Linked Questions
25 questions linked to/from Single word requests, crosswords, and the fight against mediocrity
44
votes
6answers
735 views
Is the EL&U community overzealous about closing/down-voting questions?
I'm fairly new to the stackexchange network, but I participate quite a bit on stackoverflow. I've used a few others (like this one) for one or two questions.
And I have to say, EL&U feels ...
33
votes
11answers
4k views
Against single word requests
We've discussed single-word-requests before:
Are single word requests always welcomed questions?
Are word requests allowed?
The consensus of earlier discussions was that these questions are on the ...
30
votes
6answers
768 views
Waning gap of acceptable questions
After a couple days of break I revisited EL&U to find about a third of questions on the main page marked [closed].
It appears anything that can be looked up in more or less obscure source (NOT ...
21
votes
10answers
1k views
Can anything be done about mean-spirited requests for terminology?
tl;dr: Mean people suck, and we should not help them.
EDIT: I don’t actually believe anything mechanical can be done here, and I certainly don’t expect a “closed due to meanness” reason. That’s just ...
21
votes
8answers
548 views
Repository of polite responses
Several folks have noted that ELU regulars have a predilection towards snobbery and are perceived as generally unwelcoming to new users. I realized today that I'm guilty of this, and I haven't even ...
18
votes
10answers
623 views
On Answering Word Requests
I was recently informed by one of our moderators that:
We're looking for answers from experts in the field, not experts at
Googling. :) "You have to write an actual answer, in your own words. A
...
13
votes
2answers
174 views
How can I write good questions?
Please don't direct me to the Help Page. I need guidance that the Help Page doesn't give.
I am a native English speaker, and know only basic grammar. I know when something sounds right, I know when ...
10
votes
3answers
463 views
“What’s wrong with single word requests?”
In the proposal to merge ELU and ELL, the asker in passing mentioned:
On the other hand, many native speakers actually ask questions such as single word requests which should not be the focus of ...
8
votes
0answers
70 views
Would you support systematic testing of proposed quality improvement methods?
TL;DR: Shall we support systematic A/B (and similar) testing of QI (Quality Improvement) proposals, or would advocating for such research simply lead to frustration, i.e., would it be an exercise in ...
6
votes
2answers
109 views
Please migrate my (closed) question to Writers.SE
My question, Word (or shorter phrase for) "evaluate the relationship between"?, was closed as "off topic" for this site. I think that it is a good question — it has five upvotes and ...
5
votes
2answers
109 views
Why is suggesting words on word suggestion questions insufficient?
I'm confused by the following notice on my answer to a question which is basically "we do this thing where we promise something; what would you call that?" to which I provided several good words with ...
5
votes
2answers
193 views
Rewriting the Question Box Sidebar
Recently, a user brought up the issue of questions that could seemingly be answered by looking in a dictionary and the responses given to those questions.
Andrew Leach posted an answer that had a ...
5
votes
2answers
220 views
What widely-accepted standards should be used to judge whether a single-word-request is too broad?
This question is an off-shoot of this Meta question focused on the deletion, and consequently on the closure, of a particular single-word-request question.
Deleted Upvoted and Popular Question: Why?
...
4
votes
2answers
140 views
Can anything be done for well-wishing requests for terminology?
I've really been harping on things like this recently, and I think I need to go somewhere else to cool down for a bit.
So I'm deleting my account for now but intending to continue visiting in the ...
3
votes
0answers
106 views
Question marked duplicate when it isn't (in my opinion)
I asked this question with very specific examples of people describing what they like using redundant adjectives (specifically things like "I like well-written books" or "I like tasty food"). I'm ...