Poor HNQ

cv-pls economics Not about mathematics Why do governments invest in the electric vehicle market‭ - Rostislav Dugin‭ 2019-05-05 02:31:19Z

D1, D2, D3.

D4, D5, D6.

D7, D8, D9.

D10, D11, D12.

D13, D14, D15.

C1, C2, C3.

C4, C5, C6.

@BillDubuque I also feel a loss when good answers are removed due to the question's noncompliance with context rules

But there's no denying that the new standards are improving question quality. I remember when I first became a mod, the majority of new questions were copy and paste PSQs, phrased in the imperative, and uninteresting. Looking at the new feed now is a totally different experience.

I actually agree with you in general about valuing good answers over well-phrased questions, but there's no reason we can't have both.

Personally I'm in favor of saving old answers by editing in context in the form of expository info (background, examples, and so on) with a tone clearly directed toward future value.

That sidesteps a lot of the ideological conflicts at play here. Questions worth preserving are worth improving

I would urge others to consider this route, too, particularly for questions old enough that the argument can't be made that helping is enabling. We all participate here because we want to help MSE become better resource, but enforcing against bad questions isn't enough, we need to contribute more of our writing. IMO, the tides are finally turning so that PSQs are less of a problem than lack of high quality questions.

@AlexanderGruber I would like to put this into practice. How "old" should it be? Say 3 years?

Bad NHQ.

Another poor HNQ

@TheSimpliFire It's not just poor; it apparently has a typo "=", and calls a non-polynomial a polynomial, and has square brackets that make it ambiguous.

cv-pls number-theory Missing context or other details Pythagorean triple‭ - Nithish Kumar R‭ 2018-11-17 01:52:34Z

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected (79): Why does X divided by zero not equal X? by Mark Twain on math.SE

@user21820 Indeed, at first glance I thought it was something to do with the floor function

Bad HNQ

@AlexanderGruber I am pretty sure this was discussed on meta (an in chat) a few times. At least some users object to the fact that in this way the editor is putting words into the asker's mouth. I have posted a few links to related discussions in the Math Meta chatroom: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/64952/2019/5/5

@AlexanderGruber Even if it were true that question "quality" has improved by some measure, was that worth the price of losing some of the most knowledgeable and prolific contributors? (who no doubt discouraged many of their colleagues from joining after witnessing the rampant destruction of helpful answers). What good are a few "high quality" questions if there is no longer anyone left to give "high quality" answers, or there are no longer enough questions to keep people interested in the site?

@MartinSleziak The system was designed to be collaborative, and it is a good thing if teach students how to effectively collaboirate.

^^^ "teach" -> "we teach"

@MartinSleziak That is a reasonable criticism for new questions, but I do not agree with it for older questions, where the primary audience has shifted from the OP to the general public. Content is king.

@BillDubuque Far more mathematicians stay away from MSE due to its image as a homework mill. Whenever MSE has come up in conversation with mathematicians I've met out in the wild, the conversation has always centered around cheating. Combatting this image through PSQ reform is the most important thing we can do to bring new talent to the site.

@AlexanderGruber If by now an instructor has not figured out how to deal with "cheating" using the web then they should no longer be instructing. We should not cripple the site due to deficiencies in some external entity.

@BillDubuque I don't disagree with you there, personally, and in my personal teaching philosophy, I design courses without fighting getting help from the internet. But I'm also a practical man, and I realize that isn't how most teachers think. Even if the homework mill characterization isn't fair, it still holds us back.

There are a lot of contributors who leave the site due to PSQ inundation too, by the way. Before I became a mod, I almost left the site for that reason.

@AlexanderGruber Why do you believe that's how "most teachers think"? That doesn't agree with my experience (esp, for younger teachers who were brought up in the internet world)

@AlexanderGruber If you dislike certain types of questions then you can filter to remove them. But you shouldn't attempt tp force your personal filter onto other users.

@BillDubuque believe me, if there were a filter that tossed all the PSQs and left only the good questions, I'd be using it.

For example, CRUDE should instead be a (local) filter for users who share those views of question quality, not a global filter. They could create a feed of only questions they approve. This could be done even without further SE support.

Unfortunately, that isn't how SE works. We weed our gardens so that the weeds don't take over.

@AlexanderGruber It works however we want it to work. Anyone is free to create a derivative site or stream.

correct. that's why it works as it does now.

The filtering approach allows everyone to have their cake and eat it too. (thanks)

undelete Nothing wrong.

NAA