The Nineteenth Byte

undergroundmonorail

17:01

i'm in class and the teacher is literally making us watch prison break

oh shit i just realized "gravatar" means "globally recognized avatar". maybe now i'll stop misremembering it as "garvatar"

RikerW

17:16

Prison break?

@undergroundmonorail

undergroundmonorail

yeah

imdb.com/title/tt0455275

RikerW

WTF?

quartata

@undergroundmonorail ...

What class?

RikerW

Like studieng criminal justice?

undergroundmonorail

Yeah

RikerW

17:18

Okay, that makes a bit more sense.

Not much though.

undergroundmonorail

We're really early in the course so we're going over things people used to think about causes of criminal behaviour

Nathan Merrill

do all of you guys write your questions in SE's editor?

undergroundmonorail

And one of them was that people who are physically built a certain way are more likely to commit crimes

And the example we were shown was an episode of prison break haha

(only a short clip)

RikerW

lol

Are you in college to be a cop or something? :P

@NathanMerrill Yes.

But I have written 4/5 total, so...

Alex A.

@NathanMerrill I do. What do you use? Atom? StackEdit.io?

Nathan Merrill

17:21

I do too

just curious how many people there are that don't

Alex A.

Oh okay

RikerW

@AlexA. how many questions have you written?

Alex A.

I think @Doorknob keeps local markdown files on his computer full of challenges.

RikerW

Yeah, he admitted it to me.

undergroundmonorail

@RikerW no I just needed a credit. The course is more psychology than anything as far as I can tell, it's not so much about the legal system as it is why crime happens, I guess? It's hard to explain but it's kinda neat

Alex A.

17:22

@RikerW On this site, 4, but 23 on Stack Overflow.

zyabin101

@AlexA. Stack Exchange.

Nathan Merrill

@AlexA. that's what I use the sandbox for :P

Alex A.

Hahaha

That's what it's there for

@zyabin101 Are you saying that you use the editor on the site? I'm confused by your response.

zyabin101

@AlexA. Yes, you're right.

RikerW

@AlexA. Okay, and like 8 on PPCG Meta.

Alex A.

17:24

@RikerW Yes

@zyabin101 Oh, okay. Have you made a challenge yet?

RikerW

@AlexA. why don't you like nethack?

undergroundmonorail

I write questions and answers directly into the box on the stack exchange site unless they're going to be long on complicated in which case I use stackedit

Alex A.

@RikerW I don't really have anything against it, it just doesn't do much for me; the barrier to entry is pretty high.

undergroundmonorail

I think the regular input box on the page is fine except I wish the preview was to the side instead of below

Like stackedit does

Alex A.

And Atom's md preview

Well, you could feature-request on Meta.SE.

RikerW

17:26

@AlexA. not for me.

Alex A.

Okay. Just seems more complex to me than I care to try to figure out.

zyabin101

@AlexA. 2 challenges, 1 failed (closed), 1 unanswered and poor reception. That means, FULL FAILURE.

RikerW

Just do what I do: Be stupid on purpose.

Alex A.

That's what I do IRL.

@zyabin101 Nah, that's not full failure. Don't give up! If you have an idea for a challenge, put it in the sandbox and the community will help if you need it. :)

Luis Mendo

@AlexA. That picture is just great!!

Alex A.

17:35

Isn't it? :D

Luis Mendo

What's its origin, if I may ask?

Alex A.

I found it in this post on TeX - LaTeX. :)

I'm kind of bummed that the [SiteName.SE] syntax doesn't work in posts; only in mini-markdown AFAIK.

(That's how I did [TeX.SE] -> TeX - LaTeX)

Luis Mendo

@AlexA. ...which just got another upvote!

Alex A.

:D

zyabin101

17:53

@AlexA. Programming Puzzles & Code Golf

Wow, look, it works! PogChamp

Alex A.

Wth is "PogChamp"?

Luis Mendo

What works?

zyabin101

@LuisMendo see a few messages above

Alex A.

@LuisMendo The syntax [SiteName.SE] to link to a Stack Exchange site with its full name.

Luis Mendo

Oh, I see. Thanks!

Alex A.

17:56

No problem. :)

quartata

@AlexA. twitch emote

Alex A.

Oh. ಠ_ಠ

Nathan Merrill

I hate the twitch memes

5

all of them

Alex A.

^

Martin Büttner

@NathanMerrill Depends. Mostly yes, but if there is some complicated or repetitive markdown, I might write part or all of it in Sublime.

Alex A.

18:10

FYI: The moderators have decided to implement a new policy wherein comments along the lines of "Why the downvote(s)?" will be deleted on sight as "not constructive." If a downvoter has not explained a downvote, it's unlikely they'll ever explain it. Further, such comments can elicit potentially undeserved "sympathy upvotes." So if you get a downvote with no explanation, recheck your work for blaring inaccuracies, and if you're all good then don't sweat it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

14

Nathan Merrill

@AlexA. but what if it isn't obvious to me, but other people are able to explain it to me?

Martin Büttner

then ask in here

Alex A.

^

Nathan Merrill

I don't think that's much of a fix

Martin Büttner

if someone who read the challenge wants to point out a flaw, they'll do it whether you ask for it or not.

Nathan Merrill

18:12

then I'm definitely looking for sympathy upvotes

Martin Büttner

that depends on how you pose the question

zyabin101

@AlexA. Too bad, that I can't downvote... ;_;

Nathan Merrill

then would a comment that says "I'm getting downvoted, are there problems with my post?" be fine?

Alex A.

A comment on the post or a comment here in chat?

Nathan Merrill

on the post

Martin Büttner

18:14

@NathanMerrill if you come here with "T_T I got a downvote! D:" then yes you are... but if you come here with "I got an unexplained downvote/could someone check and let me know if they think the challenge can be improved?" that seems fine. but posting that on the challenge makes less sense, because the people who read that comment have already read the challenge.

zyabin101

@AlexA. A comment on the post.

@NathanMerrill Ninja'd me!

TimmyD

@NathanMerrill That seems redundant. If there were no issues, presumably no one would downvote ...

Luis Mendo

@NathanMerrill I often start in... will I dare say it... Windows n̶͝o͏t̴͏̀è͘p̢a̢d͏

If it gets complicated I move to something else

Alex A.

@MartinBüttner "if you think the challenge/answer can be improved" (applies to answers too)

@LuisMendo Notepad?! D:

Martin Büttner

@AlexA. good point

Luis Mendo

18:16

@AlexA. It always happens to be around!

Nathan Merrill

I guess it seems odd to me that if it a post is getting downvoted, and I want to improve it, that the post itself isn't the place to get constructive criticism

Martin Büttner

@LuisMendo like slate?

Luis Mendo

@MartinBüttner like Matlab editor :-) I do almost everything in Matlab

Alex A.

@NathanMerrill The point is more that if you haven't already gotten it, you're unlikely to get it after adding a comment.

zyabin101

@LuisMendo Zalgo DatSheffy (DatSheffy is another Twitch emote, sorry for that :P)

New Sandboxed Posts

18:18

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

Queuing queues I recently found a great site, Dubtrack, for all my music needs. However, it features a very interesting method of ordering its songs: When there is a single user, it simply plays the songs in the order that user added them. When there are multiple users, it interleaves the song...

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

Score Flippy Bit code-golf string There's a simple game called "Flippy Bit and the Attack of the Hexadecimals from Base 16", originally made as an April Fool's prank in 2014. The premise is simple: Enemies enter the field from the top. Each one has a hexadecimal number, and explodes when the p...

Alex A.

@LuisMendo Toilets always happen to be around, but that doesn't mean you should use them to wash your hands.

(that analogy sounded better in my head...)

Nathan Merrill

@AlexA. from the original downvoter? sure. from the rest of the community? I've seen lots of times where people said "It wasn't me, but [insert criticism here]"

Luis Mendo

@AlexA. I knew y'all would like it :-P

Martin Büttner

@NathanMerrill I don't think I've ever seen a "why the downvote? :(" comment receiving constructive feedback. The reason that chat seems more appropriate than a comment is that in chat you may reach people who haven't seen the challenge yet.

Sherlock9

That dang semi magic square problem is really starting to get to me. I think @quintopia was right about circulant matrices but I've been messing with those things for about an hour now and I'm still as confused as when I started

Martin Büttner

18:19

@NathanMerrill I've seen those without "why the downvote?" comments, too.

zyabin101

PRChase Very rare line! PRChase This time @NewSandboxedPosts send two new posts. I thought @NewMainPosts would be at it.

New Main Posts

1

Q: Cheating a multiple choice test

Introduction While studying, I tried to come up with several ways to cheat a multiple choice test. It basically is a compressed version of the multiple choice answers. The method goes as following: The answers to the test: BCAABABA These can be converted to 3 different arrays, which indicate...

0

Q: find 3 ways to make the above code print x 20 times (by changing only one character)

by changing only ONE character in the above code, meaning you cannot change 20 to 31, because you will have changed two characters, you can change 20 to 21, because you only changed the 0, do the following: find 3 ways to make the above code print x 20 times (by changing only one charact...

c++

TimmyD

@AlexA. Hey @Rainbolt, I found your culprit ...

Nathan Merrill

one in recent memory: meta.codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/8123/20198 @MartinBüttner

he got downvoted, and got an explicit comment explaining why after asking

Alex A.

Note that he also asked in chat

Martin Büttner

18:21

@zyabin101 You've been told several times that a) replying to bots and b) using Twitch memes outside of Twitch is incredibly annoying. While none of your posts are actually offensive, being continuous, deliberately obnoxious is sufficient reason to get a chat suspension.

Nathan Merrill

true, so its hard to know exactly why people responded

Alex A.

Yeah

Nathan Merrill

but I personally feel that talking about downvotes in chat is much more likely to receive sympathy upvotes than the comment itself

but, at the same time, you're more likely to get feedback in chat as well

Martin Büttner

@NathanMerrill is that really helpful feedback though? because I'm pretty sure he isn't gonna use it to "improve" his post, which isn't even possible since that post is his opinion which is simply not popular.

Nathan Merrill

@MartinBüttner in this specific case, no. But that's more due to the nature of the post than anything else

(and the personality of the poster)

Alex A.

18:23

Meta isn't a great example since downvotes mean disagreement rather than inaccuracies.

Sherlock9

By the way, is it just me or is that PNZ challenge that was posted earlier a version of Mastermind?

Martin Büttner

@Sherlock9 read the comments :P

Sherlock9

Man, I need to refresh my tabs more often

Alex A.

You need to close out of all of your tabs and only open 5 at a time maximum.

Nathan Merrill

here's another example: codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/50270/…

quartata

18:26

@NewMainPosts I feel like I've seen this before

Nathan Merrill

(given there was also a meta post about it, but its hard to find examples when you are searching for comments)

the feedback wasn't constructive criticism, but helped the user understand why people were downvoting

whether the resurgence in its score was due to sympathy is definitely possible

Sherlock9

@AlexA. Thank you for your input, but, respectfully, no thanks

Alex A.

:P

(It wasn't really a serious suggestion. I know how much you love your billions of open tabs. :P)

Sherlock9

Ah okay

I'm surprised by just how much that comment managed to tick me off. It's... I'm not sure why my temper flared so much. Thanks for accidentally giving me insight into my own psychology. Gave me something to think about.

At any rate, I'm going to stop working on this magic square thing for a while and try working on moon phases. I've got an interesting idea about Julian day numbers. See you guys later

Alex A.

@Sherlock9 I'm sorry, I certainly didn't mean to upset you; that was not my intention at all. It was merely a bad joke that was not properly conveyed as a joke.

Nathan Merrill

18:37

@AlexA. @MartinBüttner The problem I see is that saying "why the downvote" in chat or in a comment is going to have the same effect (sympathy upvotes, community explanation, and maybe the user will fix it).

different phrasings of the same statement can result in different proportions of community feedback/upvotes

but I don't see the difference between posting it in chat vs in a comment

zyabin101

@quartata Related: <http://www.gowrikumar.com/c/index.php>

Sherlock9

@AlexA. That's alright. Obvious or not, I shouldn't have reacted so badly, so it's given me something to think about. No harm done, dude. Thanks for your concern

Martin Büttner

@NathanMerrill I think feedback in chat can be more constructive. And, as I've said, you might reach people who haven't seen the challenge yet. Because, again, those who have might have already commented if there's a serious flaw.

Nathan Merrill

I agree with "reaching more people". Chat is going to have a larger (but proportional) effect

you're going to get more upvotes, more explanation

as far as it being more constructive, that may be

not really sure either way

but if the mods think that it would be, then sounds fine to me :)

Alex A.

The mods do think this is the best course of action but we (or at least I) appreciate the discussion!

quintopia

18:51

@Sherlock9 My plan was to use the pairwise adjacent order relations from the circulant matrix to create constraints for an integer program with the actual sums.

mınxomaτ

@quintopia I don't get the plan, but I'd like to see you try :). As I said, I've never seen a different solution...

quintopia

19:07

@mınxomaτ maybe tonight

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

hi

mınxomaτ

( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

o___o

dat face

mınxomaτ

@CᴏɴᴏʀO'Bʀɪᴇɴ ⊜_⊜

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

well played

Alex A.

19:11

( ͡◉ ͜ʖ◉)

mınxomaτ

Ohhh, the "british look of disapproval": ಠ_ರೃ

3

Alex A.

Very fancy

( ͡⊙ ͜ʖ ͡⊙)

zyabin101

Are you doing dongers in here? I'm in.

º_º

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

I'm going ASCII.

(~_~)

Adnan

(☯ ͜ʖ☯)

Alex A.

19:13

⋋( ◉ ͟ʖ ◉ )⋌

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

o(>V<)o

Adnan

┴┬┴┤( ͡° ͜ʖ├┬┴┬

mınxomaτ

I'll just make this easier: disapprovallook.com

Alex A.

Even better: dongerlist.com

( ʘ̆ ‸ ʘ̆ )ᕤ

zyabin101

One more step
Please complete the security check to access www.disapprovallook.com

@mınxomaτ That's a very big donger.

quintopia

19:15

(>o_o)>

@Adnan this one needs to be animated

Adnan

◕ᴥ◕

@quintopia heh wat?

mınxomaτ

@Adnan ಠᴥಠ

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

[e w e]

Alex A.

Related: strawpoll.me/6594435

Adnan

(⊚ ͜ʖ ⊚)

zyabin101

19:17

@quintopia ┴┬┴┤ ├┬┴┬

mınxomaτ

@AlexA. Everyone who chooses the second option is wrong. Just ... wrong.

Alex A.

@Adnan 10/10 creepy and soulless

@mınxomaτ Agreed

mınxomaτ

@Adnan ❂‿❂

Oh plsno

Adnan

k srry pls i delet be4 mods delet

quintopia

┴┬┴┤     ├┬┴┬
┴┬┴┤   ( ͡°├┬┴┬
┴┬┴┤( ͡° ͜ʖ├┬┴┬
┴┬┴| ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°├┬┴┬
┴┬┴┤ ͜ʖ ͡°)├┬┴┬
┴┬┴| ͡°)  ├┬┴┬
┴┬┴┤     ├┬┴┬

Rainbolt

19:20

Not creepy at all

mınxomaτ

@quintopia Looks like a bunch of dongers getting crushed by moving walls.

zyabin101

@quintopia Congrats for providing all the frames!

Adnan

Hahahah

quintopia

it's impossible to perfectly align

mınxomaτ

Which reminds me of this pretentious movie: imdb.com/title/tt1016301

quintopia

19:21

i don't have a unicode fixed width editor

mınxomaτ

@quintopia It just got more horrible...

quintopia

@AlexA. it's unanimous. what's the etymology?

Alex A.

idk

Adnan

what is love?

mınxomaτ

Dongers, (noun?); Etymology: Bunch of internet trolls.

Alex A.

19:25

Nov 5 '15 at 2:27, by Alex A.

╚═( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)═╝
╚═(███)═╝
╚═(███)═╝
.╚═(███)═╝
..╚═(███)═╝
…╚═(███)═╝
…╚═(███)═╝
..╚═(███)═╝
.╚═(███)═╝
╚═(███)═╝
.╚═(███)═╝
..╚═(███)═╝
…╚═(███)═╝
…╚═(███)═╝
…..╚(███)╝
……╚(██)╝
………(█)
……….*

3

mınxomaτ

...

Nov 5 '15 at 2:30, by Alex A.

Odd to see "Alex A. best mod ever" and that horrific Lennipede on the starboard at the same time...

Alex A.

:P

ಠ_ಠ

Right time, right place.

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

o____o

I post my answer, and less than a second later, it gets an upvote

zyabin101

ಠ_ಠ

The right donger for this.

Alex A.

19:32

2

This is me IRL BTW

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

I thought you were a bird...?

zyabin101

@AlexA. A dog?!

Alex A.

I'm on the left

zyabin101

@AlexA. A cut and partially shown man?!

Alex A.

Yes

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

19:34

I hope you heal.

Alex A.

hahahaha

Adnan

I always thought you were a magpie

Alex A.

I am

This is a collage I made once

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

holy crud wtaf

J Atkin

The only thing holding this up is the scoring method and tags. Opinions?

RikerW

19:47

What should I dip in cookie butter?

Alex A.

2

RikerW

lol

Alex A.

Defaced marquee on a theater near where I used to live

Cᴏɴᴏʀ O'Bʀɪᴇɴ

was it supposed to say anything similar, or was it just plain vandalism?

:-DD And congrats on 10k! — Luis Mendo 3 mins ago

CONGRATULATIONS TO @THOMASKWA FOR BREAKING 10K!!!

2

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