Jaami'at StackExchange al-Islamyya

ashes999

15:00

Very well, I nominate to reopen in light of this awesome evidence.

But, I frown on how personal it's getting

people are starting to act undignified and hating on each other.

goldPseudo

And if two factions among the believers should fight, then make settlement between the two. But if one of them oppresses the other, then fight against the one that oppresses until it returns to the ordinance of Allah... Quran 49:9

ashes999

don't quote out of context :)

to justify open/close UV/DV wars :)

Ershad

bakkah.net/interactive/q&a/…

Al Ummat

@ashes999 I have provided a hadith about hair style like camel humps, but i could noy find the hadith that says it is of the signs of Yawmul qiama

2

A: Hairstyle in Islam

Hadith - Bukhari 4:668, Narrated Abu Huraira , see also Bukhari 7:786 Allah's Apostle said, "The Jews and the Christians do not dye (their grey hair), so you shall do the opposite of what they do (i.e. dye your grey hair and beards)." - Hadith - Muslim, Narrated Jabir ibn Abdull...

Ershad

I have a read a hadith where the Prophet said either keep the hair short, or keep it long.. meaning he prohibited styles where one part is made short and other long.. also, the prophet himself is the example for that because he had hair till shoulders and also, shorter at other times.

I will find it, gimme a minute

Al Ummat

15:09

:)

Ershad

@AlUmmat Found it! You might wanna include this - abdurrahman.org/seerah/riyad/17/chap295.htm

Al Ummat

@Ershad thank you I will

ashes999

@Ershad I believe that hadith was about a companion who shaved half his head; rasulullah said "shave all or none"

@AlUmmat looks good. But your answer is still "a bunch of proofs say ..." You need more explanation. I would recommend including "everything is halal until proven guilty (in hairstyles), here's some stuff to keep in mind" or something like that as a precursor to the proofs.

Ershad

Yes, exactly. I didn't remember the entire thing. Ibn `Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) said: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) saw a boy, some portion of whose head was shaved and some of it was left out. He prohibited them from that and said, "Shave the whole of it or leave the whole of it.''
[Muslim].

ashes999

bingo, +1

@Ershad are you citing via Sunnah.com? It has Arabic and English both, so it's slightly better than quoting straight English sites.

Ershad

15:14

@ashes999 Good idea! here it is sunnah.com/urn/1087880

ashes999

Perfect. @Ershad I love how people who know Arabic can look at your source and rip it apart. Definitely beats sites that quote one language or the other alone.

@goldPseudo you speak Arabic right?

goldPseudo

not really. i can read it and make out words, but i'm hardly fluent.

ashes999

Oh, really? My bad, I thought for some reason that you were fluent.

I need to think of a juicy question to ask....

goldPseudo

"Is my prayer in congregation still valid if a mushrik joins the line?"

ashes999

OH, that gives me an idea. But I already know the answer...

Maybe "what's the exact definition of ahlul kitab?" since we had a similar question about Mormons.

goldPseudo

15:24

i think it's been asked.

ashes999

It's probably a set of beliefs that make them that, but I don't know what it would be.

Really, where?

goldPseudo

4

Q: Who are "ahlul kitab"?

What/who are ahlul kitab? Are Muslims a subset of ahlul kitab? Correct me if I'm wrong, but: Ahlul kitab means "people of the book" in English. What is the "book" in this phrase, and what "people" are being referred to?

ashes999

the Mormon one is similar, but specifically for Mormons.

yeah, but look at the accepted answer :P

Basic...it doesn't answer what specifically they are.

let me ask.

0

Q: What set of beliefs makes someone Ahlul Kitab?

We've talked about if Mormons are ahl-ul-kitab. And who (generally) ahlul-kitab are. I'm asking something much more specific: what exact combination of beliefs, and other properties, designates someone as ahlul-kitab? What I'm looking for is a list. For example, some Muslims say that "you can e...

ahlul-kitab

Jazakumullahu khayran @goldPseudo for the inspiration.

Al Ummat

the root word of خليفة is خلف where in the Qur'an is the root word used?

goldPseudo

corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=xlf

ashes999

15:30

@AlUmmat you mean khalafa specifically, where is the verb used?

Al Ummat

@ashes999 yes, i think so

goldPseudo

the corpus.quran.com dictionary is a wonderful resource for that. lists every occurance of any word using that root in the Qur'an.

ashes999

-1

Q: How to scientifically prove that God exists to an atheist?

How can you prove scientifically to an atheist or an infidel that God actually exists? As far as I know most atheists will argue that since they can't hear, see or feel God then He doesn't exist. They need a materialistic proof. Note that an atheist might not even care about reading the holy Qu...

god knowing-god

goldPseudo

broken down by which verb form or noun form they're in.

ashes999

Do you guys think this is a good question for our site? Maybe it should be on Skeptics.SE.

Al Ummat

15:32

that is useful

@ashes999 well it isn't of topic

ashes999

@AlUmmat it isn't? "How do I prove scientifically ... they may not believe in Qur'an"

That sounds off-topic to me.

goldPseudo

i definitely dislike the question, but it's a bit gray whether it's on-topic.

Al Ummat

@ashes999 there is more than the Qur'an to prove the Qur'an, I do dislike the question

goldPseudo

since it shouldn't be our job as muslims to "prove" anything. God is Al-Wakil, it's not up to us whether or not anyone actually believes His message.

ashes999

Okay, but it seems pretty off-topic to me; asking about science. If you delete the last paragraph, it has really nothing to do with Islam at all; it just has a cursory reference to the Qur'an.

@goldPseudo absolutely; but that doesn't change whether the question is a good fit or not...

goldPseudo

15:38

i would peg it as non-constructive rather than off-topic myself.

Ansari

i disagree - this is a great opportunity to talk about 1) sources of evidence and 2) the ayah where Allah says He could have made everyone believe

and it's not necessarily scientific proof, it's any proof

goldPseudo

the question, as phrased, has the implicit assumption that proving God's existance is something that we, as Muslims, either can or should do.

ashes999

@goldPseudo @Ansari if it was reworded as I suggested, I would see it as a useful question as well. But the initial premise has little to do with Islam.

goldPseudo

if it was reworked to be more like "How should Muslims give witness to atheists who don't believe in any form of God" i reckon it would easily be on-topic.

i see that was essentially your suggestion in the comments.

ashes999

Yep.

Ansari

15:41

how about just simply - "What is the Islamic response to the atheist demand for 'proof' of God"

goldPseudo

yeah, that would be good too.

ashes999

now the burning question: how to remove a close-vote :)

wow, someone else CVed.

Ansari

ok editing then

goldPseudo

Robert agrees with us. it's closed for good now.

ashes999

but isn't that draconian? Shouldn't the OP edit?

goldPseudo

15:45

it can be reopened after the edit.

closing is not the same as deleting. i'm pretty sure OP still has edit priveleges.

Ansari

voted to reopen

goldPseudo

just nobody can vote or answer

ashes999

voted too

that's odd, 3 to close but 5 to open?

goldPseudo

robert is a diamond mod. he can close anything he wants unilaterally.

normally it would be a five vote close five vote open.

ashes999

Ah, I see.

goldPseudo

15:50

1

Q: Should questions that can be googled be disallowed?

Based on a discussion here and here, should questions that can be googled be disallowed?

discussion questions

ashes999

hahaha.

awesome.

sheer, utter awesomeness.

Robert's answer is amazing.

goldPseudo

the proof question is reopened.

the current wording is a much better fit for the site.

ashes999

\o/

goldPseudo

i think robert sums the issue up nicely with 'you have to stay keenly focused on asking questions as you would ask them to an "expert."'

ashes999

yeah, even beginner questions can have interesting points

like "what does it mean that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah"

goldPseudo

15:56

imagine if you were to go up to an ulema at the mosque. would you ask him "What is Qur'an plese cite references for ur answer"?

ashes999

basic definition, but deep implications

goldPseudo

there are experts who literally dedicate themselves to teaching people the basics of islam. we want them just as much as we want the ones who know the intricate complexities of fiqh and islamic history.

2

Al Ummat

2

Q: what is Caliph according to Quran?

What is literal meaning of word Caliph? What is its root? How many time and in what verses is this root used? What is definition of Caliph according to Quran? Please reply only from the Quran and with a word having the root of Caliph in it.

caliph

is there an answer to this "What is definition of Caliph according to Quran?"

?

ashes999

@AlUmmat I would go with Arabic linguistics, since Qur'an = Arabic. "Khalafa" means "to follow." You can use hadith, because many of them talk about "khaleefah", like how Abu Bakr was linguistically called "Khalifah of Rasulullah" (the one who came after and succeeded rasulullah).

oh ... you did that already :)

Al Ummat

@ashes999 sorry , question only asks citation from Qur'an

ashes999

16:04

@AlUmmat without hadith, we lose 80% of Islam. Qur'an cannot possibly cover everything in detail (it doesn't attempt to).

Al Ummat

@ashes999 I know, the question only asks citation from Qur'an " Please reply only from the Quran and with a word having the root of Caliph in it. "

ashes999

Okay, I added a comment to ask about hadith. IIRC, most groups accept hadith at some level as well, if it's a question of that.

Al Ummat

@ashes999 what is IIRC?

Ershad

@ashes999 How do we deal with Qur'aniyoon/Quranists?

ashes999

IIRC = If I Remember Correctly

@Erh

Al Ummat

16:08

ok

ashes999

@Ershad deal with them like anyone else. "These are proofs the ummah accepts." If they ask "no sorry no hadith/etc., you can still mention it, for the benefit of other readers, and move on.

Ershad

16:25

@ashes999 islamqa.com/en/ref/9461 "The Mormon sect appears to be Christian because they mention their book, which is the Gospel (New Testament),"

ashes999

Fascianting.

Fascinating*, even

Al Ummat

is my answer to this question good

0

Q: Is it possible that the Quran contains any errors?

Is it possible that the Quran contains any errors? Did Allah guard its writing, transcribing, etc, to ensure it was completely error-free? If errors are possible, to what extent might an error exist (i.e. could it contain only typos? Or might it contain a completely wrong/misunderstood teaching...

quran

ashes999

needs proofs

Al Ummat

ok

ashes999

there's that famous ayah

"Indeed we revelaed it, wa innaa lahu lahaafidhoon"

Al Ummat

16:30

@ashes999 where is that Ayah, i know it is familiar but I am not good with transliteration.

ashes999

@AlUmmat try quran.com, you can search by translation and transliteration

Ansari

that ayah is in surah qiyamah

but it doesn't really count as "proof" because it itself is in the qur'an :)

if one were approaching the question from a skeptical angle, then that does nothing to prove anything to them

Al Ummat

so I should get it from the hadith?

goldPseudo

the question doesn't seem to be coming from a skeptics angle, so much as a curiousity angle.

i would include the proof (circular though it may be) and let the questioner decide if it's acceptable.

ashes999

Yes.

Al Ummat

16:39

what is the surat of that Ayah , and what is the Ayah number

ashes999

@AlUmmat quran.com ;)

smarmy answer, I know. Try searching, I don't know myself.

Al Ummat

@ashes999 thank you I found it :)

goldPseudo

quran.com/15/9

ashes999

@Ershad you may want to fold this into your answer: islam.stackexchange.com/questions/639/…

Ershad

16:54

@ashes999 me? which answer?

ashes999

Oops, sorry, that should go to @AlUmmat

Ershad

@ashes999 :)

speech of Allah sounds more "strong" than word of Allah ...but never mind :)

ashes999

@Ershad I prefer "speech" because some sects deviated on this topic and claimed that Allah does not speak.

Ershad

@ashes999 Yes, you are right.

goldPseudo

0

Q: Is it okay to have a 0% accept rate on this site?

I have recently come under some criticism for having a 0% accept rate. I want to ask the community how they feel about this. Please note, that I do intend to accept some answers, but I feel it's a bit early to do that. Some reasons I have not yet accepted answers: I'm still pretty new to Isl...

discussion accepted-answer

Dynamic

17:07

@goldPseudo Yeah I threw my two sense there :-)

goldPseudo

@ashes999, could you set the room so that new meta questions are automatically posted in chat?

Dynamic

@ashes999 Yeah, I think that would be better than having a constant feed of new questions on the main site.

goldPseudo

we can just manually post main questions when we want to discuss them, but autoposting meta questions is probably a good thing.

ashes999

I would if I knew how. Let me see...

Dynamic

Yuppers

goldPseudo

17:10

(at least for now, while everyone's still working out what the site is before it goes public.)

Dynamic

@ashes999 Go to control access->feeds->enter rss

Feeds

ashes999 has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

ashes999

done

Dynamic

Thanks!

ashes999

wow, I seem to be enraging a lot of people

Dynamic

17:11

@ashes999 How so?

goldPseudo

"Thanks!" is actually a term of gratitude, not rage.

Dynamic

LOL

ashes999

at least two meta questions in the last four hours were because of my comments

"People don't seem to like ..."

Ansari

@ashes999 links?

ashes999

1) meta.islam.stackexchange.com/questions/167/… -- "I have recently come under some criticism for having a 0% accept rate."

Ansari

17:18

nah that one is fine - legit discussion

ashes999

the other one looks deleted

Dynamic

Yeah I was looking at that post too...

Gtg... bye

ashes999

@AlUmmat what was that ayah/surah for "we revealed it and we will protect it"?

Ansari

hijr:9

ashes999

jazax

Ershad

17:41

@all Before we public, I think some of us should ask & answer usual (but not easy) question & misconceptions that Non-muslims ask or should we wait for them to ask? Because, I still find it surprising that some "trademark" questions that not there.

*are not there

ashes999

great meta question...

Ershad

okay, i will ask there :)

Ansari

@Ershad - why don't we just let them ask instead of putting words in their mouth?

SE is a good system, we don't need to pre-empt it or manipulate it or think we're sitting behind some kind of table and people visit the table on the other side. the fact is we're all on the same side of the table - we all ask questions and we all answer

Ershad

@Ansari It is not putting words in their mouth. I am suspect these would be one of the very early questions and if we already have good answers, it might attract traffic. One of the frequent questions I get asked is regarding the age of Aisha radiallahu anha when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wassalam married her.

But, it is just a opinion... I agree with you too.. but just need your opinions

ashes999

I see that both of you have valid points ... so go meta :)

Dynamic

18:03

@ashes999 The feed is not working. I just posted a question on meta almost an hour ago and it hasn't showed up in here.

ashes999

Does anyone know how to link it? SE doesn't provide RSS for questions, which is what we need

never mind

fixing ...

Feeds

ashes999 has stopped a feed from being posted into this room

Ershad

1

Q: Should we ask and answer ourselves the "usually asked questions" before we go public?

From our experiences, we know the frequently asked questions (but not easy or basic) about Islam by people. Is it a good idea to ask them and answer it ourselves with the best answers beforehand? Or should we wait for others to ask it? In my opinion, those answers will attract more traffic.

discussion

Feeds

ashes999 has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

Dynamic

@ashes999 That should work. Thanks!

ashes999

18:07

@Dynamic let me know if it doesn't

Dynamic

@ashes999 No problem...

ashes999

1

Q: Can non-Muslims enter a Mosque or prayer room?

Is it allowed for non-Muslims to enter a prayer room? I have seen some non-Muslims coming into a Muslim prayer room and praying. Is that allowed?

prayer non-muslim mosque cleanliness

for whoever was asking about "should I ask basic questions and answer them myself"

obviously, someone agrees that you should :)

Dynamic

@ashes999 The sad part is, if we weren't asking for proof, the correct answer would be "Yes."

ashes999

@Dynamic yep, you would have a site where every question has three answers: "Yes," "No," "I think so."

Dynamic

@ashes999 Question: "What is Islam?" Answer: "Yes"

LOL

Ershad

18:14

There is a difference between a masjid and Prayer room (Mussala).

Dynamic

@Ershad Of course. I'm guessing that's why the OP mentioned both

Ershad

@Dynamic To me it seems like he thinks both are same. "Mosque or prayer room" but only "prayer room" in description. Never mind. Let me check if the ruling would differ between them

Dynamic

@Ershad Tell me if you find anything.

ashes999

lol @Dynamic

Ershad

Sure :) this is an interesting read - lifeofummaslam.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/…

islam.stackexchange.com/questions/645/… Here it comes, mother of all questions - Polygamy and Hijab. But, usually the question is why polygamy for men.. but this is why not polygamy for women ? Nice

Stack Exchange

18:29

1

Q: Please Down-Vote Beginner Questions

Possible dupe of: Question quality Dear Islam.SE users: we are deluged with low-quality beginner questions. By "beginner" questions, I mean questions that, if you spent less than five minutes searching even Google, you would find the answer. Seriously. Islam.SE and all SE sites are expert Q&...

discussion

1

Q: Is it okay to have a 0% accept rate on this site?

I have recently come under some criticism for having a 0% accept rate. I want to ask the community how they feel about this. Please note, that I do intend to accept some answers, but I feel it's a bit early to do that. Some reasons I have not yet accepted answers: I'm still pretty new to Isl...

discussion accepted-answer

0

Q: Public Beta - For @RobertCartaino

Robert, Just a quick question - are we going into public beta tomorrow? Or is that later? Would appreciate it if you can give us some idea so we know how long we have to get things in shape :)

support

3

Q: Formatting your questions and answers

Since the first day, I have seen lots of posts that don't take advantage of Stack Exchanges formatting options. This makes the question really hard to read. So, I have a few suggestions: If you are creating a post, please take the time to make it visually appealing i.e. we use a lot of quotes o...

discussion editing formatting

2

Q: Should we ask and answer ourselves the "usually asked questions" before we go public?

From our experiences, we know the frequently asked questions (but not easy or basic) about Islam by people. Is it a good idea to ask them and answer it ourselves with the best answers beforehand? Or should we wait for others to ask it? In my opinion, those answers will attract more traffic.

discussion

ashes999

great, it works

Ansari

i think it works in batches

well that's how RSS works in general

but i guess here it checks every 15-20 mins

or even longer

ashes999

I assume that's just the initial "first time I read this feed" dump

we'll see

Dynamic

wow...

What did you guys think about my formatting post on Meta? Thoughts?

ashes999

Good in theory

can't force people in practice :)

some of us seem more keen to edit and format than others...leave it to them and try to educate the masses?

Al Ummat

18:38

Asalamu wa alaikum

ashes999

wa'alikum as-salaam @Al

-@Al +@AlUmmat

Ershad

@AlUmmat wa`alaykkum assalam

Al Ummat

I will remind everyone here in the chat, and please remind those away form chat, to post suggestions for the the elevator pitch here

4

Q: What’s the “elevator pitch” for our site?

Since no one has asked yet, permit me to be the first. What do you think should be the elevator pitch for islam.SE? More about what an elevator pitch is: Imagine you’ve just gotten on an elevator with a friendly stranger. You have precisely one floor to describe your community to them. Wh...

discussion

Dynamic

@ashes999 I guess... it bothers me :-)

Aarthi

@Dynamic Thanks for the assist.

I knew "polygamy" was the wrong word. No religion allows women to marry women.

Dynamic

18:50

@Aarthi No problem. It said it right there in the Wikipedia article you linked to anyways :-)... But now I need to ask you to return the favor :-)

Aarthi

Sup

Dynamic

You're not Robert, but can you answer this?

0

Q: Public Beta - For @RobertCartaino

Robert, Just a quick question - are we going into public beta tomorrow? Or is that later? Would appreciate it if you can give us some idea so we know how long we have to get things in shape :)

support

Aarthi

@Dynamic :P An answer is coming soon.

Dynamic

@Aarthi What's that supposed to mean :P?

Dynamic

19:03

@Aarthi Saw the answer. Thanks!

Aarthi

np

/waves

Dynamic

HEY EVERYBODY! THE SITE IS GOING INTO PUBLIC BETA TOMORROW!

6

1

A: How long will the site stay in private beta?

Launch Date Announced Barring any technical difficulties, this site is confirmed and scheduled to go public late on Tuesday, 6/26.

3

goldPseudo

God willing.

Al Ummat

@Dynamic insha'Allah

Dynamic

Inshallah

There is gonna be a huge wave of views and questions tomorrow.

Get ready

goldPseudo

19:18

@Dynamic, inre the formatting post: i agree completely, didn't have much more to say that you hadn't already brought up. i just upvoted it and left it at that.

Al Ummat

19:41

we have now our third 1k rep user :)

congratulations @Ansari

Ershad

@Dynamic Insha Allah

Al Ummat

@Dynamic can we set our elevator pitch before tomorrow?

Dynamic

@AlUmmat If I'm not mistaken, elevator pitches are for the full site. When we get out of Beta completely

Al Ummat

@Dynamic hmm. that is good to know

Ansari

thank you @AlUmmat - @Ershad is catching up as well mashaAllah :)

Ershad

19:49

@Ansari lol :)

Dynamic

@AlUmmat Yup. The only changes from Private->Public is that anybody can join the site, and we can get our mods. Also, questions from other sites on the SE network can be migrated here, if they are on-topic here.

Oh and privleges get harder to have

But I explained that to you :P

goldPseudo

elevator pitch would still be useful for actually promoting the site once it goes public.

even if it's still in beta.

Dynamic

@goldPseudo Speaking of which, I'm gonna start rolling out our popular questions to Reddit.

Tomorrow.

I advise others do the same.

Gotta go

ashes999

how are we planning to deal with the inevitable tide of hatred?

goldPseudo

with sabr. lots and lots of sabr.

ashes999

19:55

See: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/3819?m=5074680#5074680

@goldPseudo will we be able to curve the site away from hatred and "this is my personal opinion as someone uneducated about Islam" towards our somewhat well-maintained, multi-opinion site?

That is my fear.

Al Ummat

@Ershad was it you who said that you were going to post something on SU?

goldPseudo

i personally believe that "the inevitable tide of hatred" is less of a concern than "the inevitable tide of people who think this is a debate/argument site".

but that's mostly due to my experience on the other site. argumentative posts were far more common than blatant troll posts.

Ershad

@AlUmmat Yup

Al Ummat

@Ershad well tomorrow if you are still up to please post it to SU :)

Ansari

are we going to lose our privileges tomorrow?

i think the only medicine for trolling is aggressive downvoting and flagging

Al Ummat

20:06

@Ansari how is that?

Ansari

well the bars for editing, closing, voting etc. are lower in private beta right

or no?

Al Ummat

@Ansari bars? sorry I do not think I understand

:(

goldPseudo

right now, you only need 1000 rep to get moderator tools. when we go public beta, you'll need 2000 rep to get moderator tools.

ashes999

so does that mean our privileges will be revoked? I believe this is what Ansari is asking.

Ershad

@AlUmmat Sure :)

goldPseudo

20:09

i think everyone's privileges will be recalculated as soon as we make the transition, but I'm not sure. this is the first private beta I've been through.

25

Q: Can we grandfather in rep abilities as sites leave beta?

As Stack Exchange sites are beginning to graduate from beta, they are moving out of the beta rep benchmarks for abilities. This means that almost all users lose some of their abilities. Not a big deal on an individual level, but it also means that the community loses some of its policing abilitie...

feature-request reputation stackexchange beta-phase

muntoo

Everyone's privileges will be recalculated.

ashes999

oh boy.

here come the trolls...

Ansari

@AlUmmat bars as in the barriers or requirements

Al Ummat

@Ansari ok

goldPseudo

we'll still have the diamond mods. and if i understand correctly, appointing pro-tems kicks in about a week into public beta, God willing.

Al Ummat

20:14

Insha'Allah

goldPseudo

privilege bars for public beta are roughly double what we have now. so the current 1k mods may lose moderator tools, but they'll still be able to edit posts.

and vote to close/reopen.

Al Ummat

well, as long as our community grows and benefits than we would okay

goldPseudo

voting should increase when we go public, just because there will be so many more people. so getting up to 2000 should be faster than it took to get to 1000 in the first place, God willing.

Al Ummat

Insha'Allah

Dynamic

20:29

If only every answer was like this:

4

A: Are Muslim men allowed to take "sex slaves?"

Firstly, slavery doesn't exist in modern world (including the muslim world). However, in pre-islamic era, there was too much injustice towards the slaves and people used to take slaves for every silly reason. Islam restricted it to war prisoners only. When Islam came it started treated them justl...

ashes999

seriously.

Dynamic

Is that an agree seriously or a "Did you really just post that" seriously? :-)

ashes999

that's an "agree, seriously." I already read the answer :)

Dynamic

@ashes999 :-) thats what I thought. just checking

I was just chatting in another room, and we got in a convo about pro tem mods...

The thought that we're getting ours soon is stressing me out.

Al Ummat

@Dynamic why?

Dynamic

20:36

@AlUmmat Because we need good mods. In my mind, there are only 4 people who would do a good job and if they're not appointed we might not do to well.

Al Ummat

@Dynamic It might help to calm you if you remember that Allah has written everything down, that which is good will happen and that which is bad will happen and Allah does what He wills

@Dynamic did that help?

Insha'Allah

Dynamic

@AlUmmat You're correct. Inshallah

goldPseudo

it may be a good time to start a meta post on who would make a good protem.

especially if you'reworried the SE team doesn't have enough information to make a good decision.

ashes999

20:52

the SE team nominates them right?

I know from past experience, it's not rep based

goldPseudo

they do

but they take into consideration suggestions from the community

it's based more on meta activity etc than it is on rep.

Al Ummat

@goldPseudo good, on OSQA sites they are rep based, some of them atleast, and I do not like that

goldPseudo

there's a good blog post inre the protem process, but i'm on my phone right now so don't have the link handy.

Al Ummat

what is community-ads for?

ashes999

-3

Q: Moderator elections in beta sites?

Per my previous question, it seems like the beta phase of sites is continuing much longer than previously. Currently, pro-temp moderators are nominated when a site is only a few weeks old, when the site is still very new and unshaped. They continue until they are unable to moderate, or the site g...

discussion stackexchange-2.0 election beta-phase

muntoo

21:01

@AlUmmat It's ads that any user can post that will be displayed in the sidebar.

I think it's a mod-only/SE-team tag.

6

Q: Community Promotion Ads - 2012

What are Community Promotion Ads? Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertiseme...

discussion community-ads

That's an example of community ads on English.SE.

(Notice my ad at the bottom. ;))

goldPseudo

interesting. i never knew about those before.

are they a new thing?

ashes999

They've been around for ages.

afk

muntoo

Blog - Stack Exchange: Community Promotion Ads

Robert Cartaino on May 31, 2011

You may have seen our vote-based advertising for open source projects on Stack Overflow — Stack Overflow users create ads for their favorite open source projects, and the community votes for the projects they’d like to see promoted on the site.

In response to the popularity of that program, we’ve extended this vote based advertising program to all the public Stack Exchange sites.

There are likely other activities of interest to your community beyond asking and answering questions, such as: …

Al Ummat

what would be a good excerpt for them?

muntoo

So, 2011.

Dynamic

21:06

Blog - Stack Exchange: Moderator Pro Tempore

Robert Cartaino on July 27, 2010

There’s a bit of a leadership vacuum inside the new Stack Exchange communities in public beta. We’ve put a lot of responsibility on each group to take ownership of their own site. The Stack Exchange team can act as guide, but we don’t always have the domain knowledge to understand the needs of each group. As the Network expands, this stretches our ability to assure that each community’s issues are properly addressed.

That’s why I am in the process of identifying and organizing a team of provisional Moderators from within each community (about three per site, starti …

Thought you guys might wanna see that.

muntoo

"How Moderators are Appointed Pro Tem
About a week into the public beta, we will seek out members who are deeply engaged in the community’s development; members who:

- Have a reasonably high reputation score to indicate active, consistent participation.
- Show an interest in their meta’s community-building activities.
- Lead by example, showing patience and respect for their fellow community members in everything they write.
- Exhibit those intangible traits discussed in A Theory of Moderation."

Dynamic

@muntoo Hey, that's what I posted :P

muntoo

@Dynamic Yeah, I was already on that page when you posted it. ;)

Al Ummat

@abushahin Asalamu wa alaikum

abu shahin

Wa alaykum salam Mujahid

Al Ummat

21:19

@abushahin how are you today?

abu shahin

Alhamdulillah bro it's 22:00 here at the moment :) how are you?

Al Ummat

@abushahin alhamdulillah

Al Ummat

21:51

hello @Swati how are you today?

Swati

22:01

Hi @Al Ummat, I am alright

how are you?

Al Ummat

@Swati good, good

@Swati tomorrow we are going to go public beta :)

goldPseudo

22:26

God willing.

the floodgates will be opened.

and we'll find out if any of the work we put in will succeed.

our patience will be tried and our resolve will be tested.

Ansari

gee @goldPseudo why don't you make it a little more dramatic

goldPseudo

if i was allowed to gamble, i'd open a betting pool on which troll question we'll get first.

Ansari

lol

you can still guess :P

goldPseudo

where's the fun in that? i want ill-gotten gains.

i'm just hoping we'll at least get original trolls.

at least they can be amusing.

the trolls i encountered on the other site didn't tend to put effort into being offensive.

Ansari

22:45

yeah in any case our trolls will have to put in some effort before they can cause any damage or get any lulz

courtesy rep reqs

goldPseudo

i still contend that our larger problem would be argumentators.

Ansari

seriously though - what kind of questions do you think we'd get

yeah i agree - we need a firm policy

goldPseudo

so we'll need to nip any comment-arguments in the bud as asap as possible.

Ansari

so if we get into that, we just point to the policy and move away

like holding up a sign and just pointing to it each time something gets in that direction

goldPseudo

i'm not sure if user-mod tools or diamond-mod tools have a "convert to question" button. a lot of comment-arguments bring up very good questions which would warrant their own posts (with a bit of editing).

i've found that's a good way to diffuse a lot of the arguments, if you can interrupt it by turning it into a new legitimate question.

(i know OSQA lets you do that)

Ansari

22:52

i know there's a convert to comment thing

goldPseudo

of course there's a very fine line between "argumentative question" and "legitimate question that looks argumentative".

(the sex slaves question is a good example)

Ansari

yeah - i would put the onus on the questioner to make it clear where they're coming from

goldPseudo

i suspect we'll get a lot of questions from non-Muslims who get a lot of their information from "answering-islam"-type sites.

even if they're not actually looking to start an argument, if that's all they know about islam they're going to have trouble coming across as legit.

Ansari

that's good i guess

ah

also i think we might be building it up too much - even with the best marketing it will take a while to spread

after all, we have no cat videos on here

2

goldPseudo

true enough.

God only knows the future, we can but guess.

Al Ummat

23:19

@goldPseudo I found out what went wrong when I crated that chat room the other day, I did not make Islam.SE a related site.

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