The Reading Room

Skooba

8:00 PM

@NapoleonWilson oh, sure they do! lol

Helmar

Good propaganda tells a hell of a story and is still completely ficticious

Skooba

they tell you why they are right and the other side is wrong

HDE 226868

@Skooba Ah. I wonder what Poe would have thought about that.

b_jonas

I'm writing my first question for Lit right now. It'll take some time to writ up properly because I did my research and need to show it.

3

Napoleon Wilson

@Helmar Well, then it's on-topic, I guess.

Helmar

8:00 PM

I'm just saying, the question what's literature for us is nice, but the fiction/non-fiction distinction is useless

steelersquirrel

@HDE226868 Well..he only did one out of the two ;)

Helmar

The question is also waaaaaaay too broad

HDE 226868

@steelersquirrel Haha. He was quite the fellow.

Skooba

@Helmar too broad, for meta?

Helmar

Yep

Just look at all comments of Robert Cartaino

Don't try to anticipate what's not a problem

Napoleon Wilson

8:02 PM

@Helmar I agree that the narrative/encyclopediac discussion is more important, but the answer achieved to transport that.

Helmar

I'm fresh off the boat of the IoT private beta

steelersquirrel

@HDE226868 Hehehe!

Helmar

That kind of question is one and a half year too early

Bookworm

-1

Q: Do we need/want any sorts of content warnings?

I'm writing a post about a book which revolves around a sexual assault. Do we need/want any kind of content warning for questions that deal with difficult or triggering topics? I do not want to put "rape" in the title, as it will show up on the main page. I also don't want to surprise readers w...

discussion

Napoleon Wilson

@Helmar What is an IoT?

Helmar

8:03 PM

Napoleon Wilson

@Bookworm Oh please, no! Don't feed the trigger paranoia crowd.

steelersquirrel

What in the heck does that even mean?

Napoleon Wilson

@Helmar Ah, I see.

Helmar

So I did all that private beta meta stuff like a month ago

That's why I say, close it and bring it up again when we actually have something on the page that someone doesn't consider literature

Until that moment, let those questions come

DVK-in-Florida

@steelersquirrel I like poking fun at sparkling vampires as much as the next UNfan, but i'm really unsure having snarky heavily starred comments like that is a good tone to set for the site, sorry.

2

Helmar

8:05 PM

There's no need to define something in the vacuum before and we even can't

Napoleon Wilson

@Helmar Well, there actually are and have been questions that fall into that. It's not like the discussion comes completely out of the blue really.

DVK-in-Florida

Some people geninely like Twilight (at least one well respected SFF regular does, afaik), no need to make anyone feel unweclome

steelersquirrel

@DVK-in-Florida Awwwww. I didn't mean for it to be snarky at all. It was just a joke. I promise :'(

Helmar

@NapoleonWilson Then put an example in the question and make a case why questions of that sort should be off-topic

Don't just ask "What's literature?"

That's just waaaay too broad

steelersquirrel

Gheez. I'm sorry. I didn't realize that would be taken so seriously :'(

If it offends anyone, just flag it and have a mod remove it, I guess.

Shog9

8:07 PM

no worries.

I laughed too, but @DVK makes a good point - thanks for lookin' out, DVK

I un-starred it.

Helmar

Let our definition of literature grow meta decision by meta decision and not force it into one giant post about what constitutes literature.

10

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel Don't worry about it. DVK told you how he sees it and you understand him, everything's fine. ;-)

Helmar

That's all I'm saying

b_jonas

Also, I'm eating, which slows writing down significantly.

DVK-in-Florida

@steelersquirrel I know, and I know you generally are not mean in the least. I just want to establish the tone limits off the start, and you unluked out to be what I saw

DForck42

8:11 PM

@Helmar probably a better solution

Himarm

what have i missed

ah just steeler insulting a group of people

:P

no biggy

steelersquirrel

:'(

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel Please stop crying, we know you didn't meant it!

To DVK's defense, he also posted this meta question yesterday.

DVK-in-Florida

@Shog9 - while you're hanging out, can you pin the above "meta decision by meta decisoin" message please?

Helmar

6

A: When do we finally progress "Internet of Things" from beta to released?

This is largely extracurricular to the answers already posted, but this is important to provide a bit of context… This site is essentially "done" — released. This is a a fully functional, launched site. It is not "in beta" as you've come to understand it the traditional software development mode...

Just consider this very recent post of Robert on IoT.meta

Bookworm

8:13 PM

0

Q: What should be the convention for author tags?

There are currently several different types of author tags. First letters and last name: j-r-r-tolkien, j-d-salinger, j-k-rowling First name, middle name, last name: edgar-allan-poe, arthur-conan-doyle First name and last name: mark-twain, jane-austen Is this a problem? On on...

discussion tags

Helmar

Forcing discussion where there is no problem has seemingly proven hurtful

b_jonas

wait wait. was this ad a badly translated clickbait advertising language lessons? I closed the window before I could read the ad.

Shog9

@DVK-in-Florida Helmar's?

DVK-in-Florida

@Shog9 Affirmative

Helmar

"There's no need to force "rules discussions" where there is no actual problem. Folks are more than willing to point out problems where they show up in actual practice, so tackle the problems when/if they become prominent in actual use" - from said answer

9

Shog9

8:15 PM

I'm on a Helmar-pinning spree

doppelgreener

hooray, i asked my first question :')

Skooba

@Helmar hmmmm

Eᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏ Iʀᴋ

@steelersquirrel oh god why did you tell a 14 yr old that ;)

Skooba

that is about 2 hours too late

Napoleon Wilson

@doppelgreener Congratulations!

doppelgreener

8:16 PM

@NapoleonWilson thanks!

Shog9

Good quote there, @Helmar. Y'all are on Day Two of the private beta. No need to feel like you need to solve every problem Yesterday :)

3

Eᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏ Iʀᴋ

@DVK-in-Florida it's stupid simple

same thing as HNQ

Skooba

gosh im having deja-vue

DForck42

@doppelgreener good question!

DVK-in-Florida

@Mithrandir I know, I leave for a few hours and come back and wonder if I accidentally failed to go back into the right room.

@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ We are in private Beta. Shouldn't we as a community TRY to raise the standards a bit and concentrate on rewarding actually difficult and professionally interesting content?

Eᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏ Iʀᴋ

8:21 PM

I agree

that wasn't a compliment to the question

Skooba

@DVK-in-Florida not sure it that insults this room or a whole other chat room

Helmar

@DVK-in-Florida There is no "we the community" unless you want to merge into a hive mind

People will always vote at their own discretion

DVK-in-Florida

@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ Don't mention HNQ please. I'm already depressed over memes in chat.

Helmar

That means simple always wins

Eᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏ Iʀᴋ

@DVK-in-Florida :/ sorry

b_jonas

8:22 PM

@DVK-in-Florida That's hard, because unlike on say Mathoverflow, I can't guess easily what content actually interests professionals.

Eᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏ Iʀᴋ

@doppelgreener btw, your question is close to another one I'm planning to post later regarding hyperion vs endymion

Shog9

All that is necessary for simple to win is for good people to stand around instead of downvoting

5

Helmar

HNQ will likely award the first gold badge ;)

Eᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏ Iʀᴋ

not dupe in any way, just thought it was interesting and you might like to know

doppelgreener

@DForck42 thank you, i was hoping so. :) i was fearing that i wouldn't come up with a good question throughout the whole beta and be able to meaningfully participate on mainsite.

Napoleon Wilson

8:23 PM

@Helmar That's rhetoric. You can very well strive to see the site as a community.

DVK-in-Florida

@Shog9 I (down) Voted. Where's my pin?

doppelgreener

@NapoleonWilson i agree, though we could also experiment with hive mind technology.

Napoleon Wilson

Or that.

doppelgreener

@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ i look forward to seeing it!

DForck42