English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

What about the actual corpuses (COCA/COHA/BNC)? I mean, I never could get the hang of the interface for the COCA, but earlier on, there were some people around here who could get lovely results out of it.

MrHen

I mean, for the scope of what we do at EL&U it is a good way to verify some minor things...

Kosmonaut

Those sources I think have a LOT more content control

At the expense of being smaller.

You can control for a lot more things.

MrHen

But the scope of "minor" just shrunk

Martha

4:10 PM

BNC — British National Corpus; COCA — Corpus of Contemporary American English; COHA — Corpus of Historical American English

MrHen

Switching topics: Are these questions good, bad, discouraged...?

2

Q: Obscure/archaic/unusual English word-of-the-day RSS feed?

I seek to embiggen my lexicon. Does anyone know of an obscure/archaic/unusual English word-of-the-day (with authoritative (preferably OED) definition) RSS feed? I've found the OED WotD feed, but a fleet survey shows it contains generally everyday language. The Phrontistery is interesting, but i...

Kosmonaut

It is hard to say. I am of the opinion that it is off-topic, but some people have objected to that.

MrHen

The only reason I bring it up is because it is stuck in the Unanswered bucket

And it has two answers I don't feel like upvoting... and I don't want to answer the question... so...

I just want it to go away. ;)

Kosmonaut

I think if it had at least 3 close votes, then I would close it.

Let me put it that way.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut I am not really asking you to close it. I was just looking for opinions. :P

Hey, @Martha... you in a closing mood?

Kosmonaut

4:14 PM

Well, that's my opinion.

MrHen

Works for me. :)

So how does Mod vote to close work?

Do you still vote like normal folk and get an extra option to insta-close?

Kosmonaut

No.

It's all or nothing.

MrHen

That seems strange.

Why take people out of the voting pool?

Kosmonaut

Mods have requested the ability to do both, but they don't want to have that, for whatever reason.

MrHen

Actually, I assume meta has discussed this... off to search for it

Kosmonaut

4:16 PM

It's been discussed enough in meta that it is basically off the table.

So it means I just have to make a comment stating my opinion, or try to remember to come back later and see if votes accumulated.

MrHen

92

Q: Add a way for moderators to cast a normal, non binding vote

I think moderators should have the ability to cast a normal, non binding vote like if they were a normal user (while of course retaining their ability to cast a binding vote where necessary). This can be used in "grey areas" where a moderator can choose to give his or her opinion but not make a ...

feature-request status-declined moderation moderators moderator-abilities

Robusto

@MrHen — I agree. Why take people out of the voting pool? Under what circumstances is that a good idea?

Kosmonaut

Makes no sense to me either.

Martha

@MrHen I'm not sure what close reason to use, which I usually take as a sign that maybe I shouldn't vote to close it in the first place.

Kosmonaut

If I had a non-binding vote, I would probably use that vote most of the time.

MrHen

4:18 PM

@Martha Off-topic as a "Help me learn English" request?

Robusto

@Kosmonaut — Yeah. You don't want to spank a baby with a baseball bat.

Kosmonaut

@Robusto Speak for yourself.

Robusto

Maybe it's just me then.

Kosmonaut

I happen to take a hard line on punishment of children. But I don't see how that relates to the topic at hand.

But seriously, I agree.

MrHen

Here is Atwood's answer:

3

A: Add a way for moderators to cast a normal, non binding vote

The purpose of moderators is to moderate. If they are afraid to do so, they should not be moderators in the first place. As for educating the community, leaving instructive, explanatory comments is far more useful than casting a weak regular user vote in these circumstances. So in summary: lea...

Kosmonaut

4:20 PM

I just don't agree.

MrHen

So... not much help.

Robusto

The terminal close vote is the baseball bat. The non-binding close vote is a mild (and potentially invisible) rebuke.

MrHen

The way I look at it, a Moderator should be invisible if at all possible.

Kosmonaut

@Robusto Sorry, I was really forcing a joke that I like to spank babies with bats.

MrHen

Voting to close is invisible; insta-close is blatant.

Robusto

4:22 PM

@Kosmonaut — Beating it to death, as it were ...

Kosmonaut

Anyway, here is the flaw in Jeff's logic, IMO:

MrHen

But I don't much like the "us versus them" style of Moderation.

Kosmonaut

The job of a moderator is to moderate, but the user doesn't always want to act as moderator.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut Yeah. Agreed.

I see diamonds as User + Moderator; not just Moderator

Kosmonaut

Sometimes I want to throw in my vote about whether a question is valid or not, just as someone who uses the site daily.

Anyway, I guess it's not happening.

MrHen

4:25 PM

@Martha By the way, an ambiguously bad question is still a bad question.

Not to belabor that particular question as I completely understand your point

Oh ha, I just realized you added a comment. :P

So, @Robusto, feel like flexing your mighty rep powers?

I don't know how you feel about questions like the one linked.

Robusto

@MrHen — Mighty rep powers? Huh? They're not all that mighty.

MrHen

They are mighty enough to vote :)

Er, actually it looks like someone voted on the answers which solves my issue anyway.

Nevermind

Robusto

I thought my rep powers would permit me to fly. Or at least jump higher. Imagine my disappointment.

Kosmonaut

Flying power comes when you hit 50k.

At 30k you get to use the <blink> tag to make your posts and comments more noticeable.

MrHen

@Kosmonaut At 40k you can choose to ignore all <blink> tags.

Here we go, I asked a good topical borderline question for you guys:

0

Q: "Un-" versus "De-"

Given the different questions we have seen about the prefixes "de-" and "un-", I have grown curious if there is a overarching rule for terms that need undoing. “Unselect” or “Deselect”? “Unregister” vs “Deregister” For actions taken that need to be revoked or reversed, which prefix is preferr...

differences prefixes

Preemptive duplication prevention FTW? Or just plain annoying?

Martha

4:41 PM

+1: I'm all for preemptive duplication.

Robusto

@Kosmonaut — Oooh ... blink tag power ... [drool]

@Kosmonaut Wait. I already hit 30K. Where's my blink tag power?

Kosmonaut

Oops, really?

MrHen

@Robusto You may have missed it. Did you blink?

Kosmonaut

@Robusto I'll be damned. You're almost to 35k.

Robusto

Anyway, the blink tag has been deprecated.

Yeah. These points keep adding up.

MrHen

4:48 PM

Arg... I keep browsing Skeptics thinking I will find interesting things being debunked... but no...

Actually, you know what would make a great fit for Skeptics: Dino questions.

It is like a site full of dino questions.

Martha

5:06 PM

Dino questions?

MrHen

Mar 25 at 19:51, by RegDwight

@Fx Dino = T-Rex = ArthurRex aka AttilaNYC.

Martha

Ah, ok, should've guessed.

RegDwight

6:15 PM

@Martha Whaddayamean, earlier on? I'm still here. Unless, of course, you mean that my COCA/COHA/BNC results weren't lovely. Either way, I am yet to touch Ngrams with any sort of pole.

Martha

@RegDwight I just meant that I haven't seen you (or anyone else) post a nice corpus-supported answer in the last, oh, several months. Of course, it's not like I read every answer you post, so I might be wrong.

RegDwight

@Martha Yeah well, I don't see that many questions of that kind these days, and those I do come across usually have like five competing Ngrams answers, so I figure, what's the point.

Besides, I'm not really in the question-answering business anymore.

Oh, gotta go, wife calling. Fresh bliny. Nomnomnom.

CU.

MrHen

Why do people post answers on questions that are (a) ridiculously old (b) have bunches of answers and (c) already have an accepted, well-voted answer?

Martha

6:33 PM

Random question: do any of y'all have a Kindle?

MrHen

7:41 PM

15

A: Should downvotes on questions be "free"?

Completed, all question downvotes now are "free" for the downvoter. We did not perform a global recalc. If you would like your old question downvotes to be free, perform a self-recalc at: http://stackoverflow.com/reputation We will be monitoring voting patterns over the next few weeks and eva...

Yow, I totally missed that memo...

Billare

7:55 PM

@Martha I have a Kindle DX, and enjoy it. It's perfectly great; however, I find myself reading PDFs on my Ipad so much more I kind of regret getting it.

@Martha To re-iterate, not that it's bad, in fact it was awesome for the span of 7 months I had it than I didn't have an IPad; but the IPad is another level above in awesomeness.

Martha

@Billare Do you use the Kindle for any kind of web browsing?

At work, we have a user who wants to use a Kindle to access our site, and says he can't. We've searched all the available literature, and it's all very vague about the browser. For example, can it use https?

Billare

@Martha To be honest, I never the used the Kindle for any sort of web-browsing. That simply wasn't its purpose for me -- I used it very mainly to read boring stuff longform, and for very little else. If I ever did browse, it was to Wikipedia.

@Martha So unfortunately, I can't help you.

Martha

Thanks anyway, though. Maybe I'll get the boss to buy me a Kindle. :D

Billare

6

Q: How does the "be-" prefix change the words to which it is applied? How did it come about?

What does the be- prefix change when applied to adjectives and verbs? There are many such words that seemed to be coined of this process, for example: behold, beget, befallen, beridden, bedazzled, bedevil, between, befluxed That's just off the top of my head; I am positive that I've missed...

etymology history prefixes

Would downvoting the answer to my question be fair?

I really hate whole-sale copy and paste cribbing.

Though he did source it...it's from Answers.com...ugh.

Martha

@MrHen I missed that, too. It looks like I'll need to award a bounty or something if I want my rep to end in anything other than a 1 or a 6. Well, that or post some abominable answers...

Kit

8:05 PM

@Billare You could downvote, but I'd be kind to this user. He looks new. Maybe a chastising comment instead?

Billare

@MrHen I agree with you. In fact, I think single-word-requests, a tag that perennially attracts poor-quality answer, should be locked after maybe a week or so after the question is asked.

Left, but he'll probably get offended.

Kit

@Billare Well, if he gets offended, then you can downvote with a clear conscience. It's nice of you to let him have a chance to get his legs under him before you knock him over.

MrHen

@Billare I edited the answer to make what happened more obvious

Robusto

8:56 PM

@Martha — I've had a Kindle since the first ones came out 3 years ago. I'm on my third now. I like it a lot. It may take you a bit of getting used to, but it's great to have dozens of books close to hand and many thousands more just a download away.

And FWIW, I prefer reading on the Kindle to the iPad. Easier on the eyes, and the battery lasts MUCH longer. If I don't accidentally leave the wireless access on, it will last a month on a charge easily.

Martha

10:04 PM

2 hours ago, by Martha

At work, we have a user who wants to use a Kindle to access our site, and says he can't. We've searched all the available literature, and it's all very vague about the browser. For example, can it use https?

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…