2
$\begingroup$

Sometimes when I find something interesting on MO it would be convinient for me to store it somewhere here, something like small personal blog, or may be just sand box. Is here something like that ?

(Using "star" (favorite question) is not convinient - I have too many of them over years and now cannot navigate). I would even prefer to have opportunity to clean it by one button, and start from zero. )

$\endgroup$
6
  • $\begingroup$ I assume that the existing (sandbox) here on meta do not fit what you are looking for...? $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 8:33
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak I am sorry I do not quite understand what kind of sandbox is described in the link you give. If just write something on meta with tag "sandbox" I am afraid it will pop-up on every edit and I will annoy everybody ... $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 8:38
  • $\begingroup$ Well, if you read the description of Formatting Sandbox, it was created with this in mind: "The purpose of this thread is to enable people to check if their formatting works and to play around with their MathJax code.". I do not think the bumps are too annoying, since they are on meta (which is less visited) and people who do not want to see the bumped sandbox post can simply add (sandbox) tag to their ignored tags. (Probably MO regulars might chime in here, if I misrepresented the purpose and usage of the sandbox.) $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 8:44
  • $\begingroup$ I'll mention also that at math.SE we have several sandboxes, formatting sandbox is separate from sandbox for drafts. Still, this might be not what you are looking for, since it is expected that eventually you will clear the post and leave the blank answer for other users, so it cannot be really described as personal sandbox. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 8:46
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Thank you very much for your comments ! Well, it is not quite what I want, but if there is no other way .... may be can try it ... $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 8:48
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I will mention that a feature called saves was implemented this year. Among other things, you can add a private note to a question. It's not optimal (no MarkDown, no MathJax, 500 character limit) - but in some situations, it could be useful. (Since you mentions "too many stars over the year", I will add that now you can have several lists with various names.) $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 20, 2022 at 5:19

1 Answer 1

4
$\begingroup$

This is probably not really an answer to your question (since you posted a ), but a summary of the existing possibilities is probably better in an answer than in a series of comments.

Here is what you can do directly on MO:

  • The software already saves your drafts - if you start writing an answer and do not post it, you should find your answer there when you come back to the same question. Disadvantages: only for limited time, not exactly reliable (see also Emil Jeřábek's comment). For more details see here.
  • Here on meta.MO there is Formatting Sandbox. The description is: "The purpose of this thread is to enable people to check if their formatting works and to play around with their MathJax code." Disadvantages: It is expected the you eventually remove the draft so that other users can use that answer.
  • Technically, you could post a question and an answer to that question and immediately delete them. It is not possible to edit a deleted question. But you could still edit a deleted answer. (Of course, you have to keep the link somewhere, so that you find the deleted post. If the question is not deleted, editing an answer causes question to be bumped. But if the question is deleted too, you do not upset anybody by bumping.) However, this is not how deleted posts are supposed to be used. I am not sure to which extent this is bad. (But I do not consider it very likely that this could lead to a ban, at least not without some previous warning.) For further discussion see: Would using deleted (“hidden”) questions on math.SE for personal use be considered misuse of the site?

It would probably be better to do this externally:

  • Personally, I often simply store drafts of posts on my hard drive. I do not have preview, but I think that I am familiar both with MathJax and Markdown enough to be able to prepare a post without need of preview. And in this way I can use my favorite editor. (With all keyboard shortcuts I am used to and whatnot.)
  • If you want to have also preview, you can use some editor which supports MathJax and Markdown. Some such editors were mentioned here: MathJax: better way to prepare a Math.StackExchange question? For example, StackEdit was recommended by François G. Dorais in a post on this meta. For more information on StackEdit, have a look here (Wayback Machine). In particular, notice this warning: "Clearing your browser's data may delete all your local documents! Make sure your documents are synchronized with Google Drive or Dropbox."

I will add link to a similar question on another meta: What is the easiest way to keep a question/answer on hold until ready?

$\endgroup$
1
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ I lost a few unfinished long answers because I had to use the automatic save feature. It is extremely unreliable (though the devs staunchly refuse to acknowledge it and implement something more reliable, e.g. an explicit save button). I strongly advise not to depend on it with anything that you are not prepared to lose immediately. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 12:12

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .