Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
2,349
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Advice on appropriateness of question for physics stack
A little while ago I asked a question on the Matter Modeling SE, and it has not received any answers. This question is regarding the way anharmonic force fields are calculated in computational ...
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Etiquette for reposting a question deleted by original poster
If a user posts a question which has potentially interesting answers but then deletes it themself, should the original poster be given credit if another user (who read the original question) decides ...
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Not able to log in using Google
My friend has created an account on this very platform using his Google account of Gmail. He has not been able to log in to his account for weird reasons. Could someone check if there is some bug or ...
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Why does this question generate so much traffic?
A couple of days ago this question has been asked (IMHO a good question and it also received two good answers).
Now I noticed that this question has extremely many views, especially compared to other ...
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Feedback on improving a question
Could someone please relate to what I have to add so as to open the question?
Here is the link
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Is direct criticism of another answer in your own answer ok?
This is a question about etiquette and manners.
If you are answering or have answered a question and you disagree with something written in another answer, would you think it was ok to directly ...
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On assuming context of the reader in PSE?
So I think I can't guess the context of the reader but as an exercise can someone tell me how to improve my question writing for example here:
What is the size of the dirac delta function in FLRW ...
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Request to reopen an old closed question
I was about to ask a question on Physics Stack Exchange, but found it had already been asked, and then closed since it was apparently already answered. I have looked at the link that is given as an ...
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How to properly ask for help on a complicated Question?
I am looking for help on a calculation of mine that is related to Black Hole Quasinormal Mode undergraduate research I am doing with my university. This is not homework or anything, but I'd rather not ...
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How is an old question "modified today"?
This old question, with answers, appeared today with the only indication, "modified today", without any link to what has been modified: Experiment: pendulum with constant driving force
How ...
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Is "needs details or clarity" too subjective to be a useful closing criterion?
I have noticed that some questions that are closed with the "needs details or clarity" tag are in fact perfectly clear and specific questions, often with simple and straightforward answers. ...
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Why was this Q&A closed?
I posted this Q&A style question: How do I solve this projectile motion problem?. The reason for posting this is because I know that there are a large number of questions regarding how to approach ...
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What is the difference between homework-like questions/check-my-work questions and a normal question?
Yesterday, while I was trying to solve a Schrödinger equation with a specific type, I came across with this question.
Then I thought that if I ask a similar question for a different potential and add ...
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Should questions with obvious answers on the web be closed?
I am referring to those questions whose answers can be found easily by googling the question. For eg: This question.
I feel like such questions show very little research effort and should be closed ...
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If the current system of closing questions functions well, why are there particularly well-received questions that are closed?
A well-received question that receives a large amount of upvotes means that the physics community at large likes the question and thinks that it is a meaningful question. Questions with very large ...
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Who closed my question?
I asked a question Question about entanglement. I would expect that people commenting on the question would be familiar with this phenomenon and its philosophical issues. But someone made a comment ...
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What to do when a non-duplicate question has the answer?
There is a question asked a few days ago on "Reaching 50% the speed of light using a centrifuge" that is effectively answered by a very nice answer to a different question on "Does a ...
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Why was Yearling badge awarded twice 3 days apart?
When I read it that this badge can be awarded multiple times I thought it means every year it will be awarded once to the active member.
But I see that my own badge is awarded twice and only 3 days ...
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Isn't convention tag meant to allow discussion on opinions?
I recently asked this question which got closed because its answer was based on opinions. But that was exactly the point of my question, and hence the usage of tag of "convention". So I am ...
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How to resolve multiple open duplicates of essentially the same question
There are 4 variations of essentially the same question about the effect of pressure on dew point. From oldest to newest they are:
How does athmospheric pressure influence dewpoint?
To calculate the ...
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Help finding a question about charged metal block expanding in volume
Either myself or someone else had asked a question here about how the volume of a metal block changes as it becomes positively charged (extracting electrons).
Going through my question history I ...
3
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Why is my question off-topic?
The question doesn't involve the application of any physical principles to the design or manufacture of any real-world product, nor does it involve any consideration for practical utility*, costs, ...
3
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1
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What to do with a horrible question haunting my question record?
The third question I posted to this site was, in retrospect, awful. I deleted it after an hour of it being posted and learned to pose better questions since.
Anyway, I’ve become aware that a deleted ...
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2
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Question closed as homework-like even though it clearly isn't
My question: If an observer at the middle of a spaceship shines laser in both directions and the ship changes on contact with laser, what will earth observer see? was closed as homework-like. It's a ...
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How can I know which is the oldest tag of Physics Stack Exchange?
How can I know which is the oldest tag of Physics Stack Exchange?
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Site recommendation - basic question concerning Ohm's law
Taking in to account the majority of posts and comments concerning very basic (not homework) questions here: What can be done about the (current) ongoing flood of homework and very basic questions ...
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What is the definition of fringe science/was someone like Bruno Augenstein a fringe scientist?
Years ago, I posted a question about using transfinite arithmetic in relation to renormalization, and if memory serves me right, my question was closed for being "fringe." So imagine my ...
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One of moderators keeps deleting one last single comment with the crucial piece of information, that clearly explains, why the given answer is wrong
How to interpret the velocity from relativistic Doppler effect/equation for the redshift of cosmic background radiation?
Another issue is that all recent downvotes on the original question are related ...
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Why was this question about the recent superconductivity experiment closed?
Regarding the recent superconductivity claims video
The question is about a specific experiment. The reason for closure is that this is about an unpublished theory.
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What is wrong with this question?
I ask you to reopen my question which has nothing to do with an alleged homework:
A problem involving adiabatic expansion of ideal gas
or at least explain what is wrong with it.
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How is my question off topic when I'm asking what would be the outcome of a particular experiment and what would the results mean?
My question here was recently closed marked as off topic and not main stream physics and serially downvoted with no one even understanding the question in my opinion.
I don't think this is fair.
I ...
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How do we deal with interdisciplinary questions?
As the borders between various disciplines are slowly vanishing with the advent of interdisciplinary areas like Biophysics, Environmental and climate studies, and Complex systems, how do we deal with ...
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Should we flag a duplicate question if it has more engagements comparing the original post?
Look at this question: Does the universe have a center?. (original, unpopular)
Now, look at this one: Did the Big Bang happen at a point?. (duplicate, famous)
If you notice, the duplicate post has a ...
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Formally asking for allowing this *specific* list like question about divergent series
So I'm interested in formally asking if this question to collect examples of divergent series in physics can be opened:
There are examples of this that come up in QFT and I found one example closer to ...
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What is the proper way to make a community wiki at physics.stackexchange?
So I posted this: A List of Divergent Series and Where they appear in Physics?
And I want it to be a community wiki not a standard Q&A question.
The process here appears to be done on the ...
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How can I write a concise and complete question?
So I go a downvote on a question which I suspect is related to the comment:
"You haven't really demonstrated a problem here, and it looks like there's a lot more information than needed to set ...
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Reopening old closed questions
My question is motivated by this related post, which questions the practices for closing [homework-and-exercises] questions. My own question is about older posts that remain closed and about the ...
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Should new tags only be created when **no** other tags apply, or just generally when there's not one that applies to a given relevant topic?
On the privileges page for creating tags it says:
When should I create new tags?
Most common tags already exist on a mature site. You should always favor existing tags; only create new tags when you ...
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Is there somewhere that we could officially recommend "companion" Stack Exchange sites?
Some Stack Exchange sites are clearly closely related to each other. For example, "companions" of the physics Stack Exchange site might include:
Astronomy
History of Science and Mathematics
...
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Physics.SE remains a site by humans, for humans
We, the moderators of physics.SE, are deeply concerned about the recently announced "network policy" regarding computer-generated content on the SE network, which effectively attempts to ...
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Has activity on Physics Stack Exchanged decreased over the years?
When I look through questions on Stack Exchange, it appears that the community used to be more active. It feels like the most often years I see are 2013-15. The majority of questions I come across ...
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How is a moderator's job?
Ok, this might be a little personal and not much useful, but I am just curious, so bear with me.
First
Is a moderator's job a full-time paying one or is it more like a hobby, like for most other users?...
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Some doubts about the coherence between rules and practice
Observing the behavior of many community members about closing votes, I feel more and more doubtful about the coherence between the rules written in the help center and the practice. The last example ...
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My comment was deleted while an identical, later posted comment was kept?
The post in question is: Mathematical Expression of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
I had commented that the question was a duplicate question and then provided the link. A few minutes later ...
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I want to ask a question that is similar, but not identical, to an existing one
I would like to know why hot air holds more water vapor. There is this question:
Why does hot air contain more water?
But I would like a more quantitative explanation. Ideally, an explanation based on,...
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1
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Bug in MathJax rendering using Chrome?
Here's a screenshot of part of a question as displayed by Chrome on my MacBook Air:
You can see that some characters are rendered as boxes. Here's more or less the same bit as displayed on Safari:
...
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Feedback on closed question?
So a question of mine was closed.
Probability distribution for the momentum of a particle undergoing a collision?
I thought it was decently written (post the edits) however I guess it's still not up ...
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Do we have to be nice to chatbots?
I referred to Google Bard in a comment as a “confident idiot” and the comment was deleted. Did I violate the “Be nice” policy, or was the comment deleted for another reason?
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Is the voting format of SE which confuses "like" with "correct" appropriate for physics
I will give an example of a negative vote I just got.
My problem with this vote is that I do not think anything is wrong in the physics of my answer. I accept that the reader does not "like"...
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Do we have ChatGPT policy? [duplicate]
I recently noticed an answer which, according to the author, was written by ChatGPT. The question was very poor (about quantum entanglement, from a person who have learned about entanglement from a ...