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Just a reminder to please be nice with the comments. It seems to me (in a completely statistically unsound survey based on my own impressions) that we're getting a bit snarky with the comments at the the moment.

I certainly concede that we seem to be getting some spectacularly stupid questions recently, but responding to them with snide or snarky comments isn't the best way to deal with them. If you don't want to take the time to politely explain to the OP how their question could be improved then please just downvote, vote to close or vote to delete as your reputation allows, then go and calm down with a nice cup of coffee.

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    $\begingroup$ This. I've also been known to take my snarky comments to chat if I feel that have literary merit. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Nov 19, 2015 at 18:57
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    $\begingroup$ Care to provide any examples? $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Nov 20, 2015 at 11:28
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    $\begingroup$ It's the damn chat room gang at root; I'm sure of it :<) $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Nov 21, 2015 at 2:09
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    $\begingroup$ Related: It's been interesting to me to watch the evolution of this community (and myself) in the 3 years or so that I've been here. Wikipedians have a notion of a Wikibreak that, perhaps, might be applicable here. $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Nov 21, 2015 at 2:17
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    $\begingroup$ Heck, thinking out loud, what if the regular contributors (answering/voting/commenting/chatting/snarking etc.) here just took a break en masse for a week or so. That might be interesting. $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Nov 21, 2015 at 2:22
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    $\begingroup$ @JohnDuffield ... it might be tough to show examples without things getting meta-snarky... $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Griscom
    Nov 21, 2015 at 22:32
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    $\begingroup$ I don't disagree with the OP but note that this site is an oasis of calm and civility compared to so many places. $\endgroup$
    – Gert
    Nov 22, 2015 at 2:26
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    $\begingroup$ @Gert: I agree absolutely. The Physics Stack exchange is an extraordinary resource. I just wish it had existed in the 1970s when I was a teenage physics nerd, err, "enthusiast" :-). $\endgroup$
    – John Rennie
    Nov 22, 2015 at 6:26
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    $\begingroup$ Wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed. I cringe at the (borderline) hostile comments I sometimes see - but they are a minority, and I don't know if there is an uptrend. Perhaps a new flag ("bit snarky") on comments would allow us to do a formal count... such a flag would require no action from the mods but give us a chance to measure the sentiment of the community (with a high rep threshold to enable). $\endgroup$
    – Floris
    Nov 23, 2015 at 19:34
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    $\begingroup$ Postulate- Misuse of tag Homework-and-exercises is responsible for a multitude of shopping questions, leading to possible frustration to a potential reviewer in turn leading to a comment with probable dense language with a good intention. $\endgroup$
    – Sathyam
    Nov 24, 2015 at 11:48
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    $\begingroup$ @Sathyam: Shopping questions? What do you mean? $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Nov 24, 2015 at 12:36
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    $\begingroup$ It's a fine line. I agree that comments like "you're an ignorant slut. How did you ever learn to log in" are unacceptable, but a lot of new posters get really upset when told that they need to learn more basic {some field of physics or math} before attempting to understand the question they're asking. What to do with them? $\endgroup$
    – Carl Witthoft
    Nov 30, 2015 at 14:09
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    $\begingroup$ @CarlWitthoft: if a question or answer is crap you have to tell the OP it's crap. To do otherwise is not fair on the OP or anyone who might read the crap answer in the future. It's just that, well, I'd probably avoid using the word crap :-) $\endgroup$
    – John Rennie
    Nov 30, 2015 at 16:38
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    $\begingroup$ @AlfredCentauri: "Heck, thinking out loud, what if the regular contributors (answering/voting/commenting/chatting/snarking etc.) here just took a break en masse for a week or so. That might be interesting." If by "interesting" you mean "total disaster" then I'm with you :-) Can you imagine what would happen if the close queue were ignored for a week? We'd turn into a homework service. $\endgroup$
    – DanielSank
    Dec 1, 2015 at 9:26
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    $\begingroup$ I'm relatively new here but I have often found the first comments on a new question to reflect criticism rather than aid to the questioner. There was one in particular the other day (I forget the question) where the first comment said something like, "Please use capital letters to start sentences. There is an expectation of professionalism on this site..." I am indeed bothered by questions full of typos and poor use of language, but I don't think that should be the first thing commenters choose to address. I'd hope they'd go after what doesn't make sense. $\endgroup$
    – user55515
    Apr 4, 2016 at 0:22

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