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1:34 AM
[ SmokeDetector ] Chinese character in title, phone number detected in title: QQ微信2754595898办理匹兹堡大学UP毕业证成绩单学历认证 University of Pittsburgh by laybexed on english.stackexchange.com
 
2:17 AM
> “Mega has experienced a hostile takeover and is no longer in the control of people who care about Internet Freedom. The New Zealand Government and Hollywood have seized a significant share of the company,” Dotcom told TorrentFreak.

“The combined shares seized by the NZ government and Hollywood were significant enough to stop our listing on the New Zealand stock exchange. On the one side Hollywood seized Mega shares of a family trust that was created for the benefit of my children and on the other side Hollywood was lobbying US Senators and credit card companies to stop payment processing
 
Free spam flags for the taking.
 
Hmm lots of spam.
 
2:31 AM
Blah people are downvoting instead of spamflagging.
 
I always do both.
 
Too hard to delete if need 5 closes and a downvote and 3 deletes. Just takes 6 spam flags.
 
@SmokeDetector I @ignored that post in the Tavern. It only works there. Damn the sinospammers.
So, they've been doing this.
 
Who? What?
 
2:34 AM
The devs didn't turn off Chinese everywhere, just the sites getting hit. But they find a new one each night. So annoying.
The Chinese degree mill spammers.
We’ll probably get a few dozen over the next hour or two.
 
One does wonder what will happen when they begin to aim at the English market. How will we be able to filter them out then?
 
Oh one can.
 
Hao?
 
2:37 AM
You find the URLs and phone numbers.
The main problem right now is that most Tavern denizens only get 10 ELU flags, so they will run out of firing power before the devs can turn off the firehose.
 
But this spam contains no URLs?
 
Oh, they’ll think of something I’m sure.
 
Yeah?
 
But these guys are trying to sell to sinophones. It busts if you switch it to English.
 
Perhaps all new questions should be spam-vetted before publication by experienced users?
 
2:39 AM
Well.
They have a Triage review queue on SO. It’s a miserable, miserable job.
 
But they or their friends can no doubt sell to Anglophones.
Triaging what?
All question?
But before publication, that would be nice.
I'm sure legions of experienced users would be honoured.
 
Triaging really bad questions.
 
But I mean just spam.
Very easy to weed out.
 
What, no lecture on irrumation? :)
 
12 down, 88 to go.
 
I’m very droopy.
Sleepy.
Lorin’s around but Randy is a roamin’.
Had a real hard time with him with that big moon, but at least it’s waning now.
Millions and millions of crickets.
 
3:12 AM
Tavern's out of flags.
Trying to get praire detritus out of Lorin.
 
@tchrist It has flags of its own?
I have 27 flags left.
@tchrist He likes the moon?
Is he a dog perchance?
 
I have like 80 left, started at 100.
@Cerberus Spam patrollers.
 
@tchrist Huh? Where?
@tchrist Special people?
 
Just the folks who take care of Smokey.
The Tavern gets all sites, and each (big) site just gets its own, like ours.
You can talk to Smokey there too, get him to black/white list stuff, manual reports, etc.
 
@tchrist Whom?
 
3:23 AM
The people who hang out in the Meta.SE chatroom.
Tavern on the Meta.
Employees are the only mods.
Hm do we get a break from spam?
 
I see.
1 min ago, by tchrist
Employees are the only mods.
What does that mean?
> def quit()
eg.StopMacro
eg.Exit
Any idea what's wrong with this bit of Python? The last two lines are properly indented.
I am trying to create a function.
But everything in Python deviates from Autohotkey in small yet annoying ways.
Why aren't all programming languages the same?
 
@Cerberus What it says. Like Meta.SE: only employees are in blue there.
 
Oh, the only mods of the room?
 
Yes.
 
I see.
Loud thunder here.
I welcome it.
 
3:28 AM
Python is freaky. Whitespace sensitive.
 
I am sure the indentation is good: it is the same as in my (working) if statements.
 
Would not mind rain.
 
(I agree about the fact that being sensitive to whitespaces is freaky.)
@tchrist Does a torrent of spam work for you?
 
Huh?
"Work"?
 
3:31 AM
What?
 
@Cerberus What?
 
You said you wouldn't mind rain. So do you enjoy the rain of spam that is torrenting down upon us?
It was funless pun.
Meant to be casual: I just wanted to tell you that the spam had regun.
 
Too tired to detect humor.
 
Actually, what is the English prefix to indicate return or repetition?
In Dutch, it is her-.
Probably related to Latin re-.
In Greek, it is ana-.
 
Re-
analemma
 
3:34 AM
@tchrist That's not very Anglic, nor is it Saxon.
 
[ SmokeDetector ] Chinese character in title, phone number detected in title: Q/微信2727586870办理西安大略大学毕业证成绩单教育部学历认证University by aspoifdua45 on english.stackexchange.com
 
@tchrist There ana means "up", its other major meaning.
 
If ana- is onomatopoeia then what about cata-? Prolly not.
 
Why do you think it should be onomatopoeic?
 
3:44 AM
ahhhh p. :)
 
By the way, the error in my Python was that I needed a colon at the end of the function definition, probably because all blocks needs to be introduced so.
 
anamatopoetic
@Cerberus Oh right.
 
 
1 hour later…
4:49 AM
@tchrist Ugh, and now the error was that I had re.sub('someregex', '\1', somevariable)
Python won't accept a backslash in anything.
So I had to do r'\1', or it just wouldn't work.
The r tells Python to treat the backslashes as actual backslashes from its perspective (though not from the command itself's perspective) instead of escape characters.
 
 
2 hours later…
7:45 AM
[ SmokeDetector ] Chinese character in title, phone number detected in title: Q/微信1534584698办理昆士兰理工大学毕业证成绩单学历认证Queensland University of Technology by Vanda Miss Joaquim on english.stackexchange.com
 
7:58 AM
[ SmokeDetector ] All-caps title, chinese character in title: QQ微信283214072办曼彻斯特大学学历认证毕业证成绩单 by endlesssto42 on english.stackexchange.com
 
so much spam will make me fat
 
8:38 AM
[ SmokeDetector ] Offensive answer detected: Adjective for someone who is an a-hole? by harrylane on english.stackexchange.com
 
8:59 AM
So much fat will make me spam.
 
Gee, that was fast. Thank you, autobots. Bumblebee in particular.
 
 
2 hours later…
10:54 AM
-1
A: Gender-specific replacement for fiancée and fiancé

AlexhankI don't think about you, however I don't have a craving for announcing and after that clarifying my sexual character when it's immaterial to the discussion. I'm infatuated with my closest companion. She's a lady. So am I. Now and then that data is obliged, yet you'd be amazed how regularly it...

Huh?
 
Spam.
Why am I even reading spam.
 
Because that's what you signed up for.
 
-1
Q: Infinitive help needed

XYZPlease help me find a suitable infinitive for the sentence 1.One little boy _______ friends with the wolf-girls.(make) Please help me asap.

I don't say that often with that kind of confidence and bluntness, but: here's an idiot.
 
user116848
I finally put my country in my profile.
 
Good job squeezing it in.
I bet you had to give half of it to Putin first so it would fit.
 
user116848
11:04 AM
heh!
 
We should really have the close reason "If you have to ask this, you must not be writing, you must be reading. Do not write a word until you've read enough to answer this question yourself".
It would easily replace all the other close reasons.
Because that's the root of the problem. This stupid Internet thing. Absolutely everyone is a writer. Nobody at all is a reader.
 
11:50 AM
@RegDwigнt I think Putin already had it.
@RegDwigнt Just like poets: There are millions of people who write poetry, and hundreds who read it.
@Arrowfar Whoa, that's not your real photo, is it? (Disclaimer: mine is.)
 
@Robusto yeah no shit, I don't even read poetry I write.
 
user116848
@Robusto Haha!
 
0
Q: Compound Adjective

Mazen DraouA gut-shaking sound Does this mean that the sound can shake the gut? or the sound sounds like the shakes of the gut? and if it was like a gut shaking sound, would this change the meaning?

Where do we GET these people?
 
The Internet.
 
And why can't we POST them back?
 
11:53 AM
Because the Internet.
 
collapses in a heap
 
382
A: HTTP status code for update and delete?

ЯegDwightShort answer: for both PUT and DELETE, you should send either 200 (OK) or 204 (No Content). Long answer: here's a complete decision diagram (click to magnify).

Just send them a DELETE.
Or a 403 Forbidden.
Or really anything at all except 200.
 
Pfft. You only came in second with that answer. Loser.
 
I know. That's why I quit SO. I sucked too much, even by SO standards.
 
On the plus side, you still have a handy TL;DR wall chart.
I wonder what kind of people think that diagram is "handy" . . .
It's handy the way the Encyclopedia Britannica, paper edition, is handy. If you ever get up the energy to actually use it, it's quite informative. Otherwise you just look at it.
Comprehensive, complete, detailed—all these are descriptors that work with that diagram. Handy does not.
Not to say that it isn't a marvel. But handy?
 
11:58 AM
@Robusto a cat may look at the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
 
But only to see if there are any mice lurking behind it.
 
hi pals
 
hypo
 
12:05 PM
I wonder what triggered the influx of spam this morning
 
So earlier today on ELU I learned that "long" never means "long", it always means "tall".
Thank you, ELU.
 
This ain't The Encyclopaedia Britannica :-)
which I was surprised to findout does not mention R. L. Moore anywhere in it.
:-/
 
Well. In that case, good thing this ain't the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Because this room does mention R. L. Moore and is thus clearly superior.
Sep 4 '12 at 12:36, by ЯegDwight
This room contains everything, including the known universe.
 
clearly
 
There is literally nothing this room does not contain. The second you think you've come up with something this room doesn't contain, this room contains it.
It's magical.
 
12:14 PM
@RegDwigнt Does that mean ElendilTheTall is really ElendilTheLong?
 
@Robusto I can't tell with enough confidence, as the verdict on whether "the" actually means "the" is still out. Waiting on ELU to enlighten me. Will keep you posted.
 
@RegDwigнt Also there is some controversy about its pronunciation.
 
controversy?
 
I guess you had to be there.
 
Pronounced "theer".
 
12:19 PM
0
Q: A recent trend in pronouncing "the"

Raphael CrystalI have observed a recent trend to pronounce "the" as "thuh" even if it is followed by a vowel (as in "thuh evening.") Is this regional (I live in Alabama) or national? I think it's the latter. And does anyone have an idea about why this has happened? Has the glottal stop become fashionable? ...

I pronounce it Cthulhu.
 
@Robusto thanks pal :-)
 
Thuhthuh, he said "glottal".
 
"glottal" is an interesting word...
 
So is "interesting" . . .
 
So is "Charlize Thuhron".
It's actually twice as interesting.
 
12:22 PM
0
Q: What's the meaning of "For far too many"?

omareg94I'm looking for Far too many expression's meaning. Phrase I found the word in: For far too many, the dream has dissipated.

Aww, c'mon.
If you don't know simple words, then how would we even explain that to you?
 
nuke that commie
 
@Robusto I know simple minds and simply red. Will that suffice?
 
I don't understand "simple" . . . pls explan to me.
Are simple and simply related? Y?
 
May 11 at 12:12, by RegDwigнt
I think, therefore you're not.
 
One has a Y. Which is correct?
 
12:24 PM
What is this grammar?
It is really asombrate with my
 
Cup or book??? Which is correct???
Hurry I have to go peepee!!!
 
Somewhere, out there, there's an actual collection of molecules that invented the word "asombrate". And the universe will never reward it. The fucking universe will just go on like nothing happened.
 
The universe rewards different skills. Like being born to rich parents.
 
true
 
12:27 PM
I find it deeply depressing. More deeply depressing than Ben Affleck. More deeply depressing than Ben Affleck as Superman. More deeply depressing than Ben Affleck.
 
Ben Afflect played George Reeves, who only played Superman. He was not the actual Superman, who lives at the North Pole when he's not gadding about the skies of Metropolis.
 
I find your ideas interesting, David Carradine who plays Bill, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
 
You'll need telnet.
 
David's dead, baby. David's dead.
 
Everywhere from A to Zed.
 
12:29 PM
Lol should be everywhere from An to Zed. You suk at grammor.
 
I am no asombrate with your
 
To my parents, An, Zed, and God.
 
0
A: Is this a literal interpretation of "without reason"?

YesheWhat Stoic the Vast meant was that people who lack morals/compassion can't be desuaided, there is nothing emotional in that person to appeal to.

Desuaided?
 
turned back into leather?
 
Oh. That's an answer. Dude. You have to warn me.
I thought that was the question.
Since ELU questions traditionally do not contain questions, a nice warning in due time is the only way to tell.
 
12:33 PM
@MattE.Эллен ding
Perhaps you mean dissuaded? And even if you do, I think you're missing the point of the question. — Robusto 1 min ago
 
I think they mean de-suede-aided.
Like, first you take Suede (the band, no other Suede do), then you use them to bandaid you to a chair (a chair, no armchair or stool will do!), and then you pay them monies for undoing said procedure.
 
dude cant you talk shorter lol
 
The challenge lies in completing the fiscal transaction with your hands tied behind your back to a chair (which coincidentally is why no armchair or stool will do).
@Robusto ur ret are dead.
 
nou
Idiocracy is a 2006 American satirical science fiction comedy film directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews. The film tells the story of two people who take part in a top-secret military hibernation experiment, only to awaken 500 years later in a dystopian society where advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism have run rampant and that is devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights. The film was not screened for critics, and 20th Century Fox was accused of "abandoning...
So that's where they got the idea for ELU.
 
Aw my pineapples.
 
12:55 PM
@Robusto How about editing the question a little and then migrating it to ELL?
I was thinking, maybe something like:
> *A gut-wrenching sound*
Does this mean the sound that wrenches or can wrench the gut, or the sound of the gut that is wrenching?
 
The thing is, dictionaries are a thing for ELL, too.
They close genref as genref as much as we do.
 
I think compound adjectives are difficult for many learners, so it could be useful over there.
 
Well. And this question is about compound adjectives, how?
It is about one compound adjective.
The meaning of which is genref.
A question about all compound adjectives, on the other hand, would be entirely unanswerable.
Because every single compound adjective means whatever it chooses to mean regardless of other compound adjectives.
 
True. But we got a few similar questions recently.
 
Yes. And we've been getting "what does spouse mean?" for six years now.
I'm not holding presses or breath.
 
12:59 PM
@RegDwigнt I was thinking about the pattern X-ing as an adjective. I mean, only in this question.
 
If someone can't use a dictionary, then the solution is not to turn our site into yet another dictionary. Because guess what, people won't use it!
@DamkerngT. right on. But there's a lot of things that can lead to an -ing, with lots of different meanings.
Actually, there's something to be said for unseeing patterns.
 
@RegDwigнt Yes. Imho, it could be useful if someone could post a good guideline as an aid for our learners.
Over there, I mean. Not here.
 
Yes, I understand. But it's a gargantuan task really. I'm not sure how many gargantuan users ELL even has these days.
 
Me either. But I still hope for the best. :P
 
Yeah.
It's this whole Internet thing all over again. Someone should do so many gargantuan things. And in select cases someone somewhere is actually working on one. But in the mean time every single page gets flooded with half-assed one-liners.
 
1:04 PM
@feetwet I don't have an opinion on it.
@Jez Hey.
 
So when you ask politely, "someone please tell me everything about words ending in -ing, including the word everything", then some kind soul might actually take up the task, but unless you freeze the question until they are finished, you'll end up with yet another page full of "answers" like "I think you are asking about verbs. I can recommend looking up verbs." or plain spam.
Holy something. There's a fox!
 
This is not an answer:
The vowel will be reduced in unstressed position, especially under the fast speech rules operative here. Good luck hearing a difference between a reduced [/ɨ/] or [ɪ̈] and a complete [ə]. This is hard even for people trained to do it, and virtually impossible for those who are not. That means you will not be aware of what’s really happening and therefore are apt to mischaracterize it. — tchrist 2 mins ago
At least, I don’t think it is.
 
@tchrist good thing it's a comment, then!
 
@RegDwigнt Understood. It's not my call anyway.
 
@MattE.Эллен A spam influx trigger. Well, that's what the parts catalog says.
 
1:07 PM
I seem to have an almost-dislocated dominant index finger. Probably need an immobilizing split and no more typing.
 
@KitZ.Fox Like Old Mr Bunny.
 
@Mitch they should ban those.
 
@DamkerngT. Be my guest.
 
@Robusto Done!
This edit will be visible only to you until it is peer reviewed.
 
@MattE.Эллен as long as your parts list has a bit extrusion shredding vat, you'll be OK. Wait.. don't use PVC with that, or you'll have to replace it within a year.
@Robusto mais oui, ma chère mademoiselle
 
@tchrist Happy? Surely it’s a pain in the back side that finally when you think you’ve figured out what those damn e’s at the end of words do and how it works, along comes this word just to prove you wrong and stick its tongue out at you! — Janus Bahs Jacquet 4 hours ago
0
Q: What is the adobe of gods?

shenkwen Men knew better than they realized, when they placed the abode of the gods beyond the reach of gravity . I don't understand this whole sentence, possibly because I don't know what adobe of the gods means.

Wrong order, but you get the connection.
Mesa Verde was abandoned once the gods cut off the Ancient Ones’ adobe supply.
 
@tchrist So, the gods are using Photoshop now? I thought they didn't need that.
 
Where is my dictionary template.
 
They probably didn’t like the licensing scheme.
 
To look up the meaning of a word, use a dictionary of your liking. Dictionaries have been specifically created and optimized for looking up the meanings of words. This site is not a dictionary, and has not been created or optimized for looking up word meanings. For starters, typing a word in a dictionary search box is much faster than typing up a question here. — RegDwigнt ♦ 22 secs ago
I should be getting a fraction of a cent every time I write this.
Then I could own the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation, which is the one and only goal of my life.
 
1:24 PM
Pro tip: Never sign a contract that includes in perpetuity with immortals.
 
Pro tip: if you actually sign something, you will probably outlive it.
 
I wish our mod team had better après-UTC-biz-hours coverage.
 
There's life after UTC?
Show me the signed contract.
 
@Mitch it seems, despite the bit extrusion shredding, some spam got through the filter. how can I fix that?
 
Because once you guys all bounce home, it gets ugly here a lot of the days.
 
1:29 PM
And thank god for that, otherwise people would never be able to breathe!
@RegDwigнt I think you're doing a pretty good jobs of policing and putting new Qs on hold in this forum. — artm 9 hours ago
 
reg++
 
Caveat: the use of words expressing something other than their literal intention. (Now that is irony.)
This poor user, for example, can only be a user while I am not.
 
Addict.
 
I can't always only think of myself. That's not communist at all!
 
A dict.
 
1:32 PM
Don't be a dict!
 
Be Gus Dickus.
 
0
Q: Difference between "Mollify" and "Pacify"?

Soham GhoshAlso, which word is suitable in a context of hunger?

Awww.
 
Yes to both.
Next.
 
files the edge off his hunger
 
If ever there was a better candidate for "Look it the fuck up" I have not seen it.
 
1:33 PM
Oh come on. Don't make me dig up the "what does spouse mean?"
It's quite hard to dig up cause it's deleted.
Now that was pro. This one's not even trying.
 
deleted:1 is:question spouse
 
See. I did say it was quite hard.
> closed as general reference by Jeff Atwood♦ Apr 15 '11 at 6:51
Mwuahaha.
 
@RegDwigнt That's what she said.
 
This "she" seems to be quite talkative indeed.
 
0
Q: role of with in this sentence

user131750in a film a person said: "I'm this close to getting a big promotion with my own office" why he used with?

And the hits just keep on coming!
 
1:36 PM
Tolja.
 
Install a hit counter.
 
Sometimes the shit comes down so hard I feel like I should be wearing a hat.
 
I was going to say use jQuery but now I'm realizing I've not heard the name in like two years.
 
Why you used bad question?
 
Is jQuery still a thing?
 
1:37 PM
Yes.
 
@Robusto but that would make you a shithat.
 
@RegDwigнt I use it practically every day. Even to brush my teeth.
@RegDwigнt I am hatshit crazy, I am.
 
Okay. Phew. Good. Thanks. So without further ado:
install a hit counter. Use jQuery.
 
Meanwhile, why is "role of with" still open?
 
You could even install a jQuery counter to count your teeth. Figure that, bro.
@Robusto because this is life after UTC.
 
1:39 PM
That question even has an answer.
 
-1
A: Can I say "Please find my yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents."

user131743cbnmvbnmvbnmvbnmvbnmasdfohjansldfjkasdfl;kja alskdfj asldkfj asdlfkj asdf asdf wert

Damned cats.
 
Excellent. On to the MultiCollider with it.
 
Feeding frenzy, could be MC material.
jinx
 
Here's some frenzy coke for you:
 
Well, they got the size right.
 
1:41 PM
That's a great insult, actually. Very modern. "How foot of a biglong are you, actually?"
 
And it's true, the more I play, the bigger I become.
 
I think I'll start posting that under every question I close. "How foot of a biglong are you?"
 
@MattE.Эллен Oh... yeah, you'll need a pan-demic ceramic emulsifier splay tuning rotor for the left overs. It's only in green. I know, right!
 
But the prize always seems to remain about the same size.
 
The prize is right.
Dear next person who uses "english" instead of "English": I will personally come to your home and bludgeon you to death with a giant E.
 
1:46 PM
I have a script that corrects ENglish into English, because I often do that. But never english, I don't need a script for that.
 
I have a script that corrects Russian into English.
yesterday, by RegDwigнt
user image
It doesn't work tho. At all.
 
Morning. So I see tchrist didn't change his mind.
 
Priorities, priorities. Socks first, mind later.
 
Did I mention to you that I got the Detective's Office for my birthday? I just put it together last week. It's pretty great.
 

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