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Activity for celtschk‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
Comment Post #39408 That would be great.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39393 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Answer A: Is anything like the propulsion systems (warp/impulse drives) copyrighted from being use in other sci-fi novels?
Disclaimer: I am no lawyer or otherwise law expert, all the following is to the best of my knowledge and does not constitute legal advise; when in doubt, as a lawyer. There are several things to consider. First, the general idea. In the case of Warp drives, the general idea would be: A machine ...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39279 I think a preview button (like on Wikipedia) would be an solution that could be implemented much quicker than an SE-like live preview.
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39254 @ArtOfCode: I'm still not convinced that this is how it works (note also that Stack Exchange *cannot* override copyright law, and the authors don't transfer copyright to SE, they just provide the content to the company under the CC license). Maybe it makes sense to ask an actual lawyer.
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39254 But in case of an edit history there is **more than one author.** Note that the quote you did explicitly uses the plural, “author name**s**”. Every contributor who did significant modifications is an author.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39251 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Answer A: How can I write better code-based reference documentation for programming interfaces?
One possibility on why the readers didn't find the documentation helpful may be that they are unfamiliar to the API, and the reference documentation is the only documentation available. Reference manuals are there for the people who already are familiar with the API, and only have to look up the ...
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39250 Post edited over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39250 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Interface for showing changes in the history is not very discoverable
It took me quite a while to discover how to see what was changed in an edit. Some visual clue on how to get it would be a good idea, I think.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39249 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Suggestion: Support edit comments
As far as I can tell, there is no way to explain the edit you do. There is no field to enter one. Also, in my latest edit, I tried to supply one as HTML comment in my post, but in the edit history I've seen that it apparently got completely discarded. Please add the edit comments in. I conside...
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39243 Post edited over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39243 Post edited over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39243 Post edited over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39243 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Discussion: Edit history from Stack Exchange not imported - copyright problem?
I noticed that only the last edit from Stack Exchange is imported, and attributed as a whole to the original poster. I think this is problematic from a copyright point of view, since if other people have made substantial edits to a post, they may also hold a valid copyright at parts of a post. ...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39239 @ArtOfCode: Thank you for the explanation.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39239 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Answer A: Bug - Unable to Import Content
[Note: I tried to post this as comment, but for some reason it didn't work] I guess it's because the URL of QPixel has changed; probably the code interfacing to Stack Exchange somewhere contains a hard-coded URL that no longer fits. Which makes me wonder: Could the application auto-determine it...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39233 Thank you. I think there's value in having them; it should just be clear that they are Meta.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39229 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Suggestion - clearly mark Meta questions in the Hot Questions box
In the hot questions, it is not clear what are actual questions and what are Meta questions (well, if the title starts with Suggestion, it probably is meta). It would be nice if Meta questions would be marked as such, either by a "Meta" prefix similar to the page title, or by grouping Meta questions ...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39225 It's not just you.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39228 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Upvoting imported comment - wait for user to join?
Will upvotes on imported posts be included in the authors reputation when that user joins? Or does it make sense to wait with upvoting until the user actually joined?
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: I have a name, and no plot
So you have Sir Nathaniel Charles III. A nobleman, obviously. Is he from a famous family? Or some minor, not well known nobility? Did he grow up in a castle? Or did his family lose their estates and he grew up in poverty? Did others respect him for his nobility, despise him for it, or not care about ...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: Is there a way to make editing enjoyable?
See it this way: Your text has problems, if you know them or not. Even the greatest master of the craft will not be able to write a text right out of the box without any problems. Since you know up front that your text has problems, the worst thing that could happen is that you don't find them. And t...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: "Dear Stack Exchange, I am very disappointed in you" - How to construct a strong opening line in a letter?
I think there are two important aspects that you should make clear: - That you indeed do care about the issue. Your letter is not just a rant, you sincerely are concerned about the damage the issue does or may do to what you consider important. - Why the addressed should care. The issue is not just...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: Is there a "right" way to interpret a novel? If so, how do we make sure our novel is interpreted correctly?
As others wrote, you cannot make sure the reader interprets your novel the way you want it to be interpreted. However, you still can influence it. You might read your draft and explicitly look for ways how it might be misinterpreted. You won't find all possible alternative interpretations, but you m...
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over 4 years ago
Question Pronouns when writing from the point of view of a robot
For the writing challenge, I'm currently writing from the point of view of a robot. Also another robot is frequently addressed. However I've hit a problem: Referring to the robots as “it” often gives confusing sentences. It probably doesn't help that one of the robot acquired a human male name (whic...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: How to write references?
If their data is used in your work, you have to reference them. This is important for several reasons: - It shows that you didn't just make up that data on the spot. - It doesn't give the false impression that you gathered the data yourself. If you didn't do something, you should not pretend to hav...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: What are some standards in naming a software/hardware version?
Software numbering There are lots of schemes in use, and sometimes software vendors even switched between schemes. The most important feature of numbered schemes (as opposed to pure naming schemes like "Windows ME, XP, Vista") is that the version numbers always increase, that is, later versions get...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: What can a novel do that film and TV cannot?
You've already gotten quite a few good answers, but there's one important point that I didn't see in any of them: You can easily omit visual and aural details. If you don't want to tell the age of the protagonist, or the hair colour, or the type of clothes, or if you don't want to tell it yet, ...
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almost 5 years ago
Question Does it make sense to (partially) create a conlang that you don't intend to actually use in the story?
The story that I'm currently working on is in a very far future. Clearly, people will speak a different language then. Now, I wondered if it can make sense to (partially) create a conlang for the story even though I don't plan to write anything in that language in the final text. I see two potentia...
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almost 5 years ago
Question How to write a convincing religious myth?
In my story the protagonist hears, in a temple ceremony, the reading of a religious/mythological text. Now in the actual story, I don't need the text itself (the role of the text in context, and the protagonist's reaction to it are the important points), but since I've seen the tag challenge, I thoug...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: What should be the ideal length of sentences in a blog post for ease of reading?
It depends on your intended audience. If your audience is literature professors, then you can use pretty long and complex sentences, as long as you make sure that they are reasonably well-written. Indeed, those professors probably will get quite annoyed if all your sentences are too short and simple...
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about 5 years ago
Answer A: How to cue in our readers that we are using an uncommon symbolism?
One way to do it subtly might be to show the character's reactions to the symbols. For example: > John was about to enter the room when he noticed the tulip painted to the side of the door. He hesitated. Not that he was superstitious, rationally he certainly knew that this was just the image of a ni...
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about 5 years ago
Question What is a good way to foreshadow that magic is actually very advanced technology?
In a story I'm working on, humanity had sometime in the past reached a very advanced technological level (far higher than ours), but then had a devastating global war, and afterwards technology had been banned. Now at the time of my story, those events are long gone, and have passed into the realms ...
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about 5 years ago
Answer A: Avoiding repetition when there are two unidentified individuals
I think you can achieve a lot by just replacing the “was” sentence by making it an attribute in the following sentence, and making use of terms like “the first”, “the former” and “the other”. > The overwhelmingly tall figure stood in the corner of the room. The skinny figure right beside him sat on ...
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over 5 years ago
Answer A: How to explain the main plot with science based concepts, without the non-sci-fi fans getting bored?
Let me point out a different risk of providing a too detailed description of how the aliens learned about it: The risk of unnecessarily contradicting established science, and thus losing exactly those who would otherwise be most likely to enjoy detailed descriptions. In this particular case, it is c...
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over 5 years ago
Answer A: Conflict and antagonist in a certain subtype of erotic novels
I think it may be a good idea to first look generically to the possible types of conflict, to then look how well they fit to your definition of a purely erotic novel. I think the most important distinction in this respect is between obstacles and decision problems (note that I just made up that term...
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over 5 years ago
Answer A: Avoiding spectacle creep
While there are already many good answers, there's one option which I haven't seen mentioned (if I just missed it, sorry about that): Your hero may discover that the solution to the problem wasn't actually as good as thought. And now he has to fix it. For example, say the world had been held hostag...
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over 5 years ago
Answer A: How to write a convincing character with a opinion that differs from the author's?
If the readers think the opinion of your protagonist is your own opinion, then I'd guess the problem is not that the protagonist has that opinion, but that the protagonist's opinion is not or not sufficiently challenged in the story. That is, the book actually seems to promote that protagonist's posi...
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over 5 years ago
Answer A: How to make an email less "me" centric?
Maybe it helps if you just change your viewpoint. You probably have written the mail with the viewpoint “I want this job.” Instead, consider the viewpoint ”The company will need to refill that job, and I'm a very good fit.” Think of an advertisement. You'll never find an advertisement that says “We ...
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over 5 years ago
Question How much indirection is too much?
I'm writing a chapter with a lot of indirection, and I'm wondering if I'm doing too much of it. To be specific, it is the main character remembering an event from his youth when a merchant who stayed over night in his home village told stories about what other people told him about their experiences...
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almost 6 years ago
Answer A: Do writers write philosophical essays?
I don't think philosophy and fiction are really opposites. The difference is that in fiction, you don't describe the philosophy, you show its consequences. For example, if your philosophy includes the claim that whatever bad you do, will come back to haunt you, then in a philosophical essay you'd ju...
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almost 6 years ago
Answer A: What are the Pros and Cons of long names?
A compromise might be that you have a long and complicated name, but also have a common short abbreviation of that, which normally is used. For example, using your name: > The city had the almost unpronounceable name Exopeildelivurathneyateyafilen, but usually people referred to it just as Exofilen....
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almost 6 years ago
Answer A: How to differentiate narration and thoughts in the first person POV?
I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I'll interpret it as distinguishing between thoughts of the first-person narrator as character when the story happened, and the thoughts of the narrator when narrating it. This concept in my opinion only makes sense if the the narrator tells the story in the ...
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almost 6 years ago