Mithical

Preservation and archival are also somewhat distinct, I think; archival implies more order and organization than preservation, which simply implies continued existence.

@Slate Clearly not.

@starball "display enough previous research" refers to checking information extant on the site itself, not necessarily external sources.

...continuing: A parent question of "What is figurative language?" may be too broad for a good answer, but it could then direct you to child questions such as "What is a metaphor", "What is a conceit", "What is metonymy", and "What is personification", for instance. (No points for guessing what notes I'm reviewing at the moment.)

@Slate Spitballing: Would it be useful to have pages that split up general, overly-broad questions into more specific questions? i.e., a parent question or topic that's more general than a question but more specific than a tag?

Once again, beyond my skillset to evaluate that specific question :) Just going off the depiction you gave in here

Once I know that internet is defined as new media, and that mass media refers to more traditional media (newspapers, radio, TV, film), then I can more successfully formulate questions on those concepts.

@wizzwizz4 I think that's part of the question-writing skillset. My math skills aren't good enough to evaluate that question, but if you're asking about concepts you're not familiar enough with, then the first step is to ask more basic questions to make sure you can formulate the more advanced question properly. If I don't know what the difference is between "mass media" and "new media", for example, I'm not going to do well asking what role the internet plays in mass media.

(Okay, maybe not thousands, but hundreds. Lessee... 700+.)

@wizzwizz4 Question-writing is a skill that's pretty much only developed through... question-writing. I've written I think thousands of questions at this point, so I'm fairly comfortable heading to most sites on the network and asking a question. But it's definitely a skill I've had to actively develop; you don't usually arrive on the scene knowing how to scope a question, provide the right background info, and display enough previous research to be received well.

Oh, that's a veiled complaint, I don't think it should be necessary to know search operators to be able to view recently answered posts... but this is a bit of a departure from the discussion about the main Q&A network.

@Spevacus Good thing you can go to /search?tab=newest&q=is%3aa&searchOn=3.

@Slate Cutting the Teams integration out of the main site meant that it lost pretty much all appeal for people who regularly use the site (i.e. the people most likely to use something just because it's SO-branded); instead of being something neat that was already built into the system, it became yet another independent place to check. That's one of the reasons I find the Mod Team not as useful as it should be, for instance.

...just making myself pingable here...

I think you also won't get a notification if you have an outstanding invitation to that room still pending

@PetəíŕdtheWizard you only get a notification if you have write access to the room that your messages have been moved to

@Marco That's a very Christian-centered perspective.

@ShadowWizard That depends on your definition of "religious" - there's evidence that even thousands of years ago the majority of Jews did not actively practice all aspects of the law (referred to as the "am haaretz")

@ShadowWizard mostly

And I hope I've demonstrated over the last ten years here that I attempt to be a moral person and value the truth.

This directly affects my life at all times.

Because remember, I am living this reality. It's going to be extremely difficult to convince me of something that contradicts my lived experience. I do have first-hand experience with the IDF and its regulations, as well as first-hand experience with the conflict on the Lebanese front.

And the flip side: What would it take to convince you that Israel is not intentionally committing genocide and that the state - not individual actors - is not seeking to destroy and take over Palestinian territories?

I believe I just outlined above what that would take.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael I'm unsure what you're trying to convince me of, to be honest, but to change my opinion I'd need to see actual citations of demonstrated, intentional falsehoods by a reliable source, that didn't conflict with the evidence I've seen for myself.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael That... doesn't have much to do with what I said, and is also not entirely accurate from the perspective of laws around conflicts; from a moral perspective, yes, civilian deaths are never acceptable, but from a legal perspective it's not as black-and-white. As for the minors, unfortunately, Hamas has a history of using child soldiers, and those as young as 15 are issued rifles and sent to attack Israelis.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael It tells you that there was a significant amount of collateral damage, which doesn't necessarily mean that the target of the strike wasn't a legitimate target. There's definitely room to argue that the collateral damage means that the strike should never have happened and that doing so while aware of the collateral damage is a crime, but that's not evidence that there was no legitimate target in the first place.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael I am dismissing them based on evidence from other reputable sources; for instance, the Human Rights Watch (for an example of inflated casualty numbers and outright lies about the source). I'm asking what the basis for your dismissal is. You mentioned "former lies"; what are those?

@AndreascondemnsIsrael So what's the basis for claiming that there are "daily" false claims?

@AndreascondemnsIsrael You're again dismissing things as made-up or falsified. Recently there was another Hamas terrorist / UNWRA employee who was killed whose name appeared on a list that Israel sent to the UN months ago.

Otherwise, you are effectively claiming that no targets are legitimate at all and that every person targeted by the IDF is a civilian.

Do you have an example of such a claim where there's reasonable evidence to indicate that it was an intentionally targeted civilian?

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Such as?

And yeah, given the repeated evidence that a large number of UNWRA employees were actively involved in Hamas or the PIJ, including militants that took place in the Oct 7th massacres, I cannot trust claims by UNWRA or the Gaza authorities, given that they are directly controlled by the dictatorial Hamas government.

What's an example of a lie put forth by Israeli leadership? I'm curious what you're referring to.

Sinwar's plans fairly explicitly stated that maximizing the reports of deaths in Gaza was a strategy that was effective at turning public opinion against Israel.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Also, there is evidence that those casualty numbers have been inflated.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Yes, Hezbollah is also using Russian-sourced weapons.

@Spevacus Militias in Iraq have been constantly sending over attack drones as well, in addition to direct ballistic missiles and drones from Iran. The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan has taken responsibility for attacks as well.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Yes, Netanyahu and his capitulations to the far-right are a big issue.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Israel is a mostly-functioning democracy, as opposed to the dictatorship of Hamas or the corruption of the PA. Israel has equal citizenship rights for people of all faiths and doesn't tolerate slavery. Israel doesn't encourage suicide bombing. Israel doesn't murder LGBTQ+ people in the streets. Israel doesn't hold hostages or murder prisoners without cause (see, for instance, Sinwar's brain tumor). That's not to say that Israel is perfect - it's not - but there are very clear differences between the two populations.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Where did I imply that they are not equal or have lesser value? I said that an open-border policy is not realistic or safe when you take into account practical history. That's no more equivalent to "imprisoning Palestinians" than any other country that requires a visa to enter.

In theory, I think the best option is a one-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians having full citizenship rights and access to all territory currently controlled by those groups, including the religious spaces of all faiths. In practice, I don't see how that's possible with a radicalized population that has a history of suicide bombing and the concept of jihad.

It has nothing to do with love and everything to do with pragmaticism.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael Because if given that access, it's been demonstrated that a certain percentage will target and kill Israelis? Because Israel has a duty to protect its own civilians? Because international borders exist for a reason?

I am not justifying the violence from the settlers or attempts to take over Palestinian villages, and in fact strongly condemn them. I am justifying security measures that include vetting to screen out terrorists from entering the country.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael I am using it as a counterexample to your argument that the basis of the violence is because of occupation. I am arguing that the violence long proceeds any basis for the claim of occupation.

@AndreascondemnsIsrael I do not agree with that statement, and I would argue that the inverse is more true: major Palestinian actors seek to destroy Israel and occupy it in its etirety (from the river to the sea).

@AndreascondemnsIsrael First off, I think you're conflating cause and effect. If Israel didn't have to worry about "gruesome methods" - such as suicide bus bombings, knife attacks, shootings, etc. - then there wouldn't be the same level of blockades and restrictions on movement. (And such attacks have happened since long before the State was established.) I note that before this war, thousands of civilians from Gaza did have permission to cross the border to work or receive medical care; it's an international border - and has been since Israel pulled out in 2005 and renounced any claim to the territory - and it is treated as an international border, with the vetting and blockades that go along with that.