Paul

user21820

Sep 10, 2018 17:26

One user got to 14k rep and yet still asks poor questions such as 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

For the record, more at 5, 6, 7 from this year.

amWhy

Sep 10, 2018 17:44

@user21820 What I find more surprising than a user with 14k in rep asking "homework-style" and/or questions with not thought or effort added, ... Is the fact that @AsafKaragila answered the questions you number 5 and 7.

Xander Henderson

@user21820 It has been unundeleted.

user21820

@XanderHenderson Lol thanks!

TheSimpliFire

@user21820 I know one with 21.8k rep, though they claim to be no longer active

user21820

@amWhy Every day brings surprises. Lol.

Asaf Karagila

@user21820 First of all, no user has earned more than a couple thousands from questions. Secondly, I don't know if you know the account. It has a long history of asking these sort of questions, for years. If my memory serves me right (I did not bother to check this with my mod superpowers, just what I recall deducing many a year ago), it's a Chinese topologist, and they are often get stuck with set theoretic questions. I agree these are annoying, and I have decided to stop answering to them.

They used to have a few different accounts with names like Paul, and it was really clear it's the same person. I am not sure if there was a voting fraud at the time, or just different accounts, but they ultimately merged into this one.

user21820

Sep 10, 2018 17:53

@AsafKaragila I didn't say that user got to 14k via poor questions. I just happened across that user via the review queues and was surprised they are still doing it after many years.

Asaf Karagila

@user21820 Well, I attribute this to language barriers, for the most part.

user21820

I don't think that explanation cuts it. (6) for example is a clear-cut case of so-lazy-to-try-myself.

Asaf Karagila

I don't think it's a very compelling excuse, sure. But I think that's the reason here. Not as much "laziness".

Oh, there's definitely some laziness going on there. There's no doubt in my mind. There were questions that I felt were repeats from a few years ago, or things which are really obvious if you pay close attention to details.

But a lot of this is also the language barrier.

user21820

Not only (6) but (4) as well, which even a lazy student can get the answer from WA.

Asaf Karagila

That being said, I am going to have dinner with colleagues.

user21820

Sep 10, 2018 17:56

Sure.

Asaf Karagila

Oh, and amWhy, I appreciate your feedback. But now that all is said and done, I hope you don't mind that I purged those comments.

user21820

I think it's time to clean up these poor questions. Old or new. I definitely didn't go hunting for anyone's old answers to poor questions, in case anyone is wondering.

Asaf Karagila

Good luck with that!

user21820

@amWhy @XanderHenderson: Okay we got the go-ahead to clean up. Let's just finish it. =)

2

amWhy

Surprisingly, Asaf wrote the following about 14K Paul, [just one month ago](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2874658/must-i-be-uncountable):
"... I think the problem is not that it's been six years and the user still posts questions that look like this. I think the problem is that the user has been posting these sort of questions for six years now. It's as if there is no desire to learn, just to get answers." – Asaf Karagila♦ Aug 7 at 6:54 -

TheSimpliFire

Sep 10, 2018 18:04

@amWhy wow, I was part of that!

amWhy

So I'm having a hard time why one month later, he's trying to maintain that the asker must be facing challenges (for six or more years), and we should treat him with kid gloves!

user21820

@amWhy Yup, which means that about that time he gave up on this user, despite being super nice and friendly up till that point. So everyone agrees that the asker has no desire to learn (hence always facing challenges).

It's the fed-for-a-day problem, as usual.

amWhy

@TheSimpliFire Yes, indeed. I put "..." so that I didn't draw unnecessary attention to you, but it was in fact "@TheSimpliFire" that belongs in the "..."

@quid So now mods protect each other so that no mod is subject to questions about their own conduct on this site? That kind of reminds me of a problem many police forces face, when officiers, like mods on MSE, are not subject to the same expectations as are the people they are supposed to serve.

TheSimpliFire

@user21820 300+ Qs are gonna take a while

Asaf Karagila

@user21820 Just to clarify, I didn't give you any "go ahead".

user21820

Sep 10, 2018 18:10

@TheSimpliFire Oh I didn't know; I only looked at this year's. I guess it means fed for 300+ days.

@AsafKaragila "Good luck" doesn't mean go-ahead?

amWhy

@user21820 The fact is, we do not need Asaf's "blessing" to "go ahead".

TheSimpliFire

Were we more lenient to PSQs a few years ago? HIs set theory Q attracted 12 upvotes and 3k views

Asaf Karagila

@user21820 No. It means good luck. I try to avoid making decision about content related to me. Obviously I wrote several answers. So...

user21820

@amWhy I know, but I thought "good luck" meant he was on board with us getting rid of those bad questions. Apparently it just means he won't interfere. So I guess that's good enough for us?

Asaf Karagila

@user21820 I mean the social contract is that everybody does whatever they want, and if they are disruptive to a correct discourse, they go on vacation.

quid

Sep 10, 2018 18:14

@amWhy I am sorry I do not really understand what you refer to. But at least I did not do anything recently. (If the protection is inaction, I am sorry I was hardly active today for unrelated reasons.) If you could give me more details I could reply more coherently. (I'll be afk for a 15 minutes but then I'll come back.)

user21820

@TheSimpliFire That is likely due to getting on the HNQ.

TheSimpliFire

@user21820 title has MathJax though (even the original one)

amWhy

@user21820 I wouldn't go gung-ho on Paul's questions. I'd prefer we deal, slowly, with his questions over the past two years, at most, for now. And that we be extra open-minded in granting any display of any sort of effort whatsoever be credited.

user21820

@amWhy Right, I was intending to only deal with the most recent lot, as well.

amWhy

@quid I'm sorry @quid. I saw you here about the same time as I earlier, below an answer of Asaf's, expressed surprise to Asaf about his answers to two PSQ's, and asked him whether he had noted whether the OP's 14K in rep had been at least partly earned from other users upvoting and/or answering those questions, thus enabling the continued behavior. Asaf arrived in this chat before I did, which is understandable, because when I mentioned him here, I thought it appropriate to notify Asaf

In any case, Asaf never addressed my question, or the point I was making. Instead, he jumped to "I won't argue with you, because there is not point in arguing with you", or something to that effect. Nothing I said was said with an intent to argue with him. In any case, though he avowed not to delete anything, he did anyway, or got another mod to do so. I left the discussion with a request to Asaf that he not handle any flags from me, because at this point, I have no faith that Asaf can

...operate objectively wrt to anything I flag, say, or do. That was deleted to. Never did Asaf attempt to discuss the matter. My comment(s) were cut short/cut off by a very defensive and/or hostile response.

@quid I forget you can see deleted comments: math.stackexchange.com/a/2550331/9003

Martin R

Sep 10, 2018 18:57

What do you think of this question: Show that f(x) is increasing? – As I understand it, it is essentially “Prove A, then we have a proof for B and C.” Does that count as enough context? (In my opinion it does not, but perhaps I am biased.)

quid

Sep 10, 2018 19:31

@amWhy it seems to me that part of the problem is that there was a part of the communication that was seemingly lost. I'll reply in more detail elsewhere.

amWhy

Sep 10, 2018 19:45

@quid Thanks, @quid.

$Mathematics$ CURED

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