The Bridge

8:00 PM

And the second point is that we literally could NOT have answered that question had it been asked at the time of airing.

And there's no guarantee that anything they're even playing exists as an actual game.

user2334

@fbueckert That's the whole point of SE. "My research effort has failed, halp."

fbueckert

@MarkTrapp I don't see many people actually DOING the research effort. It's just, "I found this cool screenshot, and want to play this game. What is it?"

Why should they, when they can just ask us?

user2334

@fbueckert That's not what the question asked.

fbueckert

Heck, we got an ITG today where there was no research effort.

tiddy

Is this some bizarro world where the concepts of teachers, learning, and friendliness are non-existent?

user2334

8:02 PM

@fbueckert Why should anyone ask questions here when they can just spend the time to find the answer themselves?

user2334

Why have SE at all?

Wipqozn

@tiddy Yes.

user2334

@fbueckert At any rate, you seem to have preconceived notions that very few people, if anyone, believe as the basis for acceptable questions: if you want to run those by the community separately, go ahead, but accepting them as a given in an objection to something else is circular

Wipqozn

Friendliness is for the weak.

user2334

So yes, I do think your answer is reasonably addressed.

fbueckert

8:03 PM

@MarkTrapp So we're turning into a glorified Googlebot for pictures.

Awesome.

Brian

Does someone have an accepted answer % for old ITG questions?

Just curious :)

user2334

@fbueckert Sure, if you want to go down the slippery slope and oversimplify the arguments, that's exactly what we are.

fbueckert

@MarkTrapp Take a look at what we've got for Game Identification questions.

We've got one video with zero research effort, one with an easily Googleable picture, and one with promo pics.

Three questions.

Not to mention all the ones that got deleted because people don't read the tag summary.

user2334

@Brian Not on Arqade, but on SciFi, it's like 70%. SE sites in beta are generally in danger of getting shut down if they stay below 90%. ITG proponents argue that you can't take a tag separately, and the high accept rate of the other parts of the site allow leniency for them.

fbueckert

To be fair, I did GIS the promo pics, and didn't find anything.

CodesInChaos

8:06 PM

Personally I enjoy the story identification questions on SF.SE, even if their acceptance rate is a bit low

Wipqozn

Holy crap. EL has a 100% answers rate.

CodesInChaos

and AFAIK acceptance rate isn't important for beta site. It's answer rate, which requires an upvoted answer, not acceptance

user2334

@Wipqozn 99.96%

fbueckert

The best game-identification question has +5, with today's being at -8.

user2334

@CodesInChaos I misspoke; it's 70% answer rate on SciFi ITG. Unanswered in SE parlance is no accepts OR no upvoted answers.

fbueckert

8:08 PM

If you total them all up (which is unfair, I know), we're sitting at a net score of -1.

Brian

The main problem is that people will become experts on given games and then target those games for answering, Since ITG is not a specific game it suffers a problem of not having enough people view it. Either the casual visitors not seeing them because they focus on specific games or since the core users being a smaller set will not actually know the game

fbueckert

@Brian Those that want easy rep will just Google the answers for games they don't play.

Brian

Also poorly written questions

badp

@fbueckert I guess today's question is at -8 mostly because of the game's soundtrack tbh :P

I hope it's called "sleeping cat on midi keyboard"

Brian

Another interesting statistic is how many ITG questions are asked by sub100 rep users

fbueckert

8:10 PM

@badp Personally, I think it's because the poster did exactly what I thought people would do when we allowed them.

9 mins ago, by fbueckert

@MarkTrapp I don't see many people actually DOING the research effort. It's just, "I found this cool screenshot, and want to play this game. What is it?"

Brian

It seems like back when it existed, or even currently the majority of the questions come from one and done users

badp

@fbueckert ...I agree the asker hasn't done much, I just don't know how much you can do here? "crappy japanese shoot-em-up with crappy music and girl spreading legs inside a castle" doesn't really get me anywhere

user2334

The only thing I can think to improve that question is to mention the YouTube video name in the title for SEO

badp

(and surprisingly also doesn't get me porn, I guess I have SafeSearch to safe)

tiddy

@badp Gets me everywhere

user2334

8:12 PM

even though it's in Japanese

fbueckert

@badp Like @MartinSojka said, the game name's in the video title, and any half-assed Google search would've found it.

badp

@fbueckert ...uh, that's something I hadn't thought about

fbueckert

@badp It was in the comments. :P

badp

Why would you answer in the comments? :P

fbueckert

I don't mind helping people figure out what game they're looking at, but c'mon!

user2334

8:13 PM

Oh, if the name of the game is in the title, close it as Too Localized. Don't need to get into the philosophical implications of ITG

fbueckert

At least TRY to find it yourself before finding.

That's PuLiRuLa, it even says so in the title. :) (As comment, since game-identification questions are not welcome here anymore and this one will be closed soon). — Martin Sojka 11 hours ago

@badp Wasn't me; I can't read moonspeak worth a damn.

user2334

At best it's off-topic: we're not a Japanese translation service. Which is what my problem was with some of the questions LessPop mentioned on the Look at this Thing question: they require expertise not about games, but other things. But TL fits more here I think. Not all games have to have romanized names.

James

@badp Drat, someone got to my question before I did

@badp I answer in comments when I dont have/dont feel like looking for supporting information :)

fbueckert

@MarkTrapp And that's why I upvoted your answer; things like identify-this-font or identify-this-song, have, at best, a passing resemblance to actually playing games.

badp

@James eh, here Sonja thought the question would be closed.

Personally I think we're making much ado out of how many questions per year?

tiddy

8:18 PM

5-10 a day @ my estimate

Martin Sojka

@James I answer in comments when I don't see the question being good for the site (or at all), but still feel like being helpful.

badp

@tiddy your order of magnitude of your order of maginitude of your estimation is off

I see 4 GI questions total plus 16 deleted

Many of these aren't GI even

fbueckert

@badp And one of the undeleted ones is already closed.

badp

@fbueckert for not being GI, so it doesn't count as GI.

fbueckert

@badp ...It describes a game, and wants an answer. Is that not the criteria of GI?

Not allowed GI questions, but GI, period.

badp

8:20 PM

@fbueckert That's ITG, GI also requires something from the game itself. Screenshot, tune, video, something.

That's the whole point of having a different name from ITG in the first place

fbueckert

@badp We discarded ITG due to the baggage; that doesn't mean people won't use the tag for ITG, whether we allow it or not.

tiddy

@badp Oh I was talking in general

badp

@fbueckert People will always mistag.

fbueckert

@badp And that's we close and delete them.

badp

@fbueckert Okay, that still doesn't make them GI questions.

fbueckert

8:22 PM

But that's not the point I'm trying to make; it's that since we allow certain GI questions, we also get those that don't meet the criteria.

badp

@tiddy There are 1,416 deleted questions tagged ITG, some of these really are GI but go figure which ones

Still, that's like 1.5/day

user2334

WHAT IS THIS HERESY: SciFi is being offered Hat Dash this year

tiddy

What is GI

fbueckert

And a 20% accept rate for a contentious tag seems awfully low.

@tiddy game-identification

user2334

@tiddy game-identification; "look at this thing, do you see this thing? Tell me where it came from"

fbueckert

8:23 PM

Essentially, provide a screenshot or go away.

badp

@fbueckert where do you pull 20% from? GI has 3/3 accepted answers, if we also count the answer @MartinSojka didn't write.

tiddy

Yeah I'm just talking about literally any question that is brought up here daily and then discussed for an exorbitant amount of time

Grace Note

@MarkTrapp SciFi isn't alone.

Martin Sojka

@fbueckert Because nobody would ever troll anybody else with a fake game screen shot, which would leave us in about the same position as vague textual descriptions. :)

user2334

@GraceNote I know, but it's SciFi! They'll cheapen it, like when your little brother gets the same cool dinosaur as you for Christmas. I'm also being entirely facetious.

Martin Sojka

8:26 PM

How do you prove "this game doesn't exist"?

GnomeSlice

@MarkTrapp Hey, cool, they're expanding it to other sites? Nice!

@MartinSojka His point is that most ITG questions are fundamentally unanswerable except by the asker.

user2334

@MartinSojka We don't need to know if a question is closeable at the moment it was asked. If it turns out the screenshot is faked (seriously, who would do that except to try to prove a point about the tag?) and it's unanswerable because it's really an ITG in disguise, we can close it

RedRiderX

Aww, they have hatdash.com resolve to a slightly generic history of hatdash page.

user15026

@RedRiderX I was one of the top winners of that? Really?

user2334

@MartinSojka But seriously seriously, if you're trying to sneak an ITG question here to get an answer, providing a fake screenshot entirely works against you.

Brian

8:30 PM

Another problem with ITG is that people answer, and if its not the right game they are wrong ~_~

Ullallulloo

@GnomeSlice Sci-Fi doesn't even have TF2 on it though. =/

RedRiderX

@AshleyNunn Well that is when you got that avatar.

GnomeSlice

@Ullallulloo ...So? As far as I'm aware the hat-dash wasn't a TF2 thing...

user15026

@RedRiderX Yeah, but that was unrelated to that

Ullallulloo

@GnomeSlice It's largely based off of it.

RedRiderX

8:31 PM

@AshleyNunn Oh, I thought it was made to be more hat-patible.

Ullallulloo

That's pretty much the only link between hats and video games.

GnomeSlice

@Ullallulloo ...Because they both have hats? I'm pretty sure it didn't have much to do with TF2 specifically.

Wipqozn

@RedRiderX You. I like you.

GnomeSlice

I think it was just about hats.

user15026

@RedRiderX Nope that was just a nice side benefit

Ullallulloo

8:32 PM

@GnomeSlice Why hats though?

RedRiderX

@Ullallulloo Why not hats?

user15026

@Ullallulloo Because they are an easy way to dress up an avatar?

GnomeSlice

@Ullallulloo I dunno, people like hats? Why not hats? Hats are easy things to give people that they can use on the site, because they go with their gravatars.

@AshleyNunn ARGH I WAS WRITING and you snatched it

user15026

@GnomeSlice grins Imma ninja

Wipqozn

Stack Exchange Gaming Blog: Holiday 2011 Hat Dash: The Hattening

David Fullerton on December 16, 2011

Throughout history, men have worn hats as a way of showing how much better they are than other men. “I buy hats,” a behatted man seems to say. “I am better than you.”

In wartime, hats were a useful way of conferring rank, and ensuring that casualties were confined to the lower classes… During peacetime, hats have been instrumental for men to let the non-hatted know just who is wearing the hat around here.

– The Team Fortress 2 Classless Update

The holidays are almost upon us: a time for family, gifts, and of course hours and hours of video games. To celebrate the season (and since we heard you like hats) we thought we’d throw a little party. We’re calling it… Hat Dash! …

user2334

8:33 PM

DAMN YOU TERRAPIN

user15026

:6880348 That might have to do with the fact that we are, you know, Gaming.

Wipqozn

The whole reason hats were chosen was because of the TF2 + Gaming connection, and a small meme we had about hats on the site at that time/

badp

sharpsuits.net/Home

GnomeSlice

@Wipqozn Huh, I knew about the site meme thing.

Wipqozn

►

Arda Xi

8:34 PM

Another 17 migrants? Sheesh.

user2334

@AshleyNunn Right, which is why they're hats and not—say—ascots. Gamers like hats because Gaben and TF2

Arda Xi

Good thing I already have about 85 bedrooms.

user15026

@MarkTrapp I just like things I can put on my head. They don't have to be hats.

user15026

But I mean, really, does the source matter?

user2334

►

Mana

8:35 PM

@badp DUUUUUUUUUUUH.

badp

@Mana DUUUUUUUUH.

SaintWacko

Would a question about Dwarf Fortress raws be considered on topic here?

RedRiderX

@MarkTrapp Wow, those aluminium bats can sure be educational...

user2334

@AshleyNunn no: other people can like hats too. U2la2lu2l2o's original comment could've just been replied with "it don't matter, other people like hats" but Gnomiebear had to claim it had nothing to do with TF2 and thus sparked the Bridge's favorite pastime: arguing over inane things

SaintWacko

@MarkTrapp We do not like arguing over inane things!

user2334

8:38 PM

YES WE DO I HATE YOU DIE IN A FIRE

5

Wipqozn

@MarkTrapp I love arguing over inane things!

Invader Skoodge

@SaintWacko You're dead to me.

SaintWacko

@MarkTrapp NO WE DON'T GO RIDE A PORCUPINE

Wipqozn

Also, I like that, Gnomiebear. I think I'm going to call @GnomeSlice that from now on.

GnomeSlice

@Wipqozn ...Why

Beofett

8:39 PM

@MarkTrapp I never get tired of that video (including the full featurette)

Invader Skoodge

@Wipqozn That's like how I always say @agent numbers.

SaintWacko

Really, though, Dwarf Fortress raws?

Wipqozn

@GnomeSlice "Also, I like that, Gnomiebear"

GnomeSlice

@Wipqozn Why?

Wipqozn

@GnomeSlice I like that

GnomeSlice

8:40 PM

Well, I don't, so don't call me it.

user2334

No problem, G. Money.

user15026

@SaintWacko This. The inanity is making my brain melt more

Wipqozn

@AshleyNunn youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HECa3bAFAYk

@GnomeSlice What about Broslice?

user2334

Honey Goo Sloo?

Brian

wouldn't HomeSlice be the logical choice?

user15026

8:42 PM

@Wipqozn OH GOD I LOST IT IT WAS HERE WHERE DID THE SHINY GO

GnomeSlice

@Brian clap clap clap you've successfully figured out where my name came from. I think you're like, the first person ever.

user2334

@Brian Ahhh, damn. Never went there. Always overthinking the nicknames

GnomeSlice

Seriously, nobody gets it.

user15026

Mine is...my name :P

user2334

@GnomeSlice I always thought you were a gnome who hated Sprite

Wipqozn

8:42 PM

@GnomeSlice Wait, seriously?

Brian

I don't think homeslice is used commonly enough ~_~

GnomeSlice

@MarkTrapp ...Sprite?

Wipqozn

@MarkTrapp I thought he came up with it in a drunken stuper.

Invader Skoodge

Oct 18 '10 at 23:02, by StrixVaria

I just finally realized your name is a play on "Home Slice"

GnomeSlice

@Wipqozn Yeah, more often than you'd really think.

@InvaderSkoodge Oh, there you go.

Mana

8:43 PM

@InvaderSkoodge who r u

Invader Skoodge

@Mana I am me.

Wipqozn

@Mana Your mom.

Mana

r u

user2334

@GnomeSlice Sprite vs. Slice

GnomeSlice

@I

Mana

8:43 PM

R U STRIX

user2334

Sprite being clearly superior to Slice

Brian

speaking of strix where has he been? i miss his condescendingness

GnomeSlice

@InvaderSkoodge You really need a new name though, I keep getting dirty connotations to 'Invader Skoodge'.

Invader Skoodge

@GnomeSlice This is my steam name. I changed it for consistency.

GnomeSlice

i.e. Invader Spoodge

Wipqozn

8:44 PM

I feel stupid, but I'm not making the connection between "GnomeSlice" and "Home Slice".

user15026

@Wipqozn It rhymes, I guess

SaintWacko

I don't even know what Home Slice is

Is it a thing?

user2334

@SaintWacko Late 80s jive talk

badp

@Wipqozn n-homeslice? phonetically? I dunno

SaintWacko

@MarkTrapp Ah, okay

GnomeSlice

8:45 PM

@Wipqozn It rhymes. And it's funny.

Wipqozn

@MarkTrapp HAAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA‌HAHAHAHHAHA ASHLEYNUNN BEAT YOU

GnomeSlice

At least, it was when I thought of it.

user15026

@Wipqozn I did?

user2334

@Wipqozn whatever you're not my real dad

Wipqozn

@MarkTrapp Keep on thinking that,

user15026

8:46 PM

Hope it was with an adequately pointy stick...

user2334

@AshleyNunn You said it rhymed a split second before I did. We are now mortal enemies.

user15026

@MarkTrapp offers you a cupcake of peace

Invader Skoodge

Oct 19 '10 at 7:08, by badp

:11256 Home what?

user2334

@AshleyNunn Mortal enemyhood called off!

Invader Skoodge

Seeing these really low post numbers is really weird.

user15026

8:46 PM

@MarkTrapp Yay! Cupcakes fix everything

user15026

@InvaderSkoodge Yeah, that does look odd :P

Martin Sojka

@SaintWacko Good question ... I don't really mind, but this could probably fall under the "modding" part and be better in GameDev.

GnomeSlice

How have you people never heard the term 'homeslice'?

SaintWacko

@MartinSojka That's what I suspected.

Martin Sojka

Not that it matters much, I'd answer it either way if I saw it and could. ;)

badp

8:47 PM

@InvaderSkoodge They also don't match up because those numbers were either valid on chat.MSO (our original home) or chat.gaming.stackexchange.com (yes, we did have a dedicated chat.SE instance at some point)

user15026

@GnomeSlice I grew up in a realllly rural area? I dunno.

user2334

@GnomeSlice Because this isn't a re-enactment of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Wipqozn

11 mins ago, by SaintWacko

Would a question about Dwarf Fortress raws be considered on topic here?

@SaintWacko what's the question?

badp

I got Marc Gravell to import our full chat history when we made the final switch to chat.SE

SaintWacko

@Wipqozn I'm trying to figure out where in the raws it determines which materials can be specifically requested in a strange mood

badp

8:48 PM

NO INANE ARGUMENT SHALL GO FORGOTTEN

Wipqozn

@badp <3

SaintWacko

In vanilla DF, dwarves can request adamantine separately from regular metals

in Masterwork, they can do the same with iridium

Martin Sojka

Speaking of chat rooms, why is there even a "Minecraft - Tekkit" one when the "main" Minecraft chat room is very low-volume anyway?

SaintWacko

@Wipqozn I'm trying to disable requesting iridium, because the stupid dwarves keep using it for artifact weapons/armor instead of slademantine

badp

uh, I got 10 BL2 golden keys with a rather large delay from Shift

Wipqozn

8:49 PM

@SaintWacko For what purpose? Because it could fit here.

badp

I thought it'd just be one key?

SaintWacko

Bam, future reply

Wipqozn

@SaintWacko I think that would fit here.

SaintWacko

@badp One of my friends has had that happen

Don't know why

@Wipqozn Alright, I'll try it out

badp

@SaintWacko Honestly I'm not complaining

SaintWacko

8:51 PM

@badp Yeah, I'm jealous

Wipqozn

The question "How can I disable requesting iridium?" is on-topic. If someone bitches about whatever you post it could always be edited.

SaintWacko

@Wipqozn Should it be tagges with mods?

badp

Could it be because I signed up directly from the Shift website?

Wipqozn

@SaintWacko No. Just dwarf fortress.

badp

rather than from ingame

SaintWacko

8:51 PM

@badp k

Wipqozn

If you tag it with mods I'll beat you up.

badp

I'm just guessing.

Wipqozn

Hey look, it's applejack!

Aarthi

@MarkTrapp YOU DON'T EVEN GO HERE /mean girl reference

user2334

Quick say "fetch" so I can reply with "Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen"

Brian

8:52 PM

@Wipqozn transforms into donatello and whacks you on the head for 100 damage!

Wipqozn

@MarkTrapp fetch

user2334

@Wipqozn STOP TRYING TO MAKE FETCH HAPPEN

user2334

And thus concludes my repertoire of Mean Girls references

Aarthi

MARK YOU DON'T EVEN LIKE HATS.

y u linking to scifi meta

is giggling at her keyboard

user2334

@Aarthi I AM A VALUED MEMB—I am a valued member of the SciFi community

Aarthi

8:54 PM

@MarkTrapp Yeah we should stop with the capslock probably

anyway!

but scifi meta should be puuuuuuure of gaming's influences!

Tim Stone

@Aarthi I read this as "You should totally blame me for this Hat Dashical heresy"

Aarthi

haha

Mark infamously was hatless last year

Wipqozn

Oct 1 at 16:04, by Mark Trapp

CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR TRUE

user2334

@Aarthi if that was a thing, it died a long, long time ago

Aarthi

lies

user2334

8:56 PM

@TimStone Herein labeled the Aarthian heresy? Quick, someone call a synod or draft a papal bull

SaintWacko

Okay, let's see if that question gets any attention

hopefully good attention

Lazers

1

Q: How can I prevent my dwarves from requesting Iridium during a strange mood?

In Dwarf Fortress, dwarves who are in a strange mood will normally request an entire class of items (stone, metal bars, cloth). However, they can also specifically ask for adamantine wafers. The Masterwork mod adds iridium, which can be specifically requested in the same manner as adamantine. T...

dwarf-fortress

SaintWacko

Thank you, @Lazers

OrigamiRobot

Fun Fact: Electrical Engineering isn't a very good name for EE.SE

Transcript for