« first day (599 days earlier)      last day (1931 days later) » 
00:00 - 20:0020:00 - 00:00

12:01 AM
@Alex Can you view those stats for non-betas?
 
@Stormblessed I think they're contained somewhere, and I recall seeing them for Mi Yodeya. But I'm not sure where.
 
@Alex is how the reputation systems and stuff work different on Mi Yodeya? While trying to see if I could find those stats I looked at the tour (judaism.stackexchange.com/tour) and it says "We're a little bit different from other sites. Here's how: "
But the rules seem the same
 
@Stormblessed That refers to Stack Exchange being different from other types of sites. The same statement appears in the tour here.
(But there are other differences.)
 
@Alex r/nocontext
 
@Jenayah ?
 
@Stormblessed I'm not sure if this was what I was thinking of, but this shows the statistics at the end of Beta:
@Jenayah So you thought I was Yoda saying that the force can even lift an entire spaceship?
@Stormblessed As you can see, Literature currently has more users, avid users, and visits per day than Mi Yodeya did when it graduated. But Literature is still in Beta because it lacks questions per day and percentage of questions that are answered.
 
@Alex ...Yes. That is exactly what I was thinking about
(hint: no it wasn't)
 
@Jenayah Well this might be the first time we both thought of the same reference.
Or not, judging by your parenthetical.
 
I'm not the biggest SW fan out here
 
Yeah, you might be second place to Rand.
 
12:24 AM
Except Rand finds stuff for answers from novels, k think
Except Rand finds stuff for answers from novels, I think
I won't bother :)
If I ever answer a SW question it will likely be an identification thing or something that was answered in an interview or stuff
 
2 days ago, by Jenayah
 
@Alex I mean at least include a SW tag in that query :P
Also there's not only the story-id tag
 
@Jenayah Well I just copied yours.
Funnily enough, on two recent the thing I thought of was later posted as an answer.
 
6
A: What does Woolsey play at the end of Stargate Atlantis: Broken Ties?

JenayahIt's indeed a piece of music made for the show, and as far as I know, it doesn't have a name. On his blog, Joseph Mallozzi, writer and producer of Stargate Atlantis (among others), wrote about "Broken Ties" just after the episode aired, and revealed that Joel Goldsmith composed that piece instea...

^ answered without having ever seen any of the movie/shows
@Alex well why didn't you post it?
 
Nov 22 '18 at 22:28, by Jenayah
What do you know, after three weeks of editing Stargate questions, I could answer one even without having seen the show :)
 
12:29 AM
Sure but it wasn't a SG question per se
 
@Jenayah I didn't think they fit enough.
 
@Alex you could comment
 
Oh, wait, I've answered a question about a comic that I've never read.
@Jenayah One of them I did (at least in Chat), the other one someone else commented it.
 
Nov 22 '18 at 22:31, by Jenayah
And technically speaking it wasn't really a Stargate question, but an ID one :)
@Alex alright alright
 
15
A: What is the meaning of the Hebrew characters that appear when a soul is absorbed into Ragman's suit?

AlexDaniel Rosman's answer correctly identifies the word אמת (emmet) which is the Hebrew word for "truth". However, there is another Hebrew word in the right panel that is written in Latin characters. In the bottom left corner the text says: ... A new shred of the RAGMAN... forever binded by a pr...

 
12:31 AM
@Alex and it was a good answer!
 
@Jenayah Thanks.
 
12:48 AM
0
Q: Read it many years ago Unkown

Martin ParkerI’m looking for story set in a future world in which the Nazis won ww11 . The main character mentions stappers (gestapo ) and ceepies (communist party) and schism of mark (Marxism) I read it over thirty years ago and can’t remember title or author. It was in an anthology of short stories, possib...

 
1:01 AM
Hats are gone.
 
F
 
I forgot to take a screenshot before they removed tham...
 
1:34 AM
0
Q: Lost 50s SciFi movie

RabshackerAs a child, I saw a movie whose premis is an abandoned earthly spaceship returns to earth leaving scientist perplexed. Meanwhile, an astronaut wonders the streets slowly turning into an alien creature. The film concludes with a giant creature being destroyed by military fire power. It was filmed ...

 
2:31 AM
@Alex huh?
 
@Stormblessed "Size matters not."
 
0
Q: Kids or teenagers teleportation. Movie from the 80s. Chaise by the government.

KuyThere was a film from the 80s on where young people can teleport anywhere they think. This guys are recruited to make studies with them, maybe from the government or a secret company which wants the take advantage of their habilities. I saw it at the cable tv around 1990-1997. Any clues?

 
Can I do anything when accessing review queues, or just look?
 
@Stormblessed You should have options to select:
No Action Needed
I'm Done
Skip
 
-1
A: Who was the real life inspiration for Prince Charming?

Ashley JohnsonI have a huge crush on the prince charming Becuase he is the heroine in this movie He is a hot man. I will marry him. He is only trying to save the world. He did not do anything to hurt you. Prince Charming is trying to protect me and I will be his bride. And will be a mom of his children. Prince...

@Stormblessed ???
 
2:43 AM
@Stormblessed Got a laugh out of me...
 
@Alex Yeah
Trolling, or extreme confusion?
Or both hmm...
Are you marked as a 'new user' if you just made a profile for one site but already have one on another site?
 
There are lots of people who post answers without knowing (or caring) how the site works.
@Stormblessed Yes.
 
What's an "expandable usercard"?
Will I get the rep back from downvoting that non-answer when it's deleted?
 
@Stormblessed Yes.
@Stormblessed When you hover your cursor over it it will expand.
 
@Alex So mine will expand for you, or yours will expand for me?
 
2:49 AM
@Stormblessed Mine will expand for you.
Like this:
 
1
Q: YA Fantasy Series about Siblings that are taught by powerful Being

Caleb CookThis is a book series! Read in mid 2000s. I believe this story is about 2 siblings, guy and a girl, who start learning magic from a powerful being in a cave. The goal is to fight an evil, I believe the mentor's sister. They are both very powerful (cosmic power?) beings. She may be called Morg...

 
judaism.stackexchange.com/a/96242 @Alex you are quite thorough when answering questions, wow
 
@Stormblessed Thank you.
Though that one stayed within the character limit because it's mostly images. I did exceed the limit on one occasion.
 
Stormblessed, Dunwall, Empire of the Isles
492 3
@Stormblessed Why do I have 11 less reputation on Meta?
 
@Stormblessed Meta takes longer to update.
 
3:03 AM
@Alex That's strange
 
Many things about Stack Exchange are strange.
 
@Alex What are some other highlights?
 
Which reminds me, I have a few pedantic Meta requests to write up.
@Stormblessed My favorites are messages that are wrong in some way.
 
3:24 AM
It's so weird that so many tags are created without even a bad excerpt.
 
@Stormblessed Well there's no prompt to create an excerpt when you create a tag.
And there are probably many users with tag-creating privileges that don't even know what an excerpt is.
 
scifi.stackexchange.com/tags/out-of-universe Anyone with power to delete a tag? Jenayah and I agree that this tag is unnecessary, works fine
 
@Stormblessed If there's only one question with the tag you can just change the tag on that question, and the tag will be automatically deleted.
 
Couldn't find anything about the story online except copies of the tale, which I didn't feel like reading now and so I left the big part empty.
 
@Stormblessed The "big part" is less important than the excerpt.
 
3:38 AM
@Alex What's it called? As you can see, I am great at naming things creatively
 
@Stormblessed It's called the Tag Wiki.
 
Anyone know what the Hinduism SE symbol means? Looks like Arabic, but Arabic is more associated with Islam
 
Om (listen , IAST: Oṃ, Devanagari: ॐ, Tamil: ௐ), also written as 'Aum', is a sacred sound and a spiritual symbol in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and other spiritual traditions, that signifies the essence of the ultimate reality, consciousness or Atman. It is a syllable that is chanted either independently or before a mantra.Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of...
 
3:56 AM
@Alex How'd you find that? Prior knowledge?
 
@Stormblessed Ah, I failed to follow Jenayah's golden rule, and explain how I found it. I should be beaten for that lapse.
Here's how:
1) Assume that every site's icon didn't spontaneously generate.
 
@Alex It still exists even though there are no questions on it
 
2) If someone created it, there probably was a discussion about it.
3) The most likely place for such a discussion would be the site's Meta.
4) Go to Hindusim's Meta and try to find said discussion.
5) Search for "design".
6)The second result is:
5
Q: How should our logo and site design look like?

Awal Garg What should our logo and site design look like? This one is pretty straightforward. Solicit contributions, throw out ideas, post preliminary (or finished) designs, and be supportive and respectful of other people’s ideas and creativity. We have designers on staff who will actively he...

7) The second answer there calls it an "Om symbol".
8) Google "Om symbol".
9) The Wikipedia page pops up, and you have your answer.
@Stormblessed It's not an immediate process.
 
Looks Like you figured it out.
 
4:04 AM
@Alex You're right that
59 mins ago, by Alex
Many things about Stack Exchange are strange.
 
I'm always right.
 
0
Q: Story about alien regulars meeting in a secret bar in a mile-high-rise

Peter A. SchneiderI'm looking for an old short story (if I recall correctly) about a man who for some reason gets involved with a group of diverse aliens patronizing a bar or club in a secluded floor of a high-rise. They are having a good time, at least in retrospect. Wasn't it called the mile-high? The story ma...

 
4:20 AM
@Alex I'm out of tag wiki edits, can you look at some of my pending ones please? Thanks
 
@Stormblessed The queue is empty.
 
@Alex That's weird, I have at least 5 pending
 
@Stormblessed It may take a few minutes to get to the queue.
 
@Alex Now one was approved so I can edit
I don't understand why this tag is used
 
@Stormblessed It was just created a few days ago for a specific question.
 
4:33 AM
@Alex What does it mean in the context of the question?
Is there a God in Harry Potter?
 
@Stormblessed I had never heard of the term before seeing it on this site. It is used to refer to a statement by the creator of whatever particular work is under discussion. That person is considered the "God" of that work.
So for Harry Potter, Word of God would be a statement by JK Rowling.
Note, though, that my answer did not provide any Word of God (other than what's already in the books).
 
There are still almost 300 tags without excerpts...
Maybe reputation for adding excerpts should be increased to get more of them added?
 
Lots of work to be done.
I recently went through the 57 pages of tags on Mi Yodeya and added a bunch of excerpts.
 
data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/924671/… Please add tag excerpts to the tags listed when this program runs
2
Can you star that so people see it?
 
@Stormblessed You owe me a star now.
 
4:51 AM
@Alex nah, you corrected yourself ;) (would've followed the same reasoning to find it by the way)
@Stormblessed it takes like a week to be automatically destroyed I think
 
@Jenayah As we say, baruch shekivanti.
But it's too late, I already Dobbied myself.
 
@Stormblessed by the way, SEDE only updates every Sunday, so some will have excerpts but still pop in that query
@Alex browse the possible IDs
 
@Jenayah I don't know which questions he's editing.
Or which Wikis, as the case was.
 
Nah I meant the URL IDs
 
What URL IDs?
 
@Jenayah Ah, that's a neat trick.
 
Got it from TLC
Or rather, hints of it ;)
 
5:14 AM
@Alex What does that mean?
I know that "baruch" is at the beginning of a bunch of prayers but not what it means.
@Jenayah I still don't get the point of adding "https://" when it auto-redirects
 
This one I mostly edited for the franchise tag, so I replaced them http while I was at it
I wouldn't bump only to replace http, not yet at least, there are other things to fix first
 
@Jenayah But what does it improve to add the security thing?
 
@Stormblessed There’s not really a great English equivalent. It’s what you would say when you find out that you had the same thought process or reached the same conclusion as someone great.
I guess a somewhat similar English expression would be “great minds think alike”.
But that doesn’t quite encapsulate it.
 
@Alex Do you speak in Hebrew a lot?
Also what does "baruch" mean?
 
Also when you bump story-id stuff like scifi.stackexchange.com/posts/41309/revisions, don't forget the media tag and to remove "what is this?" Kind of lines :)
 
5:24 AM
@Jenayah Got it
 
@Stormblessed for whatever reason, if the redirect fails but https is still supported, it'll be https by default, for instance
 
@Stormblessed In my personal life?
 
I'll admit this is mostly nitpicking but while we're bumping something better fix everything once and for all
 
5:57 AM
0
Q: Who designed and what inspired the circular computer screens of the M5 and Beta 5 computers in Star Trek TOS?

uhohStar Trek TOS has (at least) two computers with round screens, the M5 and the Beta 5 described below. This is an out-of-universe question on their design. Both remind me of the early PDP computers shown in this question but I don't know if it is just a coincidence (round CRTs were more common th...

0
Q: Which disney cartoon was this?

M.Anime21I use to watch this cartoon in 2011 or 2014 i think, it has 5 characters and all of them have wheels and there where floating islands, whenever they have a mission a slide i think appears and this takes to the island they need to go to. Please help me and tell what was the name of this cartoon? I...

 
6:30 AM
@Stormblessed blessed be
 
7:00 AM
Looks like Jenayah was the winner for this site.
 
@Alex ex-aequo with @Buzz, I think ;)
 
Well I can't see the breakdown. You appear first is all I know.
 
Even when clicking on the site's name you don't see it?
 
@Jenayah Ah good point. I thought the link was just to the site, not to a special Winter Bash page.
Blame the brain damage from earlier.
Indeed it is a tie.
 
What brain damage?
 
7:06 AM
2 hours ago, by Alex
But it's too late, I already Dobbied myself.
 
Oh
 
Bashing head into wall, shutting ears in oven, and other fun punishments.
 
With human ears, that needs a good deal of dexterity... But we haven't established if you're human yet ;)
 
What's taking so long?
 
Tiny ears are hard to shut in an oven
Tiny human ears are hard to shut in an oven
Especially since they're rather stuck to the skull, more than house elf ears at least
 
7:13 AM
@Jenayah Flagged as duplicate.
But anyway, I meant what's taking so long to establish whether I'm human?
 
I don't know, I'm not a captcha
 
Well in that case, it's not a question of how long it takes, but of why they feel the need to reestablish it ~5 times per week.
 
Uh it's also rather long
 
Usually just a few seconds.
 
Spotting all the ducking cars and store fronts
Wasted seconds
 
7:16 AM
@Jenayah I have a bunch to spare:
Oct 9 '18 at 19:17, by Jenayah
There, you once again gained a quarter second each time you go on Mi Yodeya, alll thanks to me. What would you do if I wasn't there to give you tips, I wonder... :p
 
Eheh
 
Have I taken you up on the 4AM offer yet?
 
I don't think so
Well be back later. Back to work today :D
See ya
 
Enjoy!
I hope it's better than:
Sep 7 '18 at 22:09, by Jenayah
These last three months have pretty much been an awful waste of time, money and energy, but I'm really glad the last thing I'll remember is the sound of drums and trumpets.
 
7:47 AM
@Jenayah No worries, and I did mark the flag helpful :-)
 
 
1 hour later…
9:07 AM
@Alex definitely better
@Randal'Thor :)
 
 
1 hour later…
10:37 AM
1
Q: And the Best New User of 2018 is

TheLethalCarrotAs a way to celebrate the New Year and lasting contributions to the site by new users I have created this honorary post stolen Skooba's honorary post idea from last year based on a simple premise... The user with the highest rank in the yearly reputation league that was not previously ranked. Fo...

 
 
2 hours later…
12:21 PM
0
Q: So whilein secondary school I read this alien invasion novel but it had no front page so I had no way of telling the name so I just named it Invasion

Elizabeth EjagwuluI need help: So whilein secondary school I read this alien invasion novel ( my favorite novel) but it had no front page so I had no way of telling the name so I just named it Invasion. So recently I grew this obsession to find it and read it again. I haven’t sleep well in 3 days because I send ...

 
12:36 PM
0
Q: What is the Maze of Ith in Magic the Gathering?

alan2hereWhat is the Maze of Ith depicted in the MTG Land cards? http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=1824&type=card https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FtXcxi4UQ14/WmHEGT0q33I/AAAAAAAAAME/wc2uaSI4_5sHg3H3mNFs1phecumXU36vQCLcBGAs/s640/maze%2Bof%2Bith.jpg Is it a metaphor for the cage Lor...

 
12:52 PM
0
Q: 80s sci-fi movie, man walking from a desert, gets to a road and stops an aerodynamic autonomous semi

ÁčkoI remember watching a (maybe post-apocalyptic) sci-fi as a child, which featured an autonomous semi truck looking very similar to the one that Tesla motors presented. This part of the movie took place in surroundings similar to those of Mad Max, in that it was a desert like place. A guy walked on...

 
1:23 PM
1
Q: Was there a story where Superman defeated Brainiac by forcing him to fly into his own shrinking ray?

jimWhen Supergirl meets the Legion of Superheroes for the second time (Action Comics #276, "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends") she is introduced for the first time to Brainiac 5, Brainiac's 30th century descendant. In this story, Brainiac 5 claims that Superman defeated Brainiac by forcing him ...

 
1:38 PM
0
Q: 80s Mecha anime / cartoon about transforming spaceship

DemiurgNeed help finding the title of anime or cartoon movie or series, from the late 80s or early 90s. All I remember is that it was about a giant spaceship that could transform into a humanoid robot form. One of the episodes or part of the movie was about a baby boy who aged over night into an adult...

 
1:53 PM
-1
Q: Did Voldemort love Bellatrix, after all?

HitwizardVoldemort was said to have been incapable of love, in the Harry Potter series. His own birth was the result of a love potion, that Merope had used on his father, Tom Riddle Senior. So, it is surprising that the Dark Lord had a child with Bellatrix willingly. I remember reading his reaction when ...

 
2:18 PM
@Slartibartfast blushes
 
Is anime identification a good fit for this site?
 
Sure, as long as the anime is on topic i.e. science fiction and/or fantasy go ahead
Just tag with and
We even have a useful guide on it:
20
A: How to ask a good (anime) Story-ID question?

ValorumWith gratitude to Hakase's answer on Meta.Anime In addition to the elements we've already discussed in How to ask a good story-ID question?, anime- and manga-specific questions that the poster could identify include: Anime What type of anime was it? Did it feel like a feature film, a made-fo...

 
2:38 PM
Well i have a hard time about the title.. as i want to use. 10 years old homeless boy push the body of his dead grad dad in a trolley for 15 minute.
And I'm afraid it a bit to execesive and will get me stormed by Hotqueue
 
1
Q: Title of novel: mass murderer, enshrouded planet, dead civilization, female military captain

D. IannelloI read this novel roughly about 25 years ago. What I remember is that the protagonist was a mass murderer and he ended up on a planet on which the civilization was gone, but their buildings and machinery remained. I remember he used one piece of machinery to generate his dead wife to talk to. I r...

0
Q: Older horse movie

BethI'm looking for a horse movie that the girls is kinda poor works at a stable falls in love with a boy there I remember she gets contacts and trains to be a champion

 
@xdtTransform Titles are one of the hardest things to do when writing a question and I'd have a hard time suggesting a better one without seeing. We do have this general meta on story id titles though and it links to another more general guide for the network
14
Q: Consensus on Story Identification titles?

FuzzyBootsLately, it seems like a significant number of edits on Story Identification queries have less to do with clarifying the query and more to do with one's personal views on what should be in the title. There was a general trend at one point of adding "Story ID" or the like to the front and now someo...

 
Here is the question: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/202608/…. I try to fix major gramar with online correction. For the title I will go with one that doesnt involve dead grampa in a trolley because I want to stay out of hot queue..
 
HNQ isn't always bad but it does have some negative consequences in some cases. Either way you won't hit it straight away most of the time anyway
 
That's...quite a reasonably written question, including the title.
 
2:51 PM
Yeah t'is a good description
 
 
1
Q: Can't remember name of Sci Fi first contact Novel, "solution to the fermi paradox"

Erik BoehmI'm looking for the name of a "first contact" novel, where humans (in the future, who are fairly advanced) receive a signal from an alien world. There's debate about how to respond, or if they should respond at all. Eventually, the/a government decides on a response: a relativistic kill weapon t...

2
Q: Anime where the first episode is about a 10 years old homeless boy

xdtTransformI am looking for a manga from 2010-2015. Context: I always watch at least the first 3 episodes of a series before judging it. In a recent conversation about the worst anime scene, I remember an anime with a quite recent look and feel that was labelled as "Horrible" in my mind. The following s...

 
3:41 PM
3
Q: Short story where a time traveller is sent to discourage Hitler after failing to encourage a sci-fi writer he likes

yohohohoIn this short story, there is a time travel agency which allows people to go back in time to mentor or encourage historical or famous people in their pursuits. The main character visits his favorite sci-fi author, but he is so inept that he changes history: the author writes a scathing essay abo...

0
Q: Why has everyone on Earth forgotten about the Daleks?

Alan DevOk maybe not everyone but in "Resolution" the Doctor has to explain who the Daleks are despite the fact they have invaded Earth many times over the years, certainly anyone in the UK should be aware of them surely!

 
Greetings, Earthlings.
 
@Donald.McLean greetings, Hubble guy! Been a while!
 
4:05 PM
@Jenayah Well-deserved. Congratulations!
 
Thanks :)
 
@Alex Congrats to both of you. Coming in second to @Jenayah doesn't diminish your accompllishment.
 
4:21 PM
@RDFozz Thanks.
 
Hurray us!
high fives to Alex
 
Dec 25 '18 at 21:09, by Alex
\|||/
 
1
Q: When did the other Traitor legions kill their loyalists?

ServitorIsstvan 3 is the site where the Sons of Horus, Death guard, Emperor's Children and World Eaters killed most of the loyalists in their legions. The Thousand Sons are a special case since they didn't plan to be traitors. This leaves 4 traitor legions who's loyalists were not killed there: Alpha ...

 
5:13 PM
-3
Q: If we found a Terminator, how long would it take to understand and create its technology by reverse engineering?

TitoIf we found a Terminator, how long would it take to understand and create its technology by reverse engineering?

2
Q: Is Lex Luthor's 40-cake theft canonical?

vavskjutaIn The Super Dictionary, Lex Luthor took 40 cakes (as many as four tens). I couldn't find any information specifying if that dictionary has a designated universe, or if it was considered canon at all. So as terrible as it was, was Lex Luthor's cake theft canonical in any universe, and if so, w...

 
@Stormblessed And... it's been removed.
 
That fox looks quite happy. Probably just ate a rabbit or something.
 
Nah he just stole from the rich and gave it to the poor
 
So now the poor are rich and the rich are poor so he has to steal from the new rich to give to the new poor
And that's how fox ping-pong was created folks
 
5:27 PM
Nah he's clever, he's poor so he gives it to himself. Then steals it off himself making himself poor so he can give it back to himself so he can then steal it and so on
Ultimately though he ends up rich
... and then poor and then rich
 
Poor rich people, they have to deal with such a convoluted system.
 
@Jenayah Dennis Moore?
 
5:54 PM
@Randal'Thor Jenayah has noted in the past she's not a big Monty Python fan. Not that that's the only way to know of Dennis Moore - it's just where I heard of him.
 
@Randal'Thor not particularly
 
Hi all
Is there a standard way to identify story id answers
I've tried and tried, but I'm unable to identify even a single question from tag:story-identification even with insane amount of googling
 
A good way is to read a lot, so you have a higher chance of simply recognizing it.
Otherwise, judicious use of "exact search" quotes will help in your Googling, as well as simply learning what keywords are too broad and which will lead to helpful results.
 
@Mithrandir Or watch a lot, for other forms of media.
 
You can also e.g. search in Google Books specifically.
 
6:06 PM
@Mithrandir A lot of the answers seem to have been found by googling in sff, according to authors, but it never works for me. I tried, with no success
 
Keep trying. Eventually, you'll learn what works, and remember that not everything can be Googled.
And, in the process of searching, you might just find interesting stuff to read. Focus on the journey, not the destination ;)
 
@Mithrandir mm.. i guess I'll try more... Thanks
Yes, i did indeed find an interesting story based on my googling.
 
The one I've answered was from reading the book a long time ago (though my answer was not accepted).
 
The only story id that I've answered is a Harry Potter fanfic
 
@Simpleton what Google operators are you using?
 
6:13 PM
Jenoogle entry music plays
 
@Jenayah "operators?" I've only recently realize that some people use " " in their Google searches.
Is that an example of an operator?
 
Yep. Meet your new best friends:
" " exact quotes. Will scour the entire indexed internet looking for that very set of words. Probably one of the most useful ones.
 
@Jenayah So, all the operators like searches& | used in c programming? Can they be used in Google searches
 
* wildcard. Great addition to the " ". It replaces a missing words (or a couple of missing words) so that you don't have to go through all possible wordings​of the back of people's necks / the back of their necks / the back of the infected's necks etc (case in point is this answer for which back * necks did the trick)
 
@Jenayah How does it limit the possibilities?
 
6:23 PM
@Simpleton and/or? Not sure about the OR but you can specify several sets of ""
@Alex well you don't have to manually type all of them synonyms; wildcard will search for sites containing a phrasing starting with back and ending with necks
With something like 1-10 words in between
 
Ha...i remember reading the wildcard operator in shell programming... But I now realize I'm not as tech savvy for my age.
 
@Jenayah I meant, how does it limit which phrasings to include.
 
? You mean the technology behind it?
 
There can be infinite phrases starting with "back" and ending with "necks" unless some other limitation is applied.
 
There can be (in the English language), but they're not all written on the internet
 
6:27 PM
@Jenayah But surely there are millions. Essentially, what distinguishes it from "back" "necks" ?
 
I think it lists out all the millions of phrases that match the criteria, page by page.
 
- the minus. It's a tricky one. It will exclude the word/set of words you give it from the search... But as some words/names are very common, or very linked to a particular work, you might miss out on an useful result. I'd suggest using - to refine a bit, have a clearer idea, then removing it once you've thought of better keywords. See the explanation starting at chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/46098223#46098223 for this answer
(Disclaimer: obviously all the examples I link to are mine because they're the ones I know the best)
@Alex "back" "necks" will return ALL pages containing both backs and necks, no matter what's between them, no matter if one is on an ad and the other on an username, etc. That's dozens of billions. "Backs * necks" will return all pages with a set of words shaped like "backs {one to ten-ish words} necks". That's only 33 million :)
 
@Jenayah Ah, so the answer to my question is that it's limited by number of words in between?
 
0
Q: How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?

SriIn Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, during the History of Magic O.W.L., Question 5 asks that: How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence? Does any one have any idea what this was about? Just curious to know since Rowli...

 
Basically. But there has to be at least one word, I think
 
6:37 PM
@Jenayah I'm only now realizing that story identification is your top tag, upon visiting your profile. Kudos, your on way to become on of the site's experts, I think. Story ID is IMO the hardest one to answer, and the most useful tag on this site
 
blushes thanks :)
 
@Babelfish That seems to be a question about the book, not the movie.
@Jenayah You nearly have the Silver Badge.
 
site: the site limiter. It will search for whatever keywords you typed, in one site and this site only. Site:Goodreads.com is quite useful to search for books, same with IMDb etc
 
Mmm... Are you a software engineer, by any chance?
 
Note that - can combine with site: to exclude sites, and that is a blessing. whatever -site:pinterest.com will exclude the bazillion amount of unrelated Pinterest hits. You can even take it further with -site:pinterest.* which will kick off ALL extensions of Pinterest, may they be .Fr, .Com, .Co.uk etc
 
@Simpleton in learning :)
 
I just googled this, might be of use to you, if you want to know all the commands.
 
I'll look it up, thanks!
 
The irony of Googling Google search commands
 
Although, I guess you might have known that already ;)
 
6:48 PM
Oh and site: can dig down into the site's hierarchy which is quite useful too. For instance site:IMDb.com/title will not loot at user lists, as their URL begin with imdb.com/lists/ or something similar (I find user lists to overlap a lot, which make them a noise in the results)
It's also especially useful to search for extracts in way too long fanfictions rather than loading each chapter and CTRL+Fing each page. Once you think you have a hit you can go for Jean-Jacques house elf tiger site:fanfiction.net/s/123456
 
Alright everyone, gotta go. Good night.
 
Good night! :)
 
There's this one TV show I'd like to identify, but I really doubt I have enough information to identify it... :P
 
I'm going to throw a couple more in while I'm at it, this way the info'll be together for whoever wants it and if I want to link to it sometime in the future
 
@Jenayah remember you can bookmark conversations
 
6:53 PM
Ooooh right, useful, I'll do that afterwards :) (...Gotta search how to do it first :P )
 
But the problem is that there are a lot of interruptions in this conversation.
You need to do something like this:
 
@Alex Said an interruptor....
 
So those are the main Google operators that I use. A rather short query, if it combines them well, can yield interesting results, for instance the movie "back * necks" site:imdb.com from earlier.
 
@RDFozz Guilty as charged.
 
Next, knowing what the big sites offer is handy. IMDb is really well done. There's a tagline section for each movie for instance. In case the OP only heard the tagline (and has a good memory, granted), Googling taglines "from the woman" site:imdb.com. can do the trick :)
(see also related comments on that answer)
 
7:03 PM
@Alex Why? Were the exam questions not shown in the film?
 
Or if the OP think one movie was SO close to theirs, but not exactly, it might be that the story is a remake/retelling etc. Then, the "connections​" section can be of assistance
 
There's about 5 million variations on the King Arthur time travel thing, though.
There's even one with effin' Martin Lawrence, where the princess is black for some reason. ;-)
 
@NapoleonWilson I don't know. But if I had to guess, I would think that the specific exam question would be one of the things from an 800+ page book that would be cut from the film.
Especially with the precision "question 5".
 
Note that the Connections sections has several subsections: Remakes, sequels/prequels, spoofs, references. So if someone describes their movie as having a scene "that seemed to be a reenacting of the Griffin flight in HP3", it might be worth taking a look in the References section
 
@Alex Yeah, but then I thought they might have glanced over that specific question in a scene to show how boring and useless the whole exam is. But...neither a clip of the actual exams nor the dude who answered it were of any help confirming/denying yet.
 
7:09 PM
I think that's all for IMDb. There might be the same thing for Goodreads and the like but I don't know of them (yet)
Talking about internet databases, ISFDB.org has a rather complete base too. You can filter by titles, date, type and the like (and probably a dozen more tweaks I don't know of)
Know how sites behave. The main wikias for Marvel and DC for instance are rather complete but gosh they're so complete, it sometimes overlaps in the results. Which is why to track down the exact issues in a comic run a that lasted only 43 issues you'll have to tweak the query to make sure the names appear as featured character, by providing their alias and exact name, in quotes:
^^ every info I take from a Wikia, though, I fetch the original to back it up. Wikias aren't reliable enough to overcome that, at least not in my book
(I'll go back to the "fetching the original" part later...)
 
@NapoleonWilson I don't think the scene is in the fill at all. Here is the scene of the Charms exam, in which no questions are shown:
 
We've done operators and knowing how sites organize their info, next: language
 
This goes right into Harry's vision of Sirius being tortured:
The exam question in the post is from the History of Magic exam.
 
@Alex Yeah, I watched tha too. But then I thought it might have been shown in a textbook before the exams. I'm really trying to give this guy the benefit of the doubt before migrating.
 
OP say/imply they watched/read it in a non-English language (even though it may have been produced in English) and your English keywords don't yield anything?
Open a Google translate tab and a WordReference tab
Thé WordReference is there to translate word-by-word. Not always the best course of action (don't tell that to your Spanish teacher! ;) ) But useful for Google
Then translate the link you found with Google translate, which has gotten pretty damn good over the years.
Or learn the language, but you know, effort
 
7:25 PM
@Jenayah And the 500 steps before that were not effort? ;-P
 
The rationale being that if it was translated into a foreign language, there must be a documentation of sorts somewhere... And if it wasn't translated to begin with, then you won't get a lot of English results ;)
 
@Jenayah But since it's a computer, it often can't figure out how to put together literal words to give them meaning, e.g. in this case:
15 hours ago, by Alex
@Jenayah As we say, baruch shekivanti.
 
I don't speak Portuguese, yet some Portuguese keywords did the trick here (admittedly the characters' names helped, though)
I even put up an answer (but wasn't the one to find it, admittedly - OP did in comments) with Czech words
Crap, real life. Be back later. That thing's not finished yet :)
 
00:00 - 20:0020:00 - 00:00

« first day (599 days earlier)      last day (1931 days later) »