Alert

[Charlene]

I have noticed many answers with hyphens and no alert in the question.
Has this rule become obsolete?

[Staley]

It's the same as it was when we discussed it a couple of years back:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=866&p=1817&hilit=hyphen#p1805

[Justme]

Personally I like the hyphen alert...but sometimes I leave it out too

[Staley]

My basic policy is: if it makes the question too easy, I leave it out. Which means: one shouldn't assume "no warning=no hyphen." But my usual practice is also to leave the hyphen out entirely unless I feel like I can't. The one on the board right now about the male prostitute in the Caribbean technically should have a hyphen, but I just made it 2 words instead. The hyphen warning is most important when the answer is a list and one or more of the elements has a hyphen (to me, anyway).

[Charlene]

I prefer to be alerted. I hate to chalk up five or six tries only to find there was a hyphen.

[Phil F]

The hyphen is one of the few punctuation marks recognized by TI. I always add a hy-phen alert to my questions because it is unfair not to.

Phil

[Paucle]

(totally made up fact) Of all the actresses ever to play one of Charlie's Angels, who's the only one who could speak 19 languages fluently?

You've discovered an amazing factoid- you just HAVE to ask about it. You'd add "hyphen alert" making research virtually unnecessary?

Phil once wrote a post about this very same thing. I just tried to find it but remember that we lost a couple of years' worth of posts some time back.
Anyway, I seem to remember that he said that if it's an obvious hyphen he doesn't warn for it.

Was she misremembering, or have you changed your opinion on this?

[Phil F]

Don't remember saying that but over the years it is possible.

Phil

[Paucle]

Good example of a "warning not really needed" answer out there now.