# Determined vs. specified **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 16, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899 "2016-05-16T05:19:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/1 "2016-05-16T05:19:28Z")
Didn’t the edit-window expiration timer popup used to say "The administrator has determined . . . ", and the wording changed to "The administrator has specified. . . "? Is there a reason for this, other than being a lot closer to the truth? “Determined” implies that there is a body of empirical data, which supports five minutes limit as a physical law of the universe. While “specified” implies that, what the hell, everybody can adjust their behavior and deal with an arbitrary edict. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/2 "2016-05-16T12:46:43Z")
And yet, the sun still comes up in the morning, the stars in the heavens go their mighty ways and life continues, unabated by the most incredibly pedantic complaint ever posted on this, or any, message board. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/3 "2016-05-16T13:03:23Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > And yet, the sun still comes up in the morning, the stars in the heavens go their mighty ways and life continues, unabated by the most incredibly pedantic complaint ever posted on this, or any, message board. Have you checked every post on every messageboard? If not, how can you determine that your claim is correct? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/4 "2016-05-16T13:10:00Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Fenris](#): > > And yet, the sun still comes up in the morning, the stars in the heavens go their mighty ways and life continues, unabated by the most incredibly pedantic complaint ever posted on this, or any, message board. Belittling someone’s post serves no useful purpose in ATMB. No warning issued, but please do not do this again in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/5 "2016-05-16T13:14:21Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Didn’t the edit-window expiration timer popup used to say "The administrator has determined . . . ", and the wording changed to "The administrator has specified. . . "? Is there a reason for this, other than being a lot closer to the truth? > > “Determined” implies that there is a body of empirical data, which supports five minutes limit as a physical law of the universe. While “specified” implies that, what the hell, everybody can adjust their behavior and deal with an arbitrary edict. I’m not aware of any reasons for anyone to have changed this, and our tech folks typically don’t have the time available to go through the software and make minor wording changes. If it did change, then most likely it was that the default text for this setting changed the last time that we upgraded the SDMB software (which was quite some time ago). It could also be that you are confusing it with a similar message displayed elsewhere on this site. There’s more than one timeout here. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/6 "2016-05-16T14:07:22Z")
The only “timeout” I ever see is when I try to edit a post beyond the buzzer. I had always thought that “The administrator has determined . . .” always sounded a bit odd to me, as the administrator has the power to “determine” things on the basis of a bad hair day… Hence, my attention when it changed. Doesn’t anybody else remember that? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/7 "2016-05-16T14:28:43Z")
Remember it? It changed my life. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/8 "2016-05-16T18:02:23Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > The only “timeout” I ever see is when I try to edit a post beyond the buzzer. I had always thought that “The administrator has determined . . .” always sounded a bit odd to me, as the administrator has the power to “determine” things on the basis of a bad hair day… Hence, my attention when it changed. Doesn’t anybody else remember that? Nope. And I agree with **e\_c\_g**. It’s just a standard boilerplate vBulletin message, not one made up by **Ed Zotti** and his minions. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/9 "2016-05-16T18:35:18Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Nope. And I agree with **e\_c\_g**. It’s just a standard boilerplate vBulletin message, not one made up by **Ed Zotti** and his minions. You mean that “Thank you, your eminence, for choosing to visit our humble site,” message I get when I log in here is VB generic? Wow, busted my bubble. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/10 "2016-05-16T20:46:56Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Remember it? It changed my life. It killed my mother and forced my dad to write bad checks. And start smoking. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/11 "2016-05-16T22:59:35Z")
From [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/determination): > [@](#): > > Full Definition of determination > 1 > a : a judicial decision settling and ending a controversy > b : the resolving of a question by argument or reasoning > > 2 archaic : termination > > 3a : the act of deciding definitely and firmly; also : the result of such an act of decision > b : firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end \ > > 4 > : a fixing or finding of the position, magnitude, value, or character of something: as > a : the act, process, or result of an accurate measurement > b : an identification of the taxonomic position of a plant or animal > > 5 > a : the definition of a concept in logic by its essential constituents > b : the addition of a differentia to a concept to limit its denotation > > 6 : direction or tendency to a certain end : impulsion > > 7 > : the fixation of the destiny of undifferentiated embryonic tissue Note that while 1b, 4a, and 5a specifically refer to external evidence when rendering the decision, the other multiple definitions make no such assertion. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determined-vs-specified/754899/12 "2016-05-17T15:04:49Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Didn’t the edit-window expiration timer popup used to say "The administrator has determined . . . ", and the wording changed to "The administrator has specified. . . "? Is there a reason for this, other than being a lot closer to the truth? A similarly worded screen is displayed when you try to open a thread that has been disappeared.