20
votes
Accepted
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
This is my view as a long-time user, not as a moderator. It's only my perspective and doesn't represent the views of the other mods.
BLUF: We need to grow organically, systematically, and create the ...
11
votes
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
Implement a helpful tag warning for homework-and-exercises
I suggest a tag warning for hw/exercises that's written with an eye to the user who has a question we want: lead that user to write a good hw/...
8
votes
Accepted
Guidelines for the First Posts review queue
Reviewing really comes from experience, and that's partly why it is limited to users who have reached enough reputation. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules written down anywhere on what ...
6
votes
Transfer answer from duplicate unregistered user account
Please use the "Contact" link in the footer of the page and choose "I need to merge user profiles" as the reason and explain your case. SE will handle the merge manually.

ACuriousMindMod
- 108k
6
votes
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
One thing we can do is be liberal with downvotes, in order to keep inappropriate questions off the front page, where they deter casual visitors with high standards from sticking around.
I'm always a ...
6
votes
I know the answer but the site prevents me from answering because I have no reputation. What am I to do?
If you're logged out, you'll see a banner like this one in the place where the "answer question" box usually is:
Most of our questions don't have this banner and they can be answered by ...

robMod
- 74.4k
5
votes
Are some questions closed "too fast", and is it a problem?
Yes, closing does seem to discourage a lot of askers, especially those who don't understand how Stack Exchange sites work, but it's supposed to encourage them to improve the question, when possible. ...
5
votes
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
We probably need a revamped tutorial on how to ask an on-topic homework question.
The current title of the homework policy, "How do I ask homework questions on Physics Stack Exchange?", is ...
5
votes
Should commenting be unrestricted?
The structure of Stack Exchange site privileges is partly gamification to get you hooked, but it is also about controlling both malicious and negligent attacks on the system.
Comments are not ...
5
votes
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
I’m gonna put it out there that the direction of the mother company is to broadly increase the user base, not the number of professionals.
You can draw whatever conclusion you want from this, but ...
4
votes
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
You can't be "liberal with downvotes" when you only have one per post, and AFAIK serial downvoting is some sort of SE crime in any case.
The thing that annoys me most on SE (not just this site) are a ...
4
votes
Accepted
Is there really "no registration required"?
Asked and answered on Mother Meta.
The gist of it is that the original meaning of no registration was that other, similar Q&A sites required you to register just to see the answers; this is not ...
3
votes
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
As I remember there was a post way back in the mists of time...
Should we rename the homework policy?
That got consensus but still has not been implemented. Perhaps we should finally implement this, ...
3
votes
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
Summary - (Maybe) snappy video FAQs but no rule changes
There's a difference between being welcoming and being a doormat.
Let’s shift from “don’t be an asshole” to “be welcoming.”
Abuse is ...
3
votes
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
We could provide problem solving advice on Meta
The current situation tells posters what they need to accomplish, but
not how to get there. And that is a non-trivial skill, which
beginners need help ...
3
votes
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
I am here suggesting an attitude/behavior change (let's call it an improvement) rather than a change in rule or given information.
A specific behavior change or change of attitude towards new users ...
3
votes
Is there any way I can gift some reputation points to another user?
No. While bounties technically allow transferral of reputation from one account to another, they are not meant to be used as gifts, and any bounty that is found to be used that way will be refunded.
...

ACuriousMindMod
- 108k
3
votes
I know the answer but the site prevents me from answering because I have no reputation. What am I to do?
When a question attracts a lot of poor answers, it can be marked as protected. This is done automatically in some cases and manually in others.
When a question is marked as protected, you need at ...
ChrisMod
- 16.8k
2
votes
Are some questions closed "too fast", and is it a problem?
I think you're somehow thinking closing questions means they are "undesirable". This is not true of this one: it just needs to be clarified. I did not participate in the VTC but reading it ...
2
votes
Should commenting be unrestricted?
I think that new askers are more likely to get their questions answered, and new answerers are more likely to have their answers actually help people, if they post questions and answers rather than ...

robMod
- 74.4k
2
votes
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
This is just one factor among many, but I believe that one of the main things that would need to change to attract and retain professional physicists is the somewhat narrow definition of "physics" ...
2
votes
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
I debated whether or not to post this; I'm not a long-time user and have little standing in this community, and the question may be inactive anyway. But while I saw bit and pieces (especially from ...
1
vote
How to Help the Physics.SE grow (member-wise)? Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively
Pro or not, people who are into physics are into physics for the physics, not for energy spent on and arguments about question curation or refinement.
Look for ways that Physics SE is a little bit ...
1
vote
How can we "make it easier for new users to succeed"?
If the concern is that homework like questions clog up the site, would an “easy” solution* be to make these posts optionally invisible?
One check box removes the content from your feed and search ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
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