List of comment templates

Question

Inspired by this question on meta.cstheory.SE. The post at meta.Tex.SE is quite impressive.

We often leave generic comments to OP and answer posters such as: "if this is a homework, please add a tag," and such. Can we make this post a community wiki and add a big list of standard comments? Let's annotate the usage cases, so other users and copy-and-paste whenever applies.

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As usual on meta, (down/up)vote if you (dis/)agree.

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Update: To facilitate copy & paste, if your comment contains links and/or formatting, please enclose the whole text between single inverted quotes: `...` i.e. verbatim like this.

Answer 1

Welcome to MSE

This is a comment Arturo used to add to questions of relatively new users:

Welcome to math.SE: since you are new, I wanted to let you know a few things about the site. In order to get the best possible answers, it is helpful if you say in what context you encountered the problem, and what your thoughts on it are; this will prevent people from telling you things you already know, and help them give their answers at the right level. If this is homework, please add the homework tag; people will still help, so don't worry. Also, many find the use of imperative ("Prove", "Solve", etc.) to be rude when asking for help; please consider rewriting your post.

Welcome to math.SE: since you are new, I wanted to let you know a few things about the site. In order to get the best possible answers, it is helpful if you say in what context you encountered the problem, and what your thoughts on it are; this will prevent people from telling you things you already know, and help them give their answers at the right level. If this is homework, please add the [tag:homework] tag; people will still help, so don't worry. Also, many find the use of imperative ("Prove", "Solve", etc.) to be rude when asking for help; please consider rewriting your post.

Of course, this should be customized for the particular post. In particular, the examples of imperative words should come from the question itself. And you could throw in a sentence saying "Titles should be informative" or remove the sentence about homework if appropriate.

Answer 2

How to write math

This might be added as a pointer where to find help:

For some basic information about writing math at this site see e.g. here, here, here and here.

For some basic information about writing math at this site see e.g. [here](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/), [here](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/70559/155238), [here](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/1773/) and [here](http://math.stackexchange.com/editing-help#latex).

Sometimes this explanation can be added if a post was TeX-ified by other MSE users:

Some MSE users tried to improve your post using TeX (for better readability). Please check whether these edits did not unintentionally change the meaning of your post.

Answer 3

Low accept rate/accepting answers

After you ask a question here, if you get an acceptable answer, you should "accept" the answer by clicking the check mark ✓ next to it. This scores points for you and for the person who answered your question. If you don't do this, people are less likely to answer your later questions. You can find out more about accepting answers here: How do I accept an answer?, Why should we accept answers?, How does accept rate work?.

After you ask a question here, if you get an acceptable answer, you should "accept" the answer by clicking the check mark ✓ next to it. This scores points for you and for the person who answered your question. If you don't do this, people are less likely to answer your later questions. You can find out more about accepting answers here: [How do I accept an answer?](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/3286/), [Why should we accept answers?](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/3399/), [How does accept rate work?](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/16721/).

Answer 4

More descriptive/informative titles

Please, try to make the title of your question more informative. E.g., Why does $a<b$ imply $a+c<b+c$? is much more useful for other users than A question about inequality. From How can I ask a good question?: Make your title as descriptive as possible. In many cases one can actually phrase the title as the question, at least in such a way so as to be comprehensible to an expert reader.

Please, try to make the title of your question more informative. E.g., *Why does $a<b$ imply $a+c<b+c$?* is much more useful for other users than *A question about inequality.* From [How can I ask a good question?](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/a/589/): *Make your title as descriptive as possible. In many cases one can actually phrase the title as the question, at least in such a way so as to be comprehensible to an expert reader.*

Answer 5

Similar to How to write math by Martin Sleziak, but a little more focus on the fact, that one self has edited a post.

Welcome to math.SE: I have tried to improve the readability of your question by introducing Tex. It is possible that I unintentionally changed the meaning of your question. Please proofread the question to ensure this has not happened.

Welcome to math.SE: I have tried to improve the readability of your question by introducing [Tex](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/). It is possible that I unintentionally changed the meaning of your question. Please proofread the question to ensure this has not happened.

Answer 6

Is this a homework question?

Since you are new to this site, please consider reading this: How to ask a homework question?. In particular, you should use the homework tag if your question comes from a homework. I wrote this comment because the question sounds homework-like.

Since you are new to this site, please consider reading this: [How to ask a homework question?](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/1803/). In particular, you should use the [tag:homework] tag if your question comes from a homework. I wrote this comment because the question sounds homework-like.

Sometimes it might be appropriate to add also this sentence.

I did not treat this question like a homework question, since it was not tagged homework.

I did not treat this question like a homework question, since it was not tagged [tag:homework].

Answer 7

This question is of insufficient quality (Version 5 (by Lord_Farin in this thread [note also the ongoing discussion there]) -- following suggestions by zyx)

If necessary, this can be preceded by Hello, welcome to Math.SE.

Your question is phrased as an isolated problem, without any further information or context. This does not match many users' quality standards, so it may attract downvotes, or be (temporarily) closed. To prevent that, please [edit] the question. This will help you recognise and resolve the issues. Concretely: please provide context, and include your work and thoughts on the problem. These changes can help in formulating more appropriate answers.

Your question is phrased as an isolated problem, without any further information or context. This does not match [many users' quality standards](http://goo.gl/mLWc8), so it may attract downvotes, or be (temporarily) closed. To prevent that, please [edit] the question. [This](http://goo.gl/xQWVb) will help you recognise and resolve the issues. Concretely: please provide context, and include your work and thoughts on the problem. These changes can help in formulating more appropriate answers.

Answer 8

Meta-tags are not supposed to be used standalone

Homework:

homework should not be used as a standalone tag; see tag-wiki and meta.

[tag:homework] should not be used as a standalone tag; see [tag-wiki](http://math.stackexchange.com/tags/homework/info) and [meta](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/2498/the-meta-tags).

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Reference-request:

reference-request should not be used as a standalone tag; see tag-wiki and meta.

[tag:reference-request] should not be used as a standalone tag; see [tag-wiki](http://math.stackexchange.com/tags/reference-request/info) and [meta](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/2498/the-meta-tags).

Answer 9

Be cautious with creating new tags

From FAQ about tags: Try to avoid creating new tags. Instead, check if there is some synonym that already has a popular tag. It's not easy to keep balance between too specific tags and not having enough tags, but it is always good to search first and to ask yourself, whether newly created tag is not too specific. (Of course, you can disagree with the removal of the tag you've created, and there is possibility for further discussion, if needed.)

From [FAQ about tags](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/107/faq-for-math-stackexchange/128#128): *Try to avoid creating new tags. Instead, check if there is some synonym that already has a popular tag.* It's not easy to keep balance between too specific tags and not having enough tags, but it is always good to search first and to ask yourself, whether newly created tag is not too specific. (Of course, you can disagree with the removal of the tag you've created, and there is possibility for further discussion, if needed.)

The first part of the comment seems to be sufficient in cases when retagging or removal of tags is clear-cut.

Answer 10

Welcome/LaTeX help/Homework question

Something like this is useful when a new user asks what is almost surely a homework question without formatting anything into LaTeX.

Welcome to math.SE! Please consider taking the time to read the faq to familiarise yourself with some of our common practices. In addition, this page should give you a start at learning how to typeset mathematics here so that your posts say what you want them to, and also look good. As this question appears to be homework, please consider reading this page for information about asking effective homework-related questions. Cheers!

Welcome to math.SE! Please consider taking the time to read the [faq] to familiarise yourself with some of our common practices. In addition, [this page](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/q/5020/8348) should give you a start at learning how to typeset mathematics here so that your posts say what you want them to, and also look good. As this question appears to be homework, please consider reading [this page](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/q/1803/8348) for information about asking _effective_ homework-related questions. Cheers!

Answer 11

Making user aware of monthly/daily quotas

I've noticed that you have asked quite a few questions recently. I wanted to make sure that you are aware of the quotas 50 questions/30 days and 6 questions/24 hours, so that you can plan posting your questions accordingly. (If you try to post more questions, stackexchange software will not allow you to do so.) For more details see meta.

I've noticed that you have asked quite a few questions recently. I wanted to make sure that you are aware of the quotas 50 questions/30 days and 6 questions/24 hours, so that you can plan posting your questions accordingly. (If you try to post more questions, stackexchange software will not allow you to do so.) For more details see [meta](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/a/4770/).

Of course, sometimes it might be better to be more specific. (E.g. "I've noticed that you've asked 10 questions in last 3 days" or something similar.)

Answer 12

Tags that are frequently used incorrectly

The tag differential-equations is intended for questions about ordinary differential equations, there is a separate tag for pdes; see the tag-wiki and the tag-excerpt. (The tag-excerpt is also shown when you are adding a tag to a question.)

The tag [tag:differential-equations] is intended for questions about ordinary differential equations, there is a separate tag for [tag:pde]s; see the [tag-wiki](http://math.stackexchange.com/tags/differential-equations/info) and the tag-excerpt. (The tag-excerpt is also shown when you are adding a tag to a question.)

Answer 13

Multiple questions in one post

Please, post only one question in one post. Posting several questions in the same post is discouraged and such questions may be closed, see meta.

Please, post only one question in one post. Posting several questions in the same post is discouraged and such questions may be closed, see [meta](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/6464/posting-multiple-questions-as-one?).

Answer 14

Formatting of title to limit usage of vertical space

Some -- especially new -- users employ display math mode (using $$ delimiters) and other TeX commands (e.g. \dfrac, \displaystyle) in their titles. After fixing this, the following comment can be used to explain one's actions.

I have changed the formatting of the title so as to make it take up less vertical space -- this is a policy to ensure that the scarce space on the main page is distributed evenly over the questions. Please take this into consideration for future questions. Thanks in advance.

I have changed the formatting of the title so as to make it take up less vertical space -- this is a policy to ensure that the scarce space on the main page is distributed evenly over the questions. Please take this into consideration for future questions. Thanks in advance.