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00:27
Right then! Who wants to have a THC? looks at best fits from responses
@RebeccaChernoff Took me a second to figure out what you meant... my mind jumped to the LHC
Ah, oh goodie! PST and CET users! Those are always fun.
01:09
Are we really having a Town Hall Chat? Voting has already begun ...
@Robusto At least according to the email @RebeccaChernoff sent the candidates and the Meta thread, it was always the plan to start the THC after the voting began.
After all, you can always change your vote if the THC influences you in some way
Not bloody likely. I voted, I'm done. See ya next year!
Greetings. What is this Town Hall Chat all about? The elections?
I probably feel the same.
I mean, if you don't have a good enough idea yet who to vote for, you're not really a regular on this site. I suppose THC (the non-medicinal kind) could be useful for newbies, but, really, if you hang around here a lot you know what's what.
True.
01:14
At first I thought she was talking about
Do you think it will be anyone other than Kos, Reg, and Nohat?
Tetrahydrocannabinol ( ) (THC), also known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), Δ1-THC (using an older chemical nomenclature), or dronabinol, is the main psychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant. There is no evidence to suggest that THC is physically addictive, though one may become mentally dependent on the drug as a result of habit or an emotional connection with it. It was first isolated by Yechiel Gaoni and Raphael Mechoulam from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, in 1964. In pure form, it is a glassy solid when cold, and becomes viscous and sticky...
and I was about to sign up ...
:)
Haha.
Kos?
-monaut
You know.
01:17
Oh, duh.
Hehe.
My brain did a pratfall just then.
I recognise the phenomenon from my own experience in similar cases.
I was thinking of this
Daily Kos () is a American political blog that publishes news and opinions from a progressive point of view. It functions as a discussion forum and group blog for a variety of netroots activists, whose efforts are primarily directed toward influencing and strengthening the Democratic Party. Additionally, the site features a participatory political encyclopedia ("DKosopedia"), glossaries, and other content. Daily Kos was founded by Markos Moulitsas (Kos from the last syllable of his first name, his nickname while in the military) in 2002. In 2007, its parent company, Kos Media, LLC, began...
and I couldn't quite see how it fit ...
Ah I see... how twisted of your brain to do such a thing to your soul.
01:19
I don't know who it will be. But nohat coming in as a dark horse under the cover of night, so to speak, doesn't make me feel too good about his candidacy, to be perfectly honest.
Plus I haven't really seen him around much lately. I see @RegDwight & @Kosmonaut all the time. They are both very active in the board.
Hmm... what do you mean by this nightly horse?
Yeah I agree on the activity thing.
Dark horse is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort. Origin The term began as horse racing parlance. A dark horse is a race horse that is not known to gamblers and thus is difficult to place betting odds on. The earliest-known use of the phrase is in Benjamin Disraeli's novel The Young Duke (1831). Disraeli's protagonist, the Duke of St. James, attends a horse race with a surprise finish: "A dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list,...
Okay, I thought that it was something like that; but I thought that Nohat was quite well known here?
At least I have seen a great many answers and comments of his.
Not to mention his rep.
Well, it's kind of not good politics to be absent during the primary, if you know what I mean.
So you mean the fact that he only nominated himself shortly before the deadline?
Or do you mean that he hasn't been moderating a lot of late?
(I haven't been paying a great deal of attention to all this I must admit.)
01:24
I have no way of knowing how much he moderates or not. But he hasn't been a presence in chat, and hasn't even responded to direct questions about his intentions.
Ok, that is clear.
Frankly I think there are many more than 3 who would be good candidates.
By the way, do you happen to know whether we are ever plagued by spam?
I'm sure he has his reasons, but one has to take into account how one presents oneself during an election. If you don't make yourself available, well, you don't make yourself available. That sends a message.
I can't remember ever seeing any.
Okay you have a point.
I've seen some show up on SO, but it gets the bum's rush in a hurry. Maybe that happens here too, but I haven't seen any.
Besides closing questions immediately, and the recent conflict with this one guy, what do moderators usually spend time on on this site?
01:28
Of commercial spam, I've never seen any on E.SE. However, we do see questions that are off-topic, such as this one (belongs on meta).
It is my impression that everyone is usually civil enough to not need any moderating on that account; is their main function that of closing questions more quickly than would otherwise be possible because we lack enough close-voters?
@Cerberus Mods are responsible for closing and deleting posts, reviewing user flags, resolving user conflicts, working with the community on Meta to address concerns and bring matters to the SE team as appropriate. See this MSO post for more details on diamond mods.
Ok @wai, thanks.
But what do they spend most of their moderating time on?
I can't say for E.SE specifically, but based on my activity at MSO, I would say that they spend most of their time reviewing flags, closing questions, and deleting posts (the three go hand in hand).
Ok.
I was wondering about E specifically.
01:35
Yeah, that's pretty much it. It's described somewhere officially (i.e. not just by me in this chat) as "janitorial" duties.
The reason I ask is because it feels like this site pretty much moderates itself most of the time—but this feeling might be caused by excellent moderating...
It most certainly does not moderate itself.
Questions' not getting closed as fast would seem to be the most striking result if the mods decided to go on holiday tomorrow—but that might be completely besides the truth...
Those are your tax dollars at work. ^_^
Hehe.
OK I believe you. But that's why I was wondering what the most important things were that they are doing here every day.
01:38
Well, that's why we need more attentive moderation. I personally don't like some questions to get a peremptory dismissal, but then there are some that I'm glad get 86-ed in a hurry.
Yeah I like it if those get closed fast; but if there didn't, it wouldn't impair my "user experience" a great deal in every-day terms.
-3
Q: is english.stackexchange.com site used for increase ?

PRASHANT Phello i am fellow developer :) i am posting much on stackoverflow.com and on cooking.stackoverflow.com i am wanting to increase in my knowlege of programs and internet english :) is site for use of learn ? else.. where am i to belong ? thanks PRASHANT :) OF NOTE i am emigrate to india :)

This has had close votes for a while now.
Just needs one more.
Yeah I have already voted to close that.
I mean, it is good work that mods should close those fast; but not essential for me personally.
If I were a moderator — and I hasten to add that I'm not and don't want to be — if I saw three close votes on a question I'd bring the hammer down, no question.
Oh so should I.
I sometimes moderate a games site, which is a rather different environment, obviously; things are pleasantly tame here in comparison. Not that mods aren't a very good thing to have here.
I already suspected that closing questions was their most time-consuming task here.
01:44
Yeah. The best qualities in a moderator are presence, discrimination (in the good sense), and an unwillingness to abuse power.
Agreed.
What we don't want:
@Robusto: I also wonder why we are to have only three mods?
**Dwight** Well we need someone to work this Saturday, and I think it should be…Jim.
**Jim** God, this is so sad. This is the smallest amount of power I’ve ever seen go to someone’s head.
From The Office
Haha very nice.
01:46
Why do the italics work sometimes and not others? Sheesh.
I mean the asterisks.
I am still planning to watch The Office extensively some time (but I don't have a television).
I was trying to bold the names of the characters.
Yeah that is strange.
Especially this is strange.
I have seen them not work within words some time, but not in a simple case like this.
But sometimes it works.
This doesn't work: *word*s.
Perhaps it's Capitals?
Capitals
01:48
Yeah. It ain't perfect. But it's a good chat UI, all things considered.
Beginning of a sentence?
Jim God, this is so sad.
Wow.
A nomological dangler.
Maybe it's because I C&P'ed it, with colons after the names included in the bolding.
But I took the colons out ...
Normally I'd yell "just ignore this paranormal phenomenon; it must be our minds' fucking with us".
01:49

Sandbox

Where you can play with chat features (except flagging) and ch...
Yeah I didn't see no colons.
OK, this site owes me $0.00037 for each of those failures.
room #1 for a reason guys :p
Haha.
Okay Drach.
Oh ... are we upsetting you, @drachenstern?
01:51
I do so hope that we are not upsetting Drachenstern.
I write it with @ and commas, then edited them out; no problem.
Just happened to notice the insane amount of "oh maybe"s
That is good to hear.
I've done it myself. ;)
01:52
Hehe ok.
This chat is a bit like my average Authotkey script.
Usually works fine, but sometimes displays strange deviations.
@Cerberus come over to the MSO tavern and help us write better userscripts that may become part of core ;)
@Drach: Ooh I wish I could write Javascript, but I am really not a programmer at all.
Ah, well that does suck a little for trying to come up with better userscripts ;)
Mwa... I could serve tea?
By the way, do serious programmers use AHK?
I do so only because it is the only language that I get without much learning.
@Cerberus sorry, been trying to keep up with three lines of conversation and mentally walk through my checklist on my app
yeah, no. They don't. Any sort of automation like that they tend to write their own scripts or they just ignore it. There's very little that can't be scripted from a batch-like file on Windows, so in general that's not used.
However, given that there are probably 20 million developers in the US alone (long shot but possible) and that there are many more around the world, I would say the odds of a number larger than I would care to count probably do use it.
All about statistics
02:01
@Drach: Okay thanks for the comprehensive answer; it is as I suspected.
I must go now.
Happy chatting!
02:14
@Robusto What direct questions did I fail to respond to?
02:26
Hmm, it seems the best I can for the THC is 4 yes, 2 no for the best fit timeslots.
Is it in my availability? :D
:D
Yatta!
02:49
Scheduled!
For when?
(reading backwards) I have actually seen spam on this site. It lasted all of 5 minutes, tops.
2
Q: 2011 Moderator Election - Town Hall Chat: 1am UTC on the 24th / 8pm EST on the 23rd

Rebecca ChernoffIn connection with the moderator elections, we will be holding a Town Hall Chat session with the candidates. This will be an opportunity for members of the community to pose questions to the candidates on the topic of moderation. Participation is completely voluntary. I am working with the can...

Danke schön!
Is it clear that this is a day earlier (kinda) in the US? A couple people missed the cooking one due to not realizing it crossed midnight over the timezones. |:
Yes, I think "8pm EST on the **23rd**" is quite clear.
03:03
I refer to my previous message. (;
Hmm. Halp! (:
> It is maintained jointly by the community and SOIS via Rebecca Chernoff♦
does that make it seem like "via Rebecca" applies to both "the community" and "SOIS"?
Oh I see how it is. Schedule the THC and then I get no love? (;
03:22
Sorry, doing research... I suppose the "via" clause could be interpreted that way, but it should be clear enough. Where does that text appear?
92
Q: Recent feature changes to Stack Exchange

devinbThis is the official list of new features and various changes to Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network. It is maintained by Rebecca Chernoff♦. RSS feed for this question

See the last edit.
Mostly maintained by the community, but also by me with an official SOIS team presence. Just maintained by me is not the message to convey.
I hate English. (;
 
5 hours later…
08:54
@waiwai933 I've seen at least one commercial spam message. Can't find it right now, it was like six weeks ago or something and it was advertising a grammar checker.
Also, @Cerberus and @Robusto.
09:32
Uff. It's kind of cumbersome to search for deleted spam, but here it is:
Obviously, only visible to 10k and mods.
Also, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6656//11620#11620, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10260//10264#10264, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2035//9898#9898, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7469//7473#7473, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7468//7471#7471, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4241//7359#7359
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5831//7138#7138. These are not commercial, but spam nonetheless. And there's lots more.
FX_
FX_
09:47
@RegDwight Obviously, it's not like we care about whether the hoi polloi can or cannot read the messages we post
Quick! Grab some rep!
FX_
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there sure must be some 6250 rep somewhere in that haystack!
There is! Look more to the left! And deeper! There, yup!
Alternatively, just ask Robusto to transfer an hour's rep worth to your account.
FX_
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@RegDwight: actually, this raises an on-topic question
how understandable is “hoi polloi” to the hoi polloi?
I didn't know this expression, until I looked it up in a thesaurus
Well, obviously I can't answer that, as obviously, I am not one of the hoi polloi.
You can only ask experts how understandable the word expert is to experts.
FX_
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09:51
I was going to use populace, before I checked and saw that it doesn't have the same derogatory connotation that it has in French
Proles. Riff-raff.
FX_
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the rabble
Not sure how the first one is spelled in English. I think it's with an E.
FX_
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but a greek expression to mean “the masses” is just so much fun, I'll never use any other synonym ever again!
Hm, and Riff Raff has no hyphen, according to Wikipedia...
Hoi polloi (), an expression meaning "the many", or in the strictest sense, "the majority" in Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense. Synonyms for "hoi polloi" include "... commoners, great unwashed, minions, multitude, plebeians, proletariat, rank and file, Riff Raff, the common people, the herd, the many, the plebs, the proles, the peons, the working class". The phrase became known to English scholars probably from Pericles' Funeral Oration, as mentioned in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Pericles uses it in a pos...
FX_
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09:53
now, if I could find the greek equivalent for “the happy few”, that would make my day
no hyphen and no space, according to my dictionary
Ask @kiamlaluno. My Greek is rusty.
FX_
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well, there is always “crème de la crème”, I can live with that
And it's Greek! ))
FX_
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well, actually, it's from the latin cremum
from Gk. khrisma "unguent;" see chrism
FX_
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09:56
that gave chrême (the Christian ointement), but not crème (the cooking ingredient)
anyway, I suppose convenances expect me to do some work at some point in the morning, so I'd better get to it
see you
The latter is a blend, according to Wiktionary and Etymonline.
CU.
Middle English creime, creme, from Anglo-Norman creme, cresme (compare French crème), blend of Late Latin chrisma 'ointment' (from Ancient Greek χρῖσμα (chrisma) 'unguent'), and Late Latin crāmum 'skim',
10:12
Just for the record, my initial "And it's Greek!" comment was supposed to be a joke. Turns out, there's a grain of truth in it.
10:50
(I wonder if I am associated to Greek just for the fact I am difficult to understand.)
I have no idea what you're talking about.
See? That is the demonstration I am right. ;-)
Sorry, we speak English here.
"Ask @kiamlaluno. My Greek is rusty."
Ah! That I understand. It must've been written by someone with an excellent grasp of English!
10:54
As an American person said, "that's the problem; I speak American, not British English."
Anyhow. "Few" should be something with ὀλίγος if I'm not awfully mistaken. But what about "happy"? Can't remember that one for the life of me.
Something with χαρ.
Riff raff is hyphenless, except for a 1990 film title.
I was thinking of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
It should be a word similar to "euthanasia".
Ah! ευτυχία.
10:59
It can be ευτυχής or ευτυχισμένος.
Interesting. What about ευχαριστημένος?
@nohat — For the whole last week people have posting about whether you were going to run here in chat. I saw your gravatar from time to time, but never heard anything directly. Maybe you answered while I was out, but I've been in chat a lot and didn't see any discussion of this from you.
And good morning, class!
Hello, tichar!
@RegDwight That is pleased.
Ah, okay.
Anyhow, how do we put everything together to say "the happy few"?
11:01
"An American person" — really, @kiamlaluno? I don't know no Americans who talk like that.
Wow, I guess we're starring any and every post now. Martha got starred for "For when?" Hmm, I guess you had to be there.
2
It was so funny. You have no idea.
I wasn't even there, but I'm still laughing my buttocks off.
@Robusto: "Who talks like that"?
@RegDwight — Stop making fun of my relentless onslaught. Don't be a playah hatah.
Oh. What can I be, then?
That's an existential dilemma I'm not prepared to answer.
11:05
That is so you.
Existential dilemmas require coffee, and I haven't had mine yet.
I don't know any American who says "present progressive" when he should say "gerund" either. Actually, there is an American who said that.
Quick! Grab some coffee!
Robusto is a machine for turning coffee into rep points.
Will you survive your non-state till then?
Or rather, your state of non-being?
I'll try my very best.
But no empty promises on my part.
11:06
I might prefer to watch you twisting in the wind.
@kiamlaluno: My American bona fides are in order. You're still waiting in that big TSA line.
And "present progressive" and "gerund" are not the same thing. You could look it up, honest.
@Robusto: That is not true for you taking others under your wings, though.
@Robusto: Exactly. It was not me to use "present progressive" to mean "gerund".
What, did @RegDwight deny that I taught him everything he knows? The ingrate. Well, no good deed goes unpunished.
♫ Have I ever told you you're my heeeerooooooooooo... ♫
See? Much better.
Can we do that once more, and remember there's no fermata over the last syllable of hero.
"As Bernie mentioned, is that because she actually touches the regular American person."
11:11
There is in my interpretation. I can't stress hero enough.
You're just trying to get me to lower my defenses because you covet my back yard.
♫ I can fly higher than an eeeeeegaaaaaaaahllll... ♫
Das is mir eagle.
"She is the first truly American person and as such the mother of the new generations to come."
@Robusto THWACK!
11:12
Ladies and gentleman, the jukebox is on
@RegDwight — Hey! How did you get hold of Martha's hardwood ruler?
And my timing is awful, as usual
@Robusto It's a relay race.
@kiamlaluno — And, @kiamlaluno, even if I did say that, which I doubt, I will submit to a solecism count with you anytime, anywhere.
O solecism mio!
11:15
So be careful, Buster, you're speaking to a man with absolute command of the English language.
I can put a hurt on you like you wouldn't believe.
Hurt (sometimes typeset as HURT) is a rock band formed in 2000 in Virginia, now located in Los Angeles, California, United States. Currently in partnership with their manager's independent record label, Amusement, the band has put out three major label albums. The group consists of lead singer J. Loren Wince, guitarist Paul Spatola, guitarist Michael Roberts, bassist Rek Mohr, and drummer Victor Ribas. The band first released the independent albums Hurt in 2000 and The Consumation in 2003. Many of the songs from these albums found their way onto their first two major label releases, and...
Actually, though, you might not understand its full majesty.
@Robusto: You right said you don't know any American who would say "American person".
There's one. Shall I keep counting?
Hey, can't we all be friends, hitting each other with rulers?
11:17
By the way, one can be American even if he was born outside America.
Only in some twisted or technical sense would an American ever say "American person." He or she would simply say "American". I rest my case.
Anyway, see what rubbish is being starred now?
Geez, you guys, this is so ducking meta.
I think US American persons only refer to themselves as US American persons.
I've heard that on YouTube once.
Therefore, being American doesn't implicate you understand American at all.
11:19
Thank you, Mrs. Malaprop.
One question quickly, there is a badge you can obtain by getting one of your chat message starred, isn't it?
Sure.
ten messages, at least one starred.
Check out the difference between implicate and imply.
oh ok, the first election candidate to star this message will get my first vote. (or not...)
11:21
Starring is anonymous.
"By saying that coffee would keep her awake, Mary implicated that she didn't want any."
Also, what if I star one of your previous messages?
We need to work on the rules, buddy.
Yeah I know, but maybe not everybody knows it. <_< Well who am I kidding...
I think in order to be starred you must post some truly hilarious sh*t, like oh say "For when?"
I guess that as long as I am active enough, one of my message is bond to be starred.
11:22
That's what kiamlaluno thought, too.
2
@RegDwight I am not sure I can go to this level though :p
I hate when people use <_< emoticons. They are so not forward-looking. >_>
@Robusto Who says I wanted to look forward?
In fact, kiamlaluno almost gave up by asking:
Feb 2 at 14:47, by kiamlaluno
Do the chat automatically star questions?
Can't be I didn't had a star yet
11:24
1 hour ago, by RegDwight
There is! Look more to the left! And deeper! There, yup!
In fact, RTL emoticons should be automatically corrected by the chat UI. I think I'll put in a feature request for that. All right-thinking people know it's :) and not (: ...
Some people write scripts to the exact opposite effect.
Well, we need more orthodoxy around here, not less. If you elect me, I'll bring the hammer down on all that crap. I'll be just like Stalin, only this time no more Mr. Nice Guy.
@Robusto There is surely a greasmonkey script for it
Yeah, I could write one if I wasn't so ducking lazy.
11:26
@Robusto Hey, quit stealing my lines.
Which ones are those?
Laziness is a plague, whose cure is not sought.
@RegDwight: What do you think of "η ευτυχής λίγους"?
I think it's Greek.
Feb 16 at 13:04, by RegDwight
Hey yo, stop starring me.
Extreme laziness in the defense of indolence is no vice.
11:28
I mean, what do you think of using "η ευτυχής λίγους" for "the new few"?
And now ... coffee muß ich haben.
New? I thought them was supposed to be happy?
@Robusto Kaffee.
Since when did we became GL&U? that doesn't stick at all!
(If it is not random enough, then I give up...)
Since Robusto left for his coffee mug, and we stopped being JL&U.
11:29
@Robusto your still with the old orthograph, when did you learn german?
Feb 18 at 20:24, by Robusto
@RegDwight: When I was getting trained in Germany for a job with a U.S. branch of a German company, I had textbook German going in, and the Vice President of the division would compliment me on my German, how well I spoke. But I didn't speak well at all, because all my co-workers spoke slang, which I didn't understand.
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@Eldros there you go
@RegDwight: το ευτυχισμένο το νέο: the happy new.
For little Buddha's sake, we're looking for the happy few. Not the happy new, not the new few, not the few happy new few happy few.
@FX_ totally unexpected. I would thank you, but as it is anonymous, I can't be sure you actually starred it.
FX_
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11:31
the idea is to have a greek construct to express the opposite of hoi polloi
@Eldros There you go.
@RegDwight: η ευτυχής λίγους; it's what I wrote before. :-)
Ha, stuff can be un-starred!
precisely
I'm curious, as it is my only starred message, what would happen if I lose it.
Well then quick grab your badge while it lasts.
11:33
badge didn't come yet
@Eldros Badges are not revoked once handed out.
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Hoi is the Greek word for the, and the phrase hoi polloi means ‘the many’
so maybe we just need the Greek for “the few”, and it'll be good
@RegDwight Are you sure, I am sure I heard of some kind of badge you would lose if the condition are not met anymore
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hoi ligoi?
39 mins ago, by RegDwight
Anyhow. "Few" should be something with ὀλίγος if I'm not awfully mistaken. But what about "happy"? Can't remember that one for the life of me.
FX_
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11:35
hoi oligoi
so “hoi oligoi” it is
Let's just settle for Putin and Medvedev.
@Eldros Well, there's been some badge revoking on a large scale in the past, but only on two or three occasions.
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I don't care if they revoke my badges, I have them printed out on paper when they're awarded to me
I don't think anyone's going to bother with revoking Talkative badges. It's not exactly Legendary.
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Speaking of badges, I'm one upvote away from a silver badge for this answer:
@Eldros Also, there are plans to re-sort Announcer, Booster and Promoter.
FX_
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11:39
this is so frustrating
could someone remove one of their upvote, if they have one?
24
A: What is the difference between "maybe" and "may be"?

FX_maybe is an adverb, meaning perhaps or possibly. may be is a verbal construction, formed of the modal verb may and the verb be, which can be used in sentences like “he may be in the office today”. Note that, if you were to rewrite this sentence with maybe, you would say “maybe he is in the offic...

Can't upvote twice, sorry. I can remove my upvote, but I won't.
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@RegDwight if I were at +23, it'd be less frustrating
You just have to live with that. I'm 9 upvotes away from getting 9 nice answers. You just have to wait, and one fine day someone comes along and upvotes like all of them.
And then nobody upvotes you for three weeks.
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@RegDwight well, you have enough to play statistics; I'm still counting every little shiny badge (and even the ones that don't shine, actually)
I've been at 24 on one of my answers for like two months now.
11:43
@FX_: τα λίγα.
6.056
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and it's an amazing graph
38 posts in the top 2000.
@RegDwight: And mine?
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11:45
@RegDwight what does the number represent?
3.758, 23 posts.
@FX_ passive rep per day.
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you have a link to the query?
Uh... It's called my money for jam or something.
You have two posts in the top 2000. They add up to exactly one rep point per day on average.
In the last dump, Ex-user was at 7.467 rep points, with 66 posts in the top 2000. So his average passive rep is decreasing.
He used to be 6th, now he's 17th.

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