The Water Cooler

gnat

08:03

@jmac you know, the more I think about this, the more it feels like we better have a dedicated meta discussion on that. There seem to be too wide a difference between network-wide / default and local interpretations of Not An Answer flags. No matter whether we eventually settle on default or custom way of handling these, we better get some settlement - thoroughly discussed, explicitly stated and easy to refer for any future discussions

2

jmac

08:38

@gnat Looks like a project for later.

2

(I thought flags were generally handled within the site, are you saying that our NAA flags were broadcast across the network which is why Yannis popped in?)

RhysW

@enderland haha oh i agree, but they still do what you want :P

@jmac I've sort of stumbled through it myself but ive found it to be really useful for a wide range of tasks

@jmac ooh count me in

gnat

09:08

@jmac flags are published within single site, not across network, Yannis just has sufficient privileges to see them as site user

it's default policy on handling these that is shared across network... unless there is a site-specific "override" -- meta.stackoverflow.com/tags/not-an-answer/info

tombull89

can I get a screenshot of workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/18982/… - I'd like to submit it to GemsFromStackExchange.

Jim G.

09:28

@tombull89: Ditto!

Unsung

10:57

Guys, I was wondering if we are too aggressively closing questions. (Myself included) Is the definition too broad to misguide so many of our users?

jmac

@Unsung We have about a dozen questions about that on meta already. Quality is paramount. If you have a specific issue about a specific type of question being closed that you think is on topic, please bring it up on meta for discussion.

Unsung

@jmac The precise reason why I didn't ask on meta! I was just trying to see why we are getting such overly generalized questions. Putting this on meta again doesn't make much of a sense as it has been debated over and over again.

jmac

@Unsung What question do you think shouldn't be closed that is?

CMW

11:13

Is there some reason why I can't find certain users via the search box?

Specifically, I was trying to figure out how many DedicatedAnts we have so far

Jim G.

12:55

@Unsung: meta.workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/2038/…

Unsung

13:07

@JimG. @jmac I'm speaking in general. When I see my review section, I find some 6 - 10 close votes every single time. Is that quite a high volume for beta? I wouldn't know. But does it indicate that people are getting misguided to ask questions here when they don't belong here? Certainly yes! So the question is whether we are giving a wrong impression to the outside world about what workplace.se is all about. That is something we need to debate.

jmac

@Unsung This may help. But honestly, across SE there are people who just want to ask what they want to ask, and who mistake SE as a forum. We need to handle that.

Downvoting a lot and closing questions are the best way to set the tone for what is accepted. As more users come in and care about high-quality questions and answers, we will get more core users who will be ever-more vigilant. And that is good.

And the close vote volume is bigger recently because there are more questions, that's all. As we get more questions, unless community moderation keeps up pace, there will be a bit of spillover. That's why we want more mods

Unsung

@jmac Thanks for the link. Does make a lot of sense.

@jmac Agreed. one of the other reasons I feel is that workplace boundaries aren't clear to everyone (unless new users go through the help center which I seriously doubt). Hence, sometimes there are slight confusions regarding what should be retained and what needs to be closed. In a way, it allows for the community to get stronger.

RhysW

15:24

hey @jmac i have an important question for you :D

CMW

16:11

Is there still something opinion-based about this question?

4

Q: How to be valuable when automation & IT are stealing my job (and maybe my whole career)?

I am a non-IT employee, graduated in business studies, and work in a field related to customer relationship management. I have grown in this field during the past five years since completing my education, and there is a frightening trend in my company and across the industry: People are being la...

Jin

17:09

hello

jmort253

17:56

Hello @Jin

The mockups look awesome.

4

Q: Site design for Workplace.se

I’m Stéphane, the new designer at Stack Exchange. I'll be working on designing the community sites' branding as they graduate from the beta phase. Each site will have its own unique theme that will reflect its topic. However, all sites will share quite a bit of common elements so they feel like ...

discussion featured design

Jin

@jmort253 I think Stéphane did a great job! I hope the community likes it too.

Chad

@jmort253 I have decided I will take credit for spurring that post even though it is probably coincodence :)

Jin

He and I worked on this together. By that, I mean we came to a creative agreement on the design direction, then he did all the hard work!

jmort253

That's great. It's better than I pictured it would be.

Chad

@Jin I love it. Especially the red stapler :)

Jin

17:59

@Chad :) we really wanted to squeeze an Office Space meme somewhere in the design

jmort253

How long does it take to code out the CSS and create all of the individual images and launch?

Jin

@jmort253 about a week. but first we'll wait for the community feedback.

jmort253

Yeh, the stapler was awesome... lost stapler :D

Chad

@CMW I think that is on the right side of the good subjective line... though still a little closer to that line that I prefer

Jin

Stéphane lives in France, so he's off for the day right now. He'll be replying to your comments/answers tomorrow.

jmort253

18:01

@Jin Sounds great :D Thank you!

Chad

They got the watter cooler in there too!

Jin

Ha I just realized this chatroom's name is The Water Cooler...

Chad

That was the original A51 name for this site

Jin

I wonder if the "watercooler" thing is a US thing only?

I'm not familiar with workplaces in other counties.

Chad

That is just wow! The whole concept knocks it out of the park

Thanks for the great work Jin!

Jin

18:04

@Chad I didn't do anything :) it's all Stéphane, our new designer. this is his first SE site design, I think he did a wonderful job.

7

Chad

Pronounced like Stef ain?

cause i see that and want to say stephanie :p

Jin

I still have problem pronouncing his name! Ste-foun is how I say it..

He's French, and I'm really bad a pronouncing French words..

Chad

ahhy more like steven with an f

Jim G.

@Jin Great job! And tell @Stéphane the same! It's a really exciting time here on Beta.Workplace.SE (soon to be Workplace.SE)!

enderland

18:43

kinda cool to think workplace is going to graduate

3

Chad

18:59

@enderland I will pull a peewee on graduation day!

Jim G.

19:33

@enderland Indeed. We've come a long way, but now we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Chad

0

Q: What should a professional personal website's url look like?

I go by a variety of online handles, including this one, and I'm planning to start building my own website. Problem is, I don't know what to create the URL as. If I'm looking to have this website be included in future jobs/interviews/etc., what/how should the URL look like? Is it more appropri...

resume

Can we ship that to programmers

Chad

20:01

Good news we no longer have to be nice morons!

10

Q: In response to the "lets be nicer to new users" / "people in general" threads. I think we need to be tougher on bad questions!

For example, the following question was asked 9 minutes ago at the time of the screen shot. It has had 28 views and I'm the only person that has down-voted the question as of this time. Also, I'm only the second person to vote to close the question. Here are the comments Questions like ...

discussion

enderland

20:46

17

Q: Implementing something your boss has asked for, even if it's potentially a bad idea

For my company we are creating a private portal so the company can log in and get the information about their product from our website. My boss wants it to be that only people logging in from that specific area can access the files. I.E. not going home and logging in and showing their wife of fri...

management websites

I just protected this, it's on hot questions and... has picked up a few questions

err, questionable answers already

Great edit - this question is much more appropriate for the site! Questions asking "give me a list" don't really fit the Q/A format well nor do they last over time. But searching for the overall strategy is a good question and one which is much more suited for a quality answer. — enderland 5 secs ago

fredsbend

21:13

I hope I'm not breaking chatroom norms, but ...

CMW

@fredsbend uh oh

fredsbend

I invite qualified candidates to apply. I prefer ones willing to relocate.

I also invite critiques on the ad itself.

enderland

I woudlnt' relocate for a 20hr week part time job

fredsbend

Just in case anyone is wondering, I'm not a spammer. I have been using various SE sites for over a year.

@enderland I didn't think of that, but it is not unreasonable to demand full time if going to relocate. For the right person I would guarantee that. Probably just do salary. Easier for everyone.

It is just 20/hr to start.

test drive, if you will

enderland

"to test you out for a month or two" <-- I'm not a fan at all of this language, it strikes me as "I don't trust anyone applying so you have to prove yourself to me"

why do you need development experience for what reads like an AV job?

fredsbend

21:16

Valid point.

@enderland I want to stay on the cusp of the industry,which right now looks like development is necessary, or at least is the most cost effective.

enderland

$12-18/hr strikes me as very low for anyone with those qualifications, especially in WA, basically it reads like "IT professional" qualifications? not sure if that's the intent

CMW

Is spokane a place someone would look forward to relocating to?

I don't know a thing about US cities :D

fredsbend

@enderland Well, it is actually North Idaho. cost of living is quite low. I live in a 2k sqft house for $750/month.

enderland

ahh, nm, it's not for spokane

fredsbend

@CMW Coeur d' Alene, 40 mi outside of spokane and part of Idaho is a great location. It is quickly becoming a tourist hub.

enderland

21:20

I think my perspective may be slightly unique too in that I have a lot of experience with all the things on that list, with the exception of infusionsoft/sales :P

I do dev work and have volunteered at a small concert venue for yeras now

fredsbend

If they had all the points I list, I would happily pay 18/hour or more if I really like them.

@enderland I figure a bunch of the guys on the se network would. I haven't looked, but can you post classified on the careers 2.0 site?

enderland

No idea

fredsbend

Where are you located?

enderland

I'm in the midwest ATM. no real interest in relocating though :)

that area looks pretty scenic though

does conference work require significant travel? it's not clear to me if that's a "local travel" or "regional travel" or what not

"9 days away" isn't overly helpful

fredsbend

@enderland Yes, a very lovely place, so long as they stop building houses on it.

CMW

21:23

@fredsbend Ah, sounds cool, though I'm more of a metropolitan guy myself

fredsbend

@enderland All over the country. about half the conferences are in vegas and orlando. Just seem to be a hub for conferences.

enderland

your website is legit though, that's a help

fredsbend

@enderland That is how long the longer conferences are. A six day conference with two or three days for set up and tear down.

enderland

Gotcha

fredsbend

@CMW Not much of that here. County only has a pop of about 100K. Spokane county next to it is about 400K.

enderland

21:25

@CMW berlin probably has more people than all of oregon though ;)

fredsbend

@enderland So if I'm gauging what you are saying right, you are possibly suggesting a rewrite of the add to clear up confusion and get rid of the "try you out" part?

enderland

though germany is barely 40% bigger than the state haha

CMW

@enderland That may be true :D

enderland

@fredsbend my perspective yeah, I'd make it more clear - it's hard to know what committment you require and/or need and I guess I'd rather, as someone browsing this now, I'd rather know more clearly what the exectations are

fredsbend

@enderland Okay, thanks.

It's hard to tell that right now. I keep thinking that the perfect candidate is another me. A clone me. But that's not very helpful.

CMW

21:28

@enderland Oregon is still leading with half a million people :)

enderland

@fredsbend haha, yeah, I know that feeling, I keep thinking at work "give me a team of people like myself and we will do so much!"

@CMW details, details

CMW

@enderland Oregon: 3.9M, Berlin 3.4M

@enderland Oregon: 98,381 sq mi, Berlin: 344.35 sq mi

:D

enderland

things like that are when I love living in the midwest/USA overall vs a big city. ha

fredsbend

Me too. Love the space. Though there are some big cities I've seen that I loved too.

Bangkok, most notably. If they were only Americans ...

Not that the Thai people aren't great.

Just not a fan of trying to speak Thai.

fredsbend

22:01

@enderland I edited it. Any more feedback would be really appreciated.

jcmeloni

22:22

@CMW Depends on your perspective. I spent three years in Pullman, WA, and Spokane would absolutely be a better relocation spot. :)

Just posted a bunch of jobs (application development related stuff) if anyone here is looking to make a change and wants to move to Washington DC. :) careers.stackoverflow.com/company/kit-check/

CMW

@jcmeloni Yeah, okay, that's a good point :)

jcmeloni

Downside, all the screening goes through me. I might close-vote you. :)

CMW

uh, rails jobs, yey :)

I'll keep that in mind, should the need arise :D

(you do offer relocation from germany, too, right?)

enderland

@jcmeloni times like this make me wish I was more willing to relocate :P hehehe

fredsbend

@CMW I tried to get into Rails and just couldn't do it. I just didn't see any improvement over php

CMW

22:32

@fredsbend I never did do any PHP (and cringe every time I have to read some), so it's hard for me to argue one over the other.

The original creator of rails actually tried to implement it in PHP first, before moving to ruby, if that is to say anything

fredsbend

@enderland Seems the 2.0 site allows for job posting, but it's pretty pricey, but you are really targeting the people you want.

@CMW Yeah, I'm sure there are things that each is better at, but I bet both can do the same things, just differently though.

CMW

@fredsbend that's true

fredsbend

SE must make a pot of money from the careers site.

gnat

23:04

2

A: Are we ready to graduate?

Just to clarify, yes, The Workplace is graduating! The community team has been well aware of all the progress this site has made, and we decided it was time. Your new site design is in its final stages, thanks to Stéphane, the newest addition to the SE design team. In a few weeks, the new bra...

delete voters under 10K, invest some effort into pre-graduation cleanup! Visit mod tools page at workplace.stackexchange.com/… to check posts listed there and cast your votes if you believe something is worth deletion. After graduation, when you'll wish to delete something, you will have to flag it... or wait until you get to 10K rep :)

2

jcmeloni

23:21

@CMW if you're really really super awesome, sure. :)

@enderland Ideally my bosses will let me run remote teams (I have before), then the relocation becomes moot. But they're too new to the idea to convince quite yet.

CMW

@jcmeloni of course, I am! :D

jmac

23:40

@jcmeloni If only you were looking for non-developers. The only software-related experience I have is from over a decade ago and probably not so relevant anymore.

Jim G.

23:50

For $20/hour, you could probably get a decent elance.com programmer. You can't even get a junior American programmer for that rate!

@fredsbend: You must think that programming is akin to editing a Word doc or something. $18-20/hour is laughable.

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