Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
1,792
questions
-1
votes
2
answers
117
views
Can we include a "spherical-cow" tag?
I recently added a spherical-cow tag to the list of available tags, and applied it to an excellent candidate, but it was removed. You could call this a "why" or "why not" question, ...
- 14.3k
3
votes
6
answers
390
views
We've suddenly begun beating the snot out of new(ish) users - and that's saying something coming from me
Two things have changed recently.
A lot of new users have begun using the site. Not surprisingly, they're not seriously reading the tour or the Help Center. And none of them save one are showing up ...
- 116k
-1
votes
0
answers
144
views
Enforcing downvoting correctly, and not just by "disliking" a question [duplicate]
How do we know what's wrong with our posts if people who downvote don't leave even a reason for the downvote ? I've searched WorldbuildingMeta and have found that enforcing comments with downvotes ...
- 341
1
vote
1
answer
59
views
How to limit the range of answers to questions which are not technically considered opinion based?
TLDR; Specifically this is about the last mile problem, not about opinion basis. Though I'll grant that opinion basis is related and perhaps implicit.
Note: I may be incorrect in my interpretation of ...
- 2,896
6
votes
3
answers
111
views
Merge Middle-Ages and Medieval tags
middle-ages and medieval are exactly synonymous. They are two different names for the time period and culture of Europe between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance. I suggest keeping Medieval as it ...
- 87.8k
0
votes
1
answer
63
views
Should we have a [role] tag?
There are a lot of questions asking after a potential role for a certain creature or device.
Since other tags will narrow down potential use (which is nevertheless usually beneficial to prevent ...
- 4,058
6
votes
4
answers
194
views
What are the limits of open-endedness, hypotheticality, and encouragement of "discussion-based or extremely long answers", are they too subjective?
Per the tour on the main stack, querents should not ask "Questions with too many possible answers or that would require an extremely long answer". Also, per the help center, querents should ...
- 319
7
votes
2
answers
156
views
Will we have a Holiday Bountapalooza this year?
The holiday bountapolooza is (was... shall be again...) an invitation to search for and place bounties on deserving questions and/or answers. It not only helps get people in the mood to post bounties ...
- 116k
0
votes
2
answers
141
views
What do you think about a fake bounty? (this isn't exactly click-bait...)
I would like to draw attention to one and, eventually, more questions that I've posted that have community wiki answers. The Bounty system isn't really designed for that, but it's the most obvious way ...
- 116k
4
votes
1
answer
166
views
Why do people link the word "edit" in their comments?
Open question. I'm curious why some people make the word "edit" in their comments a hyperlink to the edit action. Particularly why they do when responding to users who are not exactly new to ...
- 14.2k
0
votes
0
answers
45
views
Restore space-exploration as a separate tag from space-travel
I have been working on a story for some time similar to Andy Weir’s Hail Mary Pass that involves deep space observation in search of a probe target and as very often happens I have to use three of my ...
- 8,159
1
vote
1
answer
94
views
Restore the aerodynamics tag as distinct from flight
The overlap between aerodynamics and flight is far too small to link these categories as synonyms. Only a small subset of things which fly (in fictional worlds) rely on a subset of aerodynamic ...
- 8,159
5
votes
3
answers
244
views
Do we need to attribute the work of others if we include it in our posts?
I've noticed that some users on Worldbuilding Stack Exchange include images and text in their posts, either questions or answers, that are sourced from elsewhere and are not their own work.
As a ...
Monty WildMod
- 55.5k
10
votes
2
answers
263
views
Why, exactly, was Robert's answer deleted?
Regarding this answer, which I'll duplicate here in the case of people who can visit Meta but can't see deleted content.
There is a significant debate about this going on in the scifi community. We ...
- 116k
2
votes
1
answer
88
views
(Not so?) Suspicious Deletion of Suspicious AI Generated Responses
Regarding this question, in light of this policy.
I think we can all agree in principle that AI generated text has no real place here in Worldbuilding, with the possible exception of queries about AI ...
- 39.5k
11
votes
0
answers
289
views
Chat is back! The Factory Floor is once again open for business
Stack Exchange has historically distinguished itself from forums by following a very matter-of-fact philosophy: questions, answers, comments, and no chit-chat. While this helps folks get answers to ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 99.8k
4
votes
3
answers
205
views
Advice: real facts vs. worldbuilding rules
There is a LOT of information in the world and unlike the days of yore, it's available instantly. Most of that information is good. Some of it is bad. Some of it is really bad. But even if we only ...
- 116k
0
votes
3
answers
237
views
Policy Proposal: We do not engineer technologies
We are receiving questions asking for us to factually invent an idea or technology with increasing frequency. The questions are usually asked by people with insufficient education but a strong desire ...
- 116k
3
votes
1
answer
82
views
Trying to understand why a relevant post with a peer-reviewed paper directly linked to was considered "low quality"
The structure of this website makes it every difficult to speak to people on the other side of a set of moderation buttons, leading to confusion and infuriation. This is one such situation where peer-...
- 327
1
vote
3
answers
77
views
Regarding tags related to nuclear phenomena
I noticed that we have both the strong-force and weak-force tags, both of which I feel should be absorbed by the nuclear tag.
I also noticed we have both the radioactivity and radiation tags. In this ...
- 1,822
1
vote
1
answer
69
views
Regarding the tag info for the 'aliens' tag
The tag info for the aliens tag states:
For questions about a different and uncharacteristic species or
object that has come to the world from another world. NOT for
questions about extraterrestrials ...
- 1,822
3
votes
7
answers
326
views
Should the hard-science tag be retired?
It is evident that many of the people who use it either don't read the guidance, or are very confused about the scientific accuracy of a lot of popular media. I suspect they think they know what "...
- 23.4k
7
votes
4
answers
282
views
How should we deal with "vexatious questions?"
I define "vexatious questions"1 as a series of questions from the same user that are minor iterations on a theme or idea. The first question in the series contributed to worldbuilding. The ...
- 116k
1
vote
2
answers
99
views
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 ...
- 814
11
votes
3
answers
260
views
Case Study: The Consequence of Inadequate Comments
UPDATE: Amber's original question has been undeleted and the new question closed as a duplicate. It looks like that new question has since been deleted (honestly, it didn't need to be this complicated....
- 116k
-2
votes
3
answers
202
views
Question closed despite lack of legitimate complaints
I believe that one (or perhaps several) of the votes toward closing my most recent question constitute an abuse of voting privileges rather than having legitimate issues with the question. Certainly, ...
- 1,822
-2
votes
4
answers
163
views
I think my question on the 1/72 scale nuke should be opened and was closed for blatantly wrong reasons
I asked about how much damage/the area of effect of a 1/72 cockroach nuke a week or so ago. I got several answers, but It would have been preferable if it stayed open. Here is the link: How big would ...
- 1,421
7
votes
3
answers
292
views
Should we burn the video-games tag?
A recent question asking for advice about what the boss in their video game should be tagged their question video-games. The tag has no summary and no wiki. The first question tagged with the tag was ...
- 116k
0
votes
0
answers
69
views
What should we do about tag wiki excerpts?
Recently, I've been going around and creating tag wiki excerpts. At first, I was wondering about the usefulness of such work-but after a few accepts, it seemed like a good idea.
After a few (not-so) ...
- 736
1
vote
1
answer
72
views
Advice: Prohibiting a branch of science in my world
A recent question asked what weapons a society would use if magic (specifically a mage) could stop the ignition of gunpowder and similar explosives. It was a different spin on a popular type of ...
- 116k
2
votes
5
answers
194
views
What proof would we accept that an otherwise 3rd-party world belongs to a Stack Exchange user?
Relevant post: How much and how powerful would a "phlebotinium" bomb launched from orbit be to create an artificial sea?
A new user, @JustKherty, has posted a question about a publicly ...
- 116k
0
votes
1
answer
68
views
Edit rejected for deviating from the original intent of a post
I proposed a series of minor edits on this question earlier today; and as the title says, was rejected for deviating from the author's intent. I have a vague idea of which portions of my edit probably ...
- 736
0
votes
2
answers
245
views
Answer deleted. Explanation is warranted
The question: How would a primitive people recharge energy weapons in a hard science fiction setting?
Pretty straight-foward. Author is asking how a primitive society could recharge energy weapons, ...
- 7,652
-8
votes
6
answers
167
views
Why does this platform accept questions about slavery?
I am disgusted by the way users have been asking disgusting questions about slavery. Something that should not be considered as a means or concept of any monstrous ideas as it has been explored here!
...
- 101
-1
votes
3
answers
68
views
Should the Xenobiology tag automatically imply science-based or hard-science?
In a comment to a recent question, @Nosajimiki made a good point. The OP had not tagged the question hard-science or science-based, so I chastised other respondents for taking a hard-line Real World ...
- 116k
-5
votes
3
answers
116
views
Is this heuristic for "too story based" functional?
I've been contemplating the things that make us want to close questions. On many questions, I vacillate between something being opinion based or story based or too vague, and this is an attempt to ...
- 14.3k
29
votes
0
answers
639
views
Announcement: AI generated content banned on Worldbuilding
Community discussion has been taking place on WB Meta concerning our position on AI generated content:
Should we ban posts using ChatGPT or similar software?
Because of the outcome of the discussion ...
L.DutchMod
- 275k
4
votes
1
answer
86
views
Change Proposal for Anatomically Correct Series Criteria
The full and official verbiage defining how the Anatomically Correct tag should be used can be found here: Anatomically Correct Series. But there are some aspects of it that I think deserve some minor ...
- 87.8k
1
vote
1
answer
75
views
Where would asking for tip and tricks on worldbuilding go?
I think the question is pretty self-explanatory, so where can I ask more general world-building questions, such as style or general how to build a world kind of questions?
- 1,336
5
votes
0
answers
60
views
2022: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
- 101
4
votes
5
answers
270
views
Should we try to create Storybuilding.SE?
Worldbuilding.SE legend has it that the idea of Storybuilding.SE was once discussed, but at the time the rules of Stack Exchange were so rigid that such a Stack could never succeed or even graduate ...
- 116k
2
votes
1
answer
115
views
What are some 'assets' you re-use across different worldbuilding projects?
I once carefully worldbuilt a computer system, how it would have a distributed filesystem with redundant backups, a public key system for identity, etc. etc.
Then when I was building the next world, I ...
- 4,657
-1
votes
2
answers
159
views
Why does opinion based VTC exist?
-Vote to close question because it's ''opinion based''
or
-Don't answer with opinions.
There's two options, but option 1 has no reason to exist
user100394
2
votes
5
answers
616
views
Considered harmful: questions where the asker expects us to figure out a scientific explanation or alternative for their handwavium
Latest offender: Need counters for a near perfect Anti Thermal and Kinetic armor system in a near future setting
Another example: Could alien organisms evolve to utilize Thermoelectric cooling(the ...
- 1,036
0
votes
2
answers
102
views
Is an edit to the three Science tag wikis warranted?
A recent question posited a fantastic condition then used the science-based tag. In essense, the author wanted a science-based solution to a problem that wasn't science-based in the first place.
We've ...
- 116k
4
votes
2
answers
74
views
Is it appropriate to ask a question without a product?
Can I post a question if I have no intention of ever including the answer in a book, picture, game or interpretive dance routine? My impression is that those who post answers enjoy the process in and ...
user100347
-1
votes
1
answer
219
views
A Proposal to End the Love/Hate Relationship with Brainstorming, AKA List questions, Idea-Generation, and Fishing-for-Ideas
Preliminary Information
Before I begin, I want to make a clear distinction insofar as I understand the principal purpose of this Stack (the following closely fits the rules as defined in the Tour and ...
- 116k
0
votes
1
answer
123
views
Are we helping or hurting Worldbuilding with these rules? [duplicate]
What is the difference between this question: If Mars and Venus were habitable, by when would they have been colonized?
And this question: How does Santa keep locations updated for all of his gift ...
- 7,652
36
votes
13
answers
2k
views
Should we ban posts using ChatGPT or similar software?
Recently, the chatbot ChatGPT was released and experienced a surge in popularity. It's reasonably good at mimicking humans, and it has a database of information to draw on. The upshot is that you can ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 99.8k
7
votes
6
answers
420
views
My answer was deleted. An explanation is warranted
I see L.Dutch deleted my answer here.
Disasters to prompt the bettering of civilisation
Without explanation. It seems like a good answer to me. I was happy with it. OP wanted a cataclysmic ...
- 304k