stack-overflow.bigb

= Stack Overflow
{c}
{wiki}

The best place to get answers to programming questions as of 2019. <Google> into Stack Overflow is always the best bet.

An overview of <Ciro Santilli>'s Stack Overflow contribution can be found at: <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>.

\Image[https://web.archive.org/web/20200718095316im_/https://external-preview.redd.it/KiTyVKRwMwHSmTNKeInAVSsjyeSgcRlRgSEp_u9CByA.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=bfca099f99cea0eae883ddb2a59409f08a3c7d2e]
{height=800}
{title=<Stack Overflow> in a nutshell}
{description=
As the "WTF look at my points" guy, <Ciro Santilli> approves of this <meme>. A few more elements could be added, notably <stack Overflow link-only answer policy>[deletion of the last link-only answer], but good enough.

By the profile image, the "Grammar Nazi" editor is actually appropriately the notorious serial editor https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen[Peter Mortensen], his https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen?tab=activity&sort=revisions[edit count is insane], predominantly style and grammar. <Ciro Santilli> welcomes grammar fixes, but more subjective style fixes can be a bit annoying.
}
{source=https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/55i0nl/stack_overflow_in_a_nutshell/}

\Image[https://web.archive.org/web/20230205084450if_/https://scontent.fltn3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/325428962_1356663118445290_3137017037167587881_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540&_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=ELaptIagPZIAX_JSnYn&_nc_oc=AQnlqkWJ3yzCDx1IE1agujzpe_D-ex4peALsSOzpFwMSlWULCI0KQv_hJbZ0bc4Lv-f6lUScFpEG427zSvMMR139&_nc_ht=scontent.fltn3-1.fna&oh=00_AfC9ljcYklM56Hsmc8r5paxXUKeQFXkq_UmfpPmZB4iTvQ&oe=63E54718]
{title=Catching mice by https://twitter.com/nakanodrawing[Nakanoart]}
{description=Possible non-canonical source: https://twitter.com/nixcraft/status/1376023938749190147}
{height=600}

= Reply to Stack Overflow is doomed posts
{parent=Stack Overflow}

Stack Overflow does have an super naive reputation and moderation system and overly restrictive subject matter, which <Ciro Santilli> wants to improve upon with: <OurBigBook.com>.

However, it is the best that we have now, and if you <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>[use it like Ciro], you won't get tired:
* monitor only rare tags that you know a lot about, let others answer duplicates on big tags for you
* only answer on bigger tags when you find a better answer than can be found on the page
* accept that sometimes things are bound to go wrong, that reputation is meaningless, and move on

What else would you expect from a naive algorithm system that has 10 million newbies asking stuff?

Some of the posts:
* https://cellio.org/blog/2023/so-layoffs

= The Machiavellian Stack Overflow contributor
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow}

* always upvote questions you care about, to increase the probability that they will get answered
* never upvote other people's answers unless you might gain from it somehow, otherwise you are just giving other high reputation users more reputation relative to you
* only mark something to close or as a duplicate if it will bring you some advantage, because closing things creates enemies, especially if the OP has a high profile

  One example advantage is if you have already answered the question (and the duplicate as well in case of duplicates), because this will prevent competitors from adding new better answers to overtake you.
* protect questions you've answered whenever someone with less than 10 reputation answers it with a bad answer, to prevent other good contributors from coming along and beating you
* when you find a duplicate pool answer every question with similar answers.

  Alter each answer slightly to avoid the <stack Overflow no duplicate answers policy>[idiotic duplicate answer detector].

  If one of the question closes, it is not too bad, as it continues netting you to upvotes, and prevents new answers from coming in.
* follow on Twitter/RSS someone who comments on the top features of new software releases. E.g. for <Git>, follow <GitHub> on <Twitter>, <C++> on <Reddit>. Then run back to any question which has a new answer.
* always upvote the question when you answer it:
  * the more upvotes, more likely people are to click it.
  * the OP is more likely to see your answer and feel good and upvote you
* if a niche question only has few answers and you come with a good one, upvote the existing ones by other high profile users.

  This may lead to them upvoting or liking you.

  Even if they don't, other people will still see your answer anyway, and this will lead to people to upvoting you more just to make your great answer surpass the current ones, especially if the accepted one has less upvotes than yours. Being second is often an asset.
* always upvote comments that favor you:
  * "I like this answer!" on your answers
  * "also look at that question" when you have answered that question
* don't invest a lot in edits. They don't give you rep, and they can https://mathoverflow.net/revisions/11557/4[get reverted] and waste your time.

  Why are you trying to help other people's answers to get rep anyways? Just make a separate answer instead! :-)
* if you answer a question by newbie without 15 reputation, find their other questions if any and upvote them, so that the OP can upvote your answer in addition to just accepting
* If you haven't answered a question, link to related questions you've answered on question comments, so more people will come to your answers.

  If you have answered the question, only link to other questions at the bottom of your answer, so that people won't go away before they reach your answer, and so as to strengthen your answer.
* if a question has 50 million answers and you answer it (often due to a new feature), make a comment on the question pointing to your answer
* if you get a downvote, always leave a comment asking why. It is not because you care about their useless opinion, but because other readers might see the comment, feel sorry for you, and upvote.
* ask any questions under a separate anonymous accounts. Because:
  * intelligent people are born knowing, and don't ever ask any questions, so that would hurt your reputation
  * downvoting questions does not take 1 reputation away from the downvoter, and so it greatly opens the door for your opponents to downvote you without any cost.

= Stack Overflow Vote Fraud Script
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow}
{tag=Ciro Santilli's naughty projects}

https://github.com/cirosantilli/stack-overflow-vote-fraud-script

How do you think Ciro got <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>[his rep]? Just kidding.

<Stack Overflow> later forbade Ciro from advertising this project as described at: <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow suspension for vote fraud script 2019>{full}. Those newbs know nothing about <security through obscurity>.

= Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow suspension for vote fraud script 2019
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow Vote Fraud Script}
{tag=Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow suspension for vote fraud script 2019}

Upvote this: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/381577/is-it-ok-to-have-links-on-how-to-create-sock-puppets-and-gain-rep-fraudulently-i/381635#381635

After <Ciro Santilli> got a lot of attention on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19428700 his Stack Overflow account was suspended for 3 days http://web.archive.org/web/20190320163458/https://stackoverflow.com/users/895245/ciro-santilli-新疆改造中心-六四事件-法轮功 and he received a magic notification that led to a private message:
\Q[
Hello,

I'm writing in reference to your Stack Overflow account:

I don't understand why you are actively promoting and assisting people to commit fraud on the site.

I've removed this from your profile https://github.com/cirosantilli/stack-overflow-vote-fraud-script and do not expect you to post it around the site.

I'm suspending you to gain your attention on this matter.

We have temporarily suspended your account; you may return after 3 days.

Regards,

Stack Overflow Moderation Team

To: Aaron Hall ♦;Andy ♦;Baum mit Augen ♦;Bhargav Rao ♦;Bohemian ♦;BoltClock ♦;Brad Larson ♦;ChrisF ♦;Cody Gray ♦;deceze ♦;Ed Cottrell ♦;Flexo ♦;George Stocker ♦;Jean-François Fabre ♦;Jon Clements ♦;josliber ♦;Madara Uchiha ♦;Martijn Pieters ♦;meagar ♦;Michael Myers ♦;Rob ♦;Robert Harvey ♦;Ry- ♦;Samuel Liew ♦;Undo ♦;Yvette Colomb ♦
]

Ciro's reply was:
\Q[
Hi mods,

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_through_obscurity

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerckhoffs%27s_principle

  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/533965/why-is-security-through-obscurity-a-bad-idea

  Security by obscurity does not work. If that is all Stack Overflow relies on, and that is what it looks like, then it is guaranteed to be flawed and already been attacked.

  That is one of the reasons that my website will eventually beat Stack Overflow: https://github.com/cirosantilli/write-free-science-books-to-get-famous-website/tree/d77b18d2e7acb3558615797c36195f60dfd26306#pagerank-with-tags
* If you had messaged me and told me "take down or suspend" I would have done it immediately because I understand the meaning of political power.

  That would have been the better course of action for everyone: I get no block, and you get no bad publicity as I shout Kerckhoff's principle on Twitter.

  But maybe it is a good thing that people learn more about that.
* Is there an existing public discussion saying that you cannot advertise vote fraud tools on this website?

  If not, can you please create that meta thread as a reference for future users, and perhaps let the community decide by itself?

  In particular, will you still suspend me if I don't take down the GitHub repo?

  Because if not, does it make any sense to prevent it from being mentioned in Stack Overflow? Any good GitHub repo just gets enough Google pagerank that it won't matter.

  And if yes, nothing prevents me from re-uploading on an anonymous account.
]

https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1108413211840339970

Reply and unsuspend quickly followed, with link still removed:
\Q[
I suspended you to get your attention. Your attitude about going to Twitter about it does not bode well with me.

Feel free to have whatever you want in your GitHub repo. Just don't advertise tools to make it easier for people to circumvent the rules. As easy or as hard as it may be to circumvent them, you're handing it to people who may not be capable of doing so. It doesn't help.

Don't make threats to upload on an anonymous account. Accounts created to circumvent previous warnings are not welcomed on the site.

We don't need a meta thread to discuss whether it's ok to post voting fraud links in your profile and we definitely don't need to give it anymore publicity.

I'll unsuspend you, now we've had this discussion.

Regards,

Stack Overflow Moderation Team
]

A meta thread was later created by Yvette, kudos, to which Ciro answered with the correct unpopular answer that will be downvoted to oblivion: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/381577/is-it-ok-to-have-links-on-how-to-create-sock-puppets-and-gain-rep-fraudulently-i/381635#381635

Yvette had also previously <Stack Overflow content deletion>[deleted one or two of Ciro's answers for being duplicates], which is a policy Ciro is against: if the questions are not dupes, a single answer might still directly reply to both of them.

Yvette later announced that she was leaving the website: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/399495/leaving-the-site-and-the-network-mid-election-is-not-the-best-but-theres-no[]. This is evil, but Ciro was happy. He does not mean harm to Yvette, but in their limited interaction, Ciro disagreed with her choices.

\Video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xg]
{title=The Great Places Erased by Suburbia by <Not Just Bikes> (2022)}
{description=<Stack Overflow>, and other online forums, can serve as a sort of a third place for its more active users.}

= Stack Overflow should pay its top contributors
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow}

One may dream.

If they belive that their reputation is a representative meaningful metric, then it should be fine!

And if not, then they should fix it.

Notably, more people would try to "game" the system by quickly answering lots of small impact answers which could tilt things off a bit. Not to mention straight out fraud.

So basically less money into developers doing useless new features for the website, and more money back into meaningful contributors.

How about 2k USD / month for the number one contributor of the year, going linearly down to 0 for the 200th? This would be 100k USD / month, so about 12 developers.

= Bad Stack Overflow policies
{parent=Stack Overflow}
{tag=Evil}

= Idiotic Stack Overflow policies
{synonym}

= Closing questions as off-topic
{parent=Bad Stack Overflow policies}

There's no point.

The question remains there, but people lose the ability to help the asker.

Reputation is meaningless regardless, since <JavaScript> gurus will always have 1000x more readers than low level junkies.

The deeper problem: the existence of multiple separate websites instead of just using the tags on a single website.

Examples:
* https://github.com/cirosantilli/cirosantilli.github.io/labels/stack-exchange we'll always have GitHub issues I guess
* https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/149933/why-does-the-archive-org-of-most-youtube-videos-fail-with-sorry-the-wayback-mac
  * https://webapps.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4502/why-were-not-customer-support-for-your-favorite-company#comment5091_4503

= Stack Overflow content deletion
{c}
{parent=Bad Stack Overflow policies}
{tag=Deletionism}

Stack overflow allows deleting content/making it visible only to 10k rep users.

<Ciro Santilli> is strictly against this, and this is an intended core policy of <OurBigBook.com>.

If you delete people's content randomly, they will be much less likely to write anything.

Getting downvoted to oblivion is one thing, but data loss? Unacceptable.

Only <illegal> content must ever be deleted. Or extermelly obvious <spam>. But anything in a gray area should never be removed.

Deletion can be done by either:
* votes of high reputation users
* moderators
* or worse of all, which happens often on the smaller websites: auto-deletion because come content has not received enough views/votes above some treshold! https://stackoverflow.com/help/auto-deleted-questions[]. The most illogical thing of all is that the question is not even permanently removed from the system, only hidden from other/low reputation users! So it does not save any disk space at all! <Mind blowing>!

= Stack Overflow policy that you cannot harshly criticize the character of a politician
{c}
{parent=Bad Stack Overflow policies}

https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship/stack-overflow-forbids-criticizing-the-character-of-genocidal-political-leaders-like-xi-jinping

= Stack Overflow link-only answer policy
{c}
{parent=Bad Stack Overflow policies}

The link will break, and the answer will lose. Or the person who summarizes inline will get more upvotes because people are lazy to click the link. Also, <web archiving> exists.

This is especially idiotic when it is a link to another post in <Stack Overflow> itself.

= Stack Overflow no duplicate answers policy
{c}
{parent=Bad Stack Overflow policies}

It's great right? You can't link to your other answer alone: <stack Overflow link-only answer policy>, but you can't copy the other answer either.

And because not all duplicate close votes succeed, see e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59649238/how-to-use-the-m5ops-in-gem5-such-m5-exit-and-m5-dump-stats-in-se-mode/63955139#63955139 the result is that someone else will come and answer the same thing in a different wording.

And some answers answer two questions that are not duplicates, e.g. superset/subset questions.

So just do a slight variation wording yourself and get all the reputation.

Related:

* https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1096/how-should-we-deal-with-duplicate-answers
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/243243/vote-to-delete-answers-as-duplicates-of-earlier-answers/243271#243271

= Stack Overflow maximum 200 daily reputation limit
{c}
{parent=Bad Stack Overflow policies}

Why. Why. Why is there no limit to how much I can help, but there is a limit to how many thanks I can get?

At most, limit it to a single answer to avoid highly publicized events, e.g. an answer being shared on <Reddit>. But across answers? It makes no sense.

The two ways main ways to overcome this limit are the 15 point answer accept reputation and bounties.

200 reputation per day works out 73k a year BTW.

= Stack Overflow user
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow}

= Epic Stack Overflow users
{parent=Stack Overflow user}
{tag=Cool person}

These are some users <Ciro Santilli> particularly respects, mostly due to their contributions to <systems programming> subjects:
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/users/885/gilles-so-stop-being-evil
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/379897/r-github-stop-helping-icea
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/196561/osgx
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/50617/employed-russian Employed Russian. Binutils, ELF, GDB, claims to work at <Google>. The only <Russian> sounding name on GDB and Binutils git log is that of Paul Pluzhnikov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-pluzhnikov-61b9676/ and Employed Russian mentions one of his commits at: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3718072/gdb-takes-too-long-and-ctrl-c-has-no-effect Ex physicist: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_Pluzhnikov

Ciro also really likes the following users, a bit less like Gods, and bit more like friends:
* partly because they were close by on the yearly reputation charts for a long time circa 2020, so it feels like they also focus on <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>[replying to important questions rather than answering new duplicates immediately]:
  * https://stackoverflow.com/users/642706/basil-bourque[]: GCC dev, but started replying lots of <Java> questions as of 2021 it seems for some reason
  * https://stackoverflow.com/users/541136/aaron-hall[]: <Python>, <NixOS> and <Haskell> more and more it seems. Also pro freedom of speech, gotta love those https://twitter.com/aaronchall[religious liberal Republicans]. Reminds Ciro of <Ron Maimon> very slightly, maybe it's just the New Yorkedneess. Ciro once met another intelligent dude who liked both Haskell and NixOS, there must be some correlation.
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/6309/vonc[VonC]: Git God, VonC is just Super nice, gives clear credit to others, always positive interactions. Love this dude. Twitter: https://twitter.com/VonC_[]. He was the one that <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>[held the Necromancer record in 2019 before Ciro took it].
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/224132/peter-cordes[Peter Cordes]. An <assembly> maniac this one. And a really nice one too. Sometimes pedantic, but always nice, and always correct. He's been going into God level more and more it must be said:
  * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15070244

Other interesting people:
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/560648/lightness-races-in-orbit Lightness Races in Orbit. C++ God. Interesting aesthetics. Real name: Tom Lachecki, <British>, as per:
  * https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://stackoverflow.com/users/560648/*
  * https://twitter.com/tomalakgeretkal
  * https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-lachecki-a1314a3/
  * https://www.kera.name/
  As of 2023 marked "retired" from Stack Overflow, rep graph suggests since 2020.
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/3681880/suragch the number 3 necromancer dude. But then in 2022 he found <God> and mostly quit: https://suragch.medium.com/programming-was-my-god-89b625164a69

= Stack Overflow users Ciro Santilli dislikes
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow user}

Nothing personal, just <Ciro Santilli> strongly disagrees with the moderation philosophies of these users.

One particular type of user Ciro particularly dislikes are those who do more moderation than content. Ciro finds it very hard to understand why some people spend so much time moderating. Maybe that's how <politicians> exist, some people just like that kind of activity.

The moderators tend to have lower intermediate rep. They spend too much time moderating and too little time coding.

* Users who are publicly against the ability to criticize the character of politicians, shown after "I think Trump is disgusting as a person" was removed from Ciro's profile: https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship/stack-overflow-forbids-criticizing-the-character-of-genocidal-political-leaders-like-xi-jinping[]
  * https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/135565/journeyman-geek[Journeyman Geek]:
    * is also https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361486/can-i-say-on-my-profile-that-i-find-that-an-ex-president-of-a-country-or-other/361500#361500[against political speech against the CCP in Stack Overflow]
    * <deletionism>: single handedly deletes opposing answers without giving any explanation TODO example;
    * <closurism>: https://superuser.com/questions/248517/show-keys-pressed-in-linux
* Yvette Colomb deleted a few of Ciro's answers, related: <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow suspension for vote fraud script 2019>.
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/59303/chrisf[chrisF]: envorces <Stack Overflow no duplicate answers policy>: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9242135/how-to-force-rsync-to-create-destination-folder/72178249#72178249 
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/361484/luuklag[] https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/18614/style-guide-for-questions-and-answers/326746?noredirect=1#comment1283471_326746
  \Q[Flagged as spam, there obviously is affiliation between the first link and the poster, which is not disclaimed.]
  Fair comment, but do you need to flag before comment, and downvote? That answer was clearly a labour of love, on a subject that will never ever make anyone any money (markup style). Too much meta rep, too little programming rep.
* Cody Gray
  * <closurism>: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51584765/how-do-you-install-multiple-separate-instances-of-ubuntu-in-wsl
* Charcoal bot people: https://charcoal-se.org/[]
  * https://askubuntu.com/users/10616/thomas-ward Thomas Ward <deletionism>:
    * e.g. convert here's a bug report answer to comment: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1464992/cant-drag-clip-to-timeline-in-kdenlive-in-ubuntu-23-04/1469359#comment2575312_1464992
    * https://askubuntu.com/questions/524242/how-to-find-out-which-nvidia-gpu-i-have/1469351#1469351 deleted a perfectly valid "Settings -> Details -> About" GUI answer
  * Machavity https://stackoverflow.com/users/2370483/machavity[].

    Deletionism: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13714454/specifying-and-saving-a-figure-with-exact-size-in-pixels/64632093#64632093[]. Edit: reverted.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20210506190038/https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13714454/specifying-and-saving-a-figure-with-exact-size-in-pixels/64632093#comment118640561_64632093[]. One of the comments says "wow good work".

    Flag raised July 2023:
    \Q[Hi, why was this deleted?]
    and then it was undeleted, so kudos for that.

TBD:
* https://webapps.meta.stackexchange.com/users/88163/rubén[]: possible <deletionist> https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/149933/why-does-the-archive-org-of-most-youtube-videos-fail-with-sorry-the-wayback-mac[], but: might reconsider: https://webapps.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4502/why-were-not-customer-support-for-your-favorite-company/4503?noredirect=1#comment5167_4503[]. Didn't: https://archive.ph/wip/EyZS7

Deleted answers are dumped at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/cirosantilli.github.io/issues

= List of Stack Overflow users
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow user}

= Gordon Linoff
{c}
{parent=List of Stack Overflow users}

https://stackoverflow.com/users/1144035/gordon-linoff

Infinitely many <SQL> answers.

As mentioned at <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>, he just answers every semi-duplicate immediatly as it is asked, and is therefore able to overcome the <stack Overflow maximum 200 daily reputation limit> by far. E.g. in 2018, Gordon https://stackexchange.com/leagues/1/year/stackoverflow/2018-01-01?sort=reputationchange[reached 135k] (https://web.archive.org/web/20191013090451/https://stackexchange.com/leagues/1/year/stackoverflow/2018-01-01?sort=reputationchange[archive]), thus almost double the 73k yearly limit due to the 200 daily limit, all of that with accepts.

This is in contrast to <Ciro Santilli>'s contribution style which is to only answer questions as he needs the subject, or generally important questions that aroused his interest.

2014 <Blog> post describing his activity: http://blog.data-miners.com/2014/08/an-achievement-on-stack-overflow.html[], key quote:
\Q[For a few months, I sporadically answered questions. Then, in the first week of May, my Mom's younger brother passed away. That meant lots of time hanging around family, planning the funeral, and the like. Answering questions on Stack Overflow turned out to be a good way to get away from things. So, I became more intent.]
so that suggests his contributions also take a <meditative> value.

http://www.data-miners.com/linoff.htm mentions he's an SQL consultant that consulted for several big companies.

<LinkedIn> profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonlinoff/ says he now works at the <New York Times>.

2021 <Reddit> thread about him: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/puok1h/a_single_person_answered_76k_questions_about_sql/ mentions that by then he had:
\Q[answered 76k questions about SQL on StackOverflow. Averaging 22.8 answers per day, every day, for the past 8.6 years.]

= Ron Maimon
{c}
{parent=List of Stack Overflow users}
{title2=mad physicist}
{title2=conspiracy theorist}
{tag=Physicist}

<Ron Maimon> is a <male> <human> theoretical physicist with an <all but dissertation> started in 1995 at <Cornell University>https://web.archive.org/web/20201226171231/http://pages.physics.cornell.edu/~gtoombes/Student_Index.html{ref}https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/7104585#7104585{ref}.

\Image[https://web.archive.org/web/20200802101844im_/https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/706ad14d2e33372b999b059ed544031d?s=328&d=identicon&r=PG]
{title=Ron Maimon's <Physics Stack Exchange> profile picture}
{source=https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/4864/ron-maimon}

Ron is mostly known for simultaneously:
* the amazing free online content he has published in online forums such as <Stack Overflow> and <Quora>, notably about <particle physics>, until around 2014 when Ron disappeared from the Internet entirely. <Ciro Santilli> figures he's hanging out with <Ettore Majorana> somewhere in the metaverse.
* having either been blocked from or quit every single website he participates in, partly due to his highly combative nature, e.g.:
  * <Physics Stack Exchange>: https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/users/4864/ron-maimon
    https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/976/physics-ses-inability-to-deal-with-users-who-are-highly-persistent-have-kook-b user https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/users/3253/marty-green[Marty Green] makes one of the best characterizations of Ron's approach to science/collaboration:
    \Q[The thing about Ron Maimon is he definitely comes here to talk about physics. I personally can't get into discussions with him for two reasons: first, he's so single-minded in his own point of view that you can't really communicate with him back and forth; secondly, the structure of this forum is simply not conducive to extended discussions. But he sometimes posts things that are so coherently argued and with such intricate detail that even if I can't understand them myself, I just can't believe he's simply pulling this stuff out of his ass.]
  * https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1376/what-violation-caused-this-suspension[] user https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/users/347/jerry-schirmer[Jerry Schirmer] makes another good comment:
    \Q[The thing that makes me pretty angry about Ron's behaviour is that he does not distinguish between common consensus belief and his own private research - this makes evaluating his claims hard for a third party not familiar with physics.]
  * <Quora>: https://www.quora.com/profile/Ron-Maimon[]. Ron was very active on <Quora>, until he was blocked for his views on the <Boston Marathon bombing> as mentioned at <video Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)>
  He explicitly defends this combative approach at https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=944 from <video Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)>:
  \Q[[In order to have this process work [finding of truth] it is extremely important that the tone is hostile, that it is like a court of law, where you have an adversarial relationship with your opponent. Because if you have a friendly relationship with your opponent, then political consensus is preserved.]]
  And notably, relevant to https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship/stack-overflow-mods-refuse-to-clarify-if-anti-ccp-imagery-is-allowed-or-not-2021
  \Q[Unfortunately, when you're in a minority, the only way to correct the consensus view is to just shout it, and repeat it, until people go and look and check for themselves. The reason is that it creates an adversarial atmosphere where the people have to pick sides, and they don't like to pick sides, they would rather have everyone be happy. So when you have to pick sides, what do you do? You either butt out, you just leave it alone, you run away. Or you sit and review the evidence until you know which side to pick.]
  and he then also mentions that <Wolfgang Pauli> was a major proponent of this in <physics>, and so was <Galileo>.

Ron seems to share a few philosophies which Ciro greatly agrees with as part of <Cirism>, which together with his knowledge of <physics>, make Ciro greatly respect Ron. Such philosophies include:
* he gives great importance to the <history of physics> and learning from original <papers>. He appears to know this insanely well, notably emphasizing that <there is value in tutorials written by early pioneers of the field>, see also <how to teach and learn physics>{full}. TODO find quote. <Ciro Santilli> distinctly remembers one specifically taking about this, but can't find it anymore.
* <education> views, notably emphasising <autodidacticism>
  * https://www.quora.com/Why-should-high-school-students-learn-physics/answer/Ron-Maimon[], highlighted at https://gmachine1729.livejournal.com/161418.html[]: "Why should high school students learn physics?" Answer:
    \Q[But they should learn it, preferably on their own, because the school doesn't know how to teach physics. Physics is extremely interesting, even the elementary kind. It takes the mathematics you learn in high school and uses it to describe certain natural phenomenon completely, beyond what was imagined possible in the wildest dreams of people like Pythagoras or Archimedes. If you have a computer, Newton's laws plus a tiny code can produce the motion of the planets around the sun, the motion of a free-twirling baton, the motion of colliding billiards, it's very simple.]
    Yes, please, give it to me baby:
    * <ourbigbook com/motivation>
    * <computational physics>
* enthusiasm for <molecular biology technologies>, seen e.g. at: https://www.quora.com/Why-are-an-abundance-of-physicists-moving-to-theoretical-biology/answer/Ron-Maimon on <Quora>:
  \Q[[\[biology] is also clearly going to be the major technology of the 21st century, you should have a sugar outlet next to the electrical outlet, and plug in artificial biological technology made out of artificial cells. To plan these requires a complete method of describing biological cells, a precise model of all the processes, so that you can make artificial ones, and it produces a type of precise control on single-molecule chemistry that makes chemists drool.]]
  Ciro is actually specifically curious about <whole cell simulation> which he makes reference to.
* <effortless effort> and the to explain everything he knows online. These can be seen at https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-control-your-urge-to-access-the-internet-so-you-can-complete-your-assignments[] "How do you control your urge to access the <Internet> so you can complete your assignments?":
  \Q[I don't. I consider the internet the first priority, as it will be viewed by thousands of people, and will have a real impact, while other assignments are lower priority, as they will only have an impact locally.]
* his cheapness as in <Ciro Santilli's cheapness> as mentioned at https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2454 from <video Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)>:
  \Q[
  Interviewer: there's a question on <Quora> where you say that you took a vow of poverty when you were very young.

  Ron: I was ten, I mean, most people would give it up, but I mean I figured I didn't have any need to give it up, so I just kept with it, I mean, I was never was really offered that much more. When we started the startup, I think I was offered 50k, but I said "no, I'll keep it 40k, I took a vow", and then they gave me 40k. And that of sort of set an example, the CEO also took 40k. It was a very good thing because we had very little money, we were a startup, and we were going by seed money.
  ]

However he also subscribes to some theories which <Ciro Santilli> considers conspiracy theories, e.g. his ideas about the <Boston Marathon bombing> that got him banned from <Quora> (a ban which <social media as a public utility>[Ciro strongly opposes due to freedom of speech concerns!]), but the <physics> might be sound, <Ciro Santilli> does not know enough physics to judge, but it often feels that what he says makes sense.

https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/7104585#7104585 mentions that he was at <Cornell University> and did <all but dissertation>, but he mentions that he was still <self-taught>:
\Q[
Eugene Seidel: On your personal info page you write that you are not a physics Ph.D. but does that mean you were a <physics> <undergrad> in college then went to grad school and finished <all but dissertation>[ABD]... or are you entirely self taught?

Ron Maimon: <all but dissertation>[ABD]. I am self- taught though, I only went to school for accreditation. I had a thesis worth of work at the time I left grad-school,

Eugene Seidel: ok thanks

Ron Maimon: I was just kind of sickened by <academic> stuff that was going on--- large extra dimensions were popular then.

Eric Walker: Anyway, thanks Ron -- I'll get back to you with more questions soon, I'm sure.

Ron Maimon: Also I was at Cornell, my advisor left for Cincinnatti, and I was not in very good standing there (I was kind of a jerk, as I still am). Some friends wanted to start a biotech company called "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_Healthcare[Gene Network Sciences]", and I joined them.
]
This is corroborated e.g. at: https://web.archive.org/web/20201226171231/http://pages.physics.cornell.edu/~gtoombes/Student_Index.html[] (original http://pages.physics.cornell.edu/~gtoombes/Student_Index.html[] down as of 2023).

At https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2454 from <video Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)> he mentions his brother is a professor. At https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/32382/could-we-build-a-supercomputer-out-of-wires-and-switches-instead-of-a-microchip confirms that his brother's name is "Gaby Maimon", so this neuroscience professor at the Rockerfeller University is likely him: https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/985-gaby-maimon/[]. Looks, age, location and research interest match.

Some notable technical posts:
* https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/535/why-does-kinetic-energy-increase-quadratically-not-linearly-with-speed/14752#14752 answer to <why kinetic energy is mv^2 2?> on <Physics Stack Exchange>

Some notable history posts:
* https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/18632/good-book-on-the-history-of-quantum-mechanics/18643#18643 about the <history of quantum mechanics> give the quadratic explanation
  * and closely related for the factor 2: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/27847/why-is-there-a-frac-1-2-in-frac-1-2-mv2/27916#27916

Bibliography:
* https://gmachine1729.livejournal.com/161418.html Ron Maimon answers about physics and math on Quora (part 1) by Sheng Li (2020) contains a selection of some amazing Ron Maimon posts
* https://www.reddit.com/r/RonMaimon/ someone made a <Reddit> for him. Less than 100 users as of 2022, but has potential.
* some <Quora> threads about him, oh the irony:
  * https://www.quora.com/Is-Ron-Maimon-actually-a-pioneer-or-a-jest
  * https://www.quora.com/Are-Ron-Maimons-answers-on-mathematics-physics-and-computer-science-factually-correct
  * https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-think-of-Ron-Maimons-paper-Computational-Theory-of-Biological-Function-I
  * https://www.quora.com/Who-is-Ron-Maimon/answer/Ron-Maimon
    \Q[I'm a physics grad school drop-out working in theoretical biology but I still do physics when I get a chance, but not right now because I am in a middle of a project to understand the properties of a certain virus as completely as possible.]
    Also in a comment he explains something to a now deleted comment, presumably asking why he dropped out of grad school, and gives a lot more insight:
    \Q[
    It's a complicated boring story.

    I dropped out mainly to do biology with friends at a startup, because I figured out how you're supposed to do theory in biology, but also I truly believe it was next to impossible for me to get a degree without selling out, and I would rather be shot than write a paper with an idea I don't believe.

    My grad school phase was a disaster. I first worked for Eric Siggia, but I got away because he had me do something boring and safe, I figured I have only a limited number of years before I turn 30 and my brain rots, and I wasn't going to sell out and do second-rate stuff. I found a young guy at the department doing interesting things (Siggia was also doing interesting things, like RNA interactions, he just wouldn't assign any of them to ME), this was Philip Argyres, and got him to take me. Argyres wanted me to work on large-extra dimensions (this was 1998), but I made it clear to him that I would rather be boiled in oil. I worked a little bit on a crappy experimental setup that didn't work at all, because I didn't know enough about electromagnetic screening nor about how to set up experiment. But EVERYONE LOVED IT! This is also how I knew it was shit. Good work is when everyone hates it. But I learned Lifschitz's ideas for quantum electrodynamics in media from this project.

    Me and every competent young person in high-energy physics knew large extra dimensions was a fraud on the day it came out, and I had no intention of doing anything except killing the theory. Once Wikipedia appeared, I did my best to kill it by exposing it's charlatanry on the page for large extra dimension. That was in 2005 (after getting fired from the company), and from this point onward large-extra-dimensions lost steam. But I can't tell how much of this was my doing.

    Argyres liked N=2 theory, and we did something minor in N=2 SUSY models around 2000, but I was bogged down here, because I was trying to do Nicolai map for these, and it ALMOST worked for years, but it never quite worked. But I knew from the moduli interpretation and Seiberg-Witten solution that it must work. If I live long enough, I'll figure it out, I am still sure it isn't hard. But this was the link to statistical stochastic models, the work I was doing with Jennifer Schwarz, and I wanted to link up the two bodies of work (they naturally do through Nicolai map).

    But I had my own discovery, the first real discovery I made, in 1999, this thing that I called the mass-charge inequality, what Vafa and Motl called "the weakest-force principle" when they discovered it in 2006. It was swampland, and Vafa hadn't yet begun swampland. My advisor didn't believe my result was correct, because he saw me say many stupid things before this. So he wouldn't write it or develop it with me (but I had read about Veltman telling 'tHooft he couldn't publish the beta-function, I knew Argyres was wrong about this)

    Anyway, Argyres left for Cincinnatti in 2000, and I joined the company then. I was in the company until january 2005. Then they fired me, which was ok, by then it was a miserable hell-hole full of business types.

    I discovered Wikipedia, and started killing large extra dimensions. I wanted to finish my thesis, and some people agreed to help me do this, but I had told myself "no thesis until you get the Nicolai map sorted out" and I never did. I worked with Chris Henley a little bit, who wanted me to do some stuff for him, and I discovered an interesting model for high-Tc, but Henley said it was out of fasion, and nobody would care, even though I knew it was the key to the phenomenon (still unpublished, but soon).

    This was 2008-2009, and I became obsessed with cold fusion, so Henley dropped me, as I had clearly gone crazy. I developed the theory of cold fusion during the last weeks of working for Henley. Then I dropped out for good.

    Honestly, by the time I was gone, I realized that the internet would make a degree counterproductive, because I knew I had better internet writing skills than any of the old people, I was a <usenet> person. Online, the degrees and accreditation were actually a hinderance. So by this point, I secretly preferred not to have a PhD, because I knew I was good at physics, and I could attack from the outside and win. It's not too hard if you know the technical material.

    The only problem is that I was unemployed and isolated in Ithaca for about 7 years after having gone through my first productive phase. But I developed the cold-fusion ideas in this period, I learned a lot of mathematics, and I developed a ton of biology ideas that are mostly unpublished, but will be published soon. It astonished people that I could have no degree and be unemployed and have such a sky-high ego. The reason is that I could evaluate my own stuff, and I liked it!
    ]

Backlinks:
* 2022: https://twitter.com/johncarlosbaez/status/1556085484937310209 by <John Baez>. This page was one of the top <Google> hits for "Ron Maimon" at the time.

\Video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObXbKbpkSjQ]
{title=<Ron Maimon> interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)}
{description=
Ripped from Jeff's "Quoracast": https://player.fm/series/quoracast-podcast/ron-maimon-truther Ron mentions he was an early-<Usenet> user. Key points:
* https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2247 mentions that there is a question on <Quora> where Ron said he took a vow of poverty when he was 10. This reminded Ciro of <Ciro Santilli's cheapness>.
* https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2532 mentions his admiration for <Leonard Susskind>, in particular him starting out as a plumber
* https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=3088
  \Q[
  Q: So what's next \[after the <Quora> block\], is it like back to <Stack Exchange> or...?

  Ron: no, no, I'll just go and do, library, write some papers or whatever. This is not, and this is not like... basically, look, I wrote most of what I wanted to write on Quora anyway. I have gotten almost everything out of my system. I wanted to write, a couple of other things, but they weren't major.
  ]
}

= Stack Exchange
{c}
{parent=Stack Overflow}
{wiki}

Waste of time sub-sites that should instead be merged into <Stack Overflow> as different tags.

Nowhere is this waste more visible than at: https://cs50.stackexchange.com/[]. A website just for some specific course that is completely covered by other sites of the network? What a humongous waste!!!

= Physics Stack Exchange
{c}
{parent=Stack Exchange}
{wiki}