Starship Asterisk*

Is there any (old) spam, as threads, in the Discuss an APOD section, or any of the Night Sky Live sections?

Is there any spam, as single posts, in otherwise 'legit' threads, in any section?

If you find any, would you please reply to this HELP WANTED, by posting a link (and, in the case of spam posts, approx where in the thread the spam is).

Are there threads in the Discuss an APOD section which really belong here, in the Café?

If you find any, would you please reply to this HELP WANTED, by posting a link. Probably makes sense to go back no further than the most recent three pages in that section ...

Is this an APOD?
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... php?t=6541

Orin

orin stepanek wrote:Is this an APOD?
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... php?t=6541

Orin

Thanks (it's now moved).

Thanks too to the people who've sent me PMs, with suggestions and pointing out some spam I'd missed.

Keep it coming!

Nereid, from the link you posted:

Marshalrusty wrote:Set activation to 'user' or 'admin'
This feature sends an activation email to either the user registering or the administrator. Unless you plan on activating all members personally, you should leave this set to 'user'. Many bots use fake emails when registering, so this will stop them from activating the account.

...which means the rest are valid e-mails. do you think we could have these e-mails published for some people to deal with them?

These probably should be merged!

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... hp?t=11826

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... hp?t=11812

How far back do you want to go on these?
Orin

orin stepanek wrote:How far back do you want to go on these?

I have to admit I don't read each and every thread here, especially since we have few other mods. So, feel free to post whatever you want to be done in this thread.

ablebodieman rules violations in Tunguska explosion and Was Tunguska a meteor or a comet?

Those two topics could also be merged with Tunguska event photograph (APOD 14 November)

Could we also merge all of the recent Comet Holmes threads even though they deal with multiple apods.

bystander wrote:ablebodieman rules violations in Tunguska explosion and Was Tunguska a meteor or a comet?

Done.

Those two topics could also be merged with Tunguska event photograph (APOD 14 November)

Done.

Could we also merge all of the recent Comet Holmes threads even though they deal with multiple apods.

That's a little trickier; I'm reluctant to do too much merging etc, even though there are several APODs on Comet Holmes.

Nereid wrote: .... (other content skipped) ....

bystander wrote:Could we also merge all of the recent Comet Holmes threads even though they deal with multiple apods.

That's a little trickier; I'm reluctant to do too much merging etc, even though there are several APODs on Comet Holmes.

New thread: Comet Holmes threads

It's a bit of an experiment; after a day or so I'll move it to the Discuss an APOD section. Perhaps I'll make it a sticky, for as long as the linked threads remain popular; perhaps I'll repeat for other, multi-APOD/single topics, in future.

Nereid wrote:perhaps I'll repeat for other, multi-APOD/single topics, in future.

Oh sure, go on, if you have nothing better to do. in a days of old APOD, when there was no magical merge button, I used to lock all the threads but one, and post quotes from locked threads into surviver. This quickly got me bored, so in about 2 days I started to post links to locked threads instead. Somewhat like what you are going to do. This had its time, for about a week, until I simply started to lock extra threads.

This new plan of yours is time-tested, and it has failed. But, as any of us, you can chose to make your own mistakes.

I suppose I should say that in times past it was the "just" thing to do by locking all other threads leaving only the first posters thread and moving the posts to that thread. (As makc used to do.) Or in other words, "Clean up on isle four!" And, a reminder to posters to check for other threads on the same topic BEFORE posting.

Nereid wrote:.... (other content skipped) ....

New thread: Comet Holmes threads

It's a bit of an experiment; after a day or so I'll move it to the Discuss an APOD section. Perhaps I'll make it a sticky, for as long as the linked threads remain popular; perhaps I'll repeat for other, multi-APOD/single topics, in future.

Thanks, Nereid! I appreciate the effort even though others may not. Perhaps they misunderstood multi-APOD/single topic as opposed to single APOD/multi-thread.

bystander wrote:Perhaps they misunderstood multi-APOD/single topic as opposed to single APOD/multi-thread.

True. But, we had such threads in past with no apparent need for any cross-reference listings.

There's a new thread, here in the Café: Bugs? Problems? Report them here!

In a few days I'll retire this HELP WANTED! thread; I'll also be making the new thread a Sticky.

Other ideas:
* something similar in the Discuss an APOD section
* a thread for suggestions, and discussion of same.

Note that if you see spam, or a rule violation, either here or anywhere else in The Asterisk*, please report it by a private message to me, makc, or astro_uk (the mods).

I think requiring the APOD subject and date would help instead of just the date or today's APOD when posting. For instance today post of Nov. 20 doesn't tell the viewer that the post is about Earthrise from the Moon. Consequently there is another post about Earthrise.
Orin

makc wrote:True. But, we had such threads in past with no apparent need for any cross-reference listings.

Yes, there have been multi-apod/single topic before. There are at least three ways to handle them: provide a xref per nereid, combine them all in a single thread as above, or just ignore it and leave it to the viewer to untangle it all. Either of the first two are fine with me. It's the last option I mislike.

orin stepanek wrote:I think requiring the APOD subject and date would help instead of just the date or today's APOD when posting. For instance today post of Nov. 20 doesn't tell the viewer that the post is about Earthrise from the Moon. Consequently there is another post about Earthrise.
Orin

As Orin says, two Earthrise threads, Earthrise from the Moon and November 20th APOD Question

Another possibility would be for the MODS to create discussion threads daily for each APOD with a link to that particular APOD image and then to confine discussions to those particular threads.

BMAONE23 wrote:Another possibility would be for the MODS to create discussion threads daily for each APOD with a link to that particular APOD image and then to confine discussions to those particular threads.

You mean phpbb mods, right? Coz there is no way I am going to do that by hand

Now IF Nereid would just follow the rules there would be no questions about what to do with multiple threads on the same topic.

5. If an official discussion thread is made, please keep all posts on the subject inside the appropriate threads. All other threads will be locked, so make sure you hit the "reply" button instead of "new topic."

I think One more resource and Unusual Silica Rich Soil Discovered on Mars, Dec 18/07 can be combined. I think they are both referring to http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071218.html.

Hi Neried! Some of the moved items in The Asterisk are getting a little old; like back to November. I think by now the authors should know they are in the cafe.
Orin

Hi Nereid!
I noticed that one of your moved items has oozed over onto page two of the asterisk. How soon would you like a reminder on these? You need to be praised for your good work! Thanks! 8)
Orin

Thanks for the reminder, orin stepanek (and the thanks).

My aim is to have 'Moved' links for ~a month after the original thread was moved ... but, as you noticed, I'm not as diligent about this as I am about moving threads to more appropriate sections in the first place (not to mention giving the shortest possible shrift to spamsters).

Hi again! There are a couple of Mercury posts (APOD Jan. 21) that could probably be tied together. I don't know if the 'Size of Mercury' is part of this discussion though.
Orin