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4:00 PM
@Sp3000 Sorry, I'm new to the site, and I'm just trying to figure out everything :D
 
@Runer112 sure I'm not saying it's not a bad question. ;)
so much negation...
 
so.. do I just accept that I've been beaten by FGITW?
 
@rcrmn nice summary.
 
@Runer112 yes, I'm afraid. it happens.
 
@ASCIIThenANSI No worries, we can tell you're excited :) do try to refrain from touching the older meta posts if the issue's already been resolved though
(And always feel free to come by and ask in chat)
 
4:04 PM
let's see if I can decode this mess FUZxxl posted
 
@Sp3000 @ASCIIThenANSI I think there's nothing wrong with answering old meta posts either, if you want provide a new/updated perspective. But if it's tagged with it's likely a futile effort.
 
yep
 
One thing - I have a question I need the answer to on another Stack Exchange site. It's one of the less used ones, so I can't get enough attention. I don't have any reputation, but is there a way I can get some help?
 
same size as my solution, same basic approach, too
basically just makes the same optimizations to the first answer that I did
le sigh
 
@ASCIIThenANSI I would assume that on a less active site, your question should get more attention, since it doesn't drop off the front page as quickly.
 
4:09 PM
@ASCIIThenANSI Which site is this?
 
@Sp3000 The CS50 Stack Exchange. I can't complete the course otherwise.
 
@ASCIIThenANSI We can't really tell you here. You could ask in their own chat or meta.
 
@MartinBüttner OK. Does the 100 reputation site link bonus count to chat?
If I get 200 rep on PPGC, this might work.
 
Hmm ... I'm not sure how the university-specific Stacks work, sorry. If it's on-topic for another site you could post there, I guess
Oh, right chat needs rep...
 
@ASCIIThenANSI The CS50 chat is on the same domain as this chat, so you already have enough rep to chat there.
But their chat is... very inactive.
 
4:16 PM
I'm a genius
 
@ProgramFOX It shouldn't matter how active it is, I can wait. Thanks for your help.
 
now, how to post this without feeling like an ass
 
Hello
I am looking for @Optimizer
 
@Optimizer Thanks :D
 
Heck, I am sure you all know the answer.
 
4:19 PM
@Qwerty if you scroll back, @rcrmn had posted a very nice summary
 
@ASCIIThenANSI yes
 
So, Is there a chat room to share general problems?
 
in what sense "general"?
 
General what problems? Programming? StackExchange?
 
Element interpreter v1-1 has been released! (I added a feature to execute the same program multiple times, but it's still entirely command-line based)
 
4:26 PM
@Sp3000 ;)
 
(every time Martin, every time :P)
 
@Sp3000 Any problem on Stack Exchange you need to share (like my personal problem).
@Sp3000 In theory, you would try your site's chat room, and this would be a last-resort (although it's clearly needed in some cases)
 
I find the comparison kinda funny: old and new
 
If it's StackExchange-related problems, then maybe meta chat? Not sure (I don't participate in other sites as much, unfortunately)
Otherwise, I don't think there's a "any problem" room
 
@Sp3000 Would it be possible to make a last-resort problem room? I think this could help a lot of people, if done properly.
 
4:30 PM
If a problem can help a lot of people, why not asking on a site instead of in chat?
 
@ProgramFOX No, I mean a last-resort problem room, for small sites. You ask a question, then if no one answers, you ask in your site's chat room. If no one answers still, you go to the 'last-resort' chat room I'm proposing.
 
You can always post a link in the site's chat room if nobody answers, but what would be the point of creating a last-resort chatroom? How would people ever see that one?
 
If nobody is in the site's chatroom, it's probably less likely that the last-resort chat will have people who can actually answer your question, so I'm not sure that's a good idea...
 
@Sp3000 But it would be for all sites. And I suppose it would get some posters and activity, and thus, attention. Then people who want to answer unanswered questions (for reputation or just to help) go there to see what they can answer, and eventually, someone gets helped.
 
Question: "I have general problems. Where do I go?"
Answer: "Somewhere."
 
4:36 PM
@Rainbolt "Hacks.se"
 
Just to clarify, this chatroom (which I am dubbing End of the Road) if no one has answered your problem, despite posting it in chat rooms, and you need an answer.
 
^ You missing a verb.
 
* is meant to be used if
 
Yea, I agree. You can talk about pretty much anything here.
 
@Rainbolt By 'this chatroom' I mean the one I'm proposing. But I agree.
 
4:43 PM
Whoops, sorry. I'm not good at reading more than a page of chat just to understand the current context.
 
@Rainbolt No problems, I don't expect you to. ;)
 
MARTIN IMPOSTER!
 
@Rainbolt LOL
 
Sorry, I had a small panic attack there. I can only handle so many different guys winking at me in a single day. ;)
 
So, you think this new chatroom, End of the Road, is a good idea?
 
4:47 PM
I don't think it fills a niche. People who frequent PPCG ask their "hey I just thought of this" questions here. People who frequent Anime do the same in the Maid Cafe. Arqade uses The Bridge. What is your target audience?
What prompted this? I noticed you asked an off topic question on PPCG Meta. Did that somehow discourage you from asking it here in chat?
 
@Optimizer Allright, done reading. Turns out it was just a weird series of circumstances.

Everything except downvote and close would be better than doing nothing, provided the stats were not noticeably above 4 already. Anyway, your comment made me look like my choice was entirely wrong. I wonder who downvoted my proposal not giving me an explanation. I don't think the other suggestions were THAT bad. (Did I receive +1-1 on that?)
 
@Qwerty Link?
 
Even I don't have enough rep to see the vote breakdown on meta
 
0
A: When something that was supposed to be fun became not fun

QwertyOkay, I give up. The trolls either always select to restart or if you are at 100% they vote to ask or something stupid, reducing all your other stats. Every time we managed to get full hearts, they ruined it. The simulation could have ended at 190! What I suggest is to deny votes of people who...

 
@Rainbolt Everyone uses this proposed chatroom if they are at the end of the road, desperately seeking answers for questions they need answers to. My question about CS50 prevents me from going further in the course, and CS50 Stack Exchange appears to be dead.
 
4:56 PM
@ASCIIThenANSI How does anyone else make it through the course?
 
@Rainbolt They use the CS50 Appliance, a VM that has special software for CS50. But I am having trouble with this, and can't complete it otherwise.
 
@Qwerty I downvoted that one a week ago.
 
@Rainbolt Ok, mind explaining that a bit to me?
 
Most probably the fact that you were not going with the unanimous answer decided as per the strategy and chosing nothing always
 
The question has nothing to do with strategy
 
4:59 PM
it would have been much better if you were in here
@Rainbolt the question or the answer ?
 
So, what exactly is StackEgg? I've never heard of it.
 
@Rainbolt Well, were you downvoting the fact I was doing nothing or my answer in whole?
 
111
Q: What's StackEgg?

M DThis recently showed up on Stack Overflow. What does it mean? Why is this image showing here! What is StackEgg?

 
@ProgramFOX All right, sounds neat. Is it still active?
 
@ASCIIThenANSI No, it was active on April 1st only.
 
5:02 PM
@ProgramFOX Oh, I know what you're talking about! Funny story - I joined on April Fools' Day, and I though it was real. :/
 
@Qwerty Your meta answer is +4/-4, fyi.
 
@Geobits Oh :|
thanks
 
We got MathJax and we're still talking about StackEgg?
 
Yep.
 
@Geobits It just moved after an edit made seconds ago
 
5:10 PM
I wonder why though
 
The leaderboard is still up! Shock :o
 
@Rainbolt Fine. +4/-3 then :P
 
@Geobits o/ yaay
 
I downvoted because of the stance the answer took on raiding, which I disagree with. You just removed that part of the answer without me even saying anything prior, so no big deal.
 
@Rainbolt Ok then. So, why it couldn't end at 190? (oh, is it that at 200 the phase changes to fully graduated?)
 
5:14 PM
@Qwerty You should be able to determine this from the reputation tab on your own profile.
 
I take solace in the fact that even though my answer was the most heavily downvoted there, it was also the (tied-for) second most upvoted. I've never gotten a +27/-37 before.
 
Joe's having a field day with MathJax XD
 
link ?
 
@Qwerty It's just not possible to hatch your egg in that short of a time
 
@Sp3000 I was afraid that would happen :/
@JoeZ. Would you mind not adding MathJax to all of your challenges at once? :)
(I hope the ping gets in before he's made his way through the entire list)
 
5:17 PM
@Unihedro Wait, how can the leaderboard still be up? From what I heard, that ended almost a week ago.
 
@ASCIIThenANSI ... I know, that's why I'm shocked
 
Because people will still want to see it...
 
The hats leaderboard for winter bash is still up IIRC, so it doesn't surprise me much.
 
winter bash leaderboard is also still up
 
:O
 
5:18 PM
ninja'd
 
Imagine a game where the instant the game finished, the leaderboard disappeared.
Doesn't sound useful to me
 
enter and ' too close ?
 
@Rainbolt I am not sure now as it is a week old, but I really think that when I made the screenshot at 203 it was already a second iteration with full hearts.
So, what you are saying is that the game doesn't end at four hearts but four and something, which is not visible, so you must carefully grow the invisible value?
 
@Optimizer that :(
 
@Rainbolt OK, I understand, but is it even possible to play?
 
5:20 PM
No, it was only playable during April 1st (in any time zone).
 
@Qwerty The game doesn't end at full hearts. It ends when the progress bar is full.
 
It's just a relic now.
 
@Geobits So it's just kept for historic purposes, like code-trolling?
 
@MartinBüttner Now what about the SoundCloud thing?
 
5:21 PM
@ASCIIThenANSI Something like that. The source is posted on meta if you really want to play with it, but you'll have to get it set up.
 
@Calvin'sHobbies: @Chris is the dev around here :P
 
@Rainbolt Really?? :O What's the point of competing with how many days it took to hatch it then? I haven't read the source code that thoroughly, but does it mean that the progress bar wasn't increased daily by a fixed amount but by the quality of your site?
Never mind.. gotta go

@ASCIIThenANSI I think I have read that someone is putting the code online, allowing to play a private StackEgg. Try looking here (a quick search, haven't read) http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/252451/we-liked-stackegg-let-the-fun-continue?lq=1
 
@MartinBüttner Uh.... :-P
 
@Qwerty The progress bar goes faster if you have more hearts. What the exact formula is, I do not know.
 
you know you guys can look this stuff up now, right?
 
5:31 PM
@Runer112 Where?
 
retreats to cookie clicker
 
10 mins ago, by Geobits
@ASCIIThenANSI Something like that. The source is posted on meta if you really want to play with it, but you'll have to get it set up.
instead of playing with it, you'd just look at the source
 
So, I'd like to start a KOTH, anyone have any suggestions?
 
My best advice? Go look at some existing ones to see how they're set up and run. It's a bit of work, especially the first time. A single mistake/oversight can ruin it.
Look for loopholes, post to sandbox, look for more loopholes.
 
Hmm... OK. So when exactly does a sandbox post qualify as 'ready'?
 
5:35 PM
when people can't find any more improvements/fixes to make to it
 
There's no hard and fast rule. For something complex, give it more time.
 
OK. I thought there was some general upvote/downvote rule-of-thumb.
 
The sandbox isn't required, it's just a Really Good Idea©.
Especially for newcomers.
 
should be required
 
I disagree.
 
5:37 PM
No
 
@Runer112 I think the Sandbox is really for newcomers and people who are trying something risky.
 
Not even just risky. It's good to have another set of eyes on things in general. Some can go without it, but it's helpful to many.
I've posted challenges with and without it, it just depends.
If I have any doubts at all about the challenge, it gets sandboxed.
 
Speaking of which, would someone mind adding my challenge to the list?
0
A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

ASCIIThenANSIA New Kind of KOTH - Work with other bots This is just an idea, let me know if it won't pan out well. The year is 2015 (plus or minus a few thousand years). All the PPGC challenges have collapsed, with the wave of code-troll ambushes. All that remains are the bots, executing their small challeng...

 
(And any koth, just because there's always something to change there it seems)
@BrainSteel Did you really invent Quagmire? I don't feel like golfing it, but I thought it might be a fun project to do as an Android app; my son would probably like it.
 
nooo it got upvoted
he was only 2 days away from a tumbleweed!
 
5:45 PM
Wasn't me... I was rooting for him :)
Probably shouldn't have linked it though :(
 
I guess now we know the formula to potentially get a tumbleweed, though
just make a dauntingly complex question about a topic nobody's familiar with :p
 
@Sp3000 just pushed the -s switch for Retina to read the entire program from a single file
 
heh wow
three of them
 
Hey, here's something I came up with: Codemon was a small challenge, and I was thinking - what if someone made a similar challenge, where everyone moves on a map, and you make one monster to fight? Something like an arena.
 
5:54 PM
That looks like it would be a fun challenge.
 
Codemon was a pain in my ass, to be honest. You call it small, but I think it was the hardest to balance of the three I've done.
 
I've seen arenas like this, and I think it would be cool if we combined the two.
 
@Geobits Thanks for running it, the controller sure didn't look easy to write :)
 
It would have simpler rules, you would just choose attacks for one player, and not have to worry about all that swapping/type stuff.
 
There have been a lot of large-scale KOTH ideas floating around recently.
i think there is a trend towards games with a larger number of players in each match.
 
5:56 PM
@Sp3000 Wasn't hard exactly, just had edge cases I didn't think about at first. Much code was wedged into existing areas :)
I should probably go and update it soon...
 
@Geobits I think this 'new' challenge would not have so many problems. I wanted to do Codemon, but all the swapping/type/id everything was a little too much for my first try.
 
Flesh it out some, write up a spec, and let's see :)
The people here are pretty good at narrowing/refining ideas into something fun.
 
OK. I'll go post an idea on the Sandbox. It'll take a while to write the 2D grid, but with a little help, maybe we've got something.
 
@Optimizer if you still remember after two weeks, what was I wrong about?
 
@ASCIIThenANSI "Your code must use all 100 bytes." conflicts with "The code starts at 100 bytes and decreases by 5 each time."
 
6:05 PM
@ASCIIThenANSI What's the rules about posting more than one answer?
 
@trichoplax I think "@Optimizer the way to get starred is to go back to through the chat history and post something that Geobits said this time last year."
(he quoted a message from Geobits should above the message to you... although it wasn't from "this time last year")
maybe he mistook it for "last time this year" :P
 
Ah that makes sense now - I saw the quote from Geobits but I had forgotten my own advice on getting starred so I didn't make the connection.
@MartinBüttner I see you've gone blue. Congratulations :)
 
Wait, what is happening right now? I feel... perturbed...
 
@trichoplax just yesterday, actually. thanks ;)
 
@Geobits someone was trying to redirect your star bar power for their own use, but it seems they failed so you shouldn't have lost much
...although you do seem to be absent from the star bar today
 
6:10 PM
Maybe that's why I feel so unloved today.
 
@Sp3000 @PhiNotPi OK, I fixed it.
 
Then again, @Rainbolt isn't on the bar either, so I don't feel too bad ;)
Martin's basking in not only blue, but stars as well.
 
why is there no cancel button when adding a comment
 
The star bar seems unusually relevant and sensible today - maybe that's why we're not on it
 
@MartinBüttner haha, I didn't even realize there was a "this time last year" part :D
 
6:13 PM
@Runer112 <escape> works
 
so maybe you are not wrong @trichoplax
 
pas for moi
 
@ASCIIThenANSI The problem with fixed char length challenges is that there's always a way to circumvent "no comments". Like long variable names. And more.
Just wanted to point that out
 
escape was my instinct, but it does nothing
 
@Runer112 You mean a comment on the site or in chat? Escape works in chat for me.
 
6:14 PM
oh, I meant a comment on the site
 
Try F5 ;)
 
eww
 
That's ugly
 
that's some bad UX
 
yes. yes it is.
 
6:15 PM
I use ctrl-A followed by del
 
21
Q: Pressing Esc when editing a comment should cancel editing

BavariousWhen editing a post, pressing Esc does the same thing as clicking the "cancel" link: it cancels the edit. However, when editing a comment, pressing Esc does nothing. Could pressing Esc when editing a comment cancel that edit as well?

Close, but not exactly.
 
The comments on the first answer suggest there was a cancel button back in '13, which has since been removed
 
@Sp3000 here is a very fresh and bad example of answer-chaining :P
 
@ASCIIThenANSI My advice for any challenge writing: Reread your spec at least 4 times! Consider the language, grammar, formatting, and structure. Ask yourself if someone much dumber than you reading it would clearly understand all the rules and requirements. If not, revise and repeat.
3
 
Getting late again... someone wake me when it's 2010
 
6:20 PM
@Sp3000 sure ;)
 
It'll be 2010 when September ends.
 
OK guys, here's my KOTH idea. What do you think? It's a rough draft.
0
A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

ASCIIThenANSIMake a fighter, then have them battle Well, I was browsing around KOTH one day. I found two little interesting challenges: Save the last bullet for yourself and Codémon, I choose you!. But what if we combined the two? How your bot will work Each match, your bot is assigned an opponent. It is r...

 
guys, keep the p chain going for the print first character thing
we might be able to get all the way down to 5 that way :p
 
lol no
even 15 is not possible
 
What happens once it goes negative?
 
6:22 PM
think about it
 
'p19*
 
@Optimizer 'p17*
ninja'd
 
oh the "p" chain
let me break that
 
I knew serious relevant star bar couldn't last much longer
 
nonono
 
6:23 PM
0
A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

ASCIIThenANSIMake a fighter, then have them battle Well, I was browsing around KOTH one day. I found two little interesting challenges: Save the last bullet for yourself and Codémon, I choose you!. But what if we combined the two? How your bot will work Each match, your bot is assigned an opponent. It is r...

 
keep the p chain
 
I'll flag your answer as offensive :p
 
I'll decline your flag :p
 
bite me
 
@ASCIIThenANSI It's hard to get specific about the proposal, just because it's a really rough draft.
This answer was flagged because: "not enough p".
 
6:25 PM
not enough p then go to loo
 
@Geobits Yes, I'm still in the idea stage. But this is the basis behind the whole idea.
 
@Optimizer I normally do that when there's too much p ;)
 
@Geobits its not p when its inside
 
[citation needed]
 
That's just your liberal opinion. I believe that p is legally p from the moment of conception.
 
6:28 PM
the moment you drink it too ?
 
This wouldn't even be a discussion if p=np.
 
isn't that proved already ?
to p or not to p
 
2p|!2p
 
I have a valid Element program for the next answer (90 chars).
 
What is this 'p chain'? I walked away for 5 minutes and now this happened. : |
 
6:31 PM
post it
as long as it starts with p
 
jk then
 
@ASCIIThenANSI where all the answer begin p'ing together
or one by one at the beginning ?
 
Later answers just collect the old p and recycle it.
 
@Optimizer OK, I'm in favor. Is it acceptable to post an answer to my own question?
 
totally
 
6:32 PM
Yes
 
as long as your answer starts with p, of course
 
[HOH]9e9*
 
huh
 
p!=HOH
 
a big array of 17, empty string, 17 repeating?
 
6:34 PM
@Geobits but too much HOH makes u p
 
no, someone broke the p
 
True. I was worried you were confused about the difference. I wouldn't want to confuse the two normally...
ppu
 
what makes ppu? because that's what we need to do
 
It's the sound of an arcade shooter. ppu = p-pew!
 
programs can do many great things, like print the letters p`, another p`, and u` in a row.
 
6:37 PM
oh, you know what we missed
 
no, I need to cut some bytes off
 
we should have coordinated for the first 13 answers
 
programs can do great things, like print the letters p`, another p`, and u` in a row.
 
so answer #14 had to print "Hello, World!"
most complicated simple hello world answer of all time
 
Do you guys want to continue the p train?
 
6:39 PM
@PhiNotPi Why not?
 
the p train is already broken
 
ppup
 
we could go for a ppu train, although that's not nearly as impressive
 
Maybe it will turn into 'ppuppies' :D
 
you can still make a ppu chain
"ppu"4*
 
6:40 PM
38 secs ago, by Runer112
we could go for a ppu train, although that's not nearly as impressive
 
@Optimizer ppuppuppu! I like it.
 
I'll do p if some one does u after me
 
^ Out of context gold
 
You'll p if someone does u after u ?
someone do u after @PhiNotPi
 
@Optimizer I would, but that invalidates my own rule :$
 
6:46 PM
obviously someone else has to do u
 
Why is this room called 'The Nineteenth Byte'?
 
golf, length
 
because the languages used at that time were not too golfy
so we could only golf till 19th byte
 
Oh, OK.
 
you know that's totally false, right lol
I believe he was, as the cool kids say, "yanking your chain"
 
6:50 PM
It's based off of the idea that "The 19th Hole" is a common name for bars at actual golf courses.
 
@PhiNotPi OK. I see.
@Runer112 It ALWAYS gets me! It's like the line between fact and fiction is invisible to me.
 
@Runer112 how do you know about cool kids ;)
@ASCIIThenANSI that's what happens when you do ANSI after ASCII :P
 
also interesting, the string "The Nineteenth Byte" is 19 bytes long (in most encodings)
3
 
@Runer112 haha (re most encodings)
 
one idiotic encoding in which it wouldn't be is TI-BASIC
 
6:57 PM
Some guy is messing up the chain even more. An uppercase P.
 
@PhiNotPi I added a note about the train. Hopefully we can make this last a bit longer :D
 
@ASCIIThenANSI You mean find the year a language was made in? Have you tried researching?
 

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