32
votes
Accepted
Are answers that state "We Don't Know" acceptable?
Yes.
For many questions, "we don't know" is the correct answer - it would be beyond foolish to seek to ban such answers. Of course, a plain "we don't know" without saying anything more than those ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 135k
30
votes
Should AI-generated posts be allowed?
I propose that we follow other network sites in banning AI-generated copy-pasted content. This stuff is (to use a technical term) dangerous bullshit. As you've noted, it looks plausible and well-...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 135k
28
votes
Check in on the accepted answer being unpinned; do we want to leave it as is or re-pin it to the top?
Let's go back to pinning accepted answers.
(Usual disclaimer that this is my personal opinion, mod hat off, and I do not represent the view of the whole mod team here.)
Anecdotally, in every case I've ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 135k
25
votes
Are analogies acceptable as answers?
Of course.
An argument by analogy is a perfectly good example of a reasonable argument which can be used to support a point. If someone asks why X happens in a work of sci-fi or fantasy, it may well ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 135k
21
votes
Accepted
Should Cursed Child answers be given to Harry Potter questions?
Information from new works should be used to answer old questions
Normally this is where I would discuss why I think that's true, but I'm at a loss for what to write; it seems so completely obvious ...
- 164k
19
votes
Accepted
Should I answer my own question if someone answered in the comments several months ago and still haven't responded to the request to post an answer?
A self answer is fine.
The point of the site is for correctly answered questions that might prove useful to others in the future.
An acknowledgement of the commenter's assistance would be nice but is ...
- 25.2k
17
votes
Are analogies acceptable as answers?
A poor attempt at an answer is still an answer
The bar for what constitutes "an answer" is extremely low. From what you say, the user was attempting to answer the question, which is more than enough ...
- 21.2k
17
votes
Am I misusing the "Not An Answer" flag?
The Not An Answer flag has nothing to do with whether the answer answers the question. It has to do with whether the answer is an answer. That is, was the person posting it at least trying to answer ...
- 104k
15
votes
Accepted
Quoting personal insider knowledge of production for an answer
The very short answer is yes, it's perfectly acceptable to claim to have personal or insider knowledge, although you may wish to cast your upvotes and downvotes according to how credible you consider ...
- 709k
14
votes
Should the people be allowed to both edit and answer a question?
Yes, they should be allowed to answer as everyone else is.
What you propose seems a highly detrimental solution to a problem that I'm not even sure exists to begin with. Whenever an edit ...
- 3,193
12
votes
Accepted
Is it considered fair to recommend that people upvote an answer if they feel it is worth it?
Absolutely you can.
If you feel that your answer is a good 'un, you should feel free to ask other users (in chat or comments) to upvote it.
You should, however, be aware that historically, asking ...
- 709k
12
votes
Accepted
Why was this flag disputed?
Arguably this lump of text
"if like I said elves have dominant traits that would have a higher
chance to pass through each generation instead of the human ones then
technically Aragon would ...
- 709k
12
votes
Why are so many questions unnecessarily answered with lists? And how to prevent it?
Answers are not just for the original questioner
If you are asking a question, you are certainly free to say that you prefer brief, concise answers. You can reward brief, concise answers with up ...
- 21.2k
11
votes
Accepted
How should old, highly voted answers that do not meet our standards be handled?
In general, if you see an answer that is obviously bad, treat it like any other answer. If it's not an answer, flag it. If it's a bad/incorrect/poorly researched answer, downvote it. Whatever you ...
- 104k
11
votes
Quoting personal insider knowledge of production for an answer
Is it allowed?
Yes. There is no requirement that answers be backed up by verifiable sources, quotations, or anything else. Answers that are impossible to understand, do not even address the question, ...
- 118k
11
votes
Should AI-generated posts be allowed?
I decided to get some input from the offending party itself, so I've created an account on OpenAI and asked ChatGPT the following:
Should AI-generated posts be allowed on the Science Fiction & ...
- 39.1k
10
votes
Accepted
What to do when Very Low Quality flags are not available?
Should we flag as Not An Answer? Presumably this is a bad idea if the answer attempts to answer the question.
Indeed: NaA flags should be reserved for actual non-answers. (For more information, see ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 135k
10
votes
What question has the most deleted answers?
Technically it's a tie between two deleted questions (10k+ only):
What are some good SF books by authors not generally known for science fiction?
What works feature humans gaining immortality and ...
- 164k
10
votes
Why are so many questions unnecessarily answered with lists? And how to prevent it?
It is not a list, it is research!
By showing why you came to a conclusion, through the exploration of different avenues, is the way great answers are built. The "list" reduces comments saying "Hey ...
- 61.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was my answer downvoted?
I'm one of the downvoters here, both on the question and the answer.
NB, obviously the whole explanation below only engages me. I'm not speaking for the other voters, who may have other reasons to up/...
- 58k
10
votes
Should I answer my own question if someone answered in the comments several months ago and still haven't responded to the request to post an answer?
Post your own answer and mark it as Accepted.
Optionally flag comment as "no longer needed" and a moderator may delete it.
Every time the annual Moderator survey comes around, there's a box ...
- 494
9
votes
Who has answered the most questions?
A (very) slight improvement over KutuluMike's answer:
Users who have answered the most distinct questions
To nobody's great surprise, it's still Valorum, with DVK trailing by a wide margin
Usual ...
- 164k
9
votes
Why are so many questions unnecessarily answered with lists? And how to prevent it?
Why list answers are provided
People like lists
This is an easy thing to understand, as far as formatting is concerned, lists provide an easy way to:
Break up your sentence and paragraph structures
...
- 46k
9
votes
Should I answer my own question if someone answered in the comments several months ago and still haven't responded to the request to post an answer?
I'd probably do one of two things;
Prodding them with a comment saying something like "Are you planning to turn that into an answer?"
or
Self-answering the question and acknowledging them,...
- 709k
8
votes
Who has answered the most questions?
As usual you can use the Stack Exchange Data Explorer for this.
Taking the query Mithrandir used in your first question, we can just change "questions" for "answers" and get:
Who Posted The Most ...
- 104k
8
votes
Should we make this answer Community Wiki?
We should not do anything.
Per this question and the two answers, "no answer should be made CW". Sure, a user may choose to make an answer community wiki should they feel so, but it's never an ...
- 20.6k
8
votes
Should we make this answer Community Wiki?
My gut instinct is to say no, for the simple reason that the OP didn't just post a list of the current films and then abandon it. Since it was posted, they've made an additional 14 edits with their ...
- 709k
8
votes
Accepted
Is it acceptable for the community to use an answer as Community wiki when it is not marked as such?
This answer should be marked as community wiki or another one should be posted as such in its place.
The thing is general practice with these sorts of posts in the past has been to post an initial ...
- 144k
7
votes
Accepted
Should we undelete this answer about Jedi rank logos?
No. Post a new answer.
The current version of the answer is a good one, but it has almost nothing in common with the original version:
i found a logo its a youngling logo
its the old republic symbol ...
NullMod
- 70.2k
7
votes
When should 20kers vote to delete an answer?
I'm going to be honest here:
Use your best judgment
Unless you're an actual diamond mod, your vote isn't binding. It takes 3x 20k votes to delete answers. So, even if you get something wrong it's a ...
- 52.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible