Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
1,153
questions
19
votes
0
answers
156
views
Opt out of the new upvote/downvote buttons?
I guess most of you have noticed by now the new upvote/downvote buttons. This seems to be in line with all the other SE sites (though I admit I haven't checked each and every one of them).
Does MO ...
0
votes
1
answer
214
views
Clarifying an answer that was deleted by moderators
I recently posted a controversial answer to a question, then spent a few days off site life-tending while things cooled off. When I returned with the intent of seeing how the controversy had been ...
20
votes
1
answer
533
views
Policy toward GPT-generated conjectures?
The recent MO post, A number theoretic conjecture by Chat GPT, posed a conjecture that was generated by ChatGPT. In my opinion, it was not a particularly interesting conjecture. For me at least, the ...
16
votes
1
answer
478
views
imgur will remove some content soon. Does MathOverflow need to save images?
It has been reported that "Hosting site Imgur will remove explicit and anonymous content next month". Are there possibly some images linked in MathOverflow questions or answers, attached to ...
9
votes
1
answer
331
views
On the tag [bitcoins]
Since several questions under the tag bitcoins have nothing to do with Bitcoin per se, but, rather, are related to proof of work, why not rename the tag cryptocurrencies or proof-of-work?
7
votes
1
answer
493
views
Repeated re-open/close votes (Tate conjecture)
The question Tate conjecture (Proved?) was asked yesterday, and quite quickly closed; it was then re-opened, and then closed (by, I think, a different set of 5). Questions about proofs of correctness ...
0
votes
0
answers
166
views
Difference between Mathematics SE and MathOverflow
If I post a question that I invented myself on Mathematics SE, I receive comments like "did you do homework?" and, eventually, "why do you ask if you know?". Fair enough. It seems ...
7
votes
3
answers
418
views
What should we call a tag on point-free topology?
The tag currently used for point-free topology (aka “pointless” topology) is “locales”. I think the name is a bit restrictive: while writing this question (which, indeed, does not contain the word “...
24
votes
2
answers
754
views
Revisiting our policies on thank-you comments
Despite the little notice in the comments section telling us that comments along the lines of 'thank you' aren't welcome because they don't move the discussion forward mathematically, I have always ...
-3
votes
1
answer
233
views
Rule against asking the same question that was once asked in the past (on another forum, yet)
In its relatively early days, MO was an organic and dynamic website — it encouraged active discussion among its members, that in almost all cases was extremely fruitful.
But now, even if a similar ...
3
votes
2
answers
86
views
Can’t vote to close question as duplicate of question without an answer
I tried to vote to close Einstein problem; on mirror symmemtry as a duplicate of Aperiodic monotile without reflections?. But the software gave me an error I wasn’t expecting: it said because the ...
23
votes
1
answer
710
views
Update on "Who owns my MathOverflow posts?"
I saw the question previously asked in:
Who owns my MathOverflow posts?
Unfortunately, I was not able to get a clear answer by reading the responses to that question, as other people had commented ...
6
votes
1
answer
504
views
The number of MO users
Is there any statistics/diagram that shows and compares the number of MO users in the course of time?
8
votes
0
answers
325
views
2022: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
7
votes
0
answers
167
views
How is TeX rendered in edit summaries?
I recently edited a question Dynkin type classification for 2-dimensional hypersurfaces in non-commutative space, and entered as my edit summary "$<x,y>$ -> $\langle x,y\rangle$" <...
0
votes
1
answer
359
views
MathOverflow in the classroom
My belief is that it is legitimate to cite some posts of the main site MathOverflow in the classroom of some course. Under this assumption I've wondered about the following question.
I don't know ...
18
votes
0
answers
549
views
Posting multiple "answers" to an already answered question
This question was asked and correctly answered three weeks ago. Since then another user has posted, as of today, five other "answers" describing his thoughts about related questions, ...
1
vote
0
answers
79
views
Should this question have been CW?
Yesterday I asked a big-list question (Examples of errors in computational combinatorics results). The question is naturally big-list because it asks for various examples. Now I am not quite familiar ...
0
votes
0
answers
125
views
Gaining points for posting
How do I earn 50 points to comment if I am not allowed to comment or post? So my problem is as described as far you can see.
13
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Let us wear hats
Many of the other stackexchange sites enable a festive wintertime custom every year in late December, the Winter Bash, in which user profiles are accommodated with fanciful hats, earned for various ...
15
votes
1
answer
641
views
Should we flag suspected ChatGPT posts?
Another meta question raised the issue of AI-generated (by ChatGPT or similar) posts.
I have a more specific question. If we see a post that we suspect to be of this genre, would the moderators like ...
1
vote
0
answers
37
views
How should we respond to user profiles (as opposed to questions or answers) that appear to be spam? [duplicate]
I've come across 10 different MO user profiles that all have very similar usernames that contain the name of a company. None of these users have any activity on the site except for filling out their ...
0
votes
0
answers
133
views
Is this question about partition numbers too broad/vague?
Here's my proposed question (edit: now posted) (edit 2: posted version now edited):
I have found an algorithm for counting partitions, and I've been able to express it into a mathematical formula, $P(...
-3
votes
1
answer
192
views
Can a question be muted from showing up to the front of the page so answers can edit their response as much as they please?
I liked the answer to this question: An algebra of "integrals" by @anixx
Which had a very detailed table attached. My understanding is the answerer had updated the question some 35 times to ...
9
votes
2
answers
206
views
Should tags be removed from spam?
When flagging spam, I usually delete tags and replace them by tag-removed as well. I just received a comment suggesting that this is not useful. It probably doesn'...
54
votes
2
answers
3k
views
ChatGPT strikes MathOverflow
The user (or a bot) https://mathoverflow.net/users/496085/canvas123 appears to be posting ChatGPT-generated text on MathOverflow.
Two “answers” by this user already got accepted (!):
When is a ...
14
votes
1
answer
308
views
Mathoverflow for finding the name of mathematical concepts
I am used to posting on MathOverflow problems with questions. However, now I am looking for the name of a mathematical object that I think already exists (and I would be happy to find reference ...
19
votes
1
answer
581
views
Creation of "procrastination" tag
One user has created the tag procrastination: see this question. In principle I would have immediately deleted it as totally irrelevant (in the same way I would delete "Stupid question" or &...
4
votes
1
answer
222
views
The tags (publishing) and (journals) - maybe change direction or cancel the synonym
At the moment there is a synonym publishing $\to$ journals. (With the tag journals as the master tag.)
I think that at least for some questions tagged journals:
Using a tag called publishing might be ...
54
votes
8
answers
3k
views
We have our first user with more than 200K reputation!
Congratulations to Joel David Hamkins who on (I think!) the 27th November 2022, was the first MathOverflow user to pass 200k reputation! Since Joel joined on the 19th November 2009, he has supplied ...
9
votes
0
answers
282
views
New tag for "stochastic partial differential equations" (SPDEs)
Since there are separate tags for a) ODEs, ca.classical-analysis-and-odes and differential-equations and for b) ap.analysis-of-pdes but only one tag for stochastic-differential-equations, I was ...
2
votes
1
answer
223
views
Why is this question locked?
This question has only two downvotes, which is not enough to keep it off the front page. I'd therefore like to downvote it, but can't, because it is locked for mysterious reasons.
Because this does ...
-6
votes
1
answer
279
views
Where did the reputation go?
Some time ago, it was decided that reputation should no longer be displayed by default, but users had the possibility to opt in to see it, as explained by Ben Webster. I had opted to see reputation, ...
14
votes
1
answer
355
views
Why was my question deleted?
Why was my question Is the Frog game solvable in the root of a full binary tree? deleted?
It was a cross-post, but I followed all recommended advices when doing so.
It was also decently upvoted (12+).
...
4
votes
1
answer
382
views
Migrated question returned to MO - how to handle?
The question I am referring to is
Is all complicated modern math intuitively understandable?
(See the user's math.SE account to see that the question was at one point migrated to math.SE.)
I think the ...
-5
votes
2
answers
485
views
If it doesn't interest you, don't read it!
As an algebraist, if I see an analysis question on Mathoverflow that falls outside my expertise, I probably won't read it in details, and if I do read it, I certainly won't judge its "level",...
11
votes
4
answers
525
views
What to do with the erdos tag?
This was discussed before but that discussion is outdated.
Tags related to a specific person are generally bad. (This is not the same as specific topics named after a person, e.g. Galois theory is not ...
46
votes
0
answers
1k
views
2022 Election results: Congratulations to our new moderator!
The election is over, the votes have been counted, and on behalf of the current team and board, I'd like to welcome David Roberts to the moderators team!
I'd like to thank Carl-Fredrik Nyberg-Brodda ...
14
votes
0
answers
209
views
Which questions should be tagged “reference-request”?
The reference-request tag is currently described as: “this tag is used if a reference is needed in a paper or textbook on a specific result.”
I have found current usage of this tag too broad to be ...
-13
votes
2
answers
591
views
Why my nomination for 2022 Community Moderator Election withdrawn without convincing reason?
I was honored to participate in the elections for moderation in MO 2022 , but I am sorry to say that my candidacy was withdrawn today without any convincing reason, frankly, I did not find it ...
4
votes
0
answers
273
views
Can I ask this question on Math Overflow? (Advice on how to get started)
I am thinking of applying for a maths PhD programme. I have more or less an idea of the subfield I'd like to research, but not much more than that. I'm looking for suggestions on how to properly ...
19
votes
2
answers
963
views
Nominating other community members
Is there no mechanism to suggest other community members for nomination?
If I remember correctly, last election there was some mechanism in place to suggest community members other than ourselves who ...
7
votes
1
answer
532
views
2022 Community Moderator Election
The 2022 Community Moderator Election is now underway!
Community moderator elections have three phases:
Nomination phase
Primary phase
Election phase
Most elections take between two and three weeks, ...
20
votes
2
answers
825
views
MathOverflow conferences
What would the appropriate initial steps be to host a MathOverflow conference?
Back in 2019 I hosted a party for the 10th anniversary of MathOverflow, and it was a blast.$^*$ Since then I've ...
18
votes
11
answers
884
views
2022 Moderator Election Q&A – Question Collection
The purpose of this thread was to collect questions for the questionnaire. The questionnaire is now live, and you may find it here.
MathOverflow is scheduled for an election next week, 2022-09-19. In ...
5
votes
0
answers
214
views
Partial answer accepted, thinking it could have been easily extended and provided enough insights
Some days ago I posted a question and I accepted an answer, "although it’s only a very partial answer," as the answer author wrote in a comment. I accepted it because I thought that it ...
3
votes
2
answers
189
views
Should we allow link-only answers that point to stable, well known and respectable sites?
I have just been presented with an answer in the VLQ queue that consisted essentially in a link to a preprint on arXiv. The user having posted it is a high reputation user, so he definitely knows the ...
0
votes
0
answers
156
views
Asking if a post about a mathematical characterization of gravitational geons can be potentially interesting for the main site MathOverflow
I would like to ask about if a question about the following subject can be potentially interesting and on topic on MathOverflow. I would like to ask on the main site of MathOverflow about the ...
23
votes
0
answers
912
views
Upcoming election announcement (2022)
It has been quite some time since the last moderator election, and we decided that it would be a good idea to hold one soon.
This is just a preliminary announcement to let you know that this is going ...
5
votes
0
answers
223
views
Would such a "big list" on known bounds for distances between $2^S-3^N$ be appropriate for MO?
After new questions and/or activities on older questions on "bounds for distances $2^S-3^N$" appeared in MO I thought whether a [BigList] or [CommunityWiki] on known such bounds (their ...