« first day (2632 days earlier)      last day (994 days later) » 

1:36 AM
@bobble Arkansauce is the correct spelling, fight me (please don't)
 
1:48 AM
(the "uce" is silent)
 
@AncientSwordRage if I tried you'd set the Top Secret Mod Cabal after me, wouldn't you. I'M ON TO YOU.
 
@bobble whatever sleeper agent code you're trying to use on me must have been deprogrammed from me already, sorry
 
not sure how i feel about someone publicly connecting a deleted user's id to their new account... although that meta post pretty much narrows their identity down to 2 or 3 users anyway
 
Are you referring to the comment in the comments section? I had noticed that and was worried if that counted as some form of doxxing and should be reported, but at this point it's kinda already out there :(
 
yeah
 
2:03 AM
I'm not familiar with their old account since i wasn't here in the founding days so I didn't recognize it/make the connection, but I assume other people were so I feel bad that it was posted publicly.
 
@Jafe @Sciborg Thanks for the concern, sincerely. In this case, I uniquely identified myself, so I'm OK with folks making the connection. Don't let this discourage you from flagging this stuff in general, though, and I think it's a good instinct to have
 
Ah, okay - I'm glad it is a non-issue in this case. Public identification stuff without consent isn't cool so we just wanted to make sure
Nice to meet you, welcome (back?) to the Lair :)
 
You make a good point, I'll edit my post on MSE now to make it clear. I don't want to give the wrong impression of tacit approval for this kind of thing
Also, hi!
 
Hello! Always nice to have new mods and staff around :D
 
One birb meets another!
 
2:14 AM
^^
 
Birb friends
 
Chirp! (Or really, in my case, a loud and high pitched honk...)
 
This lovely crown is bobble, one of our best editors and grid-deductioners :)
 
It's nice to meet ya!
 
And jafe is our resident cryptic/crossword super-star
 
2:16 AM
And you, too
 
And I'm Mick, I make silly space puzzles and Nurikabes sometimes and run the Puzzling D&D/tabletop campaigns :)
AncientSwordRage, Mith and Deus probably need no introduction because they're just kinda that awesome.
 
We're definitely very sorry for filling up your precious database space with grand theft crystal roleplay
 
^
We may have filled up the servers with a lot of dragon battles
But in our defense they were really cool dragon battles
 
And you as well! I've always liked this room & its inhabitants. I'm honestly real happy to see an RPG here, fills me li'l heart with joy
 
It's been a lot of fun, we roped a bunch of puzzle folks into it so they could learn how D&D works and one thing led to another :p
 
2:30 AM
How long's it been running? Is it still ongoing?
 
We gave the main 5e campaign a break due to scheduling issues, so at the moment we've been doing a mini-campaign of Roll for Shoes, which is a different and more flexible TTRPG system that encourages improv. But bobble has been meaning to DM a oneshot and Gray will hopefully start DMing a Pathfinder 2.0 campaign soon, depending on schedules - we're all in different timezones which complicates things :p
 
RFS is quite fun, fully agree. Hopefully scheduling issues clear up, but honestly time zones are complicated to work with. Sounds fun though honestly
Also -- edited my MSE post to make it clear I expect folks to make those kinds of historical connections, and I don't mind. If you think there's any ambiguity there, shoot me a ping
 
@Sciborg I'm flattered
 
It's been a lot of fun, you're welcome to join us sometime if you have time to spare Slate. Last time we worked out timezones by splitting the party into two groups and running them in parallel, so we might do something similar next time and we'd be happy to have another party member :)
 
Maybe sometime! I do like me a good RPG... I'm still getting settled in here, though, and probably will be for the next couple months. So I might have to revisit your offer later
 
2:46 AM
No worries - hopefully your first week is going great!
 
It's been lovely :)
 
3:35 AM
shameless self-promotion:
0
A: Magic wand time - what does your community need? (More questions from the Community VP)

bobbleBetter spoilers The site I started on, Puzzling, has a lot of spoilers. Many (if not most) answers have a significant amount of content in spoilers, and many questions have a hint (or hints) in spoilers. That's the site culture. It comes with how we've tried to force the SE Q&A model to fit a puz...

 
4:21 AM
0
Q: Encrypted Snake (Grid Puzzle)

athinRules of Snake: Shade some cells to form a non-intersecting path which does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Black circles must lie on one end of the path. White circles must lie somewhere along the path, but not at an end. A number outside the grid represents how many cells in the corresp...

 
 
3 hours later…
6:54 AM
0
Q: A problem from order and ranking

Nayanthara ThomasRita is sitting 5th from the left end of row and Sita is 11 th to the right of Rita and Tina is 4 th to left of Sita. Madhuri is 8th to right of Tina. What is the total number of students in the row if Madhuri is sitting at the extreme end? The answer reads 20 I got it 32.(33 is among ine of the ...

 
 
1 hour later…
8:10 AM
-1
Q: Hidden message in photo

Vasily Kpng with hidden message inside, but i cannot decrypt (understand) the message, do you have any suggestions? The code: h5BA68F35I_%3E%3B%3BG3gdc%3E%3EFF9g5deA82hhh%3F%3Ea%3B22gdh%3Ee%3B%3B%6025%60A682bhddeA82h4IBA68F2gd%60%3E%3B%3B%3B%60g5c%3E%3EFF%60hd%3C%3Ea%3EFbhh_%3Fe8F255g%3EeEG32d%60%3EA83hg...

 
9:01 AM
@Sciborg Sounds like more of y'all should stop by RPG.SE and/or its chat! ;) (I know we've seen @bobble there from time to time...)
@Slate You should stop by RPG.SE too! :D
 
9:26 AM
0
Q: Wormeus and the Multiple Stickotaurs (Part 2)

happystarThis is the sixth puzzle in the Wormeus series and the second puzzle involving multiple Stickotaurs and wormhole puns. Wormhole-pairs are indicated with light green lines (note that this was unnecessary in the previous puzzle). As usual, the task is to eat all apples. Normal Wormeus rules apply....

 
10:02 AM
@V2Blast I've definitely popped by chat from time to time :)
 
10:49 AM
Also while we're doing self-promo:
3
A: Community Ads for 2021

Rand al'ThorOldest puzzle used in sci-fi and fantasy? What was the earliest example of a riddle or puzzle being used as a security system? right sidebar Puzzling

not my answer, but it is SFF related
 
 
2 hours later…
12:49 PM
C4 hint 2: What word can be written as "I"?
 
that has to be it
 
1:05 PM
@Jafe too few letters, how about
IIIIII
 
I is the ego, or maybe the first, or number one, or iodine, or current
 
myself maybe.
Could "Lean to" refer to a tent or such? Should be hyphenated though.
 
@ChrisCudmore I wouldn't be upset if it was tent etc, and no hyphenated
 
could be a word for "lean" left of a word for "you" but then hint 1 doesn't make sense
 
Sid
2:00 PM
"I" could be "me"
More struggling with what "won't" is going to be. CANT? SHANT?
 
2:18 PM
i won't -> i'll not -> remove ILL?
 
What indicates remove ILL?
Oh... got it. Seems a stretch -- Indirect wordplay
C4: SHANTY
But I can't figure out how the Y goes on the right.
 
Sid
How do you get the Y?
 
Unless "Your" = Y without the left indicator, then "left I won't" puts SHANT to the left
 
"your left" -> the leftmost letter of "your" = Y -> at first SHAN'T -> SHANT+Y = lean?
 
Sid
I = first then?
 
2:30 PM
lean to - as in an improvised shelter
 
@Jafe There you go!
er...... oops. There you almost go.
= lean to
 
chris got it first, no?
 
Sid
Why does "I won't" mean SHANT goes first? Does I mean "first" in this context?
 
@Jafe Had you said lean to, I'd've said Chris got it almost but you got it exactly so it's yours. But...
@Sid that was the intention, yes
2 days ago, by msh210
I'm not 100% sure this is legal, but, well,
 
Give it to Jafe. I don't have time to construct a good one now.
 
2:33 PM
@ChrisCudmore that's never stopped me from posting one :-D
 
hehe ok i'll go next
CCCC: Carmen musical maybe pines for an audience? (10)
 
@Jafe that's great! "show firs"
 
exactly
 
Brilliant!
 
2:48 PM
(Pines aren't firs nor firs pines, but we'll let that slide. :-) )
 
@msh210 I'll take "maybe pines"
 
@ChrisCudmore fair enough
 
You should put in the actual answer
 
oh. yeah. chauffeurs
 
3:09 PM
Jul 19 at 10:51, by Jafe
if a baa is a fish of the caa family and that family includes baas, caas and daas, is it ok to use "caas" to define "baas"?
 
@Jafe aah
 
related... as in firs are trees of the pine family :P
 
3:21 PM
CCCC: More like Wales or Monaco resident? (7)
 
Sid
3:36 PM
Wait, can anyone explain the previous clue???
 
CHAUFFEURS = "SHOW (musical) FIRS (maybe pines)" (for an audience = sounds like)
I didn't get this...just consolidating the explanation.
 
Ohhhhh... Carmen = car men = chauffeurs. I get it now lol
 
@samm82 I only just got that bit now
 
@Sphinx Darn it, asking rot13(juvpu yrggre pbeerfcbaqf gb svir) wasn't a bad move after all, but I just couldn't see how to progress from there :/
 
3:53 PM
@msh210 those are both Principalities
 
@msh210 Is the CCCC RAINIER as a ddef? "More like Wales", which is noted for its precipitation, and "Monaco resident", the former prince of Monaco.
 
Sweet!
 
@ChrisCudmore wow today I learned (that I've been living a lie in believing that D: )
> the Acts of Union in 1536 and 1542 actually made us a country again.
 
Sid
4:09 PM
Monaco Resident is obviously Tax avoider
 
0
Q: The Cryptic Tower

Amoz You stand before a cryptic tower. On a locked door of crumbling stone is a strange cipher. The text is partially obscured by mold-covered cracks: HOLLDW SILENCE BOUNLER WASFUS There are several keyholes and you spot five keys lying on the ground. Unfortunately, each time a key is used, the inte...

 
I don't think the Prince of Wales has any constitutional power -- That is laws are signed in by the Queen of the UK, rather than the prince. In reality, the UK countries strike me more like Provinces than countries.
 
@ChrisCudmore sort of I think?
@Sid I was thinking gambler or racing driver
 
 
1 hour later…
5:44 PM
@JeremyDover yes indeed
 
CCCC: In statement Turkey making threats, exposing race of London bankers? (6)
 
::baffled face::
 
 
1 hour later…
6:51 PM
I don't have a clue how to parse this.
 
 
2 hours later…
8:43 PM
@ChrisCudmore see above
 
That seems much too long to clue six letters unless it uses initial/final/whatever letters -- but it doesn't seem to.
I wonder whether "In statement" is an homophony indicator. "Turkey" can mean a failure or a stupid person, so has lots of synonyms whose homophones can be part of a longer word.
I've looked up some London bank names and whether any of them has its name on a race (like the Barclays 10k or some such), so another name of the race could be the answer, clued by "race of London bankers?" -- but haven't found any such.
 
9:33 PM
reminder:
7
Q: Audience-specific texts for our "Needs Attribution" custom close reason

bobbleLast year (2020) saw some changes to the question closure system across the SE network. One of the changes was to introduce audience-specific texts for custom close reasons, so that the OP, close voters, privileged users, and the general public can all get slightly different versions of the same ...

 
Could bankers refer to the people living on or working on the banks of the Thames?
 
@bobble I approved that edit, since it's the OP under a different account.
 
13
Q: Show the answer author in suggested edit reviews

hyper-neutrinoToday, I was going through a suggested edit and found that it was shortening the code (something that we don't allow on our site (Code Golf)). However, when I tried to reject it, it had already been accepted by another user. Thus, I overrode it, thinking that it was someone who isn't aware of thi...

 
Yeah, the new review system is awful for showing relevant users in the right places.
 
I uh did not check the answer outside the queue
 
9:37 PM
@lost You seem to have created two different accounts; that makes it harder to edit your own posts (the edits need to be approved by others) as well as responding to feedback. Please check out this page to see how to merge your accounts together. Thanks! — Rand al'Thor 22 secs ago
 
hmm, this is the same user as did this:
This should really be an edit to your original answer, not a new post by itself. The Stack Exchange model is not a thread of subsequent posts (you'll note that the default sort doesn't take into account age), but a curated collection of answers, each of which is complete and the best it could be. Thus an improvement to an answer should be an edit to that answer, not an entirely new answer. — bobble Jul 15 at 14:47
At what point can I just make the edit myself and then flag the other answer for deletion? Or should I just flag?
 
I'm not a mod here, but I'd say just flagging is OK, let something like merging answers together be handled by someone with the weight of a diamond.
On SFF when I see flags to delete one answer after someone's merged two of a user's answers together, I'll check in excruciating detail that no information will be lost by the deletion, and at that point it's taking equally much time as if I'd done the edit myself.
 
Which answer to flag? The first or second?
 
Either/or, anyway both will need to be checked.
Worth noting that custom flags take a looooong time to be handled on this site IME.
But then it's not an urgent issue, so that's fine.
 
"Weight of a Diamond" sounds like a Pink Floyd compilation album.
4
No dissing mods...just struck by the phrase :-)
 
10:07 PM
0
Q: Replaced by animals, but also in webpages

Rand al'ThorI'm really very old, Nowadays rarely used, Replaced by animals Of a feminine variety. Give me more space, And I'm in Asturian, Or in some webpages Of an HTML variety. What am I?

 
10:33 PM
I enjoy that my top 3 network Qs are all from different sites
For top answers, you have to go down to #5 to get something from Meta
 

« first day (2632 days earlier)      last day (994 days later) »