...but ultimately what matters is that visitors to our site find something interesting to read, and that we have the opportunity to write something we find interesting.

From that perspective, it's not so bad to interpret a question rather broadly in order to come up with something interesting.

Though I agree that the question about hygiene is sub par.

Atwood made that point in one of the linked articles. He said the important audience is really peer linguists. Pick questions which will make interesting reading.

Well, he said something more general about .se sites in general.

The important audience, though, is the other experts.

And I'm not really sure. I think the important audience is the person who wants to read an expert answer. A pointless distinction? Dunno.

They key point to me is not reading the question but the answers.

@MetaEd Doesn't sound pointless to me.

Think of an advice column. The person who reads it reads it for advice, even though it's not advice they necessarily sought.

True; and the advice is usually what they want to read most, not the question.

So the site oughtn't to be just for linguists. But it should still be for someone who wants to read expert advice on language. A lot of the questions I've seen are basic, whether or not they are, strictly speaking, simple reference questions. Expert advice is not what's needed. Some questions are more a matter of assimilating the language, or having a good tutor. If you can turn such a question into interesting advice that hasn't already been given, great.

ttfn, see you on the flip flop.

Ttfn?

@MetaEd OK, but you can't turn a basic question into something interesting by giving a great answer if the question is closed on its own merits alone.

Holla.

Anyone up for a cuppa?

@Cerberus "Ta ta for now."

@Kitḫ Ah!

Felines to the rescue.

Vulpine, if you please.

Oh, my apologies.

It's hard to tell other races apart.

I am more canine than feline.

Ah! So that's it.

Why I get you and your ways.

Um, yes. We are more closely related to each other than to cats.

We are both canids.

Your name tends to slightly confuse my smell with regard to species.

Well, it explains things about your behaviour towards other canines and felines.

Kits are baby foxes.

Oh, really?

I had no idea. Why wasn't I notified?

Yes. And lady foxes are vixens.

I know that!

You foxy vixen.

@Cerberus Well, I have mentioned it, but your brains are a bit sievelike.

Yes. Was I there?

Okay I take back the vixen part, just foxy.

Hehe.

Why do I have a large pagefile while it is set to 0 on my C drive?

I like the word vixen. It has a v and an x.

Yeah it's nice for Scrabble.

@Cerberus Because you need a pagefile, so if you set it to 0, it does what it wants.

I have a page file on my D drive.

@Cerberus I got my largest score ever for a single play for the word "besieged."

Oh!

Did you get 3x word value twice or something?

I played it off of a word ending in "e," I think, so I got a triple word, a double word, and a bingo. Or something like that.

A bingo??

We don't have that.

@Cerberus When you use all the letters on your tray.

Oh! I actually didn't know you got extra point for that.

I need to reboot, BRB.

@Cerberus lifehacker.com/5426041/…

@Kitḫ I already know all that.

The only reason I want it on another partition is that I have a very small partition for Windows.

I see.

Then I can't help you, sorry.

I can't decide what to do tonight.

Hmm.

Are you at home?

Hey @sim, how was your night on the town?

@Cerberus Yeah. Just me and the eldest boy. The baby is having a sleepover at Gramma's and my husband is playing poker with the boys.

I am cranky and dissatisfied with my life and I'd like to do something to unwind, but I can't figure out what.

Everything seems like work.

@Kitḫ But why?

Work?

Something you'd rather not discuss in a public room?

If I knew, I suppose I would have some sort of strategy.

I suppose Skyrim won't help.

Quarter-life crisis?

Public, right. I don't actually mind blabbering about personal details in an obscure chat room.

Do you have enough goals in your life?

I don't know. Maybe that's the problem.

Can you create new goals?

I feel like I'm spinning my gears, not contributing, and not doing a good job of anything that I want to do a good job of.

But trying to fix it seems like too much work without enough short-term reward.

Could it be that work is a big factor?

It doesn't seem like work has changed much. But maybe that is the problem.

Yeah.

Or maybe my diversions aren't diverting enough.

I can't even finish this damn blog post.

It might not be good enough for you, and your lead developer seems to be causing you much frustration and little appreciation.

Meh. It's the kind of work I want to do.

The more I do it, the more I realize that there is so much I don't know.

Hmm OK. But then why isn't it as satisfying as you want it to be?

I like projects. I like to check things off my list.

This project is launched, so in my brain, it is checked off my list.

By doing this sort of haphazard incremental updating, I feel like it will never, ever be finished.

Hmmm. So could it be this particular project that bothers you?

And will it ever end?

And it is not even that it will never be finished, because there is always maintenance to be done, but it's just so ephemeral.

There are always new things that can be added.

Maybe I'm just not suited to this kind of work.

Hiya!

Hiya!

I thought I would have time to chat but not really. Just a few minutes, I think.

smooch

So basically you want a project with a definite time frame, so that you feel good about it when it's finished, and you can take on a new project?

Hi!

@aediaλ Oh well. It is nice to see you, for however long!

I was at a conference today and there was such poor wireless signal that I had to actually pay attention to the presenters :P

@Cerberus Yeah. I originally meant to be an analyst with a strong coding background, but it kind of got turned inside out.

@aediaλ Heaven forfend!

I was kind of wondering where you were. A little bit. In a non-creepy way.

@Kitḫ It exhausts me in that same sort of way when a thing I've worked on goes through the life cycle of software. A whole little intranetything I helped implement is going to die again soon. I feel like I just made it and helped finish fix, style it, put up content, but I guess that was a couple years ago that the last redesign happened...

Aww.

But I sympathize. It's like software projects are a painting no one is ever satisfied with and you often have to leave them to someone else who steps through the canvas, or eventually everyone has dabbed so much paint on there that you throw the whole mess out.

I should have been an analyst.

@Kitḫ Hmm well, then perhaps think about what you want from your work a bit more. Once you've figured that out, maybe you can change things.

I just want to do something new.

My current solution has been to take up other hobbies and challenges in earnest, like how I thought I couldn't cook, but it turns out I was just refusing to try.

I mean, I like my project, I think it's good. But I don't want to do anymore with it.

@aediaλ See!?

@aediaλ Yeah, I've been thinking that. "My diversions aren't diverting enough." If I had more satisfaction with hobbies, I would be less dissatisfied at work.

@Kitḫ Okay, then I'd say you have pinpointed an area where changing things has a great potential to make you feel more satisfied with things.

@Cerberus Except it is either work on this project or find another job.

@Cerberus I even made a pumpkin pie the other day, like, just because I could. Though a few days before that I burned an entire tray of vegetables roasting in the oven. But whatever. Baby steps.

@aediaλ Yay!

@Kitḫ You can't do another project with your current employer?

@aediaλ Wow! Well done. (Everyone burns things now and then, it's fine.)

@Cerberus There's nothing available right now, and they wouldn't consider this project finished anyway. It's an anchor project, so expected to bring in more money.

"Anchor"?

Expected to bring in more money.

It "anchors" the finances of the center.

Funny.

Well, if that is impossible, maybe look around a bit, very tentatively, see what other jobs exist that might interest you. See how that makes you feel.

There isn't anything. Not here.

Aww.

Are you sure?

On the internets?

I might could get hired at the company where I consult.

Okay, so think about that.

They would have to offer me a lot of money.

The benefits would not be as good, I wouldn't be working under contract, I couldn't come and go as I please, and I wouldn't have a boss that had any clue whether I was doing a good job or not.

But I would be much closer to home and get fuel discounts.

How about the work itself?

And I could probably negotiate as good vacation time as I get at my current job.

Interesting enough?

The work would be more varied.

Good.

And I would be indispensable.

That is almost as good as a contract...

Almost.

But not quite.

Yeah.

I suppose stability is very important.

And in order to replace my salary and benefits, they'd have to offer about 150% of what I am making now.

I'd work with fewer people that I like.

Oof. Worrying about benefits isn't fun.

But I would get lots of praise from the execs.

Which would probably turn my allies against me.

Hmm.

Sounds complicated.

Still. If they offered me $75,000 a year, I'd say yes.

Especially with the crisis and all.

€ 4,800 a month, nice.

Yeah. We'd have our bases covered no problem with that.

Life would be much simpler.

So if you already know that you would, what's holding you back from trying to find out whether they are interested?

They are interested. At least, the woman I work with is interested in getting them interested.

But I don't think they can meet my salary requirement.

And I think for this area, it's kind of like asking for the moon.

Hmm.

And less money would be unacceptable?

Then again, if I don't need the moon, I might just as well ask.

Yeah I don't know how much you need.

@Cerberus Not unacceptable, but much less attractive.

We already make do with quite a lot less than that.

Hmm OK.

So why change it unless it is for a lot more?

You could ask for a raise later.

Nope. Done with that bullshit.

Didn't work before?

(It has bitten me in the ass in the last three jobs.)

Ah.

"This is what we can offer you now, and I am sure that we can this much more when the next budget cycle starts."

But maybe that means that I am just a crap employee.

Heh.

Could be many things.

Maybe I should play some Ratchet and Clank.

It's almost bed time though.

Playing a game sounds good!

OK. Let's play a game.

Provides temporary goals.

And I can feel like I'm good at something.

Hehe.

Which game?

Maps.

I pwn that game.

Oh, I need to install my screenshotting program first, one sec.

Sure you do.

Or something else.

The riddles were fun too.

Or maybe watch Doctor Who.

Or finish that blog post.

Block Island Sound.

The end of Long Island. Block Island in the east.

Ding!

I was just reading about sounds.

Hi @Vit!

@Vitaly Hey! God exists?

Ohai.

So what exactly is he saying? I can't really tell if he's going to do anything to prevent SOPA/PIPA.

@Cerberus It's a blue and green thing!

Okay I gotta head out.

@Cerberus Hmm. Part of the Great Lake near the Upper Penisula?

It's Lake Superior.

@aediaλ Bye. Love and kisses!

@Robusto He'll sign it but he'll feel bad doing it?

Arg can't ype

Bye Aed!

@aediaλ Prolly. <sad panda>

sad goat

@Kitḫ Ding @Robusto ding!

Bai!

He'll sign anti-piracy legislation, but not that legislation.

@Cerberus That was an easy one.

Anyway. We're playing a game here.

@Kitḫ — He'll wait until the Repubs make it even more fascistic. Then he'll sign it.

@Robusto I'll believe it if I see it.

@Robusto I think it's entirely noncommittal.

That looks lovely.

I'll have to think on it. I'm not so good at close range.

It's in the U.S., and it's related to a sound

Not Niagara?

Hmm. That helps.

Nope

I have no idea.

Your maps are always so hard!

Meanwhile I have another one:

I can only think of a few sounds.

@Vitaly The Sound of One Hand Clapping?

@Cerberus Is that the Appalachians?

@Kitḫ Ding! I think you can just see DC.

@Vitaly Up near Juneau, Alaska?

@Vitaly Pretty! I see mountains.

Albemarle Sound?

No, and no.

OK, that's too hard; it's the Great Bend of Hood Canal of Puget Sound, WA

Never heard of it...

I was thinking Puget Sound, but couldn't find anything that looked like that.

@Vitaly Wow. I was thinking of Puget Sound, but I thought it went the other way.

@Robusto Couldn't find? You're not supposed to look!

You had your turn. My turn now.

Bab, bad Chinese character.

Mine above should be easy.

@Kitḫ I didn't look on the Lake Superior one, but the other could have been anything.

True.

BRB need to reboot.

@Cer: Is that the southwest corner of Lake Michigan?

@Robusto Nope.