The Factory Floor

Q: Constructed Languages Stack Exchange

7:01 AM

Don't worry. I know how the banstick works. You press this button... ;)

Worldbuilding Meta

7:14 AM

1

Just so everyone is aware there's a proposal for Constructed Languages which looks interesting.

discussion

Q: How would an avian city be different from ours?

7:30 AM

15

Imagine a city where the primary population is an avian race, we'll assume for the sake of argument that these birdlike creatures have "hands" as well as wings which allows them to develop and use at least a Victorian/early 20th century level of technology. They are also approximately human size...

city-design avian

@TimB @MichaelKjörling @MonicaCellio This needs protection

@overactor I'll have a look.

3/7 answers were in the low quality review queue

1 was edgy, 2 were evry clearly not real answers

@MichaelKjörling It's quite higly in the hotlist atm

That might explain why it's attracting low quality answers.

Q: Could a disaster kill all (human) life on Earth but leave astronauts in low orbit alive long enough to return?

@MichaelKjörling That and the topic I suppose

It's a good question though

a bit on the broadish side

and while you're at it

33

There are plenty of threats out there that could terminate all life on our little planet in varying amounts of time. (Solar flares, meteors and supernovas to name a few). Are there any disasters that could kill all (intelligent) life on Earth but leave astronauts in low orbit alive for long enou...

science-based apocalypse astronomy

That one doesn't need protection anymore

although, on second thought, it might benefit from protection anyway, it gatehred quite a few bad "answers"

7:45 AM

@overactor I've cleaned up that one a bit, and protected it. I'm not terribly inclined to delete SVPanda's answer by mod hammer, though, because while it's short and would definitely benefit from expanding, it's at least a partial answer to the question as asked. Also, the poster is completely new to Stack Exchange and hasn't been on the site since that answer was posted. I've left a comment on that one.

@MichaelKjörling Seems appropriate

8:38 AM

hi @Mourdos

I need to make it look like I'm working too, but if not before then I might well be able to make a bit of a dent in the flag queue tonight. We currently have a grand total of 38 flags and 7 posts in the ordinary review queues. Anything you ordinary higher-rep users can do to make a dent in the queue depth is always appreciated.

@MichaelKjörling I handled 8 posts in the review queues already

I think

I'll have another look

empty for me

@overactor Good start :)

8:55 AM

@MichaelKjörling I suppose a lor of those flags are no longer valid..

@overactor Quite possibly, but they still need to be handled.

One really good thing that WB has going for it is a fair number of active, high-rep users. That should cut down on the moderation tasks requiring actual mod-hammer.

@MichaelKjörling Also true

It does seem like self moderation has been going quite smoothly

@overactor Indeed. Community moderation is supposed to be what drives the majority of moderation; moderators (elected or appointed as pro tems) should be pretty much the last line of defense. On a healthy site, very few things should require diamond-level access.

@overactor yo

how are we all doing today?

9:04 AM

Okay, working with terrible code as usual.

@Mourdos All code is terrible. Including that which you wrote yourself five minutes ago.

Its a good job I wrote no code 5 minutes ago

At the moment I'm trying to find a memory leak in a c# program that is business vital (generates all letters to customers), but was written by a cretin.

Congratulations by the way.

Thanks @Mourdos. (And congratulations? ;))

Hey, I hit 2k on rep.. somehow.

But I'm not 2k rep

Mod diamond.

Now that your a mod, can you get the community ad featured? :-)

@Mourdos 2k network-wide.

9:15 AM

I wonder if that is because WB is in beta.

On the RPG one it uses my parent profile

I don't think so. When in doubt, though, blame caching. (Pronounced ka-ching.)

2

That is a general principal we should apply to all areas

Your parent user is said to be that on Role-playing Games here too.

You may want to click your name in the left-hand column here, go to the profile page, and update your parent user. That should bring it in sync, if it has gotten out of sync for some reason.

@Mourdos Seems reasonable. Let's see how long it takes until some other mod undoes that.

I don't have a problem with chat thinking I have more rep :P

I wonder how long it takes to update the sidebar

Well, FWIW, I don't have anywhere near 36k on any one site. My top account rep-wise is Super User which is about 10.5k currently.

9:20 AM

or if there is a max of two

discussion featured site-promotion

cool

10

Q: Community Promotion Ad

Using a banner (the most highly voted one), from this question, I have posted the banner as a community promotion ad on several sites. If the ads get six upvotes, then they will be displayed on the main site. I will post the links here if you wish to vote. And thanks to overactor for creating th...

we're past the threshold on every site now

Omen

9:30 AM

oops sorry, wrong room

11:33 AM

o/

\o

\o/ [o] oC /o\

@DannyReagan ping

Yo

@overactor You pinged? :D

I wanted to make you notice my guys doing the YMCA

\o/  ᒋoᒉ  oC  /o\

12:02 PM

@overactor That is indeed impressive

12:16 PM

@DannyReagan "impressive"

how are you?

Doing well. Yourself?

can't complian

been a bit busy lately

Busy can be good

12:33 PM

All these avian questions of late have gotten me thinking

I'm wondering what would explain an avian species becoming intelligent

It doesn't seem like a likely path for evolution to go

Well evolution is a grand game of chance, is it not?

So who really knows what might be possible given different parameters

the mutations are

the selection isn't

The selection is based on other creatures and the environment yes?

absolutely

"What's the benefit from evolving that intelligence?"

12:39 PM

but avian species face a very strong evolutionary pressure against adding weight

So if those other creatures are mutating and evolving alongside the creature in question, is not the selection itself random?

The same goes for environmental conditions. Those will vary greatly from world to world

Even a slight decrease in gravity from earth standard might make Avians just that much more viable

@DannyReagan Titan, or Venus?

@MichaelKjörling I was thinking along the lines of fictional worlds in their respective goldilocks zones

(As in, which would you prefer? ;))

@MichaelKjörling Are you going to link an xkcd what if?

12:41 PM

@DannyReagan Indeed, but even temperature differences notwithstanding, that's a pretty serious difference.

@overactor Not that I know of. (I don't really have the time at the moment to hunt down an appropriate one.)

@MichaelKjörling Wouldn't even a 1 to 2% difference have an effect on the evolutionary process?

what-if.xkcd.com/30

@DannyReagan A temperature difference of 1-2%? I'd think that the environment (and I use that term broadly, here) would have a much bigger impact.

@DannyReagan I think you might be forgetting the Red queen hypothesis

Even if flying were easier

Birds of prey would then need to be able to fly even better, since their food will become better flyers

and vice versa

Sure an intelligent bird would do better

but the bump to get over seems very large

Evolution is good at finding local maxima

less so at finding a taller hill to climb

@overactor I must admit to never having heard of the Red Queen Hypothesis. Full disclosure though: I am a Creationist. So there are certainly likely to be parts of the Theory of Evolution I haven't heard before

@MichaelKjörling I actually meant gravity

12:50 PM

@DannyReagan The Red queen hypothesis goes:

You need all the running you can muster to stay where you are

Or something like that

@overactor I'll have to look it up some time

essentially, to stay in an evolutionary favorable position, a species needs to adapt and evolve constantly

It's not confirmed though

AFAIK

@overactor Kind of hard to confirm things either way when it takes millennia to run experiments

@DannyReagan It's quite an issue

But I do think the hypothesis is generally believed to be true

@overactor It seems a bit recursive, somehow. Everything must keep evolving to compete because everything keeps evolving

12:55 PM

@DannyReagan If there's just one thing that keeps evolving, it'll get ahead and thus put pressure on everything else

The law of large numbers makes it true I suppose

I'm no expert though

@overactor Well, not everything else. I mean, if a fish gets better gills it doesn't really concern the monkies at all

@overactor I presume you refer to something else in the same system

@DannyReagan yes

and since those systems are interconnected..

Q: How could an avian species become intelligent?

1:08 PM

0

There have been a few questions about an intelligent avian species lately and they have gotten me thinking. It seems to me that it would be hard for an avian species to evolve to be more intelligent past a certain point. The main problem being that I can't imagine the immediate benefits of being...

biology evolution avian intelligence

asked the question

any suggested edits?

@DannyReagan @MichaelKjörling ?

1:21 PM

@overactor I'd probably make the title more explicitly what would cause rather than how an avian species would evolve intelligence, since that seems to be what you are asking?, but other than that it doesn't look bad at all at a glance. It's slightly list-y but I think it's been shown that the site can handle some listiness without derailing.

@MichaelKjörling Good suggestion

@MichaelKjörling I agree with you regarding listiness

I think questions that border on being to list-ish are this sites bread and butter

@overactor That's one reason why I advocated for people with prior experience as moderators to be the ones who get diamonds on Worldbuilding: I have a feeling there are going to be quite a few rather close judgment calls on what is acceptable and what is too broad or opinion-based, and telling the difference ahead of time might not be trivial at all in all cases.

I'll admit up front I'll probably get it wrong a bunch of times!

To paraphrase Grace Note

You'll be learning along the way

Almost certainly. I've had a diamond for almost a year on Amateur Radio and I don't think that's something you ever "fully learn". Every situation is slightly different.

hi @Nakilon

Vulcronos

1:36 PM

Moderators! Yes.

@TimB I could give you a gold medal by accepting dtldareks answer instead of your ragnarök answer

1:50 PM

Moderation is akin to holding back the tides with a spoon :)

@James A bent one

@James with a fork*

@overactor A bent fork

Woot 1k rep!

@DannyReagan Congrats on hitting 1k.

@MichaelKjörling Thanks! This is my first SE site that I've joined

2:01 PM

@DannyReagan While someone is soaking you with the garden hose.

Im sure something on fire plays a role here too

maybe cats...

@James Like holding back a tide of burning cats with a bent fork?

4

bahahaha

Star for you

Hey, I can edit stuff now. Cool

I have a professional editor for a sister. It rubs off on you

@DannyReagan the power has gone to his head.

2:06 PM

@James MUAHAHAHAHA

hide the babies and candy.

@James No. Hide your Worlds

Luckily I only have one to keep track of.

I have an uncountable number buzzing in my head. It is distracting at best

It helps to get things on paper (so to speak) but yeah...lots of ideas flapping around up there.

999 rep...

I am going to go edit a bunch of stuff before I hit 1k so you all have to review it.

...dang

2:13 PM

Did you pass 1000?

lol yeah

Seems quite probable, given you were 1 point away

So I am working on creating a simplistic formula to answer this question: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/2475/…

Its hard...

@DonyorM thank you!

We're working through accumulated flags, by the way. It'll take a few days more, I expect. But just wanted to let y'all know that those are moving now.

Don't worry, we will add to the list to keep you occupied and otherwise unaware of our plans for world domi...err nevermind.

2:24 PM

@DannyReagan congrats!

@DannyReagan made out of cardboard.

If I give someone a list of population statistics back to 10,000 BC can someone figure out a growth rate for me?

@MonicaCellio Indeed.

@DannyReagan yeah, me too (just in case you wondered how my range of questions could be about one world -- it's not :-) ).

@James :-) Congrats!

@James of course you will. I expected nothing less.

@MonicaCellio Fortunately, I have a sister who is also a writer. I find I can plant fully grown worlds in her brain to be written and get them off my mind a little

@James the growth rate probably changes over time, so I guess you want to derive a function from that. Don't statistics packages do stuff like that? (Not my area, I'm afraid.)

2:30 PM

@James I think I saw something about that. Give me a minute.

Here. This blog post has some graphs with a series of numbers that are likely to be helpful. @James

Sweet. Yeah calc was not really my thing...

Also some discussion on what happened around those times.

Q: A good name for a lifeforce/material extracted from another world?

Afternoon

Vulcronos

0

I've been worldbuilding a kind of magic-punk setting for a game and a comic set in the same universe (on different timelines) where the main event that triggers it all is the discovery of a raw, chaotic world whose lifeforms and terrains are just a cycle of a certain substance. This substance sta...

magic worldbuilding-process

Did we decide if questions about word choice were off topic?

2:48 PM

@Vulcronos I don't think we did, but I would argue that it is off topic as "not about worldbuilding" or possibly "primarily opinion-based". Without having read the question, because I need to get going.

@MichaelKjörling I would say it is "Asking for Ideas"

@DannyReagan Which by definition is off topic virtually everywhere on Stack Exchange. Possibly with the exception of Software Recommendations.

@MichaelKjörling Indeed. I would recommend deletion. I can't think of a way to make it on topic, as the asker has already come up with the world characteristic.

3:02 PM

I find it difficult to see the huge difference between this question and the xenophage one

(Which I personally considered off-topic)

@overactor Well he asked if there is an actual, technical term for what he was describing

Q: Are questions asking for worldbuilding related terminology on topic?

@DannyReagan a technicality in my opinion

I'm more inclined to favor questions that ask for made up terms

5

This question asks for a term describing a civilization that eats others to gain their assets. It's an interesting question and clearly related to worldbuilding. I would argue that worldbuilding is not the best fit for this question though and I think it would do better on either English Language &...

discussion on-topic

@overactor Truth. The question could have probably been better asked on the English.SE or perhaps one of the sciences

we don't exactly have a consensus on this topic

@DannyReagan I think and English, "whats the word" request makes the most sense here.

3:10 PM

Should this question be retagged from flight to avian?

3:58 PM

@overactor ...I don't know if I like the avian tag. maybe Flight-Mechanical, Flight-Natural?

@James Yes, if it's asking for an actual word, then it's on topic for English Language & Usage, likely appropriate under their [single-word-requests] tag. But if it's asking for a made-up word, how would we judge the answers?

@MichaelKjörling Can't really...

@James Exactly, so voting breaks down.

@MichaelKjörling It would be a good question for reddit.com/r/worldbuilding

In fact, we could steer people with questions like that to ask them over there

4:13 PM

@DannyReagan Very good suggestion

Yo

Q: What exactly do we mean by "technology and magic" in the on-topic subjects list?

o/

Worldbuilding Meta

4:39 PM

1

We have discussed before what we should have in our "on-topic" help center page. I want to draw the community's attention to one of those bullet points. Specifically, that post says that we welcome questions that are about: Technology and magic Just what do we really mean by that? As it sta...

discussion on-topic

0

Q: Please help review our oft-answered questions

The Community user, which neither slumbers nor sleeps, alerts moderators to questions that are attracting lots of answers. Sometimes this is just fine, even healthy, of course. Other times it can mean that the question could use some tightening-up because it's attracting answers that are all ov...

discussion questions answers

Interesting afternoon

Quickest interview ever

@Mourdos "Hi, are you Mourdos? Do you have any questions for me?"

Pretty much.

Let's just say my former boss' boss works for them occasionally.

And it's a small company

5:04 PM

@Mourdos So, I guess it depends on whether you and your former boss' boss left on good or bad terms.

And I suppose the likelihood of having been invited to an interview had been significantly reduced had you parted ways on bad terms.

5:22 PM

Indeed. Not really a pay increase once travel is taken into account, but I'm going from pure maintenance on a terrible system to developing a new system again with a small team of people.

Which is the environment I like.