The Playground

4:11 PM

0

Q: Teaching children to teach themselves

Looking for a learning system that tests a child's skills related to learning how to learn. Really not sure what the skill sets would be, how they would be tested, or how the would be taught.

teaching

This question seems to me to be both a shopping question, and overly broad. Any thoughts to how this could be improved, or should it just be closed?

Aarthi Devanathan

4:30 PM

@Beofett Yeah that sounds way too broad.

That's also effectively asking, "How can I parent as minimally as possible," which, c'mon.

Peter Grace

5:07 PM

Beofett

@PeterGrace That image sums up every Anne Geddes picture I've ever seen!

Aarthi Devanathan

@PeterGrace ahahaha! AHAHAHAHA.

Peter Grace

Praise be unto reddit

Beofett

that is one unhappy child....

Aarthi Devanathan

this one's pretty unhappy.

Beofett

5:11 PM

@AarthiDevanathan that one seems actively angry. As in "I swear, I'll cut you!" angry.

Peter Grace

Or, "WTF you just say?"

Aarthi Devanathan

Ahahaha.

Beofett

speaking of angry... we got some fantastic "future blackmail" video this week of Hunter!

Aarthi Devanathan

:D

SHOW SHOW

Beofett

I don't have it here. I'll see if I can upload it from home tonight

Aarthi Devanathan

5:14 PM

:D

sounds awesome

Beofett

but the backstory alone is fantastic

he found one of his waterproof swimming diapers, and handed it to his mom.

she tried to give it back, but he kept returning it, and staring at her expectantly

she finally put it on his head, at which point he smiled, and happily walked away

The video then shows him playing, with a diaper on his head. At one point the diaper falls off, and he hands it back to mom, who puts it back on his head, and he continues playing

Aarthi Devanathan

ahahaha.

Beofett

we couldn't ask for better material to present to his first serious girlffriend!

Aarthi Devanathan

:D :D

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

7:18 PM

@AarthiDevanathan @Beofett I've now closed it as "not a real question" because it can't be answered in its present form.

Looking forward to the chat session tonight! Only 40 minutes to launch!

Aarthi Devanathan

woooooot

warning: I will likely be pretty quiet. I am tiredface. I woke at 0430 this morning (that's 1030 for you, @Torben) sooooo

Beofett

I hope my internet doesn't die again during the chat

it's died twice today so far

Aarthi Devanathan

D:

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

good luck!

@AarthiDevanathan given that the topic is site promotion, I think you need to grab a coffee and saddle up. Or, take a 20 min power nap starting NOW. :)

Aarthi Devanathan

all right, all right. brews some tea

Aarthi Devanathan

7:50 PM

TEN MINUTES :D

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

all right, people are coming in. Looking good so far :-)

Aarthi Devanathan

Whoooo~

Hey there, @RegDwight :D

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Me no people. Me bot.

Aarthi Devanathan

LOL lies, I see you on English.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I just passed my Turing test.

@AarthiDevanathan How is that a contradiction?

English is full of bots.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

7:56 PM

FIVE MINUTES :D

Aarthi Devanathan

@RegDwightѬſ道 Discrete statements, actually.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

My point exactly.

Aarthi Devanathan

@RegDwightѬſ道 Wait, really?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ask Lauren.

Aarthi Devanathan

I will. Right now, in fact.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

7:57 PM

Aarthi Devanathan

She simply looks puzzled.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

See.

in English Language and Usage, Mar 23 at 13:35, by Robusto

The fact is, when someone begins a sentence with "the fact is," that sentence will probably contain not a single provable fact.

Anyhow. Where is everybody? And why did I get invited, above all?

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@RegDwightѬſ道 You found a quote in a transcript that is 8 months old -- that fast? How?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

in English Language and Usage, Jun 17 at 12:36, by RegDwight

Tab number 4166624. Note the 666. Easy to remember.

Aarthi Devanathan

Huh. :O

RegDwight Ѭſ道

8:01 PM

in English Language and Usage, Sep 30 at 18:56, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I have every chat message open in a separate tab for quick and easy access later.

Aarthi Devanathan

@RegDwightѬſ道 Chances are, this is everybody. And, I guess you popped in here once, hence the invite?

Dude, chat is beyond me.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@AarthiDevanathan Yeah, I suppose I did pop in at some point.

in English Language and Usage, Feb 17 at 19:07, by RegDwight

I'm on all sites 24/7.

Anyhow. Enough with the nonsense.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

So, we're 1 minute into the chat, Aarthi. Time to say WELCOME EVERYONE and get this show on the road.

Aarthi Devanathan

WELCOME TO PARENTING CHAT! :D

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I should start by saying that I am not a parent. I am a child, though.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:03 PM

We have 2 stack exchange staffers here, 2 moderators, and 2 users. Good mix.

Beofett

Actually, I believe it is 3 stack exchange staffers, and 3 moderators?

Aarthi Devanathan

Peter = one of us!

and yes, it's 3/3

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

Oh! I didn't know that

Beofett

no users = sad face

Aarthi Devanathan

Peter is new:

Stack Overflow Blog: Welcome Valued Associate Peter Grace!

Posted by Alison Sperling on October 18th, 2011

Peter Grace joins Stack Exchange as Sysadmin in the NYC Headquarters, expanding the System Administration team to 3 people. George, Kyle and Pete are working hard to make sure our growing sites continue to make the internet a better place.

Pete has been married to his lovely wife Kristy for eight years and they have two sons Nate, 3 and Ben, 1. An avid gardener, Pete has successfully grown pumpkins, radishes, cucumbers, swiss chard, snow peas and more. In his spare time, Pete enjoys playing computer games and guns with George. …

@Beofett Agreed. But we had this problem the last time, too.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:05 PM

Uh, I count 2 parenting moderators. My greetings to other site mods but I was kinda trying to introduce everyone... fail?

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun sorry, didn't mean to nitpick.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett I'm fine with corrections.

Aarthi Devanathan

@RegDwight is an English mod, iirc.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

more people are entering! Yay! And so many weird names :-) Hello, hello!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@AarthiDevanathan An English bot, ftfy.

Kitḫ

8:07 PM

shh Don't give it away

You'll spoil the surprise.

Aarthi Devanathan

@RegDwightѬſ道 As a blue diamond, you have the brute force fix for that.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Sorry, I won't fix myself.

That's not what I volunteered for.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@RegDwightѬſ道 broken beyond repair?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Anyhow. I didn't mean to disrupt this serious business.

Just trying to get some people over.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

Did anyone hand out / hang up any of Jin's cool posters? meta.parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/257/…

RegDwight Ѭſ道

8:09 PM

Kit right there is a parent, methinks. Also, not affiliated with Knight Industries.

Matt Эллен

I am not a parent. I am nosy

Kitḫ

Hi @Matt!

Matt Эллен

hi @Kit :)

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

And @Aarthi, did anything noteworthy come of the pta.org advertisement? meta.parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/234/…

Aarthi Devanathan

Oh gosh, hi everyone!

Matt Эллен

8:10 PM

hi @AarthiDevanathan!

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

(Am I the only one trying to get the topic started?)

Kitḫ

Hi @Aarthi!

What topic?

Where?

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

leans back and enjoys a piece of good Swedish chocolate

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun I have to admit that I did not. I could not think of any locations nearby where such an advertisement would be both permitted and relevant to our target population

RegDwight Ѭſ道

leans back and enjoys a piece of good Russian chocolate

Beofett

8:11 PM

@Kitḫ We scheduled this chat event to discuss site promotion tactics for parenting.se

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Kitḫ The "Site Promotion Discussion" that was scheduled for right now.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Jinx!

Aarthi Devanathan

And to talk about future chat events :)

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett kindergarten posterwall, office billboard near the canteen.

Kitḫ

Oh, is that it? Well, then.

Aarthi Devanathan

8:13 PM

Hee.

Okay! Let's do this thing right!

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun we're too early for kindergarten, and I work in a retirement living community, and we have no office billboard nor canteen :(

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett aw shucks. Do your grocery stores perhaps have customer billboards? The kind where people can advertise their bikes and used kittens?

Er, kittens and used bikes!

Makes a note to post in our local stores

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Hrm, they might at that. I'll have to check and see what rules, if any, might apply

Aarthi Devanathan

Whoa, it's @SteveJackson :D

Beofett

unless I am misreading, it does not seem like there was a huge influx resulting from the pta ads :(

Aarthi Devanathan

8:17 PM

Nope.

We had....126 clicks

If i recall correctly.

So I'm not doing passive ads anymore.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan that's very sad. How about that tv audience event? Was it the tonight show or something?

Steve Jackson

@AarthiDevanathan nods busy day - got the invite, but mostly lurking

Aarthi Devanathan

The Today Show!

I went and scoped it out today. It's still a possibility, but I'm thinking it wouldn't be as useful / feasible as I'd thought.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan I was close! Hey, actually I was spot on, just in another time zone!

Aarthi Devanathan

laughs

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:19 PM

@SteveJackson I am glad it's 21:19 at my location. Today at work was crazy, no time for nothing.

@AarthiDevanathan would it be as high-visibility as we want, do you think?

Aarthi Devanathan

That's part of it. It also probably wouldn't be the same kind of reach.

I dunno; the team and I have to think it over.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

I am totally NOT a marketing mind, so I don't have a lot of ideas for BIG reach. I mostly think small. Local posters, posting on G+, etc.

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan I'm not sure how many people who regularly watch the Today show would be in the cross-over spot between stackexchange and parenting demographics

but perhaps I simply have an incorrect stereotypical view of their viewership

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett There must be viewer statistics and metrics about this. But very likely not publicly available?

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun I'm actually not opposed to this.

I'd just like to do one really big thing. Finding that, though, is way difficult.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:23 PM

I'm not familiar with the show. I'd expect lots of parents everywhere.

@AarthiDevanathan Does SE have a marketing guru on staff? Any inputs from that front? Or from other sites' promotions?

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Nielsen has a full set of demographic data, statistics, and metrics, but I'm not sure if it is available

We should advertise on Teen Mom, or Toddlers and Tiaras, or another of those horrible reality shows about parents ruining their children's lives

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett That's a US statistical institute, right? You could check out whether it's expensive to get hold of. If cheap enough, it might give you interesting pointers. Better yet, they might offer some tips or ideas, or other shows/events, if you tell them what you're trying to achieve (for a fee?).

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun We do have one. Ummm. She was the one who mentioned that our font page looked like a guide to "how minimally can I parent and not get in trouble?" kind of site.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan I don't think our questions are really that low-level? But granted, the site is a world apart from the usual online parenting hangouts and forums.

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun They're actually international, but yes, I'm pretty sure they sell the data

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:29 PM

@Beofett You mean make a TV commercial that runs in a break in these shows? That sounds expensive, and that is the kind of show where I think the audience is beyond reach, pedagogically speaking.

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan I have to admit that my cousin, who I referred to this site, and who also is a) extremely geeky, b) a parent, and c) very active in online communities, said that she was surprised at how "dumb" some of the questions here were

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun It's not that; it's that it was when the hotsaucing and the other questions were on the front page. We looked like a "Where's the line on abuse for parenting? How badly can I parent and get away with it?" kind of site.

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun yeah, I'm sure that that is beyond the scope of any reasonable budget.

Aarthi Devanathan

@Beofett That's also an issue. I don't think we necessarily have a quality problem...but I also often am able to answer questions by searching on BabyCenter.

@Beofett Alex says he would pay those people not to use our site :P

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan this is why I am so eager to see more research-based answers

@AarthiDevanathan lol

Aarthi Devanathan

8:31 PM

@Beofett We also need more questions about older kids.

Steve Jackson

The only place I can think of where parents hang out and are receptive to Q&A is a pediatrician's office. There's tons of kids and parents at the zoo for instance, but I wouldn't be receptive to any kind of advertising there. The time I mainly think of parenting questions is at the doctor's and the rest of the time I muddle along like everyone else, I gather.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan absolutely!! I can provide that in ... five to ten years?

@SteveJackson excellent input! makes another note to ask permission to hang a poster there

Beofett

same boat as @Torben here :P

Aarthi Devanathan

I know, I know. Aaaah.

We should get nannies on the site.

I feel like no one has more questions than someone dealing with another person's kids.

/mostly joking.

Beofett

Is it possible to approach major pediatric hubs for some sort of partnership? An exchange of advertising on our site for displaying our posters in their waiting rooms?

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:35 PM

@AarthiDevanathan I stumbled onto sittercity.com yesterday. Can we advertise there? (I know you said passive adverts are dead.)

Aarthi Devanathan

I just wouldn't want it to look like we were endorsing a particular doctor.

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Shiny. I'll look into it.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan We have had some very good questions from sitters/nannies. And about them, too.

Steve Jackson

@AarthiDevanathan And they likely wouldn't want to look like they were endorsing content they didn't control.

Aarthi Devanathan

Yeah.

Beofett

ugh...

internet... dying... again

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:38 PM

@SteveJackson I just realized our local hospital has a fantastic (uh, what's the english word?) "birth ward". That would be an obvious place to hang a poster!

@AarthiDevanathan I've seen ads on other SE sites that seem to be "voted" into position. Does SE also accept commercial ads or only community-generated ones?

Aarthi Devanathan

Is that, "maternity ward" here?

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan YES! Where people go to get born and such. Their parents spend a lot of time walking up and down hallways...

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun It's a tough call on that. I can offer our adspace, but I have to go through an approval process.

The sites where the community votes up ads: only graduated sites can do that.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan Fine, if there's approval then I don't see a problem.

Steve Jackson

@TorbenGundtofteBruun That's sort of what I was thinking, I mean I was paralyzed with questions in the hospital. And there's all kinds of flyers and stuff in the OB (obstetrician's) office. It would be pretty hard to get permission in the US though.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:41 PM

@AarthiDevanathan And we're far from graduating, so we'd need something that works in the beta stage. ("Far from" only means we need more traffic; quality is very good IMHO.)

Aarthi Devanathan

approval means I have to show (1) that the partner would be awesome, and that (2) it would be relevant. There are more -- and I don't have the final say -- but that's the main requirements boiled down.

@TorbenGundtofteBruun See, but @Beofett's friend noting the "dumbness" of our questions is a quality issue.

Beofett

Our hospital is dedicated to childbirth, and offers parenting classes. During those classes they handed out a number of resources, including a list of web resources for parents.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan you're right, the first impression counts for a lot.

Beofett

we're much better than some of the resources recommended, even with our "quality" issues

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett sounds like a perfect opportunity! I only wish my geographical region wasn't so English-phobic...

Steve Jackson

8:43 PM

@AarthiDevanathan I'm actually not so sure about that. It's part of the reason a parenting Q&A site is tricky - there really isn't a stupid question, but once you know the answer its human nature to judge the asker as a simpleton for not knowing this fundamental question of child rearing which is, y'know perfectly natural and completely obvious to everyone.

HedgeMage

/me peeks in

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Time to visit the UK then!

@HedgeMage HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D :D

HedgeMage

Thanks!

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett: Killer question you just posted.

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun snap that was you? :D love it!

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:45 PM

@HedgeMage Hjerteligt tillykke med fødselsdagen! Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag! Anata no tanjoubi o omedetou gozaimasu!

Beofett

The whole "we need questions about older children" gave me a mini-brainstorm :P

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan You mean "move there". Hmm, I'm just settling in here. And I've already moved enough in my life.

Beofett

and happy birthday, @HedgeMage!

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Nahh. A 3-month visit would achieve the same. :D

@Beofett My only concern is that this feels like astroturfing. Mind, I don't really have an issue with that. BUT. I don't want that to be the primary way of us getting views.

hummm.

/tries something

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan Seeding questions was something we had discussed before, and I thought the official position was that it was "okay", at least in moderation

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:49 PM

@AarthiDevanathan /crowd expectantly goes quiet, waiting for the fireworks.

@Beofett Yes, seeding is very okay. But it can be hard, because if users ask clarifying questions of you, what do you say? So seeded questions need to be pretty self-contained.

HedgeMage

Thanks @Beofett... I'd thank @TorbenGundtofteBruun but I have no idea what he said :P

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun I refer to myself when I was that age, since I started smoking as a teen :P

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@HedgeMage Danish, German, Japanese :) Guess what it means?

@Beofett Then it's not a cheat question -- rock on!!

Aarthi Devanathan

(As an aside, one day I'll learn to say, "Rødgrød Med Fløde" correctly, @Torben)

HedgeMage

@TorbenGundtofteBruun That makes more sense... it seemed long for "happy birthday" :)

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

8:51 PM

@AarthiDevanathan you're on your way! It's spelled right :-D

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Hooray Google!

HedgeMage

So what did I miss? Anything interesting get decided?

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan do you have Android? It can read it aloud for you.

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Alas I do not.

it's like

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@HedgeMage no decisions but some ideas are bouncing around

SIX MINUTES TO GO. -- Can someone throw in a surprise-perfect-suggestion before we close? (We won't really close; this'll go on for as long as we keep talking.)

Aarthi Devanathan

8:54 PM

Sooo I'm thinking:

we get a ton of our traffic from google searches right?

HedgeMage

correct

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

yep

HedgeMage

Most healthy SE sites do

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

are you thinking google adwords? (was kinda thinking that stuff is already happening)

Aarthi Devanathan

sorta

these are the top parenting-related searches

by competitive-ness

Beofett

8:56 PM

So we need to start asking questions about grants for parents?

Aarthi Devanathan

laughs no no!

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan darn! /me stops typing

Aarthi Devanathan

but i'm going to be more cognizant of this from now on.

Peter Grace

Ooh, an event?

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett Woot! Actually there have been a few financial questions

Aarthi Devanathan

8:56 PM

maybe more single-parenting questions?

@PeterGrace welcome to the end of the event :D

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun having just applied for medical assistance for Hunter, I'm sure my wife and I could come up with a valid question or two

Peter Grace

@aarthi LOL, my banner says "An event is starting in 13 minutes..."

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

I guess the cost of buying the word "parenting" on Google is astronomical?

Aarthi Devanathan

@PeterGrace what.

HedgeMage

@AarthiDevanathan I'm pretty good at answering them, but I can't think of any to ask :/

Aarthi Devanathan

8:57 PM

@HedgeMage strokes chin

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@PeterGrace did you last refresh the page 70 minutes ago? or did it get your time zone wrong?

Peter Grace

@beofett ASD? We've gone through the medical assistance / IOP process recently too.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@HedgeMage that's my position too! :-/

Beofett

@PeterGrace to be honest, I'm not sure of the details. I know we just got the doctor's letter confirming the diagnosis/evaluation, and my wife sent in the paperwork last week

Peter Grace

@Torben my guess is that the random notification I heard 70 mins ago was in fact that little notification. But it didn't "*" the chat, so I wasn't sure which of my 10+ it came from.

HedgeMage

8:58 PM

@TorbenGundtofteBruun In my experience, PPC ads don't get us very far. We've tried it before, and it's just not a great fit for the kinds of users we want to bring in.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@HedgeMage okay

Peter Grace

@beofett nice, if it is indeed an ASD, and you got a medical diagnosis, you're sort of ahead of the curve, at least for our area. Developmental pediatricians have year-plus waiting lists around here.

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan As a former (smoking) latch-key child of a single working mother, I'll see if I can come up with some decent ones :P

Peter Grace

Nate's appointment is next week

he's had a clinical/psychological diagnosis, but not the medical diagnosis which infers some other meaning on his care

Beofett

@PeterGrace ah, just figured out ASD

Aarthi Devanathan

9:00 PM

@Beofett Better: ask your mother.

Beofett

no, Hunter has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis

Peter Grace

Ah!

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan I would if I were talking to her :P (too bad she didn't have this site back then!)

Peter Grace

@beofett that sucks. Good luck.

Beofett

@PeterGrace thanks. so far he's completely asymptomatic, and we're asking for re-testing for the genetic markers, since there's been a number of odd things in the process so far

Peter Grace

9:01 PM

@beofett is there a history in either side of the family?

Beofett

@PeterGrace One possible instance 2-3 generations back on my wife's side

Aarthi Devanathan

@Beofett Ahhh. And yes, a shame for her.

Well. Okay, so we're over time.

Beofett

the problem is the definition of CF is so nebulous, especially when going strictly by genetic markers (of which there are over 1300 known) in an asymptomatic case

@AarthiDevanathan I think this was a good start

Aarthi Devanathan

We have nannies/sitters, single parents, older children/teen questions, and...yes.

I think what we as a group should focus most on is building our internal sense of community.

To wit, the chat events and topics and stuff:

1

Q: What would be good topics for chat events?

Although the two chat-event-related meta questions (1) (2) have not yet received very many answers, the chat room itself has been chock full of topic suggestions recently. It's a gold mine! I think we should save all those great suggestions as meta answers here. Let's hear your suggestions for ...

discussion featured chat

goes and upvotes that sheepishly

I'll keep looking out for real life promotion options, but I strongly believe that if we develop a stronger site identity, we'll be better able to promote, just as a general thing.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan you're right about that! The site may look so-so from the outside, but I think insiders value it.

Aarthi Devanathan

9:07 PM

Meanwhile, I'm going to work on getting a house ad up for this site across the SE.com network

I've been putting off getting that done properly. I should stop being a lazybones :P

@TorbenGundtofteBruun Agreed. I know I sounded really critical of the site, but that wasn't my inherent purpose.

Beofett

@AarthiDevanathan the fact is, with all the competition out there, first impressions really are important

Aarthi Devanathan

Also very much agreed.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@AarthiDevanathan Criticism is always valuable! In marketing they say there's no better customer than an unhappy one because he tells you what to improve. Happy customers (=users) are useless, marketing-wise.

Beofett

It would be nice if the default view for new visitors was a sorted list of highest-voted questions, instead of the active ones

Aarthi Devanathan

@TorbenGundtofteBruun This is very true. Lord knows it's true for lots of other things, as well.

Failure (real or perceived) and detractors are the most valuable things of all.

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

9:11 PM

@Beofett YES! Can we have that? We already have the feature that 200+ rep removes ads, and this ties right in. -- Only show top posts until you're logged in.

Beofett

well, I'm out. Time to head out to pick up the kiddo. Thanks, everyone!

Aarthi Devanathan

@Beofett When we link-out the site, we could link to this instead

parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/greatest-hits

Beofett

@TorbenGundtofteBruun I'd love either that, or by views

Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

@Beofett /waves

Aarthi Devanathan

@Beofett /waves~

Beofett