The Water Cooler

Richard U

03:38

@MaskedMan you may want to consider throwing your hat in the ring. The haters are out in force.

Masked Man

04:04

@RichardU I will, I haven't got to it yet. I was in bed when the nomination started.

Feeds

05:37

0

Q: Please reopen questions that I edited?

Thanks to comments, I've edited and improved the closed questions beneath. Can they please be reopened? I welcome recommendations for more improvement! Thanks. How do I tactfully tell someone that someone else continually provides wrong information? How can I tactfully insist on communicating wi...

Richard U

05:49

@MaskedMan It seems like I'm going to be the scapegoat. You could probably get elected while I serve as the hate-sink

Snow

This is a good way of seeing what people actually think of you, as opposed to what you think about yourself.

Richard U

@Snow Well, one was expected, the second is on a crusade against me. Which is good to know.

Snow

Don't be too downhearted, - Trump has more haters than you....

Richard U

Richard's Rule number #34 is in play: Watch what others accuse you of doing or being, ind doing so, they name their own crimes

@Snow Oh, I'm not down-hearted at all. Just a bit disappointed in one of the people. I had tried to be friendly and understanding to that one, but he seems intent on going full-on blinded by hate towards me. As I said, it's good to know.

I have to get up in four hours, and the killer insomnia strikes again.

Snow

Go out for a walk. Fresh air might do some good.

Richard U

06:01

@Snow It's chronic and related to somnophobia. I've had it since 1987 when I lost four family members.

Eventually, it will catch up to me and I'll pass out one evening this week

Masked Man

06:13

@RichardU I will share some of your burden pretty soon. :)

Richard U

:D

Masked Man

I am not so sure it is a good idea to bring up a candidate's contributions on other sites.

Would we consider the candidate's "positive" contributions on other sites if they weren't making particularly good contributions here? I pretty much doubt it, so why should the "negative" contributions elsewhere be used to bring a candidate down?

Richard U

@MaskedMan yeah, the vitriol surprised me.

Masked Man

Oh I see you have been making great contributions to Pets.SE for 5 years and have a good standing there, but you joined Workplace.SE just last week, so here you go, you are good to be our moderator. Nah, don't think so.

Snow

Kind of annoying that you can't flag the comments on the election page.

Masked Man

06:23

At this point, Chris E is undoubtedly the frontrunner. However, I was disappointed to see no comments at all on his nomination. So this nomination phase is focussed more on "How can we bring these guys down" rather than "How can we encourage more people to vote for the best guy".

Richard U

@MaskedMan Well, if you want your employees to beg, roll over, and play dead.

@MaskedMan well, there does seem to be SOME pushback. Plus, it''s giving me practice on how I'll have to act if I'm made a mod.

Chris would be good, regardless, no shame in losing to him.

Masked Man

Yeah I agree with that. It also helps me reflect on some of my own past actions, and how I would improve on them, regardless of whether I get elected.

Richard U

@MaskedMan Well, as the saying goes, a man with no enemies is no man at all.

Masked Man

We should use our energies to spread more positivity than negativity. We are more or less a group of unpaid volunteers who are working together to help people. Somehow when good things are done, we just take them for granted, but when bad things happen, we have to announce it to the whole world. This is probably not the best way to improve things.

Richard U

@MaskedMan my brother, God rest his soul, used to tell me. "You just bang your head against the wall until the wall comes down." We need to stop saying "ouch" so much.

Well, it's 2:30 in the AM here, and I need to get up at six.... so, I'm going to try to sleep... again.

Masked Man

06:40

Good night

Richard U

07:13

I feel like posting this to meta, but it wouldn't help.....

motosubatsu

10:02

well.. I've nominated myself, let the public humiliation begin!

Snow

I don't think anyone could find a reason to say a wrong thing about you. You're the very embodiment of calm rationality.

motosubatsu

@Snow lol... I'm more like a swan, it might look calm on the surface but it's all chaotic and fraught beneath

glad to see you throwing your name in there @Snow

Snow

Throwing being the operative word.

motosubatsu

@Snow the question is whether it's a frisbee or more like a grenade

and damn it.. you just answered the "tasks I don't like" question in nearly the same way as me, we've got to stop doing that :D

Snow

10:18

Haha. We have a slightly different take on the answer though.

motosubatsu

@Snow you mean about applying for both roles? yeah I'm not really a fan of applying for multiple roles in general, I think it either gets confusing (where the person recruiting for each role is different) or if the same it sort of carries a faint whiff of desperation

Snow

I guess it depends on the hiring manager. But in a case like this, if I had a CV that obviously spread over two roles I'd be generally favourable.

motosubatsu

@Snow this is probably an example where it makes more sense to me then it does normally but I still tend to err on the side of caution

on a topic shift.. wth was going on with some of the bitchy comments on Richard's nomination? feels like "Be Nice" got tossed out of the nearest window!

Snow

I think people are taking advantage of the fact that there's no flagging mechanism on the election page. Any serious voters should really have the maturity/experience to simply ignore the noise and not be led by it. I suspect that haters will attempt to intimidate a candidate into standing down.

motosubatsu

10:35

@Snow yeah or.. as you say because there's no flagging there use it as an opportunity for a cheap shot that would get deleted pretty sharpish anywhere else

Snow

Yeah, I'm not sure if those comments are moderated at all. I'll ask over in the election chat room.

Richard U

@Snow anyone who thinks they can intimidate me is in for a bitter disappointment.

motosubatsu

@RichardU sup fella.. did you manage to get any sleep?

Snow

Or they might just be enticing you into unfavourable behaviour.

Richard U

@motosubatsu about 3 hours, maybe a bit less.

@Snow oh, I know they're trying to get me to lose my cool.

but if I don't take the bait, it makes them look like exactly what they are.

Given the candidates, though, I will be happy with any outcome.

Snow

10:52

And this is only the start of day 1. There's still a week of gauntlet running yet. Or two, if more people stand forward.

Richard U

11:03

@Snow It amuses me, as I know that whoever gets elected, it will perturb the haters

@Snow good answers. BTW, looks like the character assassination is being turned up to 11

Snow

Thanks Richard, I appreciate that. Hopefully those comments will be pruned at some point.

Nice answers from you as well, nothing that I strongly (or even wealky) disagree with there. I purposely didn't read your answers before submitting my own. I'm sure that later candidates might act differently and seek to take the best of other people's work.

Richard U

@Snow I've been a moderator before on other sites. Watch what is going on with the nastiness. You'll get to deal with that if you win. :D

Snow

I've moderated on a large gaming site, and on MS Answers. neither are strangers to trolls and nastiness.

motosubatsu

11:19

@RichardU ouch.. could be worse though hope you manage a decent one sometime this week

Richard U

@motosubatsu yeah, but at least I got to wake up to my haters having an absolute conniption fit. :D

motosubatsu

@RichardU yeah it's like being middle management but the pay is even worse

Richard U

@motosubatsu or Retail management. :D

I see the troops are being called in. :D look at the low-reps of some of the haters.

motosubatsu

@RichardU very true

Richard U

You know that the alarm has been sounded.

Snow

11:24

Ignore the noise.

Richard U

@motosubatsu either way I win. If I win, I win, and if I lose, the haters have exposed themselves with their character assassinations. Ironically, these are some of the very people who are most vocal about there being too much hate and nastiness.

@Snow It's fascinating to people-watch this though.

See, the people ranting the most don't really think I'd be a bad moderator, they don't like what they think I believe. If you look on the questions page, one of them wants me to go back and delete everything he doesn't like.

There is literally no answer I could give. Oh, and it's also not about me, it's about ideology.

@Snow +1 to your answer on meta, BTW

Snow

Likewise. Looks like you have 10 votes now.

Draken

11:39

Came back from holiday just in time for the politics, looking forward to it

Did anyone watch Eurovision this year?

li x

@RichardU I think you've misunderstood, I was challenging your statement. I wasn't exactly against you but some of the things posted by the other user seemed offensive and while browsing through some of your answers they just seemed off. I linked one I read.

Richard U

@lix Probably some of the older ones. Sorry.

li x

Also do you think you have some superiority over low rep users? Pretty childish statement coming for someone one trying to get power..

Richard U

@lix thank you for getting involved

@lix no, this stack has had problems in the past with low-rep users. Most often in the 100-200 pt range.

Especially once a question made it to hacker news

But thank you for bringing that to my attention, perhaps we are a bit TOO wary of low rep users

In all fairness however, @lix anyone with a rep of over 20k here has literally put years into this site, so while I wouldn't say superior, I would say that we have more invested.

li x

You don't have to keep pinging me :-), I just think that kind of attitude will push away users who may genuinely want to find a home on this stack. Do you specifically know why apaul has it in for you?

Draken

12:00

Because of his puckish charm?

Snow

@Draken I missed the Eurovision. It does tend to end pretty late.

Draken

@Snow It was on your timezone this time, but as you said, it did still go onto 23:00 before the winner was announced. Some good songs this year

Snow

I think we were busy watching something else anyway. And we know that we (the UK) never gets much in the way of voting love.

motosubatsu

@RichardU <pendant mode>*Some* of us made it to over 20k in less than a year :P</pedant mode>

put up my answers now

Mister Positive

12:34

@motosubatsu really, who? ;-)

seriously though, to all who put themselves under the microscope, good luck.

motosubatsu

12:51

@MisterPositive thanks fella :)

Richard U

@lix yes, it's just personal. He disagrees with my beliefs, it comes down to that, and sorry. I'm running on 3 hours of sleep. :D

@motosubatsu Show off, LOL!

@Draken puckish charm? LOL. Funny, that's what my SO likes about me. I've been nicknamed "Loki" on other sites, for obvious reasons.

@lix hang out in chat more often if you get the chance. It's a good way to meet and understand the regulars here, and be more comfortable.

motosubatsu

@RichardU I have to take my wins where I can get them :)

Richard U

13:08

@motosubatsu admittedly, it took a while for me to hit my stride

@motosubatsu fantastic answers to the questions!

Mister Positive

gotta answer the questions now.

motosubatsu

@RichardU thanks :) I thought yours were pretty damn great too.. I deliberately didn't read yours and Snow's posts before I wrote mine so as not be influenced. Loved your answer to #2

Mister Positive

I am doing the same. Not reading others answers until I submit my own.

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive welcome aboard the crazy train my friend

Mister Positive

Thank you.

crazy is not my middle name, yet.

Draken

13:22

@MisterPositive It's just your third cousin, twice removed

Richard U

Whips out the Ozzy Ozbourne!

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell

Mister Positive

Does anyone remember when I was Mister Sort Of Positive?

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive sort of

Richard U

lix asked some good questions.

motosubatsu

13:24

@MisterPositive nice nomination blurb btw

Mister Positive

@motosubatsu thanks. I am not that good of a writer so it takes me eons.

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive your writing is fine IMO.. mine took me fraking ages because when I wrote it initially it was 2000+ characters over the limit. Took me forever to trim it enough to fit! :D

Richard U

@MisterPositive I remember mister sort of positive, but I've got something of an eidetic memory

Mister Positive

13:39

Will be interesting to see what comments my nomination and Q/A generates..

li x

That's a positive edit, I upvoted @RichardU

Mister Positive

you are not able flag comments on the candidate Q/A?

I mean the nomination page...

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive apparently not

Richard U

@lix honestly, I didn't even see how that came across until you pointed it out, thank you. The edit is how I intended it to come across.

li x

I'm going to remove my comments as for the most part after doing more digging your answers are generally sensible and well informed and I don't really intend to join the crowd throwing you to the wolves.

Richard U

13:53

@lix thank you, I really appreciate that.

motosubatsu

@lix the wolves will be relieved.. they know his reputation :)

Mister Positive

@RichardU I have a feeling that same wolf will be at more doorstep momentarily.

Richard U

@motosubatsu SPLORT

@MisterPositive Shintoism recognizes some 800,000 deities. I'm wondering how many I must have offended to wind up with that wolf's teeth buried so deeply in my neck.

Mister Positive

@RichardU I'm guessing all of them. ;-)

Richard U

@MisterPositive that sounds about right.

Snow

14:06

All except the vegatarian ones. They'll just lick you instead.

Richard U

@Snow I should just shove my head into my oven (preheated to 400 degrees) it would be quicker. Who knows, after a fashion, I may even come to enjoy it.

li x

How do you guys even find the time to answer question regularly, I just find myself answering the odd question on my lunch break.

Snow

@RichardU You'll be warm at least.

@lix We use Alt-Tab a lot.

Richard U

@lix LOL, what @Snow said. I also have no personal life.

motosubatsu

@RichardU make sure to put your feet in the freezer, that way on average you'll be comfortable

Mister Positive

14:22

Answers posted...

motosubatsu

@lix same as @Snow and @RichardU for me. I find by not having distractions such as friends, loved ones or hobbies I can remain laser-focused on posting answers mere minutes after @Snow posts much the same thing

2

li x

lmfao.

Mister Positive

@motosubatsu I thought you were copying my answers...if you win my guess is you will have less time to answer questions.

Snow

If anyone answers with "Ask your manager", then you're copying Mr Positive. If anyway says "HR is not your friend", then you're copying Richard. Simple as that.

Mister Positive

@Snow I would argue that, except its true.

motosubatsu

14:41

@MisterPositive shhh!

:D

Mister Positive

@motosubatsu Nice answers sir.

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive thank you.. and yourself, I really liked "This issue belongs to us all" in your answer to #2

so very true!

Snow

Wow. An English language chat flag just popped up. I don't think I've ever seen a flag that wasn't Russian.

motosubatsu

@Snow I've seen a few in spanish

only a couple in english though

and they were all super boring

Snow

Siberian Hamsters?

Mister Positive

14:52

@Snow How do you come up with this stuff....

Richard U

There were a few times when the math chat went berserk to the point of crashing chat.

motosubatsu

@Snow are you sure they weren't Campbell's Russian dwarf hamsters? I'm told that they are difficult to tell apart for the layperson

Snow

Siberian Hamsters are common in Spain. Barcelona especially.

Richard U

@Snow are Spanish hamsters common in Siberia?

Snow

You poor BBC deprived fool.....

Richard U

15:00

@Snow I'm actually a huge fan of the BBC. Where would we be without Doctor Who? The East Enders, Life on Mars, Being Human, and of course, BBC News.

motosubatsu

@RichardU "The East Enders" <- bless your little American heart :D

Snow

Reach back in the archives. Seek out Fawlty Towers. Better yet, look for League of Gentlemen.

motosubatsu

also I hope you refer to the UK version of Life on Mars the weird offspring of an acid trip and a train wreck that was the US version doesn't bear thinking about

@Snow good shouts.. may i humbly suggest adding "Red Dwarf" to the list

Richard U

@motosubatsu I would not dare refer to the pale retread that was the American version of Life on Mars.. or being human for that matter.

Snow

The older series, not the newer.

motosubatsu

15:04

@RichardU Good man.. on both fronts. Being Human (UK) stands as a classic IMO, and the ending is sheer, despicable genius

@Snow agreed.. I've seen some of the newer stuff and while it's okay.. it is not the 'Dwarf of old

Richard U

@Snow Trivia about Fawlty Towers. Graham Chapman had given an interview right before John Cleese left where he mentioned that he was gay. An angry viewer wrote in saying that one of them had done that, but she didn't know who. Eric Idle wrote back saying "we found out who it was, and we killed them" Graham wondered if she ever took a head count and noticed John was missing.

Snow

And to really learn about the English, you'll want "The Good Life".

Richard U

@motosubatsu Ah yes, Red dwarf! "Emergency, emergency...... there's still an emergency"

ACE RIMMER RULES!

Snow

Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

motosubatsu

@Snow stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas

Richard U

15:07

Can anyone guess that I'm a bit of an Anglophile?

Mister Positive

@Snow is kipper fish?

Richard U

@MisterPositive yes

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive yep.. specifically it is a herring

you take the whole fish, split it from mouth to tail, spread it out flat and then smoke it. Commonly served for breakfast

Mister Positive

@motosubatsu gross

Richard U

@MisterPositive try it pickled some time.

Mister Positive

15:10

even worse...

motosubatsu

@MisterPositive I've never actually tried one myself

interesting trivia though.. its the origin of the term "red herring"

Snow

You don't smoke it like a cigar. You smoke it in a shed that has a fire in it.

Richard U

@motosubatsu my grandfather loved smoked herring.

Mister Positive

@Snow Believe it or not, I really did know that.... ( like a cigar, LOL )

Richard U

@motosubatsu yes, as legend goes, a man was leaving an area with a wheelbarrow with some red herring in it. did it repeatedly and they thought he was stealing fish. He was stealing wheelbarrows.

Can this Question be saved? I edited it, but it still seems to broad

0

Q: Switching career: advice for new place

I spend four years in a multinational organisation as an engineer, mostly in process engineering and food technology. I have decided to follow my passion and change my career to software engineering at a different company. I have been continuously maintaining and improving my SE skills so this ...

new-job career-switch

motosubatsu

15:14

@RichardU I feel the specific nature of it being during a career change does narrow it down somewhat

there might be some hope in an edit that focused on that aspect

Draken

Going on old drawfer quotes, one of my favourite to this day was:
"Go to red alert"
"Are you absolutely sure sir, that does mean changing the bulb?"

motosubatsu

@Draken It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere, I'm all alone, more or less!

Draken

And link for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa_gZ_7sdZg

Chris E

16:36

finally got my Q&A posted

Richard U

16:47

@ChrisE +1 for your efforts :D

Masked Man

18:33

I posted my answers as well. :D

I will probably post my "nomination" tomorrow.

li x

Hey masked man I take it your a naruto fan? Been keeping up with boruto?

Masked Man

@lix Yeah, I do read the manga. I don't like it that much though. Compared to Akatsuki, this new group of villains Kara or whoever they are seem pretty mediocre.

Nzall

19:01

Do any of you remember like 2 months ago when I talked about that headhunter company that was sending me opportunities even though I clicked the unsubscribe link several times AND sent multiple replies with subject Unsubscribe?

They sent me another mail today

So I looked up their public info email and sent them a clear mail that states I've tried to unsubscribe multiple times and that this was the final time I sent them the mail, and at the same time requesting the removal of my personal data in accordance with the EU right to be forgotten and the GDPR

Chris E

19:19

@RichardU lol, "for your efforts" sounds suspiciously close to "at least you tried" ;)

Carpetsmoker

I had a lot of problems with a headhunter company a few years ago, they kept calling my mobile at 10pm(!!!)

As well as emailing

Took me a lot of efforts and CCs to CEO/CFO/anyone else in management to get them to stop

I don't get it, because the service they did originally was actually pretty good (I didn't end up getting a job through them, but that wasn't their fault), but due to this nonsense I will not be likely to ever use them again in the future

We've had similar "mandatory data removal" laws in the Netherlands for as long as I can recall @Nzall; but usually companies don't really act on requests. I'm skeptical it will be different with GDPR

Nzall

@Carpetsmoker It will once they find out they can get fined for it.

Carpetsmoker

Maybe. I hope so

li x

20:06

I very recently had the CEO of a startup send me a twitter DM, didn't know if I should be horrified or be over the moon

Chris E

horrified

Mister Positive

20:32

@ChrisE agreed. horrified

Richard U

@Carpetsmoker I had that happen with a pesky recruiter once. He got some rather interesting subscriptions. We don't know how that happened.

Mister Positive

@RichardU So far my Q and A had been much gentler than yours.

Richard U

@MisterPositive My colonoscopy was gentler than that Q&A

Mister Positive

@RichardU LOL for real, getting some odd looks...

Richard U

@ChrisE LOL, no I mean it was great.

Mister Positive

20:36

@ChrisE That made mine look bad...I will be re-vamping tonight... ;)

Richard U

@MisterPositive yeah, I'm pretty much done. But it is interesting to see the mob mentality in action.

Mister Positive

yep it can get ugly...

Chris E

@MisterPositive Not my intent. :) I didn't read any answers or even pre-read the questions. I didn't want to over-think it. Also, you have to remember, I did the electiion last year too so this isn't new. There were different questions but not really.

Mister Positive

@ChrisE its okay. I think you will win anyway followed by snow. ( my predictions )

Richard U

@ChrisE you're going to get voted in, it's just a matter of which of the remaining ones (excluding me) get in. I won't because I'm being targeted and there's enough mud being slung to make sure I don't get in.

Mister Positive

20:46

@RichardU Remember I said Chris and Snow first!

I should get a cookie if I am right @RichardU

Richard U

Mister Positive

@RichardU This sir is a lie. just like the cookie lie for passing 40K

Richard U

Well, regardless, I'm going to be happy with the outcome as we will have two very qualified mods who I will have every confidence in.

li x

Yikes

I feel like I went overboard on answer that question

Everyone else wrote a single paragraph :/ maybe I'm adding too much to my answers, my smaller concise answers tend to do better overall

Richard U

@lix the answer needs to be as long as it needs to be. Don't second guess yourself. For some reason, the answers I've written while irritated, which I thought would get voted into oblivion have been some of my highest rated.

Just answer honestly and to the best of your ability, and you'll do fine.

li x

20:51

Some good advice

Richard U

@lix yeah, I'm not so scary once you get to know me ;)

li x

You seem polite and reasonable from out interactions so far :-)

Richard U

@lix well, I'm not being provoked now. :D

Mister Positive

@lix stick around.... ;-}

Richard U

(not by you, but I was in a bad mood earlier)

li x

20:56

haha I guess we'll have to see :-)

Richard U

@lix chat really is the best way to get a feel of the place.

li x

I think I'm going to push for 20k points here in my spare time, I do like the general topics on here.

Mister Positive

damn someone downvoted my Q and A...I will be working on that a bit more later tonight...

DarkCygnus

Hello guys whats up.

li x

that's a bad feel mister positive, but ey it happens :p

Mister Positive

20:59

@lix yep, I bet I know who too. LOL

DarkCygnus

Remember I told you my mother was ill? I wanted to share with you that she passed away this Sunday. I know some of you have had your losses recently, and even though we are virtual peers I like the chats we have here.

For such reasons, is that I won't be running for the mod spot although I said I was planning to. Bu hey, we got already many great candidates :)

Catch you later

li x

Stay strong @DarkCygnus :-)

Richard U

@MisterPositive Look at the downvotes I've gotten. They're next to the tar and feathers

@DarkCygnus I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my mother in 1998. My thoughts and prayers are with you

li x

@MisterPositive I think you got this question, short and sweet brings it in ey. +1

Richard U

AAAAAAAAAND art of code just slammed me. LOL! I think I'm dead, Jim

oh, must... resist... the... urge... to... snark.

LOL

@MisterPositive yeah, it looks like it's going to be Chris and Snow. Two great additions. I'm thinking of just dropping out. I'm starting to remember why I stopped being a mod

Mister Positive

21:19

@RichardU I am not dropping out it is way to early for that...

@RichardU What, where?

damn now two down votes...

ArtOfCode

@RichardU This... is what concerns me. Quite honestly, I'd love to see you come back to me having thought about my comment and come up with an intelligent response - either "you're right, this is what I'm going to do", or "you're wrong, and here's why I think that". Suggesting that you'd rather snark and joke about it instead is... not encouraging.

Chris E

remember, we're not in the election phase yet. It's still early.

Mister Positive

@ChrisE agreed. way to early.

Chris E

21:36

For instance, last year I got 6 upvotes and no dowvotes in the questions. Lilienthal got 8 up and 4 down votes and then went on to beat me by a 2:1 ratio. So as Yogi Berra liked to say, "It's not over until it's over"

11

Q: 2017 Moderator Election Q&A - Questionnaire

In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected from an earlier thread have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as the space for the candidates to provide their answers. There was a multiway tie for the last few questi...

discussion election

Mister Positive

@ChrisE Yes sir....I don't recall seeing as much activity last time from other site users though. IPS has definitely been felt.

Chris E

I don't do IPS so maybe that's why I haven't had much tension directed at me.

Mister Positive

@ChrisE mine hasn't been bad, but I would wager my two down votes are from that community....I forgot virtually anyone can vote in our moderator election...

li x

22:20

tfw webpack makes your express server 6.4kb

Feeds

23:41

0

Q: Are these tags on reopening and closing duplicates?

Are the tags beneath in this question duplicates? Ought some be removed?

discussion reopen-request close-reasons closing reopening

Transcript for