[This question] I don't know what more the OP could have done here. I'm thinking about Jyrki's post on context for contests, and it's not clear to me what can be added apart from what was. The source is the Moroccan Math Olympiad (maybe more details required), stuff like "test smaller cases" and "fix variables" doesn't work because computing $\sqrt{a},\sqrt{b}$ for non-square $a,b$ is trouble. All that could be said is what was algebraically attempted, and while there could have been...
... elaboration on this, this kind of reasoning makes the problem borderline, as it stands. I also find , given that the answers prove it to be wrong, that the addition of the attempt now is a bit artificial. I haven't taken any action on this question, but I don't know what to look for either.
@soupless No, I do not think there is anything salvageable from that answer. If you have a proper proof, then please put it up for discussion. If not, I don't think it is fair to claim that the vague handwaving has any substance to it.
@Peter @amWhy @Saad: I have a curious idea. Would you all be interested to know who are undelete-voting this nonsense and this PSQ? I am very interested, so if any of you are too we can undelete first just to see who it was before redeleting. What do you think? =)
@MartinR That's why I asked people here first, and was willing to use my own undelete-vote to perform the experiment. I don't know if it should be counted as a misuse, but surely it's less a misuse than the reopen/delete-voters of their rights (given the EOQS)?
If we didn't perform this experiment, it would just sit in the undelete queue for ever and ever until it gets quietly undeleted and reopened simultaneously (by who knows who) and we would never even realize it.
@NikhilKumarSingh Thanks, and I have flagged the answer for misuse of gold-badge.
@user21820 Saad was one undeleter on the second post you refer to. Why??? Actually, on both posts, Saad voted to undelete, and on one, to redelete after undeleting.
@user21820 The author of a question can always vote to undelete it, compare meta.stackexchange.com/a/5222/196432: “If it was deleted by [...] multiple high-reputation users or the Community user: you can vote to undelete, but it will require more votes from high-reputation users or a moderator to undelete.”
@user21820 Now you and Saad have essentially undeleted and set in motion the reopening, and now some of us cannot vote to close the reopened question. Please don't suggest such experiments again.
@Saad The information is there, whether deleted or undeleted. And you turned into one of the mystery deleters, helping to open a question that should have remain deleted.
Who deleted what was already available without experimenting. There was no need, @user21820, and you could have found out everything you sought by examining review history: yes, you can review history even when the post is deleted.
@Peter @amWhy @Saad: I have a curious idea. Would you all be interested to know who are undelete-voting this nonsense and this PSQ? I am very interested, so if any of you are too we can undelete first just to see who it was before redeleting. What do you think? =)
For what it is worth, I am deeply uncomfortable with these experiments to unmask voters. The system is intentionally designed---for better or worse---to keep voters anonymous until a final decision has been made by the community.
I don't like the idea of voting against one's conscience in order to determine the identity of another user.
@XanderHenderson In the original state of that question, it was in the deleted state with 2 undelete-votes. We cannot close/delete, and flagging will have no effect, because moderators won't undelete either, right?
If we didn't perform this experiment, it would just sit in the undelete queue for ever and ever until it gets quietly undeleted and reopened simultaneously (by who knows who) and we would never even realize it.
@user21820 There will be many questions with two undelete-votes which could be undeleted and reopened at any time. I do not get the point of undeleting such a question to delete it then again.
@Peter The point (which has been pointed out to me is still a bad idea) was that one was marked as spam and yet undelete-voted by two users, and the other was just a plain PSQ of no particular interest. Anyway, I am sorry to cause any trouble, even besides not knowing about the "follow" feature.
To everyone, I'm sorry for my mistake in indulging this curiosity and I take full responsibility for Saad's undelete-votes as well as the trouble caused. Please accept my apologies.
@user21820 No problem. I just wanted that question deleted. I understand what you were after: while deleted, your saw two votes for undeletion, and wanted to know to whom they belonged. Got it. Thanks to Xander, Whew, we're all good!!
@user21820 Hope it was not the macabre question concerning determining algorithmitcally (!) when person X will die. This was the post here shocking me most , on several levels.
@Peter Oh not that one, it was just these two. Now I know that "follow" works, I'm just going to follow all questions that I vote on for quality reasons. Why didn't anyone tell us sooner? Then we won't have to look at the undeletion queue either...
@Peter Super good, I'm going to try it out and see what happens. If it notifies us on closure too, that would be excellent.
@amWhy This link (which I made a bookmark) goes to the "delete queues for last 30 days, which includes the undeletion queue, but I'm hoping that the "follow" works for me, then even this link wouldn't be needed anymore.
Some users acquire the rep to delete and undelete, but they don't immediately know they can click on "moderate" link, and the review menu, to review those two functions.
As a mod on RPG.SE, I'd like to be able to find questions with extant delete votes, either in the site search or in the Review section if the Review section didn't remove questions with delete votes whenever one person reviewed them. (I wish it worked like that with close votes too actually, if a...
It doesn't filter out those you have already voted on, but if there are a lot in the list and you click randomly, it's likely that you will hit one that you haven't voted on.
There is also the other 'queue' I made for deletion (which includes those that don't even have any delete-votes yet):
That is terribly annoying. I know I see a darker blue link for questions I haven't reviewed that day, and on that same day, it turns lighter blue afterwards.
First they want a thing, a foo (noun) that they can multiply by zero to get foo. Then they say "it only matters that an operation times 0, ..... The question should have been closed.
Is this a question from an ongoing exam? I know that this is some sort of entrance exam in India, but the date—willingly divulged by the asker—is today!
Surely, there’s a policy against asking or answering questions from an ongoing exam.
What is our policy concerning contest questions on the Mathematics Stack Exchange?
Why do we have a policy?
What is a contest question?
How we deal with on-going contest questions?
I see a question that I know is from a contest, what do I do?
@TheSimpliFire Yea sure, but they may not know it exists. Just like apparently the question asker didn't know (otherwise why would they ask on Math SE and provide their half attempt?).
So is it likely that the question will be locked until tomorrow? I don’t think that the solutions being posted on YouTube necessarily implies that the exam is over for all those who could possibly take it.
I am thinking of the Putnam competition where the exam will start at different times and different time zones in North America. Although, I think India only has one time zone, but there could be other reasons for different start times.
I could wait 2 hours and 40 minutes until midnight India time to answer it 😬. The question itself is not too hard, and I’d already thought up a solution, but then I realized that I should probably google the source. How strange that the OP revealed it themselves.
@Peter If events are treated as sets, as in Kolmogorov's probability axioms, then it's syntactically valid, referring to the symmetric difference of events. But I don't think I've used it before either.
@Peter Ah. Sorry my logic background is making me interpret "either .. or .." funny; I agree that in natural language your phrase tends to be interpreted as symmetric difference.
@Buraian If possible, please indicate that this is a request for duplicate votes. It is not always clear, especially when your comment there is hidden.
The last displayed math in this question appears as the text of the LaTeX code on mobile devices. I tested it on my tablet and phone. But on my computer, the MathJax renders fine. I think it has something to do with the asker putting spaces after the opening $$ and before the closing $$.
What is our policy concerning contest questions on the Mathematics Stack Exchange?
Why do we have a policy?
What is a contest question?
How we deal with on-going contest questions?
I see a question that I know is from a contest, what do I do?
