I asked the question "What word for "tomorrow can I use that is not connected with the idea of the rising sun?". It collected a bit of controversy (which was not my intent) and the question was put on hold. I attempted to seek advice on how to improve it and then made a fairly substantial edit that I think improves the question to a non-objectionable point.
My problem is two-fold:
- I think my question is on-topic.
- There's been no communication with me on how to make it on-topic, despite my stated willingness to change and my seeking out help.
I will discuss the second first, since the on-topic explanation is somewhat lengthy (as the rules regarding questions are somewhat lengthy.)
No Communication:
I am amenable to continuing to edit my question until it fits the rules of EL&U, but I would like to know how. No comments were made on the edited question, even the explicit question I asked was ignored, and those I talked to in the chat seemed satisfied. If anyone has advice on what should be changed, I would be happy to hear it.
At the time of closing, this answer was accepted. I accepted it mainly because the question was attracting way too much controversy and I was hoping marking an answer as "accepted" would make all the attention die down a bit. Apparently that antagonized some people (although it did achieve my goal...).
comment via @RegDwigнt:
Going by the kind of answers this has been attracting, the kind of answer that got accepted, and the number of flags this generates, I have to put it on hold now.
So in addition to substantially editing my question, I accepted an answer that had been submitted since the original accepted question, that I liked a lot more and fit my newly-reworded question better. I don't know if that was a good solution, a terrible one, even worse than the original option... I literally have no idea.
As a side note, if the problem is new and young users posting without doing any research, perhaps protecting the question would be the correct answer, not closing it?
On-Topic?
According to the Help Center, my question fits into the topics of "Word choice and usage" and "Etymology (history of words’ development)". My question is not about these topics:
- Proofreading
- Writing advice or critique requests
- "How to improve my English?"
- Translation and non-English languages
- Naming, including naming programming variables/classes
- Criticism, discussion, and analysis of English literature
- Jokes that do not rely on the English language
The only topic my question might be on is "Translation and non-English languages", but the only "non-English" language I'm truly interested in is Old English. Old French and Latin are all valid language responses for my question, but that is because English developed out of those languages. All of the non-English languages I ask about are deeply involved in the history of English, which seems perfectly on-topic.
My question was originally somewhat open-ended, but it did have specific, measurable criteria: - The word must be easy to say - The word must make sense in a historical context; that is, it must be reasonable to assume that speakers of these languages would have developed this word given this need - The word must have sourced examples so that research can be verified Thus, every answer is not equally valid. I ask that all answers be backed up with facts and historical references, and request all creative answers to explain "why" and "how". Thus, it seems to fit these criteria.
I have also edited it to make it less of a "create a word" question and more of a "find a word" question. Thus, I think my question fits the "on-topic" criteria of ELU. (I apologize if the title of this question seems a little arrogant, but according to all the rules I've been able to find, it's a true statement.)
As the author of the question, you have an additional option: accepting an answer that you believe is the best solution to your problem.It's you who decides what is the 'accepted answer', that is explained on this page english.stackexchange.com/tourAccepting doesn't mean it's the best answer, it just means that it worked for the person who asked.