Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
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Why was my question downvoted and closed?
In regards to this question. Why? As a long term participant of many stackexchangr sites, I simply can not come up with any explanation except targeted downvoting.
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I am not able to post new questions even though I have asked good questions in the past
I have posted a total of 7 questions on CSE. Only one question received downvotes (due to a miscalculation, which I resolved), while I received 7 upvotes on the other 6 questions. Why am I not able to ...
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A moderator has been harassing me. What should I do?
Recently, I have been receiving comments from a particular (unnamed for anonymity) moderator which fall under harassment and rude/condescending (use of vulgar/strong language) category of the Code of ...
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What is unclear about this question about when a reaction is non-redox?
Here is the question.
This is a very simple question. It is of this form; what must the value of x be for P to be true? Not only is such questions simple (in what they ask, not necessarily easy to ...
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How to encourage visitors to search the site?
Yes, this is a likely duplicate. I should have searched meta first. In that self-referential spirit....
There has been imo an uptick of late, possibly seasonal, in homeworkish posts, many likely ...
Buck ThornMod
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Can these tags (pKa, Salt-bridge) be created?
pKa, salt-bridge, coulombic interactions are important concepts for both chemistry, biochemistry, biology aspects. One would expect them to be quite hot topics. Strangely, however no such tags seem to ...
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Reference-requests, books and closure. Where lies the fine or not-so-fine line?
The site aims to keep high standards and attract experienced and knowledgeable practitioners of chemistry. The point is to share knowledge, not "doing someone else's work", but that is just ...
Buck ThornMod
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Is ChatGPT diverting "homework" questions from science Q & A sites in general, and Chemistry SE in particular?
We have had posts previously discussing how ChatGPT might affect answers on Chemistry SE. Here, I am opening a discussion about how it might affect traffic and types of questions posed on Q&A ...
KarstenMod
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Approach to sensitive chemistry topics ( poisons, explosives, drugs etc. )
Is there a recommended, in place approach on CH SE site to potentially suspicious questions
about sensitive chemistry topics like poisons, explosives, drugs etc?
Many of such questions manifest common ...
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Please help me understand why asking about an acid-base reaction was down-voted and closed
I am new to Chemistry on SE and was DV'd several times and closed for this question:
What results from the neutralization copper citrate with Na2CO3
It seems on-topic, but I must be missing ...
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When should I vote to close?
Seeing this post closed it feels useful to review the motivation behind use of the close option. Yes, the OP considered a number of orthogonal options to rid said food of the offending substance, ...
Buck ThornMod
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To what extent does blender speed dissolve table salt + cold tap water?
I have a question about my Chemistry Stack Exchange post: To what extent does blender speed dissolve table salt + cold tap water?
Why does my question need "details or clarity"? Buck Thorn ...
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2022: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
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Why was this question closed as a homework-style question?
I asked this question: Is there a general name for a group connected to a N-atom?
While it may not be the peak of my SE presence, I was surprised that it got closed as a homework. The question itself, ...
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What are common questions students have about physical chemistry?
If we look at the questions on the Chemistry site, what would a physical chemistry FAQ look like? Because the site tries to avoid duplicates, frequently asked does not mean frequently posted. Ideally, ...
KarstenMod
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Would it be a good idea to ask here why uric acid is not 1,3,7,9-tetrahydropurine-2,6,8-trione but rather is 7,9-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6,8(3H)-trione?
Would it be a good idea to ask here why uric acid is not what I would have guessed, i.e.
1,3,7,9-tetrahydropurine-2,6,8-trione
but rather is something that I find surprising, i.e.
7,9-dihydro-1H-...
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There's a hole in the help center awaiting to be filled
I just noticed (for reasons you could guess, hint) that there is an edit link in the help center where I did not expect one to be.
There is no content to see, so let's create some.
Here's the page: ...
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What is official policy toward AI generated content on Chemistry SE?
A few weeks ago OpenAI released chatGPT, a chat bot capable of generating detailed human readable answers such as encountered on this site.
For instance, when fed the question
What is the ...
Buck ThornMod
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Holiday Bounty Suggestions?
In the past, we've had some "bounty dances."
In the spirit of end-of-semester end-of-Gregorian-year Winter/Summer Bash spirit, I'd like to borrowing / shamelessly steal the previous idea, ...
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Would it be on-topic to ask why guanine is sometimes referred to as "Acyclovir Impurity B"?
"Acyclovir Impurity B" is the name for guanine used by a handful of websites. Googling the term shows this.
https://www.trc-canada.com/product-detail/?G836000 which seems to confirm that ...
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How to search for images of compounds?
I am not sure on what SE I should ask this question, so the safest bet I can make is this one. The problem I am facing is that I am not able to find the actual picture of compounds when I search for ...
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Would this improve my Chemistry question re deducing the IUPAC name of LSD, or, if that is no longer an option, be a good question in its own right?
People have said in the comments of my question IUPAC naming of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) heterocyclic core and its locants that the question would take many pages to answer, and/or that I ...
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How to actually ask question
I don't know but, it is my observation but this site is very unfriendly to novice people like me. Note that I am a high school student Asking simple questions like this, or this, only results in being ...
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Wrong answers from this site showing up on the Google front page
I was looking up some information about N2O5 and came across this question.
The worrying thing is that Google automatically displayed the answer with the lowest points (-13 because it was completely ...
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Reading the tea leaves: continuing to monitor closing and deletion trends on the site
I ran a database query again to see where we are a few months after the recent election. As I inspected the result I wondered if the number of posts deleted as a fraction of those closed was ...
Buck ThornMod
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How do we help new users that have a novice chemistry background write questions that don't get closed?
I was wondering how can we help our newer users write better questions and refine them to meet our standards?
I am also new to this site, so please feel free to educate me, point me in the right ...
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Why is a well researched chemistry question discredited as homework and closed?
Is no one here allowed to ask a question in an area in which they are not a professional?
I have asked this question to 3 chemists and 2 physicists, no one was able to answer it even after more than ...
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How to append supplementary information as hidden multi-line comment?
What would be an appropriate way to attach non-essential information to the post that is only visible when needed/requested and doesn't get in way or distract the reader?
My use-case is an urge to ...
andseliskMod
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First time askers modal
Stipulations
The first time askers modal has two required parts: A sentence about searching for existing answers on the site, and a list of specific actions. These have to stay in place. However, we ...
KarstenMod
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How can I find out if my question is already answered on Stack Exchange Chemistry?
On the "How to ask good questions" help page, it says to search on the Stack Exchange Chemistry site to see if someone already has asked my question. It also says to mention related ...
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What are your views on how Matter Modeling and Chemistry sites should interact?
This is a question posted by Geoff Hutchison as part of the recent election. Martin suggested we discuss on Meta after the election is done. I reposted with slight edits; I will refrain from cross-...
KarstenMod
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Proposals for guidance presented to first-time askers
Update: The customized site-specific guidance is live now. To see it, go to https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/ask after logging out (or use a incognito/private window).
There seems to be ...
KarstenMod
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How can you make formatting more efficient? [duplicate]
When writing or editing posts, chemistry and math formatting can take up a lot of your time. There is a set of scripts that can help. You can easily add formulas like $\ce{H2O}$ in the text, or in a ...
KarstenMod
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How can we guide new users before they ask their first question?
Update: Based on the lively discussion here, there is now a featured meta post where you can propose specific changes.
When users ask their first question, they now are shown the following information ...
KarstenMod
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2022 Community Moderator Election Results
Moderator election #5 on Chemistry has come to a close, the votes have been tallied, and the new moderators are:
They will be joining the existing crew shortly — please thank them for volunteering ...
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On the usage guidance for tag [computational-chemistry]
At the moment, the tag computational-chemistry has the following usage guidance:
A field which employs computers to model and study chemical systems and chemical behavior, using various models, from ...
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In 2022, how can we use comments to welcome new users and encourage them to improve questions?
It seems that during the 2022 moderator election, this meta site has some more eyes on it, so it might be a good time to think about how to encourage new users to become experienced users and valued ...
KarstenMod
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I am stepping down as a moderator
I will be stepping down as a mod from Chem.SE at the end of the month.
I greatly enjoyed cleaning up old questions, getting popular questions answered, and bringing more traffic to Chem.SE which were ...
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Thanks for participating in the election and contributing to the site
Update: With the election complete, thanks to all who participated in the chat rooms, with comments, questions, answers*, votes, and also naturally thanks to the candidates.
Best wishes to the freshly ...
Buck ThornMod
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How are moderators doing, what can we do different or better?
What does the community thinks of moderation so far: what do you like or dislike of what you see mods doing on the site, what should we emphasize, improve, or implement to make the experience better?
...
Buck ThornMod
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Why did activity on Chem.SE decline rapidly in the last few years?
While searching for a "duplicate" question, the only post I found worth mentioning was this one: Decline in activity which shows a "peak" in 2017 followed by a decline until 2019 (...
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I have nominated myself to become a moderator; you can do the same
Moderators work as a team, and it would be great to have a team that is diverse, has broad combined chemistry expertise, and broad combined social skills. I just self-nominated for the 2022 moderator ...
KarstenMod
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2022 Community Moderator Election
The 2022 Community Moderator Election is now underway!
Community moderator elections have three phases:
Nomination phase
Primary phase
Election phase
Most elections take between two and three weeks, ...
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2022 Moderator Election Q&A – Question Collection
The purpose of this thread was to collect questions for the questionnaire. The questionnaire is now live, and you may find it here.
Chemistry Stack Exchange is scheduled for an election next week, ...
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T-shirt for sale?
Is there any place I could order one of these?
So I guess there is an idea to embroider (made with tools from https://www.vistaprint.com):
Detail:
I wonder if benzene is under copyright.
KarstenMod
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So long, and thanks for all the fish
It makes me slightly sad to write this, but after having been a moderator for more than five years, I will be stepping down later this month.
This is primarily because I don't have enough time and ...
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Happy (7 + 3 = 10)th Anniversary!
Happy 10th Anniversary!
On the 8th of May 2012 a little site went into public beta. That meant that everyone with access to the Internet could ask questions about their most favourite science: ...
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I am quitting from my role as a moderator
All,
As you are aware, I was elected to be a moderator of this site last year. As a person who loves chemistry and no longer works in the field, I have been continually happy to provide support where ...
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Why was my question so quickly closed as too broad? I really don't see how it is
Why would tellurium + sodium hydroxide have been a good gasoline additive (if it wasn't so smelly)? was quickly and unilaterally closed. I'd removed the second question but then there was an ...
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