Questions tagged [questions]
This tag is for general questions about questions. Answers should be applicable to the vast majority of questions. Do not use this tag for questions on a single question, use the [specific-question] tag instead.
131
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Is it considered good practice to edit your question after answers have been given?
Though only being around for a short while, I noticed that sometimes people edit the question they asked, even after one or several answers have been given. In some cases, follow-up questions that are ...
- 911
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Can the same question be asked twice but in different SE communities
If an in scope question is asked in the worldbuilding community, can the same question be asked in another SE community such as physics if it is also in scope there? If so can these two questions be ...
- 36.9k
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2
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Asked a bad question, can't delete, can't close by myself. What is the correct thing to do?
I asked a bad question today (How to defeat an AI wizard?) and I'm not sure what to do. I was going to edit the question when the answers kept popping up. I can't delete or close the question myself. ...
- 10.9k
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How can I Ignore/Block a user? [duplicate]
Sorry guys, but why is there no block or user ignore on this website?
Two nights in a row now a guy is posting sex fantasies as questions. If that is what you want on worldbuilding I don't care, but ...
- 9,437
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Should we be adding [science-based] to questions?
I noticed that in the question Dermott's Law and Major Moons, revision 4 (edit made by diamond moderator JDługosz) adds science-based to the question. Originally the question was tagged only moons.
...
- 28.9k
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Is it proper to make questions about typical created worlds?
It's not strange to look at already existing worlds that have characteristics in common with the world you are creating in order to get some inspiration or to avoid using stereotypes.
Would it be a ...
- 405
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Lessons in writing Questions
There are other posts on offering advice for writing questions, such as this list of suggestions. This post is different: it will give detailed lessons worked out on complete texts, showing before ...
- 69.2k
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Are off-site resource requests off topic here? [duplicate]
I just saw this: Any websites with exhaustively long lists of dead planet types? on the homepage. Seems like it's just asking for a website with a list of x.
I know this sort of question is frowned ...
- 10.6k
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Aesthetics in questions: Why people hate pictures [duplicate]
I heard multiple times, that if a picture is unnecessary in a question, then remove it, well even if it's at the bottom, small and doesn't distract from the main parts, as it's at the very bottom of ...
- 19.4k
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What should I do when I realize that I forgot to list a crucial criteria in my question, after answers have been given?
So I had a question and couldn't quite see why I couldn't picture someone's answer but then I realised I hadn't said the fleet was moving slower than light (I definitely meant to, I know the ...
- 2,523
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Inactive Sandbox 2017-18
In order to make the Sandbox easier to use, a new Sandbox question will be posted when the old one becomes too full. This Sandbox has been retired. You can check here for the full list of past and ...
- 20k
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How to ask a good "Could X be built in Y:th century" question?
(I feel this is a topic for a meta question. I hope You agree.)
A common type of WB question is the "Could device X be built in time/culture Y" reality checks.
While those questions are certainly ...
- 5,341
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Physics questions with little to no actual story
A few examples like:
Quantum entanglement
The solar system doesn't have its own unique physics
Destroying a black hole
With all of these questions I can see how it could be useful to use within a ...
- 11k
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Putting nightmare fuel or gore pictures into the question as demonstration
I mean, not for demonstrating the fate of downvoters, but because it's related to the question.
Does this contradict any rules in the site?
If not, what criteria can justify it?
- 19.4k
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3
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Would a 'Handwavium' tag be a bad idea?
We have magic which is well used, and Handwavium is basically a technology/physics equivalent...
We have many questions that involve this physics-bending stuff, so I think there's a market for it. It ...
user10945
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2
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Topic-Specific Vocabulary
Worldbuilding is an amalgamation of dozens of topics, geared toward building fictional worlds using expertise that pertains to those topics. Usually, this system runs smoothly.
However, sometimes ...
- 20.5k
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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" — ...
- 3,262
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Of Questions & Titles
Looking at a recent, well I didn't ask much lately.., question of mine on butchering dragons, I see again that people often do not even want to read the actual question but just want to react to the ...
- 12.1k
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Challenging Questions' Premises
This is something I've seen cropping up quite a bit lately, and has made me pause and think. Sometimes questions are based on faulty or questionable premises, one such question would be this one, ...
- 7,006
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3
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What if I have several questions associated with one topic?
If I have a question based on a specific topic (e.g. a special suit) and I have several questions associated with this topic (e.g. how it works, where it will work, and how effective it is), is it ...
- 2,680
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Is There A Way To Revert An Unwelcome Edit From Another User?
Sometimes another user makes a lengthy edit to a question that leaves it substantially worse than it was to start with, contains grammatical errors, changes the intent, and is a huge pain to correct ...
- 11.4k
0
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3
answers
112
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Unfairly put on hold
My question about measurement system formation is there for a good reason. People on forums would probably say something along the lines of "Whatever" or "Just use earth measurements or even no ...
- 4,159
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votes
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answer
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Can What-If Questions Be Allowed in Universe Factory?
Throughout its conception, the blogs on Universe Factory were either interviews, story chapters and worldbuilding dos and don'ts. But not once did I see a blog being a what-if question. (The last ...
- 14.5k
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2
answers
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Follow-up questions on question
I keep running into a lot of neat questions that really get me thinking about some of the stories I'm creating and I've run into a bit a conundrum. I don't want to steal credit for those who had the ...
- 4,571
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1
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How can I remove the "hard science" notifice from my question?
I have a question that I had initially tagged hard-science. I then changed my mind (before any answers came in) and changed the tag to science-based.
However, there is still the warning box: "This ...
- 2,103
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votes
4
answers
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How do we reconcile "rate my plausibility" questions with "primarily opinion-based" questions?
I feel like a very high percentage of the questions asked here concern plausibility, which is something that's hard to avoid where any kind of fiction is concerned. Some questions purport to be ...
- 1,699
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votes
0
answers
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How to write the perfect question
Writing good questions can be difficult. To help you, the community came up with ten yes or no questions that will guide you and help you prevent common errors.
Follow the links for more information ...
- 1,438
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3
answers
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About children and sex
It may be just me, but sometimes a question pops out describing a world that somehow justifies mixing kids and sex in the... "wrong order".
While I think that people should be free to write about ...
- 8,078
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answer
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Are we sending mixed messages about poorly written questions?
I was reading up on the scope of the site again, and I read this,
Avoid poorly-written questions. Posting a well-written answer under a poorly-written question just makes your answer look worse. ...
- 7,006
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4
answers
139
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Any weird old tips for "clickbait" titles?
I was reading a response on the meta here about how "clickbait" titles are annoying to that user (sorry about this one's title, friend). I find that nonstandard titles are better at getting eyes on a ...
- 1,027
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0
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What makes a good "what would be the impact of X?" questions?
I see a lot of questions along the lines of "what would be the impact if X happened?" These seem to me to be skirting the edge of on-topic, even for our blessédly open-minded Worldbuilding site. So ...
user243
15
votes
1
answer
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What the scope of Worldbuilding is NOT about
... taking any question that isn't accepted elsewhere.
This should be a reminder, or refresher.
These days, there are many questions about trying to set objective and clear limits for the scope of ...
- 6,817
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answer
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Are questions based on movies okay?
Are questions based on movies OK? More specifically, is something like this acceptable, or should it be kept in chat:
reality-check evolution creature-design
Anatomically correct (insert creature ...
- 1,090
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votes
2
answers
64
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What is the best way to "evolve" my existing question?
I asked this question last night and got a lot of great responses, and I'm interested in pivoting off of it to further develop the ideas for my "world." Should I therefore evolve and update my ...
- 882
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answers
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The Completionist's Dilemma
For those of us who are completionists (individuals who are driven to complete whatever they start, whatever that may entail), the badges can be a bit of a nuisance. I asked previously if it would be ...
- 25.2k
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answer
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Is it possible to ask a good "Top 3" question?
The entire idea of a "Top 3" question seems to scream "Idea Generation" and "Too Broad" when first looked at, and if it isn't worded carefully it will almost certainly ...
- 7,378
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Does a world in a given question need cohesion?
Today I caught myself almost entering a downvoting spree.
Not because I was enraged, hungry or somehow ill tempered, but because some of the questions that I read were a bit... hard on my mind. I'm ...
- 8,078
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Reality Checking on questions not tagged "reality-check" | or ask questions differently?
In respect to the question here on Meta: Does adding context hurt questions?
I was checking out that discussion because I think my most recent question (and, I feel like a lot of my questions) is ...
- 7,378
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2
answers
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Dealing with sense of scale in space
One issue I've seen come up a few times deals with a sense of scale in space. People's instincts on what can and cannot be done are often off by not just an order of magnitude, but an order of ...
- 131k
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Does adding context hurt questions?
Something that I'm sure others have noticed, but that always seems to plague my questions, is the fact that answerers tend to focus on parts of a question that don't actually matter. For example, ...
- 20k
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Can I ask questions based on a specific creature of my world?
I know that questions that are based on "Actions of individual characters, rather than elements of the world they inhabit" are off topic, but if I had created a specific creature, would it not count ...
- 19k
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answers
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Ordering the questions of Wordbuilding Meta
We have a lot of questions on Meta. The problem is that many are not useful anymore. For some, the usefulness is only ephemeral and many useful questions get drowned in a sea of questions that nobody ...
- 16.8k
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Can we ask "Most efficient way to use" questions?
Are "What is the most efficient way to use resource X/object Y ?" questions accepted on Worldbuilding SE ?
If yes, what information should be added to make them neither opinion based or too broad?
I ...
- 3,378
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What should our requirements on various "recommend me something" questions be?
See also Do we want resource recommendation questions?, Are software recommendation questions on topic? and to a lesser extent When are software-recommendation questions on topic?.
As pointed out ...
- 28.9k
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Proposal for harder/more specific challenges
Eventually, we might run out of topics for the normal challenge. We still have at least 1 year with the current proposals, other proposals can be added and we could also recycle the old ones.
They ...
- 16.8k
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How to approach "the same as our world but with change X" questions?
I've noticed a lot of worlds described as our world, but with one change, like "our world, only gold is replaced with lead," or "like our world, only there's mutants that can see the future." The ...
- 131k
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Idea for an unofficial contest
I have been scanning through the question feed here from time to time, because some of the titles (and in some cases, even the descriptions) of questions are very amusing when taken out of context:
...
- 724
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How to approach worldbuilding ideas about gender and sexuality?
Recently I had a porn dream, which I wanted to put into a story. And then suddenly, instead enjoying porn/erotica aspects of the idea, I got myself into worldbuilding mode and asked a question about ...
- 45.2k
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No more Towels?
The reason why I first found out about this site was because I asked this question on the https://scifi.stackexchange.com/ site, but as the answer would not be supported by hard factual evidence, it ...
user10622
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Systems of measurement
I've ran into several posts where the author used 2 systems in the same post. Personally, I use the metric/international system all the time. Other people might use other systems, namely the US system....
- 16.8k