Adam Lear

New York, NY

Developer at Stack Overflow. Canadian working in the American idiom.

Once upon a time:

community manager at Stack Overflow
elected moderator on Stack Overflow and Software Engineering
desktop software developer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Email me a link to your favorite Wikipedia article: adam@stackoverflow.com.

top accounts reputation activity subscriptions

Global auth is dead! Long live universal login

discussion login auto-login asked Jul 6, 2015 at 22:06

meta.stackexchange.com

168 votes

WordPress.com button is going away from login/signup screens

discussion status-completed login openid asked Nov 17, 2016 at 22:54

meta.stackexchange.com

135 votes

Tag synonym dashboard 2.0

discussion tag-synonyms asked Jun 18, 2019 at 17:41

meta.stackexchange.com

134 votes

2018 monthly product team updates

discussion announcements asked Jan 9, 2018 at 17:58

meta.stackexchange.com

116 votes

Can I tell Steam which monitor to open a game on?

steam asked Aug 23, 2011 at 3:43

gaming.stackexchange.com

91 votes

Stack Exchange Privacy Policy Update

discussion legal privacy announcements asked Mar 8, 2017 at 15:35

meta.stackexchange.com

75 votes

Add the ability to reply to a chat message directly from the transcript

feature-request status-completed chat asked Dec 27, 2011 at 23:07

meta.stackexchange.com

73 votes

Auto-generate the "possible duplicate" comment when question is flagged as a duplicate

feature-request status-completed flags exact-duplicates automatic-comments asked May 25, 2011 at 4:44

meta.stackexchange.com

67 votes

New close/reopen privilege explanation for users who earn it for the first time

discussion vote-to-close privileges vote-to-reopen announcements asked Feb 26, 2020 at 19:12

meta.stackexchange.com

65 votes

Favorites are now known as Bookmarks

discussion favorites announcements asked May 7, 2020 at 19:47

meta.stackexchange.com

Top Answers

1567

How to check whether a string contains a substring in Ruby

stackoverflow.com

452

How to delete a file after checking whether it exists

stackoverflow.com

345

How do you unit test private methods?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

266

Why do some people only post answers, and not questions?

meta.stackexchange.com

254

Are Stack Exchange sites forums?

meta.stackexchange.com

209

Why is cleverness considered harmful in programming by some people?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

144

Multi-Line Comments in Ruby?

stackoverflow.com

126

Would you put your Stack Overflow profile link on your CV / Resume?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

121

Python, why elif keyword?

stackoverflow.com

114

What are the advantages and disadvantages to using your real name online?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

106

Why do some programmers hate the UI part of the development?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

Warn new users when they ask a question after a previous question is closed, downvoted, or deleted

meta.stackexchange.com

That comma should not be there

meta.stackexchange.com

What are the reputation requirements for privileges on sites, and how do they differ per site?

meta.stackexchange.com

Is there any reason to use "plain old data" classes?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

Is it bad etiquette to ask a potential employer how they score on the Joel Test?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

How do I contact a user privately, as a moderator?

meta.stackexchange.com

Where's the file-picker dialog in WPF?

stackoverflow.com

SOLID principles vs YAGNI

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

Can't log in using Firefox in Stack Overflow

meta.stackexchange.com

Update Migration Path List for Non-Moderators

meta.stackexchange.com

Ten Minute Practice Techniques For Guitar?

music.stackexchange.com

Knowing Your Limits: What is the maximum length of a question title, post, image and links used?

meta.stackexchange.com

Show off your hats! (2020 Edition)

meta.stackexchange.com

Should downvotes on questions be "free"?

meta.stackexchange.com

What is the symbolism of rats in George Orwell's "1984"?

scifi.stackexchange.com

Should I be a good programmer immediately after college?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

For what purposes is my user id used when sharing a link?

meta.stackexchange.com

.NET Properties - Use Private Set or ReadOnly Property?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

Does Open Source lead to bad coding?

softwareengineering.stackexchange.com