Timeline for Movie Magic (or how do we answer stupid questions)
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 2012 at 4:27 | comment | added | Gorchestopher H | More than any of the other SE's, scifi does seem to be akin to a discussion board. A heavily extrapolated answer degenerates quickly into one that simply isn't explicitly defied by legitimate sources. An incorrect premise for example can be patronized away with hyperbolic supporting postulations in areas where canon isn't established. | |
| May 26, 2012 at 3:09 | comment | added | Andres F. | Speculative questions & answers are incredibly fun, and I've engaged in both, but I don't think they fit the Q&A format of the SE network. A fan's speculation, even when supported by evidence from canon, cannot be considered an answer to a question, unless it's possible for it to be a real answer. If the real answer is "the author didn't think of that", but we allow speculative answers anyway, then scifi.SE becomes a discussion board... | |
| May 23, 2012 at 20:31 | comment | added | Christi | it's been my experience in these sorts of questions that those who produce speculative answers often do so using supporting evidence from canon. | |
| May 23, 2012 at 20:20 | comment | added | Mark Beadles | I agree that direct evidence in the author's own words is rare, in any event. But the same can be said about the in-universe explanations that people come up with - there's no evidence for those either in many cases. In those cases the most true and helpful answer, though boring, is "there's no evidence about this." | |
| May 23, 2012 at 20:05 | comment | added | Christi | If there was evidence to suggest such a thing, then I'd fully expect that to be the accepted answer. In the vast majority of cases, however, the author does not take the time to say "oops, I never thought of that". | |
| May 23, 2012 at 19:29 | comment | added | Mark Beadles | I agree with your main point, bu the problem with "part of the purpose of SF+F to make sense of inconsistencies within published work", though, is that good answers are entirely subjective when that happens. People come to Stack Exchange from the 'net looking for answers. If the true answer to "do chocolate frogs lay chocolate eggs?" is "JK Rowling never considered that", then we're doing a disservice if we have an imaginative and fun but thoroughly incorrect answer. | |
| May 22, 2012 at 18:32 | history | edited | Christi | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1 characters in body
|
| May 22, 2012 at 14:26 | history | answered | Christi | CC BY-SA 3.0 |