Starred posts

ColleenV

Jun 14 12:41

We do have a set of recommendations for dictionaries in the Resources for Learning English thread: ell.meta.stackexchange.com/a/739/9161 not sure how well that list has been maintained.

2

ColleenV

Jun 21 11:27

This one is also helpful ell.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4783/…

Laurel

May 20 15:49

@Tim Honestly, I'm on the fence about it. I personally have found them pretty useful for moderating, and it stops the room from freezing. People who don't want to see em can ignore the bot (the process isn't super obvious though). On the other hand, you're not the first to complain…

2

Laurel

Apr 29 20:07

1

Q: 2025 Moderator Election Q&A – Question Collection

English Language Learners Stack Exchange is scheduled for an election next week, 2025-05-06. In connection with that, we will be holding a Q&A with the candidates. This will be an opportunity for members of the community to pose questions to the candidates on the topic of moderation. Participati...

2

ColleenV

May 21 18:44

@Tim If you have no interest in Smoke Detector, you can always ignore it. Click on its name by its messages and menu should pop up with "Ignore this user" in it. You can unmute it later if you want to, and its messages will still show up in the transcript, but it will clean up the messages in the chat room.

ColleenV

May 16 13:04

I think article usage in English is often just memorization. We native speakers try to find a reason why we insert them in some places and not others, but it's usually just because that's how we've heard other people say it from the time we were born :)

Martin Sleziak

May 15 12:31

The literalist takes things literally. The kleptomaniac takes things, literally.

Martin Sleziak

Dec 28, 2024 09:40

English is three languages in a trench coat posing as one...

2

Laurel

Mar 3 18:59

@skullpatrol Maybe. I find it helpful sometimes.

skullpatrol

Mar 3 18:58

Can we get that smoke detector shut off for this room please?

Tim

Jan 27 21:56

Can the smokedetector bot have its own room?

Mari-Lou A

Jan 6 11:56

How is this possible? Even on EL&U, where users have to be registered, they are setting up new accounts, like rabbits breeding.

Laurel

Jan 19, 2024 19:27

@Idon'tknowwhoIam. I'm not sure if that ping would work since the user would have to recently have been active in the chat. You'll probably have more luck in the other room: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/95

3

ColleenV

Feb 5, 2024 14:58

@MartinSleziak I guess everyone likes questions about jokes. People like to read the joke, explain the joke, and understand the joke. It's a win-win-win.

2

Tanner Swett

Jul 20, 2024 05:10

It sounds fine to me, and it's describing something going from good to bad. It seems like most of the answers are saying that that's not okay—"worsen" should only describe things going from bad to worse.

Alexander

Jul 15, 2024 08:01

@everyone. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening to everybody, my dear friends. I am not harmful. I promise I'll try to respect all rules (and think before creating a question etc.). The last time I was here was about ten years ago; I decided to return. I'd like just to discuss some rules of our beautiful site: what is good and what is bad, what are the basic rules of good questions. I'll respect everyone's opinion and I won't slander.

Feeds

May 20, 2023 01:26

Laurel has unfrozen this room.

3

Mari-Lou A

Dec 22, 2021 09:30

@user1271772 In fact, I have been suspended two or three times on Meta (I've lost count because I don't care). My concern is that a CM or moderator might ban me across the network for a year. Seeing what happened to Cellio, Shog9, Cartaino and this year to Eddie Kale–some users have suggested their moderator status was stripped– anything is possible. In brief, I believe the days of halcyon are truly long over.

6

Mari-Lou A

Nov 8, 2021 08:50

@Stephen one would hope the situation would be clarified on the site's meta page. One would also hope that one of the three remaining moderators on ELL would make some sort of statement today if SE staff continue to delay their response. At the very least saying "when" a statement is due. The sad truth is that not enough users feel invested in the site and who runs it. If there had been a significant brouhaha we would have heard something by now.

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Glorfindel

Nov 5, 2021 07:24

@Mari-LouA exactly. Staff is looking into this, they may need some more time to make a decision or (equally important) figure out the right way to communicate this to everybody involved. I don't envy their position right now ...

5

Martin Sleziak

Apr 16, 2024 10:13

Users with most Great/Good/Nice Answer badges: main, meta.

Martin Sleziak

Apr 16, 2024 10:12

Users with most Great/Good/Nice Question badges: main, meta.

Anonymous

Jan 30, 2021 14:23

@AIQ Hello! :-)

5

Laurel

Dec 13, 2023 14:26

Agreed. (I may flaunt my ability to edit 7 minute old chat messages in this server, but I'm just a regular user making stupid typos in SO chat for example.) Though the one thing that can be said is that if they don't touch chat, it can't really get worse than it is

Laurel

Dec 10, 2023 14:19

19

Q: Thank you, Professor Lawler and Rest in Peace!

I am saddened to announce the passing of John Lawler on Saturday November 25. Many of us here were friends with him, and countless more helped by his answers. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, a short biography: In 2009, John retired from the Linguistics Department at the University ...

discussion featured

gotube

Dec 22, 2022 06:58

What does Santa Claus call his helpers?
Subordinate Clauses.

2

Anonymous

Aug 23, 2020 23:46

In case anyone's heard of the big fires here . . . don't worry, I'm safe :-) Lots of smoke, though, and I have asthma, so I'm trying to stay indoors with air filters.

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G Warner

Mar 2, 2021 19:00

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AIQ

Jan 29, 2021 22:02

@snailplane snailllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll helllloooooooo

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AIQ

Jan 29, 2021 22:02

how have you been?

4

AIQ

Jan 29, 2021 22:02

long timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

4

G Warner

Nov 13, 2020 16:41

By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's, I mean. - Mark Twain

4

gotube

Aug 2, 2022 03:18

@DialFrost My attempt at humour

2

Anonymous

Dec 27, 2019 08:43

I’m devastated to see Araucaria leave SE. His answers are easily among the best on EL&U.

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CowperKettle

Aug 14, 2020 15:30

The electrician's favorite philosopher is Voltaire

4

DEAD

Aug 30, 2016 20:03

Congratulations to our new mods, Snailplane and ColleenV!

9

Anonymous

May 15, 2020 01:08

@Jasper The pandemic has been especially hard on the Flat Earth Society. They fear that the social distancing measures could push people over the edge.

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M.A.R.

Apr 27, 2020 20:14

ELL 2020 Moderator Election!

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user 85795

Feb 4, 2021 12:19

Welcome back @snailplane

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CowperKettle

Jan 30, 2021 14:27

Hi, Snails! I hope you are fine.

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Anonymous

Jan 1, 2020 08:18

Happy New Year!!

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Jim Reynolds

Nov 26, 2018 08:06

O.0 Awesome. How amazing. I've heard from Damkerng. He is unwell, for reasons that he did not give. "Hey, I hate talking about myself. How are you and everyone doing?
I hope everyone is doing well.
If anyone asks about me, please tell them I've had to just be away for a while, and very much miss them.

Love,
Damkerng"

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CowperKettle

Oct 6, 2019 18:03

> What will happen if you have a wooden car with wooden engine and wooden wheels?
It wooden start.

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ColleenV

Oct 29, 2018 16:47

For those that are having trouble reading the image - "i before e. Except when your foreign neighbor Keith received eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird." English is hard even for native speakers :)

5

New Meta Question

Nov 9, 2021 09:05

0

Q: The community managers owe the ELL community, the moderation team, and me personally an apology

Suppressing community voice, selective comment picking off, window dressing. What is going on with you, Stack Exchange Community Managers? First, let us let the policies straight. The policies are in place to protect regular users, and the point is "building a community where all people feel welc...

discussion election moderators moderation

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Eddie Kal

Aug 27, 2020 18:35

Chrome just crashed. Had to bring back 1856 tabs

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Man_From_India

Aug 9, 2019 05:21

Oh the room is so silent. Where did all the old people go?

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ColleenV

Oct 19, 2021 13:43

:) Well, my advice is warrantied for life. If it is unsatisfactory, you get a full refund

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SmokeDetector

Mar 4, 2023 17:00

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad ip for hostname in body, blacklisted website in body (197): my love wunderkiddy‭ by Ильясик Мустафин‭ on ell.SE

Cardinal

Jul 24, 2020 15:20

After reading the question, I realized how much I have learned over the past four years.

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Language Overflow

Language Overflow