English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwight

6:03 PM

0

Q: "preposition: a word to annoy prescriptivists with"

What is the double meaning/meanings of this?

I wonder if this is a serious question...

JSBangs

6:18 PM

i imagine that it is serious, as the OP doesn't give any indication of understanding the joke

pandora shows lyrics, now. this is great, because i totally listen to death metal for the lyrics

Vitaly

@Reg, I still need help.

RegDwight

Go ahead.

Can't promise I will be of any.

Sorry, German kezboard.

Billare

I am really pissed off at this block quote thing.

RegDwight

Lol.

MrHen

@Billare Haha, really?

Billare

6:23 PM

Especially because it doesn't seem like it was done out of considered thought, but to save "work".

Vitaly

@Reg, I need a Hitcnehs-style English description of the inanity that's going on in here. My words are failing me.

Billare

Work that I didn't think needed to be done.

MrHen

@Billare It was asked for and the request upvoted

I can understand why it happened

Billare

"F**k! I don't want to change this -- so let's just make a design decision that changes hundreds of answers."

I don't think that being indented serves to show that something is being quoted.

MrHen

@Billare Actually, that is pretty web-standard.

RegDwight

6:25 PM

@Vitaly I don't know what to say, either. I have no idea how much of it is for real.

Billare

@MrHen No, specifically what was asked for was to remove blockquotes from Possible Duplicate. That made perfect sense, because it would be confusing to new visitors.

Vitaly

Everything of it is for real.

Billare

I don't care about those.

JSBangs

@Billare i upvoted that request

RegDwight

@Vitaly No, freaking, way...

JSBangs

6:25 PM

did something bad happen afterwards?

Billare

So did I. But changing something that effects a large number of questions, without asking, just avoid work, really makes me angry.

RegDwight

@Vitaly Then the best, and also the only, possible description would be WTF.

Vitaly

^^

Billare

He wasn't just "fulfilling the request" here. He actually changed something completely different.

MrHen

@Billare There was a different request that explicitly asked for the quotes to be removed for all blockquotes

Billare

6:26 PM

@MrHen Link?

MrHen

4

Q: Please remove the giant quotation mark from the CSS for blockquotes

The blockquote HTML tag is often used for things that are not literally quotations—for example, in duplicate question notices—so the giant quotation mark is quite often incorrect or misleading. Since fixing duplicate question notices to not be (erroneously, imho) tagged as "blockquotes" is clear...

bug style css

It is at +4/-0 right now

I believe it was asked as a compromise to what nohat really wanted but it still explicitly asked for the change

Billare

This is really annoying to me, because there are questions of mine out there I explicitly removed quotes from.

MrHen

@Billare Yeah, and those quotes should still be removed

Billare

We use quotation marks for a reason. If there are no quotation marks, it is ambiguous to whether something is being quoted or not.

Why should they?

How does the reader know it isn't a paraphrasing?

MrHen

@Billare A blockquote in HMTL+CSS should not have quotes placed within the tags

The formatting of the site should handle it automatically

Billare

6:29 PM

What differentiates our "block quote" from just a "block"?

MrHen

The blockquote tag replaces the punctuation

Billare

Why isn't it code?

MrHen

Markdown declares > as "blockquote"

The backtick denotes a code block

Billare

Oh great, I'm glad Markdown does that.

But not everyone reading is a programmer.

MrHen

Right, the problem here is twofold:

Markdown is unable to distinguish between blockquote "styles"

Billare

6:31 PM

Using the left-side quotes is universally acknowledge as quoting by people who do typesetting and graphics work.

It has universal currency.

MrHen

HTML+CSS standards should not put quotes within blockquotes

@Billare The problem is that it is still inaccurate because Markdown will flag all blockquotes as "quoted material" with your system.

Indentation and coloring differences are enough to signal the reader that something is happening

Billare

I also disagree with nohat that it mattered that examples were quoted, which is the most common "non-quote" that was being used.

MrHen

The reader is responsible for interpreting that because Markdown is unable to do it for them

Billare

They could simply be interpreted as spoken language, and they were usually complete sentences.

MrHen

@Billare They weren't quotes

Neither were all of the other things that weren't quotes: Dupe messages; "bad example" messages

Billare

6:33 PM

They could be interpreted as quotes. They could be literally SAID:

I could write:

"EXAMPLE A", and the reader could interpret that as actual said from my mouth.

MrHen

@Billare They could, sure, but so? They also could not.

@Billare HTML+CSS handles this with a blockquote or code block

Which is how Markdown handles it

So the system handles that without a problem

Billare

I just think this is BS. I think quotations deserve quote marks. That's the way it's been done, since well, forever.

MrHen

The system does not handle distinguishing between quote blocks and non-quote blocks

@Billare It isn't done on the internet

Billare

I've never seen a respectable place that doesn't have quotation marks for actual quotes.

MrHen

Most forum software excludes quote marks from quoted material

Billare

6:35 PM

That's why I don't use software.

RegDwight

Lol.

MrHen

@Billare That is just passive-aggressive. If I find an example you can call it not respectable.

@Billare My point is that the Web has a different standard

Billare

Why I did sign up here; why have I spent much of my free time here:

Well, I really respected the fact that people took care to type in complete sentences, did all the little things like pay attention to whether they were mentioning things or using things

MrHen

@Billare Sure. I agree. I find the limitation in the system frustrating.

Personally, I liked the quotes

Billare

These things are important to create an educated bazaar-like atmosphere that encourages serious language enthusiasts to join.

MrHen

6:37 PM

But I would rather not have them anywhere than have them in places they do not belong.

JSBangs

@Billare, i've lost the thread of what you're complaining about here

MrHen

@Billare Sure. But the atmosphere is taking place in a particular medium. That medium has its own styles and standards for dealing with things like quotations and blockquotes.

Billare

I'm complaing about stuff that was quoted that is now no longer has quotation marks.

That's what I'm complainign about.

RegDwight

@Billare Yes, but hopefully the giant quotes were not the only thing to create that atmosphere. The people are still here. It's still the very same bazaar.

MrHen

@Billare It also has standards and styles regarding formatting such as italics and font-weight.

And justification.

JSBangs

6:39 PM

in this case, i'm going to agree with @MrHen. long quotations are often indicated by indentation without also being enclosed in ". this is a standard feature of all forms of written english, not just the 'net

Vitaly

I, too, should probably complain that pretty much noone uses quotation marks: “ and ” (or better yet, ‘ and ’). Everyone uses those weird recently introduced computer keyboard characters: " and ". But I will resist!

Billare

Look, I could deal with this change, maybe before the fact.

Then, I don't know about you, but I would take care to add little quotation marks to all my posts, because I"m not one for ambiguity.

But now, users have been editing many questions with this quote/unquote implication in mind, and then it's all of a sudden changed to avoid a little work on ONE tiny little thing.

How does that make sense, even if what you are saying is correct.

RegDwight

But the quotes are still formatted differently from surrounding text. And that is not going away.

I mean, I can totally feel your pain, you can see from my comments on meta that I was with nohat on the original proposal (remove the quote from dupe messages), but not on this one (remove the quote everywhere).

And I was sleeping while the change was rolled out, too.

But it's been just one day, and I'm almost accustomed to the new way.

Also, I feel reminded of nohat's objections to the overall site design. He had a valid point there.

11

A: English Site Design

At the risk of being a stick in the mud, I wanted to voice my concerns with the site design. I feel like this "vintage" feel implies an "vintage" or "old-timey" approach to questions of English Language and Usage, which is the opposite of how we actually go about the business of answering questio...

Vitaly

Speaking about site design, I really like English.Meta. It feels freshey.

RegDwight

"I fear that by adopting the proposed site style we run the risk of misleading new visitors that we are a bunch of obstinate old fuddy-duddies who reject anything newfangled and eschew modern approaches to linguistic questions."

Fast forward five months, nothing of that kind has happened.

People judge the site by the content, not by the looks.

nohat

6:47 PM

I still am not the biggest fan of the site design

Billare

can u not desipher this? then y do u typethe way u do

nohat

but there's no accounting for taste

JSBangs

@Billare you're being pedantic. l33tspeak is still discouraged, on the main site at least.

in any case, none of this changes the fact that quotes are typically omitted around indented quotes

Block quotation

A block quotation (also known as a long quotation or extract) is a quotation in a written document, that set off from the main text as a paragraph, or block of text, and typically distinguished visually using indentation and a different typeface or smaller size quotation. (This is in contrast to a setting it off with quotation marks in a run-in quote.) Block quotations are used for the long quotation. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends using a block quotation when extracted text is 100 words or more, or at least eight lines. Origins In the first centuries of typesetting, quotation...

this is a typesetting convention that long predates the web

nohat

In any case I always thought the giant quotation mark was a step too far. Blockquotes are already denoted as different by being indented. On top of that they have a different color in the style here. Having an additional quote icon was over the top, in my opinion.

RegDwight

I've lost track of what has or has not been mentioned here, but the original HTML standard just sets off blockquotes a few pixels from the right.

And I think this is still what you get in any browser if you switch all stylling off.

JSBangs

6:50 PM

granted, the semantics of block quotations has been overloaded here, as we use them for things that aren't quotes at all. but that doesn't mean that quotes which appear without any quotation mark are wrong

nohat

In addition to being wrong in the sense that there was not a matching close quote icon, and in many cases appearing on things that are not actually quotations

JSBangs

(fwiw, i didn't even notice that the giant quote had gone away until it was mentioned here in chat)

Billare

Quotation marks can be used for both things that are actual quotations, and things that are said out loud, like an examples might be construed to be.

RegDwight

Possible dupe alert.

0

Q: Is the word "that" overused?

Is it wrong or in bad form to constantly use the word "that" when it can be omitted? The test that she took was so difficult that she began to sweat. The test she took was so difficult she began to sweat. I find myself writing more along the style of 1., but for some reason, I feel ...

usage word-choice grammar

nohat

@Billare but in the case where they are used in conjunction with block quote formatting the quotation mark serves as a icon that means "this is a quotation"

which I think is misleading

Billare

6:53 PM

It was only misleading in "possible duplicate", which might lead a user to think that it is being quoted from some authority that he didn't have access to.

When used a given example, it could be imagined, quite easily, to be simply a sentence said out loud.

I agreed with you with getting rid of block quotes for possible duplicate. NOT here, because it turns much of my questions and what I've written to be incorrectly formatted.

nohat

Not incorrectly formatted. Block quoting IS quoting in and of itself. Extra quote marks are ... extra

JSBangs

@Billare except that your questions are not incorrectly formatted. you are incorrect for insisting that they are

nohat

In the case of giant extra quote marks (to me) they seem to be trying to emphasize the fact that they are quotations, which is why I found them misleading

I take your point that quote marks are used around examples just to mark them examples

RegDwight

@Billare I second JSBangs. The formatting is still there. What has changed is some of the styling.

nohat

but that is not the canonical usage of quote marks, and when you have a giant one, you are kind of saying "hey this is a quotation!"

Billare

6:57 PM

I don't agree with that at all. I don't see where you are getting the emphasizing part from. Quote marks are not exclusively used to denote quotations.

They can be used for scare quotes for example, which are not "direct quotes."

Even just now, I used quotation marks for something that isn't a direct quotation.

nohat

No one is saying that that is their exclusive use. what I am saying is that is their canonical or normal or expected use.

When you use a giant one, to me it is kind of saying "hey the thing that you associate with this thing!", which is quotation

Billare

Well, I don't agree with that at all. I think I need a respite, actually.

Talk to you guys later.

RegDwight

CU.

Thank Buddha we have the chat. Imagine all this taking place in comments.

Vitaly

3

RegDwight

Noooooo. You'll summon @Kosmonaut.

And he won't stop reposting every single image from that subreddit.

F'x

7:06 PM

hi all

RegDwight

Bonsoir!

nohat

As an added bonus, hopefully this change will cut down on people using code sample instead of blockquote to avoid having an unwanted giant quotation mark

RegDwight

But what will stop them from using backticks?

english.stackexchange.com/posts/22790/revisions

F'x

@nohat well, you'll get me using "code sample" instead of the now-useless blockquote because it's more noticeable

@Nohat: maybe some people abuse an otherwise useful feature, and you want to remove the feature. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot!

nohat

I don't think it was a feature

RegDwight

7:10 PM

AAAAAAHHHHH. Billaire out, F'x in. (@_@)

nohat

it was an extraneous, distracting, and sometimes wrong gewgaw

RegDwight

@Fx: please do some catching up first.)))

48 mins ago, by Billare

I am really pissed off at this block quote thing.

F'x

@nohat as are italic and bold

anyway, no fighting for me on that one, I know how to pick my fights and I have enough things I want to change in my other lifes

nohat

I think it is hardly reasonable to compare a giant red quotation mark that only existed on this site with centuries-old traditions for emphasizing words

F'x

the thing that I do find annoying is that it was decided outside the standard community channels

but at the very least, you have to agree that the blockquote should be more constrasted against the background

MrHen

7:15 PM

@Fx Agreed.

RegDwight

49 mins ago, by MrHen

@Billare There was a different request that explicitly asked for the quotes to be removed for all blockquotes

F'x

pale yellow on paler yellow hardly seems a well thought out UI choice

MrHen

@RegDwight Yeah, this annoys me. I have thus far resisted editing that crap out.

@Fx The red picture made it okay

RegDwight

@MrHen By all means, don't resist.

MrHen

Now it seems too subtle

F'x

7:17 PM

@MrHen exactly, and now it is not any more

RegDwight

5

A: What emphasis to use when referring to words?

I usually use italics. Sometimes I use “double quotation marks” when referring to long phrases or whole sentences. I would stay away from bold, verbatim, or plain.

F'x

@RegDwight yeah, a one-day old meta request with +2/–1 votes, sounds like establishing a community consensus

MrHen

@RegDwight Well... I feel like my thoughts on some of these subjects push peoples' patience as it is. I don't feel like dealing with more fallout.

@Fx +2/-1? When I linked it it was at +4/-0

Now it is at +3/-1

F'x

+3/–1, sorry

total of +2

MrHen

Okay

F'x

7:19 PM

and waited for less than a day before being acted on

MrHen

Yes, that is what I see.

RegDwight

Jin put up some resistance.

Besides, the original request was ancient by then.

So they probably felt like something had to be done at last.

F'x

@RegDwight request which is where?

RegDwight

The original request to remove the quote from dupe messages only.

MrHen

@Fx The links in that question

15

Q: "Possible duplicate" message is difficult to notice

Update 2011-04-27: Jin removed the quotation image altogether here When a question is closed as a duplicate, the duplicate question is selected (by the users who vote to close) and then attached automatically to the top of the message. However, the message is attached as a quote. As you ca...

bug design

31

Q: "Possible duplicate" message is difficult to notice on English.SE

When a question is closed as a duplicate, the duplicate question is selected (by the users who vote to close) and then a link to it is attached automatically to the top of the message as a blockquote. Part of the site design at English.SE includes a style for blockquotes that emphasizes their "...

bug css design

F'x

7:21 PM

@RegDwight there was consensus built around that request, that's for sure

there isn't for the new one (possibly because not enough time has been given for people to comment; I don't mean that there can be no consensus because of a few people like Billare and me)

RegDwight

I'd say give it a day or two to sink in.

MrHen

@Fx Meh. I think your objection and Billare's are different.

F'x

@RegDwight anyway, by the time something happens again, it will be months

RegDwight

There is no giant quotation mark on other sites of the network, either. And they are not falling apart.

MrHen

You seem focused on ease of reading; Billare just wants little quotes

My favorite part about this is Jin's title: "Minor design tweak".

RegDwight

7:23 PM

Hahaha. Yes.

Hey, don't jump on Jin, he's nice.

MrHen

@RegDwight No jumping intended. I actually do like the title.

F'x

@RegDwight I don't care about the giant quotation mark; I care about contrast

other sites have styling that draw attention and demarcates blockquotes

MrHen

@Fx Yes. See, your problem is solved with colors.

Billare actually wants the mark

Honestly, the original problem could have been solved with colors.

F'x

@MrHen it could

but solving a problem by creating another one it not a good thing

MrHen

@Fx I don't understand?

RegDwight

7:26 PM

Billare is taking a respite, so cut him some slack while he's absent.

F'x

and this would have been brought to attention if it discussed by the community first

anyway, lots of things to do

MrHen

@RegDwight I am. I am just trying to summarize; I can understand his point.

F'x

and don't worry, I don't intend to make it my life's crusade

MrHen

I personally don't care about it one way or the other.

RegDwight

Oh I'm not worried in the least.

MrHen

7:27 PM

Just because I have strong opinions doesn't mean I care.

F'x

and I believe that arbitrariness attributed to Billare is somewhat present in Nohat's positions too

RegDwight

I'm just waiting for the right moment to leave and play with LEGO.

MrHen

Anyway, I also must go.

RegDwight

I'll jump on that bandwagon.

F'x

ciao

RegDwight

7:28 PM

Afk.

Vitaly

CU

nohat

8:01 PM

I think I'm pretty upfront about what is my (arbitrary) opinion and what is demonstrable

JSBangs

that's just your opinion

nohat

I don't like unnecessary decoration and I never liked the giant red quotation marks, but I tolerated them because I know not everyone shares my minimalist aesthetic

JSBangs

i kinda liked the big quotes, but I really think that @Billare's objection to removing them is unfounded, as indentation alone is a well-established convention for presenting quotes

nohat

But once I realized they were actively harmful, I started my campaign to get rid of them

I would have tolerated just getting rid of them in duplicate notices

JSBangs

woah, SE podcast #2 just came up in my RSS reader

and cake is being served downstairs

i'm out to enjoy those, then

nohat

8:04 PM

I would be perfectly happy to have them back in regular questions and messages provided that there is a way to not have them when you don't want them

MrHen

@nohat Agreed. I liked the suggestion by Adam Davis on the old meta.SO question

2

A: "Possible duplicate" message is difficult to notice on English.SE

Yeah, unfortunately the current styling is a throwback to how people styled them when we added those messages in by hand. On Stack Overflow it's simply a styling/design use of the blockquote, but on English.se it actually has the large quote, reinforcing the idea that it's not just a style, but ...

RegDwight

Wait what? there's a second podcast already? Woooo!

AFK

No, not AFK

"The recent launch of the HowThingsWork Stack Exchange and why it never made it out of it’s private beta. "

AAAAAHHHHH.

Ze apostrophe! The goggles do nothing!

MrHen

@RegDwight Were is said podcast?

Hmm. I am fail.

z7sg

8:30 PM

I liked the giant quotation mark! Who is responsible for removing it???

Vitaly

The guy in the third slide.

z7sg

Man, I've always hated that guy.

kiamlaluno

Did I miss anything?

JSBangs

0

Q: Help me rewrite this sentence..

Help me rewrite this sentence: In the event you feel like that this study is not a match for your qualification, ... I have come up with two versions: Version 1 In the event you feel that this study is not a match for your qualification, ... Version 2 In the event you feel this study is n...

grammar

0

Q: Does this feel like natural English?

Although I'm pretty confident in my English, I'm not a native English speaker. I need to write a short introduction for a symposium; I'd like to know if you think this paragraph feels like 'natural' English: The following paper showcases the various ways through which modern information techn...

correction

both of these need to be migrated

kiamlaluno

By the way, I like better the quote without those big quotation marks.

I have already voted.

MrHen

8:41 PM

@JSBangs Voted.

kiamlaluno

Isn't there another volunteer? We just need a volunteer.

JSBangs

hopefully one of the mods will show up soon

or someone

RegDwight

Stack Overflow Blog: SE Podcast #02

Posted by Alex Miller on April 27th, 2011

This week on the Stack Exchange podcast, Jeff and Joel are back into the swing of the weekly podcast and jump right into business, including:

And a fun fact about the Stack Exchange podcast: We have listeners in 85 countries around the world.

See you next week when Jeff and Joel are joined by Scott Hanselman.

One final note – we’re re-numbering the podcast to start back at the beginning, so this is now episode #02 and last week is now episode #01.

Stack Exchange Podcast – Episode #02 by Stack Exchange …

MrHen

@RegDwight Thank you.

RegDwight

@JSBangs Done. Out again.

MrHen

8:57 PM

@JSBangs Hmm... that was strangely effective.

"Hopefully one of the mods will show up soon and give me cake."

kiamlaluno

@MrHen That is hoping for too much. ;-)

It is like hoping I understand when I should use the present participle: it's asking for too much.

Vitaly

9:17 PM

quick question: “what's up” is to “wuddup” as “videos” is to “…”? thanks

MrHen

@Vitaly Vids?

kiamlaluno

Vids?

Vitaly

that spelling is not ruined enough

kiamlaluno

That depends from how you spell videos. :-)

Vitaly

ok, thanks anyway, I think I am going to use the vids spelling unless someone comes up with something more obscure

kiamlaluno

9:21 PM

Uhmmm… something more obscure. Filmato?

MrHen

@Vitaly I guess I don't understand what you are looking for. What context is this in?

Vitaly

I am trying to explain to an American friend of mine why the (non-)Russian word видосы is very wrong. The correct Russian word is видео (video). So I need to come up with an equally distorted version of the English word.

MrHen

@Vitaly Ah... okay. If the bad spelling is just a failed attempt at sounding the word out, you could use "videeohs".

RegDwight

MrHen

@RegDwight Mmm

That reminds me, I have some good cake waiting for me at home.

RegDwight

9:31 PM

@Vitaly How about vidders?

Vitaly

Thanks @Reg!

RegDwight

The thing is, we already have vids, and even vidz wouldn't be too strange, so it has to be distorted further.

I must say I liked the podcast. The middle part was a bit boring for my very personal tastes, but when they finally explained the real reason for having the "too basic" close reason, I went all like WOOO! ME'S HAPPY!

Vitaly

RegDwight

Haha I know that one.

Now if only I could remember which VHS I last saw it on...

z7sg

@RegDwight What is the real reason?

RegDwight

9:39 PM

In short, it's all about community building.

If the community is happy with answering basic questions, so be it.

But you can have only so many too basic questions before it begins to get boring.

So if the questions start driving people away, this is where the alarm must go off.

The focus is on the answerers.

They are the ones who should be kept happy.

So in a way, this actually confirms me in my view that I have voiced over and over and over again.

I've gone on record as saying "every question is too basic if you know the answer to it" many times over.

MrHen

4

A: What standards do we want when asking for differences between the meanings of words?

I don't personally have a problem with this form of question but I am getting a little tired of feeling like the person asking the question is (a) really lazy or (b) already knows what the answer is. This is a serious danger sign, and should be heeded. At the point where questions are turni...

RegDwight

Yes, but now it's on the podcast. As in, it's set in stone.

z7sg

Well, tbh I only joined this place because of SO. But I'm not so happy with the questions over there. All those date format questions!

MrHen

1

Q: AM/PM vs a.m./p.m. vs am/pm

I used to think PM/AM was correct, but at some point, I switched to using p.m./a.m. for reasons I can't recall. I know that in practical, casual writing, people tend to use whatever form is most convenient to them, but I'm curious about what the official usage—should it exist—actually is. What i...

punctuation acronyms time initialisms

RegDwight

Hey, don't drive him away just yet!)))

z7sg

9:45 PM

:D

RegDwight

Seriously though, can't you just put the date tag on your ignore list or something?

I have no idea how many questions on SO get tagged properly...

z7sg

I have an ignore list... that's not exactly the problem. I think it's that there are too many people there answering questions too quickly. I've put a bit of effort into a couple of answers, only to have say, one upvote and then it doesn't even get accepted. It seems the place is a victim of it's own success to an extent.

RegDwight

Yeah, that's why so many subcommunities keep splitting off...

It is a danger.

MrHen

@z7sg Yeah. I hate when a question I need answered was already asked very, very poorly so as to count as a dupe but not get any useful answers.

z7sg

I think I will just stick to a few specialist tags. It is quite a handy resource in that sense but you have to wait a few days for the tag expert to find it.

@MrHen yes that too... there is a lot of noise.

RegDwight

9:52 PM

We are starting to see some of that here, too. Very little, mind you, like three or four questions in total.

MrHen

So, opinion question

kiamlaluno

Did I lose anything? Did anybody asked where I was?

MrHen

The question I wanted answered was "How do I pronounce s's?"

This question asks something completely different

11

Q: What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?

What is the possessive of a noun ending in s? The boys' books. ? The boss' car.

grammar possessive

But JSBangs answer answers my question

kiamlaluno

Hey! It's me!

RegDwight

@MrHen Well, if you've got your answer, just be happy!

MrHen

9:53 PM

Haha, it is

kiamlaluno

I recognize my "kiam la luno renkontas la sunon" motto!

MrHen

@RegDwight I am never happy. ;)

RegDwight

That makes Santa sad.

MrHen

@RegDwight To be clear, I am happy that I got the answer. I am unhappy that someone else in the future may not find the answer to their question.

RegDwight

@MrHen Well, I assure you that they'll just go ahead and ask.

And then we will point them in the right direction.

MrHen

9:55 PM

@RegDwight Yeah, and by then I will have lost the relevant answer.

I don't like looking up things I already looked up once.

So what I want to do is ask the question and immediately close it as a duplicate... but that just doesn't do anything for the community. :P

RegDwight

Aha.

Well. Hm. I dunno. I must think about it.

kiamlaluno

@MrHen Just add the question to your favorites.

MrHen

@kiamlaluno Well, I don't really care about the question. I care about the answer. But that is a good suggestion. :)

RegDwight

I mean, what usually happens is that the dupes are not 100% dupes, but before they get closed, they usually get answered.

MrHen

It seems like a hack when the SE system should have a better answer for this.

RegDwight

9:58 PM

So what the OP gets is a) a link to a general reference and b) an answer or two specifically tailored to his very own example.

kiamlaluno

@MrHen As it is only possible to add a question to your favorites, that is what you can do. :-)

RegDwight

I also usually don't hurry closing dupes if the original question has crappy answers.

MrHen

@RegDwight Yeah. I hate when a better version of the question gets closed as a dupe. I wish we could keep the best version of the question instead of the oldest.

@RegDwight Good point.

kiamlaluno

I feel observed.

MrHen

I tend to just look for a question with an answer that answers the dupe.

If I don't find one I leave it alone.

RegDwight

9:59 PM

There've been a few questions where I waited on purpose, for a better answer, and then just merged it with the original question.

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