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Call this a three-part question.

Question #1: Can the Help Center "How do I write a good answer" page be modified by our wonderful Mods?

  • If "no," the rest of this question is irrelevant.

  • If "yes," please continue.

Question #2: More often than I like, I find people posting answers or comments that are more interested in "reality" than they are the world the question poster is trying to build. Just so there's an authoritative location to direct people to, can we add something like the following?

Focus on the question's world, not the real world

Worldbuilding questions can range from asking how something is done in the real world to asking how something could be done in their fictional world. Sometimes the poster is asking for a reality-based answer and sometimes they are asking for a suspension-of-disbelief answer. It is important that you answer from the perspective the questioner needs, because it's a habit to answer only from the perspective of our reality and that does not always meet the questioner's needs.

Question #3: Can we change the order of items listed on the "How to Answer" page? If so, I'd love to see the "Answer well-asked questions" section moved to position #1.

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  • $\begingroup$ That page is unmodifiable by mods; it's the same on all sites. (Disclosure: I'm a mod on another SE site) $\endgroup$
    – Andrew T.
    Apr 20, 2019 at 6:46

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Can the Help Center "How do I write a good answer" page be modified by our wonderful Mods?

As pointed out in a comment, the answer to this is no.

A few pages in the help center can be modified by site mods; How do I write a good answer? is not one of them.

More often than I like, I find people posting answers or comments that are more interested in "reality" than they are the world the question poster is trying to build. Just so there's an authoritative location to direct people to, can we add something like the following?

Isn't this already covered by "Answer the question"? If the question is asking about a fictional world, then answering about the real world (without explaining how that would apply to the fictional world in question) is hardly answering the question, is it?

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  • $\begingroup$ Aw, rats. It's always something. Where's this "Answer the question" section you're talking about? $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Apr 20, 2019 at 14:39
  • $\begingroup$ @JBH "Where's this "Answer the question" section you're talking about?" It's the fourth heading in How do I write a good answer?; the headings I see are, from top to bottom, How do I write a good answer?, Pay it forward, Have the same problem?, Answer the question, Provide context for links, Write to the best of your ability, Answer well-asked questions, and Always be polite and have fun. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Apr 20, 2019 at 18:53
  • $\begingroup$ Ah. Yes, technically that says what I said. But it's obtuse and fails to address the specific behavior of answering worldbuilding questions with only real-world answers. Nevertheless, it's what we/I have to work with. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Apr 20, 2019 at 19:17

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