33
If our users never used other Stack Exchange sites, maybe, but since we are part of a large network, consistency trumps convenience. It would be better to address this through education (like in the FAQ).
It would also be reasonable to ask SE if we can add to (not alter) the markup help on a per-site basis, which would allow us (and any other SE site with ...
29
Yes, but not for trusted users the 'old hands'
This ban should only be implemented for new users.
I suggest that users with the Established User Close/Reopen privilege should not be limited, in the event that there is a legitimate question to be asked with any of the above words. (Thanks for the suggestion, @tchrist)
These users are already having a vote ...
24
I am against. For one thing, I really need code formatting sometimes, as in Proto-Indo-European roots, where Markup (or what is it called?—asterisks and such) messes up my words. Then there are other uses. There is no serious problem (just looks) and removing any kind of functionality will not only mess up older questions but also limit what we can do, in ...
23
People like hats.
Okay, um, that's... not really a question, but, we can start off slow. Yes! True. Correct. People do, for the most part, like hats.
Will there be hats?
What sort of tradition-breaking libertines do you take us for? Hats are coming, friend*.
Will there be new hats?
There sure will! In fact, we will be bringing you an all-new ...
22
Yes, this should be changed to:
What's your English language and usage question? Be specific.
It's similarly lowercase on other sites, and should be fixed there too, but I agree the bar should be held higher for EL&U.
In fact, this is a bug rather than a feature-request and I have updated the tags.
22
I'm Grace Note, a Community Manager at Stack Exchange.
I don't disagree with the idea that maybe a name change can be fancy, especially with the confusion between this site and ELL. It's a healthy discussion to have. I'm not going to stop y'all from having some discussions about name changes, but I want to be clear up front not to get your hopes up about ...
22
No, we should not adopt this proposal!
Vote this answer up if you think the proposal should not be adopted. If you disagree, upvote the corresponding aye-answer.
(Feel free to add your own answer if you have improvements that would make the proposal acceptable to you.)
21
The issue is that people are confusing semantic marking with display presentation.
Markup (and markdown) constructs are for indicating semantic types like emphasis using *asterisks* and strong emphasis using **double asterisks**. The presentation of those styles as italic and bold is a style question. Except for HTML SE's poor support for underlines, I ...
19
suspension is a very harsh thing that should usually be left to a mod
It's a half-hour suspension per flagged post. And it takes at least 6 people or a moderator to make that happen, per flagged post. And that's assuming that other high-rep users or moderators don't decline the flags first.
So what's really going on here is that you managed to piss off a ...
18
The best solution is to escape the underscore with the backslash. Using a backslash forces the following character to be used literally rather than as part of Markdown formatting:
\_\_\_\_\_\_
______
You could also use code formatting (with backticks), which is always literal, but that also adds a grey background which may not be universally liked.
______
...
18
This strikes me as a very bad idea.
In the first place, LitCrit has always been explicitly excluded from this site's subject matter, so adding it would mean a ground-up redefinition. We have no experience answering such questions; we would have to start over from scratch, establishing entirely new canons of topicality and recruiting a cadre of competent ...
17
You actually can already do this; you have to manually figure out the editor's username, rather than having it "pop up" for you, but if you guess correctly the editor will be pinged. See meta FAQ here:
Who can be notified with this feature?
...
- Any user who has edited the post (does not include pending or rejected edit suggestions).
...
Why do ...
16
Per Laurel's request, this is one potential wording. The answer is Community Wiki so please feel free to edit for brevity, clarity, and felicity (but if you fundamentally disagree with the listed requirements it might be better to make a comment or a different answer).
Single word request questions must include:
A sample sentence demonstrating how ...
15
Yes, yes, yes: just do it already!
The suggested title ban would definitely be a good thing: it places a hurdle on blindly asking proof-reading questions, and might cause posters to think about which part of their text they are actually asking about.
My SEDE query shows 3341 questions (at present) where the grammar tag has been removed, and that does not ...
14
Yes, with proper scrutiny
There should be a new meta post in which (an updated version of) the list of banned words is posted as an answer, for everyone to see.
That post should have a separate community-wiki answer where users can propose new words to be added to and removed from the list.
The reason for this is that some words may well be part of a ...
answered Sep 15 at 19:42
JJ for Transparency and Monica
6,7592 gold badges7 silver badges20 bronze badges
13
Let me preface my answer with an apology.
The dispute about whether to censor the title of the "s——thole question" should never have come up. My reading of past NSFW debates convinced me that the title censorship policy was up to the community, and that there were two major opposing views (i.e., no consensus). In this I was completely mistaken. My statement ...
13
EDIT: Replaced incorrect samples at bottom with true ones showing the difference between faked small caps and real ones, and made all images clickable for enlargement.
In The Elements of Typographical Style, Robert Bringhurst writes:
Genuine small caps are not simply shrunken versions of the full caps. They differ from large caps in stroke weight, ...
12
There should be no exception to cover such cases. The fact the request is for a single word doesn't mean the answer must be phrased using a single word.
I would expect an answer to a single-word request to describe why the proposed word suits the request.
And at the very least, you can always reply with "The word you are looking for is Goshealm," for ...
12
I'm not opposed to enabling the posting limits, but I'm not sure it's the best solution to the immediate problem that has prompted the last few meta posts. I think the current “problem user” would be better served by a warning or short suspension.
I haven't gotten the impression that question spam is a common problem on ELU, so I'm inclined to leave things ...
12
I think the flagging system needs to be measured based on the cost of false positives and false negatives. In this case, you claim that you were incorrectly suspended which (assuming you are correct) carries the penalty of not being able to use chat for a relatively small period of time. The worst case scenario, then, is that your conversation is interrupted ...
12
I can't disagree with this more strongly.
I have never seen anyone complain about anonymous up votes. That is most likely because the user feels validated/rewarded/(insert positive here.) However, there are very many complaints about anonymous down votes.
Users often state that explanations of down votes will help them learn to post better questions/...
12
I don't see the point of this. This primary is only going to eliminate one candidate, so your proposal could only frustrate the ambitions of a single person. Your post uses wording that suggests that you think more than one candidate has been engaging in shady business. So even if I agreed with everything that you're saying (which I don't) I wouldn't see ...
12
Questions and answers on Meta do not earn you reputation. The only exception, network wide, is questions on Meta Stack Exchange, the network meta.
There is a reason for this.
Reputation relates to your knowledge of the site's subject matter. Meta is not related to that subject, so the reputation does not count. MSE is different because Meta is the area of ...
12
The message needs to be short and easy enough for less competent speakers to understand
To get the best answers, please include the following:
A sample sentence showing how the word would be used
Provide as much detail and context as you can
Tell us which words were discarded after using a thesaurus or a dictionary, and why.
If the word you'...
11
Because usually, it takes at least a day for a post to go viral and start attracting bad "me too" or duplicate answers from new users.
The day limit is to prevent the tool from being used prematurely, thus preventing the possibility of good answers from new users.
Mod can bypass this limit, so in the rare case that you have a flash flood of bad answers, ...
11
The Tour page describes editing others' questions and answers, but it doesn't mention one of the most important editing functions: editing your own post, especially to incorporate suggestions in the Comments about how to improve your post.
I'd list this as the first explanation on editing. After all, the Tour is primarily for those who are (a) new (or ...
answered Jul 10 '16 at 13:05
Chappo Says Reinstate Monica
3,3081 gold badge5 silver badges18 bronze badges
11
Although your proposed solution is quite clear, I don't understand the problem you are trying to solve.
You seem to be making certain assumptions for which I do not intuitively see any arguments, like:
the unseemly and counter-productive ambitions of the candidates who have spent years cultivating troops of followers in the [...] chatrooms,
Being ...
11
It would be good to have questions put into an initial review queue where users could edit (with 2000 rep) or vote to close or release (with 3000 rep), but that would be a major change which would need a concrete proposal and support on Meta.ELU before going to Meta.SE for support. It's a major change to the Stack Exchange model, and it could be difficult to ...
11
This problem is even more apparent if you look at the colours used in the list of questions itself.
Here are two questions on ELU:
I've already visited "Irreponsible person" but I've yet to visit "why the use' much of which ' in the following sentence is incorrect?"
My normal routine is to copy the title of the question I know I've last visited, refresh ...
10
It's standard practice to put this element of user interaction entirely under user control.
If a site automatically opens a new window/tab, there is no way of stopping that if you don't want a new window or tab. This is not good: users should not be forced into a course of action which might cause difficulties. For example, Safari on an iPad can only have ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
