The Factory Floor

Universe Factory

03:29

Universe Factory - Medium: Overdue — Short fiction from Federated Human Space.

posted on July 09, 2018 by Ash

“Boss, I think we’re a mite overdue.” “Mmm?” “Articulate as ever.” “What?” I could tell how engaged the captain was by how many syllables I was getting out of him. Jumps affected him oddly; he needed some time to reboot. Whole words meant I could proceed with actual information. “Even if we are way off beam, and it looks like we are, final fixes are coming up now. Oh crap… Anyway something fair…

5

Secespitus

07:13

@FoxElemental If you are sure that a question is off-topic on WorldBuilding and that it will be on-topic and of acceptable quality on the target site you can use such a flag. But please remember that the scope of different sites can overlap. We happily accept ConLang questions for example, so just because there is a ConLang.SE doesn't mean that we should migrate every ConLang question to that site.

AndyD273

12:16

@FoxElemental Also, they chose WB on purpose. Maybe they didn't know about conlang, or maybe they saw how very small it is, and figured they'd be more likely to get an answer on WB. Either way, unless a question is explicitly off topic here, and very on topic there, it's generally best to leave it where the user thought that it should be posted.

Secespitus

12:29

At the same time there is nothing wrong with mentioning that other sites exist in a careful comment.

FoxElemental

13:03

Got it, thanks

Gryphon

@UniverseFactory Hey @Ash, is there more of this world coming up on the blog?

Ash

13:22

@Gryphon Not right now but there probably will be, I've got several other short stories that I'm working on from that setting that I'm not yet happy with.

FoxElemental

@Ash Same. Three different first drafts all rotting away . . .

Gryphon

@Ash The FTL system you've invented is extremely interesting.

Ash

@FoxElemental I get them out every couple of days and tweak, I've just not finished them in a satisfactory way yet.

@Gryphon I like it, it gives a lot of interesting possibilities to write around, ships can get in early as well as late but no-one ever quite knows how long a trip will take, that's why ship-folk have to be a slightly different breed.

FoxElemental

@Ash Same. First drafts are a pain. It's undeniable that every first draft is a wreck. A very imaginative, informative wreck, but a wreck nonetheless.

I also add on during editing. Sometimes doubling the length. Also info edits . . . and then I think about plot improvements for plot holes

Gryphon

@Ash Do you have a system for the likelihood of various arrival times or are they just "whatever the story needs?"

Ash

13:30

@FoxElemental Not always a wreck, sometimes they're well written, but then they tend to be really boring.

FoxElemental

Yep

Ash

@Gryphon I have an equation for the likelihood of messed up timing as it increases with range and another one for the average distribution of a group of ships on a given jump and a sheet with average jump times between all the stars within 25 light years of Earth and the locations of the way-points and way-stations that are used to keep individual jumps as short as possible, shorter is safer.

But in general the interesting jumps, the ones that make for compelling stories, are the ones that are exceptional rather than routine.

Gryphon

@Ash Just a question, if short jumps are safer, why isn't every trip made in a series of 100km-1000km jumps? That would average out the earlier/later times, and make the trips a lot more reasonable.

Hosch250

@Gryphon Perhaps it takes a long time, or perhaps a lot of power, to make a single jump, so the time or power requirements get prohibitive?

@AndyD273 I thinking I'll have the stalkers stop trying to kill in the story-go-round and having them slip in and break Hemdul's and Jarilo's bottles of slime so they have to find another way to collect the stuff.

Ash

@Gryphon Two factors one is "cargo and crew time", since ships experience no time while in jump life support requirements for single transits are extremely minimal as is cargo spoilage. The other issue is waste heat, each jump has the same heat output whether you jump from LEO to Mars or to Proxima and the cool down cycles take days, if you took lots of small jumps you'd spend more time avoiding cooking yourself than travelling and add a lot more life support time to the trip.

Gryphon

13:46

@Ash OK, I was wondering what was preventing millisecond-length jump intervals.

Hosch250

@Ash BTW, where is this story going? Blog, or book, or?

Ash

@Hosch250 That one is staying where it is for now, it's the first piece of my work I've ever published anywhere at all, at some point I'll probably put together a short story collection and look for a professional publisher but for now I'm content to share with the community that's helping me nail down the detail work on what is still a universe in progress.

AndyD273

@Hosch250 How about instead of breaking, they steal the bottles. It would hinder their competition, and make it so that they don't have to collect their own.

Hosch250

@AndyD273 Because they already have their own.

It said they were prime contenders already.

Ash

@Gryphon Primarily it's the heat dissipation issue that keeps starships from making multiple jumps in quick succession.

Gryphon

13:58

@Ash Wait, how much energy does a jump consume/how is one fueled?

Ash

@Gryphon That's a really complicated question that I have no intention, at this stage, of going into in story in universe. It's fueled using artificial, virtual, mass, lots of it, most of which disappears after the jump engine shuts down but a tiny fraction of a percentage is expressed as real energy in our universe.

Gryphon

@Ash Hmm. I think you broke thermodynamics somewhere there, but you're already using FTL, so meh.

Hosch250

@Gryphon Well, maybe it dumps all that mass into an artificially-built star somewhere :P

Ash

@Gryphon I absolutely broke thermodynamics but it was David Brin's idea to start with so I'm comfortable with it.

Gryphon

@Ash Wait, who?

AndyD273

14:08

@Hosch250 I'll have to go back and reread the beginning bit again

Hosch250

NVM, they aren't prime yet. They say they will be.

However:

in Story-go-round, Dec 15 '17 at 14:46, by kingledion

"They aren't doing so well," said one pair of glowing eyes to the others.
"I thought there were four, but now they have five."
"That will only slow them down. No need to risk an attack; we already have two challenges complete, we will be Prime challengers this cycle."
As Bremdag and his companions sat sullenly around the fire, the glowing eyes disappeared to the north, fading among the great columns of the spire-trees.

Gryphon

@Ash Also, now we just need to do something with that waste heat, and we have infinite energy!

Hosch250

> we already have two challenges complete

Why they are back at the first, who knows...

Maybe they aren't doing them in order?

Gryphon

@Ash Can one jump into a planet's atmosphere?

Ash

@Gryphon The author David Brin, in particular in the novel Earth, invented the so far fictional science of Cavitronics, creating artificial singularities from hard vacuum. The problem with heat is you turn it into useful energy like electricity, you lose some as waste heat in the conversion, some more as heat transmitting it somewhere you can use it and then produce more waste heat using it. You have almost infinite energy but there's always waste heat that you need to dump if you're in space.

@Gryphon If one is desperate and/or insane, the problem being that atmospheres are near the bottom of gravity wells; the closer to the bottom of a natural gravity well you are the harder it is to jump at all and the harder it is to get a good fix on your destination due to local distortions.

Hosch250

14:19

It would be interesting to see what happened when that heat was dumped into the atmosphere. On Earth, it would basically be like setting off a massive atomic bomb.

Gryphon

@Ash So what would happen to the gasses in the way? And what happens to the few protons that are probably floating around in the space you suddenly come to occupy when you "land" normally in space? And what would happen if you tried to jump into something solid?

Ash

@Gryphon You can't jump into "solids" although there's a lower limit of density that no-one is super keen to do extensive testing to find. In less dense mediums any existing matter is pushed out of the emergence envelop.

Gryphon

14:34

@Ash Hmm, so could one simply launch enough asteroids at a planet using FTL to nudge it into an elliptical enough orbit by making it move out of the way each time to fry/freeze the surface?

Ash

@Gryphon No, a planet is too dense for a jump emergence, you could possibly drop a big rock out of FTL into the atmosphere and watch the displacement shockwave flatten everything in the area but an emergence envelop won't form in/effect high density matter.

Gryphon

@Ash Is velocity maintained before/after jumping?

Hosch250

@Ash So, hmm. What happens if the envelop can't form? Do they get stuck forever mid-jump?

Or does it abort the whole thing?

Ash

@Gryphon Yes but you can't jump at any great velocity.

@Hosch250 They'd emerge off their specified co-ordinates, it's one of the few cases where that's possible.

Hosch250

Is there any special rules around this, or is the emergence point undefined?

Gryphon

14:45

@Ash Could you jump from the surface of a planet?

Hosch250

@Gryphon Ooh, good question. Now the cops can never catch me!

Gryphon

@Hosch250 Although you might be stuck in transit for the next 50 years.

Hosch250

@Gryphon The longer the better. The cops can just close my case then :)

Ash

@Hosch250 The emergence point is usually defined as a gravitational field range set so if the emergence envelop can't form at the intended site it will form at a gravitational node with very similar qualities, hopefully there's another node in the system you were going to or you could end up a long way from home.

Gryphon

@Hosch250 I just hope you don't have a family, or you're going to be 20 years younger than your kids.

Ash

14:54

@Gryphon There have been several jumps from quite low altitude in atmosphere, the shockwave as the atmosphere filled the sudden vacuum was unpleasant anywhere near ground zero and there's a small amount of gravitational distortion that caused other issues, no-one's ever tried to jump from the ground though. That far down a gravity well you're pretty much jumping blind as well so people only ever try it if they're really desperate.

@Gryphon Yeah ending up without any living relatives is always a risk for those who travel by FTL, that's why ships crews try not to get involved with those who stay on planet.

Gryphon

15:09

@Ash Or who stay on other ships, I guess.

Ash

@Gryphon Yeah but transferring is a lot easier and more likely most people than either giving up space travel and settling down on a planet somewhere or dealing with losing your family to one bad, or several good, jumps.

FoxElemental

@Ash Smart explanation. If you leave a vacuum, then air rushes in @ nearly the speed of sound, if I remember that correctly. Then: boom!

@HDE I have to say, I was looking on ConlangSE, saw your profile pic+name . . . and it was really weird not to see the little "♦" by your name.

Ash

@FoxElemental I've heard it's the backrush into the vacuum rather than the outward shockwave from the initial fireball that does the most damage in large explosions.

FoxElemental

@Gry That's actually a good point. If you have a relative on another ship, the potential for time-gaps is way, way bigger.

@Ash Yes. Causes very high-speed winds, I'd imagine.

@Ash you might want to choose a cover image for your story (for listings, homescreen, etc.) Even if it's just, like, a pic of space

You can still edit the draft after publication

even for that

Ash

@FoxElemental I thought I had but I see it's not there I'll have to work out how to load it.

FoxElemental

15:19

@Ash consider saving the image to your desktop, then uploading via the first pic option wherever you want it.

Then click the image, hit CTRL+ALT+8 to select it as the cover

Ash

@FoxElemental Hopefully that's sorted it, just have to wait for it to update.

FoxElemental

@Ash not seeing it. Share the link, please?

Ash

@FoxElemental 2.bp.blogspot.com/_2swoItkaB5U/Sg7mYdKspBI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/… it's just an artist's impression of a relatively close approach to the double star they end up at in the story.

FoxElemental

@Ash Nice. And the link to the updated (featured) image post

Ash

@FoxElemental Not sure if this will work for you it's updated on my editing interface but says it hasn't loaded yet. medium.com/p/d162c3577674/edit

FoxElemental

15:34

@Ash no. Does the draft show as "draft: saved"?

Ash

@FoxElemental Yup and it's updated on the front page now too.

FoxElemental

It is?

Ash

@FoxElemental It is when I load a new Medium window.

FoxElemental

@Ash opened new Medium window, went to Universe Factory, reloaded page twice, still shows as white background

@Gry could you check if you can see it?

Ash

@FoxElemental I can't any more WTF? Okay try again.

FoxElemental

15:39

Aha now I can see it @Ash

Pretty

Aesthetic edit you don't need to do but might consider:

Title: Overdue Subtitle: Short fiction from Federated Human Space. not all Title

Ash

@FoxElemental Yay, I had to go into the "publish" menu and publish the change.

FoxElemental

Ah, yes

Careful you don't publish it to your own list (which means it wouldn't go to Universe Factory.) But that's only for the first unsubmitted draft

Ash

@FoxElemental I can see where you're coming from but right now I like the way it is, I may change my mind later.

FoxElemental

@Ash no prob.

Ash

@FoxElemental Yeah I saw someone else had that problem a little while ago.

AndyD273

16:29

@Hosch250 It's possible that they don't all have to be done in order, and we only know what three of them are. It's possible that they did the first one, and found a way to do the 4th (for example) early, and were heading back toward the second when they passed by the pit again. Took the opportunity to hinder the competition before heading on their way. Since the fire slugs keep moving it's possible that they haven't actually run into one when they happen across Hemdul and Jarilo.

One thing that I had thought about a long while back was that Hemdul and Jarilo would come across the stalkers, figure out that they were responsible for the "accident", and steal their phylacteries to give to Brokhem and Niardul so they could complete their third challenge.

Though now that I think about it another possibility comes to mind. Say The Challenge of Light involves sacrificing the phylacteries to power something, and then learning how to tame the shadow afterward. The group still has one, so they could power the whatsit, and by losing their phylacteries early they have a leg up on the competition, so it ends up helping them instead of hurting them.

Opinion needed; two people are talking, they are 18-20 years old, and discussing a couple guys that are around their own age who are the bad kids. What's a good word that they'd use? Thugs? Bullies? Some local slang?

Gryphon

16:47

@AndyD273 Where are they from?

Ash

@AndyD273 Thugs or punks would be my pick if they were here in NZ but Gryphon asks a very pertinent question, because depending where they are the idioms and slang could be very different

Hosch250

@AndyD273 B@$*****?

Ash

@Hosch250 Not exactly original but certainly apt in any places and cases.

AndyD273

@Ash @Gryphon It's for the story go round thread, so humans living on some alien world

Gryphon

@AndyD273 Oh.

Ash

17:02

@AndyD273 In that case what's their source ethnicity, if any?

AndyD273

@Ash Unknown. No one ever specified. For the sake of the question I'm going to go with mixed/multi-cultural, probably on planet for a number of generations, so very mixed.

Gryphon

I would say "thugs" or perhaps some slang that is unique to the planet.

AndyD273

Maybe I should just come up with some slang word that people get in context, like how BSG used frack.

Ash

@AndyD273 I think Punk is a rather generic term for Anglophones but I could be wrong.

Secret

What is the closest physics analogue to the scifi notion that "an object is in a state of flux so it phase and in out of reality"?

Can we actually build a quantum state that does something like that, where the position changes all the time?

Ash

17:07

@Secret According the quantum theory all matter does this all the time.

AndyD273

I think I'll just use "slabs": big, muscled, dumb as a rock...

Ash

@AndyD273 Nice.

@Secret Bose–Einstein condensates have total positional uncertainty, any atom in such a state can be anywhere within the field of effect, and is in fact effectively everywhere in that field.

Gryphon

Is there a specific length for flag-bans, or are they on a subject-by-subject case?

Ash

@Gryphon What's a flag-ban? Sorry in some ways I'm still pretty new here.

Gryphon

@Ash I didn't know they existed either until I got slapped with one. Apparently, 3 of my flags over the last 7 days were declined so I cannot flag posts. However, I don't know how long this will last.

I also don't know if it is automatic, or if a mod did it.

Ash

17:13

@Gryphon Huh I was blissfully unaware that that was a thing.

Gryphon

@Ash I tried to flag this for migration to meta, but couldn't.

Secespitus

@Gryphon Question, answre and flag bans are atuomatic by the system.

Gryphon

@Secespitus Thanks, Sece

That answers 1 of my questions.

Secespitus

They should age away naturally after some time. And you should receive a warning before you get slapped by one.

Something like "Your last flag was declined - please review before flagging further"

Though the thresholds depend on how much you flag. For example I am flagging a lot and so I would only get that if a certain percentage of my flags are declined, not with each single one. But if you don't flag so often you get the warning immediately after one declined flag.

Gryphon

@Secespitus I did get one of those, but after my second-last decline, I had a few that were accepted, and the warning went away. Then another flag was declined, and I can no longer flag.

Ash

17:16

@Secespitus I've had that warning before, which was aggravating because I flagged the original and the flag was reviewed on an edited version of the question.

Gryphon

Additionally, its only 3 out of my last 10 flags that were declined. The system seems rather aggressive.

Secespitus

@Ash You can retract your flag if you find that it is no longer valid. And it is a good sign that someone reviews their stuff, even if it meant a declined flag for you.

Ash

@Secespitus The OP didn't edit it, someone with better manners did.

Secespitus

@Ash Okay, yeah, that happens sometimes, too.

@Gryphon It is pretty aggressive. I am currently doing something else, but I'll look for some meta posts later

FoxElemental

@Gryphon I mod-flagged it for Meta migration before coming here and seeing this. What a coincidence!

Gryphon

17:29

@FoxElemental I was going to do the same, but... flag-ban

FoxElemental

Yep

Speaking of meta . . . I had a SE wide feature-request that I wanted to ask about on Meta Meta, but I can't remember what it was . . . . . . . .

Gryphon

@FoxElemental That's always annoying.

FoxElemental

Well, while brainstorming one feature-request, I came up with another!

OH now I remember

It was a feature-request for a blockage of acceptance of an answer before 24 hours of the question asking.

So no one can accept an answer until 24 hrs after their post

Secespitus

@FoxElemental Why? That's only a recommendation and only on more creative sites. On sites like StackOverflow you can simply check if your answer works. There is no reason to wait in such a case.

FoxElemental

@Secespitus Because there could still, at the very least, be a better explanation. But I get where you're coming from. It's mostly applicable to more broad/creative Q's.

The other Meta Meta feature-request would have been "Can we have the Community User comment on every new user's post, saying "Welcome to [Site name], [username]. Please take our [tour] and visit the [help] when you have time." Kinda like the one @Sece outlined in WB meta, but SE wide. Might lessen the strain on reviewers.

Hi, @Jam Snorter of Beverages

. . . .

That came out wrong

James

17:40

@FoxElemental You can suggest it on meta but don't expect a warm reception

Meta is harsh and quick to kill ideas...at least that has been my experience.

@FoxElemental lol

Secespitus

@FoxElemental Again, nobody is forced to comment in such a way. Ideally everyone should have read the tour and help center anyway. If there is a badge you don't need to write that for example. And there are some people who are heavily against this practice.

Having another completely automated message is useless.

FoxElemental

@James Same. Ever looked at the status-declined tag list (on Meta Meta)?

Don't click, it's just a link to our meta

James

Yeah I have noticed that.

FoxElemental

"1,702 questions" under status-declined

Ash

@FoxElemental That would really mess with the Identification Requests on a couple of stacks I'm part of, most of them are one time only deals, people come for an answer to that one question and never use the site again once they have the answer they're after.

Gryphon

18:55

So, I've asked a question on meta about how long the flag-ban will last.

FoxElemental

@Ash In a good way or a bad way?

@Gryphon shouldn't that be tagged "support"?

Worldbuilding Meta

1

Q: How long do flag-bans last?

So, I recently discovered that three of my flags in the last week have been declined, and, as a result, I am under a flag ban. I cannot flag posts for any reason, and, when I attempt to do so, I am redirected to a list of declined flags over the past week. However, the banner informing me of th...

0

Q: Feature Request: prevent downvote AND close vote

Occasionally when I ask a question (especially on Worldbuilding, simply due to its nature), there's some debate among viewers if it's on topic or not. The result is a flurry of close votes, which is fine. People are entitled to their opinion, and if enough opinions coincide, then the question sho...

feature-request questions vote-to-close down-votes

FoxElemental

@WorldbuildingMeta That is totally a Meta Meta question

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Tag added, thanks.

FoxElemental

@Gry no problem.

Gryphon

19:05

Hey @Fre how are you?

FreezePhoenix

Good

Ash

@FoxElemental It'd be bad for rep totals since many users who get correct answers to these questions rarely bother to select an answer as correct as is if they had to wait 24hrs it wouldn't happen at all.

FoxElemental

@Ash Ah, got it. But is less rep on one-time Q's necessarily a bad thing?

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Well, those questions make up a lot of the traffic on some stacks. I'd say its a bad thing for users who work hard to answer ID Requests to earn even less rep.

FreezePhoenix

19:22

@Gryphon how about you?

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Not bad.

FreezePhoenix

Can you tell me what you think of these animations: freezephoenix.github.io/Angels-And-Demons/game.html

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix The "drop" animation (where a side moves down a place) seems very sudden. Is that an actual animation, or just a single-frame transition?

FreezePhoenix

@Gryphon That may be a CSS issue on your side

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Could be.

FreezePhoenix

19:27

Wait...

is it the "Turn: Angels" thing that you're talking about?

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Both that thing, and the entire side that moves downward, seem to do it in a single frame, whereas all the other animations are smooth.

HDE 226868

@FoxElemental It's quite nice to not moderate everywhere. :P

Gryphon

@Freeze May I ask what the animations are for?

FreezePhoenix

@Gryphon Card summons are the smooth ones (In your case), while the jerky ones (In your case) are just deck shifts to accommodate the new card(s)

@Gryphon Yeh that's a css issue on your side. I'll try to fix that

@Gryphon Yes, why?

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Curiosity, and wondering if it's something I'd be interested in. What are they for?

FreezePhoenix

19:38

8 mins ago, by FreezePhoenix

@Gryphon Card summons are the smooth ones (In your case), while the jerky ones (In your case) are just deck shifts to accommodate the new card(s)

@Gryphon A game

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Facepalm

I really should have realized that.

FreezePhoenix

:) Maybe at some point I'll post a question on WorldBuilding about, say, the intro text or something

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix The angel side seems to be a lot more varied in what you get than the demon side. This after extremely brief testing, but the demons seem to be mostly just "Ravine"

FreezePhoenix

var enemyWeights = [
  [newCuthulu, 1],
  [newDemon, 2],
  [newRavine, 20],
  [newHellHound, 3],
  [newThornKnight, 3],
  [newDarkAgent, 3]
];

var playerWeights = [
  [newEternalFlame, 1],
  [newAngel, 2],
  [newMountain, 20],
  [newPaladin, 3],
  [newPriest, 3],
  [newLamp, 3]
];

As you can see, they're equal

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix I did say it was very brief testing.

FreezePhoenix

19:44

Oh, yeh.

Gryphon

As in, hitting the button like 15 times.

FreezePhoenix

@HDE226868 Hello

HDE 226868

@FreezePhoenix Hey.

FreezePhoenix

How are you doing?

HDE 226868

I'm fine. Doing a mishmash of things at the moment. Coding, writing, chatting, file management, etc. Depending on what program chooses to work at any given time. :P

FreezePhoenix

19:50

@HDE226868 Hey... thats my schedule too :P

FoxElemental

Hewwo again

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Bonjour

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental Hola! Como estas?

FoxElemental

Bien, gracias. Y usted?

FreezePhoenix

Mas o menos...

FoxElemental

19:57

Disculpame, pero no puedo escribir las "?" que son invertidos

Y tambien los tildes.

Gryphon

I used French not Spanish

FoxElemental

@Freeze Por que?

Gryphon

Stop switching languages on me.

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental Si, yo tambien.

FoxElemental

@Gryphon . . . con permiso?

FreezePhoenix

19:58

@FoxElemental No se.

FoxElemental

@FreezePhoenix No. "Yo tampoco" o "Ni yo." No "me tambien."

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Je ne parle espagnol pas

FoxElemental

@FreezePhoenix Y tambien: "no se" not "no ser."

No ser=I am not

No se=I do not know

Feeds 4026

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

Keep the colonists coming Assuming Earth is the primary source of interstellar colonists and the standards for acceptance as a colonist are set can Earth keep producing colonist grade citizens? If not how quickly would standards have to be adjusted down to maintain the exodus? The basic assumpt...

FoxElemental

Ay, Dios mio. Creo que necesito cambiar a ingles por unos minutos.

So, "Ni yo" would be the best, lit. "Nor I." Just sayin.

Secespitus

20:00

And the voting has started

FreezePhoenix

Yo entiendo...

FoxElemental

@FreezePhoenix Por que no sabes?

@FreezePhoenix Past tense being "You entendi" with a tilde over the i

Gryphon

Oh! The election is now open for votes!

FoxElemental

@Secespitus just got pinged in the inbox, yes.

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental No sé por qué estoy un poco cansado

FoxElemental

20:02

Ah

Gryphon

@Secespitus You have at least 1 vote

Secespitus

@Gryphon Thank you very much :D

FoxElemental

That would be me :)

Gryphon

@FoxElemental OK then, he has at least 2

Secespitus

@FoxElemental Thank you, too :D

FreezePhoenix

20:06

@Secespitus could you give a bit of history on yourself?

FoxElemental

@Sece There's no one better suited for the role. I went in, thought "Hmm. Secespitus goes without saying . . oh, but I have to vote for other people, right? Hmm . . ."

Secespitus

@FreezePhoenix Sure, what would you like to know?

FreezePhoenix

Just in general

Gryphon

@FoxElemental You technically don't have to.

FoxElemental

@Gryph I don't?

FreezePhoenix

20:08

@Renan LOL

Gryphon

@FoxElemental You may cast 0,1,2, or 3 votes.

FreezePhoenix

If I could run, I'd run with a speech like this:

FoxElemental

@FreezePhoenix You could also technically say "Lo entendi." (I understood it.)

FreezePhoenix

Hi, I'm @FreezePhoenix, and I'd like to be elected for moderation. Some of you may know me as @TheOneWhoMade, or as @Pheo.
I feel the following reasons support my election:
  - I've been around for quite a while now
  - I've been on the receiving end of moderation. I know roughly what a mod can do, and how it affects the community.
  - I try to be more open and accepting, and do not hold grudges in the way others do.
  - Despite being more open and accepting, I prefer to draw a line. (Hey, Boolean logic is what I grew up with)

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Wait, what first part?

Secespitus

20:09

@FreezePhoenix Well, one day, around two years ago or so, I browsed StackOverflow in search of the solution to one of my problems like I do basically every day. And, like a few times before, I wondered "What are these links on the right side?" And then there was something about butchering dragons... Obviously I had to click it and soon afterwards I discovered "Anatomically Correct", created an account and now my profile says "visited 547 days, 540 consecutive "

FoxElemental

Well . . . I mean . . . @Shalvenay is also @UnidentifiedFallingObject . . . BoltClock is BoltClock'saUnicorn. . . names can vary across SE's

FreezePhoenix

@Gryphon Ah... you don't know :)

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix I'm guessing it's not good, but no, I don't.

Secespitus

@FreezePhoenix I am not that active compared to some others when it comes to answering or asking questions on the Main site and if I answer anything it's mostly about magic or creature-design. But you will definitely run across me on the Main site, because I edit and comment a lot. On Meta the chances of finding an answer from me are pretty high though, especially in the Sandbox.

Gryphon

@Secespitus I'm pretty sure half the Meta posts since you showed up are from you.

FreezePhoenix

20:12

@Gryphon To put it short: I was categorized as a 'troll'

But, I've decided to put that behind, and give that way up.

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Good for you!

Secespitus

@Gryphon Possible :D

Gryphon

@Secespitus Now I want to write a query on SEDE to figure out what exactly the percentage is...

FoxElemental

Wait

Never mind

@FreezePhoenix The dark side is overrated . . . unless you're discussing the chocolate spectrum

3

Secespitus

@Gryphon 13.6% of all still existing Meta answers since my first answer on Meta are from me.

FreezePhoenix

20:22

@Gryphon I'm also not hesitant to bring it up.

Gryphon

@Secespitus That number seems low, somehow. I guess there have been a lot of Meta answers since then, and often questions get 4-5 answers though.

Secespitus

You get 1035 with the Query:
SELECT Count(*) AS TotalPosts
FROM Posts
WHERE CreationDate > '2017-02-19 09:33:34'
AND PostTypeId = 2;

And 141 with the Query:
SELECT Count(*)
FROM Posts
WHERE OwnerUserId = '28789'
AND PostTypeId = 2;

It doesn't account for questions/answer from today. I copy-pasted the date from a simple ordered query like the second one without the Count.

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental Oh, hush

FoxElemental

@Freeze ! What, no star?! You don't like chocolate!?!?

Secespitus

@FoxElemental Everyone loves chocolate

FreezePhoenix

20:25

@FoxElemental Bacon is supreme

Gryphon

@FoxElemental There you go, one star as ordered.

FoxElemental

Wow. That's a lot of @ pings

Secespitus

@FoxElemental Here are some more

FoxElemental

Assesment, 1 by 1

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental @FoxElemental 1 star for pity

FoxElemental

20:25

@Secespitus I know.

@FreezePhoenix No. Bacon is horrible

@Gryphon Thank you

@Secespitus So kind of you

Secespitus

@FoxElemental I wouldn't go that far

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental Wrong.

Secespitus

@FoxElemental No problem

@FoxElemental I help where I can

FoxElemental

@FreezePhoenix Stop double pinging

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental Stop? How can I stop when I never started?

FoxElemental

20:27

Aaa stop the pinging

and the linkbacks!

Gryphon

@FoxElemental You are wrong.

FreezePhoenix

@Secespitus And... that gained my vote!

Secespitus

@FreezePhoenix Woohooo!

FreezePhoenix

Can't vote for a mod that hates bacon

FoxElemental

Well . . . if it helped Secespitus win, then I hate bacon

FreezePhoenix

20:28

Aw... I need 150 rep to vote :(

Gryphon

@FoxElemental You are now officially declared a Terrible Person.

For the heinous crime of disliking bacon.

FoxElemental

@Gry Oh, bacon is okay.

But if disliking bacon means Secespitus wins, then I hate bacon.

Chocolate rules all.

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Fair.

FreezePhoenix

@Secespitus look at it this way: If I could vote, I'd vote for you

FoxElemental

Would you like to hear one of my trademarked haughty sniffs, @Gry, @Freeze?

Secespitus

20:29

@FreezePhoenix That's very kind of you

Gryphon

@FoxElemental For what?

@FoxElemental Oh, for the bacon/chocolate thing.

FoxElemental

@Gry I don't know. I just find it generally helps.

Well, that too.

Now can we all please stop @pinging?

Gryphon

I don't think you can trademark a sniff.

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental Error: Did you mean "Freezephoenix"? Freeze` is not a valid word in the dictionary`

FoxElemental

Oh, you can with mine. It nearly has substance

Gryphon

20:31

@FoxElemental That is an impressive sniff.

FoxElemental

@Freeze oh, I said @Freeze, not @FreezePhoenix. @Freeze is nice. Don't you think so, @Freeze? Yes. I like @Freeze

Aha. Revenge of the @ping

Did that sound like a bunch of regular pings, or one MegaPing?

Gryphon

@FoxElemental You are once again officially declared a Terrible Person. Just for that post.

FoxElemental

And don't you dare revenge ping me.

Secespitus

This is like watching people in a snowball fight.

FoxElemental

@Gry Obviously I can't win

Gryphon

20:32

Also, one can click on the little speaker icon on the sidebar to stop hearing pings.

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental ignores

FoxElemental

@Sece Find this amusing, huh?

Secespitus

@FoxElemental Yes

FoxElemental

Oh. Okay

Gryphon

@FoxElemental It is amusing.

FoxElemental

20:32

Well, yes.

FreezePhoenix

@Fox , @FoxE , @FoxEl , @FoxEle , @FoxElem , @FoxEleme , @FoxElemen , @FoxElement , @FoxElementa , or @FoxElemental ... I can't choose!

Secespitus

The speaker in the upper right hand corner silences the pings by the way

FoxElemental

@Fo doesn't ping me

@Sece thanks

Gryphon

@FoxElemental I did already tell you that.

FoxElemental

I have more options with you, Freeze.

FreezePhoenix

20:34

@FoxElemental So?

FoxElemental

Or actually the same

Which means let's stop the excessive @pinging, please. Amusing though it might be

FreezePhoenix

Ok

Gryphon

Who's to say its excessive, @Fox

FoxElemental

Me

Secespitus

Well, I've got to go. Good luck to both sides in winning this pinging war. Whatever the winning conditions are. And don't go too far everyone ;)

FoxElemental

20:35

@Sece bye! Good luck!

FreezePhoenix

@Secespitus Sure thing

Gryphon

@Secespitus How do you define "too far?"

FoxElemental

@HDE do you mind editing the message at the board and updating it w/a new one (e.g, "The election has begun! Vote for your candidates of choice [link to voting page]. Please take election-related discussion to the [Link to moderator election chat room]".)?

FreezePhoenix

@FoxElemental That's silly when he can just edit it

FoxElemental

Oh, he can?

Just edited the suggestion

FreezePhoenix

20:38

Yes, mods can edit any message, no matter how long ago it was posted

FoxElemental

Oof. Coming up w/pronouns for my conlang.

Current table:

I (Iy) We (Os)
You/You plural (Ta/Tahl) They (Eleu)
It/The (Em/Eu) Collective/hive/swarm (Todoum)
He/She (Ele, Lei) All, entity (to come)
All, extremely formal(To come) All, other (to come)

And you just know when you're digging yourself into a hole . . .

because, I mean, 10 diff conjugations for each verb infinitive, and 13 diff verb infinitive endings=130 diff conjugations plus irregularities

What was I thinking?

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Can we just agree that you're overcomplicating things?

HDE 226868

The election has begun! Voting will last until July 17th. Please take all election-related discussion go the 2018 Worldbuilding Moderator Election chat room. Best of luck!

6

FoxElemental

Oh, yeah. I wasn't, because I invented a 56 character alphabet with 4 diff accent marks

HDE 226868

@FoxElemental ^^

FoxElemental

20:42

@HDE thanks

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Umm, yeah, you're doomed. At this point I think its time to go get the lighter fluid.

FreezePhoenix

@HDE226868 Why... oh, state transfer

FoxElemental

@Gry No. I like it. the rules are simple

Gryphon

@FoxElemental Mandatory xkcd

@FoxElemental And, if that's simple, you are almost certainly insane, and your mental patterns may not even be recognizably human anymore.

2

FoxElemental

@Gry oh I can save it. TBH so far it's simpler than English (we have a lot of exceptions, don't we?)

Uh oh. TTYL

@Gry Well, I am a genius . . . :)

Gryphon

20:45

Hey @Fox, I'm still flag-banned, so could you flag this for me?

FreezePhoenix

sigh

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix What?

FreezePhoenix

What should it be flagged as?

What it got marked already

Gryphon

@FreezePhoenix Whatever you think it should be. I'd just flag for deletion as "unrecoverable", or whatever the actual name is.

HDE 226868

It'll be automatically deleted by the system at some point; there's really no need to accelerate the process.

FreezePhoenix

20:47

There's no such flag or even something like it

HDE 226868

If you did want to flag it, there's a custom flag option.

But I wouldn't recommend it in this case.

FreezePhoenix

Hm?

Mike Nichols

Quick question about votes to close. If a question reaches 5 votes to close, but they disagree on the reasoning will the question be closed?

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