The Water Cooler

12:59 AM

@jmac I think you need to add 3: Flag aggessively posts that need moderator attention. to this:meta.workplace.stackexchange.com/a/2220/16

Its one thing for a user to say you need to fix it the Diamond adds some weight to the statement.

jmac

@Chad For questions that get closed? Are there that many that need flagging? In the 30 I looked at, it seemed all are okay

Chad

I mean before they get closed, and for answers that are bad and need to be backed up

jmac

I don't think relying on jmort or jim to comment on everything is a long-term solution -- we need to find a way for the community to be able to make those comments with weight

(I think improving the help center is a good first step)

Chad

I cant wait for 500 more questions so we can hold elections

we need mods that are active on the site and willing to be more proactive.

jmac

I am worried about having mods doing the heavy lifting all the time, many people don't react well to authority figures taking unilateral action frequently...

Chad

1:03 AM

Well the mods need to be more visible. If it is always us saying it there is no weight. But if the mods are around saying the same things then it carries weight

Which is why we flag heavily that way they are not doing it unilaterally

Right now I flag alot and they are marked helpful most of the time. But often i am the only one so no action is taken

If we are all flagging the bad stuff they have more reason to take action

And most of what we need is the back it up blurb

jmac

I almost never flag

Chad

Bad jmac!

lol

jmac

Downvote, comment in chat, vote to close, comment -- sure! But flagging? Only if it is really egregious.

Chad

Im only if it is egregious too... unfortunately that is alot

jmac

35 helpful flags

Chad

1:08 AM

i have like 400 and i was flag banned until a few months ago :p

jmac

400 flags? Yikes.

jcmeloni

1:21 AM

@Chad you only have 11 more than I do, then. :) But then again for 10 months I was a mod and didn't flag. Does that even out then? Surely you weren't flag banned for that long. I am a big fan of flags.

jmac

What are you guys flagging? Mostly I usually flag: spam, very low quality, and not an answer

Jim

3

Q: At what point is it appropriate to approach management about an uneven workload distribution?

I'm a web developer who works primarily building clients' sites and web apps. At least, that's what I was hired for. There are 3 developers at this shop, and 2 "piles" of work, new development and maintenance. We build sites using a CMS (Content Management System); we train the clients in the us...

Made an attempt to clean it up a bit (pull out the ranting)

but the OP seems to be an anonymous user, so I doubt he'll give any feedback

so y'all should feel free to criticize/improve on my effort

@jmac A lot of flags are comment flags

chatty/not constructive, obsolete (editing tends to do that)

jmac

Ah, I almost never flag comments. Unless offensive. Perhaps I should start doing that more.

Jim

we've fortunately not had too many offensive comments

a couple borderline rude

or straight-out rude

jmac

There are a few every now and again (I had a marvelous one for removing a smilie a few days ago)

Jim

1:33 AM

but I feel like "not constructive" is preferable to "rude/offensive"

or maybe it's just more polite?

@Chad I try to handle at least a few flags every day, but traffic is generally low

rarely into double digits

and if I see another mod has taken some kind of action (comment or edit) on a flagged post, I'll hold off on touching it at all for a bit

I'm at 86 helpful flags; don't see that increasing anytime soon....

jmac

I just wish we had a few more really active users.

Jim

I'm not sure I can flag, actually

I'm not as active as I used to be, but I am on every day

well, every weekday, at least

usually at least once per weekend, but traffic is much lower then, anyway

jmac

Yeah, we die over the weekend.

I checked the stats and have them sitting somewhere, but our questions/answers per day plummet during the weekend

enderland

2:14 AM

@jmac I used to flag comment chains which should be cleaned up

I only have 186 helpful flags, but probably nearly none in the past... few months :\

enderland

2:34 AM

@jmac RIP Workplace.

jmac

@enderland I have the data, but questions fall off the cliff over the weekend

enderland

ooh so you weren't being prophetic saying we're going to die this weekend? :-)

jmac

@enderland Maybe I should move in to prophecy... Sounds lucrative.

Chad

4:02 AM

@jcmeloni yes I was flag banned pretty much immediately after we got mods

@Jim I know you do. And I get it that when all the flags you see are mine its hard not to think I am too strict. Which is why I said we need more people flagging so that the mods know it is not just one person with the problem with the posts

But more than handling flags we need mods as an active presence guiding the users not to make bad posts. When it is just the few of us it sounds like afew people whining that diamond adds cred

@jmac not just weekends over night in the US slows down alot

jmac

4:53 AM

@Chad Not even comparable. here is June to August.

(all times UTC)

jmac

6:32 AM

(by UTC I mean "whatever the API uses" which I assume is UTC but may not be right about)

Yannis Rizos

7:57 AM

5

Q: Community Promotion Ads - 2014

It's the time of the year again, namely it is December 2013, and so we shall now refresh our Community Promotion Ads for the new year. What are Community Promotion Ads? Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purp...

discussion community-ads

1

A: Community Promotion Ads - 2014

A Workplace ad could work there ^^^, something similar to Mark's Robotics one. If you can (somehow) make it feel a bit relevant to Programmers, even better.

e.g. "Resume trouble? Try Workplace Stack Exchange" (don't use that, it's stupid).

CMW

9:01 AM

-1: Voting to close because answers depend on the recipient's culture as well as the context of the relationship. — Jim G. 10 hours ago

Isn't this true for most question regarding navigating the workplace?

Jim G.

11:55 AM

@CMW: Perhaps, but the following questions are *especially* dependant on culture and context:

`Is it disrespectful to address them by their first name in an initial email to them?

Perhaps as a counterquestion, would addressing them such as _Mr. Doe_ seem a bit cold and unfriendly?`

"Disrespect" and the quality of being "cold" are relative, subjective, and truly dependent on culture and context.

jcmeloni

@Chad I did not know that (as a mod at that time, I don't remember rejecting any number of flags that would've gotten anyone banned, either).

Chad

12:19 PM

@jcmeloni It wasnt you dont worry. And I do not hold any grudge over it.

@YannisRizos So do you want to whine and rant about your job? Visit Workplace SE!

3

@JimG. Stating the -1 has been declared rude. meta.workplace.stackexchange.com/q/338/16

2

Yannis Rizos

12:57 PM

Can a Workplace mod post a "Hey, we are a Q&A site, not a forum" comment here please?

Jim

1:49 PM

@YannisRizos no point. The user won't even be able to see it.

enderland

-2

Q: Different ways of numbering desks in offices

Can somebody please give me some ideas on how to number desks in offices with generally large floors? What is the best way of maintaining it? Thank you!

work-environment

Maybe you work for my company too. We have a mess for this and it's impossible to find desks in the main building because it makes no sense whatsoever. — enderland 6 secs ago

gnat

2:11 PM

2

Q: Where would I ask a question about managing a team of developers?

Is there a stack exchange Q&A site for the management of teams of developers?

support site-recommendation

some think it would be OK here, would it?

Workplace.stackexchange.com or pm.stackexchange.com spring to mind. — Martijn Pieters yesterday

enderland

0

A: Where would I ask a question about managing a team of developers?

Is there a stack exchange Q&A site for the management of teams of developers? If your questions relate to more general management, The Workplace (link) is your best bet. If it will be very specific to developers, Programmers is best as shown here. Note that in my experience with both sites...

Yannis Rizos

3:05 PM

@Jim I... wasn't being serious ;)

Calling the site a forum is the least of the problems that piece of crap has.

enderland

3:38 PM

@YannisRizos I know, where's the call out against me. I feel like a haterrade post without @Chad and me just misses the point here.

Jim G.

@YannisRizos LOL!

@Chad Not really. Many (and I mean many) people demand an explanation for their -1. [Did I say "many"? ;) ]

enderland

@JimG. the point is more to not even say "-1" in those sorts of comments

@Chad I get asked about almost all P.SE migrations here

not all, but most :)

Jim

4:22 PM

@YannisRizos I realize that now

I had just gotten out of bed when I saw that this morning

running on empty

enderland

I don't understand the hate on this question. If someone was a web developer you'd expect to show their portfolio during an interview. If you write apps for Google Glass I can see a very legitimate question being, "is it appropriate to wear them to an interview?" as there are all sorts of reasons why you could and easily would think it's appropriate. — enderland 12 secs ago

I edited this to make it a bit more appropriate for the site and make it more of a question than just a "what do you think?" type poll as these are not a good fit for the site. — enderland 59 secs ago

Chad

4:41 PM

@JimG. The explanation is not the problem including -1 is.

@enderland Consider my statement to be the slap for the ones they dont... I dont think it is Yannis doing the bad migrations

@enderland I really think we need to eliminate the Primarily opinion based close reason from here.

enderland

yeah it's a dumb reason to close questinos

Chad

4:56 PM

I think its more intended for questions that are what do you think but it can be so broadly applied it has become "I do not like this question and want it closed"

2

I think we should create our own version of SE and rule them like Ceasar!

Chad

8:04 PM

-3

Q: Getting into the software development field

I apologize if this isn't the right subform for this, but I would like some advice. I am planning on pursuing a software development/programming career, but I'm not sure about the specifics of actually getting started aside from an obvious bachelor's degree in CS. I am currently attending Job Co...

software-industry careers

4 down votes on a new user post... I hate our users!

Chad

8:39 PM

@Jim Thank you :)

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