11
votes
Do we really want a [debunk] tag?
I do not think we need a 'debunk' tag.
From Meriam-Webster, to debunk is: "to expose the sham or falseness of". I think a 'debunk' tab is unnecessarily presumptuous and perhaps a bit ...
- 16.3k
10
votes
Are questions about phenomenon only observed in certain YouTube channels on-topic?
I'm glad this has been asked on Meta, as it's a much more appropriate place to discuss how to approach such issues - comments or chat are limited in their usefulness.
My view is that this is shouldn'...
- 1,445
8
votes
Pile-on down voting without a single comment explaining why or how to edit, is this how a site should work? How close was my guess?
If I was to guess why the downvoters downvoted, it's because user30007 is repeatedly bringing up the issue with little meaningful discussion coming of it and has garnered a bad reputation.
Examples of ...
- 1,014
7
votes
Accepted
Am I a sea lion?
I can't say that I'm particularly familiar with the concept and practice of sealioning, but from what I can tell, no, your comments were not unreasonable. They seem to me to be sincere enough, and ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 37.3k
6
votes
Accepted
What exactly count as a "hypothetical question"?
In my view it is a question about something that could not happen, but I would not vote-to-close purely on that basis.
From your list, that applies to (I think) 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Some of them, ...
- 158k
6
votes
Accepted
Cavalier insta-closing of a new user's first question without even giving them a chance to respond?
I don't agree with the close vote on knowledgeseeker's question. I also don't think the duplicate marked is the same question as the original. The accepted answer to the 'duplicate' is a great ...
- 16.3k
5
votes
Cavalier insta-closing of a new user's first question without even giving them a chance to respond?
When a question is off topic, a duplicate, or is of very poor quality (for example, needing clarification) the BEST thing to do is put it on hold quickly, so people do not waste effort answering a ...
- 5,094
5
votes
Accepted
Shall we continue to agree that good SETI and extraterrestrial questions are on-topic? What about METI?
I think that I am quite OK with having SETI and METI questions, having already asked a question related to SETI (with 2 upvotes ).
While to some it may seem that SETI questions are usually not well-...
5
votes
Accepted
Did this question get closed too quickly? Doesn't it actually have a good answer that's now impossible to post?
I agree with the answers posted by James and David Hammen, but there are some facets I don't think have been discussed yet or stated explicitly:
The analogy you draw isn't great. Higgs and Englert - ...
HDE 226868Mod
- 37.3k
5
votes
Pile-on down voting without a single comment explaining why or how to edit, is this how a site should work? How close was my guess?
I have now added a comment explaining my downvote.
When I receive a downvote, I try to learn from it.
That's easier if a reason is offered, but sometimes I don't get one. That's life.
This site is ...
- 18.7k
4
votes
Is insta-closing of potential duplicates always the best way? In low Q-rate sites? Is there something to be said for slow-closing or eventual closing?
I am just one member of the community, but in my opinion, closing questions for correct reasons quickly is always desirable even in the rare case that the duplicate linked question has a wiki answer. ...
- 16.3k
4
votes
Is insta-closing of potential duplicates always the best way? In low Q-rate sites? Is there something to be said for slow-closing or eventual closing?
When closed because of duplicate, a question has a clear link to the original question:
This question already has answers here:
[Link to original question]
So had ...
- 1,959
4
votes
Accepted
Is this site appropriate for identifying ufos?
This site is not a discussion site. It exists to provide answers to well-defined questions that concern astronomy and astrophysics from both an observational and theoretical perspective.
Questions ...
- 158k
4
votes
How to easily find & link to that amazingly helpful "How to find the positions of the planets and stars?" question with the big Community Wiki answer?
You could add a bookmark, 20 people already did so with this question. Then you'll just have to go to the bookmark tab in your profile to find it. Of course it could get tricky if you had hundreds of ...
- 1,959
4
votes
Did this question get closed too quickly? Doesn't it actually have a good answer that's now impossible to post?
This was a poor question and appropriately closed.
I downvoted and commented (however Prof Rob's comment was the same as mine so I deleted my comment). The downvote was for "Lacking research ...
- 127k
4
votes
Accepted
Should I change the title of my question to make the results more searchable?
My opinion is yes, change the title, but don't remove Sifter from the text post. Just add some language that it was originally phrased that way.
- 6,320
4
votes
Why are other questions about messages to aliens on-topic but this one isn't? Was answer-blocking premature in this case?
Astronomy.SE Help gives no guidance as to whether SETI questions are on-topic or not. SETI is at least a respectable pursuit these days, although it was not always so.
The question that you are ...
- 1,546
3
votes
Shall we continue to agree that good SETI and extraterrestrial questions are on-topic? What about METI?
You have two questions here, and I have opposing answers to them:
I agree with you that good SETI questions should be on topic - but the definition of Good here is key.
METI on the other hand - so far ...
- 5,094
3
votes
Accepted
Why was this answer deleted? Is it possible to re-open and this link added to it?
There's a proposed reason for closing the answer that is certainly sufficient. I don't think there's any need to find out if this was the exact reason or not in order to say that the answer should not ...
- 30.6k
3
votes
Accepted
I can't find this site's "homework policy" or find out how "suspected homework question askers" should be treated
There is NO prohibition against homework questions here at Astronomy. StephenG's comment that he was voting to close for suspicion of homework was ill-advised and had no basis in site policy.
...
- 1,445
3
votes
Accepted
Why was my comment deleted, and this this replacement comment okay?
The original comment was seen as being too confrontational, and I could see where they were coming from. The new one looks fine.
- 6,320
3
votes
Accepted
Should this question about touching event horizons really be closed as duplicate?
The questions and answers are extremely correlated to the degree I would feel uncomfortable unilaterally reversing a close action, but I agree both discussions seem helpful. Just keep tabs on it, and ...
- 6,320
3
votes
Pile-on down voting without a single comment explaining why or how to edit, is this how a site should work? How close was my guess?
I think there might be two possible reasons for the downvotes. I am, however, not a psychologist, so these are just my guesses.
The topic has been discussed before often enough. Some people are "...
- 3,441
3
votes
Did this question get closed too quickly? Doesn't it actually have a good answer that's now impossible to post?
You don't like closed questions, period, @uhoh. Other people don't have a problem with closure. I looked at the question multiple times before I decided to join the herd and vote to close. Closing ...
- 34.4k
3
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to recover the text from my polarization-dependent apodization question about CHIME?
You should be able to see it, even though it has been roomba'ed as you thought. If you have a link, you can always see your own deleted posts, and we both have enough reputation to see all deleted ...
- 4,800
2
votes
How to easily find & link to that amazingly helpful "How to find the positions of the planets and stars?" question with the big Community Wiki answer?
I clicked the "tags" tab, looked up "resource", which auto-completed "resource-request". Then I sorted by vote-count and the question popped to the top! However, this ...
- 16.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Should I have asked this Space Telescope question here instead?
As this is about astronomical operation of space telescopes, I think it would be on topic here, but it's also on topic on Space Exploration. If you would like it migrated here nonetheless, flag the ...
- 6,320
2
votes
Why are other questions about messages to aliens on-topic but this one isn't? Was answer-blocking premature in this case?
Thanks for an important meta-question @uhoh, and especially for your comment on (@)Mick's answer. While your "insta-closure" label is a bit inflammatory, your comment is really helpful in ...
- 1,445
2
votes
Accepted
I need help rewording this unwieldily title
How about this:
Gravitational waves and gamma ray burst: how were the error bars determined for the recent speed of gravity calculation? Was Hubble constant in there?
- 6,320
2
votes
Accepted
Should this question be reopened or a new and improved version of the question posted?
In this case since it is a year old and the user appears to be no longer with us, I would advise strongly against making substantial edits to the question. If you would like to reopen, please cast ...
- 6,320
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible