53
votes
Why is Worldbuilding Stack Exchange so good at answering questions?
Because it's easier (and more quickly gratifying) to be a jack of all trades than a master of one.
We're a community with topics described foremost in breadth, secondarily in depth.
A large number ...
- 17.2k
22
votes
Why is Worldbuilding Stack Exchange so good at answering questions?
I think one of the things is that we have a culture where people don't have to be afraid of trying.
Let me borrow Durakken's reference to 2/10, 5/10, 10/10 answers.
On many scientific subject-...
- 28.6k
21
votes
Should our default position be that answers should be science-/logic-based, rather than magic-based?
I totally agree. Unless the question says there is magic and gives a decent description of what is possible, I assume we are sticking to real world physics. Science fiction and steampunk stories ...
- 4,366
20
votes
When is "that's not possible" an appropriate answer?
That's Not Possible is a sufficient answer anytime the question is too constrained.
Questions that are Too Broad (unconstrained) are a problem because it's hard to know where to start answering.
...
- 34.4k
20
votes
Accepted
Why is this disliked?
The primary problem that I have with that question is that I find it unreadable. You wander off talking about crime and then start talking about a young man getting paid to go places and be good ...
- 25k
18
votes
Accepted
Accepted answer is a mix of given answers
Accepted answers are like car dealership stickers
Personally, I hate leaving one of my questions without an accepted answer. But that's me. Neither I nor you owe anybody anything. In fact, if you ...
16
votes
The source(s) for my answer are NSFW. Should I link my sources?
I am great fan of a certain NSFW webcomic called Oglaf. It has a high-fantasy setting and a lot of the situations happening in it are perfect answers for some questions in this site. For example, in ...
- 125k
15
votes
Accepted
Are answers solely referencing novels/movies/etc. okay?
This appears to me to be an outgrowth of link-only answers, except worse in a way (because while links are often possible to visit without paying, many books/movies/etc. require you to pay for them). ...
- 28.6k
15
votes
How to handle "cop out" answers
We've had similar problems before with comments saying just use magic
This is basically a duplicate of a problem that has already been discussed on this site:
Are comments saying “just use magic” ...
- 17.6k
14
votes
Is a single rude remark inside an otherwise good answer grounds for deleting the whole answer?
NO
This is what the edit function is for.
I thought the comment was unnecessary and over the top, thought not actually "rude". I think it expressed a valid (if exasperated) position ...
- 36.7k
13
votes
How can we get new users to answer old questions?
As a newish user, I hesitate to answer older questions because I'm not sure that my answer will ever be signaled as useful with up or down votes. I get the feeling that viewers only look at the top ...
- 52.1k
13
votes
When is "that's not possible" an appropriate answer?
Reality check is the big one for "that's not possible", I think a fair number of my answers are along those lines, but again, that to me is the point of the tag. Someone has come along saying "does ...
- 114k
12
votes
Should our default position be that answers should be science-/logic-based, rather than magic-based?
If a question is unclear, don’t answer it
Vote to put it On Hold, and ask for clarification in the comments instead; that’s what they’re there for. Questions should stipulate at least this much detail ...
- 230
12
votes
Accepted
The Completionist's Dilemma
This is not something I would support. Learn to live with disappointment, and I do not mean to come off snarky.
The desire to be a completionist is admirable in my opinion (if you're not a little ...
- 32.5k
12
votes
Should we delete answers that don't meet the requirements of the hard-science tag?
So my view on the subject.
Who is/are the arbiter(s) of whether or not an answer meets the requirements of the hard-science tag?
The community.
Instead of taking the step of deletion, I think we ...
- 17.2k
12
votes
Is it acceptable for a question to have no accepted answer?
It is Acceptable
Stack Exchange has two different kinds of forums. It has Worldbuilding, where the expectation is that queries will be somewhat opinion based and responses will vary wildly in subject ...
- 36.7k
11
votes
Accepted
Do we still want the Answer Sandbox?
Ill still stick with my initial response to "Do we want an answer sandbox?" and say that I find it more important to have a question sandbox as the implications of a bad or at least under-developed ...
- 32.5k
11
votes
Answers to "are we" or "should we" questions?
In addition to what Godric Seer said, at this stage of site development -- and well into public beta for that matter -- it's not unusual to have "should we do X?" questions on meta. Beta is all about ...
- 19.2k
11
votes
The Completionist's Dilemma
I understand that doing this may reduce the quality of site
That should be your answer, right there. Why would we want to take active steps to reduce the quality of the site?
I can see no valid ...
- 28.6k
11
votes
Challenging Questions' Premises
We've discussed cases before when it doesn't work that way or that's not possible are valid answers if correctly written.
I don't think it's a valid reason to close a question, but it is a valid ...
- 114k
11
votes
Accepted
What to do about near-duplicate answers from unregistered user(s)?
If we're talking about this specific case only, I would say delete both.
The question asks about building a tower out of ivory. I think most of us would interpret that as asking about whether, if you ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 97.3k
11
votes
Accepted
How to lock my question and/or answers?
Locking can only be done by a moderator, or by the system under certain circumstances. It's not something you can do yourself. A locked post cannot be commented on, voted on, favorited, edited, or ...
- 1,378
11
votes
Accepted
How to make an answer using an existing work acceptable?
I think that the following two steps are needed to ensure the quality of the answer:
Provide proper reference, detailing out the specifics of the case
Explain why the referred example is applicable ...
L.DutchMod
- 236k
11
votes
Should I Start Flagging Answers on Underdeveloped Questions?
First of all, please be aware that moderators are volunteering their free time for handling exceptions that the community cannot handle.
Based on the above, raising tons of flag is not likely to ...
L.DutchMod
- 236k
11
votes
Is it permissible to cherry-pick someone else's answer for the same question?
The bottom line is that we're not here to compete with one another; we're here to write good answers (and ask good questions!).
I'm struggling to see where there's been any misconduct here. ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 97.3k
11
votes
Accepted
Is a single rude remark inside an otherwise good answer grounds for deleting the whole answer?
I will say that I do disagree with the deletion for reasons that many folks have articulated (though, as has also been acknowledged, the now-removed text was certainly over the line). Given that there ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 97.3k
11
votes
Is it Fair to Encourage People to NOT Answer Questions that Need to be Closed?
As a user of this site, and as a moderator, I've seen a number of questions that received close votes for being 'bad', that to me as a subject matter expert in certain areas were eminently reasonable ...
Monty WildMod
- 45.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was my flag declined with "flags should only be used to make moderators aware of content that requires their intervention"?
Your profile currently shows a single declined flag, so I assume that's the one you are talking about; that particular flag was handled by Tim B. I've taken another look at the answer, and the below ...
- 28.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Answering your own question as a baseline
The guiding principle for whether to self-answer or to include previous efforts in the question itself should generally be whether you would upvote and/or accept the answer that you give, if it came ...
- 28.6k
10
votes
'It won't work' - challenging the frame of a question
I think this is a practice we want to avoid, because it can be frustrating to ask a question and only receive answers of the type: "your premises are faulty".
However, it might actually be useful. ...
- 6,777
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible