Questions tagged [ethics]
Questions that involve systematizing, suggesting, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct on Stack Exchange
164 questions
20
votes
2
answers
355
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Using GPT-3 or similar tools to mass-produce low-quality answers
Consider this answer to this question:
The couple in question is James Morley and his wife, Liu Xiaobo.
hope this helped.
That's the kind of thing that GPT-3 or a similar AI would misinterpret out ...
2
votes
1
answer
98
views
Moderator tagging own question [duplicate]
In this question asked recently, a moderator asked about a bug. Later, another moderator tagged it as status-review.
Can moderators tag their own questions with status-review (I am assuming so)? If so,...
- 3,626
11
votes
3
answers
309
views
Is it okay to mark an answer as 'Accepted' when I can't test it?
I asked a technical question on dba.stackexchange.com. I got a very good answer, but because I made many technical changes to my environment before I read the answer, I'm no longer in a position where ...
- 219
3
votes
5
answers
362
views
Making valid use of comments containing "-1"
I am trying to check if there are good/valid uses of "-1" comments.
I know this is not valid:
-1: Bad post.
But is this okay?
With all due respect, I don't think this is a very helpful ...
user447378
1
vote
1
answer
154
views
Soft question: code of ethics of using answers in writing an academic paper
Do we have any code of ethics about using the answers in Stack Exchange for writing the academic paper?
Situation 1. Someone is writing a paper, but stuck. He found several
answers in the Stack ...
- 153
5
votes
1
answer
76
views
How can I remove a (down)vote that I accidentaly made [duplicate]
I noticed that I have accidentally casted a down-vote, and now it is locked for removal.
I noticed this by my reputation gain not being equal to a multiple of 5 and when I looked it up (I thought ...
- 6,553
8
votes
2
answers
141
views
Ethics of editing Title, and/or tags
Often times I see posts for which the asker has filled in the maximum number of tags, and although the concepts for each tag exist in the content of the post, the question asked is really only about 1 ...
- 191
-1
votes
2
answers
87
views
Ethics of repeating/bumping previously asked question [duplicate]
TLDR: OK to repeat someone else's old, unanswered question if (as a creditless newbie) I can't vote it up or comment or otherwise help bring it to attention?
Details: I encountered an issue and ...
- 39
2
votes
5
answers
326
views
Can we delete comments efficiently without causing legitimate mental issues for their authors?
Recently, a conversation I was engaged in was deleted. Confused, I asked about that and it was explained to me (politely and helpfully).
But I'm concerned that this is a frequent occurrence, that ...
user281052
-23
votes
1
answer
139
views
What is the Stack Exchange community's stance on digital anonymity?
Although I understand the site hosts information and that information in itself should not be censored, looking at tor.stackexchange.com it seems that a sizeable number of questions are related to ...
- 173
-14
votes
1
answer
83
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Should Mods be allowed to affect questions they are related to?
I saw an instance where I voted to flag a question as off topic. Now, I am not sure, but I think that a Moderator, who might have asked/answered/commented on the question, stopped/removed(?) the flag.
...
- 83
1
vote
2
answers
54
views
Is it allowed to explicitly ask for upvotes in the body of a post? [duplicate]
← Vote up if you think this post is helpful.
That's an example. I often see such requests in comments, but not sure if it's suitable in post body.
8
votes
2
answers
161
views
Is it OK to write a new answer after I deleted a downvoted one earlier on?
I answered a question in a rush recently. For good or bad, the answer received a downvote quickly. I deleted the answer soon thereafter... but kept thinking about the question during the weekend.
Now ...
- 38.1k
5
votes
1
answer
218
views
Answer is likely to be used for objectionable purposes
Should I answer a question if the information I am about to publish can be useful for others but also can and is very likely to be used for some dark business?
For instance - I was going to make a ...
- 153
-2
votes
1
answer
145
views
Serial voting reversed and recidivism prevention [duplicate]
I recently seen a message called serial voting reversed.
In my "reputation" in my user profile on Mi Yodeia,
there was 62 downvotes canceled and 5 of my downvote canceled. There was also 8 upvotes ...
- 106
-10
votes
6
answers
238
views
Avoid being banned when introducing others to SE
In order to get my girlfriend to join Stack Exchange, I sometimes write questions using her account and upvote these question with my own account.
I'm not doing this because she is my girlfriend and ...
- 329
0
votes
1
answer
76
views
Is it legit to edit tags then answer if it boosts my tag score?
Suppose I edit a question's tags, and then answer the question, thus boosting my tag score.
Is this legit?
The question is:
Unlock the code!
The puzzle could reasonably be tagged 'math' in my ...
- 131
23
votes
1
answer
262
views
Should I be using content from deleted posts on the Stack Exchange network?
If someone makes a post on any site on the Stack Exchange Network, they grant Stack Exchange a license to (among other things) display and store the work. This license is irrevocable, even if the ...
- 55.4k
2
votes
1
answer
102
views
Is it unethical and/or against rules to offer a solution for a fee, when the question is invalid? [duplicate]
I recently saw a question where someone asked for StackOverflow users to convert some Javascript code to PHP, since he didn't know how. Unsurprisingly, this questions was downvoted and flagged, as it'...
-8
votes
3
answers
240
views
Ethics of participating on Stack Overflow being not 100% altruist
This question appeared in my mind with relation to another my question (Yet another question about Tenacious badge), but I think this one is worth being asked separately. I made some analysis of my ...
- 157
1
vote
0
answers
26
views
Priority of grammar, spelling and punctuation in questions [duplicate]
How much priority should be given to grammar, spelling and punctuation when editing a question? How relevant are those? Should questions and answers be edited because of the sole reason there are ...
- 119
13
votes
3
answers
191
views
Is it ethical to ask people to downvote
I see the accepted answer here is definitely wrong-
What is the difference between %d and %*d in c language?
Should I encourage people (who might come across my blog) to downvote this answer? I think ...
- 241
4
votes
1
answer
63
views
Is it ethical for me to post answers from some other source under my account on Stack Exchange?
I asked a question on Ask Ubuntu and also shared that question on Facebook. After that, some comments on Facebook gave me the answer I needed! But the users who gave me the answer have only Facebook ...
- 143
3
votes
3
answers
201
views
Is it wrong to lie when asking a question?
I asked What metric to imperial conversions should I know for traveling to the US? on Travel Stack Exchange.
But I'm not really going on holiday. Was it okay to ask this, considering I'm making up ...
- 21.3k
3
votes
1
answer
39
views
Posting a question, which "Can be a duplicate" but not an EXACT DUPLICATE
I have a programming question which is similar to some posts in SO, but neither an exact match to my scenario nor providing adequate information. Although some posts were helpful and I povided upvotes ...
- 225
2
votes
1
answer
120
views
How does the site handle old questions with 0 answers, and won't be deleted under current policy?
From the "How can a post be deleted?" faq answer:
The system will automatically delete unlocked, unanswered questions with score of zero (or one if the owner is deleted), fewer than 1.5 views per ...
- 135
-6
votes
2
answers
163
views
Should one down-vote a question because one disagrees with the questioner's views expressed on a past occasion not mentioned in the question?
Is it appropriate to down-vote a question because one disagrees with beliefs of the poster that are not mentioned in the question?
Is it appropriate to characterize as a "rant" a paper one has not ...
- 1,371
13
votes
3
answers
218
views
Is it inappropriate to give users you admire gold badges?
It is very easy in some SE sites to obtain a gold Publicist badge by sharing a link on popular sites such as reddit. Such links contains your user number; by changing the user number, you can ...
- 717
17
votes
2
answers
124
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Is mass-accepting answers from the same user to drive up rep acceptable?
Similar questions have been asked, for instance: Is there some mechanism for preventing a two-person team from farming rep?
This situation, however, is a little different: I ran this query for "...
- 323
25
votes
5
answers
217
views
Voting and high rep users
I mostly like to browse the Stack Exchange sites, flagging, down/upvoting, and commenting. Sometimes, when I am looking at a question, I find an answer that is code-only or is just a link with one ...
- 481
8
votes
1
answer
254
views
Is an edit that changes mobile links to desktop links a meaningful edit?
Some websites, like Wikipedia, use an m. prefix to distinguish between the mobile and the desktop version. Mobile users often automatically get the mobile version when navigating to the desktop ...
- 3,242
2
votes
1
answer
85
views
Is it ethical according to SO to ask the questions of a site of area51 in its existing parent SE site?
There is a site in making named "Coffee" in Area51. There is a successful cooking
site already active.
I am a newbie coffee drinker and am curious about coffee. I am finding those
questions of "...
- 1,087
-4
votes
3
answers
210
views
Is it ok to upvote or downvote all the posts of one person regardless of their content? [duplicate]
I was wondering if it was ok to downvote or upvote all the threads made by one person for personal reasons regardless of the threads content ?
- 109
1
vote
0
answers
45
views
Bad English from non-native speakers [duplicate]
I've been recently coming across questions with poor English; questions that are grammatically incorrect, not properly capitalised and whatnot. What should we do about it? Should we downvote or edit ...
- 255
13
votes
3
answers
199
views
Is it OK to make a bounty to draw attention to my answer?
I posted a late answer to a featured Meta.SE question last week, and was really interested in getting feedback on it.
Because it was posted late, and the question was featured on SO before I posted, ...
- 19.3k
17
votes
2
answers
147
views
Is it acceptable to upvote one answer and downvote several/all of others?
I have just run across a question that had several (4 or 5) answers, of which 1 was correct, and 3 incorrect (for different reasons). I upvoted and downvoted accordingly.
Is there any moral reason ...
- 1,006
3
votes
0
answers
30
views
Is it okay to borrow information from other answers? [duplicate]
Say there are several answers to a question, and I realize that if I borrow some information from other answers all the information addressing the question will be in one place. What should I do? Do ...
- 129
0
votes
1
answer
76
views
Open Bounty (get reputation back) [duplicate]
I noticed this behavior on SO, this is the case:
A user opens a bounty for a question (let's say 300 points)
This questions tends to be more difficult compared to a regular question
The user get a ...
- 487
4
votes
1
answer
125
views
OP has edited his question and completely changed it
This question was asked today. The OP posted a lengthy assignment and asked for clarification on his course. I indicated that I thought this was off topic and voted to close. Later, I found the OP has ...
user226287
1
vote
0
answers
100
views
Question does not belong to SO but has been answered on SO, what to do with the answer?
One of the first (naive) questions I posted on SO actually belongs to Super User:
I wanted to ship the question over there despite it being already answered on SO; it received more upvotes than ...
- 170
4
votes
2
answers
173
views
Are "polite" comments discouraged? [duplicate]
In this question someone thanked me for an edit, and I could have sworn that I responded. Later, I could not find my own comment, which only said "You're welcome." So I posted it (again?). Then I was ...
- 401
9
votes
1
answer
103
views
Teammates upvoting your question. Is it considered cheating?
Here is a hypothetical situation. I am working with a small team (less than 5 people) on a project. While the project progress, we have some questions that we tried to solve, but for some reason ...
- 630
0
votes
1
answer
238
views
Can moderators spam members' email? [duplicate]
Can a Moderator view our personal email and other private information? If they can, then how can Stack Exchange make sure that they will not abuse using it by selling members' info or for any other ...
- 149
5
votes
3
answers
231
views
What if two different users post nearly identical answers to a question at the same time?
Yesterday on Stack Overflow, another user and I posted the same answer at the same time co-incidentally. Today he has commented below my answer that I have copied him and he voted me down as well. - ...
- 153
6
votes
2
answers
277
views
Is it ethical to vote to delete someone else's answer to my question?
Should someone with the privilege vote to delete an answer to their own question? For instance, if someone has answered my question, in good faith, by talking around the point giving confusing advice ...
- 39.7k
2
votes
0
answers
48
views
treading on somebody's toes - dealing with mischievous tormentor [duplicate]
I think I might anger someone recently, because in just a few seconds someone downvoted all my answers that I've ever posted on SO. Can I defend myself somehow from such behaviour?
I know it's ...
- 121
1
vote
1
answer
77
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Should I write my comment as an answer if it appears to be true answer? [duplicate]
I know comments are for getting details about question and so but some questions have little answer like "you forgot to put a ',' in here". When i wrote this and then it solves the problem should i ...
- 121
13
votes
3
answers
298
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What's the rule regarding scripting which violates a program's EULA
In the main SO site, I have seen a few questions about botting for various games - something that is generally frowned upon by members of the online communities surrounding these games.
For example, ...
- 157
-24
votes
6
answers
482
views
Ethics of Profile Picture Fraud?
I've noticed that very few people on Stack Overflow have an actual picture of themselves as their profile picture. Which makes it very suspicious when I see a user ask a question and they have a ...
anon
5
votes
1
answer
60
views
Report errors not asked by the user [duplicate]
A user posted his/her code and asked a question regarding a specific section. However, it is clear from whatsoever code he/she posted that the program inherently has several other bugs. However, the ...
user244195