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Please check the following main meta question about what parts of the Tour and Help Centre are editable in detail. For a quick rundown though:

  • Tour: Introduction paragraph
  • Tour: The "Ask about..." and "Don't ask about..." bullets
  • Help Centre: Introduction paragraph
  • Help Centre: /help/on-topic full page

These sections are woefully out of date, with the Tour sections not having been edited since 2013 (the first revision) and so don't mention various things they probably should. One of the most notable being the Future Works Policy, especially since it's now a close reason itself!

Should we edit these sections? If so, some things to think about:

  • What needs to be mentioned for "Ask about..." and "Don't ask about..."
  • There's no real detail about answering in the Tour, do we want to hack something into the Tour intro?
  • /help/on-topic is completely editable, we can (ab)use this for mentioning off topic info as well
  • Do we want to personalise the site more with information in the Help Centre's introduction?
  • etc.

Note that something similar is being done over on Code Review for an idea that we're not really limited markdown-wise that I know of.

Please use the below community wiki answers to provide changes and the comments there to discuss any changes further.

Related reading:

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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Tour: The "Don't ask about..." bullets

Current Text:

  • Reading or watching recommendations
  • or any other question that is primarily opinion-based
  • Lists of works with a particular plot element
  • or any other question with too many possible answers or that would require an extremely long answer

New Text:

  • Reading or watching recommendations or any other question that is primarily opinion-based
  • Questions generating discussion (do you think X?)
  • Open ended lists or any other question with too many possible answers
  • Questions that would require an extremely long essay answer
  • Future works
  • Scientific solutions or explanations
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  • I've made some basic changes here but some of the points might want expanding upon
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Aug 11, 2021 at 14:35
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Tour: The "Ask about..." bullets

Current Text:

  • Plot, character, or setting explanations
  • Historical or societal context of a work
  • Behind-the-scenes and fandom information
  • Story identification
  • Franchise/series reading or viewing order

New Text:

1
  • I added tags here and removed story from identification because it's not the only identification type we have, not sure if we want to expand here more instead of using tags?
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Aug 11, 2021 at 14:36
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Help Centre: Introduction paragraph

Currently blank

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Tour: Introduction paragraph

Current Text:

Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about science fiction or fantasy.

New Text:

as yet unchanged

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Help Centre: /help/on-topic full page

Current Text:

Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange is for questions targeted towards science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts. This includes questions about:

  • Plot, character, or setting explanations
  • Historical or societal context of a work
  • Behind-the-scenes and fandom information
  • Story identification
  • Franchise/series reading or viewing order

What about other Science Fiction and Fantasy related questions?

Not all questions have a home on Stack Exchange. Please note the following types of questions are off-topic here:

  • Questions calling for a list of works, authors, …: What are all the books that have X? Who wrote about topic Y?
  • Reading or viewing recommendations: I liked X, what should I watch next?
  • Genre classification: Is X Science Fiction?

For more information, see the question where these topics were discussed on our meta discussion site.

If your question is about...

My question about the site isn't answered here

Check our community FAQ, and more generally our meta-discussion site (please do not ask questions about the site on the main site).

For more help, see "What types of questions should I avoid asking?"

Please look around to see if your question has been asked before. It’s also OK to ask and answer your own question.

If your question is not specifically on-topic for Scifi & Fantasy Stack Exchange, it may be on topic for another Stack Exchange site. If no site currently exists that will accept your question, you may commit to or propose a new site at Area 51, the place where new Stack Exchange communities are democratically created.

New Text:

as yet unchanged

5
  • "consider asking on Writers Stack Exchange", perhaps?
    – Valorum
    Aug 11, 2021 at 21:13
  • It seems pretty pointless sending people to Area 51 when the chance of them proposing a viable new site is basically nil. Better to just say that not every question has a home.
    – Valorum
    Aug 11, 2021 at 21:15
  • @Valorum that’s the current text that’s probably not been updated since it’s inception. It needs more improvements than just that.
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Aug 11, 2021 at 21:19
  • 1
    We might want to mention that genre classification is acceptable on Meta:SFF.
    – Valorum
    Aug 11, 2021 at 21:20
  • @Valorum: Genre classification is acceptable on Meta:SFF for the purpose of determining whether a story is on-topic. We are not going to go into e.g. whether Star Wars is secretly a work of fantasy dressed up in sci-fi trappings, or some convoluted discussion like that. If you just say "genre classification is on topic on Meta," people will take that literally, and ask all sorts of nonsense.
    – Kevin
    Aug 12, 2021 at 20:23

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