The Bridge

FEichinger

03:00

@MBraedley I'm not sure, I haven't kept up with site policy in a while.

RedRiderX

Cats and Dogs

Ktash

@AshleyNunn If everything came in pink, it would be hard to make these decisions

FEichinger

If we don't have a flag for it, it probably isn't off-topic in itself - could belong on a different site, though ... I dunno.

Check meta.

user15026

@Ktash This is true

Ktash

Very random thought: Is your hair still purple?

Braiam

03:02

@MBraedley shopping rec are OT everywhere on SE as far it goes

MBraedley

@FEichinger flagged for closing as opinion based.

Unionhawk

As it should be

FEichinger

@MBraedley Yeh, that's another option.

RedRiderX

Aww what a great dad

Who knew there were so many gifs on the internet?

user15026

@Ktash Its kinda? I dunno how to describe it @FrostEngineer, you've seen my head today, how would you call it?

FEichinger

03:03

Okay, quick strawpoll: What do you guys think about closing questions as "unclear" after 6 months of no activity?

Unionhawk

@red Me. I knew.

Ktash

@FEichinger But they aren't unclear, they just haven't been answered

user20683

@FEichinger There's a good post on Game Dev's meta about unanswered clean up

ElfSlice

thechoice-game.com

UGH, PROGRAMMING

David M

@FEichinger Then you can't earn those Archaeology badges, etc.

FEichinger

03:04

@Ktash Arguably, the information provided clearly wasn't enough to answer it, so by that measure it is unclear.

user20683

@ElfSlice welcome to the new economy

kalina

@FEichinger what about deleting users that make suggestions like this one?

ElfSlice

It's a game about programming

Now I remember why I avoided programming in school

FEichinger

@kalina Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'm merely putting it out in the open because it could be a solution to some of our "we don't know if it's answerable!" problems.

@DavidM Good point.

Ktash

@FEichinger No, the information provided for the question was not answered. It isn't quite the same. In one case, the asker needs to provide more information, in the other, there may be no more information needed, it just needs attention and an answer

FEichinger

03:05

@FrostEngineer Linkies.

Ktash

that's where something like a bounty would come in

kalina

STOP TRYING TO BREAK EVERYTHING

user20683

@kalina No.

kalina

did @Frank rename to @FEichinger while I wasn't looking?

FEichinger

@Ktash Which would be activity. If nobody bothers to place a bounty on it, it's not worth keeping, is it now.

user20683

03:06

@kalina There was an accident.

FEichinger

@kalina I'm not trying to break anything. I'm not even saying we should do it, I'm just asking for thoughts.

Unionhawk

@kal that would explain a lot

Ktash

@FEichinger I've answered questions that have been over a year old, with no bounty

RedRiderX

Okay I'm done

Ktash

I had a similar problem, found the question, found a solution, and posted it

RedRiderX

03:06

@Unionhawk Oh good.

FEichinger

@kalina For the record: This "suggestion" is actually because I very much oppose what @Frank says when discussing lore questions.

Frank

@fei I'm of the opinion that without enough asker engagement, we should close questions without enough information.

Lazers

0

Q: Jetpack Loop Order?

I've noticed that I need the fruit jetpack and the bubble gun jetpack for the achievements that I need on Jetpack Joyride and I was just wondering if there was a certain order that the jetpacks are released in. If there is a specific order could someone list it? Or at least let me know if there i...

jetpack-joyride

user20683

@AshleyNunn kinda of tie dyed purple, blue and turquoise

kalina

@FEichinger seems like you two want to delete all old questions

FEichinger

03:07

@kalina Nope. Not at all.

kalina

wtb a limit that prevents a user from deleting more posts than they contribute

FEichinger

Well, @Frank probably does, but that's not where I was going with that.

user15026

@FrostEngineer thanks :)

FEichinger

My primary concern is questions where we don't know if they even have an answer.

user20683

12

Q: The 2013 GDSE Winter Refactor

It is the holidays! A time of gifts, food, drink and festival (and hats, if you are into that sort of thing). Now, we don't have any of those for you (except the hats), but we do have over a thousand unanswered questions on our site. So, alongside the network-wide winter bash that will be happe...

discussion event

Frank

03:08

@kal Simple: down vote me below 10k.

kalina

@FEichinger they're not a problem, we're still one of the cleanest sites in the network

Frank

Otherwise, ignore it. I get all of 6 votes a day.

kalina

SIX ENTIRE VOTES

David M

Ugggghhhh . . . This is where I DO hate Mac. I downloaded Don't Starve, and it takes changing a bunch of settings and then figuring out that I have to copy it into my applications folder before it freaking works.

ElfSlice

if @xzoor.isTrapped(@left)
    unlock @right
    enter @right
else
    unlock @left
    enter @left

wheeeeee

I suck at this game

FEichinger

03:10

@kalina It's what's holding back lore questions in particular: Our current constraints for lore questions (I have to know that they are addressed nowhere so I can close them ... what? That doesn't even make sense!) are nonsense, and killing dormant questions that never get an answer (because they likely don't have an answer) would be a possible solution to that.

ElfSlice

> EEM: Two doors: '@left', and '@right'. One of them leads to redemption. One to eternal damnation. Two guards, '@xzoor' and '@xena'. One of them always lies, the other always tells the truth. You can ask the guards two questions: 'isTrapped' and 'isTrue'.

Okay, fuck this game.

kalina

@FEichinger they can be manually cleaned up enmass when the community feels like cleaning them up

user20683

@DavidM Macs don't really have a registry as such so you need to fit them into the file hierarchy instead.

kalina

creating a policy for something like this is not how SE is supposed to work

FEichinger

Really, I'm thinking of this to allow more questions, not to "clean up the site".

David M

03:11

@FEichinger Why do we hate lore here? There are times when it might be nice to know WTF the game was based upon.

user20683

@DavidM Lore goes to SFF as I remember it

user15026

@kalina agreed.

kalina

@DavidM we don't hate lore

FEichinger

@DavidM Search meta.gaming.SE for "lore". All the fun.

Frank

That's the whole point of closing questions; either fixing them or deleting them.

kalina

03:11

@DavidM some people dislike it because it can lead to wild speculation

Ktash

And... I'm out. This is why I avoid meta now lol

David M

@FrostEngineer Yeah. It's just occasionally you get a download like this which looks more like an installer, but it doesn't behave as one . . . blah blah blah.

Ktash

bbl, making food. Have fun all

kalina

@Ktash enjoy

David M

@kalina That is true.

Frank

03:12

@kal You don't hate lore. I abhor it; they make crappy questions here.

user20683

@DavidM installers are usually a something.sh

kalina

@Frank not always

also, I'm not alone in my liking of lore

MBraedley

@FEichinger I have a single question that's gone unanswered. Try and tell me it's not a clear question.

user20683

@kalina I like Lore but I like Data better.

FEichinger

@kalina How is that different from making clear prerequisites for a question to be closed because "unanswerable"?

kalina

03:13

I will burn any stupid question with a vengeance though

Frank

Nope; I'm in the minority. I'm fine with that.

Lazers

0

Q: How to set minecraft server port from cli?

I can't seem to find a up todate and clear answer on this. I just want to run the minecraft server jar on a different port from the default 25565

minecraft minecraft-server

kalina

@MBraedley your question doesn't have an answer, it must be deleted

Unionhawk

What @fro said

David M

@FrostEngineer This one when you click on it gave the "Unknown developer" message. So, I OK'd it. Then it gave ANOTHER portion of the contents that was seeking my approval. And, I agreed to that, and still didn't launch. Total PITA

Finally got it.

FEichinger

03:14

@MBraedley Fair point, indeed.

ElfSlice

right = @xzoor.isTrapped(@right)

if @xena.isTrue(right)
    unlock @right
    enter @right
else
    unlock @left
    enter @left

user20683

@DavidM That's a UNIX thing in general. One of the reasons why security is generally better.

ElfSlice

single file, ladies

Frank

@kal As long as the asker is still engaged with the question, I see nothing wrong with keeping it.

user20683

Still way less annoying than Linux installation

FEichinger

03:15

@kalina Now, will you stop it? I'm not saying that's what we should do, geez. If I were saying that, it'd be a meta Q already.

Frank

Its when the asker has abandoned the question that I think we should close it, if we don't have enough info to answer it.

David M

I once posted a question/answer about Tiny Death Star's holiday update. A few people kept asking why Boba Fett's holiday edition was blue. And, I found the answer. It was b/c it was the version from the animation in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday special.

user20683

or the 4 hours of Rails installation that I did yesterday

David M

That got tagged and down voted in seconds.

kalina

@Frank how do you conclude that a question is abandoned, since you're not the user?

Frank

03:15

@david You think that's where its from. The only ones who can answer that is the devs.

@kal The last visit date of the user.

kalina

@Frank that is a terrible method of determining if a question has been abandoned

David M

@FrostEngineer I appreciate the feature when it is helping me. But, occasionally, like now it serves as a hurdle. But, yeah. Yay security.

kalina

what if the user uses other sites on the SE network?

they don't have to visit arqade for years

but would still get a notification if you answered

user20683

@DavidM You could spend all of your time as root but I'd advise against it.

Frank

@kal if they were interested in it, they could at least visit the site where they asked it once in a while.

kalina

03:17

@Frank nope, it's not required in the slightest

Frank

Or bounty it.

David M

@Frank I agree, although it was fairly clear once you knew that was the answer. The unlockable was tagged Boba Fett - Holiday Special and talked about him defeating a Panna Dragon, etc. All directly from the particular special.

kalina

it's not your place or Arqade's place to dictate how a users interacts with Stack Exchange

concluding a question is abandoned and no longer wanted because they've not visited Arqade in X amount of time is short sighted

Frank

@kal we'll agree to disagree. If they don't visit the site for a month, after a request for more information, burn it.

FEichinger

@MBraedley Actually, isn't the only thing that's keeping that question from automatic deletion the comments?

kalina

03:19

@Frank don't just take it upon yourself to start behaving in this manner, the community will never agree with this

Frank

I'm not saying we should just up and delete it.

kalina

that's what you just said

David M

BTW - If anyone is a Star Wars fan and needs to atone for anything they've done in this or a past life click on this. It's really painful to watch. Even George Lucas wishes it was never made to the point he's tried to purge it from the face of the Earth.

kalina

1 min ago, by Frank

@kal we'll agree to disagree. If they don't visit the site for a month, after a request for more information, burn it.

user15026

@Frank ....sorry, but that is the worst idea I have ever, ever, ever heard

kalina

03:19

Proof you just said it

Frank

I'm saying if we ask for more information, and we don't get that, close it. They then have five days before I'll cast a delete vote.

user15026

@Frank I really don't like the idea of dictating how people need to use the site in that way

Frank

That's the whole point of the unclear reason.

user15026

that is so very unnecessarily authoritarian

Frank

Its not authoritarian; its a simple expectation of engagement of getting your problem solved.

You spent the time to ask it; it can be expected that you'll invest the time to try to fix it.

Unionhawk

03:22

I'm with @kal here. If it's unclear, like, actually unclear, sure, a few days, maybe, then close it. But the standard for unclear should be pretty much "it's total gibberish, or just a crash report and nothing else"

David M

Not to mention, the original poster is not always the ONLY person who wants an answer to something.

ElfSlice

@DavidM Yeah, that.

Unionhawk

Not just "I don't know the answer and this is unanswered. Therefore, we should burn this because it's not clear enough"

ElfSlice

@DavidM whatisthisidon'teven

Frank

I should mention, I'm speaking directly about technical issues. Questions about game mechanics can be crowdsourced for additional information.

David M

03:24

@ElfSlice Huh?

Unionhawk

Oh, okay, I'm all for burning technical issues questions after a certain point.

ElfSlice

@DavidM star wars holiday specials wat

Frank

Sorry; hadn't realized we might be talking about other questions with the unclear close reason.

Unionhawk

Only because I hate them

kalina

@Frank I'm not sure if you're backing down or genuinely adjusting the scope

David M

03:25

@ElfSlice It was a reference to my earlier comment about why Boba Fett was blue in TDS Holiday Special Edition.

Unionhawk

I feel this is genuine. It makes more sense.

kalina

your face feels... genu- nevermind

Frank

Or problems where its unique to the asker; those I think I can safely limp into technical questions.

@kal I hadn't actually considered the unclear usage with other questions.

kalina

you were unclear about your unclear usage

that's fine

David M

@ElfSlice But, if you want 2 hours of cringe-worthy Wookie action . . . Go ahead.

kalina

03:27

that's basically like conceding defeat

I'm ok with that

Unionhawk

Technical issues questions are usually the ones that require more info, and usually, we never get that info, especially when they just throw us a crashdump and tell us to fix it

ElfSlice

@DavidM Oh God, it's a whole movie?

Frank

@kal I'm on mobile. Sue me. :P

user20683

@ElfSlice It's so much worse than that

Unionhawk

I am voting to close @Frank as unclear.

3

user20683

03:27

it's Star Wars as a 70s variety show

kalina

@Frank I have no come back to this

ElfSlice

51 secs ago, by kalina

that's basically like conceding defeat

kalina

"because mobile" is pretty much get a out of jail free card

David M

@ElfSlice Oh no my friend, it's worse. It's a 70s style holiday special with a Star Wars theme, guest stars, forced interludes and tie-ins. Basically a douche-a-thon.

ElfSlice

;]

Frank

03:28

Like this question:

2

Q: Rocket becomes unresponsive

Every once in a while, I will not be able to control the rocket, and the pilots will no longer be able to EVA, and I cannot IVA, either. My ship has fuel, electrical charge, and a couple communitrons as well. Is it just a bug, or am I missing something?

kerbal-space-program

David M

@ElfSlice But, it is the FIRST cannon appearance of Boba Fett.

Frank

That's rather unique to the user, and he hasn't come back since he asked it.

Unionhawk

I more specifically hate minecraft technical-issues questions.

Frank

I figure six months is easily enough to wait for more information.

David M

@Unionhawk I tried to install the "Uninstallable Mod" and I got the following 400 page error report.

Unionhawk

03:30

NO

HATE

David M

;)

Frank

Questions about stuff that can be expanded by other players are fine.

user20683

@DavidM So you got the Java Spec?

user20683

:P

David M

@FrostEngineer I'm going to admit that I don't even understand that. LMAO!

Frank

03:31

I take my opinion on burning questions without enough information is no longer so controversial? :P

user20683

@DavidM The formal Java programming language specification is enormous and tedious.

David M

I have Don't Starve up in the background, and the them music is giving this whole experience a surreal quality! LOL

user20683

and basically nonsense if you're not familiar with formal grammars and how compilers work.

Unionhawk

Crash dumps should be sent to the developer. I am always annoyed when I have to make my "your crash dump tells me nothing" the comment

ElfSlice

@DavidM Speaking of surreal

►

David M

03:32

@FrostEngineer Ah . . . But at least they give you something to read. Go back to our conversation the other day.

user20683

@DavidM I'd rather read about less staid languages

FEichinger

Let me just reiterate, that I put this thought out in the open to allow more questions. Questions that could have no answer and we just don't know if they do. Nowhere did I ever imply I'd want to clean up what we currently have even more - we're way too clean and that's why I want these "possibly unanswerable" questions in the first place.

Frank

@fei If its about game mechanics, I have no problem keeping them.

FEichinger

It was merely a possible solution to the "question that may or may not have an answer and we can't prove if it does" problem, and I wanted to see the discussion about it.

Frank

Personally, I hate questions that can't be confirmed, and can't be proved wrong.

Mechanical Loon

03:35

@ElfSlice I picked up that Valdis Story game for myself since it was on sale. I'll let you know when I get around to playing it, since I have a lot of stuff in the queue right now.

David M

ElfSlice

@MechanicalLoon It's so good

David M

@elf Dead Pixel on Google Earth

FEichinger

@Frank Keeping what? Questions that may or may not be unanswerable?

ElfSlice

@DavidM Is that what that is?

Heh.

David M

03:37

It's a piece of art by a Dutch artist.

ElfSlice

@DavidM Why pinged to me?

David M

I was reminded of it by your viewed from space video

Frank

@fei A question that has no definitive answer is a crappy question, I feel.

ElfSlice

@DavidM My what?

Oh, that song? I dunno I've never watched the video.

David M

:12936713

Frank

03:37

Its one of the reasons why we don't allow Dev type questions.

FEichinger

That answered neither of my questions.

ElfSlice

50

Q: How much time has passed between the events in Portal 1 and 2?

At the start of Portal 2, it's clear that time has passed. You've been woken up every few months for physical and mental fitness tests, until something goes wrong and you're left in stasis for much longer. How long is Chell, your character, in stasis? How much time has passed between the end o...

portal-series

close away

I love this question.

Frank

@fei I need an example to say whether I'd like it or not.

FEichinger

(I also very much disagree with the notion of "every question needs a definitive answer" - why allow multiple answers to questions at all, then?)

David M

@FEichinger I agree with you on that!

Frank

03:39

I'm having trouble thinking of questions that we'd allow, but wouldn't have a conclusive method of answer.

FEichinger

@Frank It doesn't matter if you "like" it, quite frankly.

David M

@FEichinger How else would Frank like anything other than quite Frankly? Sorry, couldn't resist.

FEichinger

And I've been saying this for quite a while: Personal preference for a question has nothing to do with whether or not it belongs on the site.

Frank

@fei If I do like it, chances are good most people would allow it, I bet.

user15026

@FEichinger This.

Frank

03:40

And personal preference is literally what a community site is.

Just writ large.

David M

@Frank It's community preference.

Everyone gets a vote of their personal preference, and that gets aggregated to the whole.

Frank

@david And I'm fine with the community allowing things I don't like.

If I'm in the minority, I can abide by that.

Also, my keyboard sucks on mobile.

ElfSlice

Don't you guys ever talk about fun stuff

Like video game

David M

Technically, no question is unanswerable. Sometimes the answer may just be: No that's just not a good enough question for us to solve your problem.

But, that's why we have comments.

FEichinger

@DavidM That does not answer the question at all ...

user20683

03:43

@DavidM We have a close reason on Programmers that basically runs "You don't understand the problem well enough yet"

FEichinger

No matter the question "I can't help you because you haven't provided enough information" is not an answer.

David M

@FEichinger It's not meant as a completed answer, but rather a request for information.

ElfSlice

Burrito Galaxy 64: Mega-Tortilla Bean Saga 30X6 - Planetoid SAL-5A XIV Directors Cut: Extreme Edition

David M

With enough information, any question can be answered to some degree.

FEichinger

@DavidM There is no answer in it at all. It's a response, nothing more.

David M

03:45

That's a semantic argument.

ElfSlice

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Overflow Chat, 3 hours ago, by hichris123

DDoS means Distributed Denial of Stars, right?

heh

David M

I'm referring to answer in the response sense of the word. Not as a completion of their question. Perhaps, "acknowledgement" would be a better wording.

And, I will revise my statement to say "complete enough question for us to solve your problem", if that helps.

ElfSlice

hahaha what the hell

FEichinger

Either way, back to the topic of "possibly-unanswerable questions", @Frank. Picking a random example of "Will the rabbit ever jump off the cliff?" is - barring any digging in the code - unanswerable. We do not know if the rabbit ever jumps off the cliff until the rabbit does jump off the cliff. This could very well be a game mechanics question.

ElfSlice

@FEichinger If he really wants an example give him this

Unless you have me blocked too

Frank

03:49

That...huh. That's a game mechanics question, alright. I can't personally find any way of figuring out how I could conclusively answer that, but others might. I'd say keep it.

David M

A possible answer to that question would be "I've played the game for quite some time, and I have yet to see it jump. But, it is still possible." Not a +10 answer, but it's an attempt to help.

Frank

Maybe it jumps off if you look at it long enough. Maybe it does if you boot it off the cliff. Sounds like a good question for the scientific method.

David M

@FEichinger Then we have to ban every question that asks you to prove a negative to answer it.

FEichinger

@Frank And how long is "long enough"? That would entail infinite time.

Frank

@fei I honestly don't know. I'd have to poke at the game itself to really determine that. If you look at the rabbit while you sleep, and you wake up and its gone, that gives you an upper bound to work with.

And if not, "after 8 hours of watching the rabbit, it has not jumped off the cliff. I conclude that the rabbit will never jump.'

FEichinger

03:54

@Frank Can you ever definitively state that the rabbit does not jump off the cliff?

Frank

@fei Nope. But a reasonable amount of testing is an acceptable alternative to a conclusive answer, if said answer is not available.

David M

@FEichinger You can't, but a proper answer would say, "In my experience, no it doesn't." And, that would be a worthy answer because if it takes soooooo long to have it happen, it is clearly a rare enough event that for the most part it's correct.

@Frank That's a much more articulate way of saying what I just said.

FEichinger

Where I've been going with this is quite simple, really: We have a proposed solution to our problem with closing lore questions (in that it requires knowing that there is no answer). That solution would be to "leave it be until it's answered". That is, very much, the exact same thing we should have to do with any "possibly-unanswerable" question: Leave it be until it's answered.

Funnily enough, your current suggestion for "game mechanics" questions is "answer it with speculation to the negative, if you can't prove the negative".

That is, regarding the lore discussions, rather hypocritical in my opinion.

Frank

And if in the future, there is a conclusive answer, then I see no reason why the previous answer shouldn't stick around. Effort should be rewarded.

@fei I abhor lore questions. I would burn them all, if I was allowed to.

Fluttershy

@MechanicalLoon I can already tell it's going to be a fun game. Especially if you like Metroidvanias. :3

Frank

03:58

I find the entire category completely problematic.

David M

So, basically ANY question where the answer is "No" has to go unanswered? Because there is no way to conclusively prove that there not a way if you hold your phone underwater long enough, etc?

FEichinger

@Frank And again, that is completely irrelevant. And as I've just laid out: There is fundamentally no difference between a "possibly-unanswerable" lore question and a "possibly-unanswerable" game mechanics question.

So why do you wish to allow the latter, but burn the former with all the prejudice there is?

Frank

@fei Yes, there is. One has a potentially unlimited scope. The other can be tested against.

FEichinger

@Frank Nope. Neither of them can be tested against if the answer is the negative.

Frank

You can't test lore questions. There's nothing to test against.

David M

04:00

@Frank, then how about a lore question with a proven answer from the developer in, say, an interview?

FEichinger

All you can say is "it's never addressed/it never occurs in our observation".

Frank

@david We're not a news site.

@fei And that's a crappy answer.

FEichinger

@Frank And that's the same answer for the game mechanics question as well.

user15026

@DavidM Not good enough, needs to be ingame proveable

Frank

@fei But effort can be expended for mechanics questions. Lore has none of that.

ElfSlice

04:01

nurseostsaudy.itch.io/kill-dad

dat game description

FEichinger

@Frank Of course lore has that: Check all the available resources for that.

ElfSlice

> Try to figure out a way to get your dad to stop accidentally running you over.

Frank

Lore questions essentially turn us into a giant search engine for one specific piece of information

David M

So, a question like "Are Mario and Luigi brothers or just really good friends?" And, an excerpt from an interview with Shigero Miyamoto saying "Yup, brothers, and their mother was Zelda . . ." Inadmissible?

Frank

Mechanics have a single, finite scope.

FEichinger

04:03

For the written word, there's literally no difference between a search engine and "methodically trying everything to find the answer".

Search engines are the "methodical testing" of the written word.

Frank

And the scope is utterly unreasonable.

user15026

@DavidM I have no idea. I struggle with predicting crap like that because the guidelines are seemingly all over the place

user15026

and very person-dependent

Frank

Anyways, I'm almost out of battery power. Let this be my last message on this. The scope for lore is far too large. Mechanics at least have a limited scope.

David M

I'm not saying I like those questions, just trying to understand the reasoning behind the ban.

FEichinger

04:05

My previous example of the rabbit jumping off the cliff literally has no scope limit. You can draw out the time infinitely, and depending on the game you may even have infinite input to affect the rabbit.

user15026

@DavidM Good luck and godspeed, my friend, that is a daunting task. (I am not entirely joking, there are few cut and dried areas here)

David M

@AshleyNunn Yeah. I hear that.

I'm fairly new to the community, but I want to be able to be a contributing member. Not trying to be a douche, just trying to understand why certain things are the way they are.

FEichinger

My point is: All "possibly-unanswerable" questions are fundamentally the same and we cannot close them on grounds of "we think they have no answer". That is, essentially, what @Sterno addressed in his meta Q a while back, put into a practical example - putting it right up against a question we "allow" despite having the very same problems.

user20683

@DavidM You've miles to go before you even approach the "Empire of the Douche".

David M

@FrostEngineer Glad to hear it.

user15026

04:07

@DavidM No worries, I (and likely others) appreciate the wanting, I just know I have been here for a Long Time and still have a lot of things about how things go here that I just don't get

user15026

@DavidM you are quite lovely, actually :)

David M

@AshleyNunn I think the issue at hand: It's a community moderated site, and communities are rarely of one mind about anything.

user15026

@DavidM This is an important thing to remember, yes

user20683

@DavidM Math for instance loves and I mean loves bikeshed questions

user15026

@FrostEngineer I am scared of them

user15026

04:09

Math, not bikesheds

David M

@FEichinger Perhaps there needs to be another variety of flag: Possibly Unanswerable. But rather than a close vote, it should be a "Please Revise Flag"

Sterno

I'm staying out of this one.

David M

Similar to Unclear What You're Asking, but rather it signals back to the original poster that it will be deleted if not revised within a set time period.

FEichinger

@DavidM No, we should just leave those questions be. If they're unwanted, automatic cleanup takes care of them.

OrigamiRobot

Are hats over yet?

Fluttershy

04:11

@Sterno Going the @Fluttershy route, eh? I do that often.

Sterno

@Fluttershy Normally I'm all for this kind of thing but it's bedtime.

David M

@OrigamiRobot I still have mine on here. Not sure if you can still earn any, though.

FEichinger

That said, I understand that if we were to do that, we'd clutter up the site with old questions that stick around forever because they got upvoted - these questions might need to be handled somehow, hence why I started this off with the thought of "maybe we should kill questions with no activity, because they haven't provided enough information to be answered".

David M

January 4th according to the site @origami

OrigamiRobot

Be prepared, @Sterno.

David M

04:13

Create a dead letters box.

Give people extra rep for answering those questions.

user15026

@Fluttershy I am also going that route.

David M

Set a cut-off must have >5 + votes to get the bonus.

FEichinger

I'm not making a meta Q about this because I'm not convinced that thought is truly the best solution to that problem (or if that problem will even exist), but I wanted to see the discussion about it as it is right now anyway.

Fluttershy

@AshleyNunn It is the path of least resistance.

user15026

Also, does anyone want a giant year of luigi poster (the one that was in the club nintendo reward) because I won't use it ever

Sterno

04:14

I need to stop reading the transcript before I run into something that I absolutely have to argue with.

Fluttershy

@Sterno Ponies are awesome. You love ponies!

Now you don't have to read the transcript to argue!

FEichinger

@Fluttershy Shame on you!

David M

Ok, I've been holding this one in b/c I figured it's another age gap thing: What's with the ponies?

Fluttershy

I'm helping! I'm also really tired. I should probably just sleep.

Sterno

I need a New Year's resolution. I hereby decide it will be to refrain from complaining about ponies.

4

FEichinger

04:16

Think about what you could've caused by this, if @Sterno had amnesia right now!

OrigamiRobot

@Sterno And lifehacks!

Fluttershy

@Sterno You know there are some in here who might try and test this, right? I'm not one of them. I keep my pony posting to a bare minimum. But... just sayin'.

David M

Or did I just open Pandora's box?

Sterno

And on a related note...

user20683

@DavidM There's a large contingent of Bronies on Gaming and certain other SE sites.

Sterno

04:17

@OrigamiRobot No. I will always complain about lifehacks

FEichinger

@Sterno Oh god, it has started ...

Sterno

I also reserve the right to complain about ponies if they're involved in lifehacks

David M

@FrostEngineer Ah. I'm so out of touch. My experience with ponies is buying them for my 4 year old daughter.

user20683

@DavidM There's a documentary about it with John de Lancie

David M

But she just likes them because a lot of them are pink, purple, or rainbow colored.

Sterno

04:19

I have to leave now because A) Bedtime and B) It's already hard to not complain about ponies

ElfSlice

04:31

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Overflow Chat, Dec 28 '13 at 1:22, by Anna Lear

lifehack: don't use the term "lifehack"

Tim Stone

@Sterno You're in luck then, because someone I know just posted this link on Facebook.

ElfSlice

@TimStone oooo viralnova

so trendy

user15026

@ElfSlice bites her tongue to keep from ranting about lifehacks

ElfSlice

Kind of makes you wonder about Doritos

user20683

@ElfSlice so trendy very privilege much hipster

user15026

04:43

@ElfSlice they're grain based, they'll ignite. They are just solid enough to hold the flame as opposed to say, regular chips that will just flash burn

ElfSlice

Be the coolest kid in school!

user15026

I hate these things

Tim Stone

ElfSlice

Yeah they're pretty bad

Tim Stone

You know what also does that? Icepacks.

ElfSlice

04:46

lmao what

who would even come up with that

Somebody had to try it first...

user15026

@ElfSlice you can get weird pans that are made to do that

user15026

but that is a waste of money

ElfSlice

I guess.

Gaming Topics From Outside

0

Q: How can I set gravity using this code? SFML/C++

I am trying to make a game and am stuck on gravity..... In the following code a rectangle stands for a player and when I press up key it moves in y-axis but when I activate gravity on it (i.e resetting it's previous position) it does not animate (i.e. it does not jumps) instead it just stays in i...

c++ sfml platform gravity gaming

ElfSlice

GOTY 2014

user15026

04:47

@ElfSlice This doesn't work

ElfSlice

@AshleyNunn No shit

It just falls in

Tim Stone

The brownie in a mug is funny because it reminds me of a time in my middle school cooking class where some not-necessarily-bright friends of mine somehow ended up cooking their omelet in their measuring cup.

ElfSlice

These are dumb

user15026

@ElfSlice then why are you spamming chat with them

user15026

@TimStone oh dear

Trent Hawkins

04:48

@TimStone how...? no, don't want to know.

Tim Stone

Why the omelet mix ended up in a measuring cup in the microwave is beyond me.

ElfSlice

Somebody posted some really funny failed lifehacks in here a while back but now I can't find them.

Exploded mug brownie was one of them

Aug 4 '13 at 4:20, by GnomeSlice

@LessPop_MoreFizz If somebody mugs you and dumps your wallet on the ground, coins will take them longer to pick up than bills giving you the time you need to escape.

Coins are awesome

why

Okay I've had enough

I'm going to bed

Goodnight everyone.

Trent Hawkins

@ElfSlice I... Can't see a wallet holding an appreciable amount of coins without a sealed compartement of some sort (like a zipper)...

At which point dumping becomes more hastle than just taking the entire wallet.

FEichinger

In that entire list were like six or seven things I already do, lots of things that make me shake my head and only three things that were remotely interesting and actually working.

Seriously, some of these are actively harmful and potentially dangerous.

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