The Junk Drawer

5:09 PM

0

As we get into the more public realm, I see the potential for people posting pseudo-answers that are meant to be humorous more than helpful, like this one, becoming more commonplace. As I'd hate for Lifehacks to become full of answers like these, I don't think they should be encouraged, perhaps e...

iliveunderawesomerock

Somebody deleted my nomination, can I put it back up!

This is urgent, I don't deserve this treatment.

Zach Saucier

@iliveunderawesomerock you can... but why

you had a very low score

@J.Musser Someone removed their dv against me! :D

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier I liked it! And that was so unfair to delete my nomination!

Zach Saucier

it's completely fair

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier No its not!

Zach Saucier

5:22 PM

he nominated you, he removed his nomination because he no longer felt the same way

@iliveunderawesomerock that type of behavior is exactly why I don't think you'd be a good moderator

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier I don't think I'll be a mod, I just want my pic back up. To say I was there!

Zach Saucier

that's just silly

and selfish

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier Fine I won't do it!

@ZachSaucier How can it be selfish, I'll be at the bottom of the screen!

Zach Saucier

> I just want my pic back up. To say I was there!

in other words to make me feel better about myself

selfish was not the best word for it

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier Correct it wasn't.

@ZachSaucier I won't do it then, I just thought all nominations were suppose to stay for the whole election.

Zach Saucier

5:27 PM

nope, nominations can be removed at any time

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier That isn't awesome!

Zach Saucier

it makes sense

Sterno

It seems like bad form to remove a nomination, since it basically restarts the voting process if it goes up again

iliveunderawesomerock

@Sterno Yeah, I agree.

Sterno

(in this case, it might actually end up with higher votes)

I'd say if you disagree with a nom you made, just comment why you changed your mind. Or make it community wiki

iliveunderawesomerock

5:31 PM

@Sterno Agreed. So why not just leave it up with the downvotes.

Zach Saucier

I agree it's bad form, but it's allowable

Sterno

A clever candidate would nominate everybody, then delete all other nominations at the last minute. Victory by default!

I'm sure the SE team totally wouldn't catch that.

@iliveunderawesomerock If it really bothers you, you could just nominate yourself.

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier I really want my nom by up, I think that I add something to this community! Your thoughts on the subject!

@Sterno I'm trying to decide, whether to or not!

Zach Saucier

@Sterno as would we

iliveunderawesomerock

My nomination would't be about conceit or selfishness I really think that I add quality to the community. IDK about the downvotes.

Zach Saucier

5:34 PM

@iliveunderawesomerock how would it add quality?

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier I think I add quality, and the fact that renominating is tacky and unquality is the reason why I am reluctant to do so.

Sterno

Well, neither of us can fix your problem for you.

iliveunderawesomerock

I've decided not to renominate myself, it just isn't worth it. In the future users shouldn't take down nominations down.

What happens if you click "I hate hats", is that reversible?

Zach Saucier

can you guys edit stuff on meta? I can only edit my own stuff it seems

@iliveunderawesomerock I believe all hats are removed and yes, it's reversible

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier Do I keep the hats I already earned or does it not keep them after being reversed?

Zach Saucier

5:41 PM

yes you keep them but you no longer see them

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier OK, I'm about to do it. Wish me luck.

Zach Saucier

I'm afraid I will not :P

iliveunderawesomerock

It worked I kept my hats!

@ZachSaucier Doesn't matter. It worked.

Zach Saucier

correct, luck doesn't matter :)

iliveunderawesomerock

Is there a list of the people that are pingable?

Sterno

5:43 PM

@ZachSaucier I think now that the site is in public beta, we now longer get edit powers as cheaply as we did during private beta

Zach Saucier

@iliveunderawesomerock no, but if you start typing @theirname it'll show if they can be or not

@Sterno agreed, but usually you can still peer review stuff

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier In some societies luck is pretty important.

Zach Saucier

@iliveunderawesomerock I'm not from one of those societies

Sterno

@ZachSaucier Well, I'm low rep on SFF and I have the same problem there on Meta

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier Really. Americans and British people believe in luck, IIRC.

Zach Saucier

5:45 PM

@iliveunderawesomerock depends 100% on who you're talking to.

Sterno

Maybe meta uses different rules than the main site

Zach Saucier

@Doorknob冰 happen to know anything about editing on metas?

iliveunderawesomerock

@ZachSaucier IDK!

Sterno

I noticed this yesterday slightly before we went public. I was going to post a nomination for Matt S. but I couldn't edit an existing one to see what the markup looked like and was too lazy to figure out the format on my own

Doorknob 冰

@ZachSaucier What specifically?

iliveunderawesomerock

5:47 PM

Did anyone watch "Snow White and the Huntsman" it rocked!

Doorknob 冰

Suggested edits don't exist on per-site metas, but other than that they're pretty much the same

iliveunderawesomerock

gotta go

Doorknob 冰

@Sterno You could go into the revision history and use the "source" option on the current revision.

Sterno

Luckily, my laziness was rewarded and someone else posted the nom. Laziness is the truest lifehack.

Zach Saucier

6:12 PM

@Doorknob冰 that's what I was wanting to know :) thanks!

@Sterno you're welcome :D

Wipqozn

6:27 PM

0

Q: What is the best way to carve a turkey?

Almost every one I know cannot decently carve a turkey without having some pieces that just don't look right or so appetizing. Is there a method to this madness?

food kitchen christmas thanksgiving

Seriously though. That close reaons keeps getting used, but the meta saying it should be used strongly supports not using it.

Zach Saucier

agreed, but I closed for a different reason (should be on cooking.se)

michaelpri

Thats why I closed it too

Zach Saucier

@Wipqozn This question should be closed as it's on topic on Cooking.SE, not here. You're correct that it should not be closed because of the reason Shokhet commented — Zach Saucier 45 secs ago

Wipqozn

Was closing a question because it can fit elsewhere ever decided as the wy things should go?

I remember it bringing brought up. Let me track down the meta.

Because the scope of other sites doesn't matter at all.

This is what I was thinking of:

4

A: How do we define what is on-topic without requiring the questioner to know the answer to their question?

Under the definition of a lifehack in our new scope, we can determine if a question is on topic or not by the following: The question is about a real, physical problem. The user asking the question provides reasoning for why the standard way of solving the problem (for their area) is unavailabl...

Zach Saucier

I know the answer well, as I wrote it

Wipqozn

6:33 PM

I know. Just posting the post I rememer it being discussed.

Zach Saucier

I still think the question is off topic, as that's exactly the type of question cooking wants. It doesn't seek a hack, it's searching for a cooking technique

Wipqozn

@ZachSaucier I agree with your second sentence, just not with the first. What other sites consider on-topic doesn't really matter. If cooking.SE went out of existence tomorrow that shouldn't change our scope, or make that question on-topic.

Zach Saucier

agreed. Poor phrasing on the first sentence

:wishes I had mod powers to change old comments:

michaelpri

Finally got mortarboard!!!!

Zach Saucier

\o/

Sterno

7:11 PM

►

Question for chatters: Would a question about "how to cut grapes more quickly" be on-topic?

Zach Saucier

who does that, lol

but yes, valid question if done correctly

Sterno

@ZachSaucier That's my response to 90% of lifehacks

Okay, the reason I brought it up is that I'm unclear on how I'd know, before we actually get an answer, of why this would be on-topic but turkey-cutting would be off-topic.

Is it because they're asking for a speed increase rather than a nice presentation?

Zach Saucier

it's asking for a lifehack for speed, yes

@Sterno the turkey question was asking for a proper way of cutting it more so

the standard, good way to do it, lol

good point though

Sterno

If a lifehack is good, it could become the way to do something.

Zach Saucier

agreed

Sterno

7:16 PM

I'm not sure we're doing a good job drawing the line between "HowToDoRandomStuff.SE" and "ThisIsALifeHackForReal.SE"

I'm unclear on which the site is actually attempting to be.

We seem to not want it to be the first one, but seem to be unable to come up with clear criteria for how to be the second one.

Zach Saucier

the latter

it depends on the definition of lifehack

I think ours works okay

Sterno

This one?

13

A: What is a lifehack?

Pulling from Bobo's answer, MattS.'s answer, all of these meta posts, and a long discussion in the chatroom, here's my definition: A lifehack is a technique that can be implemented quickly and is used to make one's physical life more efficient when a more standard approach (as defined by that...

Zach Saucier

yes

Sterno

I think I can get behind the reasoning that the question seems to be asking for the "standard" method, which isn't what our focus is. However, I think it would be really trivial to edit it to be pretty much the same question without asking for the "standard" method.

Zach Saucier

agreed, but that's not our place to do so

it's changing the nature of the question, which I believe only the OP has the right to do so

Sterno

7:19 PM

To be fair, he doesn't ask for the standard method. He asks for a method that doesn't suck.

I'm starting to wonder if "Unclear What You're Asking" is really the close reason we need to be embracing

I've been thinking a bit about why we want the "What have you tried question?" answered, and I think it's mainly so that we can try to build some criteria for why they have a problem in the first place and how we can actually help them. But "What have you tried?" was a bit of a hammer that was getting applied even when not necessary. I mean, in this question, it would be "Well, I tried just slicing it up with a knife, but it came out awful." No value added.

Zach Saucier

@Sterno agreed, I've been thinking on it too. Unfortunately I haven't come up with a really good alternative

Sterno

Our problem with the question right now, I think, is we're basically saying "Why do you think a lifehack is even needed here?"

Anyway, I need to think on it more, but if we're going to be using a hammer, I think Unclear What You're Asking is our best one, at the moment.

Or maybe it's just a crappy question and downvotes are all that's needed. :P

The only thing I'm pretty sure if is that if we can't get 5 closers to agree on why exactly it should have been closed, we have a problem.

Zach Saucier

leaving a comment helps

lifehacks.stackexchange.com/a/2148/78 this crap is going to be more common I think

Sterno

Yeah. I really don't think we were ready for public. :P

Zach Saucier

we'll be okay I think

need people to downvote those bad answers

that's why I posted this meta meta.lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/1291/78

Sterno

7:32 PM

Agreed

Zach Saucier

getting a bunch of +2s from edits now, haha

Sterno

We really need a better answer to this:

22

Q: How do we define what is on-topic without requiring the questioner to know the answer to their question?

It seems to me that we are still struggling to pin down exactly what a lifehack is, with questions like: What isn't a lifehack? Is there anything that isn't on-topic here? Do questions asking for common-sense advice really count as asking about lifehacks? How much of an overlap can we have with...

discussion featured scope

We seem to have the right goals, but no real workable idea on how to achieve them.

And even if we were all on the same page about it, I don't think we've managed to state it in a way that's new-user friendly.

The single best bit so far is: The question is about a real, physical problem.

The question is not asking for a product recommendation. is good but pretty much goes for any SE site.

Zach Saucier

@Sterno necessary to be stated clearly though, I've seen several answers suggesting them

I don't know if I should flag this answer lifehacks.stackexchange.com/a/2143/78

I think I can as VLQ

actually as not an answer - should be a comment

Sterno

I honestly like the turkey carving question better than that one, too. :P

But it does demonstrate why "Tell us what you tried" doesn't help much. Because the obvious response is "Turn up the heat" but the answer, without any real justification, is "I can't"

Meanwhile, your gravatar's hat is freaking me out.

Zach Saucier

:D

J. Musser

7:58 PM

I'm back

MacGyver

8:14 PM

1

Q: Could we make a space for disproving popular life-hacks?

I'm thinking that disproving notable but bad life-hacks would be interesting ground for our site to cover. There are some "life-hacks" that seem to get repeated all over the internet even though they don't really work and disproving these may serve to "make the internet a better place..." I su...

discussion scope tags

J. Musser

8:34 PM

@ZachSaucier What even is that? :/

8:51 PM

10:46 PM

reopen-pls lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/115/59

@ZachSaucier Yeah, I thought it was odd that I had to approve an edit by you....I forgot we moved into public beta. ....but hey, I got a shiny silver badge for that :)

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