26
votes
Should we rename the homework policy?
Yes, we should.
"Homework" isn't the issue
I think we all agree that whether or not a post comes from a homework assignment is irrelevant, as illustrated by this example question:
Consider a ...
- 23.7k
23
votes
Allowing mathematical and homework questions on this site
I'm sorry, but the idea that our site policies are "controlling the learning of other less knowledgeable students of the universe" is just plainly ridiculous. That people on the internet won'...
ACuriousMindMod
- 116k
15
votes
Allowing mathematical and homework questions on this site
Personally, I think it is fine for a site to decide what is on-topic and what is off-topic for the site. A different choice wouldn’t have been wrong, but having a specific policy (whatever it is) ...
- 81.5k
15
votes
Allowing mathematical and homework questions on this site
What's wrong with a homework-like question? Homework questions are specially written to expand and question one's understanding - it's a totally valid way of learning. If you think someone's trying to ...
- 61.5k
14
votes
Why is there a homework tag if the posts keep getting closed?
I think this post emphasizes, once more, a real problem of PSE: some inconsistency between the stated policy of the site and how it is applied in practice.
The stated policy says
"A 'homework ...
12
votes
Why is the 'physics' tag not allowed?
Your first obstacle is that you need 1000 reputation points to create a new tag. If you think a tag is missing and don't have 1000 reputation points, you can suggest it in this meta post.
If you have ...
QmechanicMod
- 184k
12
votes
Accepted
Do we need a popular videos tag or specific author tags?
No, these tags describe the sources of the questions themselves, not the subject matter of the question. Hence, you would not be able to tag a question with any one of those, making them dependent on ...
- 26.3k
11
votes
A tag for nuclear magnetic resonance
nmr
Pro: the abbreviation is widely understood and recognized.
Con: it's better to have longer tags that are self-explanatory instead of just initials.
- 127k
11
votes
Accepted
A better system for close voting
One does not need to be an expert in quantum-mechanics to see that some of the questions are clearly subpar and need to be closed. When in doubt, don’t be afraid to use the skip button! Alternatively, ...
- 1,426
10
votes
Accepted
Should we rename the teleportation tag to quantum-teleportation?
I can't think of anything else that the teleportation tag would be used for, at least not within the scope of actual physics (and hence of this site). Unless there is some such thing, yes, I'd say go ...
- 74.8k
10
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to add a discussion tag?
No, what you suggest is not what this site was designed for. If you want to have a discussion, take it to chat or to some other webpage. Cheers!
10
votes
A better system for close voting
This is already possible via a different system: the close-vote review queue already comes with the possibility to filter the questions it can show you.
This can be on the close reason and on the ...
- 127k
10
votes
Accepted
Why are there few answers on homework-and-exercise questions?
There are many instances of homework questions getting answers before they are closed. But in those cases where they do not get answers...
Many posts that fall under the "homework-and-exercise&...
- 54.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Someone other than the OP adding "homework-and-exercises' tag to a question, and then the question gets closed as a homework-type-question?
I was the one who edited in the homework and exercises tag. I did so on the grounds this seemed like an exercise i.e. it was just calculating the orbital velocity at the surface of the planet.
I guess ...
- 343k
9
votes
Accepted
While searching questions by tags, why cannot we choose more than one tag only?
Multiple tag searches are possible. E.g. the search for both astrophysics & visible-light is done here.
Unfortunately tags are not always applied consistently, so for a more complete search type ...
QmechanicMod
- 184k
8
votes
Has the "soft-question" tag become a bad idea?
If you ask me, it's always been a bad idea. I'm pretty sure the only reason we have it is historical; it's one of those tags that gets created on every new site right in the beginning, before we ...
- 74.8k
8
votes
Should we add a 'misconception' tag?
No.
That would be a meta tag - it has nothing to do with the actual topic of the question, it doesn't help to define its scope, all it tells you is either "this question is based on a misconception" ...
ACuriousMindMod
- 116k
8
votes
Should we rename the homework policy?
I have the same objection to this that dmckee had last time we talked about this.
Essentially, everybody who posts a question on this site wants a problem solved. The problem may be lack of ...
- 16.2k
8
votes
Accepted
A tag for nuclear magnetic resonance
nuclear-magnetic-resonance
Pros: Allowed as of today.
Cons: There aren't any cons. This is the solution we wanted.
robMod
- 80.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Why does the quantum-computing tag redirect to quantum-computer instead of the opposite direction?
For the time being for pragmatic reasons. Phys.SE used to have a quantum-computing and a quantum-computation tag, which were often misused by some users whenever they had to compute something in ...
QmechanicMod
- 184k
8
votes
How do tags get associated badges?
solar-wind has 80 questions, and tag badges are only awarded for tags which are used on 100 or more questions. Consequently, you also can't track a tag badge for solar-wind in your profile.
- 1,426
8
votes
Someone other than the OP adding "homework-and-exercises' tag to a question, and then the question gets closed as a homework-type-question?
In the concrete case, it indeed seems to be a conceptional question rather than a typical HW-like question where the HW tag applies.
That said, in general, whether a question is HW-like or on-topic is ...
QmechanicMod
- 184k
8
votes
Can one earn a golden tag after adding 100 000 tags?
The existing badge system has a very low distinction between tag edits and more general edits (i.e. edits that also modify the body or the title of the question). There is already a badge series that ...
- 127k
8
votes
Allowing mathematical and homework questions on this site
If you believe in physics you should want it to grow - stop controlling the learning of other less knowledgeable students of the universe - it's not big and you're hampering our progression as a ...
- 229k
7
votes
Should we rename the homework policy?
Back in the good old days there was no option to close as homework. Instead we had a close reason described as too localised.
The definition of too localised was that it was of interest to too few ...
- 343k
7
votes
Accepted
Would Q's that require reading a particular paper be useful to Physics SE?
The proposal as it currently stands (v12) is pretty much vacuous: The type of questions that you propose is already on-topic on this site. They typically do not attract much attention or a great ...
- 15.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Manual tag ordering
It's not possible to manually specify the tag order (and second reference). They are ordered by popularity, from most-used to least-used, and the first one is included in the page title for search ...
- 74.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Can we blacklist the general-physics tag?
To offer something authoritative: pursuant to our discussion in chat and the strongly supported suggestion for its removal, the mods are currently working on getting this tag blacklisted. I'll update ...
- 74.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Should the tags (mathjax) and (tex) on meta be synonyms?
Okay, I have created a synonym tex→mathjax. The 2 tags are not yet merged, so if the community feels strongly about it one way or another, speak up: It can still be undone.
QmechanicMod
- 184k
7
votes
Accepted
No Monte-Carlo tag?
Concerning questions about Monte-Carlo, they should first of all be tagged with the computational-physics tag and possibly the simulations tag.
Whether a new tag [X] should be introduced depends on ...
QmechanicMod
- 184k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible