Questions tagged [answers]

This tag is for questions about answers: how to answer, whether specific answers are appropriate, and so forth.

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1 vote
2 answers
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Found a potential answer to my own question, but didn't get feedback on it. How do I fix that?

A few days after I posted this question, I hitting upon this potential answer to it and posted it to get feedback on it, but the only response to it was strictly to tell me how to use superscripts (I ...
MarqFJA87's user avatar
  • 814
5 votes
2 answers
137 views

Is it acceptable for a question to have no accepted answer?

I posted a question which is getting a great amount of traction and some great answers, which are all making my imagination spark and buzz. On other Stack Exchange sites, questions usually have one ...
lowercasename's user avatar
-5 votes
2 answers
122 views

On bringing closed questions with answers on topic?

If an off topic gets an answer before closing, logic suggests that whatever answers may have been submitted must be off topic as well. The possibility of making a post that has value to the community, ...
Vogon Poet's user avatar
  • 8,159
-5 votes
5 answers
168 views

Let's talk about answers and their quality

A long time ago the WB.SE community was discussing whether to adhere to the Back It Up! policy or not. Those discussions are not very relevant today since most participants are long gone now. And the ...
Otkin's user avatar
  • 6,665
6 votes
7 answers
489 views

Is it Fair to Encourage People to NOT Answer Questions that Need to be Closed?

Introduction: WB.SE has a SE mandated format; the community has determined that certain rules need to apply to the asking and answering of questions; the community has in place certain policies & ...
elemtilas's user avatar
  • 39.5k
0 votes
1 answer
84 views

Im I ruining genre recognition when I deconstructed supernatural creatures to be Mutants I.E. X men?

Deconstruction is a terrible word to use here. But the only word I can think of to describe my world. But anyway genre recognition is when the audience can understand what genre a movie or tv show ...
BackBack33's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
124 views

How should we handle possibly legally/morally sensitive topics?

This question was triggered by this one : Appstore application to assassinate anyone. I have a lot of troubles dealing with it. Quoting it, the core of the question is something akin to that (Know you ...
Tortliena's user avatar
  • 7,468
33 votes
5 answers
842 views

Real Life cannot be an overriding limitation on any question unless specifically requested

I have finally found the perfect question to kick-start this discussion concerning what I believe is a growing undesirable behavior on Worldbuilding How can the Sea of Japan be drained? The OP wasn'...
JBH's user avatar
  • 116k
1 vote
1 answer
128 views

Disputing a Policy: Question Edits Cannot Invalidate Answers

Worldbuilding is the only Stack I am aware of that discourages improving a question if it invalidates answers. I could be wrong about that, but what it does is suggest that answers are more important ...
JBH's user avatar
  • 116k
16 votes
3 answers
309 views

The source(s) for my answer are NSFW. Should I link my sources?

I recently self-censored an answer, and I'm wondering if i should have. Regarding this question: Is it a good idea to shove your arm down a werewolf's throat if you only want to incapacitate them? ...
Ash's user avatar
  • 44.1k
15 votes
5 answers
301 views

Is a single rude remark inside an otherwise good answer grounds for deleting the whole answer?

I recently stumbled across this deleted answer (10k+ users only). It seems like a good enough answer to the question it was posted on, with a fair amount of detail, but was deleted by a moderator as ...
F1Krazy's user avatar
  • 14.2k
1 vote
1 answer
147 views

Is it permissible to cherry-pick someone else's answer for the same question?

Concerning Are 'tree waterfalls' possible? Some time after answering the question myself, I found LazyReader's answer had been deleted. However, I felt the answer had intrinsic merit, so I ...
JBH's user avatar
  • 116k
8 votes
6 answers
232 views

Is illusion or delusion a legitimate answer to a world building question?

This answer got me thinking. Is it a legitimate answer to a worldbuilding question of the "how could X be true?" variety to say that it's not really true and certain characters who provide the ...
smithkm's user avatar
  • 4,847
5 votes
2 answers
134 views

Should I Start Flagging Answers on Underdeveloped Questions?

I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, and this question and answer got me thinking I should start doing it. As @L.Dutch stated: Not all users, sadly, stitch to the "answer only ...
overlord's user avatar
  • 6,232
5 votes
3 answers
169 views

I want to leave. Is there an easy way to download all my questions and answers?

I want to leave. But I'd like to download all questions I asked with their answers for further reference. Do you know a quick and easy way to achieve this?
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
148 views

How to make an answer using an existing work acceptable?

When there is a question which is not related to any existing fiction but the question asker's own creation. If they ask in search of some element X to include in their universe and list criteria for ...
VLAZ's user avatar
  • 7,822
20 votes
4 answers
309 views

Accepted answer is a mix of given answers

I am new on this site, I asked this question about the logistics of corpse disposal for inspiration on a short story I'm working on. After reading the answers I decided on my own version which ...
Hugo's user avatar
  • 1,023
13 votes
15 answers
341 views

Is your favourite answer your most popular answer?

I thought it might be interesting to look at whether or not regular contributors on this site consider their 'best' answer to be their favourite, or whether or not they have one that didn't rate so ...
Tim B   II's user avatar
  • 54k
3 votes
1 answer
57 views

How do I un-wiki an answer?

Alright, I'll admit I stuffed up. I put up an answer to this question and through some kind of finger-fail, it got listed as a community wiki and I don't know how to undo that. Is there a way to undo ...
Tim B   II's user avatar
  • 54k
3 votes
3 answers
70 views

When Does a Comment Turn into an Answer?

In this discussion under the primary question: Hypothetical maximum number of embryos from one woman? I have been making my suggestions in the comments and not as an answer because I am under the ...
Cyn's user avatar
  • 20.3k
4 votes
1 answer
68 views

How to lock my question and/or answers?

In my personal opinion, most of my questions and answers attract a lot of comments. Most of the time I am happy about it, sometimes it gives me frustration. Especially having the luck asking the most ...
Pavel Janicek's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
56 views

What to do with my obsolete / wrong answer?

I wrote an answer to this questions: Why are cambions unable to reproduce amongst each other? It received a lot of positive attention and showed signs (at first) of being a helpful answer. However, ...
Qami's user avatar
  • 6,981
-1 votes
3 answers
149 views

How to tell people answers must adhere strictly to the conditions of a question

Regarding this question: Restricting antimatter - practical rather than legal measures I've been processing a lot of answers tagged low-quality from this question and, though I could be wrong, I ...
JBH's user avatar
  • 116k
2 votes
0 answers
77 views

WB answers I can see in a film

Are there any answers here on worldbuilding.se that inspired the plot, an scene or dialogue of a film? I often see some answers here that would be nice to see in a film trailer in a year or two, so I ...
Felipe Pereira's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
45 views

Should we have a community-wiki list of graduated answers from the Answer Sandbox?

The title says it all: For the Answer Sandbox, there's no list of graduated answers (linked directly to the answers, not the questions.) While the Question Sandbox has a list of graduated answers, the ...
FoxElemental's user avatar
  • 3,256
6 votes
2 answers
159 views

Good answers to bad questions, a voting issue

I saw this question which I feel is a poor fit for the site and not about Worldbuilding and I down-voted it and VTC'd accordingly. It has since been put on hold but not before it attracted an answer ...
Ash's user avatar
  • 44.7k
2 votes
2 answers
99 views

What to do if your question gets downvotes for something irrelevant and answers that don't answer the question?

My most recent question asks what procedures would be undertaken after a large island is discovered and explored by scientists. The question has since recieved 2 downvotes, and neither of the ...
SealBoi's user avatar
  • 14.9k
-1 votes
1 answer
199 views

The Problem Everyone Has and Everyone's Talking About

I think we have a problem that everyone's talking about. I don't know when the breaking point was: I'm new. But I've seen it over and over. A new user posts their first thread, an off-topic/POB/...
FoxElemental's user avatar
  • 3,256
4 votes
2 answers
96 views

Sandbox Question/Answers

Should we post questions we intend to answer ourselves on the Sandbox, and if so, should we post the answer we plan to write in as well? I'm asking this for a particular reason. A while ago I posted ...
FoxElemental's user avatar
  • 3,256
4 votes
2 answers
154 views

Ethics of answering your own question, even when you didn't think you would?

I've seen some posts where people answer their own questions, either because they've come up with a better answer or because they want to combine parts of all other answers to come up with one ...
FoxElemental's user avatar
  • 3,256
2 votes
2 answers
51 views

Pick 'n mix: How to fix

I have a dilemma I've seen, both in other people's posts and in mine. Lots of people come up with lots of great, different ideas for solutions to different parts of the problem. But since no one ...
FoxElemental's user avatar
  • 3,256
3 votes
2 answers
83 views

What to do when you receive unsatisfactory answers?

After waiting and receiving unsatisfactory answers (because everyone is misunderstanding what you're saying, even if you restate the important part several times) and not counting adding a bounty, ...
FoxElemental's user avatar
  • 3,256
5 votes
1 answer
149 views

What to do about near-duplicate answers from unregistered user(s)?

Is it feasible to have a literal ivory tower? At 9:42 the unregistered user bromey_jestman posted this answer: A literal ivory tower would be one to two meter tall, simply the tusk of the elephant ...
Secespitus's user avatar
  • 17.7k
8 votes
4 answers
278 views

Should ridiculous valid questions be answered or closed?

I've seen my fair share of ridiculous questions where it's obvious that the OP has no idea what they're talking about. Things like 'What would happen if you punch someone with a force of 172500 N?' ...
Jakob Lovern's user avatar
  • 1,229
2 votes
2 answers
44 views

How to handle answers that no longer reflect the edited question

I'm curious: how are we supposed to handle questions that have been changed such that older answers no longer reflect the questions being asked? In the context and spirit of this meta question what ...
KareemElashmawy's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
80 views

Can I have a "This isn't an answer, it's a story" flag?

We, the people of WorldbuildingSE, certainly are a bunch of folks that love their stories. We enjoy padding questions with bits of stories and make answers more easily to palate by mixing facts with ...
dot_Sp0T's user avatar
  • 12.1k
5 votes
5 answers
142 views

Is a kitchen sink list of short unrelated answers "too broad"?

Similar to this question: The Issue with Multiple Answers, but instead of cherry-picking parts of the answers you agree/disagree with, I'm asking about an answer that is basically a kitchen sink list ...
wetcircuit's user avatar
  • 9,437
14 votes
13 answers
268 views

Checklist for the perfect answer - Idea refinement

We did have Checklist for the perfect post, but that's about questions. Then Should we have a “How to write the perfect answer?” discussion? was asked, but never got any significant amount of ...
user's user avatar
  • 28.9k
11 votes
6 answers
394 views

How to handle "cop out" answers

In the last few days I've seen several answers (from different users, on wildly different topics) that all basically say It's fiction - do whatever you like Now this is an answer to the question....
Ash's user avatar
  • 44.7k
1 vote
2 answers
56 views

How can this after-close answer exist?

I recently returned to my computer after a prolonged absence to note a message from the author of this question in response to my comment. While I was there, I noticed the question has been put on ...
Frostfyre's user avatar
  • 25.2k
3 votes
2 answers
54 views

Should this answer be deleted?

The question itself is a bit problematic, and has votes to close. But the user voted an answer the "best" answer. Then the answer was edited to say "Delete this answer now" https://worldbuilding....
CaM's user avatar
  • 13.7k
1 vote
1 answer
62 views

No Youtube embedded videos here?

I tried to embed two YouTube videos in my answer, but they don't show. Don't these work here, or did I put in an invalid link?
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
100 views

Is there an effort anywhere to collect related answers in an accessible way?

It would be really neat to have great answers related to the same type of worldbuilding setting gathered in the same place, sorted and easily accessed. You know, a collection of the best hand-picked ...
Fred the John's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
138 views

Posting two answers in a question

Based on this question I posted my answer as two separate answers because both of them solve the question differently. However, in my not-so-kind mood, if I were not the poster, I would frown upon ...
Vylix's user avatar
  • 10.9k
10 votes
0 answers
183 views

Please Don't answer and/or upvote “bad” questions (yet)

Exhibit 1 12th vs 21st century archers in a battle to death, who would survive? This is blatently off topic and anyone with some experience here would recognise that WB is not for random fiction what-...
JDługosz's user avatar
  • 69.2k
8 votes
7 answers
214 views

Are answers posted in comments acceptable or not?

It happens every now and then that someone posts what is actually an answer as a comment to the question. That is, something that actually addresses the question being asked, perhaps succintly, but in ...
user's user avatar
  • 28.9k
3 votes
2 answers
50 views

How to link to specific answer or comment?

As the title. Sometimes I want to link to specific answer or comment, because the current question or comment will directly benefit from that particular answer or comment. For example: I saw a ...
Vylix's user avatar
  • 10.9k
11 votes
2 answers
198 views

The issue with multiple answers

This is usually a sporadic issue, but today I found a question that really made me do something about it: World with a different sun every day, and random days with no sun The question per se is ...
xDaizu's user avatar
  • 643
6 votes
3 answers
119 views

Hard-science answers. Are they always good?

I thought of this whilst reading Mithrandir's answer to this question*. I have seen a few like this and understand the temptation by those who know more to express this. However if the question has ...
Lio Elbammalf's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
113 views

Ignoring questions' scopes

This is my first Meta question if there's any problem do let me know and I'll try to fix it ASAP. This is an issue I have encountered in my recent questions as well as others'. The "issue" — ...
Miguel Bartelsman's user avatar