The Nineteenth Byte

pxeger

17:00

data.stackexchange.com/codegolf/query/1450996/…

done

not sure why some data are missing for the first 2 years

Dude coinheringaahing

Migrated posts

pxeger

ah

Dude coinheringaahing

adding in a where Year(CreationDate) > 2010 should probably fix it

data.stackexchange.com/codegolf/query/1450998/…

pxeger

I also can't work out how to get only the rolling average to show up

removing the first item from the select clause breaks the graph

Dude coinheringaahing

data.stackexchange.com/codegolf/query/1450998/…

Remove the second one

pxeger

17:03

oh of course lol

Dude coinheringaahing

@pxeger Top and bottom 5

Anush

The upshot seems to be that ccgc is dying

Dude coinheringaahing

We definitely aren't as active as we were

I wouldn't say we're "dying" tho

Anush

Where have they all gone?

Is there a rival site?

Dude coinheringaahing

Lots of people just lose interest

Plus, there was a "mass exodus" in 2019/2020 due to the Monica incident

Anush

17:16

Sure but I would expect them to be replaced by new people

Dude coinheringaahing

They are, but slowly

Anush

The big loss seems to have been from 2017

Wheat Wizard

This data is very interesting because it doesn't line up at all with my impressions.

Anush

I don't see anything in the graphs that suggest numbers are slowly rising

Dude coinheringaahing

Yeah, I'm not quite sure why that happened

@Anush They're levelling off

Wheat Wizard

17:18

The last ~1 year does seem to be level.

Anush

@Dudecoinheringaahing right. That's not good

Dude coinheringaahing

It is when the 3 years before were in a death spiral

Wheat Wizard

Well you have to level off in order to have an inflexion point.

Anush

@Dudecoinheringaahing true!

@WheatWizard that's optimism :)

Dude coinheringaahing

Interestingly, I'm still not sure what prompted the massive increase in 2015 to 2017

Anush

17:19

Can you dig into whether particular tags have become much less popular?

Wheat Wizard

I think that can be done.

Dude coinheringaahing

I doubt it - that would require past data which SEDE doesn't have

Anush

@Dudecoinheringaahing there were some amazing people on the site then

@Dudecoinheringaahing hmmm

Wheat Wizard

I think you will find that popularity contest has dropped precipitously.

Anush

Anything else?

pxeger

17:20

@Dudecoinheringaahing depending on the definition of "popular", I think that probably is possible

if you go by number of posts, it should be possible

Anush

@WheatWizard cool!

Dude coinheringaahing

You might be able to look at the tags on a question at its last revision date, and use that as an indicator

Anush

That sounds good

Wheat Wizard

You can't do challenges by creation date?

Dude coinheringaahing

You could, but people often apply/remvoe tags to a question after its posted

LastEditDate combined with Tags in the Posts table is probably the best way to go - Tags has the current tags on the question

Wheat Wizard

17:22

I don't see why it matters when the tag was added.

I still think the creation date is a much better variable to track.

Anush

It will be very interesting if the profile of tags is very different in 2017 to now

Dude coinheringaahing

It's more that if e.g. popularity-contest got added to a bunch of questions from 2014 in 2016, then it was more popular in 2016 than 2014. CreationDate would only show 2014

Wheat Wizard

Yeah.

That is the sensible behavior.

Dude coinheringaahing

If by "popular" we mean "more usage". If "popular" instead means "challenges posted with that tag", then 2014 would be more popular, its just that pop-con wasn't a tag then

Anush

Maybe we should have tag of the month not just language of the month

Wheat Wizard

17:25

I am at least more interested in tags as a proxy for the attributes of the challenge rather than the actual practical usage of tags.

Dude coinheringaahing

For example, open-ended-function is a more recent tag, but it applies to some challenges posted years ago. If we "retroactively" apply the popularity of the tag to those, then CreationDate is better

@Anush We've had themed challenge events before ("let's try to post a lot of functional-programming challenges this July"), but they often die out

Wheat Wizard

Yeah, I think we would want to retroactively apply. Since a pop-con is still a pop-con even if it isn't tagged properly.

Dude coinheringaahing

I think Martin did one about random challenges a few years back

@pxeger Top and bottom 10, to have some non-SO mods in there :P

Wheat Wizard

Oh hey I've met Aaron hall before.

Dude coinheringaahing

17:41

The full list, sorted by reputation

Anush

17:58

@Dudecoinheringaahing that's interesting

A question about questions. I would like to pose a question about giving the size of a Levenshtein ball with radius 3 for strings of increasing length. Can I make this code-challenge and have the score as the longest string you can do?

Or is that not allowed because you can potentially get to a higher number with a faster computer?

Wheat Wizard

18:18

I'm not a big fan of code challenges where your score is just how good your output is. I feel like they are not really about code anymore. It's just a puzzle where code is helpful. I also think that the computer speed issue is a nasty problem with no good solution. However it is not disallowed.

Anush

I will go for fastest code in that case :(

The problem with fastest code is that people don't like to give answers in slower languages

For code golf we have plenty of python and JavaScript answers

But not many JavaScript answers for fastest code sadly

Wheat Wizard

That's good. We could do with less JS answers for code-golf too.

Browncat Programs

18:38

Does fastest code use the same scoring as code golf where it's per language?

That would make the most sense

Anush

@BrowncatPrograms yes it does but people don't seem to feel it

@WheatWizard don't say that!!

user

19:16

github.com/langjam/jam0001/tree/main/%E0%B6%9E

> team impostors is sus ඞ

Browncat Programs

20:04

Well uh...our latin teacher quit

Considering just emailing someone and trying to convince them to switch me to spanish or french

Unrelated String

20:34

f

reminds me my assigned academic advisor left her position as an advisor some time in the last few days and i haven't been assigned a new one yet
i found out after writing to her when she responded by saying that and refusing to offer further assistance while demonstrating that she can still see my stuff lmao

user

lol, my counselor left a few weeks ago too. Need a college rec now from the new counselor whom I've never even met :/

Unrelated String

:\

i am so glad to not be putting another round of applications in
that was actually hell

Dude coinheringaahing

21:23

@UnrelatedString Yeah, it;s really fun trying to convince the admissions officers that you're the most interesting person in the world, rather than just some kid who wants to learn more about computers :P

user

Most people are just boring, and they read tons of essays on top of that, so it's practically impossible to stand out with just your essays

rak1507

bloody uni applications why are they so hard

Dude coinheringaahing

I found the UK ones a lot easier than the US ones tbh

Personal statements are annoying, but at least you only have to write one essay

rak1507

I'm not applying for any US ones

yeah, also having to pick which ones to apply to though

and I probably have to contact unis to ask about extra stuff too for <reasons>

Unrelated String

yeah uk applications were so much easier

Dude coinheringaahing

21:34

Then again, I got extremely lucky with my UK applications. I applied a year after I got my grades, so my personal statement was "Look at my grades. Also, I like doing X, Y and Z in my free time. Let me in", and I applied after the Jan deadline, and I knew I wanted to do a maths course, and only like 8 unis still had places open for maths, so I didn't really have to make any hard decisions

Unrelated String

wow

rak1507

fair enough

Dude coinheringaahing

Add in the fact that Bristol got back to me in a day offering me a place on my ideal course, and it was crazy :P

Unrelated String

nice

rak1507

yea currently I have a few dilemmas: oxford or cambridge, what else, what subject (maths, cs, cybersec, or a mix), should I look at degree apprenticeships, other work (??) the list goes on...

Unrelated String

21:37

having to decide between oxford and cambridge is fuckin wack

rak1507

wish I could apply to both lol

Unrelated String

and then deciding on a constituent college
i regret making an open application

rak1507

oh are you at cambridge?

Unrelated String

nope

rak1507

ah

Dude coinheringaahing

21:38

Do what I did: visit both as part of a school trip for the "high achievers", come to the conclusion that everyone there (yes, not everyone but far too many people) are ...people I couldn't stand to be around (to be nice) and vow them both off :P

rak1507

yeah I feel like I know what cambridge college I'd apply to but I know nothing about oxford colleges

Unrelated String

but i got kinda shafted by something to do with how course seats are allocated by college

rak1507

@Dudecoinheringaahing 'visit both' you may not have been outside recently being a code golfer and whatnot, but there is a mild pandemic going on at the moment :P

Dude coinheringaahing

@rak1507 Hey, I go outside! I got coffee this morning :P

But yeah, that was something I didn't like about applying this year. The vibe of a place has always been a pretty big part for me, so it felt like applying blind

rak1507

ideally I could get a nice remote job doing ??? and be able to stay in bed and be nocturnal

Unrelated String

21:40

haha speaking of shaft i decided that once cat week is over i won't actually go back to normal until someone gives the correct response to my chat bio

Dude coinheringaahing

??? being code golf, right? :P

rak1507

lol

I think there's precisely 1 code golf job out there and Adám's already got it :P

Dude coinheringaahing

Welp, time to usurp Adám's job :P

Unrelated String

@Dudecoinheringaahing i visited absolutely zero colleges over two application seasons but i happened to end up at one of the only like three that i have visited overall anyways

rak1507

@UnrelatedString oxford?

Unrelated String

21:42

unc chapel hill

i have visited it a fair bit on account of having lived within 5 minutes of it for the last like ten years

weirdly enough i do not know anybody else who got in

rak1507

oh, curse you american english for having a different meaning of 'college' to the rest of the world

Dude coinheringaahing

@UnrelatedString I think, due to pure luck, I only applied to 3 unis I haven't visited/vibe checked, but it still felt wrong

No, wait, 5. I didn't visit Yale or UC Boulder

Unrelated String

@rak1507 the best part is some if not most of our universities still have colleges within them but that doesn't stop us from calling the universities themselves colleges

rak1507

aaaaaaaaaaa

Dude coinheringaahing

Americans: taking the hell that is English and asking "What if it was worse?"

4

Unrelated String

21:44

ofc the colleges are more like administrative school divisions than what they are at oxbridge

rak1507

you see, I knew that would get starred, and simply didn't star it out of protest

Dude coinheringaahing

@Dudecoinheringaahing That said, I do use the American pronunciation for a lot of words

@rak1507 And yet, it is being starred :P

rak1507

indeed

emanresu A

Ok, how did windowsphone graduate?

Windows Phone – windowsphone.stackexchange.com

Launched Q&A site for enthusiasts and power users of Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7.

Dude coinheringaahing

quite

485

Q: Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!

If you're a user on a long-toiling beta site that's been waiting 7-8 years to get out of beta, this may be the post you've been waiting for. The 29 Beta sites that are 7+ years old no longer have the "Beta" label! I'm on record as saying that we need to ditch the "beta" label for our older site...

emanresu A

21:46

That's one or two a week!

Dude coinheringaahing

It graduated by default, without any real check that its activity met any sort of requirements

Unrelated String

lmao

emanresu A

82

A: Congratulations to our 29 oldest beta sites - They're now no longer beta!

discussion It's a bit odd to see the Windows Phone site graduating. Microsoft discontinued Windows Mobile in 2017 and official support is ending in four months (December 2019). Is the future for Windows Phone guaranteed? Why graduate a site for a discontinued product?

user

@UnrelatedString Gotta love it when you have X University and also X College and you accidentally sign up for a webinar hosted by X College

Dude coinheringaahing

Their mods are still somewhat active however, so it doesn't meet SE's requirements for shutting down sites

emanresu A

21:48

windowsphone has mods?

hyper-neutrino

every site needs to

that's the condition for shutting down a site - lack of willingness to moderate it

Unrelated String

@user yep

Dude coinheringaahing

Not having mods is the quickest way to get shut down

user

Nukes fridges of Windowsphone mods

emanresu A

Dude coinheringaahing

21:48

Yep

emanresu A

Well, the only active mod (or user, for that matter) is Community

hyper-neutrino

in fact, if our election had failed multiple times, code golf very well would've - which fortunately, that was not a problem once election time actually rolled around

Dude coinheringaahing

The most bumped post on the network is on Windows Phone, and has 60 IIRC

hyper-neutrino

@emanresuA *only active mod if you only count activity that normal users can see

not all mod actions are public, obviously

emanresu A

@hyper-neutrino True

Dude coinheringaahing

21:49

@hyper-neutrino I'm still somewhat sore about SE's thinly veiled threat about that tbh

emanresu A

How can an election fail?

Dude coinheringaahing

If there aren't enough candidates

emanresu A

O

Three users gained reputation this month!

Last seen 7 months ago, Last seen 2 weeks ago

Dude coinheringaahing

That's why Chris nominated himself for the 2020 election. He'd rather mod this site as a <1k user than see it shut down due to no candidates

Unrelated String

and the voter leaderboards are just empty except for all-time?

Dude coinheringaahing

21:54

@emanresuA 12 users have participated in the last 60 days

Keep in mind that "participated" = "vote, post, comment or edit"

HN is the only one to do so on meta

hyper-neutrino

wait, what

oh i upvoted this lol

Dude coinheringaahing

You upvoted someone on their meta on Jul 13th

hyper-neutrino

the question body though... "This looks like a healthy Stack Exchange site" ??

Dude coinheringaahing

I expect SE to shut it down in the next couple of years, probably when they schedule an election and it fails

Dude coinheringaahing

22:13

@Dudecoinheringaahing 3 of them, 40 bumps each

Dude coinheringaahing

23:09

Fun fact: Alex stepped down as a mod 2 days before his 3 year mod-iversary (but did still keep his diamond long enough to see it through)

@Dudecoinheringaahing Wait no, I can't do math or history :/

Constable was awarded on Feb 23rd 2016, because that's the day we graduated, not Alex's mod-iversay

exedraj

23:46

Me when actually unexpected rain right now

emanresu A

Me when beautiful day

Dude coinheringaahing

CMQ: Go to any user's profile (example) and click on the SE hamburger in the top bar. Does the dropdown menu show your profile picture, along with rep + badges?

If so, try it on other pages. It only happens on user profiles for me

emanresu A

Yep

Dude coinheringaahing

@Catija ^ Is that a bug? I know the PubPlat team has been working on the SuperCollider DropDown Menu recently

emanresu A

And on other sites

*pages

Kinda sus

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