Hub of Reason

Jamiec

11:11

@Randy - Ive deleted your answer as it does not fulfill the minimum requirements of an answer. If you still wish to discuss please do start a meta post. Im sorry you do not agree with the policies here - we're always open to discussion and id like to think there is no "clique" of any sort.

ChrisW

11:26

I wish someone wise, would help with getting Can something like 'Soylent' really work? on hold to work. The OP is new and trying hard ... and I think there 'should' be a good question in there somewhere about the topic, a way to ask it well ... and I've tied to help, but it seems that I am too nit-pickity or something to do it well.

Randy

11:39

@Jamiec I was in the process of replying to Sklivvz when you deleted it. Excellent timing. Its ok. I'm glad to have washed my hands of that thread, rather than treating the symptoms, we've gotten to the root of it. Thanks for applying the antibiotic.

ChrisW

@Randy SE is a social site where you're not allowed to be social. Yeah, awesome idea. IIRC, Stack Overflow was meant to be a reference site (not a social site): you have a specific programming problem, you type it into Google, you find the relevant Stack Overflow question, read the top-voted or accepted answers, and you're done. People go there to/for work (theoretically).

Randy

@Jamiec Oh, and no clique? You don't see how "its your way or the highway" forms a clique? Wow

@ChrisW Then why have pics, bios, etc?

@ChrisW You don't need to know where I live, what I like to do, what I look like, where my webpage looks like, etc to find your answer.

@ChrisW People are social. Maybe programmers aren't. But People are. You can try to bend the laws of nature and shove a square peg in a round hole if you want. Hope you like pushing long and hard. I'm not the first and won't be the last to have issues.

Jamiec

Actually @Randy that should read "Its many-many-people-who-have-struggled--long-and-hard-over-how-best-to-steer-this-site-and-try-to-make-it-a-better-place-than-all-the-other-skeptical-sites-on-the-internet or the highway". But that's a bit long winded. Honestly, what makes you so special that you insist you're right and everyone else is wrong? Mods didnt make the rules, we just try to enforce them as evenly as we can while remaining human!

ChrisW

Hope you like pushing long and hard. Not much. I met a Young Friend (i.e. a child of Quakers) in my teens, who said, "I'll discuss anything with anyone. But if it turns into an argument, then I'll just say "You're right" and walk away." There's a seminal FAQ: When is it appropriate to “be a dick” on Skeptics? Q&A on meta, which I found reasonable/acceptable.

Randy

@Jamiec Because I look at the evolution of social sites online. Forums have evolved into a plug n play format now. This "forum" is the oddball trying to fight the rules of evolution.

Jamiec

11:50

Please enlighten us. What are "Social sites"? And how is SO, or any SE site a "Social site"?

Randy

@ChrisW walking away is perfectly acceptable.

Jamiec

I'll answer that for you. This isn't a social site. This is a QA site. You ask questions you get answers..... wait, im wasting my time this has already been explained to you above you just choose to ignore it

Randy

@Jamiec Here is one freeforums.org

Jamiec

That is a forum. SE is not a forum. Next

Randy

@Jamiec Then explain why people have avatars with pics, bios, etc

Jamiec

11:52

FFS really?? that is what makes this "social"?

Randy

@Jamiec If you can't see the connection, then I'm taking Chris' advice.

Jamiec

good for you.

Randy

Can't explain to a blind mand what colors look like.

Jamiec

Thanks for stopping by.

Randy

Have fun with your square pegs

ChrisW

11:56

@Randy You don't need to know where I live -- It wouldn't hurt. Your recent comment alleging that all holistics have a conspiracy theory about drug companies had me wondering whether your views are USA-based. But again, IIRC, the profile page was a sop to people who want to advertize their personal views. It means that people ...

... can say, "Don't put your tag-line/email address/signature at the bottom of your every answer: if you want to do that, put it on your profile page, which people can look at if and only if they want to."

ChrisW

12:09

@Randy This "forum" is the oddball trying to fight the rules of evolution. I think it wants to be different. It can't please everyone, obviously.

Randy

12:35

@ChrisW I really don't see what it would hurt to allow comments. Every other page online encourages them. Yes, SE has comments "for clarification", but only half of the time does a comment fit that. Its obvious people want to say more. Its also obvious the rule isn't always enforced. Usually the rule is enforced for personal reasons, rather than for the sake of the rule (ie censorship).

@ChrisW I mean, didn't you comment to me with a suggestion on sancho's answer? How does that ask for clarification or in any way help sancho make a better answer? See? People would like to talk freely.

ChrisW

@Randy Clearly comments are allowed: requests for clarification, etc. There may be topics about it on meta. I commented to you because, because you asked Sancho a question which he didn't reply to ... and because you're new I'm trying to help you fit in. I needed a lot 'training' myself when I was new: I posted unreferenced, common-sense answers ... people asked me politely to provide referenced answers, deleted my worse answers ...

Randy

@ChrisW If comments are allowed, that makes it a social site, surely, no? Because now we're not asking for clarification or trying to better the answer, but we're making conversation loosely attached to the topic at hand.

ChrisW

... and eventually I started to conform/understand, to provide answers which I hope are now a better fit for this site's/community's requirements. Some people do like to talk freely, but, not everyone wants to hear/read everything (so, there is moderation, practised by the users and enforced if necessary by the highest-rep users and moderators who can delete inappropriate content).

Randy

@ChrisW If someone doesn't want to read something, they can choose not to read it. However if I want to read something that has been deleted, I have no choice in the matter.

ChrisW

Also, come comments are more ephemeral ... temporarily interesting to the people discussing them, but boring to people who will come by in the future. Those comments, apparently, moderators may allow to stet for a day or two and then delete them.

Randy

12:48

And if this is a community-run site, why should the community be asked to conform? It doesn't make sense.

"Interesting" is subjective. How do mods know what I will like to read?

ChrisW

Yup. Well excuse me, I have done discussing it for now (have work to do). I actually came to chat, to ask if anyone wise could help to improve the skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17347/… question.

Randy

@ChrisW I went to read that link and found instead of reading that huge mass of text, I scrolled straight for the comments. Invariably the comments will be more interesting than the formal question.

user35386

15:46

@Randy Comments are allowed, but only for clarification. That makes it a very limited form of social engagement, it doesn't make it "a social site". Stackexchange isn't a discussion forum. Even if it fits into what you call a "social site", it has chosen to use comments for a limited form of discussion: clarification of questions or answers. It has chosen to push discussion into chat rooms. These were not community decisions. These were decisions of Stack Exchange Inc., the company.

2

user35386

@Randy Just because people want to talk freely doesn't mean that the main stackexchange websites is the place to do it.

user35386

@ChrisW Tried a suggestion for @Gabe. My suggestion basically matches the change you made to the new user faq yesterday.

Gabe

23:41

Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop by and thank you all for the help with my question (http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17347/is-soylent-a-nutritionally-complete-shake).
I had a tough time trying to get it up to standards, but I liked the results (although it wasn't authored by me)

Thanks

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