The Bridge

bwarner

6:00 PM

@Mana Nope, it looks right in the quote, and on the question itself. Just wrong in chat.

Mana

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

lemmeh check MSO

either way clearing your cache will probably fix it since that fixes everything without fail always

trust me, I'm an expert on these things

badp

@CRoss I see you saw the interesting bit; also, uh, mine?

Arda Xi

Oh, that's what the fuss is about. @Mana is right, @tzenes is wrong. Next case!

tzenes

and now everyone downvotes me :(

well screw you guys, that quote was hilarious

badp

@tzenes I demand linkage!

tzenes

6:03 PM

mana just linked

bwarner

@tzenes Probably your first downvoted answer ever

Mana

@badp right up there

Arda Xi

3 mins ago, by Mana

-2

A: Keyboard with macros support from Blizzard

DATELINE TARSONIS SECTOR Reports have been coming in of Blizzard banning players. Pros can't be reached for comment, and Noobs are holding on for their dear lives. We have confirmed reports that users have been banned So i was banned last friday for using "Third party" hardware that cre...

tzenes

@bwarner no, tons of people downvote me

Mana

fine Arda gets the fancy schmancy quote

2

Arda Xi

6:03 PM

@tzenes On meta, possibly. But it's spam on the main site.

tzenes

but usually the fact that I get the correct answer outweighs that

bwarner

@Mana Clearing cache and refreshing did not fix the problem

badp

@tzenes fixed.

Mana

@bwarner Whaaaaaaaaaat? Impossible.

tzenes

haha, thanks @badp

badp

6:05 PM

@Mana Shhh, you still have the "unexpected reboot" and "reisntall Windows" cards!

bwarner

@tzenes OK, your first answer with a negative score then. The rest of us can only see the total, not the individual votes

Arda Xi

@badp Nice demonstration of why CW was made mod-only. ;-)

badp

@bwarner +1/-4

tzenes

oh I forgot thats like a 5k privilage or somethign

badp

@ArdaXi CW for answers is available to users too, only mods can force it onto other people however.

bwarner

6:06 PM

Must be 10K, if it was 5K I would have it

Arda Xi

@badp Oh, yeah, you're right. Nice demonstration of why it should be, then.

tzenes

gaming.stackexchange.com/privileges/view-vote-counts

Mana

You guys sure? I can see individual upvote/downvote tallies by clicking on the number.

tzenes

its a 1K

Mana

And I'm only at 4k.

badp

6:07 PM

@Mana Yeah, it's a 1k privilege.

Mana

ah

pretty chill

bwarner

Oh, I guess I just didn't know how to do it then. Never mind

badp

also it's not secret at all, the numbers are available all over the place if you know where to look

C. Ross

hmmm, I closed the window and re-opened and now @Mana is weird. His icon this time too

badp

@CRoss right click on the weird image, copy image address and paste here please

tzenes

6:08 PM

I still think my answer is awesome, and anyone who downvotes it is not my friend and no longer invited to my birthday party where there will be cake and a bouncy castle

C. Ross

http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9bed80a3291bbaeec9895a71682173ce?s=32&d=identicon&r=PG

badp

Okay, I get

Mana

that is a weird avat--wait that's my normal avatar

Powerlord

@CRoss I see Mana's normal icon when I visit that link.

badp

http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9bed80a3291bbaeec9895a71682173ce?s=32&d=identicon&r=PG

bwarner

6:09 PM

The funny thing is that in the list of people in the room, tzenes looks right

C. Ross

bwarner

Oh no! It just infected a bunch of people's images as I was typing!

badp

Okay then, it's a problem with Gravatar.

C. Ross

I think it might be Gravatar ...

badp

C. Ross

6:10 PM

yes, that

I like that icon

it's pretty chill

...and indeed, tinyurl sees the generic gravatar as well

Mana

I think I'll make that my new icon

Brant

6:10 PM

Gravatar is wonky! Aaah!

badp

@Mana -1, generic gravatars get hard to distinguish fast

C. Ross

@badp and hard to associate with a name

bwarner

@badp Which is why only I should have one. Then it makes me special

Brant

Yeah, who's this "C." guy?

bwarner

Except for @Raven...

Powerlord

6:11 PM

@Brant That would be... your mother!

badp

If you really want a unique but generic gravatar, go unicornify!

This is @Mana's.

C. Ross

@Powerlord glare

Mana

My unicorn is beautiful.

badp

@Mana All unicorns are beautiful. stares

bwarner

@badp Great, then we'd all look like sjohnston

badp

6:13 PM

It's still the only plan that makes you not look like @TimStone :P

Tim Stone

You say that like identifying with me is a bad thing :P

bwarner

So, do we think Dragon Age 2 and Portal 2 are going to be enough to kickstart our question volume?

C. Ross

if you get out in front of it, probably

Bob

0

Q: Is it really necessary to have three tags for Plants vs Zombies?

Currently, there are three tags for Plants vs Zombies: plants-vs-zombies, plants-vs-zombies-goty and plants-vs-zombies-series . Do we really need 3 tags for one game? Specially considering the low number of questions in the "goty" and "series" tags.

bwarner

Maybe I should go back and ask questions about some of Portal's challenge levels. I was never any good at the ones that made you limit the number of steps, and I don't know that I got gold on any of the limiting portal ones.

Brant

6:19 PM

I could never figure out how the game counted steps.

bwarner

@Bob Clearly not, just merge them all into the first one

TomWij

@badp: Any specific reason this is CW?

badp

@TomWij because I made it so.

Brant

why?

badp

Because it's mostly a citation/parody, as @tzenes said.

TomWij

6:22 PM

That's an action, that's not reasoning...

@badp: That's not what Community Wiki is for.

Furthermore, it's an off-topci answer about World of Warcraft and the Logitech G19.

badp

It does answer the question, so it belongs on the page.

TomWij

It does not.

The question is:

> What does the bolded statement mean and what macros are supported/provided by this keyboard?

badp

Let me reread

TomWij

How does @tzenes answer that?

bwarner

Maybe I edited it poorly...

TomWij

6:24 PM

Original question was:

> Could you explain, please what does it mean and what are macroses supported/provided by those keyboard?

bwarner

I guess there's an implied question in there about how can such a keyboard be approved if macros aren't allowed?

C. Ross

I don't follow, does Blizzard actually try to ban people for keyboard macros?

Arda Xi

@CRoss Pretty much.

bwarner

According to tzenes's answer, yes.

C. Ross

wth.

Brant

6:25 PM

"macros" is a really lousy term. It can mean:
1) Pressing a button that acts as another button
2) Pressing a button that presses a series of keys in sequence
3) Some kind of automated doohickey that keeps pressing keys over time

badp

@TomWij > @Mana Instead of just linking the one image (which is what it would take to answer the question), I figured I'd put a humorous tone on the whole thing – tzenes 31 mins ago edit

tzenes believes he has answered the question

Arda Xi

@Brant Macro in this context usually refers to 2.

badp

Yeah, I'd assume macro is 2.

C. Ross

how do they detect it? does SC2 rootkit your machine a la Sony?

Brant

@ArdaXi Right, but the screenshot from the Blizzard GM doesn't say what definition they were using when they said "NO"

Powerlord

6:26 PM

@CRoss If it's anything like WoW, yes.

badp

@CRoss Same actions with same relative time distance between each repeated over and over again?

bwarner

I assume they would detect it by seeing that the delay between your presses of keys is always exactly the same.

Arda Xi

@Brant They stated you have to press the key yourself. That means you can't use a macro under any of those definitions.

C. Ross

@badp that would be iffy ...

badp

@ArdaXi No, 1 would work

Powerlord

6:27 PM

Well, OK, rootkit is a bit strong, but WoW does install a monitoring process called Warden as long as WoW is running.

Arda Xi

@badp You're not pushing the W key if you push G1 which pushes W.

badp

Think pressing PrtScreen instead of Command-Control-Shift-3

TomWij

@ArdaXi: It boils down to that one key press should result in one action.

Brant

@Powerlord I wouldn't say it "installs" anything. WoW just watches for other known-evil processes or things going on. Same thing Punkbuster does.

Arda Xi

@TomWij I don't really think 1 is a definition of a macro, though.

It's rather a form of definition 2.

A series of length 1.

TomWij

6:30 PM

@ArdaXi: Yes, so it boils down to that if you only allow 1.

Arda Xi

@TomWij Really, why would anyone disallow 1?

badp

If I decide you must press ← to go right and press → to go left THEN SO BE IT!

Arda Xi

I don't think that's a macro in any but the strictest sense.

TomWij

@ArdaXi: Is this reverse psychology or something? Why would anyone?

Bob

0

Q: General strategy for limited steps Portal levels

One of the challenges in Portal was to try to complete certain levels while taking a minimum number of steps. Obviously this requires good use of portal placement, but I was never able to get anywhere close to the goals. I don't want a walkthrough for the specific levels, but could someone give...

portal

Brant

6:31 PM

Right, now we see why the word "macro" is not good.

Arda Xi

Well then. It's irrelevant, honestly.

@Brant It's good for definition 2, mostly.

Brant

So when someone asks "can I use macros?" and blizzard says "no", it's all kind of useless unless everyone knows what definition of "macro" each party is talking about.

Arda Xi

TomWij

@Brant: One of these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro

Arda Xi

They're actually rather clear, on that count. (Not on their English)

TomWij

6:33 PM

> Keyboard macros and mouse macros allow short sequences of keystrokes and mouse actions to be transformed into other, usually more time-consuming, sequences of keystrokes and mouse actions.

> Source: Wikipedia - Macro (Computer Science)

C. Ross

well, I have to go run a meeting, see y'all later

tzenes

@TomWij It answers the question he should have asked

Ultimately it answers what he wants to know, not what he did ask

what he wants to know is: can I use the macros on this keyboard

because the keyboard is branded by blizzard and blizzard doesn't allow macros he was confused

so what he asked is: what do these keys do if blizzard doesn't allow macros and these look like macros

TomWij

@tzenes: That's not what the question states, it's what you think.

tzenes

what he should have asked is: why does blizzard put promotion on this keyboard when its design conflicts with their ToS

Actually I'm just paraphrasing

TomWij

@tzenes: But it design does not conflict with the ToS, nor did he state that.

tzenes

6:38 PM

Actually it does

you're automating part of it

also people have been banned for that exact keyboard

TomWij

So...

sjohnston

@tzenes That is amazing marketing fail

TomWij

"What macros are supported/provided by this keyboard" is answered by your question? I don't think so.

Powerlord

So... Bacon?

tzenes

@Tom that's because that's not what he wants to know

TomWij

6:40 PM

@sjohnston Uhm... No? Common sense tells me Blizzard does not just brand random keyboards.

tzenes

it is litterally what he wrote, but not what is question is

hey know what macros are, and he knows the keyboard supports them

he's assuming that blizzard allows the keyboard

and for reference blizzard just just brand random keyboards

when we were at blizzcon there were a number of keyboards with macros

TomWij

cough. references? where?

tzenes

and the guys there would say: yeah the branding has nothing to do with the keyboard itself

sjohnston

why just eat bacon, when you can wear it?

badp

@sjohnston Do you want people eating your wears?

TomWij

6:43 PM

@tzenes: Why change your thoughts about the question, when you can just answer it.

tzenes

because if I do I run the risk of actually helping someone

your answer, while accurate to exactly what he said, doesn't help him

Arda Xi

@tzenes That's the reason I will never reach 10k.

Powerlord

@tzenes Activision is greedy and just wants money.

TomWij

@tzenes: How can you tell?

@tzenes: Your answer, based on assumptions which are most likely to be false, doesn't help him. ;-)

tzenes

because your answer doesn't tell him if he can use the macros on that keyboard

and that's really what he wants to know

he bought it, and now he's worried he's going to get banned

TomWij

6:47 PM

@tzenes: Oh, suddenly he bought it too? :-/

tzenes

well maybe he wants to buy it

whatever

you're just quibbling now

that's sort of irrelevant and I kind of suspect you know that

I'm not sure why you're being pedantic about this, clearly you don't agree and that's fine

TomWij

> because your answer doesn't tell him if he can use the macros on that keyboard

This is what I call irrelevant.

Because he doesn't ask for it.

tzenes

right, you disagree that its important

you want to answer the question that he asked, not the question he actually wants an answer to, because you believe there is no difference

I believe there is a difference, that there is the question he wrote and there is the question he wants the answer to

TomWij

answer the question that he asked = the question he actually wants an answer to

tzenes

I know you believe that

you don't have to restate your opinion

TomWij

6:50 PM

It's not an opinion, it's how questions work.

tzenes

actually its not how questions work

see there is this little thing between the question and asking it called; communication

TomWij

If I want to know why your tiny thumbnail is different, then I want to know that and nothing else.

tzenes

and if you're bad at communicating, then its possible what you actually say, and what you want to say are two different things

or if you have faulty assumptions its possible you might ask something that doesn't get you what you want because your assumptions are faulty

TomWij

@tzenes: He clearly states his question.

tzenes

if someone asked me how to get Ultralisks before the 6 minute mark, I'd explain why you can't

badp

6:52 PM

28

Q: Is "Don't do it" a valid answer?

If someone asks how to do XYZ, and you think doing XYZ at all is a Bad Idea, is it valid to post an answer saying so? You aren't answering the question, but instead, arguing the question's validity. You could do this in a comment, but I don't think comments carry enough weight on occasion. For ...

discussion questions answers opinion

tzenes

now you could argue that doesn't answer their question because it doesn't tell you how to do it

TomWij

And see this comment:

badp

TomWij

> But what is the functionality of those macro keys? Those "MACRO" keys for Protoss, Terran, Zerg - what they do?

tzenes

Right because he still thought maybe they were some how leagal

what do they do that they are not bannable offenses

TomWij

6:53 PM

@tzenes Your example is a question for which no solution exists, that is another case.

He twice states that, how is he bad at communicating.

He really wants to know that, he wouldn't ask it again otherwise...

tzenes

actually I think he has a faulty assumption

I think he assumes that the keyboard is not against ToS

because it branded by Blizzard

and thus he's asking how the keys get around that

in reality, it is still against ToS, and the keys don't get around it

Its as if he asked: how do these macro keys get around the ToS?

the answer would be: they don't

I have no clue what you just said

you need to cut down on your pronouns

look, I get you don't agree with me; I get you think he means exactly what he says; I'm just asking you to understand that I don't think he means what he says, that people can say one thing and mean another

and you may think I'm wrong, and downvote me for it, and that's your prerogative, but I still believe that I'm right

TomWij

@tzenes: You take the assumption that I downvoted you. ;-)

tzenes

well I said "may"

TomWij

:D

tzenes

I honestly believe the people who downvoted me did it because they didn't like my joke

TomWij

7:02 PM

I'm dropping this one... I agree the possibility of his thoughts being different, but it's just that the votes and comments make me think otherwise.

Powerlord

7:17 PM

So, time for bacon and chocolate?

or I could start jabbering on about TF2 on the off-chance badp is paying attention.

Anna Lear

I vote for bacon and chocolate.

And coffee.

badp

I am paying attention

I just can't play TF2 right now.

or up to some day before April 12th

(that's why I packed as much TF2 as I could in the prev days)

Powerlord

So, blah blah blah TF2, blah blah blah Heavy can right-click to throw the sandvich or steak which can be picked up by himself or others to heal.

2

Blah blah blah Spy's Ambassador gun can headshot.

Also, bacon and chocolate together... not sure that'd taste too good.

Anna Lear

Anything can be improved with bacon.

badp

@Powerlord The sandwitch, is it now an item you must find/unlock?

brb dinner

Powerlord

7:35 PM

@badp Sandvich is either a random find or achievement unlock. Buffalo Steak Sandvich is a random find.

Bob

0

Q: Perfect 180 turns and aiming

I've noticed when watching some films that some players are able to do instant and perfect 180 degree spins. For example, I come up from behind and start shooting and they instantly spin and are aiming right at me. Is there some kind of a mouse macro that they could be using for this? Is it just ...

call-of-duty-black-ops first-person-shooter

0

Q: Best Addon Setup for a Raiding Shadow Priest

For managing cooldowns and procs. The Empowered Shadows mechanic etc. Right now I'm using doing it all manually but I'd like to start using some addons. Thanks

world-of-warcraft

0

Q: How do you do a melee attack in Just Cause 2?

There's achievements and all kinds of moaning about it on forums, but no-one actually says how you do the darn action itself. Is there a bizarre key combination to press? Do you need a melee weapon? Is there such a thing?

pc controls just-cause-2

0

Q: Killing the High Dragon after the Urn of Sacred Ashes

So I've got my pinch of ashes, and I've got the "I'd like to meet an angry dragon now, please" horn. Having been grilled a couple of times now, I'm curious: a) Do I have to kill the High Dragon? b) If I opt not to do so, can I do it later, once I've found some Tier 10 Asbestos Underpants of Wel...

pc dragon-age-origins

Powerlord

9:01 PM

I left for a meeting for an hour, and only @Bob said anything while I was gone?

Arda Xi

@Powerlord You murdered chat. @Bob is undead.

badp

Zob?

Arda Xi

@badp Z-Bob.

Powerlord

@Bob: Remember when I pretended I was going to murder you?

2

Macha

9:33 PM

Uh-oh. Game Dev Story is even more addictive than Minecraft

sjohnston

@Macha Lies

C. Ross

@Macha raises eyebrow just think, you could be building games instead of playing a game about building games

Macha

I know!

sjohnston

@Macha I felt like after a couple of playthroughs to the "end" where you build your own console and every game is wildly successful, replay gets pretty dull

Macha

Ah, still on my first.

C. Ross

9:38 PM

does Magicka have much replayability?

Grace Note

10:04 PM

Question, @CRoss

LessPop_MoreFizz

@CRoss Depends on how much you enjoy blowing up your friends in co-op modes.

@CRoss Also, there's an expansion due out later this spring.

So, who knows what that'll bring.

Aside from Vietnamese explosion hilarity.

Bob

10:16 PM

0

Q: Good card strategy game for 5 years old boy

My son like thinking games. Is it a good idea to get him play something like MTG (Magic: The Gathering) or Pokemon? I know, MTG is for 13+ years age. What is about Pokemon? Do you know any other games (non computer) that helps to use strategy thinking? Thanks a lot.

pokemon card-game magic-the-gathering card-based young-age

0

Q: sound range in minecraft?

If I hear a skeleton, or a zombie, how far away is he? Obviously he can be right next to me :D But what is the largest possible range? Tnx :)

minecraft

Powerlord

@Bob So... flag for moderator to move to Board and Card Games?

Grace Note

@Powerlord Their policy on recommendations is of a sort

Powerlord

@GraceNote Mmm, good point.

Arda Xi

I wonder how long it would take for passive rep to carry me over to 10k...

Powerlord

You'd think I'd know that about B&CG since I'm apparently the 27th highest person in rep over there on the All time chart.

FallenAngelEyes

10:23 PM

Whoop, apparently 2 other people posted a comment while I was posting my comment on that MtG question >_>

Powerlord

@FallenAngelEyes Aw... here, some bacon ought to cheer you up!

FallenAngelEyes

nom nom nom

badp

10:35 PM

diy.stackexchange.com

Arda Xi

Every design is better than the previous. I'm tellin ya.

sjohnston

That is nice lookin'

Think they'll leave the sketchy Favicon? It actually matches the site pretty well.

oh nevermind, it's updated for me on meta

Arda Xi

10:51 PM

Brant

hello!

A/S/L?

Arda Xi

1

Q: How can we attract exterminators to the site?

The community seems to have a good base of knowledgeable folks when it comes to building and maintaining a home, but questions about exterminating various pests seem to mostly be answered by Google fu. As pest control questions seem to be becoming more and more prevalent, what can we do to attra...

discussion pest-control attracting-users

badp

Howdy

Arda Xi

Best meta question title ever.

Bob

1

Q: Dealing with creepers on a new game.

Some time ago (shortly after Beta 1.3 launched), I started a new minecraft game, and made a little base. (Didn't know about beds yet, so I just waited out the night). Anyway, when light came, I took out a spider and a creeper close to the entrance, and went out to build a tower on top of the base...