@Shokhet yes, and if the best solution to a problem is not a lifehack, then that indicates it may not be a lifehack problem. But if the question is a lifehack question and the best answer is nonetheless “conventional” (whatever that means — we've found that it's extremely subjective), that should not count against the answer.
There are objective reasons why an answer would be bad on Lifehacks, for example if it requires a tool that hardly anyone has available, or if it requires expensive material. But “it's conventional” isn't one.
@Shokhet they're the only ones I buy, and AFAIR they aren't more expensive than other kinds (but given how small a part of my budgets envelopes are, I didn't really pay attention)
Pretty much every car made in the last couple of decades has a gas hatch indicator arrow right on the dashboard:
Just look for the arrow next to the pump icon. I'd seen that little triangle thousands of times and never noticed it until a friend told me it indicates the side the gas cap is on.
that one I had never heard of before reading that answer, but all the same
I downvoted because this isn't a hack; it's an indicator made for this exact purpose... and it only works if you're driving a car that has this arrow. Not all of 'em do. — abby hairboat ♦Dec 22 '14 at 18:40
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The vote counts are a great tool to determine whether an answer is disputed or not. Unfortunately, not many of us have enough time to join all Stack Exchange websites and get 1000 reputation.
This script unlocks the "View Vote counts" feature for those who are not logge...
When you gave me that number, I had assumed you'd used the script.
....although, I'm not sure how much we can use votes to determine the quality of an answer -- we're no longer in private beta, and voting is up to the entire network, especially on HNQs like that one
Counterintuitively, corn on the cob holders can be good for this.
They dig into the apple directly, rather than a fork which curves and can cause difficulty in angling it right without biting into metal.
eBay link to show what I mean
Is buying a corn on the cob holder to eat apples a valid answer?
Life hacking refers to any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life. It is arguably a modern appropriation of a gordian knot - in other words, anything that solves an everyday problem in an inspired, ingenious manner.
Coined in the 1980s in hacker culture, the term became popularized in the blogosphere and is primarily used by computer experts who suffer from information overload or those with a playful curiosity in the ways they can accelerate their workflow in ways other than programming.
The terms hack, hacking, and hacker have...
> any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life
> anything that solves an everyday problem in an inspired, ingenious manner
I answered the way that I did because the clothespin trick is a little over played, yet I upvoted the cardboard trick because it had a wider application and in some instances would be more practical. Just trying to say that it looks like we're trying to define black and white when all we have is gray.
Hell, my job is (partly) to be an architect — you could say that doing things in an “inspired and ingenious way” is part of my job description. But “not the way that you'd expect it to be” is absolutely not part of it.
@Gilles I think you're on to something here.....this is a good line of reasoning, make it a little more wordy and you can put this up on Meta. @ZachSaucier can DV, and we'll all discuss it there.
* It requires expensive materials or devices. * It requires objects that one would not ordinarily have at hand. * It requires a lot of time to carry out.
@ZachSaucier there's room for quibbling but that's a good summary
@Gilles What about spackle? It's cheap and effective, but is also a product designed for the problem.
> If you're going to ask how to cover a nail hole effectively, you had better specify why spackle will not work for you. If you're simply asking how to lose weight, or change a tire; that's not a life hack.
@Shokhet Spackle alone would be a bad answer, because as the question indicates you need to paint over it afterwards. But the answer doesn't just say spackle, it says “spackle and paint over it”. Which still is bad answer, because if you paint just that part, you're bound to paint it a different color which will look ugly.
so this answer is bad not because it isn't a lifehack, but because it produces a poor result
The aim isn't just to cover a hole quickly, but to avoid paying $hundreds or thousands in fees when leaving a rental. You need to do a decent job for that.
@ZachSaucier if a question calls for an answer that requires technically involved answers, or that requires doing a clean job, then it isn't a lifehack question
@Shokhet A lifehack question doesn't require a clean job. But if an answer happens to do a clean job, that doesn't in itself make the answer a bad one.
@ZachSaucier A major unresolved contradiction in your viewpoint is that you say you don't want the site to be a catch-all, but then you refuse closing questions because they aren't calling for lifehacks.
And I don't mean the question has to say “oh hey by the way gimme a lifehack”. I mean the requirements in the question should be compatible with hackish answers.
@Gilles if they don't provide how the internet or a phone doesn't work, i.e. "when a more standard approach (as defined by that area's experts) or a product is either unavailable or undesirable" it's closed.
@Shokhet a 3rd week in private would have been very beneficial - you guys were making god progress in defining the scope, then public happened and it seems to be going backwards
@Shokhet yup, and somewhat confusing for a new member etc... takes too much time to try and figure it out, and I (for one) do not have time, (reason why I deleted)