Questions tagged [etiquette]

This tag is aimed for discussions about etiquette: how to behave on the site and the chat.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
16 votes
5 answers
1k views

Do we have an unofficial quota on how many old questions one should bump for minor edits in a single day?

I noticed tonight that a well-intentioned user has been doing a lot of minor edits of formatting of old questions with the effect of filling most of the active question list with old questions bumped ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
24 votes
2 answers
1k views

Editing etiquette

What are some general guidelines for editing a MathOverflow post? Are there some "do"s and "don't"s I should know about? (The material that was previously in this question box has been moved to an ...
Todd Trimble's user avatar
  • 52.3k
22 votes
5 answers
2k views

What should be the policy on "open problems" on MO?

The subject of this discussion are questions on "open problems" on MO. There is an existing policy on "open problems" reproduced from the (old) FAQs, which involves an open-problem tag. The ...
user avatar
25 votes
1 answer
1k views

Using Math Overflow to check whether or not a proof is correct

A user named Jürgen Böhm recently posted two questions which boiled down to checking whether or not his proof is correct. I left a comment on the second one saying that I don't think this is ...
David White's user avatar
  • 28.7k
10 votes
1 answer
384 views

Questions answered in a comment

It may happen that a question has zero answers, but is actually already answered satisfactorily in a comment. An example is this question. I think this is somewhat misleading, as the "0 answers" ...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.5k
10 votes
0 answers
987 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 ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
26 votes
4 answers
8k views

On using MathJax to create 'white space'

The purpose of this post is, first, to raise awareness (as this, reasonably, might not be clear) that the way some (and it seems to me the number is growing) use MathJax to create 'white space' (or to ...
user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
2k views

Dealing with possible incorrectness

I have seen a few responses on MO that I think are either incorrect or possibly incorrect. What is the best way to draw attention to possible incorrectness? (I provide two examples below; if this is ...
Benjamin Dickman's user avatar
22 votes
3 answers
1k views

Answering not research level questions

I just commented the solution to a question that was obviously not research level. Then I deleted the solution again since providing it might encourage people to again asking such questions. ...
Christian Stump's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
685 views

"This question has been answered in the comments."

Athanagor Wurlitzer has recently been adding answers saying "This question has been answered in the comments" (see, e.g. https://mathoverflow.net/a/156051/3). I'm inclined to delete these answers (...
Scott Morrison's user avatar
8 votes
6 answers
1k views

How to discourage excessive self-edits?

My question is prompted by the reappearance of this post on the front page. A glance at the edit history shows that the OP has edited his own question thirteen times. This user has a history of ...
Nik Weaver's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
628 views

Community standard for contacting users off of MO?

If a user is using their full name as their user name, what, if any, is the community standard with regards to emailing that user using their independently found work email address about their ...
Trevor J Richards's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
612 views

Some proposals for modifications of the process of closing/reopening questions

I wish to make a modest proposal on closing/reopening questions. Let me begin by noting that by far the most frequent reviews are Close votes -- almost 37,000, and looking quickly most of the close ...
Lucia's user avatar
  • 43.3k
27 votes
3 answers
2k views

Do your own homework

Occasionally, we get questions on main taken from old contests, such as Olympiads and Putnam exams. These questions are inappropriate for MO, and they get closed, which is as it should be. However, ...
Gerry Myerson's user avatar
27 votes
2 answers
1k views

MO policy regarding pseudonyms that are other people's real name

I have noticed just now that a user has chosen as pseudonym "Alexander Grothendieck", which I'm a bit unconfortable with (the probability that it is also that user's name is extremely low, hence my ...
Thomas Sauvaget's user avatar
18 votes
5 answers
1k views

On the recent question "Is Euclid dead?", or: Is it considered good practice to use MathOverflow for a campaign?

Yesterday, a question entitled Is Euclid dead? has been asked in which the OP states: "Currently I am leading a campaign for the return of EG to the syllabus of the high schools of my country (...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.5k
12 votes
1 answer
576 views

Should I delete my own question if it turns out trivial after a comment?

I had not given this question enough thought before asking it. I went straight to looking for a reference without thinking about it. Somebody pointed out the obvious solution in a comment. Should I ...
Thomas Kahle's user avatar
  • 1,961
12 votes
1 answer
501 views

Altering the question in a way that makes an answer obsolete

I've seen that several times: an answer makes OP want to change the question in a way that would damage the answer. Obviously this should not be done. In fact I think it is better to delete the ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is it good practice to write "@someone" in a question?

On SE and on the old MO have seen @someone in a question. Probably this notifies someone in his inbox and draws his attention (which is the goal). Does it really ...
joro's user avatar
  • 24.2k
7 votes
1 answer
945 views

Would it be appropriate to ask why a new user chose MO over MSE?

With the move to Stack Exchange 2.0, some people feel that there will be (have been?) many more first time users asking questions on MO which should instead be asked on MSE. Presumably, such a user ...
Michael Albanese's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
282 views

Should I edit this question or make a new question?

Should the Grothendieck ring of varieties be K_0 of numerical motives? I want to change it to: 1) Asking about after tensoring with $\Qb$ 2) Asking if there is a map in some direction and if ...
David Corwin's user avatar
  • 15.1k
2 votes
1 answer
365 views

Why downvote on meta?

I only posted two questions on meta, both fact based and both about the way MO is supposed to work. Today, I realized that I have received three down-votes. I have a feeling about down-votes (and up-...
Amir Asghari's user avatar
  • 2,279
1 vote
0 answers
52 views

Should I rewrite my question, or create a new one

I posed this question two days ago, which effectively asks "Has X hard-to-describe special case on Barnette's Conjecture been proven?". In retrospect, I believe it was a poor question. What I now ...
Zach Hunter's user avatar
  • 3,375