Ask the Mods questions about the Forums!

[monstah]

Just now, ProtoJeb21 said:

What's the largest thread that has even been locked?

Don't know, the other mods will have to answer that.

Just now, ProtoJeb21 said:

How does one become a moderator? (Just wondering, but I'm fine being a regular forum user for now )

We were discussing this recently, actually. Being active, having a good disposition. Being willing to take some flak. And being invited to become one when the existing ones are overwhelmed.

Just now, ProtoJeb21 said:

What does it take to get 5 dots?

Post count of 1500, I believe (got my 5th recently!).

Just now, ProtoJeb21 said:

What is the cube root of 4^-3 x 15.555¹⁵?

2.2766176e20

[Dman979]

28 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

A few questions...

1. What's the largest thread that has even been locked?
2. How does one become a moderator? (Just wondering, but I'm fine being a regular forum user for now )
3. What does it take to get 5 dots?
4. What is the cube root of 4^-3 x 15.555¹⁵?

Not a mod, but I'll take a shot at this.

1. The Number War, based on publicly available data, by most replies. 20612 replies before sal_vager locked it.

2. In addition to what @monstah said, speaking a language other than English fluently is helpful.

3. Monstah is correct. @Cupcake... has 1502 posts and 5 dots, while @RedDwarfIV has 1495 and 4 dots.

4. See Monstah's answer.

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by Dman979
Correcting information.

[Deddly]

12 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

A few questions...

1. What's the largest thread that has even been locked?

Probably the Numbers War

[Dman979]

10 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Probably the Numbers War

Just to give an idea of how big that thread was- it has more posts than all of the Kerbal Network subforum, almost as many as the Technical Support (PC) subforum or Welcome Aboard subforum, and is the second-largest thread viewable outside the Fault Vault, after What did you do in KSP today?.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Dman979
Got numbers mixed up. How ironic. Corrected.

[DarkOwl57]

Closing the Number war was like someone coming in and putting a 'Quarantine' sticker on the door of the Empire State Building. Still hard to see it gone.

[Snark]

17 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

What is the cube root of 4^-3 x 15.555¹⁵?

 

17 hours ago, monstah said:

2.2766176e20

Nice try, monstah, but you, ah, missed a spot.  (Literally.)  Your answer is off by a factor of a quadrillion. 

Correct answer is 227661.7584 plus change.

[monstah]

7 minutes ago, Snark said:

Nice try, monstah, but you, ah, missed a spot.  (Literally.)  Your answer is off by a factor of a quadrillion. 

Correct answer is 227661.7584 plus change.

I didn't miss it, I interpreted it as a thousand separator (like we use in Brazil), and omitted it; I interpreted Google's dot as a decimal separator (because of the exponential notation) and used that in my answer. The difference should be a factor of thousand ^ (15/3), or... a quadrillion  

Conventions.

[Red Iron Crown]

I get 39625.67 and change, interpreting the dot as a decimal rather than a separator.

Is this a new number war?

[monstah]

6 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

I get 39625.67 and change, interpreting the dot as a decimal rather than a separator.

Is this a new number war?

I have no idea what you did, but I get an answer consistent with @Snark's. And I just noticed (my) Google interprets the dot as a thousand separator rather than a decimal for me, but it does so only on the input and not on the output. So I have to type in the comma, and get a dot in return.  

It's become more of a "throw a logic bomb at the mods and see them collapse" one.

[Gaarst]

Wolfram Alpha says the correct answers are 227661.75839546605546875, -113831 - 197161i and -113831 + 197161i and Wolfram Alpha is correct.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Gaarst

[DuoDex]

I got 1.8879489e+17.

[Red Iron Crown]

I messed up and used the exponents as scientific notation rather than proper exponents. Carry on.

[monstah]

11 minutes ago, Gaarst said:

Wolfram Alpha says the correct answers are 227661.75839546605546875, -113831 - 197161i and -113831 + 197161i and Wolfram Alpha is correct.

Why, yes it is! "The cube root" is usually interpreted as "the real cube root", but the real answer (ha) should be "the cube roots"  

 

10 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

I messed up and used the exponents as scientific notation rather than proper exponents. Carry on.

Keep calm and notate your exponents.

[Snark]

Irrelevant pedantic nitpicking about the nature of decimal separators in spoiler.

Spoiler

39 minutes ago, monstah said:

I didn't miss it, I interpreted it as a thousand separator (like we use in Brazil)

Well, certainly different countries use different marks... but it's worth noting that (if my understanding is correct), pretty much the entire English-speaking world uses "." as the decimal separator.  US, English-speaking Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ, to name a few.  So if one is responding in English to an English post in an English forum... probably safest to assume that "." means "decimal separator." 

 

23 minutes ago, DuoDex said:

I got 1.8879489e+17.

It's okay, Duo, we like you anyway.

[DuoDex]

Well, cube root 4^-3

Then multiply that by 15.555^15. Simple.

[ProtoJeb21]

I got 108,626,335.486. Both numbers being influenced by exponents were inside the square root.

[monstah]

I could keep this conversation all day, and this thread would get larger than the number war, so... do we stop here, or take it to The Lounge?  

Just now, ProtoJeb21 said:

I got 108,626,335.486. Both numbers being influenced by exponents were inside the square root.

Your root is too square.

[ProtoJeb21]

4 minutes ago, DuoDex said:

Well, cube root 4^-3

Then multiply that by 15.555^15. Simple.

Uhh...not exactly. Maybe I should've worded the problem better.

[diomedea]

20 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Uhh...not exactly. Maybe I should've worded the problem better.

Well, was a nice test about the comprehension ability for what appears on the surface as a simple math problem. Different conventions, different ways to consider order of operations; meaning of the multiple roots. There is much to learn from this, sure it tells how easily most can be deceived into assuming something. There are implications about messages on the forum too, and therefore the above could be seen as relevant on this thread.

[Dman979]

2 hours ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Is this a new number war?

Mods plz lock. plz.

1 hour ago, diomedea said:

There are implications about messages on the forum too, and therefore the above could be seen as relevant on this thread.

Uh, yeah. Let's go with that, before I ask the mods to trim the off topic posts.

 

My question for the mods- how do you pronounce "unionized?"

Also, how much control does Squad have over the moderation team?

[Red Iron Crown]

1 minute ago, Dman979 said:

My question for the mods- how do you pronounce "unionized?"

Depends on if we're talking chemistry or labor relations.

1 minute ago, Dman979 said:

Also, how much control does Squad have over the moderation team?

In theory: A lot. In practice: They leave us to our own devices mostly, they don't get involved in the day-to-day routine stuff. We bring things that need their attention to them, they give us a heads up when they are about to make announcements and such.

[diomedea]

2 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

My question for the mods- how do you pronounce "unionized?"

Also, how much control does Squad have over the moderation team?

eh, "unionized" (unh-eeo-naiz:d) (if I still remember phonetic spelling).

You want the mod team version, or Squad's ? (joking, we of course get a few indications from Squad staff and do our best to make them happy)

[Dman979]

1 minute ago, Red Iron Crown said:

In theory: A lot. In practice: They leave us to our own devices mostly, they don't get involved in the day-to-day routine stuff. We bring things that need their attention to them, they give us a heads up when they are about to make announcements and such.

Ok, follow up-

If you disagree with something Squad is doing, are you allowed to post about it, or are you required to "toe the line?"

[Red Iron Crown]

Just now, Dman979 said:

If you disagree with something Squad is doing, are you allowed to post about it, or are you required to "toe the line?"

We are allowed to express dissent, yes. I certainly have, though in hindsight it might have been better if I hadn't.

[diomedea]

Of course we have a bit more information that can't be released (or not yet) and often we discuss among us such things that will never be posted thereafter. I certainly was pretty vocal about a number of subjects (and I still think to have been mostly right) but isn't something I will tell around. Not even to those who joined the team later.