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.
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questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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What do moderators do these days?
More than 7 years ago, Scott Morrison asked a great meta question: What do moderators do?, and recorded some useful answers. Some seem to be of general significance, but many of the answers were ...
12
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0answers
388 views
2019: a year in moderation
Since the start of the new year, I've been posting questions on various sites detailing how the various moderation actions taken on these sites break down between Moderators and ordinary members of ...
12
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0answers
928 views
How to "cite" MathOverflow answer?
I am writing a paper at the moment and for one proof I use an idea which I got from a MathOverflow answer (at the time I was asking idle questions but later of course found a way to use it). I of ...
12
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0answers
414 views
Removal of the "symplectic" tag
There is a symplectic tag on MO that currently contains just two questions. The first question so tagged dates from March 26 2017, so this makes this tag at least 1 year and 4 months old. I believe ...
12
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0answers
239 views
Tag for errata of books
Navigating MO, it is possible to view two kinds of questions regarding errors within a book. The first kind are community-wiki questions which answers are a collaborative listing of found errors in a ...
12
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0answers
586 views
Learn from my mistake
The question "What is the spin connection in 9 dimensions as opposed to 5 dimensions?" received two down votes. I would like to know what I can do to improve the quality of this question. Thank you ...
12
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0answers
341 views
OpenScience Q&A just went live
Perhaps you are aware of the fact that there was an Open Science private beta at StackExchange that did not quite manage to develop enough traction so it was closed down recently. Some people want to ...
12
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0answers
512 views
2% of viewers vote?
Maybe this is not possible to quantize accurately,
but might it be the case that
Q. Approximately 2% of those who view a posting on MO vote +/- on the question?
That's approximately true for my ...
12
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0answers
1k views
Why is my question apparently not research-level?
I just posted this question a few hours ago, and it's already had two votes to close for being off-topic (i.e., not of "research-level mathematics"). Considering it's ultimately a question about ...
12
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0answers
633 views
Is the following question on paper-writing etiquette appropriate for MO?
I'm wondering if it would be appropriate to ask a soft question on MO regarding mathematical etiquette. In more detail, I'm writing a paper that cites a well-known paper in my field, but I've been ...
12
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0answers
184 views
Remove substantial tag score requirement for suggesting tag synonyms?
I have recently attempted to create the obvious tag synonym 'dg-algebras' <--- 'differential-graded-algeb'. However, my attempt was thwarted by the system's insistence that I need five total score (...
11
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0answers
371 views
Can I undelete questions deleted by the OP if I find them interesting?
I am not sure and I could not find anything about the ethical guidelines. A new user recently asked a question, which I've found interesting, as well as others, as it started some discussion, and then ...
11
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0answers
386 views
Utility of Mathematics: Is this question appropriate here, and if not/if so, how can I phrase it better?
I would like to know if this question is appropriate for Math Overflow, and if so, how I can phrase it better to get the best results.
Question:
I recently spoke with a very nice mathematician who ...
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0answers
310 views
Role of the tag "gm.general-mathematics"
This question is about the tag gm.general-mathematics. A meta question about it already occurred here, but was less specific (and didn't generate much discussion). See also the discussion in the ...
11
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0answers
222 views
Retroactively add linked questions
Any question on MathOverflow (or other Stack Exchange site) shows the list of linked questions in the sidebar on the right. A question is added there if there is a link between the two questions ...
11
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0answers
312 views
What should the tag (open-problems) be used for?
Since this issue came up in comments to another questions on meta, I'll ask about the intended issue of the open-problems tag.
Question. What is the intended usage of the open-problems tag? Should it ...
11
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0answers
537 views
Appropriateness of proposed question on applications of number theory in dynamical systems?
Update: the question has now been asked on the main site - Applications of number theory in dynamical systems
I am considering asking a reference-request type question on MO about significant and/or ...
11
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0answers
501 views
Primarily opinion-based questions/answers
One closing option is primarily opinion-based: Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on ...
11
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0answers
692 views
2018: a year in moderation
Good morning, all! I'm a Community Manager here at Stack Exchange; some of you might remember me from classic answers such as a temporary change now approaching 6 years live and a list of possibly ...
11
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0answers
343 views
One more reason to reject an edit: too much alteration
I encountered this now, and have seen it quite frequently before: I would like to reject an edit, and the reason is something between "attempt to reply" and "clearly conflicts with author's intent". ...
11
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0answers
375 views
Area 51 Proposal: Sage and its subcomponents
I proposed a Q&A site for Sage and all its subcomponents viz. GAP, Pari, Singular, Sympy, ... on Area51 here. I thought many mathematicians here who use Sage in their research and teaching here ...
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0answers
255 views
Quick or easy methods to post math or diagrams on chat
One of the seeming obstacles to having scheduled informal seminars on chat is the extra work, probably mostly for the leader of the discussion (should there be one), in presenting ideas on the chat ...
10
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0answers
516 views
Bounty awarded to an immediately deleted answer
Something peculiar has just happened. A week ago a 300 point bounty has been added to this question (I think its content is hardly relevant to this meta question) [note: the bounty was added by a user ...
10
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0answers
303 views
What should you do if you find old duplicates?
Sometimes I discover that "old" MO questions are duplicates of even older MO questions.
Two examples:
Embarrassingly, I found out that my own question: Formula for number of permutations ...
10
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0answers
582 views
Question mysteriously deleted
I answered a question earlier today. It asked something like for an element $g$ of a free group, does there exist a finite-index subgroup of the free group such that g is a basis element of the ...
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0answers
544 views
Probability question migrated to stats.stackexchange
What has happened to the following question?: https://mathoverflow.net/posts/202242/revisions
Firstly, it looks like a reasonable question to me (although the notation could be improved). Why was it ...
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0answers
410 views
Is it appropriate to post question asking to prove NP-completness of more than one problem?
I believe that I discovered a method to generate several NP-complete problems. The NP-completeness proof is not immediately apparent to me. I did not find any reference in complexity literature to my ...
10
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0answers
926 views
Extending questions and answers gradually
If someone answers my question and I want to generalize it, how should I do it? Is it ok to gradually extend my question as answers improve? An answer to a question I wanted to ask may show me that I ...
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0answers
256 views
When reviewing suggested edits, cancel rejection and approval votes
I have seen many edit suggestions approved which I consider to be minor edits to old posts (which bump them to the front page), or to actually reduce the quality or readability of the post. Other ...
10
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0answers
585 views
On "How does the work of a pure mathematician impact society?"
The question How does the work of a pure mathematician impact society? was originally quickly closed, relatively quickly reopened, after a longer time closed again and has at the time of this edit a ...
9
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0answers
292 views
Why are there two separate tags (open-problem) and (open-problems)?
I assume that most likely this was just an oversight - but since it was a result of a moderator's action, it is probably better to ask than just remove the tag singlehandedly.1
Question: At the moment ...
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0answers
508 views
Rationale for reputation change on "my" reputation page that says 'User was removed'
At MathOverflow > Help center > Reputation & Moderation I see the following:
[...] a user who voted for one of your posts had their account deleted (either by request or due to violating ...
9
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0answers
310 views
What to do with the synonyms for the deprecated tags?
Recently, the following tag synonyms were created by a MathOveflow moderator: abstract-algebra $\to$ ra.rings-and-algebras, geometry $\to$ mg.metric-geometry and discrete-mathematics $\to$ co....
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0answers
342 views
Suggested tag: approximation-property
I'm relatively new to MO (but have been on MSE for a longer time), which means that I don't have enough reputation to create new tags. Which is probably a good thing.
Lately I've been puzzling with ...
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236 views
Should delete votes add a post to the low quality posts review queue?
Presently, unlike "Very Low Quality" flags, delete votes do not add
a post to the "Low Quality Posts" review queue. -- Should they?
9
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0answers
819 views
Probable Homework
This post asks for the solution of a problem subject to various artificial constraints of the sort that frequently arise in homework problems. When asked repeatedly why he wants to impose these ...
9
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0answers
276 views
Is this question appropriate for MO? (Instability of Newton basins of polynomials at multiple roots)
About a year ago I asked on MO when a Newton basin fractal is continuously determined by the roots of its polynomial. I mentioned in that question that I had convinced myself that the roots of the ...
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0answers
441 views
Questions on Mathematical Writing
Where should I ask about how to approach Mathematical paper writing? For example, the question [How to write an abstract for a math paper? ] was put on hold? Which stack exchange site should I have ...
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0answers
493 views
Suitability about a question on amenability of Thompsons group $F$
I was wondering if a question along the lines of the following would be appropriate for MO:
An open problem that seems to get a lot of attention every once in a while is the amenability of ...
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0answers
692 views
Why this is off-topic?
I posted a question on MSE for two months and received no helpful answer. So I tried the same question on MO. I got 4 off-topic votes and so the question got migrated back to MSE. I'd like to mention ...
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0answers
616 views
Why was the question about "expected difference of random variables" put on hold?
As I explained in the answer to the question The metric of the expected difference of random variables, I don't see any reason for closing it other than simple misunderstanding (to put it mildly) on ...
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592 views
The Math Teaching Stackexchange proposal is registering 38 more users for a private beta
Edit: Thanks to everyone who has signed up. There are already 162 participants, a number which usually takes several months to acheive.
As mentioned in this post, there is a proposal on Area51 for a ...
9
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0answers
475 views
Is this question appropriate? (Counterexamples in Universal Algebra)
I have a question which I'd like to ask, but I'm not sure it's appropriate for MO, and I wanted to get some feedback.
The reasons I'm worried it might be inappropriate are: (1) there are already ...
9
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0answers
625 views
Collatz Question
I voted to close this question about a "5n+1" version of the Collatz conjecture because it appears to be entirely unmotivated, with no heuristics and not even any substantial numerical evidence.
I ...
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0answers
288 views
Users with multiple accounts
In the old meta we had a very useful thread where one could point to moderators multiple accounts to be merged. Since things have changed, would there be a point on having such a thread here, or what ...
8
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0answers
553 views
What happened to the fonts?
It appears that MO (including MO Meta) has recently changed the display fonts:
I couldn't find any topics on MO Meta pertaining to this new change, hence this question. SO has also switched the fonts,...
8
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0answers
832 views
2021 Community Moderator Election
The 2021 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, ...
8
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0answers
546 views
Is there such thing as "typical user reputation curve"?
This question is driven by sheer curiosity - maybe even vanity?
My reputation curve acquired curious shape lately:
I can even guess reasons (mostly personal) why the pace is so slow ever after June ...
8
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0answers
369 views
MathOverflow in the news
What are some instances of MathOverflow being mentioned in the media?
Now that MathOverflow has recently had its tenth anniversary, I would be interested to learn of any mentions of it in the mass ...
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0answers
730 views
Between math stack exchange and mathoverflow
Suppose that I posted a question on mathstack exchange and no one has answered it. In my opinion it is not enough reason to post it on mathoverflow but if I also awarded a bounty and still didn't get ...
