Suggestions, Comments and Support

So, what's the deal with all of the staff changing avatars to Battlestar figures? While I certainly like Moo's avatar of Number Six, the others seem ... hmm... how can I say this? ... the others seem likely to drive away the few female members who post here.

How do you delete your forum account? I can't find the option anywhere. Thanks.

We all enjoy being at SFN. Most of you might have seen extraordinary people or really intelligent people here. Let us award them this year by recognizing their contribution to their respective fields and how well they have helped beginners excel. Let's have nominations for PHYSICS CHEMISTRY BIOLOGY MEDICAL SCIENCES Since I am no administrator or moderator this thread may be terminated.

When you look at the main forum index, all the forums are listed. When you look at the 2nd column, all the most recent posts in the subforums are listed. The #1 post on the right side is almost always the "banned/suspended users" thread. I agree that the announcements are on top... but can we please "hide" the banned/suspended users thread? Since there is a lot of banning going on (with all the spammers and trolls), or because few other announcements are made, this is almost always the most recent post. Therefore, it is visible at the top of the main forum index. But the fact that yet another troll was banned is not interesting - it should not receive any attentio…

Having just seen the contaminated 'new posts' list, I would just like to extend a warm thanks to our moderators for using their valuable time to clear all the chaff.

I've seen a few posts recently about the fraction of science threads relative to politics and religion threads. I would agree with those posts but... Does anyone have any ideas to how we can shift the balance? Over the years we've tried closing those areas and tribe a hard line. It results in those threads filling up the other fora. Currently I believe you need a certain number of posts to post in those areas which certainly has reduced the rubbish. I really want to know your ideas and thoughts.

One of the hopes with the new software was that trash posting would be reduced (I dare not say eliminated ... oh heaven) , but the rash posters seem to have found their way round the new layout a lot better than I have. Are there any statistics yet to show if the reduction goal has been achieved? Or are the mods having to work harder than ever to remove this stuff ? This morning it seems to be at the same level as before and the trash posters certainly seem to get posted very quickly after joining. See the screenshot below. There seem to be plenty of instances where there is no other site activity between joining and graffiti activity. The ac…

Noob question: I've seen these used at other forums, where they use either Like or Upvote, and they mean approval/agreement to that posting. Here, both seem to be options, so I'm just getting clear on what the distinction is. Does upvote mean more that we approve the posting's opinion, while "like" is more that we like the style or approach even if we disagree?

Hi, I want to discuss the part of forum that is about Religion. People talk over there in humiliating way about one another’s religion. Everyone considers himself to be right. In fact the religion is something very personal to everyone. So everyone should respect it. Over here such a topic just raise “HATRED”. If someone really wants to discuss this he/she should go to the sites where there are scholars, who know every bit about every topic. Over sfn people are saying things about religion without solid proofs, which is painful very painful. We all should respect one another’s religion, no matter which religion we are having. Please CLOSE thi…

whoa! I suddenly only have 599 posts, or so it appears! What happened to the 779 or something i had about an hour ago?!? Has anyone else had this problem?! Im not mad, just really suprised! What happened?

There was talk during the logo contest of winning a shirt with the logo on it. Is there any chance we could get an SFN store carrying logo shirts?

Is it any wonder people put speculative ideas in this forum when it has the word "Theoretical" in its title?

There been a lot of misleading spam post lately. May I, if you're not considering this option, recommend that you consider limiting new member's ability to post links until some minimum number of pristine posts are made. This could limit the number of single spam posters and their malware content.

I think it would be useful, helpful, and meaningful to have separate counts for positive and negative reactions on a post, rather than their sum. Also, to see lists of users who gave these positive and negative marks.

re. How does a person get expert status? Does the same process apply to losing status, or is it permanently applied with no possible further consideration? Say for example an expert is consistently posting pseudoscience, specifically of the type "Use of misleading language -- Using established terms in idiosyncratic ways, thereby demonstrating unfamiliarity with mainstream work in the discipline," in a way that misinforms readers. Is it appropriate to "report" such posts as pseudoscience? Or is there a better way to call staff attention to the behaviour? Or is it allowed that resident experts can consistently reply to questions in the mainstream science forum…

Perhaps you could add a section of the forum that could be for those non-english speaking among us. You could advertise it on the front page so they wouldn't be turned away by all the English. And if you are wondering how to moderate it, you might just recruit multi-lingual members to moderate it. I think this is a great way to have more members and let more people use this site, 'specially since it's better than the other ones I've seen.

I have seen a few suggestions for a few extra sub-catagories on SFN. I think this is a great idea, but the problem I see is there are so many catagories of sciences to make. A few more wouldn't hurt I don't think though. Maybe we could suggest some, have the mods put it to a poll for a month and pick the top two sub-catagories that are voted on. I would suggest Environmental sciences and Science fiction.

What types of threads, exactly, qualify for going in there? How exactly does a thread end up going in there, and do you get infraction if it happens to be one of our own? Not that I will try to create such a thread, but I'm just curious....

I am a little confused about this topic category. I recently posted a fairly out of the box speculation, which got shut down. Not sure why exactly. There was something provable in it, but I certainly am not capable of proving it myself. I don't have access to a Hubble telescope or the math skills. Not many would at that level. Some existing math does support this concept though, and it was done by a fairly well known scientist. other ideas haven't been attempted. I stumbled upon him after I came up with the fundamentals of this concept and went searching. I have expanded on it a bit more since my last posting. My idea seems to possibly fit time, and answers acc…

Do you think moderators are a bit harsh sometimes when closing a thread?

Can't talk about blackbodies, thermal radiation, and the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and how it was derived and how it is currently used. Doesn't fit the standards a Moderator whose knowledge of science is suspect.

Are referrals not turned on? Might be a good way to bring more people on to the site, and a bit of healthy competition too

I like the arcade, but I think it will cut into the amount of people actually posting. Maybe you could make a limit for it, otherwise people will just join for the arcade!

this is the 8billionth time i have gotten this PM.

With the closure of Philosoply & Religion, I need to know if there is any discussion regarding the potential closure of the politics forum.