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We've discussed Gorilla vs Shark. The majority seemed to conclude that we don't like those kind of questions.

Right now we have a question that was just closed for this reason: Can Wolverine beat The Hulk?

However, we've had two similar (Gorilla vs Shark) highly upvoted questions:

What's our policy here? And why are we treating questions inconsistently?

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    Related: if you think the question should be edited to get it a bit closer to being on-topic, and you can maintain the spirit of OP's question, do it. The Wolvie/Hulk question isn't exactly a quality one, for a number of reasons, but it's not off-topic, IMO.
    – phantom42
    Apr 29, 2015 at 12:50
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    I've edited away the subjective bits to the question, I think it needs 1 more reopen vote.
    – KutuluMike
    Apr 29, 2015 at 16:21
  • @MichaelEdenfield Your edit has greatly improved the question! Well done mate.
    – Möoz
    Apr 29, 2015 at 22:49
  • Those two questions are dupes of each other... Voted to close the newer one.
    – user16696
    May 5, 2015 at 4:11

2 Answers 2

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The problem with Shark vs. Gorilla questions isn't that they ask to compare two different things. It's that there's no factual/rational basis to compare on, since there's no in-universe information to base the answer on - only personal subjective opinion.

The reason the questions you highlighted aren't "Shark vs Gorilla" and not off-topic is that they have sufficient in-universe data to reason from, in either objective or good-subjective way.

As the answers to the linked answer demonstrated. Another clear answer of "This isn't Shark vs Gorilla" is Hulk vs. Superman - did they ever fight? Who won?

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  • You seem to be saying that it's the answer that makes the question on-topic; have I understood you correctly?
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Apr 29, 2015 at 14:48
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    @Wikis - not really. What I'm saying is that the question topic being in-universe-answerable makes the question on-topic. What the answer does is prove the assertion that a given specific question was indeed of that type (the linked question is the quintessence of this - the reason the question was ontopic wasn't that I answered it - but that my answer showed that the 2 did fight and thus could be compared)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Apr 29, 2015 at 14:56
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    Note that sometimes it can take a prod in comments (or on chat) to get an answer re-opened. That's not a slur on the questioner, it's the site working effectively to screen out the most egregious G Vs S questions.
    – Valorum
    Apr 29, 2015 at 21:24
  • Actually, as far as Hulk vs. Wolverine is concerned, there is canonical information about it - Hulk tore Wolverine in half and threw his legs up Mount Everest.
    – Wad Cheber
    Jun 9, 2015 at 6:11
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My own answer: the problem is in the word "can"1 (or "could"). This invites discussion.

A better question asks if this has ever happened: "Has a Shark ever fought a Gorilla and if so, which was the victor?" This can be answered objectively.

1 Another dangerous word is "any".

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