Linked Questions

179 votes
8 answers
5k views

Can we please be more generous to elementary beginners?

This question: Given that $\arctan(1/5) + \arctan(1/8) = \arctan(1/p)$, how to find the value of $p$? (now deleted again) was originally closed as "off-topic". Here is the original title: ...
user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
746 views

Referring users to other forums: if and when.

Many new users do things that are contrary to the culture at MSE. They ... ask in the imperative (often thanks to translate.google), ask too often, haven't "tried" anything (besides registering ...
The Chaz 2.0's user avatar
  • 10.3k
11 votes
2 answers
928 views

What's the deal with naming names?

Asaf's comment ("No Names policy") on a meta question of mine has kept me wondering: When is it appropriate to identify a user for the purpose of discussion? What benefit is there to a "No Names"...
The Chaz 2.0's user avatar
  • 10.3k
75 votes
1 answer
2k views

Downvoting newbie user's questions

I found this post today. Yeah, I agree that this question has been asked many times before but isn't 9 downvotes for a new user a bit too intense? I think mass downvoting newbies will only harm the ...
Hopeful Whitepiller's user avatar
28 votes
1 answer
650 views

CFV: Proposal for standardized meta-comments, to avoid main-site meta discussions

Below is a sketch of a proposal I devised for handling the problem of rambling contentious meta-level discussions on the main site. The basic idea is to have a list of standardized community-elected ...
Bill Dubuque's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
222 views

Why are people voting down questions of new comers?

If their question lacked an attempt or any details, we could just tell them couldn't we? Why not vote down only those questions which either can't be understood or are off topic? Are people trying to ...
GrandAlpha's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
155 views

What's the policy of SE on a question like this?

A really poor-formatted question was being asked on the main site. I honeslt was tempted to flag it as spam! Do we need to perform large edit on a question like that as it has been done, or is it ...
Gigili's user avatar
  • 3,514