I had some qualms, too, but I think it's specific enough to work.

I think it's a lousy question, but I think I'd better keep a low profile for a bit.

The instructions were as follows:

I'm generally interested in problems that are mathematical and not just logic puzzles. They shouldn't require written calculations or a convoluted answer. And they should be fun — with some sort of cute step, aha moment, or other satisfying twist. I'd prefer to keep things pretty elementary, but a cool problem requiring a little background is a-okay.

If you post the answer, please obfuscate it … Don't spoil the fun for everyone else.

I posted the following puzzle:

“Theorem. In the long run, numbers get even.”

Now, I've actually used that one several times over cocktails, and it was always “well-received” as they say. The average cocktailer does a half-second double-take and realizes that every even number is singly even, every fourth number is once more than the singly even already accounted, every eighth number is once more than the doubly even already accounted, …, and so the obvious series tells us that whole numbers are on the (multiplicity weighted) average exactly even.

Well, I didn't want to spoil anyone's fun, but being suspended for that has already spoiled it for me.

More importantly, it's bad enough when people don't give reasons for their down votes — but I consider it a serious abuse of the "offensive post" flag to criticize a good faith answer that is given in the spirit of the question asked.

Jon Awbrey

@ Kevin Lin — I doubt if it's a good use of anyone's time to split hairs over the distinctions between conundra, koans, puzzles, and riddles — no one was asking for problems of Math Olympic stature, nor even good exam questions. The question and answer themselves are trivial matters.

People who want to criticize the qualities of questions and answers are free to do so by means of comments or by means of thumbs-up and thumbs-down votes.

Using a flag that is normally reserved for offensive comments, deleting answers so that no one else can see what is being discussed, and suspending someone for a good faith answer — those actions go beyond the pale.

@ Andrea — I have no further interest in defending the answer itself. The question called for dinnertime “fun, with some sort of cute step, aha moment, or other satisfying twist” — if my amuse bouche did not amuse thee, then feel free to trade it with the person at your elbow. But SPAM it was not.

Of all the times that a downvote calls for a supporting explanation, this is probably not one of them. The thing that leaves a residual bad taste is the misuse of a flag that most folks consider reserved to offensive posts, and then being sent away from the table. Those are more general procedural issues that I think deserve further discussion. A casual observer seeing that big red banner on my user page would think I committed some outrageous offense. I do not think that kind of sanction is called for here.

Actually, in this case, Jon is doing the right thing by talking about his recent suspension here on meta rather than with the moderators. I decided to suspend him, and I think it's reasonable for the meta community to ponder this decision and, if appropriate, tell me I did the wrong thing.

I saw his post, which already had a number of negative votes. It made no sense to me, and apparently had nothing to do with the request for mathematical puzzles appropriate for dinner conversation. I see from Jon's explanation here that there was actually a puzzle, but his original post certainly didn't make this clear to me. By this point, Jon is the clear leader in terms of number of posts with negative votes, and to me at least most of his posts make no sense whatsoever. I decided that it was plausible on account of the many negative votes that many other people also can't make sense of his posts, and as such treated the post as spam (or at least, an annoying waste of people's time), and suspended Jon for a day.

Please -- do not turn this thread into a public discussion of Jon's behaviour on mathoverflow. If you have a comment to make about the particulars of this incident, please email me about it, scott@tqft.net. It's appropriate to speak in generalities about the suspension process, however.

The latest bump of this question to the top page is by a new answer which, after stating the puzzle, says

PS: sorry if cross-posting, I didn't read all the answers...

Might I suggest that this is evidence that the thread has outlived the immense but finite usefulness evinced by its high score?

Edit: it seems that I misunderstood the remark that I've quoted -- see later posts in this thread -- so I would like to withdraw my inference, if not my opinion of the original question.

It might be a good idea to put in a brief word in the FAQ about all these questions with high vote count and lots of answers that are closed. Doubtless it's confusing to new users.

@Klaraspina: apologies for misunderstanding your comment. While I didn't want the question open, I'd like to stress that this is nothing personal (your answer was just one in a series which have made me feel that the thread had lost what value it might have originally had). I hope this doesn't put you off participating on MathOverflow.