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The name of the chat room was recently changed to the h bar(becue) as a joke because of the multiple posts about food made by the more rapscallionary members of the room.

I've seen a few rather terse posts suggesting that not everyone is happy with this, so maybe we should try and arrive at a consensus about the room name, or more to the point about the process for any future changes to it.

I post this as an opportunity for site members to express their views. My own view is that I don't care what the room is called as long as the name isn't offensive or embarrassing, but I was a bit surprised it was changed without some form of consultation. Since it has obviously offended a few people I'd vote that the name goes back to the h bar until we collectively agree a new name or decide we don't care.

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    $\begingroup$ I feel it is a good idea to consult with all the members of the room to reach a consensus. We can write some community wiki name suggestions in form of answers and depending on the votes we should name the room. (On a side even you are included in "the more rapscallionary members of the room" ;) ) $\endgroup$
    – 2017
    Jan 16, 2017 at 8:04
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    $\begingroup$ Previously $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Jan 16, 2017 at 8:35
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    $\begingroup$ Does changing the room name invalidate links to the old name? $\endgroup$
    – DanielSank
    Jan 16, 2017 at 23:18
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    $\begingroup$ @DanielSank Changing the room name does not invalidate old links. The important part of the URL seems to be the number, /rooms/71; within some reasonable limits, any trailing stuff after that is dynamically replaced by the current name of the room. $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Jan 17, 2017 at 13:28
  • $\begingroup$ enjoyed the rare case of SE surprise/ impulsivity/ whimsy myself... "some form of consultation"... sounds like a visit with a doctor :P ... and if anyone was seriously offended its obviously an overreaction... $\endgroup$
    – vzn
    Jan 19, 2017 at 2:35
  • $\begingroup$ Btw, I always thought that the Math.SE chat room should be named Aftermath (as in, the place you visit after doing math). Then again, careful what you wish for! $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic Mod
    Oct 29, 2017 at 19:51

5 Answers 5

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As much as I'm all for getting consensus before any significant changes to anything, the chat room name is not a terribly important thing, and I can see the value in allowing a room owner to change it temporarily in the spirit of fun. Accordingly, how's this:

  1. Any future changes to the room name, description, or tags should be reverted after roughly 24 hours, unless there is a non-negatively-received meta question seeking to extend the change. By "non-negatively-received" I mean there is not a clear consensus against the name change proposal. Hopefully most of us should know that when we see it, but for people who like quantitative conditions, a score of -2 or less probably indicates a consensus against the proposal. A slew of comments giving objections without a corresponding slew in support almost certainly indicates such a consensus.
  2. In all cases, changes to the room name, description, or tags should be reverted within a week (168 hours) unless the community has expressed a consensus for the change in a meta post. Again, consensus is something we should know when we see it, but in determining this we should take in to account votes as well as written responses.
  3. If the community finds a consensus in favor of this answer, then we'll change the room name, description, and tags back to what they were soon.

Oh, and while we're at it: we could formalize that changes to the room attributes should not be made by anyone except a room owner or SE staff. This is kind of a moot point because the only ones with the power to do it are other chat mods, and they know better, but I suppose we might as well have it in writing.

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Upvote this if you want the name changed back to the h bar.

Using my superpowers as a room owner I will change the name back if this gets ten upvotes (provided no competing suggestion gets more upvotes).

Downvote if you don't want the name changed back.

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  • $\begingroup$ Eight upvotes and two downvotes. I take this to mean the vast majority don't care. $\endgroup$
    – John Rennie
    Jan 19, 2017 at 7:03
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    $\begingroup$ FWIW, I have briefly interrupted my winter hiatus to up-vote this appropriate use of superpower. $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Jan 25, 2017 at 4:00
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How has Schrodinger's Chat not been suggested?

It's both alive and dead until you open it to observe.

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    $\begingroup$ Well, I'd say the issue addressed by this question is now closed. If you'd like to have the name of the room changed, propose it in a separate meta post. $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Jan 29, 2017 at 6:37
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    $\begingroup$ I'm up for this change, just change the "o" to "ö". $\endgroup$
    – Sir Cumference
    Jan 31, 2017 at 3:44
  • $\begingroup$ I'll second Sir Cumference's comment. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Jan 31, 2017 at 14:50
  • $\begingroup$ Hi @corsiKa : Actual name suggestions goes here: meta.physics.stackexchange.com/q/1028/2451 $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic Mod
    Jan 31, 2017 at 14:53
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I vote that we keep it as the h bar. It has the excellent property that it shares its name with the postgraduate bar back at my uni in London:

enter image description here

As you can see, not only is it a very clever name, but it is also thought to be a unique and clever name by a bunch of different institutions (example, example, example).

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    $\begingroup$ Actually the fact that it's such a common name was a major reason I didn't prefer that choice, way back when we first set the room name. Now, I'm perfectly fine with the name, I just want to make the point that calling this an "excellent property" is an opinion which some people may disagree with. $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Jan 16, 2017 at 20:04
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    $\begingroup$ @David that 'excellent' may or may not have been tongue-in-cheek. Honestly, though, it is pretty clichéd but by now I quite like the name. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Jan 16, 2017 at 20:22
  • $\begingroup$ Another snap shot from Imperial College London: i.stack.imgur.com/Zr0CE.jpg $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic Mod
    Oct 1, 2017 at 12:15
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As the guilty(est) party, here's my timeline of the recent change, no comment on merits:

Proposal to implementation: twenty minutes

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