Question

Ambassadors Training Session 1 for Cohort 3.

Answer 1

Hey new people!

@Data_lg2 @TheSmartOne @k_lynn @confluxepic @sleepyjess @deepika.comet @pooja195
@Jaynator495 @Luigi0210

A little house keeping first. You should have received an email about joining the OpenStudy User Advisory Counsel on Yammer. You need to do this ASAP. If you did not get the email, be sure to check both the email address you applied to OS with and the one you used for the ambi application... sometimes they are different, and Preetha has been known to use either one.

Remember this: What you say and read on yammer is \(\bf\color{red}{\underline{NOT}}\) for repetition on OpenStudy. We discuss all sorts of things there, even problems with users, and it is not meant to be heard about here. This gives us a safe place to discuss issues without accidentally offending users on OpenStudy.

Now for the training part.

This particular session, I made a video for. There are a few layers to the video. What you see, what I say, and some notes on the screen at different points are actually related to the same topic, but coming at it in different ways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x-sT8eZo6o

I also did a transcript for it:
http://assets.openstudy.com/updates/attachments/5326a704e4b06a39f86211dc-e.mccormick-1395042283167-ambitrainingsession1v1.pdf

This talks a bit about business culture. This is an important concept when you are fitting in to an organization, like being an OpenStudy Ambassador. The same applies to fitting in at a new school, job, etc. There is always a culture to your environment and the active recognition of it, the rules it adheres by, and how to fit in better are important skills to learn.

The specific task for helping you achieve this goal on OpenStudy is the active examination of the rules of the site.

Ewww.... \(\LaTeX\) has some bug. I only typed that once, but right now it shows up 3 times. LOL.

Answer 2

Be sure to do the assignment at the end of the video. Replies to it are to go in this post.

Answer 3

@e.mccormick may i have permission to redo training? :33

Answer 4

If you want. Most of it is the same, and this week is just the rule review, so not sure how mich that will help. Once they are on Yammer I need to make sure they get the Ambi Manual too.

Answer 5

got it :o lol I just feel the need to refresh my memory :3 So if I have some spare time on my hands, I will redo training

Answer 6

Spare time... did you get some change? Paid for an hour and got back 15 minutes?

Answer 7

I can't open the pdf file?

Answer 8

Dowload it. Save as, then open.

Answer 9

LOL no I've just had more spare time since exams are mostly over. For now.

Answer 10

It is just a transcript and a few notes, so not critical if you can watch the Youtube...

Answer 11

All the notes from the bottom of the PDF:


Notes
This assignment is to be replied to on OpenStudy in the Ambassadors area.

An Ambassador really needs to know the rules of the site very well. This is not only so that they will follow them, but also so that they can answer questions about them, explain them, lead by example, and otherwise promote them. This means that is is critical that the Ambassador Management Team is confident in your understanding the rules.

If you already get the rules, point out parts you feel are key with a short reason why. If you have any misunderstandings, we need to clear them up now! This sets the foundation for your participation in the Ambassador program.

Answer 12

okay, I got it :)
I open it in Firefox

Answer 13

I hate the FF pdf viewer. It clips off stuff for me. \(\ddot\frown\)

Answer 14

*rummages through piles of junk in room* Dang I can't find my old ambassador notes ;-;

Answer 15

Oh yes! about CoC and TaC! I have so many questions about them(I collected them for this), so I may take a while to write everything...

Answer 16

Good! Now is the time to hash those out.

Answer 17

Questions about CoC:

• Have homework problems? We can help you - as long as you are looking to learn how to get your solution (and not just the answer).

~I have encountered some users who only care about the final answer. After I tried explaining it, they will still ask me about the answer without trying anything and if I told them that "we're here to guide you, not to provide you answers", they will start to use the bird language. So how to deal with this kind of situation if no mods are online?


•Please do not copy and paste your problems.

~Question: I'm really confused about this one. Is this referring to plagiarism issues or this is about copying a question and when pasting it on OS, the question turns incomplete?

•Don't just provide the answer to a problem when someone else is in the middle of helping! But if you want to help, by all means, join in!

~Question: What is the proper of telling a user who posted the answer while someone is still replying? Is it okay if it's like:
"<user> please don't just provide the answer if someone is trying to explain it to <asker>"

•Sending the SAME chat message repeatedly.

~I think this should be sending chat message continously because not all the spammers will send the same message, sometimes they send different random chat messages.

I think they should also include the prohibition of posting chat external links.

[Next will be about TaC]

Answer 18

>Eligibility:
~How do they know whether a user is 13 yrs. old and below? I found a user last time under 13, but no one catches him/her, I forget the username.

>Termination:
"The Company may terminate your membership, delete your profile and/or delete any content or information that you have posted on the Site"

~I thought os cannot delete your profile?

>Anti Cheating policy
"ban users who cheat from the site permanently", did this happen already ? I'm just curious...This has been a major issue in OS, new users and others think that OS is an answer bank. We are aware of it and we tried explaining what OS is for, but we really can't avoid people violating this. I'm not sure if this has been done, but I think someone in a higher position should gave them warnings because they won't stop if ordinary users will just tell them about it.

Answer 19

And everybody, remember to pay attantion to the training... know what happens when you don't?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gJG36Xfc7k

If you fail to pay attantion, the trainign failures can be a disaster for you and your Evil Overlord... I mean Moderator.

Answer 20

Is doing all the work for the asker considered a direct answer? Also, is saying "I think the answer is ..., but I'm not sure" a direct answer?

Answer 21

CoC Questions
Don't devalue the question/answer process!
Don't provide someone with just the answer - explain the process, and help guide them through understanding the problem.
Don't just provide the answer to a problem when someone else is in the middle of helping! But if you want to help, by all means, join in!

1)This part is confusing because if multiple people join then eventually the asker would get confused wouldn't they? Also i'm still unclear on what exactly are direct answers =/ links with answers.com is probably direct but what if the link have an explanation with the answer is that direct?

Don't be offensive, inappropriate, or creepy! So avoid:
Insulting, berating, or otherwise discouraging others.
Cursing and bypassing the language filters.
Sexual innuendo, or "hitting on people".
Soliciting personal, private, or offline contact information.
Any form of racism, sexism, or any other prejudicial "isms".
2) Are acronyms allowed such as WTF it can mean multiple diffrent thing such as:
Wednesday, Thursday,Friday
OR
Where's The Food
TaC
The Company may terminate your membership, delete your profile and/or delete any content or information that you have posted on the Site or through any Platform Application and/or prohibit you from using or accessing the Service or the Site or any Platform Application (or any portion, aspect or feature of the Service or the Site or any Platform Application) for any reason, or no reason, at any time in its sole discretion, with or without notice, including if it believes that you are under 13, or under 18 and not in high school or college.
3) Well half of the users are underage =/ so is it like meant to be 13 MEANS 13 NO EXCEPTION! OR are we flexible on that and allow 12 year olds?

By using the OpenStudy Site or Service, you agree to abide by OpenStudy’s Anti-cheating Policy and to also comply with copyright laws and the academic policies or honor codes of your school and course, and to report violations promptly to us.
4) Do pretests and practice tests count?

Answer 22

Data:

Anzwer Only Peoplez

In all cases, report. No moderators? Get another ambi to look at it. If they agree the person is abusive, they can report it too. Don't try and argue with the person, just report it and move on. Their loss. Oh, and a few ambi reports puts them on the train towards Community Suspension.

Copy-paste: both. Also, most of those tend to be from tests. =(

Reply to interrupters: There will be some more on dealing with issues in the communications part. It is better to just ask the OP, "Would you still like to learn how to do this yourself?"

Chat spammer: Just report it, perhaps mention, "Anyone else bothered by the spammer? Please report it." As for the wording, not that the top three items are the rules. Everything else are just some examples and are not the full extent of what they cover. Most of the CoC is an extension of "Be nice" as a rule.

External chat links is covered in the TaC. In addition, you agree not to use the Service or the Site to: upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

13-: Under COPPA is is a $16,000 to store information about anyone under 13. Therefore, OpenStudy has a policy of not allowing users to be under 13. Some users lie about their age and sign up anyway. When this is discovered, report it. The account is supposed to get locked and all their posts/replies deleted.

Termination: yes, they can delete accounts. From what I read on Yammer, it is a very database intensive process and gets more so as the number of posts grow, so they do not like to do it.

Bans: Yes, they have happened. Also, the school moderators have had people suspended from school, flunk a class, and other things that are the legal right and responsibility of the school when cheating is detected.

Answer 23

Pooja:

Several people can help more if they work together. This has happened many times. However, if they fight, it does not help anyone. Here:
http://openstudy.com/updates/54f25adee4b09f47f4e3ddf7
The answer of atoms is wrong. I have informed them. They are not thinking about the reasons I said why it is not, and they have ignored the clues I gave.
Contrast that to this session:
http://openstudy.com/study#/updates/526ae729e4b0116e63681907
Several people and the asker was helped.

Acronyms: Preetha will support any moderators that suspend people over an acronym. It is mostly about intent. Also, using F in the sense of the F-Word is covered as avoiding the language filter.

There is 0 flexibility on the age limit. It is a law that can cost a company millions. The company can be held legally liable if positive action is not taken any time a < 13 is found. Not all moderators care about this, but as someone who works in the Internet industry, I know just how bad it gets when the government goes after people. I have seen companies ruined by stupid mistakes and I do not intend to let a few foolish 12 year old endanger OpenStudy just because they do not care about the rules they agreed to follow.

Practice tests: Practice tests are ways to evaluate how much someone knows in advance. If they get help, they are defeating the purpose of the practice test. It would be better for them to find a similar question and ask about the process. Then they can learn.

Answer 24

From your answer from Pooja's question about Practice Tests, so you mean it is better not to help them?

From the video:
Ambassadors should not only read and get familiar with TaC and CoC, but also we should follow and apply what are the things written in them and encourage others to do it too, this one is very understandable but how to do them in a proper and nicer way is the question . Say for example, if someone violates one of them and we try to tell that person about that, it is either that user will get offended depending on how we say it.


Outside the topic:
I don't think Darth Vader and Luke will have that kind of father and son bonding lol anyway, my question is... whose rules do evil lords follow? :D

and btw, at 3:25, it says "training session 4" :P

Answer 25

IV is a Star Wars refrence, just like vader and Luke are, as was the way the credits rolled.

Evil Overlords just need to follow the rules.
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
othewise they tend to fail as Evil Overlords.

Answer 26

Yes, it is better not to help them on a practice test. It defeates the purpose.

As for how to encourage people to follow the rules: By example and more later in the communications section.

Answer 27

Ok thanks this makes more sense now! :D

Answer 28

^^^ Which is the whole point of this. Work out what people get and don't and try and make it more clear. =)

Answer 29

aah I see thanks for the enlightenment :)

there are lot of rules for evil lords lol

Answer 30

Well, they have been collected form past failures...

Answer 31

did you made those? or it's from someone else? those are amazing!

haha #92 so true!

I just noticed that it is based from Star Trek :o
omg Spock ;_; but he's not in DS9 lol i just remembered him.

Answer 32

btw, where are the other ambinoobs??

Answer 33

The EO Lists are an old tradition, handed down from days of yor.

Answer 34

They have all been tagged... we will see who responds, as instructed, and who does not.

Answer 35

sleepyjess:

Direct answers is one of the more arguable points of the CoC. However, my viewpoint is based on the actual language used. It talks about "just" an answer being wrong and to lead the person. Well, a full and detailed explanation is, in some sense, leading the person. This makes it the borderline.

Is the explanation good enough to actually instruct the person? If so, then it is not just a direct answer and falls on one side of the line. If it is just a pass at an explanation then it falls on the other side.

My personal preference as a minimum would be to do one step, get the person started, and then ask where they would go for the next step. An even better method is to explain terms or do an example. Then have them apply that example. This works in any topic, like explaining the difference between bored and board rather than telling the person which is used properly in a sentence or showing a person how to reduce \(\frac{15}{21}\) if their question is to reduce \(\frac{9}{24}\).

As for guesses, they are still direct answers. The "I think" is implied. Everything you say is something you thing! Therefore, "I think it is A" and "I is A" actually have the same meaning.

Answer 36

Thanks for clarifying =)

Answer 37

Ive read the coc enough times to not have any questions... over 150 times, also went and searched for others who asked questions... and saw all that... Twas part of the ossf training to read it... i went the extra mile and re-read it 25 times each... with that said... im going to need a short while to think of something to ask :/

Answer 38

jay, it also says, "If you already get the rules, point out parts you feel are key with a short reason why."

Answer 39

OH... missed that part... words flew by my face too fast in the video xD

Answer 40

*thinks in head: Key to what? and gets in a argument with himself in his head*

Answer 41

key by itself means important.

Answer 42

OH!
cheating, people cheat all the time... and what i do... i do some research and report them to their school and show them the evidence... its important because with cheating, nobody learns anything and they fail later in life looking back, wishing they never cheated.

Answer 43

more often then not... I fail to find there school as i can't find any info of them online... ._. but the people i do use a uniqe username that can be used to indentify them and find more info on them... thats how i get em... with that username xD

Answer 44

Wow... thats been sitting there... forgot to push the post button... xD

Answer 45

@Luigi0210 , since you're a new Ambassador, do you have anything to say?

Answer 46

I do... i never got a email ._.

Answer 47

The basic rules in the CoC have been stuck in my head ever since the first time I became an ambassador. I think this might have already been answered above, it is true that giving help is better than just giving away answers. But is showing the process of a problem, or doing the work for some users considered "giving away answers?"
I could understand that it might be, and if it this then I've kind of broken the CoC a couple of times.. *cough* but anywayss.. there are certain concepts out there that require problems to be worked for users in order for them to understand. I know for me, it's like that.

Some users learn by being shown first, like me. So what if I run into other users that require all the steps to be shown before they understand what's going on, would I be allowed to do that, or should I just give basic instruction like others?


Also, one more question. I know about the anti-cheating policy here. No help on tests and quizzes or anything of that matter. But what about pre-test? They are tests, but not exactly. Pre-tests in my experience are just to test what someone knows. Not really counted towards them in a grade sense. Would it still be considered cheating if people got help with pre-tests, even though they don't really affect anyone grade wise?

Answer 48

And yes @Compassionate .. \(\Large \color{green}{hiii} \)

Answer 49

Actually, both of those were covered.

The problem with helping on a pretest is it defeats the purpose of the pretest: to see where the person needs to work the most.

As for explanatory answers where you work with them, that is explicitly allowed in the CoC. When possible, it is even better to work a related example.

Answer 50

And no saying hi to Comp. We don't want to get him started on spamming the training posts... again...

Answer 51

Wait really? Hi comp! XD no im just kidding xD

Answer 52

Hello,
Sorry im late
I didnt receive an email nor i am unable to open the pdf file..
And im done with the video...

Answer 53

1 other question. Is crap considered as something to not say? I know that I have seen users/moderators get mad when people say it.

Answer 54

@sleepyjess Somthign me and Jaga are planning to do is explain to OS what words are appropriate and what words are not. We will be explain why there not allowed and why they wont be allowed in the future.

Just think of it this way, does your teacher allow you to say, "Not this crap again!"? I highly doubt it. When thinking of do's and don'ts on OS, I try to apply the situation to a school conversation.

@e.mccormick Sorry for responding to this post ;-; I just had to ;)

Answer 55

My teachers only hear what I say for the 10 minutes I am on the phone with them...

Answer 56

During a DBA, how do you think a teacher would react if you said, "I don't remember learning this crap..". Crap is a word that is constantly being used as a substitute for an inappropriate word. When people hear the word 'crap', they almost immediately think of the other version, the not so friendly one.

I try not use negative words when writing an explanation or when writing a professional reply because the negative word can apply a totally different mood/tone then the one I intended.

If you can provide an example of how 'crap' can be used positively, then maybe I can explain a bit more. ;) @sleepyjess

Answer 57

lol @Joel_the_boss you can be in this post as long as you contribute to it.
Before I reread the CoC and TaC, I have one question..

Are you allowed to just ask questions even though you don't need help or don't need it to be checked to increase your engagement subscore?
Or would that fall under the rule in the CoC that says "Artificially inflating your stats in any other way."

Because I have seen multiple people ask questions even thought they don't need help, and when someone comes to help them, they are like "I already knew the answer, I'm just trying to increase my engagement."

Answer 58

Yes, that's a sign of artificial inflation. Just that last part, 'I was trying to increase my Engagement', is a sign of cheating the system. That's like me asking the same question 5 times and asking for a different explanation each time.

The brother of the engagement cheat is the medal cheat. Posting a question that is already answered and tagging a friend just to exchange medals. If you notice someone posting 5+ plus questions and tagging the same person, check out the previous ones because this could be a sign of the cheat. If you notice they are only accepting the explanations from the tagged user and only acknowledging/thanking them with a medal then you clearly have an issue.

@TheSmartOne Does that help? lol my explanations are sometimes unclear, if you need me to shorten it, let me know. ;)

Answer 59

Commenting so I can come back with my finished questions.

Answer 60

I finished the code of conduct but I am halfway through the terms and conditions.

Answer 61

`Keep in mind that OpenStudy is an open, transparent system where everyone can see all your posts, chats, comments, questions and answers. So OpenStudy documents your greatness and your helpfulness. If on the other hand you do not follow our code or post inappropriate content that is creepy, rude, or violates your school's Honor Code, it is also openly viewable. We care about you. So our advice is to be nice and honest.`

It does mention about the "school's Honor Code" but it doesn't mention that you could get in trouble for breaking it and instead mentions that it is 'openly viewable'.

I know that it states that you can not cheat in the TaC but most people won't care to read the TaC...

Answer 62

Here are my questions.

Answer 63

My questions:

Part A: Questions about the code of conduct.

1) Please do not copy and paste your problems. If people are going to spend time to help you, you should at least spend the time to ask your question as clearly as possible.
1) So would it be okay to report people when you see the question marks? Is it really that bad of an offense? Would it be plagiarism? Why do we not take action against this?

2) Don't provide someone with just the answer - explain the process, and help guide them through understanding the problem.
2) The “explain the process” part worries me. Is it telling us that giving all the work is allowed and we just have to make sure the asker understands it? If it is then we should change that a bit.

3) Posting a question multiple times within a short period of time.
3) A lot of users do this. But many of them have actual questions. They don’t do anything wrong. They just ask a lot on a few short minutes. Would it still count as spam? Should I report these things?

4) Posting questions that are not, in fact, questions (for example, starting a question in the Mathematics group to wish someone "Happy Birthday").
4) So birthday posts and congratulation posts are not allowed? I think they should change a bit of this.

5) If you create new accounts to bypass a suspension, you will be permanently banned from the site. No questions asked.
5) Why aren't we enforcing this rule? We gave one user three chances.

Part B: Questions about the terms and conditions.

1) harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information of other Users from the Service or the Site by electronic or other means for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications;
1) I have seen a few users messaging me these surveys or asking questions with surveys. Is it that bad of a deal? Is there anything to lose if we let this happen?

2) use the Service or the Site in any unlawful manner or in any other manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the Site;
2) Should we remind Jaynator495 about this?

3) upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
3) I have seen a user posting ugly pictures of bugs in the chat. Would it fall under this part?

4) register for more than one User account, register for a User account on behalf of an individual other than yourself, or register for a User account on behalf of any group or entity;
4) Why do mods make alt accounts? What will happen to me? I think I broke this rule along with some other people who have been selected as an ambassador with me. Do we get a penalty?

5) When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise including reporting suspected cheating or violations of intellectual property rights to your academic institution or others who have a need to know of such activity, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. OpenStudy does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.
5) (The people that made this are experts at using commas more than twenty times in a sentence.) Does “If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire” mean that I can delete anything I said and be free from whatever penalty I was going to get because it would expire?

6) We respect the intellectual property rights of others and we prohibit Users from uploading, posting or otherwise transmitting on the OpenStudy website or service any materials that violate another party's intellectual property rights. When we receive proper Notification of Alleged Copyright Infringement, we promptly remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers as described herein in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you believe that any material on the Site infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may send a written notification of such infringement to our Designated Agent.
6) A lot of users copy and paste copyrighted materials from their schools. Does this mean that almost everyone violated this part?

7) We care about the privacy of our Users. Please see our Privacy Policy. By using the Site or the Service, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.
7) Why do they want our data?


8) The Company may terminate your membership, delete your profile and/or delete any content or information that you have posted on the Site or through any Platform Application and/or prohibit you from using or accessing the Service or the Site or any Platform Application (or any portion, aspect or feature of the Service or the Site or any Platform Application) for any reason, or no reason, at any time in its sole discretion, with or without notice, including if it believes that you are under 13, or under 18 and not in high school or college. When we are notified that a User has died, we will generally, but are not obligated to, keep the User's account active under a special memorialized status for a period of time determined by us to allow other Users to post and view comments.
8) If they delete a user’s profile would they delete all medals, tags, fans, messages, chat messages, blockages, comments, questions answered, questions asked, titles, and almost anything associated with that user? Or will they just make the user’s profile inaccessible and ban the user. If someone dies what type of memorial will there be? Will the user be honored? Has there ever been a notified death?

9) To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, NO ARBITRATION OR CLAIM UNDER THESE TERMS OF USE SHALL BE JOINED TO ANY OTHER ARBITRATION OR CLAIM, INCLUDING ANY ARBITRATION OR CLAIM INVOLVING ANY OTHER CURRENT OR FORMER USER OF THE SERVICE, AND NO CLASS ARBITRATION PROCEEDINGS SHALL BE PERMITTED. In no event shall any claim, action or proceeding by you related in any way to the Site and/or the Service (including your visit to or use of the Site and/or the Service) be instituted more than three (3) years after the cause of action arose.
9) So users that left three years ago will not be held accountable?

10) Openstudy.com will take swift action against anyone found misusing the community’s Site or Service. In addition to refunding any membership fee, we will ban Users who cheat from the Site and Service permanently.
10) What membership fee?

Sources:
http://openstudy.com/code-of-conduct
http://openstudy.com/terms-and-conditions

Answer 64

@e.mccormick

Answer 65

A question that came to mind was if a user asks a test question and they are new but realize their mistake is it necessary to report these things?

Answer 66

Jess:

Crap: The positive intention rule of thumb Joel brought up is a good one to follow.


TSO:

Ask for points... Their intent gives it away. They are gaming the system. Only good parts are that 1: engagement is the hardest to get up so has lest impact and 2: when person B helps person A it does cause them to review their own material and remember it better.

CoC vs. TaC, the CoC is intended to be short and readable. Everybody should know that cheating is bad before they make it to this site. It should not even need to exist in ether document. At least the fact that it does exist gives us all a reference to use when dealing with problem people.

confluxepic:

A

I have not seen the origin of the copy-paste issue, so I do not know 100% what they were intending to prevent. From the TaC, copyright is obviously part of it. From both documents, it really shows a lack of effort and interest. Also, the document then somewhat contradicts itself by saying people should post their homework, so what is the real difference between typing it in and doing copy-paste? In general, moderators ignore it unless it is clear it is a test or they post the whole thing at once.

Explanation loophole: Preetha talked about this at length with me, which is one of the reasons why she knew my name and asked me to be a mod. Her thought on it is this: If you stop all the giving away answers, you stop most of the activity on the site and people leave. Instead of doing this, the goal is to have a core group of users that do things properly and promote the idea of learning. This is part of what the ambassadors are for. Help people to realize the benefits of using it as a tutoring site rather than an answers site.

Rapid posts: They have a built in delay for some of it and the bigger issue was people that posted the same question again and again to bypass bump limits.

Non-questions: Note that is uses Mathematics as the example. BDay, Hi, Congrats, etc. in Mathematics, Biology, and other educational topics is still a no-no. Feedback has a relaxed rule set in part to help make a place to help keep the rest free from abuse.

B

Survey says: If they ask for an email, location, or very personal information it is a problem. If the information is not able to identify you and not too personal, it is fine.

Jay as a burden... it has already happened.

Objectionable bugs: If it is causing a ruckus, yes, it can apply and also be seen as spam.

Delete to evade enforcement: no. The grant is for OS to show it, not for OS to decide if they want to punish you or not.

Copyright rights: Look into fair use for educational purposes. There is actually a part of the law that applies for copying materials to be able to learn.

Data: Your email address is data. They want that so they can make an account. Your user name is data. They want that so they can make an account. Every post you type is data. They want that... I think you get the point.

Deletions: Deleting an account can be a big deal, so they generally do not do it. All the notes that the moderators have access to say it is a database intensive process that they only do in extreme cases. They do not expand more on this.

Arbitration: That is for legal actions.

Membership fee: There are subscribers, like Lui, who have the \(\Diamond\) instead of a circle for their SS.

pooja:

Self correcting people: No need to report it if they oopsie and edit it. Now, a different situation is the person that swears then deletes it to try and hide it. That is simply not a mistake, especially if they do it more than once, and should be reported. Just be sure to let us know it is a report about items that were deleted so we can check those.

Answer 67

http://prntscr.com/6bi6cc

Answer 68

Sorry I'm so late. Saturday and Sunday were pretty busy days for my family. I didn't get the e-mail about Yammer either. :/

CoC Questions:

It says "No Sexual innuendo or 'Hitting on People'"
How do you determine some light flirting to "hitting on people" or is it not tolerated at all?

TaC Questions:

It says we are supposed to "maintain the security of your password and identification".
I can't imagine this happening but say a user just makes a post stating what their log in info is. Would that user be suspended/banned/warned? I've also met a couple people who've had their accounts hacked. If they contacted OS and proved they were who they said they were, would they end up getting their account back, or not because they were supposed to maintain their password?

Overall, the CoC and TaC seem pretty clear.

Answer 69

@e.mccormick

Answer 70

THis is another CoC question. If someone posts a question to check their answer, would that be considered spam?

Answer 71

Jay, the multiple accounts issue is more of one where people use it to avoid a suspension or to self medal. Other than that, even the admins have multiple accounts, as do all the moderators...

k_lynn:

You are not late. I do one a week and give two weeks to compete. Things are intended to be flexable for different time constraints.

Flirting vs. hitting on comes down to how serious the person seems to be. Do they want to voice chat? Do they want off-OS contact info? And any sort of talking about sex acts falls under the being vulgar part.

We have suspended accounts for all time so that the person needs to do just what you said, prove who they are to get it back.

Answer checks are not spam. I have done them myself. They are a great way to also check your process or get clarification.

Answer 72

Thanks for clearing those things up.

Answer 73

Why is posting your full question in the chats considered spam?

Answer 74

Chats:
First, it defeats the whole medal/ss system. Second, it is not really designed for large messages. Third, if a bunch of people are trying to do Q and A in chat it gets really spammy with all the, "No, I meant soandso was wrong, not you." type misunderstanding and cross communications.

Answer 75

Why isnt Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam Eggs and spam considered spam?

Answer 76

Its all because spam is spam and it should be considered spam. :-)

Answer 77

It is... but some things call for the humor and MPFC is funny. Like when a regular user says we will need to face their wrath... orly!

Answer 78

oh yea... and guess what... i broke your account... hents my wrath was calmed XD

Answer 79

Calmed? And you did not break my account. You lagged the server that was already stressed and not allowing relogs.

Answer 80

Question about the first part in the TaC:

By accessing or using our web site at www.openstudy.com or the mobile version thereof (together the "Site"), you (the "User" or “You”) signify that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and our Anti-Cheating Policy (collectively the "Terms of Use" or "Agreement"), \(\bf whether~ or~ not~ you~ are~ a ~registered ~member~ of ~OpenStudy.\)

So does the 13+ rule apply to people who view OpenStudy as a ghost?

Answer 81

"In addition, you agree not to use the Service or the Site to:
...
register for more than one User account, register for a User account on behalf of an individual other than yourself, or register for a User account on behalf of any group or entity;"

How seriously is this taken? There are a lot of users with multiple accounts .-.

Answer 82

It is effectively impossible to hold someone responsible for a contract they do not sign, so from a legal standpoint, there is no legal grounds to stop someone under 13 from viewing the site. The good news is that the laws regulating this are for getting information from them, so guest viewing also does not break the law as long as the topics are not adult in nature.

Quite frankly, I have not seen any push for the single account rule. On Yammer, the only exception was for moderators. This was so they could use the site without being harassed when they wanted to. But since people have made scripts to create literally hundreds of accounts, and thousands in the case of one user, I think most of the moderators have simply given up on it. However, it is still grounds for a CFAA lawsuit against anyone that abuses it.

Answer 83

Ok, thanks! :)