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The tag is all cleared out except for two questions, which are locked.

What are your favorite version control systems?

This is more a discussion question than an actual attempt to determine the "best", since that clearly varies by the needs of the organization. I'm more curious about the arguments in favor of different systems across categories (centralized vs distributed, open vs proprietary, etc).

So, what do you think is the best version control system?

Which is an outright poll with 17k views.

And What's your favourite quote about programming?

What's your favourite quote about programming?

One quote per answer, and please check for duplicates before posting!

Which has 180 answers and 36k views. This really isn't much better than going through and reading Wikiquote's Category:Computer scientists or Category:Computer science. Sure, there are lots of quotes there, but it really isn't a good example of what we have nor material that isn't present in a much better form elsewhere.

Please consider deleting these these two questions.

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    Removed the tag from both, it doesn't need to stay around if we decide to keep the questions.
    – yannis
    Nov 1, 2015 at 18:49

2 Answers 2

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I think the programming quotes question is useless and should be deleted.

The comparison of version control systems is poorly-worded and not an example of a high-quality question: however, I believe it does have value.

While it is full of opinion and anecdotes, I believe that with some curation it could be worth keeping. Some of the answers need to be either deleted or fleshed out a bit more to have actual content instead of "I like Git" or some such nonsense.

Again, while not an example of a good question that is on-topic and properly scoped, the content is useful. The number of views bears this out.

Tl;DR:

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  • "moderator should delete the low-quality answers" No. Moderators don't get to judge the quality of an answer. We will happily delete non answers, but when it comes to answers that answer the question, however badly, we are regular users.
    – yannis
    Nov 4, 2015 at 13:19
  • @Yannis historical locks on a question prevent the community from voting on it, eventually to the point where 20k users can act on low quality answers (or if they show up in the low quality post review queue). Unfortunately, with the trouble of popularity, such answers rarely get there. This means that the community needs to raise the issue so that those who can act on them with unilateral action have the mandate to do so.
    – user40980
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:17
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    @MichaelT No. If we decide we want to unlock the question, then it's up to the community to curate it. There's no reason for a shortcut here, especially one that's as slippery as unilaterally deleting answers that actually attempt to answer the question. If the community is unable to effectively curate the answers (which is probably the case here), then keeping it locked or deleting the whole thing are preferable options.
    – yannis
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:22
  • (although I must say I find deleting the git answer extremely tempting...)
    – yannis
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:25
  • @Yannis And when one looks at the intent of an historical lock, we see under a criteria to lock it "2.The post is stellar, in spite of its off-topic nature" and under criteria to not lock it "2.Have little or no redeeming value.". I contend that there is no stellar content in any of the answers and is ultimately of no redeeming value. I also believe that if they were unlocked, we'd be able to muster the 10x 10k delete votes on both questions without too much difficulty - unless a mod wants to get there first.
    – user40980
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:26
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    @MichaelT Good. Then let's delete it.
    – yannis
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:27
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VCS question is very opinionated and has some outdated parts. Clearly just a poll, which is no longer represenative or valid (even as SVN answerers notes in his answer). Should be deleted.

I think "quote" question is good for historical referenses. Should be kept and locked.

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    While the front page of the quote question looks ok, as you start going into the other 6 pages, you get foul language personal anecodotes, athletic shoe slogans, tshirt non-sequiters, shower thoughts, things shouted during a debate, more shower thoughts, xkcd.
    – user40980
    Nov 2, 2015 at 14:16
  • I contend that this isn't the type of material we want to say is a shining example of the yesteryear of Programmers.SE. Once one starts going through and saying "yea, that one should go" you'll find that the list gets much shorter and is better covered by sites that do a better job of listing just quotes... like wikiquote.
    – user40980
    Nov 2, 2015 at 14:18
  • I haven't checked all the pages. Good note.
    – Kromster
    Nov 2, 2015 at 14:21
  • @MichaelT Does it really matter, though? We already warn people that the question isn't up to our standards, should we care if anyone actually goes past the first page?
    – yannis
    Nov 4, 2015 at 13:13
  • @Yannis the locked message says that the question is not up to the standards. The answers, however, are examples of all too common poor quality answers. No, moderators aren't the judge of that (though I'll challenge you to go delete all the duplicate answers in there that repeat the same material - KISS and recursion are in the quotes several times). The other thing is the comments on there, which are examples of extreme forum like activity. ...
    – user40980
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:11
  • That this is shown a tacit "this is ok and to be preserved" means that that type of behavior (short answers commenting on other answers and excessively chatty comments - not to mention the ones that I flagged earlier) are acceptable and continue to be issues on the site. The list of quotes are done countless other times and places (and better than SE can), and the poll of version control systems are still things that show up. I don't save my finger and toenail clippings at home as a 'bad example of artwork, but has historical significance' - I don't think we should here either.
    – user40980
    Nov 4, 2015 at 14:14

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