27
votes
Accepted
Are answers recommending non-TeX solutions welcome?
Solutions using alternative tools which fall within the 'TeX sphere' are entirely appropriate and have always been welcome. Obvious examples are that plain or ConTeXt solutions to LaTeX problems are ...
- 251k
26
votes
How can I know whether an answer is obsolete?
Typical procedures include the following sequence of elevated proposals:
Comment on the answer, requesting some feedback on your updated request/criteria.
Visit the chat room and see if one of the ...
WernerMod
- 584k
26
votes
Should we "educate" (new) users by not answering until...?
Personally I think you should only ask for a MWE if the presence of an MWE would help you to answer the question.
A MWE almost always helps even if only to avoid the answerer having to write some ...
- 707k
23
votes
Should we "educate" (new) users by not answering until...?
I completely disagree with the proposition that we should refrain from answering questions in order to educate new users. I simply don't think it's my job to educate new users about how to ask ...
- 18k
23
votes
Accepted
How to encourage people to send bug reports instead of using SX as kind of bugtracker, or at least send a bug report additionally?
Let me give an answer from the point of view of a LaTeX user who is sufficiently expert to do most of the things they need but not enough expert to understand most of the underlying details.
If I ...
- 1,132
20
votes
Explicitly indicate the reasons why answering a just-do-it-for-me question
Some simple ideas:
If you want to answer just-do-it-for-me questions, answer them.
If you don't want to answer them, don't.
If you want to leave a comment explaining why you answered, leave a comment....
- 208k
17
votes
How to encourage people to send bug reports instead of using SX as kind of bugtracker, or at least send a bug report additionally?
If I see a question that indicates a bug, I normally write in my answer or in a comment "this is a bug, notify the maintainer".
I normally don't make the bug report myself as I think it is important ...
- 309k
16
votes
Should we "educate" (new) users by not answering until...?
I would like to tell you what happened to me some time ago.
In the beginning, I answered also questions without MWE.
One day I answered telling the OP: "Next time, please add an MWE" and he promised ...
- 57.8k
15
votes
Accepted
Should I add a new answer or edit a previous one
This happens occasionally, and the results have also been varied. In some cases, users provide multiple solutions in a single answer (example). In other instances, users may provide multiple answers, ...
WernerMod
- 584k
15
votes
Which is your best underestimated (by other users) answer?
I'd like to add this answer of @moewe:
https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/170321/36296
This basically creates a completely new style and for all the work it did not even get accepted by the OP and only ...
15
votes
Accepted
Deciding which typography answer should be accepted?
Either
select the answer that benefits the community the most (according to your opinion), hoping that future visitors to your question will find meaning in your choice; or
select the answer that ...
WernerMod
- 584k
14
votes
Accepted
TeX questions on StackOverflow
By-design, the network treats each site as a separate entity, so there is no possibility of marking as a duplicate between different sites. As such, the only ways to answer such questions are to post ...
- 251k
14
votes
Which is your best underestimated (by other users) answer?
Maybe I have sentimental attachment to this answer of mine, which was one of the first few questions I answered. It was very instructive on how the reputation system actually works. The answer took ...
- 208k
13
votes
A suggestion to improve learning curve for new users of TikZ
If you don't understand something in someone's answer to your question, you can ask them to elaborate on their code. Here's what the "add a comment" tooltip says:
If the answerer doesn't clarify to ...
WernerMod
- 584k
11
votes
Accepted
When I delete/annul my own posting/answer, how to ensure that reputation increase due to upvotes is also annulled?
From the Stack Exchange FAQ How does deleting work? What can cause a post to be deleted, and what does that actually mean? What are the criteria for deletion?:
Reputation changes from bounties, ...
WernerMod
- 584k
11
votes
Which is your best underestimated (by other users) answer?
I think one of mine which required a good slice of work but got only 1 upvote is this answer to the question "Justifying ('ragged right/left, center') all the tables in a document". There might be ...
- 53.2k
11
votes
Explicitly indicate the reasons why answering a just-do-it-for-me question
I disagree with this for the following reasons:
This attempts to "force a policy" onto the community that might not align with everyone's intent.
"Enforcement" of this seems like ...
WernerMod
- 584k
11
votes
How to encourage people to send bug reports instead of using SX as kind of bugtracker, or at least send a bug report additionally?
This answer summarizes my comments to Ulrike's answer.
When I solve a bug on the site, I usually file a bug report myself. While I agree that it is good to encourage people to file bug reports ...
- 208k
10
votes
9
votes
Accepted
Edit to comment template?
Here are some points to consider:
This template forms part of the Low Quality/LQ review queue "delete" reasons:
As such, it's a canned response and should cover a whole host of possible "non-answer ...
WernerMod
- 584k
9
votes
How to encourage people to send bug reports instead of using SX as kind of bugtracker, or at least send a bug report additionally?
I don't think the problem is really solvable and has always been this way, before tex.sx there were far more bugs "reported" on comp.text.tex newsgroup than via the latex gnats bug tracker.
To take ...
- 707k
9
votes
Substantial overlap with post by other user(s)
Sorry if I answer with a question, but why is academic honesty so important to you?
Please don't misunderstand me, but if someone copies my code means that my code is good.
Of course, I would be ...
- 57.8k
9
votes
Answer deleted by moderator because "not good practice"
For a more complete picture: that answer has been flagged two times:
as being "not an answer"
for having "very low quality"
So for me the completed question becomes: should a ...
- 226k
8
votes
Accepted
How can I find stats about all the people contributed to my posts?
While these aren't really statistics, you can find out who answered your questions using the SEDE. Specifically, this query which lists the User ID, display name and answer/post link:
declare @UserId ...
WernerMod
- 584k
8
votes
When I delete/annul my own posting/answer, how to ensure that reputation increase due to upvotes is also annulled?
When you delete the answer the rep points also go away (I think).
But if you have a problem with that, delete your answer and post a new one without the votes if you are really loosing sleep. I have ...
- 156k
8
votes
Should we "educate" (new) users by not answering until...?
I once made very bad experiences with a specific user. I asked that particular one several times to post an MWE and he never did. In the end I posted a longish comment that I will never answer any ...
- 53.2k
8
votes
Substantial overlap with post by other user(s)
I don't see this as being a valuable feature. Attaching a list of possible related (or duplicate) answers to an existing answer will clutter the answer space with some related, but also some unrelated ...
WernerMod
- 584k
7
votes
Accepted
How to select the correct answer and award the bounty
This is one of the privileges of asking a question. It allows you to decide which answer helped you most. Like voting, your decision-making process doesn't have to be disclosed.
My suggestion would ...
WernerMod
- 584k
7
votes
When is a question upvoted?
I talk for myself; others may have different opinions.
I don't upvote just-do-it-for-me questions, but if they have good answers, I upvote the answers.
I don't upvote unclear questions, but if ...
- 57.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible