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51 votes
4 answers
4k views

How to write a good MathOverflow question?

How do I write a good MathOverflow question? Got any advice for me?
Scott Morrison's user avatar
32 votes
112 answers
12k views

Requests for reopen and undelete votes for closed and deleted questions

Since I expect this may prove rather useful, I'm blatantly purloining Asaf's question from meta.math.se. Please post general requests for reopen votes as answers below. Beware that "short" ...
72 votes
1 answer
5k views

Who owns MathOverflow?

Is MathOverflow a subsidiary of Stack Exchange? Did MathOverflow lose its independence when it migrated to the Stack Exchange network?
François G. Dorais's user avatar
134 votes
60 answers
20k views

Best of MathOverflow, or papers inspired by MathOverflow

This is a place to collect MathOverflow success stories! Was some of your research inspired by something on MathOverflow? Do you know questions & answers that led to interesting research? ...
25 votes
25 answers
3k views

Help cleanup tags!

This is meant to agglomerate tags that need (occasional or regular) cleanup. That is tags that mean multiple unrelated things and need to be separated into more specific tags. Please follow the ...
17 votes
3 answers
1k views

Frequently asked questions about tagging on MathOverflow

Due to several discussions on the main site, I am asking this question concerning the best practices for tagging questions on MathOverflow. Unfortunately, the relevant documentation page https://...
37 votes
5 answers
4k views

History of MathOverflow

What is history of this site? When and by whom was it created? What were the important milestones of this site?
23 votes
1 answer
3k views

My question was closed on MO because it is not research level. Where should I ask instead?

If a question is closed (put on hold) on MathOverflow as off-topic for not being research level-question, but it is still a question about mathematics. What might be a suitable place for such question?...
17 votes
24 answers
3k views

Help improve tagging!

Please help by writing tag wikis for your favorite tags! Use answers to this post to suggest tag synonyms. Finally, if you're a 10k+ user, note how easy it is for you to edit tags now!
10 votes
6 answers
753 views

What outgoing migration paths should we have?

Now that we can migrate off topic questions, what sort of migration paths should be useful to have? I think that adding at least Cross Validated, if not one or two of the other science sites, would ...
Asaf Karagila's user avatar
  • 37.9k
14 votes
2 answers
914 views

Revamping the closure reasons in 2022

Prompted by Gro-Tsen's recent meta question, it appears that now may be a good time to rethink our site-specific close reasons here on MathOverflow. Background: If you have sufficient rep, you can ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
  • 60.5k
56 votes
1 answer
734 views

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 ...
Scott Morrison's user avatar
49 votes
17 answers
5k views

Interesting (and not sufficiently answered) questions on math.SE

In light of the generally positive response to this meta-thread, I am creating this to help advertise (and hopefully fully resolve) "interesting" questions on math.SE. I'm not really certain what the ...
user642796's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
1k views

Comment template for questions more appropriate for MSE

I think it would be nice to have a comment template that everyone could use when a (new) user asks a question on the site which is clearly more appropriate for MSE. Here's what I've been using today: ...
Michael Albanese's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
694 views

What should I do when I see a spam post on MO?

What is the correct way to handle spam on MathOverflow? Can regular users do something when they see a spam post?
16 votes
5 answers
745 views

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 Campion's user avatar
  • 60.5k
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
15 votes
1 answer
800 views

Who are the MathOverflow moderators?

Where can I find the list of MathOverflow moderators? How can I contact them?
38 votes
29 answers
3k views

Big list of feature requests and suggestions for a fantasy MO 3.0

I feel that MathOverflow is unique in the StackExchange network. There are features which we might want which might be unique to this site, and which might not be immediate feature requests or ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
25 votes
4 answers
1k views

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 ...
Martin Sleziak's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
647 views

Why are MO tags formatted as they are?

I noticed that some of the more frequently used MO tags are formatted according to a certain pattern, e.g.: nt.number-theory pr.probability lo.logic fa.functional-analysis Why are the tags formatted ...
Newb's user avatar
  • 201
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can I somewhere see my own deleted questions?

Don't worry, I won't try to sneakily repost them or otherwise bother anyone else besides me with them. I just felt like it would be nice to see what sort of questions I was thinking about a couple of ...
Vincent's user avatar
  • 2,437
23 votes
1 answer
722 views

Tea archive (mathoverflow.tqft.net) seems to be down

It seems that the link http://mathoverflow.tqft.net/ (which, according to this announcement, serves as an archive of the old tea, i.e. the previous incarnation of MathOverflow Meta) no longer works. ...
Martin Sleziak's user avatar
21 votes
4 answers
779 views

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 ...
Martin Sleziak's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
2k views

Frequently Asked Questions: MathOverflow FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions for MathOverflow What kind of questions can I ask here? What kind of questions should I not ask here? What about open problems? Where's the rule that says I have to wear ...
42 votes
2 answers
1k views

Who owns my MathOverflow posts?

Does Stack Exchange or MathOverflow own my posts? Can I reuse my posts elsewhere? Do I need to cite MathOverflow if I want to reuse my posts elsewhere?
François G. Dorais'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
16 votes
7 answers
2k views

What's our consensus on people resurrecting old questions just to edit formatting?

I think the title says it all. Personally, as someone who uses the "newest questions" as the front page, I'm not keen on people tweaking questions or answers that seem to have outlived active interest....
Yemon Choi's user avatar
  • 25.5k
14 votes
3 answers
1k views

Should we try to re-start manual deletions or is the situation fine anyway?

On MO 1.0 we had, after some discussions and conflicts but still, what I think was a quite smoothly and efficiently working process of deleting "bad" content. It seems with the move to MO 2.0 this ...
user avatar
7 votes
8 answers
1k views

Specialized chat rooms

Would there be an interest in having more specialized chat rooms, like the one for homotopy theory that currently exists? So far, the homotopy theory one seems to be fairly successful, and it seems ...
Tobias Kildetoft's user avatar
-19 votes
5 answers
2k views

MathOverflow updated site theme is ready for testing!

As part of implementing the new unified themes across the network, we're gradually rolling out updated site themes for each site. As of today, we have enabled your updated site theme for testing. If ...
Jon Ericson's user avatar
67 votes
6 answers
3k views

The Association Bonus

One new feature that's come along with the transition is the "association bonus", which allows members of Math Stackexchange --- and other sites that are much further removed from the mission of MO ---...
Steven Landsburg's user avatar
40 votes
3 answers
3k views

What shall we do with stone soup?

Sometimes, a question is asked that isn't up to the standards of MathOverflow. Maybe it's worded vaguely, maybe it's too open ended, or maybe the asker fundamentally misunderstood something important. ...
Scott Morrison's user avatar
34 votes
0 answers
618 views

Revamping the closure reasons

Motivation 1 Currently the custom off-topic reasons for MathOverflow read: This question does not appear to be about research level mathematics within the scope defined in the help center. ...
Willie Wong's user avatar
  • 36.9k
28 votes
8 answers
1k views

New feature - citation helper

At the request of the moderators, we have added a citation helper (based on the citation helper user script by Scott Morrison). If you are familiar with the original script, you will note a few ...
Oded's user avatar
  • 101
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

How can I log in into my old mathoverflow account?

I had a separate log in account for mathoverflow. Now, I'm unable to log in into that. I see only options of logging in using google, facebook, stack exchange etc but no option of logging using ...
14 votes
3 answers
1k views

List of recurrent technical problems involving MathJax

Edit: I have retagged this question 'feature-request' in an attempt to expedite action on these issues. I request that the MathOverflow developers implement an automatic fix of the issues in the ...
Ricardo Andrade's user avatar
38 votes
1 answer
2k views

Viewing reputation and badges is now opt-in and compatible with the new front page

This announcement is a little late (see the discussion here), but in response to discussions over many years, we (the moderators and board) have implemented a change to the site where by default, ...
Ben Webster's user avatar
  • 43.9k
28 votes
2 answers
673 views

Migrating to Math.SE: too many close reasons [duplicate]

As everyone knows, we get a fair number of questions on this site that are not research level, but would be appropriate for http://math.stackexchange.com. As a frequent Math.SE user, I have an ...
Nate Eldredge's user avatar
22 votes
3 answers
1k views

Measures to separate math overflow from the rest of the stack exchange network

It seems that there is a widespread concern about the influence that in many ways the switch to the stack exchange network has on this site. I infer this from the many questions on meta on this ...
Joël's user avatar
  • 25.7k
2 votes
2 answers
390 views

Is there a way to check all questions/answers posted from a deleted account

Suppose I know an account number, say user313948. Is there any way to check all questions/answers posted by that user?
Praphulla Koushik's user avatar
82 votes
3 answers
3k views

Should we exercise a bit more tolerance towards newcomers?

What bothers me quite a bit is that many people come to MO to get some help with their mathematical problems and are met with nothing but our standard "closed as not research level" verdict and a few ...
fedja's user avatar
  • 59.5k
45 votes
4 answers
2k views

"Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming." --- are we?

There is a new posting on the Stackoverflow blog, entitled Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming. It’s Time for That to Change. A quote: Too often, someone comes here to ask a question, only to be ...
Carlo Beenakker's user avatar
35 votes
2 answers
1k views

Reputation and badges are no longer visible next to the users' names

Right now it seems that a bug is affecting MO: reputation and badges are no longer displayed next to the users' names. This happens both on the front page: as well as on pages of individual questions:...
Alex M.'s user avatar
  • 5,197
34 votes
5 answers
1k views

Long-term archiving of MathOverflow

Suppose 'the worst' happens. Stack Exchange folds (commerical entities have been known to), and at the same time the moderators lose all interest and/or decide the despise mathematics. Where would ...
Scott Morrison's user avatar
34 votes
6 answers
1k views

How can we visually differentiate MathOverflow from MathStackExchange within the constraints of the new design themes?

The new design theme introduced for MO here is now live. Several issues with the new theme were raised in that discussion. I'd like to discuss one of them, which is sort of buried in my answer and ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
  • 60.5k
30 votes
2 answers
921 views

On the current color scheme, and why it sucks

Being color blinded is not very easy. You end up wearing black shirts and blue jeans, because it's easier. When you look at a computer monitor sometimes the red and green mix together, all sort of ...
Asaf Karagila's user avatar
  • 37.9k
26 votes
3 answers
1k views

Has the switch to SE 2.0 increased the rate of low-level / inappropriate questions?

I would be curious to know whether, now that links to MO appear in the footer of every SE 2.0 site, and in the "hot questions" list of the Stack Exchange button, the rate of inappropriate questions ...
Zev Chonoles's user avatar
  • 6,712
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

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