The Bikeshed

Stack Exchange

17:29

Welcome to chat for: Open Source

This is a general discussion room, but please feel free to create more subject-specific rooms (a single room with every possible discussion isn't very helpful)

For playing with chat features:

Sandbox

Where you can play with chat features (except flagging) and ch...

1

and remember; please read the FAQ ;p)

derobert

Hello, future visitors...

ProgramFOX

Hello!

Andy

Moo?

Air

Release the hounds!

Nathan Merrill

woah!

Air

17:35

Now we get to see who rushes to farm rep off other people's example questions.

kdopen

Wondred if this would ever get off the ground. Now, who moves the 'candidate questions' from area 51?

Air

@kdopen I prefer to let the users who proposed the example questions turn them into real questions, if they're going to, but it's not uncommon for people to grab them and post them to the site.

It's important that they be fleshed out as specific, practical questions, though. A lot of example questions are nothing more than poorly-defined titles.

3

Madara Uchiha

Huzzah!

room topic changed to The MIT License: General discussion for opensource.stackexchange.com (no tags)

@QPaysTaxes Ew, GPL

MIT FTW

Carpetsmoker

Ah, 5 minutes in beta and the GPL vs. MIT debate has already begun

9

Air

Is the meta feed automatic for new rooms?

ProgramFOX

17:46

No, it has to be added by a mod.

Stack Exchange

Andy has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

Andy

@ProgramFOX I added the Meta feed

derobert

We seriously should come up with a better room topic. Between "free", "license", "open", there has got to be a good one there...

Air

LOL am I the only one who just saw a question title with "10 down vote" pasted in?

Somebody's copy-and-pasting

Andy

@derobert The Free Open License?

Air

17:53

@QPaysTaxes It vanished in a hurry and I refreshed the page so I'm not sure which one it was

Andy

I hit all of the key words :)

derobert

piping words to shuf does not a topic make :-P

ProgramFOX

@Air No, I saw it too and edited that out.

Carpetsmoker

@Air Yes, me ;-) I copied it from my example question ... It's also a question I'd like to get an answer to because I've been wondering this for years

Air

@ProgramFOX Did you give the user their requested 10 down votes? ;)

derobert

17:54

Is this site going to take legal questions? Things like opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/13/… seem like a general legal question, not really open source.

Stack Exchange

3

Q: Is open source limited to software?

In open source, are we talking only about software, or also about other things? There is free documentation (GFDL, Creative Commons), open data (already has its own Stack Exchange site), open recipes... Does this site want to be broad in scope, or narrow in scope?

0

Q: Will "software" be an implicit tag for every question not categorized in another way?

Prior to the beta launch, there was discussion of whether this site would be limited in scope to open source software. The strong consensus was behind an answer that argues: If the scope does not include significant areas of interest to just the open-source world (licensing, hardware, DIY p...

discussion scope tags

Air

I'm assuming it was actually copying [+10 net score] [downvote button tooltip]

Carpetsmoker

@derobert Well, it''s both ... It's a good topic for a meta question

derobert

Same with that patent question. I guess I'll ask on meta

Air

Yup. Meta ALL THE THINGS!

kdopen

17:57

@Air Yep, just did one of mine

derobert

@Air NO. META IS EVIL. (channeling several years ago Jeff)

Air

@derobert MURDER*

derobert

@Air Not going to work. You need exorcise instead. Maybe disenchant if you've run out of exorcisms.

Air

@QPaysTaxes No good question will only ever be asked by one person, or SE wouldn't work to begin with.

Unihedron

Hey Open Source!

Air

17:59

Hey Open Pixel Eye!

Unihedron

ugh, the adrenaline rise when I see the "+95" rep change

Air

Hot damn, we closing already. Where's that folding chair gif...

derobert

@QPaysTaxes tags for each license are probably good. e.g, gpl-v2 for a GPL v2 question.

Definitely can be experts on a specific license.

Unihedron

I have no idea what to ask

Carpetsmoker

hosting ?

derobert

18:05

I had no idea what question you're asking... (sorry, half paying attention while writing that meta post)

Carpetsmoker

contributers or contributing?

Madara Uchiha

Vote! Vote like there's no tomorrow!

Carpetsmoker

Don't worry too much about the tags right now, patterns will appear in a few days, and we can retag questions with "bad" tags then

ratchet freak

@Carpetsmoker or contribution

Carpetsmoker

It's a bit ambiguous, as you can mean contributing to a project (like, "How can I make sure my patches get accepted"), or dealing with contributers to your projects (like, "How do I deal with bad patches people send me")

ratchet freak

18:08

if you have a question then just post it

it's what this is there for

Air

Nobody knows what tags to use yet. Just make sure you use some, and avoid meta tags.

Gilles

General guideline for tags: say “my question is about”. A good tag name is a good word or noun phrase to add after that.

derobert

Often asking yourself "is there an expert in this (or could there be one)?" helps determine if something is a good tag

Stack Exchange

0

Q: I can't create a tag with spaces

I create a question but I can't use a tag with spaces. There is a way to create a tag with spaces such as development model?

support tagging

2

Q: Are getting started questions relevant here?

Now that we have this network, I'm sure there'll be newbies coming in asking questions like, How do I get started with Mozilla/KDE/etc? or How do I start contributing to project xyz? I guess these questions would be very organisation specific, and would spam the network. Would these q...

discussion

Mast

It's good to see we get a lot of activity going at the start.

Air

18:18

Most sites do. It's a marathon, though, not a sprint. :)

derobert

Hmmm. Good news. I'm still human. Meta just checked for me. :-/

Mast

@Air I'm a CR regular, talk about marathons...

Air

> I wrote a beta site and it's working, but it's taking a really long time to graduate. How can I optimize this site to speed things up?

Andy

@Air Download more RAM

Madara Uchiha

Everyone in this room should reach the 40 vote limit today

No excuses!

Mast

18:23

@MadaraUchiha Well, having good questions helps. I've seen mainly licensing questions so far (I'm partially at fault there).

Air

I would be careful not to vote for the sake of voting on an answer that you don't know to be accurate, even if it looks good.

But vote on all the questions, definitely.

Madara Uchiha

2

Mast

Just received my Open Beta invitation for OpenSource

Hah! Beat the system to it!

Madara Uchiha

@Mast Closed beta, for Open Source. OH THE IRONY

Mast

@MadaraUchiha If this would be really Open Source, the code would be available as well.

Madara Uchiha

18:25

If you are closing as off-topic, please use the custom reason to explain. We don't have close reasons yet

Mast

But since getting the licensing right will take as long as graduating...

Gilles

@MadaraUchiha I will if you arrange to have 40 posts that are either good or terrible. I'm seeing a lot of meh so far.

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles Stack Exchange needs a Meh vote

Gilles

@MadaraUchiha what would it do?

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles Absolutely nothing.

Gilles

18:27

@MadaraUchiha meh

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles Exactly!

Air

It could negatively impact the "recommended" view

But I do like how meta this is getting

StackApps, anyone?

Mast

@MadaraUchiha Wouldn't not voting constitute a 'Meh' vote?

In danger of stating the obvious

Unihedron

Thanks for TLDRlegal, @MadaraUchiha :D

Stack Exchange

1

Q: How far into legal questions do we stray?

Questions like Do I really need the long "shouting" warranty disclaimer in all-caps that some licenses, such as MIT, have? Or can I trim/lowercase it? and Do software patents for common formats (gif, mp3, h264) apply globally? are legal questions that impact open source software. To what extent ...

discussion

-1

Q: Free Software in the description, please?

See this post on area51. To some people, there is an important distinction between Free Software and Open Source Software, at a philosophical level. I'm not really interested in having that fight myself, but it's actually particularly for that reason that I think we should choose a name that ...

discussion scope

0

Q: Are questions on hosting platforms on-topic?

I found this: Codehaus gone. Google Code shutting down. What to do to recover content? It seems to be asking about how to recover information from a hosting service that has fallen. It asks whether the lost content is recoverable. So here's my overall question? Should questions about recovering ...

discussion scope

michaelpri

18:36

Hiya everyone :)

rolfl

Suggested room-name change to: The Off-License

ratchet freak

or the The Question Tracker

Madara Uchiha

How should we name our chatroom? Open Source Meta

Mast

Now who's going to clean up the duplicates tomorrow?

Gilles

@rolfl debate the room name on meta please

rolfl

18:46

teling me twice?

Gilles

until there's a consensus this room should keep its default name

rolfl

;-)

Madara Uchiha

@rolfl On meta please.

thrice.

Mast

@Gilles Who decided on the default name? Is there a protocol for such things?

Carpetsmoker

It's just the site name

Gilles

18:47

@Mast the default name is the name of the site

Mast

In that case, it's already messed up.

Gilles

And the protocol to change it is to have widespread agreement on meta

or, failing a clear winner, moderators pick among the top options

Madara Uchiha

I HAVE SPOKEN

Not really, if anyone is bothered by the current name and feels strongly about moving back to the original until we have a winner on meta, please speak up

Carpetsmoker

If we start a discussion about the chat room name, then "The bikeshed" is probably a good name ;-)

derobert

@Carpetsmoker +1, I like it

Madara Uchiha

18:50

5 mins ago, by Madara Uchiha

How should we name our chatroom? Open Source Meta

Mast

@Carpetsmoker You associate Open Source with bikesheds?

Madara Uchiha

Good luck

Carpetsmoker

@Mast See bikeshed.com

Mast

@Carpetsmoker Ah, that explains everything!

Propose it.

Stack Exchange

6

Q: How should we name our chatroom?

The default was Open Source, I, on a whim, changed it to The MIT License. Let's let the community decide, how should we name our chatroom?

discussion chat

Gilles

18:52

@MadaraUchiha I do. Naming the room after a license is not a good idea. This site risks license wars (they're already starting, in fact).

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles Please change it back then.

Unihedron

At least my suggestion is almost as poorly received as yours, @MadaraUchiha

Madara Uchiha

I have to go for a bit.

Unihedron

:p

ArtOfCode

@Gilles makes a good point. We need to be agnostic about things that could cause disputes.

Gilles

18:53

room topic changed to Open Source: General discussion for opensource.stackexchange.com (no tags)

Madara Uchiha

@Unihedron At least I specified why I voted against yours :P

Mast

@ArtOfCode It's the internet. Some disputes will still arise.

ArtOfCode

@Mast Correct, but we want to minimize them. If we can avoid dispute, in most cases we should.

Gilles

I do like “the off-license” (I was going to suggest it)

Mast

Of-course.

rolfl

18:54

@Carpetsmoker True story, the bikeshed problem is not what you think it is ;-)

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles I... genuinely don't get it.

Gilles

Room description: General discussion for opensource.stackexchange.com. Discussions about licenses strictly prohibited.

Mast

2

A: How should we name our chatroom?

The bikeshed In the open source community, a "bikeshed" is a meaningless discussion about something of very little or no importance... It was coined by phk on a FreeBSD mailing list post (which you can read here).

Carpetsmoker

@rolfl hm? What do you mean?

rolfl

The bikeshed problem is that, as a committee, it is often easier to make huge decisions easily, bit simple decisions, like what color to paint the bikeshed, can bog down th committee and create problems.

Parkinson's law of triviality

Parkinson's law of triviality, also known as bikeshedding, bike-shed effect, or the bicycle-shed example, is C. Northcote Parkinson's 1957 argument that organisations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues. Parkinson observed and illustrated that a committee whose job was to approve plans for a nuclear power plant spent the majority of its time with pointless discussions on relatively trivial and unimportant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials to use for the staff bike-shed, while neglecting the less-trivial proposed design of the nuclear power plant itself, which is far more...

Madara Uchiha

18:56

@rolfl I think he knows what the bikeshed is

Carpetsmoker

That seems like a different way of rephrasing it, any 2 people working together (ie. 2 contributers to an open source project) are effectively an "informal committee" for the purpose of the "bikeshed problem".

Madara Uchiha

The bikeshed problem is basically that, with simple subjects, everyone will have something to say to sound smarter.

With hard subjects, everyone silently agree with "the expert"

Carpetsmoker

I never read Parkinson's original book, though, as I wasn't able to find a copy :-/

Madara Uchiha

In fact, this whole question is a one huge bikeshed.

See how many responses it gathered instantly?

3

Q: How do I structure my project in an inviting way?

When I work on new libraries and tools I potentially would like them to get contributors and activity. However, I'm not sure what I could to in order to encourage more participation. As a project owner, how can I make my open source project more accessible to new participants?

project-management contributor collaboration

I don't think this is too broad.

It can be answered succinctly.

If anything, this is too broad

6

Q: How do I attract new programmers?

I am working on a project, currently by myself. It's a side project, I'm not expecting to make money on it. It's posted on GitHub, and I'm going to be building a project page for it. Once it's built, how do I get other programmers to want to contribute? I am checking in code constantly, but no o...

collaboration github

Mast

Both aren't good fits IMHO.

Madara Uchiha

19:02

@Mast Why?

Air

@MadaraUchiha Thanks for bringing it up, I saw it had 4 CV and meant to keep an eye out but the tab vanished into the ether.

Mast

@MadaraUchiha I agree with your assessment of the 2nd and I think the first is too broad and opinionated.

Madara Uchiha

@Mast Then vote to close on the second

ratchet freak

I have a area51 question about "How can I ensure other contributors can join the effort easily?" with the 10 upvotes but I'm wondering how to properly pose that question

Unihedron

I REACHED 200 REP!!!

I can rest in peace

it's 3 am

rolfl

19:04

@MadaraUchiha I was more commenting on this (C.C. @Carpetsmoker): It was coined by phk on a FreeBSD mailing list post (which you can read here).

Mast

@MadaraUchiha Done.

rolfl

It was coined in 1957 .... 40+ years before that

Madara Uchiha

Okay we have way too many licensing questions

6

This will easily be a problem even before we leave private beta

We need to set some basic restrictions

Unihedron

they're invading

ratchet freak

open source is bikeshedding over licenses

Carpetsmoker

19:05

@rolfl Right, it was popularized by phk is better, yeah

Mast

The non-specific ones should burn IMHO. Make it a meta.

Unihedron

@MadaraUchiha Let's wait for at least three days. If it is a popular topic then we might turn it into a gold mine.

Mast

@ratchetfreak It's bike shedding over bikesheds.

Stack Exchange

1

Q: Should we allow questions about hosting platforms?

This is a follow up of my previous meta post, Are questions on hosting platforms on-topic?. We need to decide what to allow in terms of questions regarding content on hosting services. The question that sparked this debate is here: Codehaus gone. Google Code shutting down. What to do to recover ...

discussion scope

Unihedron

@Mast Hey, no recursing!

Mast

19:06

OpenSource.SE is a bike shedding factory.

Martijn

Congratulations on launch everybody!

rolfl

So, @Carpetsmoker - did you notice that each time you open bikeshed.com it opens in a different colour? ;-)

Madara Uchiha

@rolfl I noticed it because of the horrible flicker.

Carpetsmoker

@rolfl Yeah ;-) You can also add ?color=yellow IIRC

Madara Uchiha

The random color thing should have been done server-side.

NEEDS MOAR CODE REVIEW

Unihedron

19:07

possible duplicate of How to relicense a project — Unihedron 14 secs ago

^ I think this is a bad VTC but the questions are oddly similar, what should I do?

oh, they bailed out

Mast

@Unihedron There are many duplicates popping up. So, yea.

Gilles

@MadaraUchiha yes, especially as licensing questions are one of the only two topics that ever managed to cause strife on Unix & Linux, which is a pretty calm place most of the time

Mast

@MadaraUchiha CodeReview.SE

ratchet freak

heh OTQ status achieved :)

Madara Uchiha

@Mast Well, I did say it because @rolfl is a Code Review moderator :P

ratchet freak

19:09

@Gilles unless you mix up unix and linux

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles Wasn't there a Legal proposal that got shot down?

Gilles

@ratchetfreak yes, that's the other one, people debating over whether Linux should be called Linux

Mast

@MadaraUchiha There's law.SE

Gilles

@MadaraUchiha dunno what you're refering to. There's an SE site about laws

rolfl

> Edits must be at least 6 characters; is there something else to improve in this post?

It sucks to not be a mod in this site too.... ^^^^

Gilles

19:11

@rolfl so get 1000 rep before public beta

Madara Uchiha

@rolfl That only applies to suggested edits iirc

Mast

@rolfl Here you're just a lowly peon like the rest of us.

Unihedron

Mast

@Unihedron Don't.

rolfl

4

A: Can I restrict who can utilize my software?

From the Open Source Definition: The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons. and The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or fr...

Unihedron

19:11

:(

rolfl

All I wanted to do was change the code to >

it should be block quote, not code quote.

Gilles

@rolfl expand “OSS” to “open source software”

ratchet freak

@rolfl review it opensource.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/66

rolfl

bast.... oh... meh ;-)

ratchet freak

you can add a > on each line ;)

Unihedron

19:14

sooo

Mast

@Gilles Chatroom would turn into like a bOSS

Madara Uchiha

1

A: How should we name our chatroom?

I suggest: Free As In Speech

I likey

ArtOfCode

@MadaraUchiha hmmm possibly. I still like the off-license more :)

Whew. Not even 20 minutes here and I've hit 200.

Unihedron

Me too, welcome to the 200+ club!

I wonder how many of us are listed on here by tomorrow.

The Meta Tracker

1

Q: Should we allow "What's the difference between <license A> and <license B>" types of questions?

Do we find them on topic? There are sites out there dedicated to do this comparison and are able to visually display it a lot better than we ever can. Perhaps a single canonical explaining how to compare licenses, and link everything to that?

discussion on-topic

ArtOfCode

19:23

@Unihedron liking all our 0's :)

Unihedron

Shooting for suffrage badge :)

Mast

@Unihedron The site hasn't been on-line for 12 hours yet and you're already targeting badges?

Unihedron

don't judge me

Mast

Continuity is more important in this stage.

Madara Uchiha

BADGES ARE EVERYTHING MUST GET ALL BADGES

Unihedron

19:27

who are we?
USERS!
are we targeting badges?
GET ALL THE BADGES!

Vox Populi next.

ArtOfCode

OF COURSE WE'RE TARGETING BADGES

Badges are love. Badges are life.

Mast

@ArtOfCode That line has been abused way too many times.

ArtOfCode

@Mast Yes it has, and it will continue to be abused.

ratchet freak

until badges are abolished

but then a revolt will rise

Unihedron

oops, I tried to vote on my own answer

Madara Uchiha

19:31

1 hour ago, by Madara Uchiha

Vote! Vote like there's no tomorrow!

Unihedron

You have 4 votes left today... You have 3 votes left today... blindly casts the rest done

Now I gotta flag something

(Watch out for Uni! He's running wild with a flag)

ArtOfCode

@Unihedron I think a lot of those hit me... I just got a fair dose of rep.

I've now managed to reach 300 rep. And a Mortarboard badge. In the first hour.

Unihedron

Remind me, what's Mortarboard?

michaelpri

200 rep in one day

ArtOfCode

@Unihedron hit the rep cap

Unihedron

19:36

ohhh

@michaelpri 300 in p. beta?

michaelpri

@Unihedron Well, 200 by upvotes. You got 100 by association

Gilles

@Unihedron no, 200, but the association bonus doesn't count

Unihedron

facedesk

ArtOfCode

That puts me in 2nd place overall so far.

Unihedron

thanks :)

michaelpri

19:37

Does anyone think "Can you use different licenses in different parts of a project?" would be on topic

ArtOfCode

@michaelpri sounds on-topic to me

Unihedron

I think it is, and the answer is yes

ArtOfCode

(spoiler alert: yes)

Gilles

@michaelpri I guess it would be. Of course you'd need to be specific as to what the parts are and what the licenses are

michaelpri

@ArtOfCode Alright, I wasn't sure if it was too legal

ArtOfCode

19:38

@michaelpri Nah sounds OK to me. Be aware of @Gilles' points though

Mast

@michaelpri It would be a 'too easy' question, which should be avoided.

Unless you make it more specific, which you probably should.

Madara Uchiha

Why was this reopend? It's super broad... opensource.stackexchange.com/q/54/40

Mast

@MadaraUchiha I don't know. I can't close it down again.

Unihedron

@MadaraUchiha Meta it with [specific-question]

Mast

@Unihedron That ^^

If the on-topicness is so debatable, it should be meta'd to set a precedent.

Unihedron

19:42

:)

ArtOfCode

@MadaraUchiha Not a clue. I can still CV on it, so I just have.

Unihedron

i'll let you people do the honors

i'm busy watching my rep go up and yelling like a tween

ArtOfCode

@Unihedron I would be, had I not already bust the cap.

Unihedron

muahahaha

you can only wish

ArtOfCode

@Unihedron I'll be back in 4 hours' time, trying to bust it again :)

Unihedron

19:46

Yeah, you can be the greatest, you can be the best :P

The Meta Tracker

1

Q: Isn't this question too broad?

The following question: How do I attract new programmers? has been closed as Too Broad and then reopened. I argue that it is far broader than How do I structure my project in an inviting way? which has been closed as too broad.

discussion specific-question too-broad

Mast

@TheMetaTracker Isn't your title too generic?

Madara Uchiha

@Mast What would you suggest?

Mast

Prevent repeated closing and re-opening of dubiously scoped questions

But well, more titleized.

Unihedron

too wordy

Mast

19:50

Hence the note.

ArtOfCode

So I hit that cap fast enough that Meta still shows 101 rep... Now that's not something I've managed before.

Unihedron

i'm jealous

HDE 226868

Oof, I failed to make the first 100 users. Man, doctor's appointments can really hurt you. . . It's great we're in beta, though!

Unihedron

I'm 5th

does a little dance in celebration

HDE 226868

Holy crap, 39 first posts? Someone better hit 350 rep fast, or the CMs will have a tough job on their hand.

ArtOfCode

19:59

@HDE226868 I'm on the way. Hehe.

michaelpri

@QPaysTaxes Not uh, I'm 10th

kdopen

1

Q: How can I find usage statistics for an open source project?

Put simply, is there any way to find out how widely used a given open source project is? Say, for example, I am looking for a JSON library (no recommendations please). I can imagine various metrics to help choose among the many available, but a major one would be "How widely used is this?". Wi...

development

michaelpri

Oh

ArtOfCode

@QPaysTaxes You aren't even on the first page I'm afraid...

In chronological, yes.

michaelpri

Thought, you meant ranked 10th

ArtOfCode

20:01

@HDE226868 Whew I just made the first 100. 98.

kdopen

This is about to be closed, and fine by me if the community thinks that's right. But I was trying to be a little pre-emptive. You know we're going to get asked these questions. Having one available to pop up n the searches may (I say may) reduce the number of dupes. And OS consumers are likely to want an answer to it

blast too late. Can someone think of an edit that would make it worth re-opening?

Unihedron

Make it on-topic.

And on-topic to a degree that someone reading it will vote to reopen it.

HDE 226868

@MadaraUchiha You got it!

Unihedron

@HDE226868 not enough originality

HDE 226868

@Unihedron Well, the post is open sourced, in a way. . .

Unihedron

20:15

Ugh, I keep seeing my rep go up to 290, then I refresh and it's back to where it was.

Air

I had a question! Hooray!

I'm helping!

Madara Uchiha

@Unihedron That's me upvoting and unpovting your post

Unihedron

make... up... your... mind... :)

The Meta Tracker

3

Q: Vote Early, Vote Often!

Note: This post is identical to this one on Vi & Vim stack exchange I would like to echo a post that Scott Morrison made on Meta.Tex.SE: I'm a moderator from MathOverflow, and this "question" is actually unsolicited advice, based on our experience from the initial launch of MathOverflow. ...

discussion voting

HDE 226868

Hey, I got an upvote on a post on main!

About something I knew nothing about half an hour ago.

ArtOfCode

20:28

@HDE226868 Congratulations? Which one?

Madara Uchiha

@ArtOfCode The one I upvoted.

HDE 226868

@ArtOfCode

ArtOfCode

@HDE226868 Oh, well you can have another then :)

HDE 226868

I'm seeing a lot of questions that are either too broad or opinion-based, many of the form, "How do I . . . ?" I'm not saying that all of those are bad, but there does seem to be an abundance of them.

ArtOfCode

@HDE226868 Not having been in many private betas, I can't comment on the abundance. I think it'll probably die down when we get scoped though.

Gilles

20:38

@ArtOfCode abundance of questions is typical on day 1 of the private beta

abundance of good questions is a good sign

abundance of bad questions is a bad sign

abundance of meh questions is also a bad sign

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles I'm kinda concerned that out of 37 questions, 15 are tagged license

Gilles

@MadaraUchiha so am I

Madara Uchiha

+2 which are tagged law

Gilles

a bias towards programmers' pet topics is to be expected

but being licenses.se would suck

Madara Uchiha

Exactly.

ArtOfCode

20:41

@Gilles @MadaraUchiha So let's solve that early. What else is within scope that would be good to discuss in Q&A?

Madara Uchiha

@ArtOfCode I think it's still too early to come up with trends

Gilles

@ArtOfCode honestly, I don't know what this site can do that Programmers can't do

except for non-programming-related topics, but I expect them to remain a minority

ArtOfCode

@Gilles that's a very good point. If anything it's just a narrower-scope sideset

Madara Uchiha

@Gilles Yeah well, that's not new though

WordPress Development, Drupal Answers vs Stack Overflow

Ask Ubuntu vs Unix & Linux

Gilles

@MadaraUchiha those are sites around a specific product which is only partially covered by SO

AU vs U&L is a better example, and there the difference is the audience and the nature of the answers

Madara Uchiha

20:44

@Gilles Anime & Manga and Movies & TV

ArtOfCode

Ok well let's do something like this: if we do end up with a majority of licensing questions over the private beta, someone should put up a meta post encouraging other types of questions too.

Gilles

yes, and also post questions on other topics

for some private betas I prepared questions in advance, I wasn't paying attention this one and I don't have any question now

I'll try to think of some

Air

@Gilles I expect the same, but I think it's unfortunate - the boundary of open source spreading to other fields is exactly the kind of frontier that a site like this would be great for

The Meta Tracker

3

Q: Are historical questions on topic?

Should questions about the history of the open source idea or open source projects be on topic? The closest I've seen to one is Why wasn't CC0 approved as an open source software license?, which seems like a good one. A historical answer isn't necessarily necessary for it, but an answer would hav...

discussion scope

Air

Do I need to change the title of my CC0 question to fit the problem statement better? I'm not really happy with it, and the intial responses seem to be focusing on the title superficially rather than on the actual question in the body - but the actual question is not very brief or search-friendly.

Suggestions welcome.

Unihedron

20:51

Three hours [and a bit more] till next SE day... Gotta work harder if I want to hit the rep cap :(

Air

@Mast 12 downvotes already? You are the hero we need, not the hero we deserve.

Mast

@Air Thank you, I think.

Air

@Mast It is decidedly a compliment to be compared to Batman.

Mast

@Air True that.

To be honest, there are quite some lousy questions out there which should be cleaned up. I'm always surprised there aren't more people downvoting the bad stuff.

I'm also surprised by the high amount of low quality answers to be honest.

Sandbox

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