Wait, it's 1 o'clock already?

Holy cow of Moscow!

Meanwhile, someone's approaching the presidency question from a different angle.

Oh?

Ah I see.

Somehow I don't feel my life has changed a lot since I got to 10k.

Oh. How so?

Many people keep bashing the 10k tools as a useless gimmick, but they can be actually quite awesome.

I am not doing anything different... do you think I should be checking certain links or something?

Well, you could check the "close" tab on a regular basis, to see if you can throw in your vote for good measure.

Ah, ok.

But you can also use them just for fun, not necessarily for boring janitorial work.

I mean, you come to the site and you have no idea what you've missed. And it's awfully cumbersome or even infeasible to just check all questions since your last visit.

This is where the 10k tools step in.

They offer an overview of the greatest stuff (and the worst garbage).

Basically, you can have a look at a best-of list any time.

Normal users don't have anything like that.

Hmm why is it infeasible to check newest/active questions until I get to one I remember?

That's what I usually do.

What if you've been absent for a few days? What if you just have better things to do than just click on every link and read every word posted?

Anyhow, I'm just pointing out what they can be used for.

Nobody forces you to use them.

I know! I was just trying to think along.

I never read all questions, by the way; only the ones whose titles suggest a remote chance of their being interesting, which is about 1/3 for me.

Well, that's the thing.

That's how you can miss out on a lot of great stuff.

Really?

Can there be great stuff in a question that I don't like?

Well, from my own experience and Kosmonaut's, yes.

What would be great?

Hi @flumignan.

@Cerberus I don't have an example handy right now, but trust me, as the site continues to grow, a best-of list can be immensely useful.

But anyhow, of course you're also welcome to help out in moderating.

Checking the "close" tab is one thing. Flags would be another.

You can see what stuff is getting flagged, and again, throw in your flag where appropriate.

Oh, flags? I haven't seen those yet, lemme see...

There's just one right now.

But there were many more just a few hours ago, for example.

The point is, when stuff collects enough flags, it gets deleted automatically. You don't even need a mod.

I see. I think the comment is fine; so what do I do about this flag? Nothing, probably?

Well, you can't dismiss it anyway. Only mods can.

Right.

But you can see, hey, someone posts spam, let's not wait for mods, here's my flag.

And I still find close votes hard.

I know that.

Oh but how does my flag help? A comment gets hidden if it gets several flags?

I'm just saying, now you have a convenient way of checking, is there something with 4 close votes?

@Cerberus Deleted, in point of fact.

True.

Deleted, even? Oh.

And it needs only 3 flags for that?

A comment? Yes. Answers need six.

That means I could easily create 3 accounts and ruin the site?

Guess who would notice that and kick your buttocks.

Heh.

See anyone around ruining the site right now?

What if the majority would say a comment was fine if they had the chance, but there's three weirdos who flag it?

Ah. This is where votes come in.

If a comment has like fifty upvotes, you can flag it all you want.

But people only vote a comment up if it's good; they don't vote on whether it should stay or be removed.

Besides, there's usually a mod around to dismiss obvious rubbish flags. And people get penalized for flagging stuff incorrectly.

Right, I remember that.

I hardly ever seen anything that I want to flag.

Should I flag a comment if I think it is wrong?

Just factually incorrect or something, comparable to an answer that I'd vote down.

I would rather leave a flag for mod attention in that case. Or, you know, just answer to that comment.

Like you've been doing the whole time anyway.

It's not like the access to 10k suddenly forces you to drop all your old habits of commenting.

Okay but what if I'm not in the mood for answering? Or if the opponent keeps commenting rubbish back?

@RegDwight I know; I was just wondering about the function and the dos and don'ts of flagging, because I hardly ever do it.

Again, if it's offensive, flag it. If you simply disagree, leave a comment, or just let it be and someone else will.

OK so flagging is just for offensive, not for wrong.

I'll go and see what comments have been flagged into oblivion.

There aren't any.

BTW, I forgot to respond to your "I hardly ever seen anything that I want to flag". Well guess why you hardly ever see it. Because it's been dealt with by the time you get there.

Haha yes, that was a great surprise party.

That's the thing.

If people don't see anything bad, that's good.

Let me see whether I remember any of those deleted answers from before they were deleted.

Right. I don't see any spam among the recently deleted answers; but I think there was at least one among the links you welcomed me with?

At least one. But there are more around.

I tried to mix a nice cocktail.

All those answers were deleted for very different reasons.

BTW, have you tried searching the site for "deleted:1"?

Hmm I get no results?

Aha.

So you can't see them like that.

Okay.

Poor me.

(And yes that accusative is permissible.)

Stupid me and lucky her.

Yes!

(I have a question by that title.)

Really?

(Personally I need no more justification than that it can be done in Latin.)

It's not worded in the best possible way, but I just can't bring myself to revisit my old crap and turn it into something more useful.

Thankfully, there's a lot of other stuff to do, so I'm not exactly procrastinating.

Your question is quite clear?

I am still reading the answer.

Well, it's worded kind of backwards. I liked nohat's comment that puts it straight.

"an object pronoun identifies a person more than the subject pronoun": a cryptic statement, from the highest answer.

"the object pronoun me is not being replaced by the subject pronoun I in a case where you might otherwise expect it to".

No wait, that wasn't a jinx.

God, I'm too nervous.

Heh not quite.

You are just very fast.

Ach. Ich hoffe die Getränke waren gut?

Yeah.

The problem is not that I'm fast, the problem is that I don't read stuff.

More precisely, I read others' stuff but not mine.

That's why there's so much confusion going on.

I am not entirely satisfied by the answer to your question.

It describes but does not explain.

I don't have the answer, by the way.

Why do you keep saying "the" answer? There are like four and I don't think I have accepted one.

It might be interesting to note that the accusative is possible in the same construction, whereas it would be completely impossible in Dutch. The same applies to German I think?

But again, it would actually help if I reworded the question along the lines of nohat's comment.

@Cerberus I... I struggle to think of a similar construction in German.

"Dummer mich und glückliche sie?" I don't think so!

But German's default case for pronouns is different from English anyhow.

Someone rang?

With sie it's a special case anyway, because the accusative is the same as the nominative.

@Robusto Possibly. But I think the last comment to @-mention you was a bye.

@Reg: I still don't see why nohat's comment changes things? He just says that the accusative pronoun is the one used by default in colloquial English. That is true; but I don't think your question obscures that. It is fairly clear that it is such any way, and it is also stated in one of the quotes in the longest answer. I really think the question is 100 % clear?

Someone said "Where's @Robusto when you need him?"

Someone whose name sounds suspiciously like @RegDwight.

@Cerberus Ja, ja, ist ja gut!)))

We don't need you anymore. You may beging making your fondue for us now.

@Robusto Ah, right.

Yoichi-san is wondering things.

Something with hares.

Looks like you all sorted him out without me this time.

I could waltz in there and steal all the credit, but I won't.

Yes, one Alex came along.

How the frack could harebrain be a verb?

I think Alex has a good record?

@Robusto Watch out, lest I harebrain the hell out of you.

@Cerberus I haven't noticed anything bad.

I'm not afraid of non-native speakers. Do your worst — oh, wait, you already did!

Yeah I meant that I remembered some very good answers from Alex.

Looks like someone needs a modal in his sentence ...

Cut poor him some slack.

There you have your modal.

He got out the edit stick.

Evil but delicious!

Everything delicious is evil. That's why it's delicious.

Never concede anything to the natives.

True.

I had my coming out on MSO today. I called myself a Socialist Who Wants to Destroy America. And it's with great pride that I did that.

Congratulations!

Yeah, yeah, get in line.

Do you feel the urge to parade around town?

I also called Robusto a Hateful Capitalist Monster.

So he had his coming out as well.

Oh well that is nothing special.

@RegDwight — In Russian, if you please? I need something for the tribunal.

I suppose he might haven hidden his true self from some poor peasants...

Авпваойцехрварждоы.

There you have some letters.

Wow is that really a word?

Nonsense.

I can barely pronounce it. But it has enough vowels...

No, nonsense would be бессмыслица.

Oh is that the game we're going to play.

What you said isn't what I asked. It's a monstrosity, I'll give you that, but it ain't what I asked.

@Cerberus Actually, now that I look at it, that word looks suspiciosly Georgian.

@Cerberus — Let's just ignore him until he develops an eating disorder.

@Robusto You have to pay me first. One trillion dollars.

I thought that was clear.

@Cerberus? Did you hear a noise? Something like a sewer backing up?

Well, you know, I could go play with LEGO and leave you to play with the dog.

licking left ear, ignoring petty squabbles and thinking of food

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF... now thinking of food, too.

@Cerberus — I thought you were on a baby ears diet.

(I knew that would distract 'em.)

Yes, diet as in no baby ears.

Baby ears have been exported to Hungry.

Oops, wrong one. sorry.

@Rob: No I wasn't the Jew. Damn I totally forgot the context of that meme, as usual.

@Robusto A good one nonetheless.

I thought that would be the ramen master from Tampopo.

Hey I think I have a real question, dun dun...

jinx!

Jinx!

You owe me a bowl of Ramen.

How do you use this, that, and it to refer to the same antecedent? Do you use the same pronoun several times in a row? Do you alternate them?

@Robusto I will give you my Ramen when you take it from my cold, dead hand.

Good ramen is hot and tasty, not cold and dead.

@Cerberus Main site is over -------> there

Oops my apologies! What was I thinking, language questions...

@Robusto My point precisely.

Well, keep your GD lunchhooks out of my ramen.

And I don't think I have to tell you to "poke the pork," do I?

I must say I generally like Yoichi-san's approach to selecting the best answer.