19
votes
Accepted
How was an OED page made available free of charge?
That would be my comment, so let me explain.
Every single day, the OED has a new Word of the Day that it makes free to the world. Eventually, the whole OED will be free ;)
And in case anyone is ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
19
votes
Accepted
Why is promoting your product through your user ID not spam?
I noticed this user yesterday and I will be keeping an eye on them.
With regard to profiles, self promotion is acceptable there. Profile links are "nofollow"ed, so shouldn't be indexed by search ...
- 29.1k
17
votes
Accepted
How do I edit my very-old-questions without pushing it onto the "active" feed?
As @sumelic notes in comments and via the offered link, there is no way to edit any post without bumping it to the active questions feed.
I understand SE's philosophy on the matter to be that ...
- 38.4k
17
votes
Accepted
erm... I lost 2,134 in reputation
Black Saturday on ELU: when the reputation stock market experienced a seismic shock, and every user felt the impact! I shall never forget the member who contributed nearly 3500 answers here, almost ...
- 7,326
15
votes
What should one do when one is being trolled?
Of your 67 answers (plus the others now removed), three have been edited by others:
Word for "term for inhabitant of" — removed "Go and Google it" and added a real reference instead
...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
15
votes
What good reference works on English are available?
Historical Resources
These are books of possible interest to people who are investigating word and phrase origins and want to know what meanings those words or phrases were said to have at various ...
15
votes
Accepted
Is there a rule that the first correct answer must be accepted?
The faq on Meta states "The bottom line is that you should accept the answer that you found to be the most helpful to you, personally."
Stack Exchange isn't a quiz show, so it doesn't matter which ...
- 1,352
14
votes
Making Latin etymology on-topic
Questions about the etymology of English words are welcome on the site, even for borrowed words.
Your questions were not rejected by "that is beyond the scope of English" or by "we do not discuss ...
- 28.4k
14
votes
Will you please insist on explanations for down-voting?
You want to know a secret?
These are the literally the top 5 EL&U questions of all time, and every single one of them has downvotes.
Do you care about who cast those downvotes? Do you care why? ...
- 28.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Suspensions That Are Too Harsh
NOTE: I am not a moderator on ELU, but I do moderate on another Stack Exchange site.
Your question about harshness might be better asked on the overall Stack Exchange meta site.
Seven days might ...
- 58.7k
14
votes
Suspensions That Are Too Harsh
The length of suspension is determined by guidelines, as J.R. kindly elaborated on in his answer. We sometimes make suspensions longer than the initial 7 days, but did not feel that your case ...
Kit Z. FoxMod
- 27.8k
14
votes
Accepted
Identity Theft: Shouldn't this be prevented?
In most cases, it is perfectly reasonable for many users to have the same name, so it doesn't make sense to force them to be unique. For example, I made a query to find users with the same display ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
13
votes
Should I trust a suspended user?
It doesn't really matter.
Suspension is mainly a tool for moderators and Stack Exchange employees, which allows them to control the ability of a user to make posts and take other actions on a site. ...
- 80.4k
13
votes
Is it because of insufficient reputations that "reopen" button under closed questions cannot be seen?
Yes, you need at least 250 reputation to see and cast close/reopen votes on your own questions and at least 3000 reputation to do so on any question.
This is a screenshot I took of one of my questions ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
13
votes
Accepted
Why do I have so much increase in reputation all of a sudden?
This is the Association Bonus, which is given to all your associated accounts when you reach 200 points on one of them. You can get to your reputation changes from your user profile page: click on ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
13
votes
Why is promoting your product through your user ID not spam?
This is nothing new, really. Across the network there have been similar users time and time again, and I think there's a consensus: unless there is spam (or some other serious misbehavior) outside the ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
12
votes
Are most of the people who answer our English questions native English speakers?
We don't have any statistics on whether members of the ELU community are native speakers or not, and that's deliberate. There have been a number of Meta questions asking whether that sort of ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
12
votes
Flag etiquette and effectiveness
From my perspective, moderation is only indirectly about teaching people to become good citizens. The goal should be to foster an environment where folks feel free to participate and can enjoy the ...
- 1,352
12
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to report a rude/inappropriate username?
You should flag the post for moderator attention, and specify why you think the username is inappropriate.
tchristMod
- 134k
12
votes
Accepted
How to discuss something with the mod team privately?
It is unusual to request to speak to the EL&U mod team about one of the current moderators. I understand that you are not asking about contacting the community mod team (which you can do by ...
Kit Z. FoxMod
- 27.8k
12
votes
About EL&U usage, purpose, and comments
Think of meeting your significant other's extended family for the first time around a major holiday. You'd probably sit at the table and observe how some aunts, uncles, and cousins are more soft-...
- 58.7k
12
votes
Question about homicidal tendencies
I don't think so.
It's asking for a word, not displaying any intention to murder or anything.
OP could be a writer, or maybe it's just fun and curiosity behind the question. Either way, it's fine.
NVZMod
- 22.6k
12
votes
I find this answer is irrelevant to my questions
The answer you have selected has the green checkmark, and that answer will always be displayed first. This is you telling the community that your question has been answered, and as far as you are ...
- 90.3k
11
votes
Accepted
Seeing the reason behind close votes
Clicking the "Close" link does not commit you to casting a close vote.
Once you click the link, a dialog will appear showing a list of close reasons. If others have cast close votes already, a ...
- 59.3k
11
votes
Should I trust a suspended user?
As regards being told how you should act on the site...
If a moderator (with a diamond after their username) instructs you to do or not do something you should comply - but if you seriously disagree, ...
- 140k
11
votes
Accepted
Difference between 'No Action Needed' and 'Skip'
In clicking "No Action Needed" you make a judgement, and the system will use your judgement to help decide what action to take in respect of a post. It may be that your click, when combined with other ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
11
votes
Accepted
Reporting rude comments
You can flag posts at 15 reputation. Flagging comments is not mentioned in the privileges list, so it's either the same or possibly even as low as 1. Or it may come with the "comment everywhere" ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
11
votes
Accepted
I can't ask any question
It's not the case that you have only asked three questions. The thirteen other questions which are now deleted also count towards the way the system calculates whether or not to accept any more ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
11
votes
Accepted
Why can't a user delete their own question that was just asked and has had no activity?
As I tried to say in the comments, only registered users can delete their own posts. If you check a user’s profile and you see this, they are not registered:
Basically, this user has chosen to post ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
10
votes
Why can't I '@' people at the start of comments?
You can't use @ at the start of a comment when you are addressing the post owner and there is no ambiguity about who the comment might be addressed to.
The post owner gets notified of all comments ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible