What is history of this site? When and by whom was it created?
What were the important milestones of this site?
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$\begingroup$ I've asked about this in chat. Quid encouraged me to post the question if I consider it useful, so I went ahead. $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented Aug 31, 2013 at 9:10
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5$\begingroup$ (Previously part of the question...) This question was inspired by History of Math.Stackexchange. There is also a post What’s the story behind mathoverflow? on tea. $\endgroup$– Kim Morrison ModCommented Sep 25, 2013 at 10:27
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2$\begingroup$ Wayback Machine: What’s the story behind mathoverflow? $\endgroup$– OfirDCommented Oct 7, 2022 at 12:57
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$\begingroup$ I have a precise "historical" question. Were there less restrictions at the beginning (2009, maybe 2010) to upvote posts? Indeed there's a profusion at these early times of highly upvoted answers. Or does it only result from a change of behavior among the MO users? $\endgroup$– YCorCommented Dec 3, 2022 at 10:07
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5 Answers
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History of MathOverflow
Milestones
September 28, 2009: MathOverflow goes online
October 10, 2009: MathOverflow is announced at the Secret Blogging Seminar
December 2009 Greg Kuperberg became the first user to reach 10k reputation
June 2010: featured in the AMS Notices.
October 2010: 10000 users (Wayback Machine)
June 2012: 100000th post (including the deleted ones) (Wayback Machine)
June 24, 2013: MathOverflow joined SE network (Wayback Machine)
September 17, 2014: Joel David Hamkins becomes the first user to reach 100k reputation.
February 11, 2019: 100000 questions
November 2022: User with 200,000 reputation
October 2024: MathOverflow started requiring users to register for asking and answering
Moderators
September 2009 - October 2009: Anton Geraschenko, David Zureick-Brown, Daniel Erman and Scott Morrison
October 2009 - June 2010: Anton Geraschenko, Ben Webster, David Zureick-Brown, Daniel Erman and Scott Morrison
June 2010 - October 2013: Anton Geraschenko, Ben Webster, David Zureick-Brown, François G. Dorais, S. Carnahan and Scott Morrison
October 2013 - April 2021: Ben Webster, David Zureick-Brown, François G. Dorais, S. Carnahan, Scott Morrison, Mariano Suárez-Alvarez and Todd Trimble
April 2021 - January 2022: Ben Webster, David Zureick-Brown, François G. Dorais, S. Carnahan, Todd Trimble, Stefan Kohl, Asaf Karagila and Tim Campion.
January 2022 - October 2022: Ben Webster, David Zureick-Brown, S. Carnahan, Todd Trimble, Stefan Kohl, Asaf Karagila and Tim Campion.
October 2022 - September 2024: Ben Webster, S. Carnahan, Todd Trimble, Stefan Kohl, Asaf Karagila, Tim Campion, and David Roberts.
September 2024 - Present: Ben Webster, S. Carnahan, Stefan Kohl, Asaf Karagila, and David Roberts.
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1$\begingroup$ That SBS comment thread brings back some happy highways where I went... $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 18:58
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4$\begingroup$ It might be good to list birthday statistics, as well as those events that were considered major policy changes, e.g. when the content was being steered away from soft questions and those that are considered by some to be not research level questions. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 20:45
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2$\begingroup$ I'd also like to know more about the statistics. Am I right in my sense that MathOverflow has seen a significant drop in usage? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 14:38
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1$\begingroup$ @JessRiedel it depends what you have in mind precisely; see for example meta.mathoverflow.net/a/853 for some data compiled by François G. Dorais and me. I would say there is no somewhat recent significant drop, but in the long run the overall activity declined a bit (why and if or in what sense this is/could be a problem is a bit too broad for this comment). $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 16:18
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1$\begingroup$ I have added the moderators from the beginning of MO according to information mentioned here. Although I am not sure when Daniel Erman stopped being moderator. And perhaps before the migration Anton Geraschenko should be listed as an administrator, not a moderator. (I hope some old-timers will correct this information, if needed.) $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 23, 2013 at 19:07
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1$\begingroup$ I have also added the things that were mentioned here. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 14, 2013 at 7:59
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1$\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak: on June 24, 2013: MathOverflow joined SE2 network. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 13, 2018 at 19:13
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1$\begingroup$ I think Mariano lost his diamond quite some time prior to April 2021. But I can't recall when exactly right now. $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModCommented Apr 29, 2021 at 14:23
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1$\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila You probably mean this: Were there some recent changes to the moderators' team? Based on what Anton Geraschenko said in chat, it seems that nothing new is known about the situation. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 29, 2021 at 15:32
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8$\begingroup$ Thank you to François for his time as a moderator! $\endgroup$– David Roberts ModCommented Jan 28, 2022 at 4:58
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1$\begingroup$ I'd find practical to separate the list real events (first blah blah) to the (arbitrary) list of decimal records (10000000th occurrence of the letter E in a post, etc). $\endgroup$– YCorCommented Jan 30, 2022 at 11:18
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1$\begingroup$ Should we add "January 2022 -- viewing reputation becomes opt-in"? It seems an important change in how the site presents itself. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 4, 2022 at 7:40
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2$\begingroup$ @DavidRoberts Feel free to go ahead - after all the answer is community wiki. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 4, 2022 at 1:43
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On January 30, 2014, Joel David Hamkins posted his 1000th answer on MathOverflow. Congratulations!
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3$\begingroup$ Thanks, François, you are very kind to mention it. It's surely been a lot of fun! And I've learned a lot. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 30, 2014 at 23:08
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4$\begingroup$ Not to put you under undue pressure @JoelDavidHamkins but we expect the 100k points celebration somewhat soonish now. :-) Congratulations! $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Jan 30, 2014 at 23:22
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2$\begingroup$ @quid, I shall look forward to that party. (But it is not actually in my control!) $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 31, 2014 at 13:41
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2$\begingroup$ Well, one upvote to each of those answers = 10k rep :-) (I'm not saying to do it, the mods have superpowers and can tell...) $\endgroup$– David Roberts ModCommented Feb 11, 2014 at 23:15
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1$\begingroup$ And now, Igor Rivin just reached his 999th answer! $\endgroup$ Commented May 15, 2014 at 10:50
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1$\begingroup$ @Gil: Here is Igor's 1000th: mathoverflow.net/a/167358 $\endgroup$– François G. Dorais ModCommented May 17, 2014 at 1:33
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On September 17th, 2014, Joel David Hamkins became the first user on MathOverflow with more than 100000 points. Congratulations!
(It seems the "deciding" vote was cast on https://mathoverflow.net/a/172711/.)
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1$\begingroup$ Maybe also the link to this weeks reputation league can be added. (Although it will probably need until tomorrow to update.) $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 11:02
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8$\begingroup$ Thanks, quid, how kind of you to notice it. It's surely been a lot of fun! $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 12:02
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1$\begingroup$ My pleasure, @JoelDavidHamkins! $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 14:51
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1$\begingroup$ Thanks for adding the image @Todd $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 14:52
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3$\begingroup$ JDH writes some personal reflections here: jdh.hamkins.org/… $\endgroup$– David Roberts ModCommented Sep 19, 2014 at 0:05
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The historical first MO golden badge was awarded to Charles Siegel for this answer.
Update: Here is a historical snapshot (click for a better resolution) of top participators shortly after Charles earned his golden medal. This was shortly after Greg's sprint to (questionless) 10K reputations record. Note also that Andrew ranked 7th at the time has only bronze badges, and that Reid Barton has precisely 6666 points.
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5$\begingroup$ If you want to collect such stories, maybe add the heroic but in the end hopeles fight of Andrew Stacey against the badeges tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/190/how-do-i-sell-a-badge and tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/1364/a-sad-day- $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Oct 16, 2013 at 20:02
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2$\begingroup$ Dear Quid, yes this is indeed a famous story that will be told from fathers to sons. I am afraid I was involved with Andrew's silver and gold best badges. The badge system is a wonderful way for multi-dimensional appreciation systems where every user can even define his own peculiar aims. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 16, 2013 at 20:31
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1$\begingroup$ Tom Leinster recently got the first gold badge on meta for meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/1042/… $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 22:14
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$\begingroup$ BTW since MO joined SE you can also view top users at some moment in the past using reputation leagues. For example, here are top users from Dec 2009. Comparing with the snapshot you posted, it seems to be around the same time. (Although this shows the reputation from Dec 2009, but badges are shown from the present.) $\endgroup$ Commented May 15, 2014 at 6:18
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1$\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Wow, I had not realized that Greg had gained 7000 points in one month. $\endgroup$– S. Carnahan ModCommented May 17, 2014 at 6:29
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1$\begingroup$ @S.Carnahan Well, there might have been some mix-up when moving from old MO to the SE network, which would make date from reputation leagues unreliable. But since the numbers there seem to be rather similar to the numbers in the screenshot, I'd guess that they are probably correct. $\endgroup$ Commented May 17, 2014 at 6:51
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Jim Belk performing perfectly centered breaks at the request of user2376055 drew a huge crowd of spectators.
Now, on February 11, 2014 the count reached 100,000, and this in only slightly over 10 days, making this not only the currently most viewed question on MO, but the first question to reach 100,000 views in MO's history.
Fun side-aspect: the success of the question was so massive that some even expressed doubt this is happening for real.
In the unlikely event you have not yet seen it, here it is once again, the perfectly centered break according to Jim Belk.
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2$\begingroup$ Is there a way to sort questions by number of views? $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 18:24
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2$\begingroup$ @GeraldEdgar no, but yes. By which I mean there is no way via tabs and the standard userinterface, but one can get such lists via the data explorer. See for example data.stackexchange.com/mathoverflow/query/166766/most-views for a list of all questions sorted by views (with at least 5000 views). If one just cares about those with relatively many one could also look for those with famous question badge, that is +10k. $\endgroup$– user9072Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 20:38
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1$\begingroup$ GeraldEdgar: This seems also related: meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/3538/… The link mentioned there is: mathoverflow.net/questions/greatest-hits I am not sure about exact algorithm, but this page seems to combine somehow score and number of views. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 16:51
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1$\begingroup$ As a side-note, a question on math.SE recently (to date) got 126380 views in 11 days. This says maybe this phenomenon isn't going to be as surprising in the near future :) Hopefully it sparks some STEM careers. $\endgroup$– rschwiebCommented Apr 11, 2014 at 18:48