Questions tagged [feature-request]
You have an idea for a new feature, or for a change to the existing functionality.
232
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Minor edits, subject to review
Now that MathOverflow has moved to 2.0, there is a potential solution to the long-standing tension between people wanting to make minor improvements to old posts, and others not wanting the 'active ...
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answer
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Can we have the window title for a question start with the question?
The title attribute in the page of a question like Comparison between $E_2$-terms of Leray and “second hypercohomology” spectral sequences is currently set to "ag.algebraic geometry - Comparison ...
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2
answers
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Deleting others' work
Recently a question was posted on MathOverflow, which received (I think) more than an average number of upvotes. There was an answer to the question, by someone other than the OP. Next day, the ...
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Cancel the association bonus
There has been some previous discussion of the association bonus, c.f.
The Association Bonus
Is there an association bonus for this site?
Can we please get rid of the association bonus for other ...
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37
votes
3
answers
730
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Discreet editing
After I edited someone's Question or Answer, it feels real awkward to see my name mentioned in front of the author of the respective Q. or A. I feel that instead of displaying editor's name there ...
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4
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Why not 'thanks' in comments?
I've noticed a message in mathoverflow's place for comments saying that '+1' or 'thanks' comments are not appropriate. I don't agree with the second kind of comment being inappropriate. I think it's ...
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Using MO as a platform to discuss papers in math?
A use case scenario: I am reading a paper and I get stuck on some point. It is obvious to me that everyone else who tried to understand this point would get stuck. I ask around, people either haven't ...
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2
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Explicitly pointing out math.stackexchange when (new?) users ask a question
I have recently flagged several questions for migration to math.stackexchange which were fairly clearly not about mathematics research and related topics. It was clear that in some cases these new ...
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4
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Which Latex / MathJax features do we need or want to have supported on the site?
As we've started discussing, Stack Exchange is planning to redo the editor for all questions and answers across all their sites. As articulated by Emilio Pisanty, these changes will have significant ...
Tim CampionMod
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4
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Should users be shown some basic information before posting the first question? [duplicate]
In an answer to another question discussing possibilities how to decrease the number of off-topic questions1 it was mentioned that: Perhaps we should force a person to read the rules before posting ...
- 4,588
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5
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Community Peer-Review in Mathoverflow
I was recently surfing around the Physicsoverflow and I have to admit I was impressed by their Review section. I could not help myself from thinking how -and if- such a feature could also be ...
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"A year in moderation" post on MathOverflow?
You might have noticed than many Stack Exchange sites have some statistics about both community moderation and moderators' activity posted on meta under the title "2018: a year in moderation". Here is ...
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3
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Does Mathoverflow really want the 'Publicist' badge?
I enjoy the rewards system on the Stack exchange network. I learned some time ago that you can easily earn gold badges on all sites by picking the most interesting questions and using the "Share" ...
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4
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Customize the modal window for the first-time askers [duplicate]
When a user asks their very first question on a Stack Exchange site, they are shown a modal window with a short advice. The content can be either a generic message or it can be customized for a ...
- 4,588
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Why do we link to Twitter, Facebook or Google+ below every question?
I edit this old feature request of mine, in the hope that mentality have evolved and some consensus can be reached and some action be taken:
After each question on MO (with no answers yet), we can ...
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0
answers
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Questions containing my "favorite tags" are barely distinguishable
I liked the fact that in MO v1, any question which contained one of my list of favorite tags was noticably highlighted (a brown-orange color, if I remember correctly).
In the new version, such ...
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21
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2
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Ignoring certain users' postings
This old post on meta stackexchange contains a script that hides posts from users of your choice. There were some negative comments there and the script doesn't seem to be working anymore (maybe ...
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Can MO go back to +5 rep for questions? Should it?
In case you missed the news, upvotes on questions now grant +10 reputation instead of +5, and the change has been implemented retroactively (most if not all users have already had their reputation ...
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2
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Can (and should) Project Euclid links be replaced in bulk?
In February 2021, Project Euclid made some changes on their website: Project Euclid Platform Migration FAQs.
It is probably a consequence of this that the links starting with ...
- 4,588
20
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0
answers
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Make edit history more accessible
Once a post has been edited once, there is a direct link to the revision history of the post that is visible to everyone as in this example:
However, when a post has not been edited, this link is not ...
- 43.5k
19
votes
3
answers
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Community Wiki in the hands of moderators
I don't understand the wisdom of removing the CW button from the control of an author of a question, and having always to pester the moderators to turn it on. Might it be possible to return this ...
Todd TrimbleMod
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18
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1
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Please BCC moderator private messages to [email protected]
(This is a feature request only really relevant to moderators, but feel free to vote or comment anyway!)
With the move to 2.0, the moderators now have a new mechanism for contacting users, called a ...
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18
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0
answers
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Why is the "last seen 96 years ago" feature gone?
User homepages used to display the information "last seen ... (min/days/...) ago". It appears this feature is gone now.
I found it useful, and while it does divulge some otherwise ...
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18
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0
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Removing questions after answers
I recently gave a simple counter example to a question posed (I'm sure the mods can see the question). Probably the user was embarrassed by this. The question was promptly deleted and with that my ...
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0
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Can we replace client-side MathJax with server-side MathJax?
One of the (many) problems with MathJax is that
formulas are rendered using a client-side JavaScript.
Apart from the process itself being ridiculously slow,
this also means that the entire page must ...
- 35.5k
18
votes
0
answers
160
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Making it easier to access hidden comments
This is a follow-up of this recent post, and hopefully a feasible suggestion.
Problem: If a question/answer has many comments (say more than fit on my screen) and I decide to read them all, in ...
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1
answer
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KaTeX vs MathJax
According to some benchmarks, it seems that KaTeX renders latex much more faster than Mathjax.
Is there any chance to use KaTeX in place of Mathjax?
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1
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Should the rules for deleting own questions be modified? - an example
I am aware of the own question deletion rules - in particular, kindly provided in an answer to Rules for deleting one's own question by Martin Sleziak. I think these rules have to be changed ...
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2
answers
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Can we make the cite link bigger?
The cite link in the share box is minuscule:
Since this is a very important feature for MO, it should have much more visibility.
[Related: https://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/112, Citation ...
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17
votes
2
answers
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How To Ask page
One of the best things on the old MO page was the "How to Ask" link on the top. It is true that SE took the hint and added something like that to the previous FAQ (which is now retired), but the MO ...
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17
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0
answers
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Reviewing first posts that are answers or late answers
When reviewing first posts that are answers or late answers to questions that have existing answers I invariably go to the original question to see these answers since I want to check if these new ...
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0
answers
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Booth at Joint Mathematics Meeting?
This is identical to my misplaced "answer" here, written while attending JMM. I am reposting a fresh question at François G. Dorais's request.
I wonder if it make sense, at some future Joint ...
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4
answers
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Opting out of reputation
[Disclaimer. I'm making this feature request not because I want it nor because I think it's a good idea, but because I heard it so often that there is need to discuss it. Please don't shoot the ...
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3
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What to do with homework questions?
I think something should be done with the homework questions: there are too many of them now. I suggest that one reason for closing should be "homework". If at least 3 people vote for that reason to ...
user6976
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1
answer
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Would disallowing displayed equations ("double dollars") in titles be useful?
If a poster includes in the title some formula in enclosed between $$, like $$x^2+y^2=z^2$$
$$x^2+y^2=z^2$$
the title of the ...
- 4,588
16
votes
1
answer
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Really minor complaint about the off-topic close menu
In the off-topic part of the close menu, the radio button for "this question does not appear to be about math" is annoyingly close to the link to the help center, at least for me:
Twice now I've ...
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16
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0
answers
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Change of colors
I decided to follow up on my own thread regarding the color scheme, and test something up.
Using archive.org, I loaded a copy of MathOverflow from 2011, and it turns out that the questions in one's ...
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15
votes
5
answers
690
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What should the modal window for first-time askers say?
When a user asks their very first question on a Stack Exchange site, they are shown a modal window with some introductory advice. As explained in the March 2020 announcement of this feature, there is ...
Tim CampionMod
- 58.3k
15
votes
1
answer
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Could there be a warning when a new tag is created?
It is rather easy to make a typo and create a new tag by mistake without even noticing it.1 Could we have a warning saying that the user is creating a new tag so that users can notice such mistakes ...
- 4,588
15
votes
4
answers
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Hiding reputation
In MathOverflow 1.0 we had the ability to hide other users' reputations. Can we get that again?
(Also, I had to rewrite this question several times to get past an annoying box that said my question ...
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votes
2
answers
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Feature request: add short "about MathOverflow" section to the front page
Until a few years ago MathOverflow front page had a short section at the top describing what the site is for. I am not sure when it disappeared or why but I would like to see it restored. Currently ...
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0
answers
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Change reputation required to post on meta back to 5 reputation points
Typically, Stack Exchange sites have the restriction that only users with at least 5 reputation points on the main site can post on meta. In this regard, MathOverflow is different. (It is listed also ...
- 4,588
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Converting a too-long answer in a comment should generate an error message
I just tried to convert an answer into a comment; it was too long for a comment, and the software just truncated the text.
I think it would be better to either generate an error message, ask for ...
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1
answer
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Allow questions to be closed as duplicates of questions on math.stackexchange.com
We frequently have questions that are crossposted, e.g. https://mathoverflow.net/questions/137414/systems-of-parameters-for-algebra-a#question.
The only options for now are to close as off-topic, ...
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5
answers
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Public dumps for mathoverflow?
As far as I remember, there was supposed to be a public dump of the MO database just before the migration: http://dumps.mathoverflow.net/ . Not an urgency by any measure, but something that would be ...
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3
answers
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Forbid (or rewrite) proxy links in answers
One can see from the recent discussion Correcting links with university proxy (especially MathSciNet links) that some users add in their posts links that only work for people behind a specific proxy, ...
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Illustrating posts of others
This issue arose in connection to the question Is this a $C^0$ foliation of $\mathbb{R}^2$? where a foliation is described formally. I thought it would help to have a picture of it. Initially I wanted ...
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Why can't we close questions that have a bounty?
I just cast the 5th vote to close the question
Was Cauchy so obstinate?, but the system said that it's impossible to close a question with an open bounty.
It seems to me that this question is ...
- 25.5k
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2
answers
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Is there left any way to highlight part of text after all?
Currently we have quotes, but
the quoted text looks more faint than the surrounding text
The vertical bar hardly helps, I believe. In fact I think (although I cannot explain it) that this bar ...
- 17.2k
14
votes
3
answers
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Request for help with javascript for the citation search feature
I would like to switch over the citation helper from the current kludged together back-end based on MathSciNet data, to an officially supported back-end (very kindly!) provided by Zentralblatt.
We'll ...
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