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6:08 AM

Morning

Q: Unpinning the accepted answer from the top of the list of answers

Today we changed the way we sort answers on Stack Overflow. We no longer pin the accepted answer (with the green checkmark) to the top of the list of answers. By default, we now sort strictly by votes (descending order by highest score), and the accepted answer's order in the list is based on its...

Related to Outdated Answers: accepted answer is now unpinned on Stack Overflow

So the answer that worked for OP (accepted answer) should suddenly become less relevant because another answer suddenly floats to the top? Strange.

Paul White

@JohnK.N. Why do you think this is a bad idea specifically? I've seen too many poor answers pinned to the top just because the OP chose a horrible solution. In my view, the long-term value of an answer should be evaluated by as many people as possible with an equal say (one vote each).

The other thing I don't like is that people tend to infer more from the green checkmark than is necessarily true. They use the solution/code in the "accepted answer" because they think it has been validated and is "best". That's often not true --- it just reflects the whims of the OP. Might also have been true at the time but since superseded by better tech/a more inventive solution.

The general idea of the SO/SE model is that the best answers rise to the top. Pinning the accepted answer kinda breaks that.

It's not a perfect solution, but it is an improvement I think.

John K. N.

6:37 AM

I agree with you on the fact that some accepted answers are merely a comment/junk and don't deserve to be ticked.

Trying out code from accepted answers is a valid option IMO, because when I search for a solution and the problem in the question matches my issue, then I'd like to find the answer that solved that issue. This can be the ticked/accepted answer.

I have however seen upvotes on answers where I wasn't sure if the people upvoting the answer were sure what the person had answered. So IMO it goes both ways.

An accepted answer can be more valid than an answer with more upvotes.
An accepted answer can be less valid than an answer with more upvotes.

2 hours later…

McNets

8:21 AM

Morning

2 hours later…

Peter Vandivier

10:17 AM

@mustaccio name[] & hand[] actually

@bbaird +1 to @CadeRoux for powershell over python for this. check out github.com/dfinke/ImportExcel

ypercubeᵀᴹ

11:00 AM

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells did you ever have (or see) one of these?

twitter.com/pickover/status/1435238675361804295

2 hours later…

bbaird

1:11 PM

good morning

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

1:55 PM

@ypercubeᵀᴹ Not in the flesh, although I think I remember seeing a review of it in Byte or some such. I'm pretty sure those sliding keyboard models go back to sometime in the 1990s.

@HannahVernon Could be worse. Could be [Direct/Reinsurance], [M&A interest] or [Premium (Gross)]

Hannah Vernon

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells ok you win :-)

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

@HannahVernon No, I had to deal with these monstrosities. 'Win' isn't exactly the word I would have used.

Hannah Vernon

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells that's a great point. It's more like lose, I guess.

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

@HannahVernon as in 'lose' the will to live.

Hannah Vernon

lol

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

2:05 PM

One of my bucket list items is to get a database with emoji for column names into production.

That will be my revenge for Dynamics forcing GUIDs on the world.

Not to mention Hibernate and its spawn.

And then there's SAP R/3, with its German abbreviations. Given that it was German to begin with, I suppose they can be forgiven.

Hannah Vernon

I'd start to consider adding in zero-length-space characters in sabotage ala the Dutch throwing clogs into the gears of machines during the industrial revolution

hard to detect and very painful

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

@HannahVernon Or non-breaking space characters, for that matter.

Hannah Vernon

yah

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

Or a mixture of em-space and two consecutive spaces.

Do you remember Aptem?

Hannah Vernon

Sep 1 at 19:59, by Hannah Vernon

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS dbo.[];

CREATE TABLE dbo.[]
(
   [] nvarchar(10) not null
        CONSTRAINT [check] CHECK ([] <> N'')
);

INSERT INTO dbo.[] ([])
VALUES (N'');

SELECT *
FROM dbo.[] t
WHERE t.[] = N'';

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells I don't believe I've heard of that.

that code above has zero-width-spaces for the names. It looks like it should be impossible at first glance.

also, looks weird in the Object Explorer

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

2:13 PM

@HannahVernon Aptem was a prolific shitposter on Stackoverflow about 8 or 10 years ago. I can't remember the exact string his name used, but it was a set of odd unicode characters that rendered like aptem. One of the other regulars here might be able to dig it up.

Hannah Vernon

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells oooh that rings a bell

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

I think folks are still divided about whether or not it was a troll account.

ypercubeᵀᴹ

2:44 PM

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells he had changed his name to yuck

He is now Alex Gordon

@billinkc was brave enough to answer one his questions

McNets

727

Q: Using a piano keyboard as a computer keyboard

I have RSI problems and have tried 30 different computer keyboards which all caused me pain. Playing piano does not cause me pain. I have played piano for around 20 years without any pain issues. I would like to know if there is a way to capture MIDI from a MIDI keyboard and output keyboard strok...

keyboard midi

I used to play guitar...

ypercubeᵀᴹ

3:02 PM

Jul 3 '13 at 18:33, by Aaron Bertrand

@AaronBertrand when running the copy database wizard, which accounts does it use to perform the operation? — Артём Царионов 2 mins ago

Jul 3 '13 at 18:35, by Aaron Bertrand

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

TIL aptem has a youtube channel with 13 subscribers.

Hannah Vernon

3:26 PM

> "data pointed to online interactions largely mirroring offline behavior, with people predisposed to aggressive, status-seeking behavior just as unpleasant in person as behind a veil of online anonymity, and choosing to be jerks as part of a deliberate strategy rather than as a consequence of the format involved."

gizmodo.com/…

Hannah Vernon

3:39 PM

This is weird:

But where sqlcmd returns nothing? Very strange. — Hannah Vernon ♦ 54 secs ago

Paul White

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells Lucky for some

4 hours later…

ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells

8:12 PM