The Rec Center

Gilles

00:03

I'd consider a shredder an electronic device. — Andy 8 mins ago

@Andy How so? What's electronic in a shredder?

The ones I've seen are purely electromechanical: press a button and the blades start vibrating.

HDE 226868

@Gilles I don't think there are any computerized shredders out there, so I voted to close just now.

Andy

00:24

Thinking about it, you are both correct. A shredder is really automatic only in the sense that it detects if paper is present. It's a simple on/off machine. I'll vote to close

Dawny33

12:13

Hey folks, just a small doubt with the relevance of a question.

Is a question about recommendations regarding a laptop stand on-topic here?

Example: Can you recommend a laptop stand for <laptop name>?
And the elaborated details regarding the laptop would go into the question details

Andy

12:42

@Dawny33, ask a scope related question on Meta. It will probably get more input there. Plus, it becomes easier to refer to in the future

Dawny33

@Andy Thank you. Asking on Meta.

Hardware Recommendations Meta

13:34

0

Q: What kind of hardware requirements are off-topic?

I've this one: What are the PC hardware requirements for OS X to run on? and it's off-topic, however another one related to hardware requirements is on-topic: Multiple monitors hardware requirements

ArtOfCode

15:57

@Adam You're our only other editor so far. I'm going to need your help reviewing edits.

JohnB

16:11

@Art cheater :)

ArtOfCode

@JohnB How so?

JohnB

"insta-approve of last edit"

crafty

ArtOfCode

I've been cheating all of them until we got another editor

JohnB

ah, first one I've noticed then

ArtOfCode

But it's only slightly cheating the system, because it clears the review queue, clears pending edits, and I'm pretty sure I know how to review edits :)

JohnB

16:13

do you think graphic-cards should be graphics-cards? I've always known the latter but some searching tells me it could go either way (but with plural being much more popular)

ArtOfCode

@JohnB I think it should. Edits about to be in progress to remove the former

JohnB

cool

ArtOfCode

OK, one edit.

I'll add the graphics-cards tag when the graphic-cards tag gets removed, or it'll yell at me

Adam

16:36

@Art I'm an edit wizard. We got this.

ArtOfCode

@Adam :) ta

Adam

Also I think the tag should be graphics-card with no s like many other tags are.

JohnB

There are many of both formats, but I don't have a strong opinion either way if we'd like to push for standardization

If I had to make a decision I would probably go with pluralized because tags are collections of things, but in the end I don't think it makes much difference. I support the consistency though

enderland

This site was created for questions seeking a specific hardware recommendation given a set of definitive requirements. If your question involved general computing or hardware issues, it can asked on Super User; nevertheless, it is outside the scope of this site. — Robert Cartaino ♦ 25 secs ago

hmmm I guess that's final :P :)

Adam

16:53

What amazes me is how quickly this evolved from computer hardware only into general electronics

Undo

Hate the tagging on hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/q/283/1, any suggestions?

0

Q: Simple-to-use API-controllable LED light(s)?

I'd like to have a simple LED light that I can control from my computer (2012 MacBook Pro). I've heard of Kickstarter projects like blink(1), but I don't want to have it stuck right up against my computer. If anyone has experience with these, I'd love to here it. Ideally, I'd like to have three ...

usb osx led

enderland

@Adam I think what happened was some of the people interested in it initially wanted "computer hardware" but the site scope wasn't small enough, and "hardware" not clear enough, so it's a bit unclear to people who are not intimately familiar with the motivations for the site

ArtOfCode

@enderland Heh. Not if we don't want it to be.

Andy

@ArtOfCode That particular question is asking how to evaluate processors though. It's not asking for a recommendation of a processor

ArtOfCode

@Andy Aye, I know. That particular question probably is off topic right now, but if that's not the scope we want then that need not always apply.

Undo

16:58

@RobertCartaino The majority of folks on Meta said that these kinds of questions should be on-topic, or on-topic with a few requirements. See meta.hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/q/4/1. Could you weigh in on that thread? — Undo 11 secs ago

Andy

Ah, thank you. I knew I'd seen a meta post but couldn't remember the title

ArtOfCode

@Undo stop showing off your user ID of 1

Undo

@ArtOfCode But I earned it :P

ArtOfCode

@Undo Well I'm #8, so... :P

Andy

There's a way to fix it. Destroy the user. >:)

Undo

17:00

:(

ArtOfCode

@Andy Anyone got a Mjolnir that they can use on this site?

Undo

Gotta get above 500 so I'm immune

Or whatever the number is

ArtOfCode

@Undo It's a secret, magic threshold. So magic that it's coded in as a magic number.

Undo

@ArtOfCode And so secret it's written in the destroy dialog? :P

ArtOfCode

@Undo Yep.

enderland

17:12

@Undo I wonder if there's any server-side authentication for that.... :o

Undo

@enderland Pretty sure that endpoint is under /admin and everything under that is protected by default

Dawny33

17:29

0

Q: Do Amazon (or any vendor) reviews count as a nice gauge for recommendations?

Can the hardware recommendations be justified/done taking into account Amazon reviews into account? For example: Questions like these which has an answer where multiple recommendations end in a tie with respect to the OP's desired specs. So, in that case, can the answer cite Amazon(or vendor) r...

discussion answer-quality

Such answers look like an obvious possibility in the future, so just in case they pop up, then how are we going to deal with them?

Undo

0

A: Do Amazon (or any vendor) reviews count as a nice gauge for recommendations?

I don't see any reason not to include Amazon reviews in an answer, but we have to remember: You should have personal experience with a product before you recommend it. We shouldn't be a site that just Google's the title of the question and throws up an answer with a couple Amazon reviews taped ...

Dawny33

"You should have personal experience with a product"

Thank you. Convincing enough.

So, answers with recommendations with just amazon reviews and specs which are scrapped from the internet are discouraged here, did I get it right?

Undo

I tend to delete them on SR except in rare scenarios.

JohnB

sounds reasonable to me

Undo

And SR is graduating, so we're doing something right

enderland

17:35

@Undo "FINE we'll let you graduate so we stop. getting. hassled." ?

Undo

@enderland We weren't even hassling anyone!

They just showed up and gave us our funny graduation hat and a scroll, and we still don't know what to do with the scroll.

2

JohnB

Usually it's a fake scroll and you have to wait for the real one to come in the mail

So make sure your address is up to date

enderland

0

Q: Add specific close reason for SuperUser content?

Discussion here relates to questions being on topic on SuperUser, and therefore not here. I suggest adding the following as a custom close reason: "Hardware Recommendations" was created for questions seeking a specific hardware products given a set of definitive requirements. If your questio...

discussion scope close-reasons

Undo

17:55

1

A: Add specific close reason for SuperUser content

Yes, but not yet. In general, I tend to wait to add custom close reasons until there's a demonstrable problem with a certain type of question. We've had a couple that would fit into this category, but not that many yet. More to the point, let's wait till we have moderators. Hopefully that won't...

@ArtOfCode That second-to-last sentence made my editing instincts kick in, then I saw the last sentence

Gah, it's gonna take me forever to get over that

ArtOfCode

@Undo I wrote Stack Exchange, realised that's wrong now, and had to change it.

Undo

I think we should just rebel and keep writing Stack Exchange

Stack Overchange.

ArtOfCode

@Undo Stack ExChangedTheirNameAgain

Hardware Recommendations Meta

1

Q: Do Amazon (or any vendor) reviews count as a gauge for recommendations?

Can the hardware recommendations be justified/done taking into account Amazon reviews into account? For example: Questions like these which has an answer where multiple recommendations end in a tie with respect to the OP's desired specs. So, in that case, can the answer cite Amazon(or vendor) r...

discussion answer-quality

1

Q: Add specific close reason for SuperUser content

Discussion here relates to questions being on topic on SuperUser, and therefore not here. I suggest adding the following as a custom close reason: "Hardware Recommendations" was created for questions seeking a specific hardware products given a set of definitive requirements. If your questio...

discussion scope close-reasons

enderland

@Undo it's too confusing to write "Stack Overflow" instead of SE

Hardware Recommendations Bounties

18:31

4

Q: Good, cheap microphone for speech / voice recording?

I'm looking for a good microphone for recording speech (eg. for podcasts, although it might be used for other things too), ideally for under $30. I'm looking for something that: Has minimal hiss and reasonable sound quality for its price. Would work with my current setup, which is a laptop + ...

audio microphones audio-quality audio-recording

enderland

22:40

Yay enough rep to edit now!

ArtOfCode

Good, 3 edit reviewers

Gilles

22:55

I am very disappointed that you are completely destroying the site that this community was building. Speaking from experience of Software Recommendations, focusing on a strict recommendation format does not make a good Q&A site, because it is not focused on an audience or a domain of expertise. “Recommendations” is basically “what Super User doesn't want”, and being someone's toilet bowl is an awful way to define a community. Software Recommendations doesn't work well: it has a record amount of unanswered questions. It exists solely because moderation on SO and SU sucks. — Gilles 2 mins ago

(cont.) I was very happy to see that Hardware Recommendations was shaping up to have a saner scope, hopefully encompassing at least all pre-buy hardware-related questions (fsvo hardware). That makes good sense as a scope. Closing questions for the sole reason that they are on-topic elsewhere is not only a departure from Stack Exchange's previous sane policy, it's also a way to impose mediocrity, awkwardness and disparagement into a community. Please don't do it. — Gilles 14 secs ago

That's just insane. Why did Robert sabotage this site?

ArtOfCode

I tend to agree. Guys, can we get some reopen votes on a number of those closed questions?

Gilles

@ArtOfCode I voted to reopen the ones I found, except for a couple of mediocre ones. They should be in your reopen queue.

ArtOfCode

I've chucked a few reopen votes out myself. Thanks, I'll take a look at the queues.

enderland

23:25

most of those are at 4 reopen votes now

Transcript for