38
votes
Migration paths to other sites
The Golden Rule of migration, of course:
Don't Migrate Crap
JamalMod
- 34.7k
28
votes
Close-vote threshold lowered from five to three
Yes.
I surveyed the recent close-vote history, and it's clear that there is a good quorum at three votes. Pulling out yesterday's reviews, it's clear that almost all the votes for closing questions ...
- 96.7k
21
votes
Accepted
Poor quality unanswered questions
There is nothing wrong with leaving some poor-quality questions unanswered. By analogy, 0% unemployment is a worthy ideal, but actually achieving 0% unemployment isn't necessarily a good thing for ...
- 142k
21
votes
Accepted
PSA: Excel going "Not Responding" isn't broken code
If you don't do VBA, you probably don't know this, but most VBA host applications are single-threaded, and when VBA code runs for a long time it's completely normal that the main window's caption says ...
- 74.6k
20
votes
Are we voting to close too quickly?
If anything, we don't vote to close quickly enough.
An off-topic question can often be fixed. In the meantime, it shouldn't be answered. It helps to close the questions for answers, so they don't get ...
MastMod
- 12.6k
17
votes
Accepted
Should votes to close a question as containing broken code be paired with a comment?
Yes
I am a comment lover. Comments helps a lot. Especially when it's not crystal clear for everybody that the code is not working as intended.
Sometimes it's even good if two or more users ...
- 58.1k
16
votes
Vote to close and unclear titles
We usually VTC questions with titles that don't reflect the goal of the code.
I find this entire premise very, very, very sad and completely contrary to the very welcoming spirit that made this site ...
- 74.6k
15
votes
Accepted
Post Mortems - Episode I: A new hope
I was not a part of this, so this answer is based only on what the OP has shown us. I am afraid that I may catch a lot of flak for this post, but here is how I see things.
Part 1: Embedding Code
Let'...
- 1,932
15
votes
Are we voting to close too quickly?
The Close-/Reopen system is at least partly predicated on quickly closing questions that are not on topic and quickly reopening those that were edited to be on topic. Let me quote Shog writing on the &...
- 25k
13
votes
Accepted
Are we voting to close too quickly?
Not enough people that VTC are leaving helpful comments, or even comments that refer to the How do I ask a good question help page. This answer is in support of @vogel612 answer.
When I come upon a ...
- 18.3k
12
votes
Migration paths to other sites
For migrating to Stack Overflow, there are some good guidelines at What topics can I ask about here?. Quoting, specifically:
Stack Overflow is for professional and enthusiast programmers, people
who ...
11
votes
The context of "Lacks concrete context": let's fix it
IMO the biggest and simplest problem is LCC being used as UCWYA. But why is this happening?
I don't know, but I can guess.
The reason's name "Lacks Concrete Context" makes it sound like any context. ...
PeilonrayzMod
- 41.6k
10
votes
Post Mortems - Episode I: A new hope
I have something to add concerning the "not working" code: we hardly know whether our code is 100% safe or not, and often assume ("know") that some corners cases remain and even if we wrote the best ...
- 19.8k
10
votes
Migration paths to other sites
Migration checklist
My migration checklist, applicable to all sites:
Is it off-topic here? (Remember that being a better fit elsewhere is not a reason to migrate.)
If it's off-topic, does it have ...
- 142k
9
votes
Should votes to close a question as containing broken code be paired with a comment?
As the moderator involved, I'm obligated to respond.
This specific question
I have to admit, it was a complex decision process for me, with many factors to consider.
Code Review is a place where ...
- 142k
9
votes
Accepted
Wouldn't it be more useful to notify OPs automatically about close votes, instead of having (stock) comments all the time?
Wouldn't it be more efficient to notify the OP (even below 250 rep) directly about close votes,
Yes it would. Feel free to make a feature-request on the site-wide meta.
instead of that constantly ...
- 58.1k
9
votes
Close-vote threshold lowered from five to three
This is now live! Thanks for your patience.
When I came to check out the discussion here, it was nice to see good support - y'all have an active site and I know that you likely get a good amount of ...
- 101
8
votes
Accepted
Questions about code translation
Agreed. "Questions containing broken code or asking for advice about code not yet written are off-topic, as the code is not ready for review" would have been a more appropriate closure reason.
I'd ...
- 142k
8
votes
Post Mortems - Episode I: A new hope
I'm writing this answer from a working mindset at my job, I appreciate this isnt your job and you probably do not need to remain 100% professional for your own livelihood.
I don't think you can ever ...
- 849
8
votes
Accepted
Uncounted close vote?
You cast that close vote on Jan 16 at 0:02, and it 'aged away' on Jan 20 at 3:00.
Close votes expire, and you cannot close-vote ...
- 96.7k
8
votes
Close-vote threshold lowered from five to three
Since I'm the one being cited, I may as well write an update clarifying my stance back then and my current one.
It started out in December with me linking in chat to the MSO post, a little earlier ...
MastMod
- 12.6k
7
votes
Post Mortems - Episode I: A new hope
My take on what happened:
Dialog between OP and rolfl
Other users (starting with Mat's Mug) weigh in to defend and back up rolfl
My take on how to prevent it happening:
If you post, do it to inform ...
- 12.8k
6
votes
Migration paths to other sites
Don't migrate questions that are not suitable Stack Overflow questions.
If a question has been formatted to look like a Code Review question, with lots of code, and lots of text, then it is almost ...
- 96.7k
6
votes
Wouldn't it be more useful to notify OPs automatically about close votes, instead of having (stock) comments all the time?
Once a question is closed it does automatically add a notice that the OP can see as to the reason for closure and how to possibly remedy it, for example:
Some of us who regularly help with moderation ...
- 20.3k
6
votes
Post Mortems - Episode I: A new hope
The obligatory answer, which is the somewhat documented process:
stay away from the flames. Do not engage with people who are upset, trolling, or abusive
flag the comments/posts that are a problem.
...
- 96.7k
6
votes
Post Mortems - Episode I: A new hope
Unfortunately I wasn't a part of this, I wish I could have been there to help. I'll make a small note here though: tone is everything. Whenever you are writing something to be read, the it is up to ...
- 21.6k
6
votes
The context of "Lacks concrete context": let's fix it
I have never liked this as a close reason. I believe it does damage to the site. Community consensus at the time was significant, and I've come to accept it over time as a potentially necessary evil.
...
- 96.7k
5
votes
Poor quality unanswered questions
IMO bad/unclear/poor questions in the queue should get closevotes no matter if they are zombies or not.
There is no need that such questions will survive no matter how long ago they had been asked.
...
- 49.9k
5
votes
Should we close this one-liner ternary as "unclear what you're asking"?
The most common use I have seen for "Unclear what you are asking" is when the OP has provided lots of code but with little or no description about what the code does.
Besides this, I tend to have ...
- 58.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible