@M.A.R. We can rebuild it. We have the technology. We can make it better than it was. Better, stronger, faster.

@ColleenV Mumpsimus died for Rome

Honor him

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (61): Had Andrew a little patient... - error in the example sentence? by BM Mannu Yadav on ell.SE

Etymology of the day: bully (The word "bully" was first used in the 1530s meaning "sweetheart", applied to either sex, from the Dutch boel "lover, brother", probably diminutive of Middle High German buole "brother", of uncertain origin (compare with the German buhle "lover"))

@CowperKettle I'd say that escalated quickly but it wasn't quick

Affectionately cyberbullies people

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with a link in answer, link at end of answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (141): Idiom like "catch on fast" by user115722 on ell.SE

I don't understand why so many people are answering these questions. The OPs don't even mention if they have googled their problem

I googled "word for large group of animals" and got "herd", which is what the top voted answer suggests. I don't understand why are high reputation users answering such basic questions - questions that are off-topic

The definition OP is asking about for "patients" is clearly written in Merriam-Webster 1(b).

Again, why are people encouraging these kind of questions. I don't expect highly reputed users to just forget DO NOT FEED THE BEARS

@EddieKal @snailplane @M.A.R. I want to know what you think ...

Animal collective nouns is a very difficult subject in English, because you basically have to memorize them individually for each animal

A lot of native speakers don't even have them down pat

There's a lot of disagreement among native speakers in regard to some animal collective nouns. All that said I agree that question should be closed and I've done just that

That OP should have done their research before posting.

The usage of "patient", well, is tricky. So I think I will leave it to the community to decide. I am cutting that user some slack because there are things learners don't necessarily know how to get information on.

@AIQ It wouldn't hurt to start a new discussion on Meta regarding this. Apparently some frequent users have different opinions. Your comment has been flagged as unkind, just FYI

@AIQ I have stopped considering whether doing one's civic duty in closing such questions instead of answering them is wrong morally or ethically

But there's your bitter truth: There's lots of rep gain in answering easy questions (and definitely easier than those) and none in closing them.

On SO, there are people who manage to get to trusted user privileges and further than that by simply being rep farmers. It's of course different in ELL, you have to be a StoneyB to amass StoneyB rep

@EddieKal I am thinking about asking in meta ... and I did not mean to make that comment unkind but I see how it can be seen that way.

You're free to open a meta post, but there's little to be gained and a lot to lose if you don't word it right, and, say, call out someone on meta.

And don't get me started on folks that rationalize rep farming and consider closers unhappy leeches

@M.A.R. I see. I don't know if I can word it anywhere as good as you guys can ... but it really frustrates me to see established users answer questions that are easy ... and what is worse is that the askers don't even do a google search

I'm not the sort of guy to start an inspirational quality-boost campaign to call to arms for moderation (snail probably can), but I'm a busy jaded idiot with a short attention span at the moment regarding anything SE-based so take this advice with a grain of salt, but I've found SE sites are often stoic and unmoving

Maybe not unlike normal communities. If you want to change a habit, you need people in positions of authority to be on the same page, and start shouting out for change until it takes effect in a few months or so

An always dormant but available spot to work on and improve on ELL is tags. Get a few interested folks to get on editing sprees and clean up obvious bad apples from tags

For now, I stick to downvoting stuff whenever I see them, but they've often made it to HNQ by then

@M.A.R. I try to downvote, but a -2 does nothing to high rep users.

Yeah.

@M.A.R. Thing is most of these meta posts that seem to go into details on these things and word it perfectly are by J.R. and ColleenV. And they aren't here to maintain control

@AIQ Don't worry too much about your comment wording. Frankly J.R.'s comments often come off as very strongly-worded. It appears to me J.R. also shares your view toward these questions.

J.R.'s comments were definitely not the most friendly on this site, but they were oftentimes to-the-point.

@M.A.R. touche

But I don't want to dump a bucket of ice on any question unless it is absolutely necessary (which could be never). I am against censorship.

@EddieKal It's much less censorship than preventing an undeserving thread get the attention better threads deserve, but you're the mod

That's another, less polarizing issue. Easily solved by a meta post and a discussion among the mod team "When will an HNQ question be 86'd?"

@Cardinal Doesn't matter, it still sounds wrong.

Whom vs. who, I vs. me, was vs. were, and that vs. which questions should be removed from the HNQ, in my opinion. They often garner stupid answers and comment-answers with lots of upvotes before they're closed as duplicates (and if). I occasionally see questions with vague, uninformative titles such as "What does this mean?" and "Is this sentence grammatical?" reaching the HNQ as well. Making their titles less so is often enough to "cool them off".

@userr2684291 IMO the better way to deal with those is a meta post with a list of octuplicates (most common dupes)

Serves as future reference, an addendum to "resources for learning", and yeah, for unilateral decision for such questions

@M.A.R. Guess what a sugar glider is.

@userr2684291 Is it an animal?

@M.A.R. Yeh.

Like, those flying squirrels thing

Yeah, yeah. But it's not a squirrel.

It's a sugar glider obviously

What, it has five eyes and nine legs?

It's a marsupial that makes this awful sound called crabbing.

Actually, the process... of making that sound...

@userr2684291 Are you implying something. Squints

No.

Squints further

My eyes hurt now. You happy? You made my eyes hurt.

squirrels

Makes a crabbing sound

It sounds awful. Absolutely terrifying.

Why

Maybe I should find it and listen to it on YouTube at 2:30 a.m.

I didn't know you had access.

Well, you tend to find one VPN that's functional

Until it no longer is and you move on to the next

It does that when it's scared.

What idiot would adopt a pet that makes horrifying noises at night. No offense to idiots.

Ikr. It costs about $350.

Actually, it would probably make an ideal companion for when I'm writing my thesis

I heard @AIQ had a new pet peeve towards easy HNQ

Have they not watched the show?

For your annoyment and pleasure

@userr2684291 And to have the nerve to look for the potential dupe and showcase how your question is different

Heh, "annoyment" is apparently a word BTW

Bravo.

@userr2684291 Lol that's conveniently annoying

It's like the archetype

I dunno about terrifying, but it would startle you for a second if you suddenly hear it

I guess that's the goal

@EddieKal My frustration is not just with askers. I completely understand that from time to time learners will ask questions that may be actually too basic even for other learners such as myself. But that is fine. It is important to them. And if the question does not show minimal effort, then we can nicely point that out in the comment - like I have done on so many occasions.

I think what annoyed me most is that I keep seeing some high rep users answer these very basic questions. And since they have a lot of reputation, my comment to improve the question won't be valid anymore. OP won't take such comments seriously when answers have already been written by an expert ...

@M.A.R. More like towards the community's members who are in the position of authority and keep answering these easy questions ... Why will askers change their behavior or listen to my comments which tell them to do a bit more research, when they get answers by user who have lots of rep points ...