62
votes
Welcoming new user: on a recent question about connections
I just want to comment, I think at this point, fighting and unpleasantness about whether questions are appropriate is a much bigger problem for the site than the presence of less-advanced questions on ...
Ben WebsterMod
- 43k
50
votes
How can we attract more grad students?
I'll go against my best judgement and will reply to this with my own perception.
First of all, the best thing would be to ask graduate students directly. I don't know if there are any active efforts ...
- 1,069
38
votes
"Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming." --- are we?
It depends. I think we don't want to be welcoming with a new user posting "plz solve teh linear algebra homework <see photo>". These questions deserve to be closed and downvoted into oblivion; ...
- 18.4k
35
votes
Welcoming new user: on a recent question about connections
I want to distinguish two different things that were said in the first comment: that the question was not research level and that the question should be migrated to math stackexchange.
It is not ...
- 126k
32
votes
Flood of Similar New User(s)
With regard to Gerhard's response -- which I agree with -- I see a number of things problematic in some of the behavior taking place in the present circumstances.
I have no doubt that behind these ...
Todd TrimbleMod
- 51.6k
18
votes
Revising the help page on "What topics can I ask around here?"
The vast majority of people who write the most common low-quality questions are not going to read this page at all.
I think the people much more likely to read this page are those, especially graduate ...
- 126k
18
votes
Welcoming new user: on a recent question about connections
I note that frequently users complain about unexplained downvotes and anonymous downvotes. Discouraging comments from users who indeed make a comment of this nature ("this is off-topic") ...
- 56.2k
16
votes
How can we attract more grad students?
I don't believe MO can do anything to make most grad students comfortable posting here. It wouldn't be compatible with the culture of the site or how its users see it (and some of the comments on this ...
- 2,945
16
votes
Should we exercise a bit more tolerance towards newcomers?
I think one of the key issues here is in the comments between fedja and Todd Trimble, and I want to elaborate with it.
If someone asks you a question, and you know the answer, and can explain it ...
- 126k
15
votes
"Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming." --- are we?
I think there are contrasting goals within the group of long term members (the established MathOverflow community, say those who have been posting five years or more to pick an arbitrary division) and ...
- 12.8k
11
votes
How can we attract more grad students?
I'm writing this answer as a (pseudo)-grad student who is comfortable using the site, having no real publications or positions under my belt.
Disclaimer: Generally I try to avoid using the pronoun 'I' ...
- 8,304
10
votes
Accepted
How to make welcoming comments on "homework-like" posts that will be closed?
I suggest leaving a comment along these lines (if it seems appropriate):
"This site is dedicated to questions of math research. I'm not sure there is a research angle to your question. If there ...
- 37.3k
9
votes
Should we exercise a bit more tolerance towards newcomers?
There are people persons. There are professional mathematicians. Some people are both. I suspect very few attend this forum regularly. (I guess a notable person among this few is Anton Geraschenko.)...
- 12.8k
9
votes
Flood of Similar New User(s)
I believe that I can give a partial answer to your question. Looking at some of the profiles that you have listed, they seem to be all unregistered users. I used to do something similar (but with only ...
- 5,065
9
votes
What should the modal window for first-time askers say?
The new Custom Ask Advice that is shown to new users is now live. Here is what it looks like right now on the site:
- 101
9
votes
Flood of Similar New User(s)
Do(es)n’t said user(s) simply exploit the loophole once detected by @MattF. (newly created accounts can spend the association bonus on bounties), and wouldn’t that part be solved by following his then-...
- 29k
8
votes
What should the modal window for first-time askers say?
Vote up / down if you would / would not prefer to add to Martin Sleziak's proposal some language about cross-posting.
Voting for this change does not preclude voting for any other change as well; we ...
Tim CampionMod
- 55.4k
8
votes
How can we attract more grad students?
This is a very difficult question. However, I think that we could attract more graduate students (actually, more people in general) following three lines of action. Many of these things have been ...
8
votes
Flood of Similar New User(s)
I think it is reasonable to be concerned, if only for the fact that we do not know what the ramifications of this behaviour are.
However, I think it is better to describe the behaviour and call out ...
- 12.8k
8
votes
"Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming." --- are we?
Interesting topic. Good thread. I have been here only a month, and so far I find these forums to be a terrific resource.
I'm not seeing how a forum such as MO (or to a lesser extent MSE) even could ...
- 1,032
8
votes
How do off-topic question askers find MO?
Though I haven't technically asked a single off-topic question yet, I theoretically could have, because, due to my familiarity with Wikipedia policies forbidding original research (from whose ...
7
votes
Customize the modal window for the first-time askers
Let me give some initial suggestion. (I hope that somebody proposes a better version - seeing many well-written posts both on main and on meta, clearly many MO users are able to do so.)
I have tried ...
- 4,578
7
votes
How do off-topic question askers find MO?
When I type "ask a math question" into Google (incognito mode), MathOverflow is the second link. Of course, Google tailors results to my past search history, but I would wager that this is a ...
- 4,467
6
votes
What should the modal window for first-time askers say?
Vote up / down if you think Martin Sleziak's proposal should / should not be modified to use the phrase "research-level mathematics" rather than "mathematics at graduate level or higher&...
Tim CampionMod
- 55.4k
6
votes
How can we attract more grad students?
I think the software limitations are a big part of the problem. In particular, how comments are integrated with questions and answers. The comments appear to give an opportunity for people to have a ...
- 11.7k
6
votes
Should users be shown some basic information before posting the first question?
Maybe we could go in a similar way as on Mathematics where the How to Ask page1 is shown to a user who asks their first question. But on Mathematics the How to Ask page is slightly modified to include ...
6
votes
Customize the modal window for the first-time askers
We used to have a page about how to ask a question on MO back on MO 1.0 that was quite good. The current one is kinda crap. I would suggest bringing back the old text explaining how to ask a ...
- 19.1k
5
votes
Are new users with inappropriate questions given help or rudely dismissed?
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
In this particular case, I had deleted the question by mistake. Someone had flagged this question/answer as suspicious, and I came to it right after working ...
S. CarnahanMod
- 44.3k
5
votes
How to make welcoming comments on "homework-like" posts that will be closed?
A lot of times they are closed silently; they accumulate a pile of downvotes, eventually get 5 close votes, and disappear with no indication to the user of what has gone wrong.
This is not correct; ...
- 18.4k
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