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Questions tagged [policy]

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4
votes
3answers
396 views

How to handle references to literature in predatory journals

Are questions or answers that cite, refer to or are based on work published in predatory journals (in the sense discussed here, here, or here) to be tolerated? If no, how do we check if a journal is ...
10
votes
4answers
380 views

Data collection: When should (or shouldn't) we exclude questions from the Hot Network Questions list?

The SE team has made several promising changes to the "Hot Network Questions" system. If you have previously found HNQs to be problematic, you are invited to participate in the discussion over there. ...
24
votes
3answers
575 views

Users that post every question in their homework/exams

Everybody who's been here for a while knows that the homework policy is not as advertised. If the exercise is sufficiently interesting, and the OP is sufficiently polite, the question often stays ...
2
votes
1answer
212 views

Please use gender neutral language

In the wake of a recent unfruitful discussion I feel it is necessary for the community to come to an agreement on what kind of language we want to use here. In particular, on whether we want to ...
17
votes
1answer
470 views

T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶

This has been bothering me for a while, and I'd like to speak up about it. I see, with a much higher frequency than I would like, comments that look, with rather little variation, like This ...
20
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5answers
463 views

Are two questions that only differ in the desired level of sophistication of the answer duplicates?

This meta discussion is sort of a spin-off from this recent meta discussion about whether or not an asker's age is relevant to a question, and whether or not it should be edited out. Since the issue ...
3
votes
1answer
76 views

Are request-learning-path questions off topic? Why?

I was looking at a previous meta question regarding whether certain types of questions requesting a learning-path, or resource-recommendation, or any learning-related-things are off topic or not. I ...
-12
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1answer
186 views

Is a moderator's Approach to Delete the Answer Provided When No Comment Was Possible Consistent with a Metrocracy or Hypocracy?

I found the Physics Meta article How to deal with negative responses on SE due to personal grudge? interesting, because it brought to light the phenomenon where some members of the community are ...
-4
votes
1answer
97 views

Why might providing contact information be considered spam?

My (now changed) answer to the question,"Why is $PV^γ$ constant in an adiabatic process?" received the following comment: You do not need to "archive" the question in your answer, that's what ...
9
votes
1answer
251 views

Comments deleted under my question

In the context of the post: Dimensional reduction of Rozansky-Witten theory I had commented on this question of mine, and there were some responses in the comments section as well, with some useful ...
3
votes
2answers
162 views

Should question 315730 have the homework-and-exercises tag?

Express Laplace transform of voltage across a capacitor in terms of charge I'd be interested to hear folks' opinions.
4
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8answers
872 views

Chat and the moderation thereof

After discussion at the biweekly chat session starting here and looking at the answers and comments to this post, the feedback appears to be overwhelmingly negative. As anticipated at the end of the ...
5
votes
4answers
275 views

When should moderators close questions?

I have recently found instances of moderators closing questions (which of course occurs with their single vote) instead of leaving them to be judged by the community in the review queues. For example :...
3
votes
3answers
130 views

Can I copy paste an answer from an (external) webpage?

Actually this question was asked in PSE and after googling it I gave the same question on yahoo with an answer. So my question is: can I copy paste that answer?
-6
votes
2answers
293 views

Can moderator or user with high reputation be held to the rules?

I keep getting down voted instantly and as a quick as I flagged my last question it got denied without reason. Can moderator or a user with privileges be kicked for down voting to much? Is there a way ...
9
votes
2answers
98 views

Which duplicated question should be closed?

There were two questions marked as duplicated of each other in the closed votes list today: Why doesn't an electron's charge rip the electron apart? If like charges repel, why doesn't a ...
2
votes
0answers
56 views

Problem with questions

About five minutes before I posted this, a question came up in the feed asking users to come up with innovative project ideas for a highschool project with a photoresistor. The question had no ...
11
votes
4answers
336 views

What is our position on answers that consist almost entirely of copied content?

We know that plagiarism is bad, and unacknowledged citations will be dealt with. However, what about answers that properly acknowledge their sources, but consist of nothing but quotes? I believe ...
-3
votes
1answer
117 views

Alternative Ways to Earn Reputation [closed]

What are ways to earn reputation other than "Good" Questions and Answers that do and do not require time and effort for a moderator on each action on Physics?
8
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1answer
335 views

Using Comments as Answers

An answer is placed in the comment box on your question and it would make an answer. As long as you quote it is it OK to use it? See Comments at this question for example.
25
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4answers
1k views

Ultimately, what will the Physics Stack Exchange Become? Are there long term goals?

It was sometime back that I realized what we are synthesizing here (possibly) is an archive for an expert system. Put the Physics Stack Exchange together with an AI machine and you have a super-...
11
votes
5answers
637 views

Book recommendations: On-topic, on-topic but community wiki, or off-topic?

Yes, we've had this debate before. Unfortunately, there's no definite consensus to be found about their community wiki status: Good list, bad list (from July 2013) has the top voted answer (with a ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views

Reporting cross-posting

Sorry if I appear to whining, but it appears to me that we don't have a clear policy about reporting cross-posting. This is prompted by the following instances/examples: It probably isn't right to ...
2
votes
2answers
208 views

Radically editing closed questions

This post is in regards to events occurring with the question Do tachyons move faster than light (see also chat starting around here), but the question is to be applied to a site-wide policy. The ...
21
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5answers
5k views

Should any check-my-work questions be made on topic?

It's long overdue that I make this post revisiting our policy on "check-my-work" questions. These are questions, often (but not necessarily) homework-like, that present a complete mathematical or ...
3
votes
0answers
101 views

What happens after death?

What will happen with my SE account after my death? Is there something that eg. warn foture users not to try contact with me, because I'm dead? Would my account be deleted for preserving servers ...
3
votes
1answer
120 views

Quickly finding policy on Xxxxx

I sometimes find myself searching for policy on something so that I can point a poster to the policy, or refer to it myself for guidance. Usually this is the homework policy, but sometimes it's ...
1
vote
3answers
125 views

How are “disputes about content of a question” resolved, while the particular question is locked, disabling submission of answers or comments there?

My question stands in general, as stated in the title: How are "disputes about content of a question" resolved, while the particular question is locked, disabling submission of comments or answers ...
4
votes
2answers
160 views

How much time will it take to review ON HOLD questions?

I have asked a question before 3 days and it was put on hold. After that i have done all the required editing in the question and also put the comment but till now it haven't been reviewed. I think ...
0
votes
1answer
83 views

What is the current policy of making an edit?

I have read in the help that an edit should be to clarify the meaning of a post without changing it. But my question is : Is this the ultimate policy for the time being. There are some ...
8
votes
2answers
628 views

Can we please stop applying the homework tag (and policy) to very advanced questions?

This question is inspired by Colin McFauls very reasonable classification of questions tagged as homework due to the very broad notion of the term "homework-like" currently applied at Physics SE, ...
7
votes
2answers
289 views

Should we use stronger wording in the help center's on topic page?

The help center page about site scope includes the phrase Some kinds of questions should not be asked here: A little while ago it was suggested (and further discussed) that the use of "should" ...
6
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2answers
328 views

Books banner: top or bottom?

This is a minor point about the implementation of our new book policy. One of the points it describes is the addition of a banner reading Before answering, please see our policy on resource ...
4
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0answers
143 views

Dealing with level of resources in requests

One of the things that bother me the most about book* recommendation requests is the endless stream of similar requests that can spout around any specific topic, for all the different possible reader ...
5
votes
3answers
312 views

Does the homework tag now apply to any question without much research?

It seems there are the beginnings of an edit war going on with how can counting the number of cracks in glass tell you about the speed of imact?. Now the question has a few problems: It doesn't ...
9
votes
1answer
119 views

Editing old meta questions

There has been a trend lately of old meta posts brought up to the front page because of retagging or other minor edits. While this happens all the time on the main site and is OK and encouraged in ...
7
votes
2answers
223 views

Question is part of a contest

This question: Resistance of circle of wire Is part of an active contest. I don't know what the policy is for these cases but this person is trying to cheat. Edit: For those arguing allowing the ...
4
votes
3answers
312 views

Please volunteer for help editing recommendation questions [closed]

Recently, the book policy has been reevaluated, and Manishearth's proposal how to change it seems to be well enough accepted. What is still missing for the new book policy to become reality, is some ...
8
votes
3answers
495 views

Policy regarding intentionally counter-productive users

I recently noticed a joke post; a user intentionally asked and answered a question that was a very subtle mockery of research-level physics papers and had no application as an actual question on this ...
9
votes
2answers
111 views

Plagiarism from other sites

I was googling earlier and I found one of my physics.sx answers plagiarized word for word on another site. I do not want to send them traffic so I'm only going to post screenshots of it; the address ...
32
votes
1answer
3k views

Are resource recommendations allowed?

What is the policy on asking for recommendations of books or resources on Physics Stack Exchange? What is a resource recommendation question? What sort of resource recommendation questions are ...
1
vote
2answers
929 views

Is linking to an illegal pirate site for freely downloading copyrighted books a violation of copyright here?

I am currently editing the string-theory tag wiki, and I am adding some links to freely downloadable, copyrighted books at some illegal pirate resources located in third parties. However, is ...
17
votes
5answers
988 views

Good list, bad list

The Stack Exchange model does not work well for "big list" questions, and these are banned network-wide for good reason. However, many of the other stack exchange sites allow or even encourage list ...
-4
votes
3answers
343 views

Why is it not allowed to point out problems with the credibility of sources that are not appropriate to retrieve correct physics information?

In this question, the OP asks about a statement concerning a particle physics topics, taken from a certain well known website. The answer nicely clarifies why this statement is wrong from a physics ...
2
votes
2answers
408 views

What can I do if I note that answers are abused to troll, flame, and/or advertise personal nonsense theories?

Just as a most recent example (I could give many more posted by other users too), this "answer" does not answer the question, brings up confused rhetoric intended to troll about fundamental physics ...
-1
votes
3answers
437 views

Change of policy: Make reasons for suspensions public

There have been a couple of controversial suspensions or bans now on this site. Current rules prevent the moderators from giving details of suspensions. This is bad, because it raises suspicions and ...
2
votes
1answer
163 views

Why exactly are big-list questions discouraged? Shouldn't the FAQ say this prominently?

A recent question of mine got quickly migrated to maths.SE, partly for being mathsy and partly for being a big-list question. I'm not contesting the fact, but I must say that - having been warned by ...
1
vote
2answers
116 views

Just to be clear, we do support the homework tag, right?

I stumbled across this recent meta question on the computational science site. What struck me was one of the community associates pretty much declaring that the homework tag should be abolished, since ...
3
votes
1answer
100 views

What's with the low quality posts in perpetual limbo?

Having just crossed the 2k rep milestone, I decided to help out by using the new reviewing powers someone thought to grant noobs like me. "Perhaps," I said to myself, "I can help relieve that enormous ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views

User constantly registering and unregistering

The question "Are “here” and “now” diffeomorphism invariant concepts?" is being bumped from time to time by new users. I suspect users Multiverse Philosopher, Nonsensical ranter, Naughty problem ...

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