Can you at least drop the “(formerly called Mailbag Answers)”?
How long has that been? More than 10 years, right?
It’s taking longer than we thought.
And while we’re at it, could the "“2010 U.S. Election” forum is now “Elections” thread in Elections get un-stickied? It’s been 4 1/2 years since it was posted, and its pretty much irrelevant by now, but it still slightly clutters up the page.
The OP’s complaint does not bother me. But if it did, I’d feel obliged to make the criticism constructive: otherwise I would be whining.
Here’s what we have now: Comments on Cecil’s Columns/Staff Reports
Say what you really think. Please, don’t gush. And for comments on Staff Reports (formerly called “Mailbag Answers”) contributed by the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board.
This is allegedly an improvement:
Comments on Cecil’s Columns/Staff Reports
Say what you really think. Please, don’t gush. And for comments on Staff Reports contributed by the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board. I’ll opine that in context of the rest of the page, this might be a little terse: Comments on Cecil’s Columns/Staff Reports
Say what you really think. Please, don’t gush. …and this would mismatch the rest of the page: Comments on Cecil’s Columns/Staff Reports
It’s easy to throw brickbats. Constructive remarks are more challenging, as one faces competing considerations and possible disadvantages of alternate proposals. My whining aside, I agree that “Mailbag Answers” doesn’t really register today.
I am not a copy editor:
Say what you really think. Please, don’t gush. [del]And[/del] Also for comments on Staff Reports contributed by the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board.
22 words. I encourage explicit reference to the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board.
Yes, I’m the whiner.
Well if this is the case, you are hardly alone as noted. It’s a general problem.
That said, I stick by my assertion that it is constructive to politely offer possible alternatives when submitting criticism. Often those in charge have to sort through non-optimum alternatives and fixes are not immediately obvious. I use this thread as an example because the complaint in question is reasonable even if it’s understood to address a minor issue.
Somebody has to do the copy editing and most of TPTB are volunteers.
Wow. I didn’t read that as whining at all. Just questions.
Clearly I am having difficulty communicating. Apologies. I am noting that criticism is best paired with constructive suggestion. And that once various scenarios are sketched out, it is not unusual to stumble upon initially unforeseen tradeoffs.
What are you talking about? The OP did just that - he suggested that the phrase “formerly called Mailbag Answers” is woefully outdated, and should be removed. What “possible alternatives” was he expected to suggest? All that blather you posted above is saying essentially the same thing.
Huh?
Stop digging.
Calm yourself. I apologized upthread. The OP recommended that “at least” a certain phrase be dropped, implying that there were other possible corrections.
Sound advice.
If they’re going to go through and try to fix descriptions, they need to fix the Thread Games one. It’s terseness is out of place.
Done correctly, tenseness is never out of place.
This.
That’s silly. Anything is out of place when it is clearly different from all the rest. That’s the definition.
Ah, finally, ONE SDMB poster that played “One of These Things is Not Like the Others” on Sesame Street, AND took away the educational value: one of the things wasn’t like the others. 
Why so terse?
Nope