# First anniversary commemorative blog post: ideas ?

Kaveh reminds us all that Aug 16 is the first anniversary of the cstheory site. To celebrate, we're preparing a blog post.

What are highlights/lowlights from the first year that you think are worth mentioning in this post ? What else should we talk about ?

• can't wait to see the post! Aug 15 '11 at 11:00
• working on it :) Aug 15 '11 at 13:54
• final version-- happy birthday, cstheory
– vzn
Jan 31 '12 at 16:27

I guess one important highlight is Erickson's highly voted open problem and its anniversary is also on Aug 16. It is still open and I think it was first posed on CStheory.

• that's an excellent idea. Aug 2 '11 at 20:44
• It would be really nice if Jeff contribute to the blog post. Aug 6 '11 at 9:51
• I'm waiting for @Jeff to visit here :) Aug 6 '11 at 23:11

It seems we recently lost interest in updating the original proofs on this site question. But we could update that question and maybe highlight some of the top original proofs.

• Yes! And the blog could also highlight this. Aug 3 '11 at 6:35
• Did we really lose interest or have there not been that many original proofs of late ? Aug 3 '11 at 6:37
• @Suresh I fear it is at least a bit due to a loss of interest (or maybe just that not all that many people visit meta). For instance, for Viola's proof: it was given as an answer of Feb 18th and it seems that by the end of Feb people thought his proof was pretty awesome. However, it did not appear on the list of proofs until July 17th. Aug 3 '11 at 11:54
• hmm. I also think Robin Kothari's proof that was highlighted on the blog should also be added to the list. Aug 3 '11 at 16:25

It seems to me that working title for a first anniversary post might be along the lines First Anniversary Question: Why does the world need TCS StackExchange?

Such a question would invite very many, very different answers ... which would be good ... and the voting patterns would be very interesting indeed.

Speaking as an engineer, my BibTeX database has a just-added entry from an article in this month's Mathematical Intelligencer, in which following quote is attributed to Alfréd Rényi (and many other mathematicians too):

Other mathematicians prove what they can, John von Neumann proves what he wants.
This saying can be read equally as a tribute to von Neumann's undoubted genius, and as a tribute to von Neumann's ability to apply that mathematical creativity to any of the (many) great programs and enterprises to which his contributions were seminal (logic, ergodic theory, quantum theory, fluid dynamics, control, game theory, and numerical computation, to name only some of them).

Now in the 21st century, mathematical genius is as scarce as ever, and yet fortunately, the ability to "prove what we want" is becoming ever-more-widely distributed. This is in consequence of the confluence of several factors, among which are the ever-increasing volume of mathematical literature, the ever-improving access and searchability of that literature, and the literature's increasing emphasis upon naturality and universality.

And yet, these gains in mathematical volume, access, naturality, and universality aren't much good without the additional crucial ingredient of community … and here both TCS StackExchange and its sister site Mathoverflow have made a contribution that (to my mind) is absolutely essential and wonderful.

Thus (for me), not the sole contribution of TCS StackExchange to mathematics, but also not the least important, is the sense of community that TCS StackExchange fosters, and the concomitant mathematical confidence that "yes, we can prove what we want", which TCS StackExchange so ably helps distribute among many people (young researchers especially).

Surely, an anniversary question "Why does the world need TCS StackExchange?" would elicit very many answers, which would be quite different from the above and from one-another ... and all of these answers would be fascinating to read.

@article{Author = {Domokos Sx\'{a}z},
Title = {John von Neumann, the Mathematician},
Journal = {Mathematical Intelligencer},
Number = {2}, Pages = {42--51}, Volume = {33},Year = {2011}}
• I like it ! with your permission, I'll add a quote from you in the article. Aug 3 '11 at 20:05
• Thank you, Suresh. Permission is given to adapt none, some, or all of the answer, in any manner that you see fit ...and please let me express my appreciation and thanks for this outstanding forum. Aug 3 '11 at 20:55
• Does the world need TCS StackExchange? No. Does the world need something like TCS StackExchange? Probably. Aug 3 '11 at 22:04
• @Tsuyoshi, your comment is intriguing yet Delphic ... perhaps a longer version will be offered as a comment/answer to the Anniversary Question? (url: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythia ) Aug 3 '11 at 23:17
• I would like to see an article discussing about why the world (or at least the TCS community) needs a Q&A platform on theoretical computer science which separates Q&A from conversations (in other words, Q&A website which is not a forum). However, I do not think that there is any reason why it is necessarily the TCS Stack Exchange. I know that the TCS Stack Exchange is the only instance that is successful right now, and I have nothing against it. But I think that it is better to distinguish between a concept and an instance of the concept. Aug 3 '11 at 23:36
• @Tsuyoshi, hopefully I am grasping the kernel of your comment and addressing it, in remarking that (for me) blended strategies very often are optimal strategies. Perhaps the TCS Stack Exchange's pragmatic blend of (mainly) rigorous math questions, accompanied by (some) practical advice, and (a few) "community wiki" questions, constitutes for TCS what Winston Churchill said of democracy "The worst of all systems, except for every other that has ever been tried." Aug 4 '11 at 1:23
• @tsuyoshi, trying to understand the distinction you are making between Q&A and "conversations"...
– vzn
Sep 1 '12 at 1:57
• @vzn: Good luck. Please refrain from posting your diary as a comment-reply, because every time you post a comment-reply, the mentioned user gets a notification. Sep 1 '12 at 2:12
• geez @tsuyoshi, asking for you to clarify your opinion about your comment above, stated ambiguously, not clear on what you are saying, have not seen you state it elsewhere. are you saying the strict adherence to the Q&A format vs conversations is positive or negative? ie what position would the possible article take on this issue?
– vzn
Sep 1 '12 at 2:18

I don't mean this for the blog post, but I would like to bring it up for people to think about.

I think the level of discussion in questions was higher in Nov and Dec 2010 than it is now. Agreement? Disagreement? If you agree, why the change, and what can we do about it? If you disagree, why am I wrong?

I have a role on the blog to improve discussion, publicity, etc. What can other people do, and what can the blog do, to increase the interestingness of questions, discussion and answers?

• I wonder if this might be a question of its own. Aug 4 '11 at 16:59
• I agree with @Suresh. Why not make this a question? Aug 4 '11 at 17:33

I would talk about the various highlighted papers, talks, and various other things to consume. For example the top postings on this search https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/search?q=what+to+read