Unless something else interested is posted, I would be tempted to award the bounty to "contradiction between two goals" answers. (After the bounty ends.)
But maybe somebody posts another answer which is worth rewarding.
In any case, if you'll have some suggestions which answer should get the bounty, I'd be glad to hear. (And I might consider adding one more bounty if there is more than one deserving answer.)
IMO an interesting idea that was brought up in that MSE thread was to wall off tutoring of newbies outside of the main Q&A area. I like that suggestion a lot, and need to learn the use of chatrooms to that end (as opposed to comments which is what I have been using).
Of course, a new user needs to earn some reputation first before they can talk in chat. That might be an obstacle. (IIRC mods can give explicit write access also to a user below 20 reputation points, but that should probably be used only in exceptional cases.)
A possibility that appeals to me would be to move "tutoring" to chatrooms, and keep the Q&A are well organized. As another veteran user put it "Confused newbies are confused in their own unique ways". There is nothing of permanent value in storing the cure to each and every individual confusion. — Jyrki LahtonenDec 7 at 8:38
When I don't find a precise enough duplicate to a minor variant of a FAQ from a new user, I try and engage them in a socratic dialogue of hints, pointers, feedback etc. With a goal of making them answer their question themself. After the newbie has posted a question, the comments are the only place for such a dialogue. But a chatroom would be better. — Jyrki LahtonenDec 7 at 8:41
^(two comments up) "... keep the Q&A area well organized". Apologies for lack of proofreading. — Jyrki LahtonenDec 7 at 8:49
@JyrkiLahtonen Do you think that if there weren't this obstacle (reputation needed for chat), then some kind of tutoring chatrooms would be feasible?
I try to promote various chatrooms that we have on the site. I have even mentioned them to some users who say that they main purpose is teaching/helping. (The users from camp 3 or sandmen in your terminology.)
In rooms such as Calculus and analysis and Linear & abstract algebra, occasionally somebody asks a rather low-level question. (The kind which would probably be closed on the main as a duplicate of FAQ or PSQ.) Still, often such questions in chat remain unanswered.
If there were "tutoring chatrooms", would there be enough user to help (to teach newbies)?
@MartinSleziak That is likely the answer closest to my views, but it is your bounty, so you can also award it to some other. Nevertheless, I appreciate the effort to get more views to that question. Unfortunately no staff members showed up to discuss the proposal.
@MartinSleziak This is one of the key questions. Many/some prolific answerers will vehemently deny being motivated by rep points, but it is unclear whether they would bother answering without the rep motivation. I would like to put this to a test. At the same time my "promise" to tutor in chat rooms could also be tested :-)
@MartinSleziak To clarify I don't give answers as a one-on-one tutoring but I'm happy if an asker request that. In general I prefer give answers on the main platform in order to have a feedback also from other users and also let the answer at disposal for future readers. But it is just a matter of preference. Chat rooms are also a good way of course.
@MartinSleziak In another thread in MSE Sara Chipps stated that members of the staff have been largely told not to participate in MSE discussion "for their own emotional well-being". This is quite alarming, if you ask me.
To some extent, it's understandable. OTOH, it's disappointing that SE employees have enough time to deal with things concerning hats, yet they do not respond to stuff which is (in my view) far more important.
Anyway, if you think that this "room to tutor newbies" are indeed feasible (and could be useful), then there are some things which could be done.
To me, one of the first things to do would be question on meta about something like this: To which extent are mods willing to grant chat access for low rep users to the "newbie room"?
At the moment, the only way for user with low rep to get access to chat would be if some diamond users explicitly grants them write access.
So if a "newbie room" is indeed created and if we want the new users to be able to get some help there, that would automatically need increased workload for moderators.
If the mods shut this down - and say that they are willing to do this only in exceptional circumstances - then at least we would know that this is not possible (without changes in the software).
I think I linked to some feature request which would allow also regular users grant access in some cases, didn't I? Was it (status-declined)?
Neither of them is (status-declined). One of them has answer by Monica Cellio. (The name is basically a guarantee that it is a well-thought answer.) The older one has impressive score 159.
@MartinSleziak Okay I will try that. As you are an experienced man, it would be better for me to learn that from you personally, if you don't mind much
Well, when I reading something like that, it seems as some kind of joke or maybe some not well-thought comment: "As you are an experienced man, it would be better for me to learn that from you personally"
In any case, it's irrelevant to the actual mathematical question at hand.
Doesn't the answer posted there actually answer your question?
@MartinSleziak I think you can't understand how a student feels when he doesn't have any teacher but suddenly met someone who is so modest and simultaneously full of knowledge. You can't understand.
Anyway, as I said, to me it seems that the answer already posted there answers the question. (But it's quite possible that I have misunderstood what you're actually asking.)
@MartinSleziak My question is why we are getting so many problems in ellipse? Why we have to determine $a$ and $b$ to sketch it, why the equation itself doesn't tell us the orientation ?
Since other will see at least the title of the question without having to click on it, then it is more likely that somebody who knows about the topic will have a look.
I am not using Safari, so I'll be of no help there.
And you would certainly appreciate if you don't call me sir. (It's probably different in your part of the world, but for me it just feels weird.)
@MartinSleziak I hope you will like me. I think Indian have become completely devoid of learning anything and all they care about is JEE. I will try to be polite from next time.
