All Questions
1,680
questions
-3
votes
2
answers
879
views
Politeness on MO/MetaMO
On at least two occasions some advanced MO users included in their comments phrases which were less than polite. I hope that these are isolated instances or else I would quietly and simply leave MO ...
-3
votes
1
answer
287
views
A fuller story of up/down-voting
MO-participants should appreciate the difference between information about +1 vote and +4 vs -3 votes. This is especially the case of closed questions.
I hope that MO will implement the more ...
-3
votes
2
answers
446
views
Respond to comments of deleted posts
Recently my answer to a question got deleted .
Before it got deleted, it had comments from 2 specific users. Since I came to know about the comments after it was deleted I was unable to reply.
So,
How ...
-3
votes
1
answer
99
views
How to formulate a question for a Mathoverflow forum?
Can the following question be posted? “Where could an error be in the proposed proof of Fermat Last Theorem? Info about the author, proof and preliminary validation is at (link)”. How should the ...
-3
votes
1
answer
487
views
Why MO community forbide me and discourage me to do my research and to post my questions?
I'm confused why MO community forbids me many times to ask question however the last question that I have posted wasn't negative , Really this method of dealing is discouraging me and discourage all ...
-3
votes
1
answer
161
views
Remove the upper bound on the number of bounties a single user can have at any moment
This question is about the maximum number of active bounties one user can have at any given point of time. Why do we have such a limitation? Why only 3 bounties?
I have asked some questions on this ...
-3
votes
1
answer
174
views
Giving "bountied questions" more visibility weight
What community thinks about idea giving "bountied questions" more attention ?
I almost never look on the tab "featured", I guess I am not alone. So I guess such questions deserve little attention.
...
-3
votes
1
answer
153
views
Some concession for first couple of questions posted by new user
which is more important between connection and metric?
This question was posted by a new user before 40 minutes.
It was not a spam post.
It is not clearly mentioned what the question is.
...
-3
votes
1
answer
196
views
Should there be a separate tag for videos?
Sometimes there are questions about videos, movies, documentaries, etc. (I'll add a small sample below.)
Would it be useful to have a separate tag for this topic? This could possibly help when ...
-4
votes
2
answers
539
views
How do people determine if other people's questions are research level or not?
I post a question here:
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/159016/on-convexity-of-function-in-c10-infty
(now deleted).
Obviously, those who closed it think it is too elementary.
But how do they know ...
-4
votes
3
answers
628
views
VIndictive downvoting--what can be done about such childishness, errh, lack of professionalism?
Clearly, from my reputation record, there has been some vindictive downvoting in the last three days or so. MathOverfflow is a community of people, not saints, and things like this are expected to ...
-4
votes
1
answer
427
views
Request for Undelete
I hope that I am following the instructions listed at How does deleting work? What can cause a post to be deleted, and what does that actually mean? What are the criteria for deletion?.
I would like ...
-4
votes
3
answers
349
views
How to ask general questions about research directions in given area
Here are examples of two questions which I would like to ask. I am afraid to ask them, because they might be closed. The question about 3-manifolds might survive. The question about sporadic groups ...
-4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why have I been suspended from the ICM chat? General remarks about unwelcoming behaviour on MathOverflow
Although the below obfuscates the context which is undoubtedly relevant to what has happened, the following comments appeared to be reason enough for the moderators to ban me from the ICM chat.
...
-4
votes
1
answer
327
views
Regarding my question: "Can only the constructible sets be proven to exist in $ZF$...."
I am concerned that the 'bad reviews' regarding my most recent question are more harassment than helpful. They seem to come from distinctions between $Def$ (or what I call $\mathscr P_{Def}$), $\...
-4
votes
3
answers
317
views
Make it evident that bounties are non-refundable or refund them on other people's questions
When I went to place my first bounty about a month ago, the question wasn't mine and I almost put up 500 rep to draw as much attention as possible figuring I'd only have to surrender said rep if ...
-4
votes
2
answers
177
views
Is it possible to add an option to migrate to a programming site?
There have been a number of questions in the Close part of Review lately which were basically asking for help creating an algorithm to do some mundane task (see here, here, here for example). I wonder ...
-4
votes
1
answer
183
views
Mixed reviews - can I have a decision reversed?
The image says it all really - I flagged when the question was still open so how come the question was then put on hold but my flag rejected?
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/229147/bourbakis-book-...
-4
votes
2
answers
364
views
Area 51 Mathematics Open Community Reviews
Following the discussions in
Area 51 community peer review
and links therein, I have created the following proposal
Mathematics Open Community Reviews
hoping to get things started. The proposal ...
-4
votes
1
answer
306
views
Should my question be closed?
See the question "On the number of $n$-perfect numbers". Some people claimed that it should be closed because I know the answer while I don't simply because they are hard open problems in number ...
-4
votes
1
answer
379
views
Should we create an Erdős tag?
I was thinking about creating tags for some famous or important people, like Erdős (that already exists, as pointed out by Joonas: erdos), that could be used for questions related to their work.
...
-4
votes
1
answer
248
views
Reputation recalculated: only even reputation now?
So +1 get 10 points for answers and questions, and -1 give -2 points. It is easy to see that users only have even reputation numbers now. Or did I miss a reputation-changing mechanism? (If not, why ...
-4
votes
1
answer
211
views
How to contact moderators [duplicate]
Is there some way to contact all the MathOverflow moderators?
-4
votes
1
answer
269
views
Why is a question asking for powerful arguments for intuitionism not a research level question?
I'd like to read some well-vetted and modern pieces arguing for intuitionism (the "intuitionist stance"?), which I take to be:
As the intuitionist sees it, the rules of logic used by mathematicians ...
-4
votes
1
answer
190
views
Would this question be appropriate for (main) MO?
Note #1: title of this post was modified as per a great suggestion from Todd Trimble
Note #2 ( to site moderators): I truly consider this question to be a legit "meta" question about the MathOverflow ...
-5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why was this question about axiom of choice and the Wiles's proof of FLT deleted?
Why was this question about axiom of choice and the Wiles's proof of FLT deleted?
Namely the question was as follows:
Does the Wiles's proof of Fermat's last theorem rely on axiom of choice?
[I ...
-5
votes
2
answers
366
views
Why a Question gets Down vote and its Answer gets Upvotes?
Please, visit my question.
You will see the post has 9 downvotes and one of the answers got 7 up-votes. Moreover, the answer that got 7 votes is a mere try, not a complete answer. On the other hand ...
-5
votes
1
answer
262
views
The reason for putting on hold a question
Why was this question put on hold? It seems to be fairly specific and it is about mathematics. You could argue that it is slightly meta-mathematical; would it then be appropriate on meta MO?
-5
votes
1
answer
623
views
Restriction on Number of edits
Book about fluid dynamics asked Apr 13 '10 edited 1 hour ago
Are there examples of conjectures supported by heuristic arguments that have been finally disproved? asked 21 hours ago edited 2 hours ...
-5
votes
1
answer
246
views
What to do when it seems that downvotes are not justified (for example, when they are directed "against" the person and not "against" the question)?
This question now has a score of $-2$ and it could be that it will be lowered still.
It is an elementary attempt to resolve an open problem.
I shared it with you because I am an amateur and almost ...
-5
votes
2
answers
307
views
Should metaMO allow actual requests for mathematical consulting services to be remunerated either by honoraria or by "usual and customary" fees?
Should metaMO allow actual requests for mathematical consulting services to be remunerated either by honoraria or by "usual and customary" fees?
If so, should MO receive reasonable "broker" fees for ...
-5
votes
1
answer
218
views
Bumping the question if it receives upvotes but no answer
Suppose a question is posted 3 days ago and it got decent number of up votes, say $5$ but did not receive any answer yet and not even comments which says some thing in direction of an answer..
In ...
-5
votes
4
answers
706
views
Migrating a question which is already posted on the other site [closed]
When a question begins by saying "This question appeared earlier on math.stackexchange.com" and links to that earlier posting, how does it make sense to migrate it to math.stackexchange.com (thereby ...
-5
votes
1
answer
505
views
How to properly ask for the (non)existence of hypothetical mathematical objects on MO?
A question from a rookie on MO.
During my research, I introduced in my physico-mathematical equations some "nasty", "problematic" mathematical objects (namely functional integrals) that are at least ...
-5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Protest for my account suspension [closed]
I posted this question about two month ago. Shortly after this, I got a moderator private message.
It says:
We've noticed that you have a pattern of engaging in lengthy discussions in comments, ...
-5
votes
1
answer
230
views
Close votes of different types
Sometimes when a question is closed, different people have a different reason for closing it. You can see this while voting: there is a count in the margin saying how many votes of a given type have ...
-6
votes
2
answers
404
views
Is this site not intended to help mathematicians and aspiring mathematicians become more informed about the subject?
My account says "we are no longer accepting questions from this account". Although some of my questions have been negatively received (and taking into account the fastidious nature of MathOverflow), I ...
-6
votes
1
answer
334
views
How the moderators/admin decide the significance/research orientation of any question before closing it? is it intuitive to them?
I am not sure whether there exists some kind of objectivity in taking a decision in closing a question. For example my question https://mathoverflow.net/questions/226226/a-symmetric-function was ...
-6
votes
1
answer
369
views
Are these close-votes cast correctly?
I asked this question on MSE. It received up-votes and one answer that seems imprecise and unsatisfactory to me. Then I posted it here on MathOverflow for answers of higher quality, and it was also ...
-6
votes
1
answer
295
views
Would it be okay/interesting to ask a survey type question?
I would be interested in asking a question which asks mathematicians who visit the site the following question:
1) What research topic are you actively working on right now?
2) Why are you ...
-6
votes
2
answers
359
views
Should we encourage non-professionals to ask hard questions if that is good for the future development of the mathematics? [closed]
There is a story about Gauss being "unimpressed by FLT, pointing out (after finding a proof of the n=3 case) that in number theory it’s very easy to come up with problems that are very hard.".
But, ...
-7
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Why does mathoverflow encourage only research level questions while stackoverflow encourages ANY questions?
Why does mathoverflow encourage only "research-level" questions while stack overflow encourages "all-level" questions?
I understand that the two communities seem to have different mentalities towards ...
-7
votes
2
answers
449
views
Why was my probability question closed?
Why was my question closed here? Probability every team successfully presents a solution
At a summer math program a contest is held for $n$ teams. Each team, composed of $n$ individuals, is given the ...
-7
votes
1
answer
200
views
Do we have a privacy problem when people try and leave the mathoverflow community?
Do we have a privacy problem when people try and leave the Mathoverflow community?
Due to my objections regarding MO I deleted my profile. While I understand not deleting my questions and answers, I ...
-7
votes
1
answer
582
views
More precisely defining the scope of mathoverflow's subject matter
A few months back someone asked about the difference between questions appropriate for mathoverflow.net and those appropriate for math.stackexchange.com. And someone answered, saying something along ...
-7
votes
1
answer
646
views
The question 'Mathematical work of Jonathan Gleason' disappeared
The question
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/291518/mathematical-work-of-jonathan-gleason
was deleted by some unknown person, not long after Jonathan Gleason passed away. I am shocked with the ...
-7
votes
1
answer
507
views
What is the best way to ask for comments on your proposed proof of some known theorem on MathOverflow?
Firstly, I apologize in advance if this post in not suitable for MO, but in my personal circumstances, I have no other place where I could post it.
Suppose one is fairly convinced that they have found ...
-7
votes
1
answer
249
views
Can the Math Overflow look be changed? [closed]
I love the math sites but I rarely visit this MathOverflow site because of its look. The color and appearance is not appealing. I know this will sound weird but the mathematics is cool, maybe they can ...
-7
votes
1
answer
350
views
Is Mathoverflow aware of its role of popularizing mathematics? [closed]
I read book of prof. Michał Heller. He received award of Hugo Steinhaus for popularizing science. In his speech he mentioned Steinhaus in anecdote. In 1952 Secretary of PAN (Polish Academy of Science) ...
-7
votes
1
answer
176
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adding n cat lab tag
I propose adding n cat lab tag with an intention to discuss mathematics that is written in https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/HomePage.
As https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/HomePage has large amount of ...