Questions tagged [discussion]

The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.

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How to say thank you in StackExchange?

I have asked a lot of questions and got many answers in StackExchange. When I want to express my appreciation, I can only use "Thanks" or "I appreciate that." Can anyone teach me more about how to say ...
Jill Clover's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
203 views

What are the consequences of a suspension?

Before asking this question, I read Mark's similar one (About Suspension, posted on Oct 5 '11 and which got a few replies). In his question, Mark mentioned a member who was suspended but seemed to be ...
Paola's user avatar
  • 3,129
-12 votes
4 answers
213 views

rudeness, belligerence, and dishonesty in this forum [closed]

Is it customary to frown upon gratuitous rudeness, dishonesty, and flame-warring within english.stackexchange.com? In a comment under this question on meta, this boorish and dishonest comment ...
Michael Hardy's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
111 views

Reopen 'Origin of the phrase "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane"?'

This is a request to reopen the question 'Origin of the phrase "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane"?'. There were at least 4 reopen votes previously which appear to have expired (?). This appears to ...
coleopterist's user avatar
-5 votes
4 answers
172 views

Why was my question titled "native English inferiority" closed?

This question was "closed as not a real question." Obviously it's a real question, and I would disbelieve anyone's explicit assertion (as opposed to this rude sarcastic boilerplate notice) that it ...
Michael Hardy's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
347 views

Suspicious completionist up-votings

I've been the beneficiary (victim?) of a slew of badge-inducing up votes recently, receiving probably five or six Nice Answer and Enlightened badges in just the past week. The random up votes are not ...
Robusto's user avatar
  • 152k
-14 votes
2 answers
138 views

Why is it valid that one person can close a question as too localized?

First I would like to know why it is possible to close a question as "too localized" at all? Is it not enough that the question does not get an answer? Why is it necessary to close it? Every closed ...
ceving's user avatar
  • 325
16 votes
3 answers
6k views

How do we describe "good" and "bad" English?

Many questions have these words tossed around: good / bad valid / invalid right / wrong grammatical / ungrammatical correct / mistake standard / non-standard accepted / not accepted ...
Zairja's user avatar
  • 6,901
0 votes
1 answer
144 views

Why was this closed as not a real question?

"Sorting on" vs. "Sorting by" I'm stumped. What did I miss here?
John's user avatar
  • 599
6 votes
2 answers
191 views

So, what happened on the site that we all suddenly got "Generalist" badges?

Idle question: "Generalist" was one of the badges that nobody had, and now suddenly a whole bunch of us were awarded it. Was there some hidden time-related condition on it that the site met? Or did ...
Marthaª's user avatar
  • 32.9k
0 votes
1 answer
51 views

Is there any point to having multiple CW answers on the same post?

Is there any point to having multiple Community Wiki answers on the same post? For example this & this at Is there an online sample sentence database or search engine? It seems to me that having ...
Kris's user avatar
  • 37.4k
14 votes
1 answer
274 views

What distinguishes a good from a bad question (i.c. "Can I use “US-American” to disambiguate “American”? If not, what can I use?")

The question Is ‘USAers’ just an ordinary English word today? has, at the time of writing, a net vote of +4. On the other hand, my question Can I use "US-American" to disambiguate "...
gerrit's user avatar
  • 2,263
22 votes
4 answers
432 views

Do we need to write the better questions ourselves?

In the ELL-Post-Apocalypse chatroom, KitFox made a very interesting observation (gently edited here for dramatic impact): We have gotten diluted with basic questions because basic questions fill our ...
StoneyB on hiatus's user avatar
-3 votes
1 answer
92 views

Posting Questions on ELU that were previously asked elsewhere

I raise this matter here because of comments arising against this question and others. I checked several earlier questions by the OP on that link, and in every case, the exact question had been asked ...
FumbleFingers's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
61 views

Generic vs. Specific 'This' & 'That' type Questions

Recently, there's been a tendency to post an entire batch of questions in quick succession. e.g. '(word) with' vs. '(word) at' (cf. “Employment with” vs. “employment at” and its siblings). This ...
Kris's user avatar
  • 37.4k
-3 votes
1 answer
91 views

Why was this question on an offensive term closed?

I'm not sure why this question was closed, as it seems like a perfectly valid inquiry on whether or not a certain expression is considered sensitive or offensive in the English language. This seems ...
rurouniwallace's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
261 views

Downvoting an answer because the question was bad?

I have noticed a pattern in the downvotes that I receive. Often times I receive downvotes on answers that I give to very basic and easy-to-answer questions--even when the answer is correct. The most ...
rurouniwallace's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
194 views

Announcing an EL&U Mod Privileges Summit [closed]

A chat room has been created as an open forum for users with any mod privileges such as "vote to close". This chat room is intended for discussion and consensus building about what editorial direction ...
MetaEd's user avatar
  • 28.5k
2 votes
1 answer
58 views

When should a question be up-voted? When should a question be answered?

Should a question be up-voted only when it shows research effort and/or is useful and clear? Is a question useful and clear if it's interesting? Should a question be answered only when the question ...
coleopterist's user avatar
-4 votes
3 answers
213 views

Should we ignore the General Reference close reason?

(Major rewrite since the ELL proposal has been reopened) I propose we start allowing questions we previously deemed General Reference, since they’ve nowhere else to go. We can migrate them if ELL ...
Matt E. Эллен's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
178 views

Should the genitive tag be merged with the possessive tag?

Currently, exactly two questions are tagged with the genitive tag, compared with many that are tagged with the possessive tag. Furthermore, genitive has no tag wiki, whereas possessive does. I ...
tchrist's user avatar
  • 135k
19 votes
4 answers
475 views

Close Reason Comments

We've been seeing a lot of comments lately that are somewhat along the lines of Off-topic. Voting to close. or This is too localized. [remainder of comment...] Essentially, these comments are ...
waiwai933's user avatar
  • 14.6k
2 votes
0 answers
75 views

Why are there so many down-votes on English SE site? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Why are most new questions being downvoted? This is the first time I asked a question on English SE site and got two down-votes immediately. It turns out I'm not alone. There'...
user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
59 views

Do we have any guidelines for flagging a comment as offense?

I can find no guideline in the FAQ regarding when to flag someone for a comment that is offensive. I cannot the topic in the meta section. Consider the case when someone is attacking / insulting, ...
New Alexandria's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
276 views

Why is the meaning of song lyrics off topic

The Following question was closed as off topic: What's the difference between “get up” and “stand up”? [closed] I'm translating Bob Marley's song "Get up, stand up" and, consulting my dictonary, ...
bib's user avatar
  • 72.8k
1 vote
2 answers
88 views

Sentence completion question; should it be have been closed?

This question, about the reasoning of an examiner, was closed as off-topic, apparently because people either thought the example sentence poor English (which it certainly is) or disagreed with the ...
Tim Lymington's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
275 views

Is the "protected" question tool overused?

For anyone not familar with a "protected" question, here's a pretty useful case for the tool… and a counter-example where it make, umm... less sense. A protected question prevents answers by ...
Robert Cartaino's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
263 views

Why does this site use an ampersand for an icon?

Just curious. Why do we have & as a site logo? Yeah, I know that the site is about two things: both language and usage. But still, there are other SE sites with "and" in their names too and they ...
Mr Lister's user avatar
  • 952
7 votes
0 answers
168 views

Search for common words

I have a question that must have been asked here many times. The question is about using "it is" versus "this is". Attempted to search for it is and this is, with and without quotes, and the search ...
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
37 views

Removal of "phrasing" and "there-is" tags

There are only a few dozen questions with these two tags. In the case of "phrasing", I believe it can be replaced with "phrases" in most cases. Should it be made a synonym? "There-is" can be replaced ...
Zairja's user avatar
  • 6,901
0 votes
1 answer
82 views

What's the right way to ask a question about a scenario in a TV program?

Imagine I just watched a TV programme (mostly series), and I didn't get the meaning of some dialogue (mostly humour), could I ask it here? Last time I just put part of a subtitle on the question, and ...
daisy's user avatar
  • 2,241
-1 votes
1 answer
142 views

Why this question was closed?

Does the word "government" in English mean the courts as well? I could not find an answer in online dictionaries. Why it is considered general reference?
Anixx's user avatar
  • 2,828
15 votes
0 answers
204 views

Different users' edits are amalgamated

Revision 3 of https://english.stackexchange.com/posts/83629/revisions is attributed to me. I edited the question to remove the code formatting and present the quote correctly, and did only that. A ...
Andrew Leach's user avatar
  • 101k
0 votes
1 answer
53 views

Why is this question closed?

I would like to know why this question is closed, anything wrong? https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/83560/pardes-end-why-could-tietjens-say-i-know
daisy's user avatar
  • 2,241
0 votes
3 answers
128 views

New tag: academic-writing

There are quite a few question on this site (well, one of them being mine) which are basically word-request / word choice questions in an academic publishing scenario. Examples of such questions: ...
user13107's user avatar
  • 801
1 vote
1 answer
81 views

'Protected Q.' & Close Vote Review

This question Correct usage of pronoun: “their” vs “its” is shown as "protected by ЯegDwight ...", suggesting that it has some significance. Should it list in Review|Close Votes? I think it ...
Kris's user avatar
  • 37.4k
12 votes
1 answer
244 views

Why was the amber/yellow lights question closed as general reference?

My question Amber or yellow lights was closed as general reference. I do not understand why: what general reference? The one reference that was cited in a comment is the Wikipedia article about the ...
Gilles 'SO- stop being evil''s user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
118 views

Is it a good strategy to accept the most upvoted answer?

Perhaps there is duplicate of this question somewhere, can't find it. Situation: OP feels that some of the answers to a question are equally good (other answers are not as good). In such a case, is ...
user13107's user avatar
  • 801
3 votes
0 answers
79 views

Should downvotes require comments? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Why is it not mandatory to provide comments on a down-vote? Some questions can be unclear, and most users are nice enough to leave a comment on the question to let OP know ...
Souta's user avatar
  • 1,269
9 votes
2 answers
159 views

Is it OK to ask for recordings here?

I would like to request a sample of a certain phonetic phenomenon in English. Is it the right place to make such a request? If so, what should the title of my post be? It's hardly a question so should ...
user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
126 views

I don't really understand Area 51 [closed]

META: I don't really understand Area 51. If I want to access 'Stack English' I can find it quite easily. "Area 51 English" INTUITIVE? What is trying to be achieved here? Actually, I can see how it ...
Robin Michael's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
373 views

What General Reference answers this question?

The recent question on how to represent in English a language which does not have a word for "I" has been closed as General Reference and deleted. Link (10k only; text below) I've seen What ...
Andrew Leach's user avatar
  • 101k
1 vote
1 answer
62 views

What's wrong with this question?

No one leaves a comment on it, just close(2), anything bad about this question ? https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/82836/what-words-should-i-use-in-replacement-of-lazy
daisy's user avatar
  • 2,241
2 votes
1 answer
43 views

Active view is no longer sorting correctly [closed]

The active view on the main site is no longer sorting correctly. Nor is the meta:
tchrist's user avatar
  • 135k
1 vote
1 answer
172 views

Questions incapable of a simple answer

I have just been looking through the unanswered questions. There are a number of questions there that are incapable of a simple answer. There are also questions relating to previous questions, which ...
Robin Michael's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
116 views

What is the best way to deal with a poor question?

I really think Canadian spelling: why? is a very poor question. This question has been awarded 9 points, so far. Yet, I think that it is a very poor question. I have not attached any comment to ...
Robin Michael's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
107 views

Valid question closed as 'too localised', requesting reasons for being out of scope

My question Indicating 'ephemeral questions' section in an FAQ was closed as too localized. Reading the FAQ, the very first example of valid questions is for 'word choice and usage' which ...
Alok's user avatar
  • 1,559
6 votes
5 answers
294 views

How would we like to format our keywords?

For a long time, the EL&U community has had a problem. We have been unable to search for stop words (common words that are not searchable), which is "problematic since many of the questions on ...
Kit Z. Fox's user avatar
  • 27.8k
-4 votes
1 answer
148 views

Why is the following answer converted into a comment?

Why is the following answer being converted into a comment? "See the FAQ" someone said to me; but in the FAQ I found nothing! Can anybody express a possible explanation? -- Prepositions pose ...
Elberich Schneider's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
1k views

Questions about prepositions

We have had a lot of "which preposition goes here" questions. These are by their nature very specific and localized, and are also not usually particularly interesting. I think we need some more ...
Kit Z. Fox's user avatar
  • 27.8k

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