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The question Why do vampires hiss? asks:

Is there any thought process for [hissing], or any evidence for the choice, or did Bram Stoker just decide that?

It's tagged as and , and although it gives some ideas, it looks like the asker wants a canonical first use (along with an explanation) of the trope.

The close reason given also says:

Update the question so it focuses on one problem only.

But I'm struggling to see where there is more than one problem presented?

It also collected some 'Needs details or clarity' and 'Opinion-based' and again, I'm not sure what the argument there is.

It could well be I've missed something, but I'd like to find out the communities opinion.

2 Answers 2

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This question was likely closed due to some of the community generally closing questions that do not relate to a single on-topic work. This was based on the old definition of the "Too Broad" close reason which was:

There are either too many possible answers, or good answers would be too long for this format. Please add details to narrow the answer set or to isolate an issue that can be answered in a few paragraphs.

I believe the "Too Broad" close reason was updated into the "Needs More Focus" which now reads:

This question currently includes multiple questions in one. It should focus on one problem only.

As you stated this is incorrect as there is not more than one questions being asked. My personal opinion we be that the proper close reason would have been "Needs Detail or Clarity", those details being which on-topic work the question is related to. Again I agree with you that this is incorrect as the question mentions wanting to know the origin of the trope and even specifies Bram Stoker's version of the creature.

Therefore, I feel the question should be reopened, and I have cast a vote as such.

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    We don't have a "policy of closing questions that do not relate to a single on-topic work". The meta post that you linked to has two competing answers, both with an equal score; one of them (yours) says to close such questions while the other (mine) says to keep them open. Neither of them is "policy" since neither of them reflects a general consensus.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 12:55
  • @Randal'Thor I may rephrase policy then, but in practice those types of questions had been closed the majority of the time.
    – Skooba
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 12:59
  • @Randal'Thor but regardless of matter of "policy", I'd be keen to know your thoughts on whether you feel this specific question should be reopened (like I do).
    – Skooba
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 13:02
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    My thoughts are pretty much the same as in my answer back there: questions requiring general genre knowledge are some of the most useful content this site can possibly produce, and we do the internet a disservice by closing such content in favour of franchise-specific fan trivia. If an expert on the history of vampire fiction could provide an answer covering the evolution of this trope, that would be a fantastic contribution of SFF.SE to the internet's knowledge of vampire tropes.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 13:07
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I voted to close because the question seems confused. As far as I can tell (I grepped the text of Dracula) Stoker never does describe the titular vampire as hissing. So the question is founded on a mistaken premise, and since most of it appears to be about why Stoker portrayed vampires that way, it seems unanswerable.

(FWIW, I think I chose needs clarity as a close reason because I feel the question doesn't really make sense.)

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    I don't think mistaken premises should be the doom of all questions, but I do appreciate your feedback, and I agree the Q could be clearer in its intent
    – AncientSwordRage Mod
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 14:25
  • @AncientSwordRage "Clearer in its intent" being what the "needs clarity" close reason is intended to elicit in an edit, no? I'm not clear how this was handled incorrectly.
    – DavidW
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 16:06
  • My guess is that my threshold for "Unclear enough to be closed" vs. "Could be clearer" is higher than for the close voters of that reason
    – AncientSwordRage Mod
    Commented Nov 5, 2021 at 16:24

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