The Whiteboard

user55340

12:02 AM

The closest I can get with anon-feedback is through the delated Data.SE query that I wrote: data.stackexchange.com/programmers/query/169976/…

user55340

Things you find in there: In march there were -5 anon feedbacks on programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/88403/… - which yea, is rather disappointing of a question and answer (and apparently still gets highish views)

Shog9

@MichaelT if you saw this in the 10k tools, how useful would that be?

user55340

I'd be quite happy with seeing that in there.

Shog9

well, that's not what I asked

user55340

I'd find it useful to go through - especially the down vote type ones...

user55340

12:09 AM

because thats the ones where new users are finding things and either saying "this doesn't help me" - it should either be edited into something that can be helpful or removed as something that can never be made appropriate for the site and sets out a "hmm... the site isn't so helpful" feel from the start.

user55340

More advanced users have down votes that they can use, or flags, or post on meta, or in chat... but the anon and low rep ones - this is their only way of giving feedback. And without us (10ks) being able to see it, we can't help them by acting upon it. So yes, I do find it useful.

user55340

One of the bits that is intriguing on the anon feedback is that it really does closely map to popular questions. This is what people are coming from google looking for apparently.

user55340

12:24 AM

If you glance at data.stackexchange.com/programmers/query/169976/… (modification of that query) you'll see that most anon-feedback is on high view stuff (even without activity on the question itself in the time frame)

Shog9

12:37 AM

@MichaelT stands to reason. Remember, Google is the #1 source of views, and folks who do/don't find what they're after...

user55340

While thats not surprising, what is useful off that is "this is what people are looking for"

Shog9

right

user55340

One of those 'tempting' things is to say "hmm... C++ exercises for beginners" is a high view and low feedback question... to completely rework that question into a community lock question and answer - to try to preserve the "this is something people are looking for" while trying to make it so that you don't get other answers if it becomes something people can answer again.

user55340

0

Q: C++ exercises for beginners

I have just come across this collection of programs for beginners: http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/articles/12974/ Does anyone know of a similar source of practice but with some sample answers previously-written? To make sure you have got it right, so you can move on confidently... Thanks,

c++

user55340

Its such an easy thing for people to search for... and stack exchange is probably one of the top answers for it.

user55340

12:46 AM

(its #3 behind the link given and a south african university link)

Stack Exchange

5:11 AM

The Codeless Code: Case 140: Heartbleed

posted on April 13, 2014

A novice asked of master Bawan: “Say something about the Heartbleed Bug.” Said Bawan: “Chiuyin, the Governor’s treasurer, is blind as an earthworm. A thief may give him a coin of lead, claim that it is silver and receive change. When the treasury is empty, which man is the villain? Speak right and I will spare you all blows for one week. Speak wrong and my staff will fly!” The novice …

gnat

5:38 AM

@RobertHarvey well, maybe it's better to close (FWIW I CVed that "example") - but in this case, this feature wouldn't do harm would it? In closeable questions it would make bikeshedding (somewhat) harder, sounds good to me... :)

0

A: When there are many answers already, help me check that mine won't repeat others

To avoid misunderstanding, I realise that feature like this would make it technically harder for me to post an answer. Imagine I am willing to add 20th answer to some question, that would mean I have to pass through checking 19 prior answers before posting my own, go figure. But, if I really bel...

Thomas Owens

1:30 PM

New feature: The homepage view shows why a post was put on the front page.

Thomas Owens

1:50 PM

Also, I just updated the proposed on-topic page on the Meta question. Feedback appreciated. (@RobertHarvey, @gnat)

gnat

2:06 PM

@ThomasOwens "freelancing and business concerns" and "developer testing" are out (latter essentially went into "development methodologies and processes"), is that intended? Overall, it looks okay to me, I ask about these only to double-check

Thomas Owens

@gnat I removed developer testing because it's "quality assurance and testing".

Did I remove "freelancing and business concerns" or did someone else? If I did, then it's because most of what's on-topic is covered under "development methodologies and processes" and "software engineering management", with the rest being off-topic because they are "career advice, salary, or compensation" type questions.

user55340

@ThomasOwens I believe you removed it as part of the last discussion.

Thomas Owens

Also, if they do get to the very bottom and see the link to other SE sites, they can easily find Freelancing. It's still beta, but it's a public beta.

gnat

@ThomasOwens fair enough. Approved :) Point about Freelancing.SE is well taken, I've seen it already mentioned in comments in some freelancing questions

Thomas Owens

The only thing that I'd like to see is somehow making questions about price points and choosing a sale price as off-topic. Although I suppose that's compensation?

So as long as there's no objections, maybe I'll just push it live tonight or tomorrow morning?

It's been on Meta for a while. People could have said something, edited, or whatever if they objected to anything.

One of the things I will do before posting is turn it into entirely markdown, though.

That way, it'll be easier to edit in the future. Right now, it's a mashup of markdown and HTML that's hard to read.

user55340

2:16 PM

@ThomasOwens You know they will only read it after they get told it was off topic and now part of the FAQ (btw, make a featured post about clarified on topic page) and then decry the evil mods that are changing the communities direction without input...

Thomas Owens

I intend to make a featured Meta post as soon as I make it go live that highlights the changes.

user20683

@MichaelT Bring it. (I had nothing to do with this but ENTP so I reiterate)

Thomas Owens

Did I say a trigger word or something that brings all the mods to the room?

user20683

@ThomasOwens F*Q

user20683

:P

Yannis Rizos

2:19 PM

The answer to every Politics question:

0

A: Differences between parliamentary and presidential government

I think everything is in vai5n. Life sucks.

user55340

@YannisRizos btw, will be fun to watch Politics (from a safe distance) with the upcoming US midterm elections.

Yannis Rizos

There's an election in the US? Time to give up my shiny Politics diamond...

user55340

United States elections, 2014

Elections in the United States are being held throughout 2014, with the general elections scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, 2014. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested; along with 38 state and territorial governorships, 46 state legislatures (except Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia), four territorial legislatures and numerous state and local races. Federal elections Congressional elections Senate elections All seats in Senate Class II will be up ...

user55340

(I'm already starting to hear political bits... though its more the initial posturing now of "lets send a bill to the other house of congress that has no chance of passing so we can get sound bites")

user55340

That said, might be fun to try to collect some data on the "how many questions tagged XYZ are asked over the course of 2014" where XYZ has some relevance to regularly scheduled political event.

user15026

2:31 PM

waves I am at wooooork :D

user15026

Which excites me more than it should.

Thomas Owens

So would anyone like to object to me posting that new FAQ page tonight or first thing tomorrow morning?

Otherwise, it's happening.

user55340

3:05 PM

@ThomasOwens sooner the better.

Thomas Owens

@MichaelT Hm. Maybe during my lunch break, then?

I'm thinking that'll be soon, since I'm not liking where this problem is taking me. Almost time to walk away and come back after a break.

user55340

@ThomasOwens Its more of "it can't happen too soon, please do it" than a "Do it NOW!"

Thomas Owens

I'm not sure if I've said this in here before or not, but designing APIs is hard. Designing messages (XML, JSON, binary, whatever) is easier. However, designing messages isn't something that can be done haphazardly. It still requires thinking and planning and some effort of good design.

user55340

3:29 PM

Seen in an advertisement: "I model for a living" followed by some UML.

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