New answers tagged discussion
2
Please reopen: Given $\sinh x$, find the exact value of $\cosh x, \cos 2x$ and $\tan 2x$.
As the question stands now, there is evidence of clear and informative context, and through this, the OP has managed to answer their own question. The reasons for closing this question stem from when the question was in a worse state, but after the edits, there is ...
7
Yes. That is possible, and it certainly happens.
This is why you should usually be critical and vote after reading and understanding an answer.
And yes, sometimes people will vote a wrong answer because they trust the user. But hopefully someone will actually read it, and point out the mistakes. At least on my end as a high reputation user, that worked out ...
8
I think it's reasonable to flip the direction of the synonym in this case for the sake of maintaining symmetry, i.e. keeping [differentiation] and [integration] as the master tags, rather than [derivatives] and [integration].
However, I disagree with the other reasons provided, namely that "derivatives" could refer to other things, i.e., "...
0
What harm is there in posting a comment to explain why a question is getting downvoted? I say by all means do it if you feel so inclined. It might be helpful to the person who wrote the question who doesn't yet know how things work around here. It's better than the person having no idea why their question was not received well.
In this particular case maybe ...
4
Reopened
Annuity immediate and present value
I disagree with the reason for closure. There is clear context in the form of a nearly complete (but ultimately incorrect) attempt to answer the question. The only possible reason I can think of that it might have been flagged for closure is that those who voted to close are unaware of the terminology used in ...
5
There are two questions wrapped up in this post: "What's wrong with my answer?", and "Explain downvoting behavior.". AlexanderGruber addresss the first question, so I'm going to respond to the second.
At least let me know is anything wrong in the solution so that I can correct it. ... I don't mind even the post gets deleted but there ...
-2
Thank you for making efforts to answer questions on the main site. I think your picture is a good hint. I personally prefer your first version.
That said, people perceive answers differently. And people downvote an answer for all sorts of reasons, good or bad. Unless there were massive ill-intention serial downvoting, you can't really control how people vote....
13
People are downvoting your answer because the question called for a proof and you posted a picture. While it is a nice illustration of the concept, it is inadequate on its own.
You might improve your post by adding algebraic details showing how your idea is correct.
12
The rationale behind the context requirements is, ultimately, that we want well-written questions.
I understand what you're getting at: if you post a simple one line PSQ and a follow it up with an answer, then one might be inclined to think the answer could serve in some sense as context, especially if it is nice and detailed.
But structuring things in that ...
8
I wouldn't find a one-off comment rude or even a problem in the slightest, especially if this was a subject of particular interest to the user. After all, it takes a moment to be notified of a comment and to either ignore it or to reply that it's not of interest.
Even better if you later prune away your comment.
But to do this repeatedly or in volume would ...
6
As regards the turn-out to me the situation looks relatively stable. As detailed in other contributions already I think we can basically forget about the "eligible" number. Manifestly many accounts turn inactive and get abandoned entirely.
Speaking from my experience on some other SE sites, I am also not that interested in elections there, say, on ...
-4
May I request to reopen this question Prime factor of $A=14^7+14^2+1$ so that everyone can see the beautiful answers?
28
I think the main reason for the perhaps low-seeming voter count is that most users are not very interested in meta matters like elections.
I thought so back in 2017 and I still agree with what I wrote then.
If you want more useful statistics, I don't think the number of eligible users is a very descriptive number.
As the site grows, especially newer users ...
4
I was confused by the three links in the main post to see the result.
You can click this link to see the result. Below is the report in plain text, which can be also found here.
The candidates are elected using OpenSTV (now OpaVote) with the Meek STV method. See also: How are moderator election votes counted, in plain English?
OpaVote Election Results (https:...
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Well... this is a surprise. I am humbled and honored. Many thanks to the community—I shall endeavor to do my job well. Also profound thanks to the to the current set of moderators, who made this election far more clear and far less acrimonious than the last one. I look forward to working with y'all in a different capacity.
35
"Rude" is maybe a strong word, but it is certainly discouraged. If you do it once, likely nothing much negative will happen. But as a rule please do not do this.
An exception might be if the posts are extremely closely linked, say, if you ask a a direct follow-up question or something like that. But even in that case I would recommend to be ...
3
Proposal: Eliminate the tag multiple-zeta-functions
The tag zeta-functions seems to encompass this already while also allowing for L-functions, Barnes-zeta and relatives, Hasse-Weil zeta and relatives, etc. Multiple-zeta functions are deep and interesting but I don't think we need the second tag.
11
The question-post asks three separate questions that are not very closely linked. They are on the same subject but not at all naturally linked.
It is generally discouraged to ask more than one question in a post. For one thing,
chances are very high that each of them separately is a duplicate.
Personally I'd close as "needs focus" (earlier "...
7
Just a partial answer.
In my opinion, some questions that is well-received in puzzling SE will be considered missing context when posted in MSE. Using your example:
The non-negative integers are divided into three groups as follows:
\begin{align*}
A &= \{0,3,6,8,9, \cdots\},\\
B &= \{1,4,7,11,14,\cdots\}, \\
C &=\{2,5,10,13,\cdots\}
\end{align*}
...
4
And what incentive is there for a user to verify a proof given by an
OP if there is a risk he will discover that the answer is correct and
therefore must add additional content, beyond what the OP needs and is
actually asking for?
Hopefully no incentive, or really a disincentive. In my view "check my work" questions and "yeah it's right" ...
6
I think it would be a good idea to post what you've learned as an answer to your question, rather than as an edit to the question. (Of course, if you do that, then you should phrase it in the form of an answer to the question.)
In particular, suppose that you post a problem, somebody else posts an answer containing some information, and you use that ...
13
If you are looking for a general method or asking about something more conceptual then say so clearly in the body of the question.
Instead of stating a specific instance of your general problem and then rambling on a bit about it, as in your first, state clearly what you are after:
I managed to solve the following problem, but I am wondering if there is a ...
6
You can ask that on the main site. But I suggest
First you search the site for similar questions. The topics that you are interested in are very standard and you can find a lot of these questions under the tag "book-recommendation" (This is what I found under the tags [book-recommendation] and [linear-algebra], ordered by votes).
If you have some ...
12
While it's certainly commendable to look for a good comment to leave, especially with regards to the experience of new users, it is not the case that such a comment always exists - and it is better to leave no comment at all than to leave a comment that delivers a negative judgement of a post without showing the path forward. As a corollary, if you believe a ...
13
heropup
My nomination link
Regarding actions by moderators, do you think that MathSE is (over/under)moderated? If so, can you elaborate on which aspects, why, and what would be your suggestions regarding this?
In one respect, Math.SE is under-moderated in the sense that there appears at times to be a backlog of flagged content that should be relatively ...
4
Once you vote (up or down) and wait five minutes, your vote is 'locked'. You cannot undo your vote until the post is edited (as the notice says). The edit may or may not change the post sufficiently in order to warrant undoing the vote, but that's how the system works.
The times when you can undo the upvote is when the post has been edited after you voted, ...
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TheSimpliFire (my nomination)
Regarding actions by moderators, do you think that MathSE is (over/under)moderated? If so, can you elaborate on which aspects, why, and what would be your suggestions regarding this?
I do not think Math.SE is considerably undermoderated since issues raised in the Math Mods' Office are usually resolved quickly and so are most ...
6
Moderators don’t have (to my knowledge) the ability to add features to the site. But there already exists something like this in the meta site, the Sandbox. IMO this is too bothersome to bother with, I personally just deal with the raw LaTeX code which I am very used to.
Furthermore, while it is true that the mobile website doesn’t let give you a preview of ...
15
You say that:
Sometimes poorly formulated questions contain enough information to both answer them, but more important to find them interesting enough for the community. [...] [P]eople vote to close the question, usually as low quality.
This is how the system is intended to work. If there is a "poorly formulated question" it should be closed. ...
1
Undeleted, Reopened
I would like to request that this thread be undeleted and reopened: "If $\#(S)<\#(\Bbb N)$, then prove that $S$ is finite, without using the Axiom of Choice.." I did not answer the question, but I think the thread is useful for people to learn which argument relies on the Axiom of Choice, and which does not.
10
From your question it seems that apart from the possibility to review in this queue, you also want to see the posts which went through the review.
Users with sufficient rep have access to the full review history.
However, even if you have lower reputation, you can get the posts which went through this queue using SEDE. For example, in this query you can get ...
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The general sentiment is something that I share. In my mind the review queues are a good entry point for starting to get involved in community moderation and also to stay involved in it for somewhat casual users.
Indeed, one can get the impression that some users use them as a playing-field to scratch some competitive itch. In my opinion, this is not at all ...
3
Undeleted
Please undelete Invariance of the Lagrangian vs invariance of its integral
It was recently autodeleted by Community because its net vote count was reduced to $0$ by a single vote cast in a recent downvote spree targeting me.
I'm still interested in the topic and am looking forward to an answer or two...
5
There are variations when the person posting the question is lying. People are aware of ongoing contests. This is one reason I ask for a source of the problem. At least once, some kid posted a problem from a long list of proposed questions, one that was not chosen since the desired conclusion was wrong. There are ongoing programming contests.
About lying, ...
1
Reopened
I propose to reopen Which Combinations of Roots of Unity are Zero?, which is a perfectly phrased and interesting question of which I have no idea why it had been closed. There was some debate about whether the questioner meant to ask for real or integer linear combinations of the roots of unity, which is now settled by an edit – it’s about integer ...
5
One way for the asker to show effort on a taxing contest question is to
Work out a simple(r) case
This is also good advice towards solving the question (straight out of Polya's How to solve it).
A question often has a parameter, and sometimes checking what happens when the parameter has a fixed (smallish) value will be much easier than the general case.
...
5
Undoing a community wiki is a moderator-only thing. If you accidentally made a post community wiki, you can raise a flag on that post. Unless we see a reason why that post ought to be CW, we will undo it.
In this case, though, don't raise a flag, just drop a link to the post here.
-1
May I request to Undelete and Reopen (or at least undelete) this question
Prove $\frac{ab}{a^5 + b^5 + ab} + \frac{bc}{b^5 + c^5+ bc} + \frac{ca}{c^5 + a^5 + ca} \leq 1$ when $abc=1$, $a,b,c>0$ answered by me? The question is well written and it's a very tricky inequality.
8
An answer should answer the question, and so the comment from review is correct:
"This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. - From Review"
It would have been better if you had summarised the comments in your answer. This makes your answer an actual, self-...
9
I guess I need to chime in because I have resorted to this tactic myself on occasion. My battle cry has been Whoever wants to preserve a question of doubtful quality should take charge and edit it into shape.
So I plead guilty to the charge of promoting this practice as one of the alternative ways of salvaging a broken question.
Observation:
It makes for ...
-1
As long as comments are on-topic and obey the Code of Conduct, posting links to other websites is of course allowed.
-8
The action of closing is meant to be a signal of improvement of a post. Unfortunately, there are users who take it as a sort of "punishment" and make great efforts of rolling back any improvement that is not directly from the OP because the improvement makes the post exempt from being closed and deleted.
As long as the essence of the question in ...
19
(What follows is my personal opinion. The mod team has not discussed this internally at length.)
You say that "[you]'d like to explicate our community norms/policies about what sort of edits to add context are appropriate". So I'll attempt to give my POV regarding that.
Edits to add context, in the general sense of context, can be very frequently ...
12
Xander Henderson
My nominating post.
(As an aside, the timing of this election is quite bad for me. I am traveling this week, and am likely to be out of touch frequently. I'll try to keep up on this thread, but don't expect quick responses, please.)
Regarding actions by moderators, do you think that MathSE is (over/under)moderated? If so, can you ...
3
Reopened
Please consider this question Some Combinatorics and Some Prime Numbers to be reopened. This was posted by me seeking for other solutions rather than mine. I think it's well explained.
12
If it needs to be fixed, fix it. You are much better to do this as soon as possible (before people get confused by the ambiguity).
If it's "close enough" that people who actually read the question will know what you mean, and it's not clickbaity, you could reasonably leave it as it is, too.
It's probably better to err for clarity and efficiency, so ...
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Brahadeesh
Nomination profile
Regarding actions by moderators, do you think that MathSE is (over/under)moderated? If so, can you elaborate on which aspects, why, and what would be your suggestions regarding this?
Overall, I think our site is moderated at the right level.
The current group of moderators seem to handle issues promptly and reasonably, and ...
12
Matt Samuel
My nomination post
Regarding actions by moderators, do you think that MathSE is (over/under)moderated? If so, can you elaborate on which aspects, why, and what would be your suggestions regarding this?
Current answer, updated after comment : It seems to me that people are too eager to close questions with the missing context close reason, and ...
55
Paramanand Singh
My Nomination
Regarding actions by moderators, do you think that MathSE is (over/under)moderated? If so, can you elaborate on which aspects, why, and what would be your suggestions regarding this?
I don't think that it is over-moderated but looking at some meta threads it appears that there are users who believe it is being over-moderated ...
13
You can try the pearl dive chat room.
See also this post in meta: Launching *Pearl Dive* - a chatroom where excellent questions/answers meet willing sponsors
Top 50 recent answers are included
