« first day (1777 days earlier)      last day (2894 days later) » 
00:00 - 21:0021:00 - 00:00

12:51 AM
We're today's featured site - see right column
 
I think that's the first time I've ever been to the stackexchange homepage
 
@mts but the OP asked about a NZ passport ;)
more canonical now though, I might update the question
@ZachLipton looks kinda empty eh!
 
1:32 AM
@Ulkoma still waiting for you to link that behaviour you were complaining about? you've claimed multiple things both in chat and meta, but haven't linked to any of them.
 
0
Q: Is Housesitting Or Petsitting Working?

Christopher WrightI have registered with the company at www.trustedhousesitters.com . I could in the future either be doing house sitting or pet sitting or both, at people's homes. Often, the locations are in various foreign countries to mine. My question is: Is doing the above classed as doing work? Or in ot...

TSE Standard OP 101...
I'm know I'm right, please agree with me
or else I'll argue about it
 
I disagree, only because I hope to do it myself ;)
But can totally see how it's a grey area
it's not working, in the same way that uber "isn't" a taxi service
 
@MarkMayo But it happens that our rules are made by Parliament, not a trustedhomesitters web site :(
@MarkMayo Is it providing a service?
There's an easy 10 points if you write an answer telling the OP that it's all fine and dandy.
 
 
5 hours later…
6:19 AM
maybe this evening :)
in the meantime, if anyone else wants to weigh in:
1
Q: Can I ask travel related questions about where I live?

UlkomaIt seems SE travel has it's own non-SE regulations and the asker has to justify him/herself to the rest of the users including his motives in asking the question, so I was wondering if it's against the site spiritual rituals to ask questions about a place where you actually live and very familiar...

 
 
1 hour later…
7:36 AM
(two users with identical names, editing the answer to add and remove the spam link)
 
@ZachLipton thanks, deleted
 
👍
 
8:42 AM
@Relaxed I don't think that downvoting answers to disengage with the OP is a valid solution. If the OP is doing something illegal per Travel.SE rules then they should be dealt with by the moderators and higher-ups. If not then they are allowed to stay here. That also means that you are allowed to engage with them or not. But downvoting other people's answers doesn't seem to be a constructive attitude to me.
 
Hate makes people do crazy things
 
@Ulkoma Please stop. Want to stop being picked on? Then stop jumping on every single chance you get to talk back. Sometimes the best thing to do is stop arguing and walk away.
5
I'm fed up of reading you guys argue over thin air. In chat, on the site and in Meta. That's not the reason I hang out here. And I am sure that's not the reason any of you hang out here either.
 
@JoErNanO pizza man, whats the name of the coffee maker again?
i am making an order in amazon and planning to add this as well
 
8:57 AM
@HeidelBerGensis Bialetti is the brand.
 
They are made in various sizes. 2/4/6 cups. Depends on how much coffee you need.
 
i will go for one cup
 
I have a 2-cups since I don't drink coffee and have it just for guests.
Na man get the two. Like many things in life, bigger is better.
 
they have 1/3/6/9/12 cups
 
8:59 AM
You get more working space, more water, more loaded coffee.
 
cool
3 cups then
now, moka coffee beans..
suggestion?
 
@JoErNanO I have stopped long time ago, I asked a genuine question but this monkey avatar user decided to star a war because I told him off about begging for hats and reputation. I am pretty sure you all aware of it but it's easier to put the blame on the new user ( ie myself) rather than telling off an old friend
 
we have lots of coffee types around here, not sure which one is for moka, since mostly are advertised as turkish, american or arabic coffee..
 
He called me a troll and Pakistani, keep in mind Arabs insults others by calling the Pakistanis
You all going in circles rather than telling him to stop
 
@HeidelBerGensis Which amazon are you on?
 
9:01 AM
@JoErNanO amazon suggested this:
amazon usa
 
Illy is good. Lavazza is good. Kimbo and Hag too.
Best thing would be to get toasted grains and grind them yourself.
 
ok
i can get that.. i am no expert.. but toasting is like levels and stuff.. correct?
 
1/2/3/4/6/9/12/18 cups!
Yeah get pre-toasted grains.
 
@JoErNanO amazon us only sells 1/3/6/9/12/18,,
 
But try the Illy first if it's cheaper. So that if you don't like the moka you don't spend too much.
@Ulkoma Na man. I'm not putting the blame on anyone. IMHO if you are both here and not banned it means that the higher-ups don't think either of you did anything wrong. If you disagree, go find the wrongs that were done and flag. Bringing this up continuously in comments, chat, and meta is of no use. That's what I think.
I don't think anything else. I did not see the fight, and quite frankly don't care about it. ;)
 
9:05 AM
@JoErNanO i can grab coffee beans from here.. also the grinder.. one more piece of information then i wont bother.. what level should i set the grinder?
 
If I did nothing wrong then what's that you want me to stop?
 
@HeidelBerGensis Excellent question. Let me look that up.
That's actually a perfect question for Seasoned Advice. :)
 
rep farming :D
@JoErNanO you gonna ask it?
 
@HeidelBerGensis Maybe. And answer it. Ideally you want coarser than turkish/greek coffee which is usually flour-like thickness.
like ground pepper flakes is what you are looking at.
 
ok good enough
 
9:13 AM
Also, I'd say try different grinds and see which one do you prefer.
 
@JoErNanO i still think moka is the same as espresso if i remember the taste correctly..
 
Fill the moka up to 1.5mm below the valve, put the metal filter thingy on, scoop ground coffee in the filter without pressing, make a mountain-shape of coffee, then screw the top part tightly and put on the fire.
 
but, i am also hoping that it is good.. i need new things in my life after i quit smoking.. life is kinda boring with no cigarettes..
 
Take it off the fire once the foamy part stops coming out, and the coffee begins to sprout out mixed with air.
Keep the lid closed or else you'll paint your kitchen coffee colour. :)
 
:D
it is already coffee colored..
 
9:19 AM
Awesome! :D
 
@JoErNanO guess what...
there is:
 
Perfect. :D
 
10:07 AM
@JoErNanO As I explained, I did it for purely technical reasons, to have the question deleted
@HeidelBerGensis Moka coffee maker requires finely ground coffee, basically the same as espresso machines
French press requires something coarser
IIRC
But you have to experiment yourself, see how it works out and what you like
 
@Relaxed yes, i will try things.. i kinda love trying such things..
 
@JoErNanO can't you still get a great espresso in Italy for 1 euro? :)
oh sorry, I forgot you work in France
 
I know at least one place in France where you get coffee for one euro
 
i once bought a coffee for 7 euros in france.. was kinda pissed..
 
French coffee has a little bit more water than Italian coffee, traditionally 3/4th of a standard cup instead of half a cup
@HeidelBerGensis I would be too! Where was that? And for what coffee? I once paid 3.5 and I was already pissed...
 
10:16 AM
any of you tried arabic coffee? the super little cups, light colored?
 
The cups or the coffee?
I tried both... but not at the same time ;)
I had a set of glass cups with brightly colored decorations
 
@Relaxed in champs elysees, during summer times, it is a great place for rich tourists to spend money they dont need.. but for some reason the crew hotel was around, and i bought that 7 eur coffee...
@Relaxed the coffee itself is light brown..
 
and I also had a Tunisian neighbour who prepared cofee for me
 
tunisian coffee is different, closer to turkish one i guess.. the arabic coffee is mainly the coffee in the arabian gulf area.. or Khallej as we call it..
 
Yes, it's close to Turkish coffee
But it's arabic too ;)
 
10:20 AM
yes..
but it is not called Arabic Coffee locally ;)
we usually prefer to the one in the photo when we say Arabic Coffee..
 
We and locally = in the Gulf?
 
no
all arabs call it arabic coffee..
but, they call their local coffees according to their country names, lebanese coffee... etc.
even wikipedia agrees with me ;)
Arabic coffee (Arabic: قهوة عربية‎) is a general name that refers to the two main ways coffee is prepared in many Arab countries. Coffee originates from the Arabian peninsula. In the coffee, Cardamom is often added, or it is served plain قهوة سادة qahwah sādah (lit. "plain coffee"). Arabic coffee, or ‘‘Al-Qahwa’’ (Arabic: قهوة‎, qahwah, locally gahwah or g'hawah), is made from coffee beans roasted very lightly or heavily from 165 °C (329 °F) to 210 °C (410 °F) and cardamom, and is a traditional beverage in Arabian culture. Traditionally, it is roasted on the premises (at home or for specia...
 
@JonathanReez Yeah man. Even 60cents some places in the south.
In france you are looking at the best part of 1.5EUR at the counter.
 
In rural areas/small towns, between 1 and 1.2 is not uncommon
But no complaints, in the Netherlands it's 2 at the very least, and it's not even good
 
10:38 AM
@JoErNanO in Prague it's 1.5 Euros and mostly Nescafe-quality. But we're getting better as hipsters are taking over the city
 
@JonathanReez Nescafe is not a coffee.. sorry mate
more like dark brown water
 
Those pod-things seem to be pretty popular over here
 
@JonathanReez Bless hipsters. We'll get bio vegan gluten-free hazelnut skinny lactose-free moccacinno brewed from a no-oil wind-propelled feng shui-oriented vintage pre-colonial coffee maker in a humid underground before-it-was-cool catacomb. For a mere 10EUR.
 
(not like in coffee shops, but the department stores have loads of them, impying people have them at home)
Also, the hipster coffee shops here tend to avoid flavourings etc - thats for the chains
although they probably do offer non-dairy milk, for those uncool enough to need milk with their coffee
 
11:11 AM
1
Q: How to find people from the UK or Ireland interested for home exchange or hospitality exchange?

Anna ZenonosI live on the dole in Cyprus and have extra bedrooms for renting out, which i do occasionaly but not often enough to make serious income. I also host for free in cs. i wonder if there are any people in Uk/ireland who would like to come over to my house some months of the year and me go to their ...

should this be closed?
on one hand it's about travel
on the other it's about renting out one's place
 
11:38 AM
They're being kind of specific
but the core of the question - is there some service/communications about home swapping for travel
seems pretty on topic
 
 
1 hour later…
12:56 PM
@Ulkoma we've asked you repeatedly to link to the comments about Pakistan. You've failed to do this repeatedly, despite saying you would. At this rate, frankly, I can see why people are getting frustrated with you. Link to the post or it didn't happen.
 
@MichaelHampton what's with that passive aggressive comment on this question travel.stackexchange.com/questions/67667/…
if he's asking he probably doesn't know
he doesn't know what you know
 
@Relaxed and @Ulkoma regardless of thoughts of one-another, I just had to delete "troll" comments from both of you on the meta post. Please don't use names, no matter how strongly you feel someone is being negative towards you. Flag it and move on.
 
@HeidelBerGensis where I live I've seen roughly the same thing being described as either Turkish or Arabic coffee, I love the one with cardamom
 
@MarkMayo why reopen this: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/67648/… ? It seems a textbook case of "too broad"
 
@CMaster it was showing as closed as off-topic, not too broad?
 
1:08 PM
@HeidelBerGensis unfortunately in North America where people usually have some coffee in their milk-cream-sugar, it's not quite that popular. Whenever I order it with company I end up drinking the whole thing myself
 
unless I'm going crazy
 
@MarkMayo Possibly - it was closed before I came to it
although with SE's slightly odd system, it's possible that several of the previous voters did give "too broad" as their reason
 
and it's a very valid travel question, one that I'd love the answer to as well. Like the grey legality of airbnb and uber too
However, I could concede that users may find it too broad, as laws might be different
but if there's an official answer on the website or something, that would probably suffice
 
I'm not sure I'd trust the website itselfs opinions on it
you can find lots of agencies claiming things are legal that aren't
 
meh, they'd have to deal with the legal aspects all the time, and if they lied they'd be in deep doodoo
 
1:12 PM
Nah, their customers will get in trouble, they'll just ignore it
 
true. but I've also listened to several travel podcasts who use it, and an interview with the founder, and this legality aspect never came up.
heh
 
after all, they're just a matchmaking service
they can't be held responsible if their users don't fulfilltheir legal obligations
and of course their users should seek appropriate advice and documenation before travelling
 
hmm, I wonder. if you were advertising, say, prostitutes, in a country where it's illegal, and claimed to be jsut a matchmaking service?
 
Honestly, as long as you are based in another country, or you can claim to just be documenting what already exists (see Punternet in the UK) you'd get away with it
(see also Uber initially operating in places where officaly any private hire drivers should be licensed)
Two ways I think it's too broad a Q:
1) By whom? Immigration? Tax authorities? The bloke down the pub? The Tabloids?
2) Where? I know that immigration in some countries doesn't count volunteering as work, in others they do
I don't think AirBnB is legally in any way different to say, HomeAway
 
volunteering is a bit different
eg, if you were staying in your cousin's house in country x, while they're out of town, nobody would bat an eyelid
staying in a friend's house? probably the same
 
1:17 PM
of course, that better marketing has led to people who weren't previously involved getting involved
 
here, it's a 'new friend'.
I'm sure there's a line, but I don't know where the line exists :/
 
in fact, other than AirBnB having better marketing, I can't see any difference
and doing things like not declaring the income/paying city taxes etc
and while I don't doubt AirBnB could have been more err, helpful in that regard
It's not quite the same as Uber's somewhat dodgy dealings
I can't imagine that line being the same in every country
 
Arguably it's exactly the same as airbnb, but you pay less (ie none)
 
also, it probably depends on the details - like, if they also pay for your food while housesitting, does that change it?
 
true
 
1:19 PM
Pretty sure it's going to be different for most countries, and possible different depending on whose eyes its in
like, if no money exchanges hands, tax authorities won't care. Will immigration? The UK's slightly obsessive attitude towaards anything looking like "work" may be very different to say, Argentina's interpretation
 
Argentina, I was staying in a hostel in Mendoza with a lot of under the counter workers
tax people apparently came in one day, asked a cleaner for her papers etc
She told them "no, because I don't believe I should have to pay tax, so I don't register"
 
@markmayo while you're here, tell people to be nice on this one please?: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/67652/…
 
They asked her to register, she refused again, and they left! :)
 
Wow, being a Soverign Citizen works in Argentina?
 
dammit, people....and their offtopic rants
@CMaster we were in awe
 
1:30 PM
How do I like to a certain post in the chat?
Since calling me a troll is not allowed anymore which is very good imo
I have many posts by some so-called good users calling me a troll
 
@Ulkoma You can "star" chat messages
 
two ways
no don't do that
for bad messages
1) hover over the message, a down arrow appears. click that, and you'll see a 'permalink' link which you can copy and use to link to
2) do the same, hover over message down arrow appears. Click that and choose flag as offensive, or flag for moderator. That's the easiest as mods can sort it out.
But if there's a conversation of 20 messages, 10 of which you don't like, don't' flag them all. The mods read the context anyway, so they'll see the others and remove if necessary.
Hope that made sense.
 
Oh I flagged them but there is a very nice mod who keeps declining my reports
cause he himself find no problem in calling me a troll
Gosh I am glad I voted for a sane mod, that's you
 
A proverb comes to mind here
 
I am glad that finally there is someone who is standing up for the abuse
You can down vote me all you can if you think my questions are bad just dont call me names
and worse I am not allowed to call you names back
Especially that monkey avatar user
 
1:36 PM
still waiting for a link, or it didn't happen
 
I am looking for them, they are not few you know
 
remember, the 'abuse' applies on both sides. If someone's rude to you, under no circumstances should you retaliate. We've been lenient so far, but in the last day or two I've had to delete so many comments from both you and others, reply to stuff in here, and deal with meta comments, that I'm not going to tolerate much more from anyone.
@CMaster "Eat a small toad in the morning, and it will be the worst thing you do all day."?
"Red meat is not bad for you. Fuzzy green meat is bad for you."?
 
@MarkMayo I am fine with that
I am 100% fine with the system
 
removed those two and another one near it
 
Thanks
 
1:40 PM
and now removing your two above to prevent further references from others
 
no problem
 
And hopefully all will be good from now :D
 
It is very good from my end
 
cool :)
 
Finally justice has been served
 
1:41 PM
Have a good night all, I'm going to watch some Archer
 
Now I'll post in the meta to find out why my question is off topic
see you
 
2:29 PM
@MarkMayo I did not see anything worth flagging, I really did not feel insulted by anything Ulkoma said and stopped addressing him or her in any way, shape or form after our discussion yesterday
I was careful not to respond to any bait and the only comments I made were to explain my votes, for the benefits of other users...
I don't think pretending there is "two sides" to this is helpful at all
The only mildly derogatory word I used is "troll", it's not name calling or an insult, it's the only way I know to describe a particular behaviour and I will continue to use that word
 
It's more accurate that there's no sides. I removed name-calling ad hominem comments from both. Comment on the actions, but avoid calling the person names - troll is not a nice word, yes it's minor, but it can be inflammatory which just leads to further problems. All I'm asking is to keep things civil.
 
What is "ad hominem" supposed to mean in this context? The person is the issue here, there is no way around that, no matter how you phrase it. And pretending there is some serious matters that should be addressed ad rem when the person is arguing in bad faith and having fun at our expense just furthers the problem.
 
Whether a person is the issue or not, if someone is being a problem and you attack them instead of their actions, and it's flagged, we're forced to intervene and it's hard to argue that someone's following the rules when they're name-calling. Which then means we have to remove your comments. If you discuss the actions instead, there's no basis for someone to retaliate.
 
You do what you feel you have to do but I disagree
That's all I have to say
 
2:45 PM
I get what you're saying, and I acknowledge the difficulty of addressing it when/if there is a person trolling.
 
3:08 PM
probably just some idiot in the terminal, but wow
@HeidelBerGensis do you see much of this sort of thing?
 
@MarkMayo Could also be a name that somebody thought was funny when putting it in at home
 
true
 
Rather than deliberate trolling of air passegners
You're also still not asleep
Go to bed @MarkMayo
 
About to ;)
 
 
2 hours later…
5:06 PM
@MarkMayo i respect you, but you can not help that troll.. he is a troll.. as simple as that.. whatever you do, he will be troll, and he will do it again... and again.. and again :)
and good thing is, voting is what controls shit ;)
 
5:55 PM
@MarkMayo I have read everything, thanks, will be more careful
 
6:30 PM
1 hour ago, by Heidel Ber Gensis
@MarkMayo i respect you, but you can not help that troll.. he is a troll.. as simple as that.. whatever you do, he will be troll, and he will do it again... and again.. and again :)
1 hour ago, by Heidel Ber Gensis
and good thing is, voting is what controls shit ;)
Let's see if Mark Mayo will do anything about this
Now who is the troll
They insist on calling me names
And since he knows he isn't getting punished he will keep doing it
simply because he knows he will get away with it
 
I Am Here
@Heidel please stop calling people 'trolls'.
 
So it's no longer a matter of taking care of the site, it's merely the game of insulting me
 
No one likes drama.
 
I suspect people are reacting to your own words in travel.stackexchange.com/revisions/67473/1 "PS: damn trolling, now when I need real advice you'll think I m trolling."
 
I said damn trolling
how is that means "I am trolling"?
you made the same assumption when you answered my question in the meta
made an assumption
you people seem to rush to judge
 
6:39 PM
JoEr is pretty annoyed that people are calling each other "trolls" on Meta. You guys should stop this or you'll kill the fun of being in the site for everyone, including yourselves.
 
Fix that please, it's the monkey avatar and relaxed who keep calling me a troll
not "calling each other"
 
I don't care.
Stop it.
All of you.
Don't add fire to fire. Be the bigger man and stop it.
 
I don't care about you either, they need to stop
What would you do if I call you a troll everyday?
of course you going to say that you wouldn't care etc
 
I'll take a break and come back when people grow up.
 
but thats not true
 
6:43 PM
That is true.
Now you're disregarding my advice, and I'm just trying to help.
 
not true, I suggested I do the same to you and call you trolls and Mark Mayo said I'll get banned
but I dont see them getting banned for doing that?!
 
10 hours ago, by JoErNanO
@Ulkoma Please stop. Want to stop being picked on? Then stop jumping on every single chance you get to talk back. Sometimes the best thing to do is stop arguing and walk away.
 
You can help by asking the abuser to stop not by lecturing me
 
This is only so spot on.
If you stop continuing, they'll stop too.
Come back after a couple o' days, you won't miss anything.
 
Man you are so unfair
This is just very shameful
 
6:45 PM
Man you're so unhelpful
I'm out of here. Good luck
 
bye, see you
 
@PhMgBr no, HE IS A TROLL. whether you like it or not :) sorry.
 
29 secs ago, by Heidel Ber Gensis
@PhMgBr no, HE IS A TROLL. whether you like it or not :) sorry.
Nice, in capital letters this time
 
@HeidelBerGensis Yeah, already got the impression.
 
For goodness' sake stop arguing.
Third time I've come here for flags in 24 hours.
 
6:53 PM
@ArtOfCode He ignores what Mark Mayo asked him to do
and insist on calling me a troll
 
@Ulkoma Are you a moderator?
 
All what I have been begging for is not to be called that
No, I am a human with feelings
you got offended yesterday by a joke
 
The appropriate way to deal with inappropriate language is to disengage from that conversation, and flag for moderator or staff attention.
2
 
So mod-flag it, don't take it into your own hands.
 
and I am getting offended here
Thats what I have been doing
I did nothing else but flagging
 
6:54 PM
Doing it yourself never helps; the moderators are here to deal with this. Neither of your histories are shining.
So: @HeidelBerGensis Be Nice (again).
@Ulkoma I suggest mod-flagging, rather than offensive flags, if things aren't getting dealt with. Offensive flags draw a lot of unnecessary people here. Use a custom mod flag to explain the situation; that only goes to mods.
 
Oh I had no idea about the difference
How do I mod-flag?
 
Mod flags are available in the message drop down
"flag for moderator", at the bottom
 
I see, thanks
 
No need for it right now, but that's where it is for future reference. This one I've just dealt with.
 
7:08 PM
@HeidelBerGensis Please stop engaging, and let it go. Let's get back to the normal operation of things in which we have fun on the site.
@ArtOfCode @MετάEd @PhMgBr Thanks for coming here to help folks.
 
@JoErNanO no worries
 
@JoErNanO yw
 
 
1 hour later…
mts
8:13 PM
Just saying: when you click on a user icon on the left I see two options appear: "hide posts" and "ignore this user (everywhere)". Now I don't know what they are doing exactly or what the difference is but this feat might come in handy. I'm considering to give it a try.
 
8:56 PM
That's kind of beside the point, talking about myself, I sometimes get annoyed or take a dislike of some people but that's not the case here, I just think the person-who-admitted-having-trolled-in-the-past should be gone. Merely looking away does not solve that problem.
 
00:00 - 21:0021:00 - 00:00

« first day (1777 days earlier)      last day (2894 days later) »