The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

12:01 AM

@WebHead one does not simply go ahead and re-tag everything on their own though, innit?

user132126

You don't need to retag everything right away, though.

user132126

Establish the tag, and then if necessary announce "Hey, this tag fits, but there's a lot of questions that need it: How should I handle that?"

user132126

Although we technically had a meta policy that nixed the front page edit limits, people still get worked up when you do too many.

Jenayah

@WebHead sure, what I commented on the post, but you get my point

Oh man, everything would be so much faster if I didn't have to restart the connection every five minutes

@WebHead what, so you make up your own tag behind everyone's backs and then you present it? That feels wrong.

user132126

We get the privilege to make tags very early on, there's nothing wrong with that.

user132126

12:06 AM

But if they're bad tags, someone might edit them out.

user132126

300 rep to make tags is paltry, and new tags are regularly getting made.

Jenayah

Yeah but I mean, there's a difference between creating, say, a work tag for A modest destiny since it's the first question which will be asked about AMD, and a genre tag which you're thinking of making a "policy" of sorts

Not an actual policy but I don't have a synonym handy

user132126

Most of them were all created that way. Someone made it, others let it stand, because when they saw it they didn't go "No, that's awful, let's get rid of it"

user132126

Just because the site is older now, doesn't mean our privileges need to be hamstrung by bureaucracy

Jenayah

@WebHead well, my principles are bureaucracy then :^)

user132126

12:13 AM

If you have a sincere intent to improve the site, and you're making a change that you're allowed to make and it doesn't cause harm, then you don't really need to double check with everyone else first.

user132126

Sometimes SFF.SE feels like it's cultured this environment of having to walk on eggshells in order to appease a few cantankerous souls, but the site continues to run nevertheless.

user132126

You don't have to walk on eggshells. You can do things! It's allowed! There's review queues for a reason. Edits bump questions for a reason. Community moderation does happen, and mostly without having to go to meta.

user132126

Now, if you went out of control, or someone was vehemently against some new thing you did, surely they could go to meta and be like "What gives?"

Jenayah

Well, yeah, but if you spot a brand-new media tag (not a work one), you might be like "uh, what's that for?". Even with a good tag wiki/excerpt, I reckon a meta post is more complete and official.

Just my opinion and my way of doing things though :)

Alex

How would other users know to use the new tag if it's not laid out anywhere?

user132126

12:22 AM

How do any users know how to use tags?! LOL

user132126

I'm laughing merely because of the sheer number of times we've looked at tags and realized no one is using them the same way.

Jenayah

@WebHead ... I search for it on Meta ._.

user132126

But yeah, that's why you can also just make a "Hey, I did this: How should we handle older questions, and do you have suggestions for the wiki?"

Jenayah

Given that there aren't that much tag wikis around...

user132126

Instead of a "can I please make the tag". Be more assertive.

Jenayah

12:23 AM

For the ones that would need them I mean, once again, not the work ones

Alex

@WebHead Because they've been using them for a while, and when they first started they probably tried various things until they figured out how to properly use tags. But if you've been asking certain questions for years already, you have no reason to go looking to see if there is a new tag for it that you should use.

user132126

I don't know about that. I think most users try typing in a tag they think will work, and then go with that, and don't try too hard for anything else.

user132126

And then the people that do know about the tags edit the post and fix 'em.

Alex

@WebHead Right, but after the first hundred times, they're not typing anymore to find a tag they think will work. They already know which tags to use.

user132126

This is a tag that's going to primarily be used by people asking their first question on the site.

Jenayah

12:25 AM

@WebHead well, this is up to everyone, but from where I stand, announcing stuff after the fact and letting people deal with it, potentially wasting time, is disrespectful and not in my principles.

@WebHead correction, to be honest I think this is a tag that will be edited into said posts.

user132126

It's wasting our time having to debate improving the site in a clear tangible way, and letting the people who just hate tagging questions just pessimistically downvote anything tag related, despite most of them likely never having to worry about that specific tag.

2

user132126

@Jenayah Right, that's my point.

Jenayah

@WebHead oh I thought you meant OP would think of the wdb-original tag

user132126

Story ID askers are generally new or first-time posters, many of which don't even ask a 2nd question on the site, or come back to see the answer. Creating a new, legitimate tag for story ID is always going to be the onus of people that actually care about it

Jenayah

@WebHead if we have to do things the hard way because having calm discussions is made impossible by bringing up the word "tag", there's a problem :/

user132126

12:31 AM

Meta has a place. For resolving conflicts, for posting community-relevant announcements, trying to come up with policies to handle common use-cases.

user132126

Most of our "Should we have a [blank] tag?" questions are about stuff that doesn't seem to really fit into the rest of our naming scheme.

user132126

And now, the way the meta question is worded as a "Should we or shouldn't we?" yes/no, which isn't super constructive. Compare that to "How can we improve this new tag [web-original]" which invites people to suggest wiki excerpts, ways to manage it, synonyms, etc.

user132126

I've been drawing lately and discovered that many dancers do movements-poses that remind me of super hero and action sequences.

user132126

user132126

That one, for instance, looks ready to cast an incantation or a fireball.

Jenayah

12:39 AM

@WebHead yeah, I see your point, it still implies to put others in front of done stuff, though

@WebHead woah! Your drawing skills are amazing! :o

2

user132126

Edit it into 3 questions as a demonstration, present it, ask for thoughts on improvement. You don't have to go crazy and do like 50 questions and be like "HAHAhA, looK wHat I did!"

user132126

And if people really are like "No, remove it, it's so terrible" then sure, it could be upvoted and undone, but it's 3 questions. That's like 10 seconds of work, lol.

user132126

Wait, let me do the math...

Jenayah

@WebHead had not thought of that, that is a good idea in hindsight.

user132126

@Jenayah Eh. I'm quite rusty. I can sketch OK right now, but that's about as far as I can go. I haven't been able to draw for a couple years, and before that... a couple years, lol

Jenayah

12:48 AM

@WebHead the one above is "sketching ok"? oO

user132126

Yeah

Jenayah

It's freaking great

Don't underestimate yourself

user132126

Eh, it's just okay. I got a long ways to go.

user132126

I wish I could take a 3 month vacation from work and just draw while I'm able, lol

Jenayah

I'm serious, it's great work

Like, it's all mathematically correct with the proportions and all

user132126

12:55 AM

Time for the next one

Jenayah

It's got shadow effects and stuff

user132126

There's definitely some errors. I'm using reference though, so it makes it easier.

Jenayah

Well, I just want you to know that as a third-party, I find it great :)

user132126

I'm not fishing for compliments or anything, I just find that sharing what I made is helping me make progress, because it's getting it "out" of my head and letting me just say "this is final"

user132126

Previously I'd often keep stuff hidden, not show what I was working on, constantly feeling like it wasn't good enough yet, or "not done"

Jenayah

1:04 AM

@WebHead that's pretty sad :/

user132126

IME, it's pretty common for artists!

Jenayah

@WebHead too bad for (enthusiastic, not the ones full of crap) non-artists who like to be awed by "holy -, people who can draw are amazing @_@ "

Seriously, don't hesitate to share :)

Off to bed. See you!

user132126

G'night

Babel fish

1:24 AM

0

Q: How are spells "Created" or "Discovered" in Harry Potter?

There are many spells in Harry Potter, such as Wingardium Leviosa or Expelliarmus. But then arises the great question: What led to this spell? Did someone create it, or did people just randomly do wand movements and say things? If so, wouldn't this be very dangerous?

harry-potter

Marvin

2:31 AM

0

Q: Native American adventure cartoon from the 90s

I have a distinct memory from my kindergarten class in 1996 in which we watched an animated movie with Native Americans. It was two young men who went on an adventure with some sort of talking animal sidekick. If I remember correctly, they're looking for a jewel or amulet or something like that, ...

cartoon

SmokeDetector

3:17 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected, potentially bad keyword in answer, toxic answer detected: Could Thanos have inadvertently 'snapped' himself out of existence? by Sarcasm on scifi.SE

SmokeDetector

4:17 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer, toxic answer detected: When did Malfoy get the Hand of Glory? by Kendall the peephole yanker on scifi.SE

Marvin

5:31 AM

0

Q: Help in identifying a kids' sci-fi book

Looking for a young adult book from the 80s about a kid who has a robot "sibling" who crashes(?) on a planet full of child robots. The title had some sort of acronym in it.

science-fiction-genre

Marvin

6:01 AM

1

Q: What was the point of making the scientists travel on the machine in Contact?

In Carl Sagan's novel, Contact, earth receives a message from extra terrestrial beings that has instructions to build a machine. Once the machine is built and activated with five passengers in it, Why could this information not be sent in the message itself without having to make mankind go th...

contact

Alex

6:59 AM

Are there any examples of questions with two highly upvoted answers that flatly contradict each other, yet both answers are supported by evidence?

Jenayah

@Alex this question strikes me as such:

12

Q: Why Did Tom Riddle Want to Go After Mrs. Norris?

In the question How did Ginny Weasley set the Basilisk on Muggleborns without getting killed or petrified?, Tom Riddle mentions that he had Ginny set the Basilisk on Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. ‘Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threateni...

harry-potter

Alex

@Jenayah Considering that it took you less than 3 seconds to find that, you get a lot of credit. Thanks. But I'm not sure I would quite consider it what I'm looking for. It seems like in this case the first answer engaged in logical speculation while the second answer cited various sources as evidence. I'm more looking for a case where both answers cite similar levels of evidence yet still manage to come to opposite conclusions.

Something more like:

4

Q: Book or Rowling quote that there are **no** contemporary wizards without muggle ancestors?

I saw this question: Which pure-blood supremacists were actually half-bloods? and I was gonna be a smart-alec and answer 'all of them' as there are no actual pure-bloods anymore. However I couldn't find anything to canonically back this up, so I can't be sure. There's the quote from Hagrid in T...

harry-potter pure-blood

Except that there only one of the answers is really upvoted (and they may have actually been answering two different questions).

Jenayah

@Alex ahah thanks, but I only remembered it since I recently brought this contradiction up (when I was proving that Voldemort did no know Filch) ;p

Alex

@Jenayah Still pretty impressive.

Jenayah

7:17 AM

@Alex well the answers contradict each other sure but I agree with OP's comment on your answer that the pure-bloods declared as such are either biased or don't want to go into "78,63% pure" details

@Alex bows

Then again expecting to find contradictory answers on a topic vaguely relayed to math in HP is a given

Alex

@Jenayah Eh, that's why I consider it almost as if we were answering different questions. Especially considering the way the question was edited afterwards.

Jenayah

@Alex ah, didn't check the edit history

Alex

@Jenayah Good call. Maybe something like this would qualify:

10

Q: How many students attended Hogwarts?

While re-listening to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (audiobook), I noticed that after Sirius tried to get into the Gryffindor common room, and everyone goes to the Great Hall, Dumbledore only creates hundreds of sleeping bags, implying less than 1000 students. Is there any way to know ...

harry-potter

Although the answers don't disagree that much, but there is room for much disagreement.

Jenayah

@Alex as with every HP question starting with "How many... " :^)

Alex

@Jenayah Like this one?

-6

Q: How many times was Nicolas Flamel mentioned in the Harry Potter books?

I am working on a project for science (we have to create a periodic table). I can't seem to find out how many times Nicolas Flamel was mentioned in the books.

harry-potter

Jenayah

7:30 AM

@Alex this one is more a "do CTRL+F for me please" which doesn't need any kind of analysis, so not really. I meant how many as in "do the numbers thrown away hold?"

Alex

@Jenayah Yeah, I know what you meant. I deliberately misunderstood you and chose an example that's a "how many" question yet can't have been subject to mathematical mess-up by the author.

Jenayah

@Alex it could have been with audiobooks and translations ;)

Alex

@Jenayah Ah, indeed you are correct. As in this question, for instance:

25

Q: Why was an entire minor scene omitted from the French translation of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"?

I'm re-reading the second Harry Potter book, this time in French, and I noticed an odd discrepancy. Here is the beginning of chapter 10, "The Rogue Bludger," in English: Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read ...

harry-potter translation

Harry is mentioned six times in English but only three times in French.

Jenayah

7:52 AM

@Alex yeah that's the one I was thinking about

SQB

@WebHead you're on the other side of the Dunning-Kruger effect. You know enough about drawing to see what you still have to learn.

Alex

On the bright side, my search for "how many times" led me to another question to vote to reopen.

AncientSwordRage

8:08 AM

ahoy

Jenayah

Hola

Jenayah

8:24 AM

Poke @TheLethalCarrot (and anyone) regarding Meta: do you think that question should be renamed into something like "how should we handle the I read this online questions?"

TheLethalCarrot

No, I'd post another if you want that, you already have 3 answers directly addressing the tag question

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot wouldn't the answers to that new question mention tags?

TheLethalCarrot

Well the problem is if you re-word the question, the answers should be re-worded to to make sense

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot I dunno, proposing a tag does answer the question of How to handle stuff

TheLethalCarrot

Would make the answers read weird though

Just leave it alone

If someone wants to propose an alternative tag or usage they will anyway

Jenayah

8:38 AM

K

TheLethalCarrot

Although as I said in a comment there, the proposed usage just looks way too broad

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot aye no problem with people disagreeing, but then again if you're in favor of a way to handle this stuff, propose stuff :)

TheLethalCarrot

I'm thinking but it is awkward, [online-books] works but then you might as well just create [online] and use that with a medium tag like [novel] [online] and [tv] [online] etc.

But I don't really like that usage

Jenayah

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As user141xxx said though, it could be easier to hide those

had not thought of that, it's a good point

TheLethalCarrot

To be honest though there isn't too much gain from this anyway, if they read it online they will most likely say in the first sentence or so. And if they don't... well they're unlikely to add the tag

Marvin

8:46 AM

0

Q: How was Red Skull on Titan in Avengers Infinity War?

In Avengers Infinity War, why was Red Skull on Titan with the knowledge of the soul stone?

marvel avengers-infinity-war

TheLethalCarrot

[web-original] to my reading is slightly misleading anyway... is a book I read online but was originally published as a hardback an "original"?

Jenayah

>If you *know* it was a digitalization, no need to use [tag:web-original]. Use the usual, relevant [tag:books], [tag:comics] or whatever. Mention that you *did* read it online, of course.

If you're rather confident it could have been an original work, sure, go ahead and use [tag:web-original], as well as another relevant media tag, if there is one ([tag:novel], [tag:movie]...). You might be wrong. It happens. We've had [tag:anime] story-ids that turned out to be games, [tag:movies] which were actually TV shows - the story-ID question is how you remember something you'e partially forgotten.…

TheLethalCarrot

But the usage seems to me to be to convey that the work was read/seen online, excluding most of those because they weren't originally published online seems... odd

Napoleon Wilson

It's really mixing up things that oughtn't mixed up. A book you read online is for all intents and purposes a book or novel or whatever. But the fact you read the e-book version of it matters zero other than possibly helping identification, which you can as well mention in your question.

TheLethalCarrot

That's my main point against it

Napoleon Wilson

8:50 AM

Why does it matter that it was originally released on the web first?

Tomorrow it'll be published as a physicaly copy anyway.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson please no. ._.

Most of the stuff published online doesn't deserve a hardcopy ._.

Napoleon Wilson

If you just need a tag for blogs and stuff like that, why not call it article or essay disregarding the web aspect altogether?

@Jenayah So...the tag is supposed to say something about quality?

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson nah

Just replying to the "tomorrow it will get published physically"

@NapoleonWilson yeah I think TARS proposed something like this. Sounds good too.

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah Yeah, that TARS guy really got a hang of this stuff. You should listen to him.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson ...are you TARS? :^)

Napoleon Wilson

8:54 AM

;-)

Jenayah

That's what happens when people don't use the same network account. I can't stalk and then I make myself sound like a dummy :(

TheLethalCarrot

We do already have a [magazine] tag too which sort of lends credence to [article] and [essay] but I doubt they'll be of much use here

Napoleon Wilson

On Movies & TV we sometimes got people tagging stuff netflix just because it's about a show produced or even just watched on Netflix. I doubt you'd want to create such a situation, but the proposed tag sounds exactly like that.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson but then the community retags it I guess?

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah Well, blame it on the stupid SE chat parent system. You think I want to be a firggin' movie character in Computer Graphics chat?

@Jenayah Yes.

TheLethalCarrot

9:00 AM

[netflix] itself isn't a great tag but some tag that could differentiate between [tv] and shows/films seen on [netflix] and [amazon] etc. could be helpful

Napoleon Wilson

I'm not saying possible misuse is to be a sole reason for not doing it. But the tag seems so inconsistent in mixing up stuff that that seems to be the only thing that it will be used for. To say how you watched something.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson I don't get it. the account you're using does not appear to have a SFF account?

While TARS only has one account network-wide

How does the chat parent system come into play?

Napoleon Wilson

I don't know if you still do or ever did decade tags, but it's the same problem. Those are really all just tidbits for identification that you should mention in your question.

TheLethalCarrot

No idea if we did but I'd hate those haha

Napoleon Wilson

But for the work itself, it couldn't matter less if you read it on the web or on the bus.

@Jenayah Oh, that's just because I've hidden the SciFi account.

Jenayah

9:02 AM

@NapoleonWilson oh, did not know that feature

Can I ask why?

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah It causes me having to use my Movies & TV username everywhere in chat, otherwise it doesn't recognize me as a chat moderator. If it wasn't for that I'd either be Christian Rau everywhere, like I was before becoming a moderator, or better, have my respective site name in the individual site chatrooms.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson okep

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah Hmm, not sure, doesn't really serve much of a practical use anyway. I just did it in the past once as a kind of statement, I guess, and never bothered changing it back.

TheLethalCarrot

I know some people hide SFF and other "hobby" sites from their SO and "professional" site accounts

Napoleon Wilson

Yeah, that's a neat idea. But...it doesn't really work since, well, "hiding" doesn't really hide much. ;-)

Jenayah

9:06 AM

@TheLethalCarrot What happened to creating two distinct accounts?

Napoleon Wilson

It's a feature that's more confusing in the way it fuels false hopes of hiding.

Mithrandir

@Jenayah that's a bit annoing

TheLethalCarrot

I've never really looked into the hiding accounts thing but I know it doesn't really work too well

Mithrandir

due to notifications and such

TheLethalCarrot

@Mithrandir Says the guy with more socks than feet :P

Jenayah

9:08 AM

@Mithrandir well if you only use one for professionnal stuff... yeah I don't know

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah SE really doesn't do well with multiple accounts. You can do it, but if you accidentally happen to merge them (by e.g. using the same browser and messing up cookies or whatever), it's bad luck and there's no guarantee to get it separated out again.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson I was thinking different mails and stuff?

(yeah I did not think far)

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah Yeah, but there's so many bugs you can trip over. In theory, SE is allowed to merge accounts whenever it pleases and the system thinks it a good idea. In practice, it probably works best when using two different browers, but that's quite a hassle to keep up.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson SE as in the actual system or SE as in the admins?

Mithrandir

Both.

Napoleon Wilson

9:11 AM

@Jenayah The system. But...both, I guess.

Mithrandir

So yes, either my socks are in different browsers or chatting as bots through the terminal ;)

SQB

@TheLethalCarrot that's a bit difficult, because some stuff is on Netflix in Europe, even presented as "a Netflix original", while it isn't in the USA.

Napoleon Wilson

Yeah, I use my sockpuppet from IE only.

SQB

For instance, Orphan Black was presented as "a Netflix original".

TheLethalCarrot

@SQB Point is that, that is more useful than the proposed tag

Jenayah

9:12 AM

that's a mess

Napoleon Wilson

But, I think I haven't used since the OpenID freeze, so I'm not sure it even works still.

TheLethalCarrot

And people in different countries don't exactly know other countries "original" status

Napoleon Wilson

@SQB Yeah, and things that are Netflix originals run on good old TV here.

SQB

That's true, too.

TheLethalCarrot

Also you'd hope they'd say which country they watched it in

Napoleon Wilson

9:13 AM

@TheLethalCarrot Preferably with a tag. ;-P

TheLethalCarrot

Oh don't start that up haha

SQB

Anyway, the original idea was to have another media tag, mainly for story-identification, so that answerer's could search for it. For instance, if I've been reading a lot on Tor.com and Wattpad lately, I might be interested in story ID's for web-original specifically. And as my naive search for [story-identification] online is:q has proved, they're hard to find otherwise.

Napoleon Wilson

Same thing, though. Of course one can make an argument that adding all kinds of meta info to ID questions as tags might not be the worst idea. But...there's only 5 tags and my opinion about having 5 million special rules for ID is probably known, too.

TheLethalCarrot

@NapoleonWilson Meta tags... there's your problem right there

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson most story-id only use 2 tags though, story-id and movie/books etc

Napoleon Wilson

9:16 AM

@SQB Yeah, but it seems it's more the actual content you're concerned about than where you read it. In that case, it's articles and interview, not "web stuffs".

Jenayah

and the eventual werewolf or robots

Robots, seriously

Nobody's an expert on robots -_-

Napoleon Wilson

It seems you just want the tag to have something when no other media tag applies, in which case web-original is a really strange concept for that.

TheLethalCarrot

@Jenayah Tell that to the teams in Robot Wars

SQB

@NapoleonWilson No, I meant the content published on Tor.com, such as Equoid by Stross.

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot you know what I mean

Napoleon Wilson

9:17 AM

@SQB Well, is that a short story then? What is it?

Jenayah

> It seems you just want the tag to have something when no other media tag applies

TheLethalCarrot

@Jenayah I know, I don't like that usage either but... we're stuck with it

Jenayah

yeah :)

TheLethalCarrot

In the case when no other media applies [web-original] just doesn't convey what the media is

Napoleon Wilson

'xactly.

TheLethalCarrot

9:19 AM

It tells us where it was but not what it was

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot okay, but then... what else? :p

SQB

@NapoleonWilson It's a novella.

Jenayah

Round and round in circles we go :p

Mithrandir

web-short is distinct from web-novel

Napoleon Wilson

@SQB And novella doesn't work?

TheLethalCarrot

9:20 AM

@Jenayah Give me an example question where [web-original] would be useful

SQB

@NapoleonWilson that works, but if I'm certain I read it online, how do I convey that?

TheLethalCarrot

Then say "I read this novella online..."

Napoleon Wilson

@SQB Why don't you say so in your question then? You don't have to make the question body obsolete.

Jenayah

9

Q: Online post/short story, about potions that give you different powers

This was a post I read a few years ago (I can't remember which website). It was a typical quiz of "which power would you choose?", but someone took it to the next level and posted a short story that had 8 (or 6) characters who all chose one of the powers, and the story was pretty amazing IMO. The...

story-identification short-stories potions superpowers

TheLethalCarrot

The title says short story... I think the tag is obvious...

SQB

9:21 AM

@TheLethalCarrot no, but as an answerer with an interest in online stories (or perhaps overconfident in my Google-Fu), I'd like to try and answer specifically such story IDs.

13

Q: Looking for an online science fiction story

Several years (a decade at least, maybe longer) ago I read a science-fiction story on a blog and I have been trying to find it, but my google-fu is failing me. I remember the following facts: It was published online in a blog (I want to say blogspot, but not so sure about that) At the start the...

story-identification

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot felt like it was a "I don't really know what to call that, so since it's a story and it's short, let's put short story"

Napoleon Wilson

However, if you want to make the argument that the way you read it is relevant enough for a tag, which might very well be a point considering, then make that argument, but don't lump it together with media tags that just aren't the same thing.

SQB

As a search for [story-identification] online is:q reveals, just searching for "online" doesn't cut it.

TheLethalCarrot

@Jenayah The description seems to imply short story tied to a "quiz type thing" so short story in my book

Jenayah

TheLethalCarrot

9:24 AM

@SQB Appears to either describe a short story or a book of some sort

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot are the incredible adventures of Man-Man a short story too? :^)

TheLethalCarrot

It's short and a "story" haha

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot well "short" is kinda relative anyways

TheLethalCarrot

I don't think you can deny that is short but there is likely a definition for how long a short story can be... I just don't know it

Jenayah

@TheLethalCarrot mindwreck

TheLethalCarrot

9:34 AM

Side note: you realise you don't have to ping the person each time right? :P

Jenayah

Do we still have a mod around, before I push another one to reopen queue? :^)

@TheLethalCarrot ping

TheLethalCarrot

Thanks

Jenayah

Yeah, It's just that when there are several discussions going on it's easier to follow the thread

Case at point for the reopening:

3

Q: Short story where the alien possesses people, switching between 1st and 3rd person narrative

I read a book years ago, however don't recall the title and I'd like to read it again! The story involved a creature or alien telling the story from a first person perspective, how he sits and waits and is all alone, until either astronauts or space marines show up. The story then shifts to a ...

story-identification aliens soft-sci-fi

no kind of acceptance in the dupe or the target

unless deleted comments

TheLethalCarrot

The target has deleted comments and the comments around it seem to imply it was accepted

Jenayah

The target has deleted comments?

@scaryforkids If this answer is helpful, you can accept it by clicking on the check mark over on the left. That's how we know which questions have received satisfactory answers, and which ones need more research. — user14111 Jul 9 '15 at 9:30

you mean?

TheLethalCarrot

9:38 AM

Well I'm assuming it does from that yes

Jenayah

I don't think so, it seems like it's just the generic reminder for OP

TheLethalCarrot

Just run that new campaign I mentioned so I can tell you haha

Jenayah

ahah

Mithrandir

I went through every post that showed up on [story-identification] hasaccepted:no and duplicate:yes a while ago, and reopened all the ones that didn't have acceptance comments. It's always possible that I missed some, but I'm inclined to think that there are deleted comments.

(Gah. I can't type...)

Hmm, unless it was answers:0 that I went though. That's a possibility.

Don't mind me :P

SQB

Who would delete accepting comments?

TheLethalCarrot

9:41 AM

@Mithrandir Was this around the time someone was flagging the acceptance comments?

Jenayah

@SQB there were some at least:

@Jenayah yes, I think the comments got deleted. It is definitely a duplicate and the answer in the linked question was the one I was looking for. — Carcer 23 hours ago

Mithrandir

@SQB Someone went through the comment that auto-delete and flagged them, even the helpful ones. After being asked to stop, they subsequently deleted their SFF account.

SQB

@Mithrandir Really? Damn! Would that be the same one as on Aviation?

6

Q: What is this community consensus on comments cleaning?

Due to the volume of comments generated on the main site, StackOverflow, some comments can be "nuked" by a single user with a "no longer needed" flag. This is a built-in functionality available on all SE sites. The only requirement to use it is to have 15 reputation points. There is a user that ...

discussion featured comments

Mithrandir

Yes.

SQB

I totally missed that happening. Can and should we (ask mods to) attempt to fix this?

Deleted comments can't be restored, I think, but if mods can see deleted comments, a mod could comment "accepted in an unfortunately deleted comment by OP" where needed.

Jenayah

9:46 AM

The badges on Aviation look neat :o

Mithrandir

They can't; mods can't undelete comments that weren't deleted by a mod. You'd need a CM to do that. The mods are aware of what happened.

TheLethalCarrot

They can't undelete acceptance comments that were "user deleted"

SQB

Not undelete, but replicate the comment.

Or ask CMs indeed.

TheLethalCarrot

That requires finding them

Mithrandir

@SQB Hmm. That's a possibility, or edit into the answer: Post accepted by the OP in a now-deleted comment: "<text>", to make it more permanent.

SQB

9:47 AM

@Mithrandir which is what I always do when coming across such a comment.

TheLethalCarrot

Which isn't the easiest, especially given it was a while back

SQB

Do we have a post on meta about this?

Jenayah

Hold your horses, what exaactly shouldn't be flagged in comments? I've been flagging a bunch of "possible duplicate of [question that was already the dupe-target mentioned in dupe-banner]" comments, as well as "please accept checkmark blahblahblah" when it was accepted, but left for instance a bunch of "the policy on dupes is targeting the better question" stuff. Am I doing this wrong?

Mithrandir

@SQB Not that I'm aware of. It was found when I was doing a reopen campaign for not-accepted dupe-closed story-IDs, and it didn't really leave chat.

Jenayah

I wouldn't think so, since only three were declined, but I'm in doubt now ._.

Mithrandir

9:49 AM

@Jenayah you're good

Jenayah

(and by the way, this is how I stumbled across these to-reopen ones)

Mithrandir

The issue here is when the OP comments on a story-ID "That's correct, thanks!", without accepting it through the system, and that comment is deleted. That causes an issue. Otherwise, those are noise and can be deleted.

SQB

Ah, there we have a mod. Hello, @Kevin.

Any comment on the above, @Kevin?

Mithrandir

Hmm, when're you going to get access to the TL, @SQB? Then I could fill you in more :P

SQB

@Mithrandir I'm not sure if I'm cut out to be a mod, @Mithrandir.

Jenayah

9:51 AM

@Mithrandir okay, thanks :)

TheLethalCarrot

@Mithrandir Even if the answer is accepted on a story id those should still be left according to my talking with mods recently..

Jenayah

Hey since we have a mod, please do not hesitate to tell me if those flags of mine are bothering you - there's a lot of these lately :/

@TheLethalCarrot you mean leaving both "that's correct" and checkmark? Yeah that seems logic, and grateful

TheLethalCarrot

Yup both should stay if possible

Mithrandir

@Jenayah Unless you're getting declines they should be fine. And all of us get declines at times - I've had 230 flags declined across the network (60 on SFF). Sometimes the decline is in error, even ;)

Jenayah

@Mithrandir around 2% of declined so I'm good

I think

Mithrandir

9:54 AM

@SQB You'd do fine, IMO, based on what I've seen of your actions. ...not that I'm anticipating an election any time soon.

b_jonas

Darn, 6 featured on Sci Fi again. I thought most of them would have expired by now and I can put in a bounty of mine.

I dno't know which question though, I haven't kept notes, but I know I've seen some good ones.

Jenayah

@b_jonas why not? The more the merrier

b_jonas

@Mithrandir Does that count chat flags?

Mithrandir

@b_jonas No.

b_jonas

@Jenayah When there are only few featured answers, people will spend more time looking at each of them.

Jenayah

10:03 AM

@b_jonas yeah but the present ones are only 50% story-id

not everyone searches for both sory-id and Tron stuff

And the Doctor Who one is for an existing answer anywyas

b_jonas

@Jenayah I mostly want to reward existing answers too.

Not to worry, I can do other stuff on Sci Fi SE though. I can ask the question I want about one of sam512's story series; I can try to finish the list of multi-image-id questions.

Jenayah

@b_jonas oh, ok!

b_jonas

Although scifi.stackexchange.com/q/148842/4918 "Spanish-language comic book story about time-traveling Jewish kids becoming the legendary Adam and Eve?" story-id with no answer is tempting to bounty too.

It already had one bounty, but that doesn't stop me.

Jenayah

@b_jonas you've already bountyed it ^^

b_jonas

Oh, that was me?

Jenayah

10:09 AM

scifi.stackexchange.com/posts/148842/timeline

Dec 15 '17 at 1:14 vote bounty start b_jonas 100

b_jonas

yes, I have. True.

Not that one then, I think.

Jenayah

@b_jonas yet another one on scifi.stackexchange.com/q/49102/98028 ? :^)

Mithrandir

What's annoying is when people answer story-IDs in comments. Makes duping really annoying.

TheLethalCarrot

10:24 AM

Why? A comment is sufficient and easy to find. Can easily be sorted out as you just did

Mithrandir

Comments are not easy to find at all, seeing as they don't show up in search.

Jenayah

I think TLC meant when reviewing dupes

TheLethalCarrot

Yup, meant in context to dupes

Seeing as that's what you said

Jenayah

I think Mith meant cases like "okay, the answer to that question was The Profession, now let's search for [story-identification] the profession - oh wait, comments aren't brought up, so while there might be some answers in comments, good luck to find the dupes"

TheLethalCarrot

In that case yeah annoying but SEDE can search comments so there is an option there

Jenayah

10:28 AM

@TheLethalCarrot right

Mithrandir

(Side note: Google Books is seriously annoying that you can't just copy/paste and have to manually type it out.)

Jenayah

@Mithrandir wasn't there an add-on for that?

Mithrandir

*shrugs*

Jenayah

14

Q: How can I copy-paste segments from Google Books?

For instance, this google search returns a couple of sentences from the book I am interested in. I can then go and copy-paste those sentences into another document. However, I would like to copy-paste a few paragraphs surrounding these sentences. What's the most convenient way to do that?

google-books

never tried tho

Also shouldn't that last one be tagged novel?

Mithrandir

Ehhhh

TheLethalCarrot

10:35 AM

No

Short story,

Mithrandir

media tags are applied seriously inconsistently

TheLethalCarrot

It was tagged short story and novel initially but someone just removed them all

Jenayah

It should have at least one media tag though, no?

Mithrandir

(I'd be in favor of just burning all media tags, except for [comics].)

Jenayah

Since it's already on the homepage better edit it now than later

TheLethalCarrot

10:40 AM

@Mithrandir I flagged the acceptance comment to be looked into, guess you did too, and looks like it's been auto deleted, you may want to edit to mention that

Mithrandir

I didn't flag it because I knew it would be auto-deleted.

TheLethalCarrot

I didn't think the mod attention flags counted towards auto deletion

Seems like they shouldn't in my mind

Mithrandir

They do, unfortunately.

Jenayah

They do, I had one yesterday.

And it's not a good thing, if you ask me

Which reminds me I have to find it again to flag the otherd

Since it was a "the whole discussion below is no longer needed"

But no need to raise 3+ flags for that

Mithrandir

Feel free to post a feature-request about it on Science Fiction & Fantasy Meta or Meta Stack Exchange.

Jenayah

10:47 AM

@Mithrandir didn't look yet, but 95% sure it'd be a dupe

On main meta at least

Which also reminds me that I have to post another question on main Meta. I have a screenshot to back it up now, so I'll get to it soon.

Yep, dupe:

9

Q: A moderator flag on a comment silently deletes it even if the "other" option is selected

Reading Anna's answer here on legitimate reasons why moderators may flag posts and (possibly) mark them as helpful, I was interested to see what would happen for comment flags. So I happily flagged a couple of comments with the other message of testing to see if this could be used in a similar...

support flags moderator-tools comment-flags

(I reckon)

TheLethalCarrot

That's related to a mod doing it though

Jenayah

Ah blimey read that too fast

Mithrandir

closest i can find is Does flagging a comment as "other..." count as a vote to delete it?

Jenayah

On the other hand, I'm almost at the end of the 22 pages of story-id dupes so that comment streak will slow down soon ahah

That was... An awful lot of noise comments, by the way.

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