tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer)

deane.yang comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20330)

2012-10-16T07:50:44-07:00

There's no question that yahoo_unknown was trying to be helpful. But he or she did it in a very poor way. And indeed it is to that person's credit that he or she did apologize and acknowledge the error.

Todd Trimble comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20328)

2012-10-16T06:44:41-07:00

I agree with Andrew, Noah, and quid. After a brief exchange at the nForum, my impression is that the unknown actor was trying in a way to be helpful, since it had been pointed out in the other thread that a wiki and accompanying discussion form (such as the nLab and nForum) might be a better venue to discuss a paper than MO. (Please note that I am not commenting here to argue for or against that, which is anyway another discussion). There was arguably an error of judgment involved, but I think the copyist's heart was basically in the right place, as they say.

(The following is not really relevant to MathOverflow per se, but has more to do with promoting fruitful symbiosis between MO and other internet mathematics sites, in this case the nLab.)

Now that the post has "landed" on nLab shores, there don't seem to be plans on getting rid of it unless that is Vesselin Dimitrov's wish, and now the main question is how to make the best of a situation which is a slight mess. The post should be reformatted, and the context explained more thoroughly, and links should be made to the vast nLab corpus, new pages created to elaborate on the various terms used, etc., etc. It works much better of course to have material on the nLab evolve in a more organic way, with actors who are evidently serious and engaged; the level of seriousness and involvement is hard to gauge in the present case. In general, CC licenses and such apart, and speaking as a regular contributor to the nLab, I am uncomfortable just having stuff from outside "dumped" on the nLab, at least without some effort made to integrate it smoothly.

quid comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20327)

2012-10-16T05:31:00-07:00

+1 to Andrew Stacey and Noah Snyder. Personally, I think putting in this preamble was a slight violation of etiquette, and a comment would have been better; but, at least it was formulated in a friendly or at least non-agressive way. And, earlier comments on the answer expressed something similar. Also that unknown even appologiesed immediately. So I agree with the removal, but cannot see anything I'd consider as offensive and would even say that unknown acted in good faith, while still violating etiquette.

And, that somebody copies the thing somewhere else even without asking first, well, if one does not want this happening one should not distribute ones writings under a CC license.

Noah Snyder comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20325)

2012-10-16T02:22:44-07:00

I would like to point out that this is yet another way in which the MO software is a very poor fit for this type of discussion.

Andrew Stacey comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20324)

2012-10-16T00:51:36-07:00

I have no opinion either way on what Deane did, but I find the use of the word offensive somewhat strange, particularly given the discussion in the other thread. I don't find it offensive. Can I now edit the answer - it is, after all, community wiki - and put it back in?

(To be clear: I won't, nor do I advocate someone doing it.)

Andy Putman comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20322)

2012-10-15T18:06:07-07:00

I also agree with what Deane did.

deane.yang comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20321)

2012-10-15T18:00:23-07:00

Scott, thanks for the support and for providing the link (which I should have done). I decided that if I was wrong to do it, it would still be less wrong than what yahoo unknown did.

Scott Morrison comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20320)

2012-10-15T16:20:49-07:00

Link to Dimitrov's answer. @Deane, I agree with what you did.

deane.yang comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20319)

2012-10-15T15:30:58-07:00

I removed it.

deane.yang comments on "Preamble added by yahoo anonymous to Dimitrov's answer" (20317)

2012-10-15T15:17:50-07:00

I find this quite offensive. If Dimitrov wants to shift his discussion to another location, that's his right. If someone wants to suggest to Dimitrov to do this, that person should post a comment. But I find it unacceptable for someone anonymous to copy Dimitrov's answer to another location and insert this preamble into Dimitrov's answer. I'd like to remove it. Should I?