13
votes
Create Custom Help Center Articles
NOTE: This answer is for the "What Questions Can I Ask Here?" section of the help center. All text from this line on is intended for the article.
Worldbuilding Stack Exchange is a site for developers,...
11
votes
Accepted
Definitions of Site-Specific Jargon
Changing the Help Center is not a simple thing — and it shouldn't be. Most of it is in the control of Stack Exchange, not the individual Stacks. This is a perfectly good place to create exactly what ...
8
votes
Accepted
Enough is enough. NOBODY can obey rules that are only in someone's head
Like the poster of this question I have concerns about the arbitrary interpretation of vote to close reasons, this is due to twenty years experience in the legal services section of a government ...
- 38.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Should we amend the help center text to allow "how to accomplish X" types of questions?
Yes, by adding the following bullet point under "questions are welcome that are about":
How to achieve a specified effect in a defined world, including by the use of technology or magic, while ...
8
votes
A Plea for Consistent Close-Voting
The problem is not inconsistency. All active VTC'ers are rather consistent in their votes. The real problem is the lack of a well-defined policy.
As it is now, 'opinion-based' is a purely subjective ...
- 6,575
7
votes
Accepted
Should the help center be updated to specifically list real world history questions as off topic?
Yes.
I propose that we add as a bullet point under "as long as they are not about":
Historical events of or historical facts about the real world, except when provided as examples or ...
7
votes
Enough is enough. NOBODY can obey rules that are only in someone's head
I voted to close this question.
First off, it really does belong on Physics.SE. While we can answer physics questions, it's best to handle them on the "mother" SE site. The physics questions I find ...
- 129k
7
votes
Please wait at least 24 hours before Accepting an answer
While every Stack Exchange site has its own distinct differences, Worldbuilding is “more different” in some ways. Rather than being an answer to a need for some task you are trying to accomplish, ...
- 68.5k
7
votes
Policy Recommendation: We recommend that users wait 24-48 hours before selecting a best answer
I’d edit that down:
Consider waiting 24-48 hours before selecting the best answer to allow our world-spanning community a chance to contribute.
Short and to the point. Doesn’t judge those who ...
- 3,610
6
votes
Enough is enough. NOBODY can obey rules that are only in someone's head
I see a lot of very long posts. I agree with some, disagree with the rest, but to my eyes those are all TL;DR, which is not inviting to discussion.
I voted to close as off-topic, using the "this is ...
- 125k
6
votes
A Plea for Consistent Close-Voting
Subjectivity Rules the Day
As you know, I'm often in agreement with you on matters of custom and even policy. I think my main concern here is not so much the desire to be consistent in voting to close ...
- 36.7k
6
votes
What changes about real-world questions are needed to the help center?
I propose a simple modification to this section (bullet 4):
as long as they are not about:
Actions of individual characters, rather than elements of the world they inhabit
Character building
...
6
votes
Accepted
Change the "What topics can I ask about here?" help center page
I propose that we change the relevant paragraph to:
Note that questions must be specific as well as answerable. If you are looking for discussion, brainstorming, or an overall process rather than ...
5
votes
Sharing the "how-to" meta content via help
Moderators can edit the on-topic page in the Help Center. Please propose a specific addition on meta so people can vote. Thanks.
The tour is largely not editable. (I think we can edit the first ...
- 19.2k
5
votes
Create Custom Help Center Articles
NOTE: This answer is for the custom elements of the tour. Beyond these two lines it is all intended for the three or four lines of the tour that describes what we can or cannot ask. Discuss content in ...
5
votes
How do you find a chat room that doesn’t appear when you click on it?
Chatrooms with only a few messages are automatically deleted after 7 days. I can see them because I'm a moderator elsewhere in the Stack Exchange network; I don't think there's much harm in sharing it:...
- 2,200
5
votes
Search Tips Wanted Please
I've found that one of the best ways to find an existing question on any Stack Exchange site is to start to ask it. Type the title and then look at the list of questions it suggests -- often I find ...
- 19.2k
4
votes
Help tour includes a potentially confusing user avatar
No, we should not choose a different post for the tour because of the avatar
The people that look so close at the tour that they realize there is an icon that is similar to that of Reddit are likely ...
- 17.6k
4
votes
Clarifying “What topics can I ask about here?” from the help center
Perhaps an area of focus we need to work on isn't so much "what topics can I ask about here" but rather "What is Worldbuilding Stack Exchange all about?"
Going back the Source, we read here at the ...
- 36.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Modify the "How do I write a good answer" help center page to clarify worldbuilding
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 ...
- 28.6k
4
votes
Our tour includes a comment that doesn't practice what we preach
Yes
One, that's way too long. The example should be a comment such as "Could you please clarify ..."
Also, I completely agree. This comment is mostly not a good example. This is like a ...
- 2,501
3
votes
Phrasing questions such that answers can be objectively voted upon
While I understand the motivations behind this proposal and actually support them, my concern is that the word 'objective' can itself (in this particular context) be subjective. I'd argue that it's ...
- 53.8k
3
votes
Can we edit the dont-ask section of Help?
First off, yes, it does appear that the page in question is not editable by moderators.
That said, I'm not so sure that phrasing is necessarily a problem in practice, even if people were to take it ...
- 28.6k
3
votes
Sharing the "how-to" meta content via help
We should link to How to write the perfect question from the on-topic help page, in the paragraph after the lists of what is on- and off-topic. That paragraph currently reads:
Note that questions ...
- 19.2k
3
votes
No clue why the gas question is not world building
Questions about the real world are on-topic, except for historical events of or historical facts about the real world. That would go to History SE.
So chemistry question are on-topic. Sometimes ...
- 16.5k
2
votes
Accepted
No clue why the gas question is not world building
In your edit which introduced Meta questions into your post you said (emphasis yours):
Second edit: It's fine with me if this is kept on hold but the help center says on topic world building topics ...
- 17.6k
2
votes
Enough is enough. NOBODY can obey rules that are only in someone's head
The specific page of the help is the on-topic page, which says
Worldbuilding SE welcomes questions on the following
specifically
Effects of events or world elements, including biology, ...
- 25k
1
vote
Phrasing questions such that answers can be objectively voted upon
The problem with the statement "Your question must be phrased in such a way that answers can be objectively voted on by the community." is that it provides zero guidance on what constitutes "objective"...
- 38.1k
1
vote
Clarifying “What topics can I ask about here?” from the help center
The main problem with the question under discussion is that a serious answer would require a lot of work and a lot of physics; there are not that many people on this site who have the capability to do ...
- 73k
1
vote
Search Tips Wanted Please
First of all, most things I remember as being here are things I answered. So if I'm trying to find something again, I start by searching my own posts. I also know what vocabulary I would have used.
...
- 68.5k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible