The Junk Drawer

Matt S.

3:05 PM

@J.Musser Depends, did you answer either of these questions? :p

Shokhet

@MattS. Curious -- d'you think that the explanation in this answer is insufficient?

(apparently, you've DVed.... ;-)

Zach Saucier

@Shokhet didn't vote on it, but no "juices" fly out from an onion, haha

that'd be scary

Shokhet

@ZachSaucier I forgot exactly what to call the stuff that comes out that causes tearing

Matt S.

@Shokhet It got caught in my "This answer is less than 3 sentences" routine.

Shokhet

(or tears, given the new title someone gave that question)

MacGyver

3:09 PM

0

Q: Can we have a flag reason + queue for "This isn't a hack"?

Can we have a new flag reason and review queue for "This isn't a hack"? Inspired, somewhat, by this question, answers can be given that are 0.00% hackish. I think we can all agree that these don't help the community. I propose that there is a new flag reason... it is not a hack This an...

Shokhet

@MattS. Aha. If I were to improve that answer, what information should I add to it?

I think I put in all relevant info

Matt S.

Answers without supporting arguments are just statement, and there's no way to fit a supporting argument in 3 sentences or less.

Shokhet

Okay

Zach Saucier

:quickly looks through answers to make sure Matt won't dv due to length:

Matt S.

Think about it this way. Every time you write an answer, you're working to convince the people reading the question that you're correct.

Shokhet

3:12 PM

@MattS. If I want to keep that answer around, what supporting argument do you think I should add? .....I've included the basic mechanics of tearing when cutting onions, a solution, and an explanation of how it works.

@MattS. I think I've done that in this answer.....

I'm not looking for an argument; I'm honestly trying to figure out how to improve that answer, so I can write better answers and improve overall quality -- I hope you don't take this the wrong way

Zach Saucier

changing "juices" would be one :P

Shokhet

Okay, fair point :)

Matt S.

@Shokhet I would explain what the juices are that's causing the eyes to tear up.

If I don't know what causes the tears, I wouldn't know that goggles help.

Shokhet

@MattS. Okay. .....that would take a little research, but it's probably worthwhile

Matt S.

Knowing that the tears are a reaction to the gas or whatever you want to call it, it makes sense that goggles would block it out, and thus keep from tearing up.

Shokhet

3:16 PM

@MattS. So I'll start Googling for a (trustworthy) source that more or less says that explicitly

@MattS. DVs definitely help site quality, but I've found that taking the time to leave comments explaining the DV goes a lot farther.

My answers might improve, for example ;-)

I'll have to work on that later; I have to run now. See y'all around :)

Matt S.

@Shokhet I normally do, but I've already had someone post a meta rant because I thought to comment. So I'm going to wait until the main site calms down before I try to be helpful again.

Zach Saucier

@Shokhet I disagree with your #3 meta.lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/114/…

Mooseman

reopen-pls lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/512/15

Matt S.

If you want a cheat sheet for writing answers, it helps to:
1. Explain why they're having the problem, or what causes the problem (even if it's a bit redundant).
2. How to fix the problem.
3. Why that fixes the problem.

And always write it in response to the question "Why should I believe you?"

Zach Saucier

@Shokhet I think you should put some more emphasis on commenting

@MattS. You should add something like that to this question

@MattS. though sometimes I think 1 is not needed if the question explains it well

(I think questions should explain it well enough that it doesn't need to be restated)

Matt S.

3:35 PM

@ZachSaucier I'm typically answering questions where the person asking isn't sure what's causing the problem so #1 is required there. But even with other questions I've found it doesn't hurt to have a short summary to get everyone on the same page.

Zach Saucier

sure, just saying it's not required for all

Jimmy Hoffa

> Going by the answer from @Bobo, I think that the very definition of what a lifehack is, is actually a solution, not a question.

Zach Saucier

I hope we become more strict on questions. Knowing why isn't required in all circumstances, but thinking about it should be

Matt S.

@JimmyHoffa I'm getting that sense too.

Jimmy Hoffa

^-- this makes me wonder if this site should exist... can any of you think of any other site where the scope is based on the answers not the questions?

not saying it shouldn't, just wondering if this is a first

Matt S.

3:38 PM

We still have to fix the problem of being unable to close questions. Every question with a close vote gets the same comment that its's on-topic.

Mooseman

LH is a first in that sense, yes. See also

Zach Saucier

@Mooseman I don't know how I feel about that answer

Matt S.

We definitely don't need a custom queue.

Jimmy Hoffa

@Mooseman +1 this sounds like what I'm thinking may be one of the only ways to work a site like this. Could be wrong, but seems worth a try.

Matt S.

We don't even have categories for questions yet.

Zach Saucier

3:41 PM

^^

@ZachSaucier I think the term "lifehack" will be forever ambiguous. — Mooseman 1 min ago

@Mooseman why do you think that?

Matt S.

How would something enter the queue if we don't know what's hackish or not?

Jimmy Hoffa

if questions never get answered they can fade out into the distant beyond like a viking in a boat going to meet his maker

Mooseman

@ZachSaucier How would you define it?

Zach Saucier

we're in the process of doing so on several metas

Jimmy Hoffa

I don't think it's "ambiguous", I just think it's broad. And there's no way around that. It can be well defined, but still encompass an extremely large amount of things

Zach Saucier

3:42 PM

I'd define it similarly to those answers

Matt S.

Currently I think it's being defined as the unconventional solution.

Zach Saucier

^^

Jimmy Hoffa

I think the wikipedia entry for it defines it perfectly well. It's just that "every day problems" tend to include a damn lot more than just about any other site on SE (perhaps every other site on SE?)

defining and redefining the term won't make it less broad which is I think what people are looking for, and they'll just end up mangling the commonly accepted definition of the term in trying to do so

Mooseman

@MattS. Agreed. But now to define "unconventional"...

Jimmy Hoffa

@Mooseman I think voters can do that with up and down votes. Perhaps we encourage down voting conventional answers?

Matt S.

3:45 PM

@Mooseman Not the common solution.

@JimmyHoffa I've been thinking about that.

As ideal as it would be to be a "How-to" site. It's really only going to work as a "Code-Golf" site it looks like.

Jimmy Hoffa

perhaps, we should define in meta suggested advice around voting. Just like how meta voting is well defined as different than normal voting - meta voting is "I agree" vs "I disagree" rather than a vote on quality etc. Perhaps we need to make an advisement on answer voting here being based on the convergence of effectiveness and conventionality

Matt S.

Otherwise the overlap with other sites is too big.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MattS. I'm not sure I agree if you accept this as a catch all- there's much that will never fit in other sites scopes that would fit in ours.

Zach Saucier

@JimmyHoffa I think we should discuss a little more before pushing voting (besides voting on poor quality content)

Jimmy Hoffa

@ZachSaucier I'm not encouraging, just planting seeds. :)

Matt S.

3:48 PM

@JimmyHoffa If 90% of the questions on the cooking site are on-topic here. That's enough of an overlap for me to say it's a catch-all site.

Zach Saucier

as I said in my big meta post, we need answers to this question meta.lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/40/… and this one meta.lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/43/… that we can all agree on

if that happens things will clear up a bit

Jimmy Hoffa

@MattS. I highly doubt that's the case! Most of cooking is about recipes and techniques, no? I wouldn't say questions should regard specific techniques here as they wouldn't fit the "common problem" situation, no? I don't know.

Matt S.

@JimmyHoffa What's the best technique to cook X would totally be accepted here.

"Just because it's on-topic somewhere else, doesn't mean it isn't on-topic here" is the go-to quote for questions with close votes.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MattS. I'm not saying it wouldn't right now, though I don't think it should. I think you're getting nearer to a nicely drawn rule on topicality here, keep following that and see if you can't come up with the distinguishing trait. I think something about it having so many steps perhaps? Perhaps we can have a rule about tasks need to be single tasks -> Cooking something involves a number of tasks in sequence.

0

A: Is there a psychological aspect of lifehacks?

No. Nearly everything we do can be related back to some psychological activity, allowing psychology to be on topic will open the scope to ... everything. Ever. At all. Moreover, opening it to psychology will make all sorts of medically related psychology questions on topic because how do you re...

Matt S.

@JimmyHoffa I'm working on a meta post about it. Since cooking is by far the worst offender. It's going to be a while though.

@JimmyHoffa The weight loss was a good point. I hadn't even thought of that.

Jimmy Hoffa

3:59 PM

@MattS. see like easiest way to mince vegetables - that sounds like it could have a hack involved, but it's a single step... though it is also utterly on-topic with cooking...

Mooseman

@MattS. Again, how do you decide what is a common solution. There will always be a gray area.

Matt S.

@Mooseman Since we're talking about cooking right now. Say a cooking question comes in. If the answer is the same as it would be on Cooking. That's not a hack. That's the conventional answer you would get on Cooking.

4

Q: Should we require a certain amount of research from people asking questions?

I think a majority of the questions that have been coming in are pretty poor in quality, and I think the problem is that people aren't asking questions about problems that they're actually having. It's all one giant quiz, and if we aren't trying to be formatted like Code Golf, then we need to hav...

discussion questions

If people could say what they've already tried, it wouldn't be an argument.

"Every method to filling a hole in the wall doesn't work for me. How else can I do it?"

MacGyver

1

Q: Should we be downvoting conventional answers?

This is a site about lifehacks. Currently, it sounds like the definition of a lifehack is that it's an unconventional solution to a problem. Does that mean that we should be downvoting answers that are giving the conventional solution to a problem? For example: Someone asks how to peel an oran...

discussion voting

Jimmy Hoffa

^^

The more I'm really surprised it made it out of area51 lol

Matt S.

heh

Zach Saucier

4:11 PM

SE likes to give things shots

good on 'em for doing so

Jimmy Hoffa

@ZachSaucier I like shots too but this is starting to seem like a cement mixer

Zach Saucier

we need a definition of lifehack that is common across all people

if we can get that, it will make it I believe

if not, bye bye Lifehacks

Jimmy Hoffa

@ZachSaucier I think most people know the definition, problem is it's about solutions not questions which kind of fucks up the whole SE format

you're just going to mangle the definition by trying to define lifehacks in terms of problems not solutions

Zach Saucier

@JimmyHoffa need to answer this question in that case

Matt S.

4:26 PM

1

A: How can we improve answer quality?

Here are my basic guidelines that I follow for writing answers: Step 1: Explain why they're having the problem, or what causes the problem. Even if it's a bit redundant to you, a quick summary could be useful to someone who is reading the question and not having the same problem. It helps to cr...

MacGyver

-1

Q: To the Questioners: Did you receive the kind of questions you expected

This is kind of a poll question, but I think its important. Are the answers that where written in your question what you expected to get from a lifehackers community?

discussion

MacGyver

4:58 PM

0

Q: Should [morning-hacks] be a tag?

Apart from losing the -hacks suffix, is this tag useful? If we allow it, does it allow for other temporal tags like night, evening, etc?

discussion tags

Sterno

5:20 PM

The idea that an answer is bad because it isn't "hackish", even if it's actually the most effective answer, is a toxic one, IMO. It says we're here to come up with exotic solutions to problems rather than trying to come up with the best solution to problems.

3

J. Musser

@MattS. No. It was mostly like my self-answers and questions.

Matt S.

@Sterno The problem we're trying to avoid is providing the same use as other sites.

If I can ask a question here, and get the same answer as another site. That's two sites with the exact same purpose.

Sterno

@MattS. I'm not sure that's a goal that is worth pursuing.

(in this format, on the SE network)

Matt S.

@Sterno It's either that or accept that the site should be closed.

Zach Saucier

^^

Sterno

5:24 PM

@MattS. That may be the inevitable conclusion if we can't figure out what makes QUESTIONS belong here instead of ANSWERS

4

J. Musser

Hiy'all!

mobile chat is a pain :/

Matt S.

I don't know it that's possible since at the very least, it's been clearly defined that a lifehack is a solution.

J. Musser

How's things going?

Matt S.

@J.Musser Still working out the scope.

J. Musser

Of course.

Getting anywhere?

Zach Saucier

5:28 PM

I've realized we're at an impasse until we define a lifehack in a way that doesn't rely on convention

how we can do that I have no idea

Matt S.

I'm leaning more towards going to a code-golf format

Zach Saucier

(there are other problems too, but that's the most important I feel)

@MattS. at that point it'd just be a site for absurdity

no point besides having fun

I'd for sure drop out, as would many, I feel

Matt S.

Not necessarily. A lot of the code-golf challenges are to solve something in as few steps as possible.

J. Musser

You could propose it in meta, and get a general consensus on the idea.

Sterno

@MattS. That's measurable. Lifehack solutions aren't

Zach Saucier

5:31 PM

@JimmyHoffa: It's very different in my mind because on Code Golf, askers make up problems with the intention of challenging the answerers. My understanding was that Lifehacks was seeking to solve problems people were actually facing, not just proposing as a puzzle. — abby hairboat ♦ 2 hours ago

Jimmy Hoffa

@ZachSaucier code golf is a site for absurdity, but it actually has a community and is doing just fine.

Matt S.

http://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1562/how-to-remove-tree-roots
Posing this a challenge would make it clear that it's not a duplicate of the several on the gardening site.

Zach Saucier

I don't mind it becoming that, just saying I'd have no part

I don't think the SE staff would be happy

Jimmy Hoffa

@ZachSaucier same here

@ZachSaucier read my response to that comment from abby... I'm not saying I want it to be that, just that some people do and it may be the most sustainable format for this site. Honestly I don't think this site will live.

Zach Saucier

@MattS. who voted to put that on meta....

Matt S.

5:33 PM

7

Q: What is the goal of this site?

I've been treating this site as a sort of "How-To" site. Where someone has a problem, and then people work to post the best solution. I've recently heard that it's meant to be treated as a "Challenge" site. Similar to Code Golf, but with real life challenges rather than programming. Knowing thi...

discussion scope

Zach Saucier

cv-pls meta.lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1144/…

Matt S.

Don't mind the flashing comment as I try to edit it unsuccessfully...

J. Musser

What even is that?

It's a gardening q.

Matt S.

@ZachSaucier Jesus, I didn't even notice it went to meta..

Zach Saucier

Someone upvoted it while it was on meta xD palm to face

Matt S.

5:37 PM

That's pretty much an accurate summary of why this site is having problems.

J. Musser

@ZachSaucier palmface

I have a pic of that

Zach Saucier

users aren't the only reason. I think a bigger issue is the actual site's objective

J. Musser

in The Garden Shed, Nov 7 at 0:17, by J. Musser

Zach Saucier

lol

MacGyver

1

Q: Tool/Product/Device only answers acceptable?

In relation to this question: Should product recommendations be on-topic?... Are product / tool / device specific answers (when used by design) acceptable? I have seen/read examples of the Law of Parsimony/Ockhams razor used in here (The simplest answer is most likely the best/right one) yet I ...

discussion definition

J. Musser

5:53 PM

answered

Matt S.

Are products from infomercials lifehacks?

brb asking about snuggies.

Matt Giltaji

@MattS. snuggies are great

J. Musser

6:24 PM

I can't vote for 5 hrs still. :(

This is closed as a duplicate of a now non-existent post. — J. Musser 20 secs ago

Wipqozn

6:53 PM

@MattS. That would be a good argument that this site shouldn't exist. If we can't come up with a way we're different from other sites, or better than other sites at answering the same topic space, then the site doesn't really serve a purpose.

A lot of proposals are shut down due to having too much overlap with an already existing site or proposal.

J. Musser

7:12 PM

reopen-plz lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1579/…

Perfectly on-topic^

Shokhet

@J.Musser Done.

Matt S.

-5

Q: How can I make a positive impression during an interview?

Not only do I want to make a good impression during an interview, but I want to make sure that the interviewer understands that I'm their ideal candidate. I do all the normal things, such as answer their questions politely, dress professionally, and have a good resume. But I was wondering if th...

people

^^ Is there anything in particular about that one that makes it off topic?

Shokhet

@MattS. hm....I dunno; it might fall under "common sense," pending definition thereof

J. Musser

@MattS. I classed it here. Open to disagreement though.

Matt S.

Okay, thanks.

Shokhet

7:18 PM

@J.Musser That makes sense.

MacGyver

7:34 PM

0

Q: Make users with a lot of closed questions reread the "asking in private beta" agreement

Some users (avoiding the "naming and shaming," but I think we all know a couple of users for whom this is the case) here don't seem to understand that the serially low-quality questions they ask need improvement, even though they've been strongly DVed and closed en masse. I think that it might b...

feature-request users closed-questions how-to-ask-private-beta

Shokhet

@MattS. -- expanded my onion answer. What do you think now?

Matt S.

@Shokhet Great, you just have a typo: "an gas". But I think thats a good answer.

Shokhet

@MattS. Thanks. (the "an" was probably left over from "enzyme")

Matt S.

It should probably be "is emitted" and not "are emitted" too.

unless you meant something to be plural.

Shokhet

@MattS. Good call. Fixed :)

Matt S.

7:40 PM

That's about as nitpicky as I can get with it :p

Shokhet

Thanks :)

Matt S.

No problem

Matt S.

8:29 PM

reopen-plz lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/444/8

Unless there was a reason it's off-topic and it just wasn't noted.

In which case it should be noted.

J. Musser

@MattS. voted

Matt S.

Thanks

J. Musser

I was dv'd 12 times with no explanation. I think someone doesn't like me.

Matt S.

hehe I'm starting to collect them with my recent questions. :)

J. Musser

@MattS. :)

All of them?

Matt S.

8:45 PM

Not quite.

J. Musser

I see 9 dv's on you.

On 3 questions.

Matt S.

But I can't figure out why people don't like that brewing question.

J. Musser

@MattS. The wine fermenting one?

Matt S.

yup

J. Musser

I think it was mostly robo reviewing - a problem I've been seeing a lot here.

I don't know who started that one tho

@MattS. If it gets closed and no one comes up with a good reason, we'll just reopen it.

Shokhet

8:52 PM

You both (@J.Musser and @MattS.) should have seen my comment on the wine fermenting question ;-)

J. Musser

@Shokhet did

Shokhet

@MattS. I think this one is common sense, so I'm not voting.

(I wouldn't VTC, but if it was closed, I wouldn't VTRO either)

J. Musser

@Shokhet It would be common sense if it was asking how to prevent burning your tongue, but as it is, I think it's on-topic.

Matt S.

I think it's the idea of "common-sense that's causing this downvote pattern.

People are just closing questions they don't like. Rather than figuring out how to get better questions.

I'll have something that shows this later today.

Shokhet

Get people on Meta so we can all talk about it.

J. Musser

8:56 PM

@Shokhet I'm on meta.

Shokhet

@J.Musser You are, I am, @MattS. is....but idk if all the close-voters are.

Matt S.

The people who will use meta are using it now. Everyone else will only visit if they have a problem.

J. Musser

@Shokhet If we could find out who they are

@MattS. agree.

Shokhet

@J.Musser Names of close-voters are listed for every question successfully closed. Invite said users to Meta or chat, if they aren't there already.

J. Musser

I've cast 13 cv's myself.

Shokhet

8:58 PM

10 close, 4 reopen for me

J. Musser

7 reopen here.

Wish there was a list of closed questions.

Shokhet

There is

Wrong link; hang on

Tim

:)

Shokhet

@J.Musser Here's your list: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/search?q=closed%3A1

J. Musser

oh, duh. I'm slipping.

Tim

9:00 PM

So you go for the blessing that covers rice? :)

J. Musser

@Tim wat

Tim

@Shokhet posted the wrong link. It was about the Jewish blessing for Sushi :)

Shokhet

@Tim It depends on what you think the main part of the sushi is ;-)

J. Musser

@Tim oh :P

Shokhet

@Tim I posted it in a comment as a relevant link to a recently asked question on MY

Matt S.

9:02 PM

reopen-plz lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/47/8

There's other questions like it that are open.

Tim

I would have thought fish, but i have so little education i only know 3 of the blessings... vine, ground and tree, and not even off by heart

Shokhet

@Tim You're Jewish also?

J. Musser

Closed by Angelo Fuchs, iliveunderawesomerock, Jon, Shevliaskovic, Adi Bradfield. Shall we summon them to meta?

Shokhet

@Tim My rabbi says the blessing on rice ;-)

J. Musser

Hiya @SabreTooth

Shokhet

9:03 PM

@J.Musser Are any of them pingable in chat?

@iliveunderawesomerock is the only one who is

J. Musser

@Shokhet correct.

@MattS. what was your reasoning behind vtc-ing lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/363/…

Shokhet

@J.Musser So let's ask him (her?) the question.....which question do we think should be reopened again?

J. Musser

3 mins ago, by Matt S.

reopen-plz http://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/47/8

Shokhet

@J.Musser I also vtced that one......I think it was common-sense -- the conventional solution works, and he didn't explain why he didn't want to use it.

@J.Musser Thanks

@iliveunderawesomerock, why do you think that lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/47/59 should be closed?

Matt S.

@J.Musser I didn't know what he was doing to make the ketchup packets explode.

It needed more information to figure out what was the problem.

Tim

9:07 PM

@Shokhet at the risk of offending people (never known it but anything's possible), I am - I'm a messianic Jew, so I don't follow many of the Jewish customs. We do passover, rosh hashanah, kiddush sometimes and hanukkah. We don't follow kosher, so the blessings are only used at those festivals - hence my lack of knowledge.

Shokhet

@MattS. I think it's off-topic for "Lifehacks," because the OP hasn't explained why he doesn't want to use the conventional method (carefully snip with a scissors) — Shokhet 11 secs ago

@Tim Oh. Got it.

Tim

I attend church rather than synagogue, too. :)

J. Musser

@MattS. Then I usually comment under the post stating that, and only vtc later if the OP doesn't respond to edit his question into shape. If that makes sense.

Shokhet

@Tim Why aren't you more active on MY? ....I (for one) definitely enjoy asking and answer questions about Judaism :)

Matt S.

@J.Musser That was pretty early on, we had a chat in comments on meta.

It was while the whole common-sense discussion was going on.

J. Musser

9:11 PM

Ah.

Shokhet

@J.Musser I would VtC with a comment -- close votes can be easily retracted and reversed if need be. If a whole buncha people post answers according to their understanding of the question, none of which are relevant to the OP's problem.

Matt S.

Sorry, I should have gone back and added it into the post anyways.

Shokhet

@J.Musser That might make sense on a smaller, slower site.....right now, this site is moving insanely quickly -- I think we should VtC fast to save askers and answerers.

J. Musser

@Shokhet You shouldn't cast a cv unless you think the question is unlikely to go back within scope in the near future.

Otherwise, dv, which can be reversed once the question is improved.

Tim

@Shokhet I am not good enough - I'd just be researching all the answers. Maybe one day I will. I'm more active (but still not very) on Christianity. Someday I may have more of a look around, that question was interesting :) made me think!

J. Musser

9:14 PM

#HitCap

Shokhet

@J.Musser I disagree; CVs are very reversible, and have the advantage of protecting answerers from answering the wrong question, and askers from being unable to get a proper answer due to being unable to edit their question since it invalidates prior answers.

@Tim All right.

Awal Garg

Hi there, can someone send me an invitation for the main site?

Shokhet

@Tim The sushi question?

Tim

Yeah, I'd never though about that kinda think before!

my ignorance there i suppose

@Awal how do you invite someone?

J. Musser

@Shokhet Once you remove a cv, you are not allowed to use it again on the question unless it gets closed/reopened.

Shokhet

9:16 PM

@Tim Yeah; sushi is a pretty complicated question, made harder because it's a new thing, and hasn't previously been written about in older rabbinic literature.

@J.Musser Okay. So?

J. Musser

@Shokhet Your proposed use of the vtc is not what SE designed it for.

Matt S.

@Shokhet If something bad happens to the post, now you can't do anything about it.

Awal Garg

@Tim If you are a member, you would probably see a form on the main site to invite someone via his email address.

Matt S.

Or if we come up with a reason why they're off-topic, we can't re-close them easily.

J. Musser

@MattS. true.

Shokhet

9:17 PM

@MattS. But if I've removed my CV because the post has improved, what "bad thing" could happen to it already?

Matt S.

What you're thinking of is closing a question because it's unclear.

Tim

Yeah, being uncooked fish and rice. It doesn't mention rice and fish anywhere in the ... (I don't know what I should call it either, Torah? I'd say old testament if I was discussing it from a christian viewpoint) does it?

Shokhet

@MattS. Everyone on this site has VTC privileges; closing questions should not be a big problem if we have a consensus of what's off-topic

Tim

@Awal email?

J. Musser

@Tim I wasn't invited... neither had I committed to the proposal. :)

Shokhet

9:18 PM

@Tim Nope; fish are mentioned.

Tim

@Shokhet i meant together, the combo

Shokhet

@Tim Not about what blessing they require, but they're certainly mentioned in the Bible.

J. Musser

@Shokhet That's true, but you should comment before you vtc.

Matt S.

If there's something missing from a question that only the OP would know, then the question would get closed and then re-opened if they added that needed information.

Shokhet

@Tim True.

Awal Garg

9:19 PM

@Tim got it, thanks :)

Matt S.

For everything else it's either fixable or banned.

Shokhet

@J.Musser I didn't say not to comment, but I think a swift CV is beneficial to both askers and answerers

J. Musser

@Shokhet no.

Tim

@J.musser I don't comment before I vote to close normally... I vote then think, do they need a comment? Is there any point in a comment? I don't dilly dally then vote.

Shokhet

7

A: What to do with a Vague Question?

If you have the reputation to, vote to close as "unclear what you're asking." If you don't have the reputation to VTC, then you should flag (assuming you have requisite rep) as "this question should be closed," and pick the "unclear what you're asking" close reason. This will put the question in...

^^^^ is my opinion on this.

Matt S.

9:21 PM

It's easier to ask first, then come back in a bit to see if they come back.

Shokhet

"I think the main thing should be to flag and close as soon as possible, so that the question doesn't get incorrect answers before the OP (original poster) is able to fix up the question." ~from that post

J. Musser

You have a limit of cv's/day. If you see a question that's out of scope, let the user know. If they then ignore you, or the question doesn't quickly move into scope, vtc. The user can always edit and wait for reopen votes later, but you shouldn't close as they come in, especially on a new site like this.

Tim

@Shokhet My opinion is the God doesn't really mind what blessing you use - it's human not godly interpretation of which blessing to use. But I doubt that would be accepted there as an answer...

Awal Garg

Would "How to extract pomegranate seeds easily?" be a good question for the site? I wanna ask it, but don't wanna post something of-topic.

Tim

hmm

maybe

Shokhet

9:23 PM

@J.Musser I haven't run into my limit of close-votes, on any site, yet. I'll worry about that when it becomes a problem.

Matt S.

@AwalGarg It's not off-topic right now. So probably ask while you still can.

Shokhet

@Tim No, probably not ;-)

Tim

interestingly, that's possibly OT on seasoned advice and (maybe?) on mi yodea?

Awal Garg

ok... well:

3

Q: How do I eat pomegranates?

Pomegranates. How do they work? All those tiny seeds and waxy, bitter parts covering them. How do I eat them without a mouthful of seeds and bad taste?

food fruit

^just found that :p

Tim

I don't know if they would want that, it's not like it's a jewish custom? @Shokhet?

Shokhet

9:24 PM

......that MSE question I answered is a duplicate of a duplicate. Better answer:

47

A: How soon should I "vote to close"?

Always vote to close immediately. I explain the rationale behind this approach in further detail here. In summary: Yes, it increases the chances that the question will be closed, but that's actually a good thing for a couple of reasons: It increases the likelihood that the user will take notic...

Matt S.

@AwalGarg amazon.com/Seed-Out-Second-Pomegranate-Deseeder/dp/B0051DSHQU

Shokhet

@Tim I was agreeing with the end of your comment "But I doubt that would be accepted there as an answer..."

Awal Garg

hahaha nice

Matt S.

I have that and it works.

Tim

@Shokhet yes, I was asking about the pomegranate question that @Awal asked

Shokhet

9:26 PM

@MattS. How come Amazon links onebox a lot bigger than WP links?

Tim

That surprised me too!

Matt S.

Amazon links are more important because there's money to be made from them.

Shokhet

Pomegranate

The pomegranate /ˈpɒmɨɡrænɨt/, botanical name Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between 5 and 8 m (16–26 ft) tall. In the Northern Hemisphere, the fruit is typically in season from September to February, and in the Southern Hemisphere from March to May. As intact arils or juice, pomegranates are used in cooking, baking, meal garnishes, juice blends, smoothies, and alcoholic beverages, such as cocktails and wine. The pomegranate is considered to have originated in the region between the Himalayas and Egypt, and has been cultivated since ancient times in India...

@MattS. That's what I was thinking.

Awal Garg

0

Q: How to deseed pomegranate easily?

I am looking for a quick way to easily deseed pomegranate fruit. I don't want to use any special kind of tool like this, though. Any ideas?

kitchen

done :)

Shokhet

My ctrl-C is broken today -- that's the second bad paste I pulled off in this room today

J. Musser

9:29 PM

@Shokhet Understand that that was posted before mse and mso split, so this was discussing SO, which isn't comparable to most sites for many reasons.

Shokhet

Why don't you want to use a specialized tool? Please add detail to your question. ( is the tool too expensive? hard to use? ) — Shokhet 8 secs ago

Matt S.

@AwalGarg Add that you have a pomegranate that you need to cut now. And don't have time to get a special tool for it.

Awal Garg

@Shokhet edited question :)

Shokhet

@MattS. That could work

Awal Garg

@MattS. haha nice

Shokhet

9:30 PM

@AwalGarg That works.

:)

Comment removed, +1

thanks :D

Haha, I can't +1

@AwalGarg Curious; which countries don't have Amazon?

J. Musser

9:31 PM

I ran out of votes.

Awal Garg

@Shokhet India just got amazon, but the place in India where I live in doesn't even have a proper internet service provider...

Shokhet

@AwalGarg Ah. Gotcha.

Awal Garg

:)

I would see ya guys later, gnight :)

J. Musser

@AwalGarg Were you ever in the MSE tavern?

I think I remember you

night!

Shokhet

I gotta go also.

See you @all around!

J. Musser

9:35 PM

@Shokhet later!

Mooseman

Night!

Matt S.

reopen-plz lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1562/…

Might as well since it's not technically off-topic.

J. Musser

@MattS. voted

It'd be hard to come up with a hack for tho

One that works better than common sense.

Tim

@Shokhet only 10 (maybe 11) countries have amazon. Spain and Portugal use the same domain name. There is .jp, .fr, .de .it, .en, .co.uk, .com etc there are more i think...

MacGyver

10:04 PM

-3

Q: Could we get embedded YouTube video?

In one of the SE sites I'm in, YouTube links are automatically converted to embedded YouTube videos in posts. As an example, see http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/22085/how-to-train-in-order-to-perform-a-good-drum-solo/22089#22089 Could we get this feature added to Lifehacks? I think i...