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00:37
Today in "are they British or are they wrong," an example from H&P:
> Whoever's car is blocking my driveway must move it immediately.
I stood by it even.
They put an asterisk next to this. But it sounds fine to me. Hrm.
It sounds informal to me.
What's the correct one lol
I would not apostrophise whoever, I think.
00:40
Is it supposed to be whosever?
Haha nah.
Whomstever????
There is no appropriate form.
Whoever whose car is blocking?
@Laurel They claim that neither "whosever" nor "whoever's" is valid here.
They claim these (rather informal) forms can only occur in a very limited range of constructions.
00:42
The solution is to recast the sentence, or use the informal apostrophe.
Anyone blocking my driveway with their car must move it immediately?
Yes, for example.
To me it sounds fine with "whoever's." Informal, but not incorrect.
Yeah, informal.
I'm not qualified to judge the formality but I've gotta get my car out of there fast ! :-)
01:03
@alphabet Not only fine, but perfectly natural.
01:34
@Robusto Finally, someone who agrees!
3
Q: Whomever vs Whoever (possessive)

A. A.Which of these is grammatically correct?? “Whomever’s application is denied will wish to re-register next year.” “Whoever’s application is denied will wish to re-register next year.” The first half of the sentence makes “whomever” appropriate, but then the second half leans toward use of “whoever...

@jlliagre Curiously, BillJ answered that it was fine, but he's a big H&P fan. Maybe he just didn't read the footnote where they mentioned this example.
I'd expect him to at least mention that H&P disagrees.
@alphabet I generally agree when someone says something sensible.
02:15
@Cerberus No, it's from Reddit
From one of the memes channels there
Word of the day: Wharton's jelly
 
1 hour later…
03:37
@M.A.R. I take one medication that isn't available as a generic yet. Being brand-name, it comes in these beautiful little bottles...that are "childproof" and impossible for me to open. I've had to use a pair of wire cutters to break the seals on them.
04:24
@CowperKettle Triangle man hates particle man.
 
2 hours later…
06:46
@MetaEd that assumes frequency is the best metric to go for, which is not obvious to me.
As I've said before, every Wordle is not just some random 5-letter word, there's always a quirk
So an efficient way to solve the puzzle is ruling out common letters, sure, but the most efficient way would be to be able to account for as many of these quirks as possible
07:13
Wordle 761 2/6

🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Whatever,
07:31
Quick.
Naked Attraction is a British television dating game show, broadcast on Channel 4. A clothed person is faced with six naked people who are initially hidden in booths. Their bodies and faces are gradually revealed through successive rounds, from the feet up. At each round, the chooser eliminates one naked person until only two are left, when the chooser also takes off their clothes to make the final choice. The chooser then decides which person they wish to go out with, and the two (or, occasionally, three) then go for a fully clothed date. The programme then presents their feedback after the date...
Horrible or delightful, for a dating-show?
You can watch it on Youtube.
08:11
> Netflix has announced its decision to end password sharing in India where it has millions of subscribers.
> A video showing two women being paraded naked by a mob in the violence-hit state of Manipur has sparked outrage in India.

Opposition politicians have been demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement on the Manipur crisis.
Etymology of the day: celiac -- mid 17th century: from Latin coeliacus, from Greek koiliakos, from koilia ‘belly’. Cognate with coelom.
@Cerberus If it has been running for a long time, it must be delightful
An ethnic clash erupted on 3 May 2023 in India's north-eastern state of Manipur between the Meitei people, a majority that lives in the Imphal Valley, and the tribal community from the surrounding hills, including the Kuki people. As of 4 July, 142 people have been killed in the violence, and more than 300 others left wounded. As of 4 July, approximately 54,488 people are reported to be displaced, internally.The dispute has to do with a long-standing demand by the Meitei people for a Scheduled Tribe status under the Indian Constitution, which would give them privileges comparable to the tribal...
 
1 hour later…
09:47
@Cerberus Your best bet is two,most large cities are in such areas, or just shake hands like these guys:
Wordle 761 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
10:04
#Worldle #545 2/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐🏙️
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
🌎 Jul 20, 2023 🌍
🔥 7 | Avg. Guesses: 6.19
🟨⬜🟧🟧🟧🟧🟥🟥
🟥🟥🟥🟩 = 12

globle-game.com
#globle
10:37
Girkin has suggested that Russia start issuing letters of marque on the Black Sea.
A letter of marque and reprisal (French: lettre de marque; lettre de course) was a government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a nation at war with the issuer. After capturing, the privateers could bring the case of that prize before their own admiralty court for condemnation and transfer of ownership to the privateer. A letter of marque and reprisal would include permission to cross an international border to conduct a reprisal (take some action against an attack or injury) and was authorized by an issuing...
/ˈmɑː(ɹ)k/
11:29
Poland's borders at its largest extend. 1618 AD
12:10
Howdy everybody. Could please tell me if these sentences sound fine?

The half-dead cat was found by passers-by. When the animal was taken to the veterinary clinic, it was discovered that several people had raped the cat.
12:47
@MichaelRybkin The sentences sound fine to my non native ears but the story itself sound horrible.
Agree on both counts.
@Cerberus what is this one?
13:05
@jlliagre Thank you both. Sad reality of life, unfortunately. But we've got to keep studying English no matter the negativity we're faced with.
@Robusto Thank you both.
13:33
#Worldle #545 3/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨↘️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
🌎 Jul 20, 2023 🌍
🔥 35 | Avg. Guesses: 4.41
🟨🟩 = 2

globle-game.com
#globle
One hand washes the other.
Wordle 761 4/6

🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
What's it called when you switch vowels and consonants in a word? Like pretty/purty?
@tchrist would know. Prolly @alphabet as well.
@jlliagre Mein Gott, hilf mir diese tödliche Liebe zu ŭberleben.
13:57
> Anthropodermic bibliopegy — the binding of books in human skin—peaked in the 19th century.
Ewww.
Daily Quordle 542
🟥4️⃣
5️⃣6️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle/
14:13
@Robusto metathesis
14:28
@Mitch That's it, thanks.
I knew that but couldn't think of the name.
Happens more often than I'd like.
Daily Octordle #542
🕚6️⃣
7️⃣3️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
🔟🕛
Score: 66
14:51
Daily Octordle #542
9️⃣8️⃣
7️⃣🔟
🕛🕚
4️⃣5️⃣
Score: 66
"Bataille !" :-)
Daily Sequence Octordle #542
5️⃣6️⃣
7️⃣8️⃣
9️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
Score: 68
@alphabet THIS CALLS FOR AN ELU QUESTION
@Robusto It's not the same as metastasis
tries to forget the shameful incident
tries not to think about cancer
@Mitch NYT Spelling Bee accepts allele, surprisingly. I didn't know they had it in them.
15:36
@Robusto must...resist...pun
People are shocked when they find out I’m not a real electrician.
@Robusto A nice group, I listened to it a little 15 years ago, just a little. I remember that lyrics seemed very interesting/quaint to me.
15:59
@Mitch Do you agree with me that the "whoever's" version is correct?
@Robusto I don't get it. Is TMBG OK? Maybe they should talk to someone.
@alphabet Oh sure. And I also have no idea how to do it in a more formal register.
@Cerberus the source
Somehow with England included, I am a bit skeptical of things.
16:23
@Mitch Hmm yeah I have never heard of this.
@MetaEd Number of kisses.
Cheek kissing is a ritual or social kissing gesture to indicate friendship, family relationship, perform a greeting, to confer congratulations, to comfort someone, or to show respect. Cheek kissing is very common in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, the Low Countries, the Horn of Africa, Central America and South America. In other countries, including the U.S. and Japan, cheek kissing is common as well at an international meeting between heads of state and First Ladies or members of royal and the Imperial families.Depending on the local culture, cheek kissing...
@jlliagre "Although cheek kissing is not as widely practiced in the United Kingdom or Ireland as in other parts of Europe, it is still common and increasing." Why???
Now that COVID has mostly calmed down is everyone out there YOLOing???
16:52
@Laurel I don't know. In France, cheek kissing usage dropped significantly during COVID, is resuming slowly, but is still lower than what it used to be. My impression is that it is still much less common in the UK than in France but I can't tell about trends there.
I heard about la bise in French class in school, so I assume that's pretty widespread in France/Quebec. Never heard of it in any English speaking areas
@Laurel What is "la bise", specifically?
It's just kissing.
It's the greeting kiss(es) used in French areas
17:14
But it is not French: it is just a normal way of interaction between people, neither just in France, nor just for greeting.
So I don't understand why one would specifically use French word for it in English, when we already have the terms "kiss" and "kissing".
> Il s'agit d'une marque d'affection ou de respect dans 90 % des cultures du monde1. Dans d'autres cultures (Afrique subsaharienne, Asie, Polynésie), le baiser n’est pas pratiqué, et peut même être réprimé, du moins avant les premiers contacts avec les cultures occidentales2.
@Cerberus It's not something new for English to use a French word when there is already Germanic one available.
@jlliagre But it is not a normal English word.
It is not some loan word, is it?
It's just a French word.
The English also don't call cheese 'fromage'.
@Cerberus Right. Where was bise used in English then?
17:30
Is there any difference between saying "Only those items which I notice shape my mind." vs "Only those items that I notice shape my mind."
33 mins ago, by Laurel
I heard about la bise in French class in school, so I assume that's pretty widespread in France/Quebec. Never heard of it in any English speaking areas
Laurel used it here as though it were a certain, very specific thing.
@CowperKettle Quaint isn't the word I'd use.
@user858770 None, other than style.
Thanks
🙏
There was in fact a discussion about which versus that in this very room, not long ago.
17:33
@Cerberus Also questions on the site itself.
It boils down to restrictive vs. non-restrictive relative clauses.
If there are no commata, both relative pronouns indicate restrictive/defining clauses.
Also the US vs. the UK.
But it is one of those arguments that wind up, as @Cerb says, in the "style" bin.
@Cerberus In the US, cheek kissing is really only done between relatives, especially when one's a child. And there's no alternating sides thing. From what I understand it's different from what the French (& Quebec) do, hence I used the word I know for that specific tradition
Or at least that's how it is here, where I am
@Laurel It also can be done between women and men to women, in lieu of handshakes.
Also when I hear the word "kiss" without any additional qualifications, it usually refers to on the lips
17:38
@Laurel I'm really trying to wrap my heads around this.
Different cultures have different kissing-traditions.
@Laurel The "air kiss"' is a buss.
But why use a word from the foreign language to describe a foreign tradition?
I mean, do you call German kissing Küsse?
If you take a couple of different kissing traditions and compare them, surely the French tradition(s) don't really stand out, specifically?
@Robusto In the US? I guess I saw that on reruns of Match Game from the 70s but nowhere else really. It was weird
@Laurel I guess you don't go to a lot of garden parties.
I don't even own outdoor property on which to have a garden party :p
17:42
@Laurel But other people do. And when you get invited to a garden party, it's sometimes obligatory to go.
Unless you want to be perceived as a hermit or a curmudgeon.
I still air-kiss my female relatives, since they seem to expect it.
@Robusto Well if there's going to be alcohol there I'd go. But I can't actually remember ever being invited to something like that
@Robusto So buss is the "normal" word in English for bise.
@Laurel You're not missing anything.
@jlliagre Not perfectly equivalent, probably, but close.
I've never heard "buss"
buss "a kiss," 1560s; probably of imitative origin, as are Welsh and Gaelic bus "kiss, lip," French baiser "kiss" (12c., from Latin basiare), Spanish buz, German dialectal Buss, Turkish bus, Persian busa, Hindi bosa.
Etymonline.
17:46
Bise is relatively recent in French. It probably started as child speak, the regular baise or baiser being more and more risky to use.
Belgians apparently still say donne une baise and French people make fun of it.
@jlliagre Because it has fewer sexual overtones?
@Robusto Yes, it has none.
Yes. Buss is similarly sanitized.
In the US, there might be a generation gap wrt kissing non-relatives. With people my age (young!) it's really not done
Also I don't know anything about the kissing practices of places outside where I live and what I learned in French class lol, don't know why everyone thinks I'm some sort of expert
@Laurel Yeah, but you young people do have grandparents, right? Don't they teach you anything? ;-)
17:52
I thought the reason they were so affectionate was because they're my grandparents and/or because they're old!
RIP
Wordle 761 4/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
🟩⬛🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I thought #3 would be my final guess but the game out-flanked me
@Laurel The two kinda go together.
@Cerberus Four? FIVE?
Looks like the verbs buss and kiss have flipped connotations:
> "to kiss," 1570s, from buss (n.). Related: Bussed; bussing.

Kissing and bussing differ both in this,
We busse our wantons, but our wives we kisse.
[Robert Herrick, "Hesperides," 1648]
@MetaEd 5!
Mainly on Corsica, I believe.
18:03
A lot of belgicisms in this Asterix dialog.
Four of them.
@jlliagre Is the winged helmet an identifying caricature for Belgians?
@jlliagre Nicotineke sounds very Belgian.
@Cerberus Is that a name or some kind of tobacconist?
@Robusto Praesumably!
The diminutive suffix -ke is very Flemish.
> A high-pressure anticyclone named Cerberus, a reference to the monstrous watchdog of the underworld in Greek mythology, began moving in from the south on July 10. It was followed by Charon, named for the mythological ferryman who transported souls from the world of the living to that of the dead. That weather system saw parts of Greece, Spain and Italy record temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
18:13
As in names on -ke.
So Cerberus did it.
And Tineke, from Martine, is a very common name.
@Cerberus Does that suffix correspond to Fr. -ique?
Hmm I don't really know that suffix, but I praesume -ke is Germanic.
Probably related to Dutch -je/-ie, English -ie/-y.
German -chen.
All diminutive.
@Cerberus That makes sense.
18:16
In Holland, you will also see Tiny, also a diminutive of Martine.
Or perhaps of some less common -tine name like Albertine, Hubertine.
In names (female) French has -ique in names like Dominique, Monique, etc. I assumed that was a form of diminutive, which are all somewhat affectionate.
Martinus Josephus Maria "Tiny" Kox (Dutch: [ˈtini ˈkɔks]; born 6 May 1953) is a Dutch politician who has been serving as President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2022. As a member of the Socialist Party (SP), he has been serving as Senator since 10 June 2003, as well as being the longest-serving incumbent Senator in the Dutch Senate. On 24 January 2022, he was elected the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), initially for a one-year term. Prior to this, he was for several years the President of the Unified European Left Group in the...
You may have heard of Tiny Kox.
@Cerberus That sounds like a joke name, like Biggus Dickus.
Not to be confused with former Prime Minister Kok.
@Robusto And yet it is a normal name.
The surname Cox or Koks or Kox is not uncommon. And Kok is even commoner.
And Tiny is a common abbreviated first name, at least amongst older generations.
Pronounce like teeny.
@alphabet Hey, I need a word with you! @tchrist, you'll be interested in this.
@alphabet It has come to my attention that you have been using which in integrated relative clauses!
18:20
The surname Cox is of English or Welsh origin, and may have originated independently in several places in Great Britain, with the variations arriving at a standard spelling only later. There are also two native Scottish & Irish surnames which were anglicised into Cox.An early record of the surname dates from 1556 with the marriage of Alicea Cox at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London. Cox is the 69th-most common surname in the United Kingdom. == Origin == One possibility of the origin is that it is a version of the Old English cocc which means "the little", and was sometimes put after...
@Cerberus Yes, by itself that is unremarkable even in English. Cf. Brian Cox the actor.
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. Nooo is this the relative inquisition?
@Robusto Exactly.
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. We've probably humored him too much in that respect. Be kind!
@Cerberus Ay, prezackerly so!
@Cerberus Yes this -ke suffix is the first Belgicism. A common diminutive but you already know it obviously.
@Robusto I don't think so. These ones are more like the Latin -icus/-ica.
18:27
@jlliagre Hmm, OK.
Donne une baisefait la bise
I think that the word "suspend" contains of "suspicious + pending". Isn't it?
Tire ton planOrganise-toi
ça est frugalc'est frugal
18:31
I guess this is not the correct chatroom?
@jlliagre Ah, I figured it might be those two, because they seemed the most expressive.
@Peteird Close!
In fact it contains sub + pend.
@Cerberus oh, thanks for explaining.
Whereas suspicious contains sub + spec.
(All of this is Latin.)
@Peteird If you'd like to know more about this, ask away!
18:33
@Cerberus thank you!
Pend = hang.
Spec = look.
Sub = under, but it can also have a variety of secondary senses when attached to a verb.
From OL&Google: Word Origin
Middle English: from Old French suspendre or Latin suspendere, from sub- ‘from below’ + pendere ‘hang’.
They usually have a little on it
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. Don't you mean "What sayest thou?"
18:50
Oh, do I? How would I know? OK, then:
@alphabet What sayest thou, pīʻāpā?
... and crumpled it
and threw it at the cat,
which cogent critic
arched its back and spat.
I remember this poem I wrote in the late 1980's because the unimaginative professor insisted "cogent critic" was parenthetical and had to be set off by parens or commas.
(apropos of "which")
Professors. Can't live with them, can't kill them ... You were right. They were wrong. I like that bit of the poem. What's the rest?
19:15
@MetaEd I don't get how "cogent critic" could yield a good outcome as a parenthetical.
Maybe as a form of direct address? "So you, cogent critic, shall witness this greatness."
I still hate it.
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. that was the poem. The title was something about writer's block, I think.
@Robusto I think he had in mind "the cat ([a] cogent critic)"
@MetaEd Ah. Actual parentheses. How literal.
@Robusto The prof believed "cogent critic" was parenthetical and therefore should be marked as such
Eek.
I once had a teacher in grade school who insisted you didn't need a comma before a direct attribution. E.g. "This my cat" said Tom. On the last day of class I left a note on her desk: "We are done for the year and I'm off to begin high school,,,,,,,,," said Rob.
I was kind of childish when I was a child.
19:38
Did she appreciate the joke?
@Cerberus Probably not. She was a nun, so ...
19:55
Aww.
@Robusto I remember that song. "Comma comma comma comma comma chameleon, it comes and goes"
@MetaEd Oh boy. Oh George.
@Robusto pretty sure I remember Buddy Holly singing that one when he was fronting The Beatles
20:10
@Robusto Commas, she had nun
@MetaEd Wait, wasn't he one of the Everly Brothers?
@Robusto I don't think that everly happened, but I think he died in Jefferson, in an airplane
Wait, didn't he go down with Lynyrd Skynyrd?
Or was it Patsy Cline?
Stevie Ray Vaughan?
21:18
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. On the advice of my lawyers, I will not be commenting on this case.
It's only a problem when other people use it, y'see.
It does just sound bad in the isolated examples CGEL gives, though. Idk.
21:37
I've been playing this game called "are they British or are they wrong"; when my intuitions differ from H&P's, I try to determine if it's because there's a difference between BrE and AmE, if their intuitions are out of step with current usage, or if my intuitions are wrong/idiosyncratic.
This has led to a couple ELU questions because it annoys me.
"They're British" is quite common; H&P often don't mention/recognize dialectical differences. Their choice, but it can lead to some level of confusion.
@alphabet I guess there can only be One True English then. All others are impostors or simulacra of some sort.
@alphabet Language teachers have ways of making you talk! (It's what we do, you see) I think the prosecutor's likely to drop the case, but we were pushing for community service and a suspended sentence dependent upon the defendant agreeing to corrective therapy, namely literally eating one copy of Strunk and White a week.
We were told this wasn't possible because it was too expensive, so we pushed for the much harsher having to read Strunk and White once a week. Unfortunately the prosecutor's office decided this would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, so we had to back down. But we hold the evidence in reserve, in case of future relapses.
@Robusto They also say that all dialects outside of North America count as subtypes of "British English." I'm sure Indian English speakers aren't bothered by that at all /s
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. They made us read Strunk and White in high school. It's wonderful how they break their own rules in the process of explaining them
2
21:53
The point is, beyond a few grammatical insistences, there are no rules if you are talented at using the language.
@Robusto If you don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy
@MetaEd Crazy.
@Robusto H&P have a way of pointing out rules that everyone follows bur you didn't know existed.
@alphabet wait, I'm sure I'm on record about this somewhere
Ah, yes. "The Elements Of Style has never been a useful book. It is merely a popular one."
It's like the Associated Press Style Guide: just a bunch of conventions a subset of humanity has agreed to follow.
21:56
I say this with all the love for E. B. White.
I think they wrote it so that they would remain top authors, by making everyone else's writing worse.
They say not to use adjectives. Adjectives!
By the way, why "associated"? I like to think they really mean "socialized," the way a feral cat comes to accept the other pets in the house.
@alphabet Why? And do they say to also avoid adverbs???
@Laurel Yes. It's because they don't know what adjectives are.
They don't prohibit adjectives outright, but they seem to take a very negative view of them.
0
A: Strunk and White says "Charles's" is correct -- is this still the case?

MetaEdYour question requires a two-part answer. You want to know if it is still the case that “Charles’s” is grammatically correct, as prescribed by Strunk and White over fifty years ago. It is the case that “Charles’s” is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native s...

22:01
State Duma has approved a package of amendments to the Law on Psychiatric Help, reducing the rights of patients, including the provision for existence of state-independent inspection organizations.
> Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place. This is not to disparage adjectives and adverbs; they are indispensable parts of speech
I count 4 adjectives there.
22:31
@MetaEd argh, whenever I see a question closed like that I'm so tempted to reopen and close again so it can have the non-broken duplicate styling
22:45
Aaand the question I posted got closed for no sensible reason: english.stackexchange.com/questions/610294/…
This happens a lot, even with obviously sensible questions
Ideally this would not happen
You'll never guess, but two of the users who voted to close it have quite high "badness" scores
And they all voted to close it for different reasons
And it'll hopefully get reopened. And the same 3 people will try to close it again...
@alphabet Done!
But, yeah, as I have been saying for a decade, the closing-system is insane.
Because it doesn't scale up with the number of high-rep users, it becomes easier and easier to close questions.
And reopening is always very difficult.
It is bad and unreasonable, but it's the system we must live with.
@alphabet Now I wonder, how common is it for question re be reclosed? Perhaps it is just as uncommon as for them to be reopened, because most people only see a question when it's new?
@room I have another idea: if you have voted for a question, and then it is closed, you get a notification. How would you feel about that? It would solve the problem of upvoted questions' being closed by three grumpy old men and nobody ever noticing.
23:00
@MetaEd Yes, completely, and it's also really important that he was such a good writer, because that's the proof that all the guff he added to Strunk's already useless little book of harm is that, ludicrous guff. He never, ever followed any of the rules that they made up for aspiring 'stylish' writers. And thank goodness he didn't. His books would have been turgid lumps of goodness knows what instead of the marvels they are.
Which also set me on the path to not eating my fellow animals.
@Cerberus No numbers, but I've seen this cycle happen a number of times.
@Cerberus It would probably work on a non-SO site like this, but not on SO. It also kinda goes against the design philosophy where curators are basically replaceable cogs in the moderation machine (leaving it up to the user to have to choose to come back to any question they took action on). It's been requested many times so it probably won't be implemented
My proposed solution has been for one of the mods to DM the users highest on my "badness chart"
Or to see if SE can tune any other parameters. Raising the close vote threshold could help, but only somewhat
You know, you can review your own upvotes/etc. so you could check out if questions you voted for are closed or not
Also, to give you an idea how organized my life is right now, take a look at my four most recent tabs:
23:24
@alphabet Yuck.
@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. That's interesting transition.
@Cerberus You're hot and you're cold, you're open, you're closed
@Laurel Ok I suppose there might be too many notifications. Maybe it could be a tridual summary?
@alphabet Oh, cool.
That's pretty crazy.
@alphabet But they have recently lowered it from 5 to 3, haven't they?
@Laurel Yeah but who ever does that?
@Laurel Oh, I often have that too, when I go to chat from the inbox.
@Cerberus It got lowered a while back since the obviously bad questions weren't getting closed fast enough. The issue is that now perfectly fine questions get closed too fast. IMHO changing the threshold won't solve the problem, though placing other limits on close votes might.
@Cerberus "Overturned" close votes are (ofc) close votes where the question subsequently got reopened. This likely undercounts the # of erroneous close votes since reopens are rare.
This is partly a cultural issue, not a technical one. But one suggestion I have: make it so that reopened questions can't be closed again. Likewise, make it impossible to close questions with at least 2-3 upvotes.
23:46
@alphabet reopened! (One of the reopened is KT)
@alphabet everyone leaves out the following sentence: "On no account should you ever use a preposition"
@alphabet 'badness' is an unfortunate and misleading word here.
@alphabet Yes, of course.

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