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Invigorating. And predictably the question has been closed, as "no longer relevant [...] This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only rele

by etiam 9y ago

Invigorating. And predictably the question has been closed, as "no longer relevant [...] This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet." Makes me wonder how Stack Exchange is still getting both good questions and good answers.

aluhut 9y ago
Good SEO.
phaemon 9y ago
Probably because they have the discipline to close questions that aren't appropriate, even when people like the answers. Good for them.
- curiousgal 9y ago
  Honestly, it would deter me from ever answering a question there again. They could create a different category for these types of questions, other than simply closing them. The "moderators" are too self-absorbed in their self-righteousness.
  - svat 9y ago
    Why? The only thing closing a question does is prevent new people from answering. In some sense it's in fact a better “deal” for those who did answer before the question was closed, because they'll have less “competition”. (Of course no one is thinking in those terms, but I'm trying to understand why questions being closed or not should be a deterrence to someone answering questions that are open.) Where do terms like “self-righteousness” come from? (Also note that it's not the “moderators” who close or open questions, but the community itself: anyone with over 3000 points can close or reopen, which right now is over 500 users on MathOverflow. It's a small site as it's for research mathematicians; for comparison on Stack Overflow there are over 46000 users who can vote to close or reopen questions.)
  - phaemon 9y ago
    Or they could create a different website for these types of questions. Or you could. There's no reason for SE to be all things to all people; I like that they have a focus. > too self-absorbed in their self-righteousness I'm feeling the self-righteousness, but it's not coming from SE...
    - curiousgal 9y ago
      >I'm feeling the self-righteousness, but it's not coming from SO... Relax.
      - phaemon 9y ago
        I am relaxed. Don't add patronising to self-righteous.
svat 9y ago
Looking at the history: the question was posted in Oct 2010, and got 14 answers in its next 5 days, the last of which was Thurston's. A year and a bit later, on Jan 1 2012, two more people posted answers. The question was closed shortly after that, as "no longer relevant". I think you can consider it the opinion of the MathOverflow community that they no longer want to see new answers to the old question and the “already seen” question bumped to the front page again, and closing is a way of doing that (all it does is prevent new answers), and it is not intended as judgment cast on the quality of the question or its answers. I am active in a few Stack Exchange communities (sites), and two things that strike me are: - The communities can differ a lot in how they approach things (when they feel closure is appropriate, for instance). - As in most online communities (Wikipedia etc.), people who have been around for a while tend to get insular and think in terms of their own subculture, and do not always understand what impression their actions (in this example the actual text of the “no longer relevant” closure) make on outsiders or newcomers. On Wikipedia there's an actual policy about this, but I got tired of typing [[WP:BITE]] over and over again. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_the_newcomers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_t...)
lumberjack 9y ago
>Makes me wonder how Stack Exchange is still getting both good questions and good answers. For math, it's retired or semi-retired professors who spend their days answering relatively basic questions from undergrads and such. It's amazing actually. I got more professor time on stackexchange than I did in real life.
- alphaalpha101 9y ago
  This is MathOverflow, not the Maths stack exchange. 'Relatively basic questions from undergrads and such' are moved to the Mathematics StackExchange. They aren't on topic.
mikebenfield 9y ago
Well, this is MathOverflow, which is quite separate from the rest of StackExchange and has their own rules. Although this particular question did receive an inspiring answer from an eminent mathematician, MO specifically wants to be a site for research mathematicians to ask and answer each others' research questions. They need to be pretty strict about closing off-topic questions so as not to be overwhelmed with undergrad homework issues or so-called "soft questions."
akvadrako 9y ago
> Makes me wonder how Stack Exchange is still getting both good questions and good answers. It's quite sad, but it seems like the same thing that happened to wikipedia in that the kind of people who take on moderation duty are the kind of people that like enforcing rules. The more deletes they can get the better.

by etiam 9y ago

aluhut 9y ago

Good SEO.

phaemon 9y ago

Probably because they have the discipline to close questions that aren't appropriate, even when people like the answers. Good for them.

curiousgal 9y ago
Honestly, it would deter me from ever answering a question there again. They could create a different category for these types of questions, other than simply closing them. The "moderators" are too self-absorbed in their self-righteousness.
- svat 9y ago
  Why? The only thing closing a question does is prevent new people from answering. In some sense it's in fact a better “deal” for those who did answer before the question was closed, because they'll have less “competition”. (Of course no one is thinking in those terms, but I'm trying to understand why questions being closed or not should be a deterrence to someone answering questions that are open.) Where do terms like “self-righteousness” come from? (Also note that it's not the “moderators” who close or open questions, but the community itself: anyone with over 3000 points can close or reopen, which right now is over 500 users on MathOverflow. It's a small site as it's for research mathematicians; for comparison on Stack Overflow there are over 46000 users who can vote to close or reopen questions.)
- phaemon 9y ago
  Or they could create a different website for these types of questions. Or you could. There's no reason for SE to be all things to all people; I like that they have a focus. > too self-absorbed in their self-righteousness I'm feeling the self-righteousness, but it's not coming from SE...
  - curiousgal 9y ago
    >I'm feeling the self-righteousness, but it's not coming from SO... Relax.
    - phaemon 9y ago
      I am relaxed. Don't add patronising to self-righteous.

svat 9y ago

Looking at the history: the question was posted in Oct 2010, and got 14 answers in its next 5 days, the last of which was Thurston's. A year and a bit later, on Jan 1 2012, two more people posted answers. The question was closed shortly after that, as "no longer relevant". I think you can consider it the opinion of the MathOverflow community that they no longer want to see new answers to the old question and the “already seen” question bumped to the front page again, and closing is a way of doing that (all it does is prevent new answers), and it is not intended as judgment cast on the quality of the question or its answers. I am active in a few Stack Exchange communities (sites), and two things that strike me are: - The communities can differ a lot in how they approach things (when they feel closure is appropriate, for instance). - As in most online communities (Wikipedia etc.), people who have been around for a while tend to get insular and think in terms of their own subculture, and do not always understand what impression their actions (in this example the actual text of the “no longer relevant” closure) make on outsiders or newcomers. On Wikipedia there's an actual policy about this, but I got tired of typing [[WP:BITE]] over and over again. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_the_newcomers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_t...)

lumberjack 9y ago

>Makes me wonder how Stack Exchange is still getting both good questions and good answers. For math, it's retired or semi-retired professors who spend their days answering relatively basic questions from undergrads and such. It's amazing actually. I got more professor time on stackexchange than I did in real life.

alphaalpha101 9y ago
This is MathOverflow, not the Maths stack exchange. 'Relatively basic questions from undergrads and such' are moved to the Mathematics StackExchange. They aren't on topic.

mikebenfield 9y ago

Well, this is MathOverflow, which is quite separate from the rest of StackExchange and has their own rules. Although this particular question did receive an inspiring answer from an eminent mathematician, MO specifically wants to be a site for research mathematicians to ask and answer each others' research questions. They need to be pretty strict about closing off-topic questions so as not to be overwhelmed with undergrad homework issues or so-called "soft questions."

akvadrako 9y ago

> Makes me wonder how Stack Exchange is still getting both good questions and good answers. It's quite sad, but it seems like the same thing that happened to wikipedia in that the kind of people who take on moderation duty are the kind of people that like enforcing rules. The more deletes they can get the better.