaccinated) for activities and/or apparently unvaccinated at all :(

@Luuklag gone

@JourneymanGeek gone

@Luuklag gone

@Spevacus gone

5:03 PM

If a question has a lot of comments and an answer but someone wants to close it as a duplicate because it matches an answer from another site (answer/question) makes sense should I mark as duplicate and close? My specific question was answered by a mod

@JcbJoe I personally would let the community decide. If the question's really a duplicate, 5 3K members should be able to agree.

@JourneymanGeek kinda weird, indeed... got rid of it

@JcbJoe Also, whether a question was answered by a mod doesn't really matter. Mods are regular users, who just have more tools for cleaning stuff up

Including sharp sticks.

@Ollie Great for getting those last bits of meat from between your teeth :D

5:06 PM

@ShadowWizardIsVaccinatedV3 gone

@Tinkeringbell I'm (mostly) a vegetarian, so...

@Ollie spinach then, fiiiinnne

@JcbJoe ? You can't close a question on one site as a duplicate of a question on another site, though...

@Luuklag gone somewhere above

throws a stroopwafel at @Tink

5:08 PM

@Ollie stroopwafels don't get stuck between teeth!

@Luuklag gone somewhere above

@Tinkeringbell blech. Not all vegetarians eat spinach.

@Tinkeringbell where do they get stuck, then?

@Ollie food? Let's just be very politically correct then, and call it food :P

@Tinkeringbell I feel like some caramels can cause your teeth to get stuck together...

@Ollie They go straight to your hips.

5:09 PM

@Luuklag gone

@Luuklag and gone somewhere above

all done

@Catija Yes, that's how you get kids to shut up for a while ;)

@Tinkeringbell hips?

@Tinkeringbell That's Skippy peanut butter.

@Ollie google.com/…

@Tink I personally am not after a generous rear end. There's a time for that.

2

good to know, I guess?

5:11 PM

@JNat You should have confetti when you destroy the last spammer.

not sure why you're letting me know about it, @Ollie :P

XD

@Catija I think I said it wrong. The suggested pink in the comments is from another site. I have a banner on my question that they want to close as a duplicate because the answer/question from the other site resolved my question here in meta

@JNat The confetti?

The butt :P

5:11 PM

Oh ffs

@Ollie no, this message was prolly meant to reply to Tink

xD

Thank you, ping received :P

@JNat erm, yes.

That may have been a mistake.

;)

@Ollie Actually, I was looking for results more like quora.com/… ;)

But the google results I got were funnier to link to :)

5:12 PM

quora? :o

Yeah, seriously... QUORA???

5

It's Friday... lighten up! :D

I'm just not going to say anything...

@Tinkeringbell Best to do that on a Monday. Everyone's winding down.

@Ollie Yeah but you don't ruin people's Mondays... even I am not that mean.

Mondays are already hard enough.

@Tinkeringbell Fair point.

Quick, get that before Spev does

5:17 PM

Get what?

^^^

Oh, no... I just ate, Spev can have the spam.

A good bit of the time I'm just about to enter an SD watch command. That's when another one from Spev appears under my nose.

7:02 PM

🚽

🐳

7:55 PM

@Rob you around? If so why would I close out my question if the mod already answerd it. I read all the comments and they all seem to point out the same answer the mod said in his answer? Glorifindel added some touches to his answer though

I have 4 closed votes for a dup

Which one?

Q: How do you find how many questions have been asked on a given site?

3

I’m subscribed to three sites and I want to join others. Before I do, however, I first want to know their activity level. If I go to Stack Exchange and look at the All Sites section, it tells me the number of questions. Is this the number of questions overall or just the questions in the past mon...

A question having an answer doesn't make it not a duplicate, or not applicable to some other close reason

It’s been edited so many times lol

True @KevinB

I should just close it. I think it will help others also I guess my wording is different

@JcbJoe If this answer to that question exactly answers your question then that is one of a half dozen ways that one can be a dupe of another. Back in 1/2 hour.

8:10 PM

Ok I will close it before it gets forced closed

A: How should duplicate questions be handled?

8:45 PM

@JcbJoe As usual, a little searching (for a duplicate of your question, or a FAQ about duplicates) saves asking the question or here in chat about what to do:

182

In a nutshell: If a question is a duplicate of another question, flag or vote to close. Note: There are slightly different guidelines for closing as duplicate on meta sites. See the last section for more info. When are two questions considered duplicates? According to Stack Exchange co-founder Jo...

In particular, be certain to read past halfway through twice.

@Rob I'd be shocked if JcbJoe found that dupe target by searching relevant terms to their question, given that it's only a dupe because of the answer

Skillz

Especially as the answers are both images

@Rob Personally, I don't even consider them dupes, but I can't exactly flag or vote for reopening :/

if you search using the top bar, it'll find answers

too bad teh dupe search doesn't do that

None of the 4 posts (Q + 3 answers) of the dupe target even mention "questions", aside from, you guessed it, the unsearchable image

In this case, I think JcbJoe was just unlucky that it's considered a dupe; there's no way I could see a newbie associating the two questions

8:51 PM

Since there's a autocomment asking if it's a duplicate it's not hard to agree with the majority once it's pointed out:

In this case the OP broke the tie.

Hmm

I disagree with a blanket premise that "If the answers are the same, the questions are duplicates", especially when the questions are about a page of statistics that literally lists 7 different stats for each site

You'll really hate some of the others:

i mean, why shouldn't it be marked as a dupe, if you can take the same image and just circle a different number

> "... one of a half dozen ways that one can be a dupe of another."

at least, on MSE

8:55 PM

Where, it's murder.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ MSE has a different closing culture than what I'm used to

I personally consider questions to be duplicates if the questions ask, more or less, the same thing

i agree, though, if no matter what part of the answer you ask about, it's always the same answer, there's not much value in having a separate question for each individual stat, if there's no other easier way of getting the same info that isn't also true for all of them

Sep 13 at 5:09, by Rob

Here wouldn't be my first suggestion:

you could get a question count alone, by going to /questions, but that wasn't what this question was about

@cairdcoinheringaahing That said, that are a decent number of questions on MSE that I think would be better off just asked in here, rather than on the site

8:58 PM

definitely

I actually do search before I post the wording kills me. Like I was looking for questions per day not a question that says monthly views. Maybe I need to search harder. Also in most of my questions I put related questions or searches that I tried and failed. But of course meta got the best searchers 😁

It's easier to find the question when you already know the answer

9:18 PM

Yea

Rob searched his bookmarks

I think it'd be useful if there was a way to scroll through my own recent dupe targets when closing a question

or bookmarks