V'dibarta Bam

12:23 AM

@YeZ I'm sure someone creative can do something with her and Esther. Also note that Hedy could be taken as a diminutive of Hadasa. Wow. Maybe we've got a gilgul situation here.

Monica Cellio

4:14 AM

@IsaacMoses ^^^

I'm not very good with digital art, I'm afraid, but I took a stab at it.

Isaac Moses

4:37 AM

@MonicaCellio WINNER! Thanks!

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses glad to help! (Feel free to hold out for something better.)

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio No, I think that fits the bill just right. If you don't mind, I'll just edit a nice little O-C'mon-Passover onto it

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses please feel free; I hand-drew one because I don't know how to edit the real one in. (I have low-end tools and lower-end knowledge...)

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio Oh! Didn't see it on the bottle there.

Double AA

misclick. sorry. — Double AA ♦ 55 secs ago

Monica Cellio

4:41 AM

@IsaacMoses as I said, feel free to improve on that. :-)

Double AA

It was a misclick. But doesn't anyone else think it's too broad?

It got a decent amount of votes pretty quick

Isaac Moses

@DoubleAA Maybe so. If reigned in to actual issues about reasonably conventional types of gifts (which isn't true of all of her examples) or to actual suggestions of reasonably conventional safe gifts, I think it's doable

Monica Cellio

@DoubleAA it's broad, but we've had other "what do I need to know about X?" questions (e.g. visiting a synagogue), and I think it we assume that answers will be broad but not deep, it's ok. (I was also thinking of asking and answering a similar question a couple months ago, about bringing gifts for a Shabbat visit, but never quite got it together to do so.)

Double AA

@IsaacMoses Asking for a few generally accepted gift ideas is quite different from asking for every rule in Judaism regulating what somebody of unknown customs might be offended by.

Isaac Moses

@DoubleAA I think that's what I said

Monica Cellio

4:48 AM

@DoubleAA that makes sense.

@SAH I like what you're trying to ask but worry that a comprehensive list for all occasions is very broad. Maybe narrow this to one broad category, and feel free to ask others separately? By "category" mean, for example, Shabbat host(ess) gifts, or bar/bat-mitzvah gifts, or wedding gifts. — Monica Cellio ♦ 15 secs ago

Double AA

5:06 AM

@MonicaCellio thanks

For the grammarians among us, I picked this page for a reason: who can spot Ben-Asher's typo? — Double AA ♦ Oct 11 '13 at 3:21

16 months and no one's found it??

Isaac Moses

5:18 AM

Isaac Moses

5:34 AM

@IsaacMoses , no, you may not order a plush doll version of Benny the Jewish Werewolf Boy.

Scimonster

7:42 AM

@IsaacMoses Fine, i give up. @MonicaCellio's is much better than mine.

Scimonster

8:01 AM

^^ That was my attempt. I planned to redraw it in color.

msh210

8:37 AM

6

A: whats the diffrence

In a bed. Stuff that grows by more than half (Rama :29 and Aruch Hashulchan there) do not say to say "Ma tovu". Aruch Hashulchan 695:18 writes: ויש להסתפק אם שלח לקטן אם יצא ונראה לעניות דעתי שיצא דהא לרעהו כתיב וגם קטן חייב׃ One can be in doubt as to whether, if one sent [mishloach manos] to a m...

Scimonster

12:58 PM

I feel like you already posted this and it was deleted. — Cnsersmoit 46 secs ago

Could someone with 10k check this?

Isaac Moses

1:35 PM

@Scimonster you are correct

@Scimonster thanks! The

... Early wolf does catch the sheep, but I think your sketch was going in a good direction, and I appreciate the work.

Scimonster

1:49 PM

@IsaacMoses Ah, i see. Thanks for that!

(I noticed when i got a random upvote on that answer.)

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses nice! Do you want the same background color as the bottle (to match the bottle), or a different one for possibly-better contrast? (I know you described this as a bottle label, but I wasn't able to do the recursion to put Benny on the bottle in the drawing.)

Isaac Moses

2:00 PM

@Scimonster I'm glad that I went looking, because otherwise, I would have missed that valuable answer! Maybe the bounty will help get it more of the attention it deserves.

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses It had been at score of 2, and got 3 upvotes since you placed the bounty (though i also edited it). So, yeah. :)

Just got a Necromancer badge for it too.

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster Excellent. The bounty is actually helping. I don't see that every day.

@MonicaCellio I thought I had matched the colors. I used the eyedropper, but maybe I clicked on an edge region. Anyway, I think it's close enough.

Scimonster

0

A: How can we retain users who came for a special event?

Perhaps recommend to the users that they look at some of the "real" Q&A, related to the silly content. For example: If you found this question [What is the Torah preferred brand of cell phone?, for example] interesting, you might be interested in our other technology questions as well. This...

Double AA

@IsaacMoses different user accounts, technically. prob the same person. cc @Scimonster

Isaac Moses

2:15 PM

@DoubleAA Given the identicality of the text, the only viable alternative hypothesis is that the second user account is a sock-puppet for someone with view-delete privileges

PSA for commenters on Purim Torah: Posing a funny (or even substantive) challenge to a funny post can be edifying, but following the "First Rule of Improv" is more likely to result in a joke that keeps building.

3

Isaac Moses

2:29 PM

New evidence: somehowfrum.blogspot.com/2015/02/… — Isaac Moses 15 secs ago

Monica Cellio

3:13 PM

@IsaacMoses sorry -- what I meant isn't what you heard. I think the grays do match; what I was wondering was whether you wanted a different (or lighter) background color for better contrast with Benny, even if it would mean not matching the bottle. Not a big deal, though -- looking at it again I think this looks just fine.

@IsaacMoses it's nice when bounties do that, yes.

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio Oh, I see. Maybe, but not enough to mess with it. The slightly careless way that I used the paint pour tool messes with edges a bit, so doing more of that (as opposed to starting over) would likely degrade them further.

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses no problem; it goes with my slightly-careless use of the fill tool in making the original. Ack, did I really not define the ends of the sleeves? And sometimes the shirt color slops a bit onto the outline color. Oh well! We can just say I was drinking at the time. :-)

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio I doubt that anyone else will look at it as carefully as you or I :)

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses oh, you managed the Benny recursion! Was that there earlier and I missed it? Oops.

@IsaacMoses probably true. :-)

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio Yes. That's why I matched the overall picture's background to the bottle's color. I loves me a good recursion.

Monica Cellio

3:24 PM

@IsaacMoses me too, and I'd hoped to do that when drawing it, but I lacked the skill to do so.

Isaac Moses

By the way, let me slip in an endorsement, for graphical patzers like me, for Paint.NET. It's got a dumb name, but it's got just the right amount of power.

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses Now you should clean up the outside.

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio Paint.NET lets you copy/paste a section of the graphic and manipulate it (e.g. shrink) before freezing it in place. You can also get all fancy with layers, but I generally don't.

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses thanks for the recommendation. Windows only? (A quick glance suggests that but haven't gone digging.)

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses GIMP can do that too.

Isaac Moses

3:30 PM

@MonicaCellio Looks like it.

@Scimonster GIMP can do a lot more than that, but I find Paint.NET easier.

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses Probably is.

Wonder how it works with WINE.

Now, i wonder what kind of PTIJ i can make out of WINE...

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster Doesn't look promising

Scimonster

:(

Noach mi Frankfurt

4:18 PM

@Yitzchak, what was the blog on which you posted those safrut examples for me?

Daniel

5:39 PM

I've been disappointed with the purim torah this year

Too much quantity and not enough quality

Isaac Moses

@Daniel I agree that there's been a high quantity of lower-quality posts, but there have been quite a few high-quality posts, too, I think

@Daniel I suspect that "intermittent reinforcement" is at play. One out of every N easily-tossed-off questions gets a bunch of cool answers, reinforcing the tendency to toss off many of such questions on the hopes of hitting the jackpot

Scimonster

6:04 PM

@IsaacMoses Such as most of mine. ;)

Daniel

@IsaacMoses there have definitely been done great ones. But I used to get excited when I saw a PTIJ tag appear on the front page. Now I don't let myself get my hopes up

Nafkamina

6:17 PM

@Daniel i don't know, i don't want to toot my own horn, but i am pretty happy with my "who made the cholent" question, i think it engendered a good mix of sharp/halachic questions to gematria questions. again not to toot my horn :)

@Daniel unless thats the stuff your not into

Daniel

6:34 PM

@Nafkamina the who made the cholent was a pretty good one

YeZ

7:18 PM

@Daniel I think certain users have taken liberty to just ask silly things, whether or not they are clever.

@Daniel don't forget that you can still downvote questions, even on Purim Torah!

Isaac Moses

@YeZ Or just choose not to upvote them. For example, I have favorited, answered, and upvoted answers to the math question, but I haven't upvoted the question. No offense, @Scimonster, but the question itself didn't display that much effort or creativity, even though I certainly appreciate the PT value it has wrought.

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses I actually agree.

I didn't upvote either.

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster 8^P

Scimonster

Like, even if i could have, i wouldn't have upvoted anyways.

YeZ

@IsaacMoses Right, but I think (and I'm sure some will rightfully disagree) that cleverness is the quality standard of PTIJ questions, and lack of cleverness is a bad question.

Isaac Moses

7:34 PM

@YeZ Fair enough.

YeZ

How many popular and notable PTIJ questions have we generated so far this year? (ping @IsaacMoses)

Isaac Moses

Feb 19 at 18:33, by Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina As with all other voting, the bottom line is that it's up to the voter.

Daniel

@YeZ I have been downvoting some PT questions this year. And I wouldn't be against closing questions that don't show some effort to be clever

Scimonster

@YeZ judaism.stackexchange.com/…

7 popular, 4 notable

Isaac Moses

@YeZ Popular: 8. Notable: 5. Source: counted on my fingers

Daniel

7:37 PM

Purim Torah isn't really on topic, after all. It's an exception to the rules

And I don't think we have to grant that exemption automatically

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster I counted a second time and stand by my counts.

@Daniel The rule of voting is as I quoted myself above. I agree that it applies here too.

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses I count 9 popular.

YeZ

@Daniel There is precedent for closing PTIJ as "not a real question" when it's too contrived.

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster The search engine is probably using older counts than the badges engine

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses Probably. Anyways, i count 9/5.

Isaac Moses

7:41 PM

@Scimonster I have: Lamar, werewolf, diamond, public domain, phone, tree, malt, math. Which am I missing?

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses Oh, i might have accidentally counted judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/5687/werewolf-in-the-torah also. NVM, 8.

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster Silly monster, not all monster questions are silly.

Scimonster

@IsaacMoses lol

Monica Cellio

I think we've had some good, clever, PT questions, and we've had some that don't seem to make any effort. I think it's perfectly fine to close PT questions that don't measure up, and I encourage the community to use its votes where needed. (I think I've mod-closed one PT question this year so far, but that's a higher bar.)

Nafkamina

8:05 PM

Does anyone have suggestions how I can make this answer better? judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/55670/…

I think I did a good job answering the question yet I have not received much feedback in the way of upvotes / critique aside from one person

YeZ

@Nafkamina It happens. Depends what people find interesting enough to look at more than what is a good answer. Sometimes a one-liner answer gets 12 votes and a well-written thesis gets 2.

Nafkamina

Yeah Ive gotten that by this point... doesn't give too much incentive outside of wanting to spread torah to do due diligence and write up the halachos

@YeZ

Isaac Moses

8:21 PM

@Nafkamina Mitoch shelishmah, ba shelo lishmah, I guess.

Extended repartee between @StackExchange and @mi_yodeya:

What’s the Torah preferred cellphone? Windows! משגיח מן החלונות He watches from (His windows [phone]) Purim Torah! http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/55508/what-is-the-torah-preferred-brand-of-cell-phone

Tweeted by StackExchange on February 24, 2015 at 4:42 PM

@Nafkamina It's a good answer. It might look a touch more inviting if you replace the bare links with appropriate text, hyperlinked.

YeZ

@Nafkamina I happen to like having an archived searchable and tagged list of things I have written.

Nafkamina

@YeZ I have no idea how to hyperlink. I actually have no idea what it means

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina judaism.stackexchange.com/editing-help#links

@Nafkamina The easiest way is to select some text, then click the link button, which looks like a couple of chain links, arrayed horizontally, then paste your URL into the box that comes up.

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses that was too overwhelming. I just figured out howe to bold the Hebrew

@IsaacMoses got it. I'm extremely illiterate when it comes to these things

Just this once could someone do it for me?

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina You'll get the hang of it. The nicer your post looks, the more hidur mitzva.

@Nafkamina I'll do one of your links and leave the other for you.

Nafkamina

8:35 PM

Eur. I'm not ready for the training wheels to be taken off yet

@IsaacMoses

Thank you for your help

Isaac Moses

1. Click Edit.
2. Right-click on your Hebrewbooks link, and select "Copy Link Address."
3. Using your mouse, highlight the text `"B'nesivos Ha'Kashrus"` in the edit box.
4. Click on the little chain-link button (first of the little icons on top after **B** and ***I***).
5. Hit Ctrl-V on your keyboard to paste the Hebrewbooks link you copied into the URL box that's popped up.
6. Click OK.
7. Delete the text `(http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pagefeed/hebrewbooks_org_50568_61.pdf)` in the edit box.
8. Click the Save Edits button.

@Nafkamina You did it!

Scimonster

@Nafkamina Also, in chat, to link your message as a reply to a previous one, hover over the message you want to reply to, and click the arrow in the bottom right. That'll add :numbers to the post, which is the code for replying.

Nafkamina

@Scimonster @IsaacMoses thank you all for the help. I'm on a kindle fire so I don't know how to hover

Scimonster

@Nafkamina Oh. In that case, you don't have to, but you can still tap on the message.

It also makes an automatic @whoever.

Nafkamina

@Scimonster What do you mean tap on the message?

Scimonster

8:45 PM

@Nafkamina Instead of hovering, just tap on the text.

Nafkamina

@Scimonster I did it doesn't do anything

Scimonster

@StackExchange ... other than by promoting our corruptions in the first place, you mean. 8^D Vechein lamar! (Aramaic for "same to you!")

Tweeted by mi_yodeya on February 24, 2015 at 8:19 PM in reply to StackExchange

And you didn't even link

10

Q: Who is this Lamar?

I recently wished the Bam community a happy Rosh Chodesh, and Isaac responded (or at least attempted to respond - he seemed to have begun his Purim festivities early) with: וכן למר Also Lamar! I get this a lot. For some reason, this Lamar fellow seems to deserve a lot of praise. When ...

purim-torah-in-jest

@Nafkamina Hmm. Try when you get on a computer then.

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster Yeah. My bad. I assumed that it was on the list I'd previously tweeted, but it only has a Q score of 10 so far, and I tweeted a list with scores of >= 12

@Scimonster I like to leave around slightly indirect connections that reward the curious.

Just got the MY email newsletter. All of the "Top new questions" and one of the three "Can you answer"s are PTIJ.

Monica Cellio

9:23 PM

@IsaacMoses hmm. They might want to factor tag diversity into their formula for picking those... (I mean for all sites, not just us. When a new version of (whatever game is hot these days) comes out you probably still want Arqade questions about other games to get some air time, for instance.)

YeZ

@Scimonster I'm not a twit(ter user) - how do I see a twitter converstation?

@IsaacMoses There go my hopes of another notable question.

Isaac Moses

@YeZ click on the timestamp

@YeZ Just get it two more upvotes!

Scimonster

I asked a serious question inspired by a PTIJ answer. Now, how to promote that? (@MonicaCellio)

0

Q: Is using Siri a problem of Kol Isha?

As i say in this Purim Torah answer, we can't use smartphones because "The vaad found out that Siri's not a guy". (From the song Hang Up the Payphone by A.K.A Pella.) However, that inspired a real question. According to answers to Are men allowed to listen to women on the radio?, some hold that...

halacha technology kol-isha

Since it was my answer that inspired my question, i added the link to the answer as well.

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio Well, the newsletter's meant to give an idea of what's going on. If the hot game is what's going on, I guess that's nice to know.

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses true, but maybe the "greatest hits" and "can you answer" lists could at least not pile on so much. :-) (I haven't gotten this week's newsletter yet.)

@Scimonster interesting question. Is Siri fully computer-generated, or did they sample an actual woman's voice? (I don't know if that matters, but somehow I thought it was the latter. My Android phone's voice, OTOH, is clearly non-human in origin.)

Isaac Moses

9:42 PM

Im trying to stir up some intellectual ptij. — Nafkamina 39 mins ago

Thats geonis! I'm very impressed — Nafkamina 1 min ago

@Nafkamina yaga'ta umatzata

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses for me this is true marbin besimcha!

Isaac Moses

@YeZ, there's something very geshmak about applying R' Hirsch to a word that's not the one he meant, but is related etymologically.

@Nafkamina I am grinning and grinning at that answer.

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses unfortunately this question and answer will slowly fade into oblivion when the next prusta question comes by. Sigh*

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina ♫ It's on the HNQ list♫

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses need I say more

WWhere?

Isaac Moses

9:50 PM

@Nafkamina The front page of StackExchange.com has an auto-generated list of "hot questions" from around the network, which is basically questions that have gotten multiple upvoted answers quickly. Because yours got two answers with a bunch of upvotes collectively very quickly, it's up there.

YeZ

@Nafkamina I've been more liberally downvoting bad questions.

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses well everyone has their 5 minutes in the sun

@YeZ does that help anything? Its a matter of generating interest. Some people aren't intersted in these types of ptij

YeZ

@Nafkamina It will hopefully discourage people from churning out drek.

@IsaacMoses I'm not sure how impressed he would be with my grammar, though.

@IsaacMoses I think the network is learning to ignore our MY HNQs.

Isaac Moses

@YeZ It's all in the title. One sec ...

3

Q: I poured Starbucks Mocha Latte into my chicken soup. Shouldn't it still be kosher, even if it wasn't so much soup?

This week I was cooking my favorite meat soup when accidentally my Starbucks Milk Chocolate Latte tipped into the pot. At first it was just a little drip but I lost the handle on the cup and eventually the whole thing fell in. Now I once learnt some laws of bittul and of course you need 60 parts ...

purim-torah-in-jest

@Nafkamina feel free to revert if you don't like it.

Nafkamina

Yeahh... it doesn't capture the essence but I'm sure it will bring more traffic

@IsaacMoses wtvr lets go with it

Isaac Moses

10:02 PM

@Nafkamina What is it missing?

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses nah its fine

Its just very wordy

YeZ

@IsaacMoses In this particular specimen, everyone uninitiated will not appreciate what is clever about the question or the answer.

Isaac Moses

@YeZ That is true. It's inside baseball. Still, maybe someone will click on a link and learn something.

YeZ

@IsaacMoses I certainly hope not!

Nafkamina

@YeZ amen!

Isaac Moses

10:10 PM

@YeZ I mean one of the links to real content in the PTIJ

Nafkamina

@IsaacMoses I saw earlier a discussion in regards to howbto retain new users and ive noticed that its contingent on if theyget upvotes. Ive seen that once the votes roll in it becomes addictive. Maybe a new policy of 10+ for new users.

Scimonster

@Nafkamina I would not advocate that.

Nafkamina

@Scimonster you don't disagree on the principle though?

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina People who post quality stuff tend to get upvotes. For real. You, for example, got your first 10 upvotes within 2 days of joining.

Scimonster

@Nafkamina I think it's true, but not good to just upvote stuff because the user is new.

Nafkamina

10:18 PM

@IsaacMoses @Scimonster I understand that's ok. My main suggestion though is to figure out how to harness the fact that once people see green upvotes their hooked. Kavod ie. Rep is really powerful

Scimonster

Anyways, it's past my bedtime. Tzt everyone. 😀

YeZ

60

Q: Does "reputation scoring" make "the Torah a crown to magnify yourself with"?

I apologise in advance if this is not the place to ask this question. Is "reputation scoring" against the spirit of Pirkei Ovos 4 (5) "Rabbi Tzaddok would say: Do not make the Torah a crown to magnify yourself with, ...."

hashkafah-philosophy torah-study mussar-ethics stackexchange

Isaac Moses

@Scimonster TZT!

Nafkamina

Metoch shelo. Lshma. And its not kdei lkantor

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina Also simple recognition.

17

Q: Welcoming new users

Since the beginning of mi.yodeya 1.0, I've made it my practice to welcome new users. I'd like to make it clear that while I'm happy to continue doing this whenever I get the opportunity, anyone else who wants to is more than welcome to also do it (as some have). Here's the pattern I usually foll...

discussion community new-users

I do advocate upvoting someone's first post if it's valuable at all, along with leaving a nice personal comment.

5

Nafkamina

10:22 PM

If nit upvoting first posts at least mods should go easy on first posts. I understand that the value of a well oiled site is important. But so is having a large swath of users

YeZ

Is the +2 for accepting an answer subject to rep cap?

@Nafkamina Not just the mods - everyone should.

Nafkamina

Obviously complete shtusim / missionizing shouldn't be tolerated. But at least let unsourced assumptions through

@YeZ agreed

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina If by "go easy," you mean "use a nice, welcoming tone," absolutely. If you mean "ignore quality or fit issues," I disagree.

@Nafkamina it looks like you didn't get a welcome comment when you showed up (at least not one that I can find now). Sorry! Welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for your contributions! I look forward to continuing to see you around.

Nafkamina

I don't know how fruitful long term wise nudging someone for sources on a first time poster is. Dont get me wrong I'm just as guilty

No! I did I think nor do I care. I'm thinking long term for the betterment of the site

I think this site a tremendous resource for harbatzas hatorah that is nit found online anywhere else

Isaac Moses

@Nafkamina It's all in how you nudge. But nudge, we must. We want lots of users who produce high-quality content. We need to keep educating new users.

@Nafkamina I agree!

... and really, the emphasis on quality and structure is probably the main thing that sets us apart

TZT

Nafkamina

10:29 PM

Absolutely that is evident from the get go

Tzt?

Isaac Moses

12

A: What Yodeyan slang terms are there?

TZT / Time zone tov / Good time zone - Have a good one. "TZT" is an initialization of "time zone tov." "Time zone tov" is a partial Hebraization of "good time zone," adopting the form of the common Hebrew greeting "Shavua' tov" ("Have a good week.") "Good time zone" is meant to be an equivalen...

Nafkamina

Oh is that like saying goodnight? I thought you are in silver spring ir hakodesh

Nafkamina

10:55 PM

@IsaacMoses the traffic to my Q doubled just from the title change

YeZ

11:07 PM

@IsaacMoses I didn't either!

YeZ

11:30 PM

Was there a question somewhere on the site about why Hashem made us need sleep?

msh210

Sounds like a statement disguised as a question. Don't ask "just a rant in disguise: '______ sucks, am I right?'". I think this should be closed. — msh210 ♦ 2 mins ago

YeZ

@msh210 maskim - wasn't "not a real question" a close reason option at one point?

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