Timeline for asking questions outside of field of expertise
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 2014 at 15:39 | comment | added | Gerald Edgar | There is an opposite problem I have seen. A good question is asked, but non-experts vote to close it, mistakenly thinking it is just an exercise. | |
| Jul 1, 2014 at 2:49 | answer | added | Jon Middleton | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 20:03 | comment | added | Todd Trimble Mod | @johnmangual I know the feeling. That's interesting (and generous) what you do at MSE. | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 19:58 | comment | added | Todd Trimble Mod | @Lucia Yeah, I deleted those comments (partly in response to a bunch of fresh flags), but only after a long period of hesitation before I decided in the end it really would be best for the health of the site. The ones not from the OP were deleted either because they too were heated, or because they made no sense after deleting prior ones. I'm sorry if that makes matters now hard to follow, but think of me as the cop who says to curious onlookers at an accident site, "nothing to see here, folks; move along now..." | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 19:31 | comment | added | john mangual | @ToddTrimble the act of pressing the "Ask Question" button and typing has often clarified a lot of doubts on its own before going to press. I have to look up all the references in order to make a sensible question. Sometimes I post questions on Math.SE that I had personally resolved but may be of interest to others. | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 18:30 | comment | added | Lucia | @ToddTrimble: Several comments in that thread seem to have now been deleted (if I recall correctly, some of the deleted comments are from other users besides OP). Perhaps that is for the better, but it might make incomprehensible to anyone viewing the question now the reasons for the ``counter-reaction" that you mentioned. This is certainly off-topic, but perhaps a little relevant to incentives/disincentives for activity on the site. | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 17:06 | comment | added | Todd Trimble Mod | Since that earlier regrettable thread was brought up, and while we are on the topic of dis-incentivizing, it could also be argued that downvoting a mathematically correct answer that was trying to be helpful is also dis-incentivizing. (No, of course one doesn't have to accept that or any answer. But marking it down is something else. A "thanks, but what I was really looking for was..." probably wouldn't have garnered such a counter-reaction.) | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 13:51 | answer | added | Todd TrimbleMod | timeline score: 24 | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 13:13 | comment | added | john mangual | @BillJohnson That particular thread is very interesting. I was not satisfied with the answer given, should I be forced to accept? Maybe my question was phrase wrong. There was a comment about "idle curiosity"... I did not feel it was his place to decide that. So yes, I am asking here about academic best practices, at least as far as MO goes. | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 12:56 | comment | added | Bill Johnson | Well thought out questions from non experts are generally well received on MO. I checked a few of your questions. Most got only up votes or no votes at all. Only one got many down votes, and not because of the question, which was fine, but because your comments were deemed unacceptably impolite. | |
| Jun 29, 2014 at 12:40 | history | asked | john mangual | CC BY-SA 3.0 |