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The TeX delimiters have been fixed:

OK, we made it so that the only inline math delimiter supported here is \$ from the default of $

(if you are wondering why we don't like the other "defaults" from MathJax such as \( and \[ try typing them yourself in the answer box below to see why. Hint: Markdown.)

So now

This is $20 and that is $30

This is $20 and that is $30

should be unaffected while

This is \$20 and that is \$30

This is \$20 and that is \$30

should trigger inline math notation as before.

This is great! However, it means we've got a lot of questions to fix. There are 750 posts which contain two dollar signs. Some (Not all!) of those will be broken by this change.

In my opinion, we need to yank the band-aid off. Leaving the old formatting in place will leave broken windows, and result in lots of pointless edits trickling up. We need to fix these all at once. As time progresses, we'll get more users, more questions, and it will be harder to fix.

To do this, we need to organize an edit party. This involves:

  1. Finding a time and day when we have low traffic: We don't want any new posts to get lost in the noise. The activity logs (a high-rep privilege) will be useful for this.
  2. Finding a group of users who are available at that time to join the party. Many hands make light work!
  3. Find the questions which are or could be broken. This query should be useful for that (basically, searches the database for all posts with two dollar signs. We'll then subdivide that list by the number of people in attendance at the edit party.

Participation is very simple: Click the link, check that the formatting is correct, edit it if it's not correct, and repeat.

Post an answer if you have a suggestion for a time, are willing to help out, or have a better method of finding and divvying up the questions.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Does this mean we shouldn't fix them as we see them? Is this because edited posts get bumped? Is there a way to prevent that? \$\endgroup\$
    – endolith
    Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 20:11
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    \$\begingroup\$ @endolith: No! Fix posts as you see them. If they're already on the front page because of an answer, an edit to another part of the post, or because they're actually new, then there's no reason not to fix them. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 12:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @endolith - There is no way to prevent bumping of edited posts. That's intentional, they should be available for review. It just complicates things in situations like ours. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 12:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ Since we're planning to do this collectively, are there any lists of available dates and times for the party? \$\endgroup\$
    – AndrejaKo
    Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 11:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ @AndrejaKo - I'll recommend that we do it on a Sunday or Monday. We have much lower traffic on those days. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 20:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kevin Vermeer♦ Looks like a good idea. Also about the questions which come during the event: Would it be a good idea to edit them and then revert if needed after we finish with TeX? This way they should come on top again and hopefully not be lost in the sea of old questions. \$\endgroup\$
    – AndrejaKo
    Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 20:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ @AndrejaKo - Yes, a bump would be encouraged. Note that answers are more likely to get missed, because the "New Questions" tab won't be cluttered with edits. I expect to get lots of flags from this event... \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 23:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ So did this already happen? Is it happening in the future? \$\endgroup\$
    – endolith
    Commented Jun 21, 2011 at 15:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ @endolith - This has not yet happened, but I hope it happens in the future! Would you be willing to help out? \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2011 at 20:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ @everybody - thanks to all who participated in the TeX Edit Party so far. Really appreciate it! \$\endgroup\$
    – stevenvh
    Commented Jun 22, 2011 at 14:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kevin: Yes I will help. \$\endgroup\$
    – endolith
    Commented Jun 22, 2011 at 17:25

2 Answers 2

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We need to have this edit party in a coordinated fashion, because the resultant edits will clutter the front page and we want to minimize the impact. Importantly, we don't want to loose content in the noise, and we don't want to fill the front page with this noise. Not to shame Daniel, who I believe was acting in the hope that his actions would be helpful, but this is what we don't want:

12 edits by Daniel and one answer by Jason S in the middle

12 edits filling the screen, and this answer by Jason S (which I've since bumped) almost got lost in the noise. On SO, activity like this would quickly get pushed back, but on our site, stuff lasts on the front page for almost 24 hours.

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I was revising the questions listed in the query and I think most of them could be closed as too localized and even deleted because they are about price of things.

Maybe change the delimiter was unnecessary.

Anyway, I've started to edit them.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Woah there! First, while we do want to close bad questions, it's probably too general to say that since a question involves prices that it should always be closed. There are good shopping questions and answers. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 12:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ Second, one user starting to edit them is generally helpful, but I think we want to do a major project like this in a more coordinated fashion. See my answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 12:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't think this should be used as an excuse to go around deleting "shopping questions". Can we just focus on fixing all the formatting for now and address whether things should be deleted at a later date? \$\endgroup\$
    – endolith
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 14:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ @endolith - Agreed. Other cleanup will slow down the edit process, and make reviewing the changes more difficult. If you see something wrong, flag it, and we can work through the flags after the dust settles. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 16:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kevin, I agree with you. There are good questions and answers. But I have a suggestion for these questions. My suggestion is to put a message warning that it exists because it has historical significance. Here an example \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel Grillo
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 16:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ @kevin it's always good to re-evaluate questions while you're in there editing them, of course \$\endgroup\$
    – Jeff Atwood Mod
    Commented Jun 3, 2011 at 7:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Jeff - Right, that's why I suggested we flag and later discuss them. I agree that we should do the evaluation, but a single close vote would be very likely to expire if it was in a long list of edits. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Vermeer Mod
    Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 23:31

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