9
votes
Accepted
Helping this user read a (somewhat technical) book
thanks to all, I don't know English well (as elementary translator or trying to learn more by translating ! ). but. when i ask questions. the questions are not very technical (usually I don't need the ...
- 203
9
votes
Accepted
The "bare/bear with me" question: what should we do with it?
I asked a question about how to request a historical lock for old but seemingly popular questions that don't meet current site standards for preliminary research (or some other criterion) here: How ...
- 162k
8
votes
Single word requests, crosswords, and the fight against mediocrity
Word and phrase requests are the most interesting part of this site in my opinion. It's the only time I see idioms and expressions and words I've never seen before and learn new ones. It's always ...
- 12.4k
8
votes
Suggestion: Prominently clarify that asking homework questions is not cheating
I'm taking my moderator hat off here. I don't want this answer to be construed as EL&U policy (unless it's agreed that it should be).
I think I disagree with your definition of cheating.
To me ...
- 29.1k
7
votes
Questions about English Literature
We don't do interpretations of writing on this site, but you can ask in our chat room. You may find some people who are interested in talking over author intent and artistic meaning.
Kit Z. FoxMod
- 27.8k
7
votes
Are tip of the tongue questions completely unsuitable here?
This type of question is known across the Stack Exchange network as a “guessing game”. (In this case, guess what word I’m desperately trying to remember). Guessing games often turn out to be a poor ...
- 28.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Are tip of the tongue questions completely unsuitable here?
I don't like blanket prohibitions, except for ones canonized in the Help Center, so I'm not going to say tip of the tongue questions are never suitable, just that they are almost never suitable.
A "...
- 26.3k
7
votes
Asking essentially a duplicate question if one considers the original wasn't answered satisfactorily
Not liking the answer is an insufficient reason to justify a duplicate question. The question should be closed as a duplicate of the original question and the original should be improved if necessary. ...
Kit Z. FoxMod
- 27.8k
7
votes
Is it ok to ask "is this a sentence" questions?
I you're having trouble learning English, then please look up the English Learner's Stack Exchange Site, https://ell.stackexchange.com/.
If you want to know if your question is on topic, you need to ...
- 29.1k
6
votes
Holds, duplicates
Holds
The data here shows that ELU had the third highest close rate in 2016 in the Stack Exchange network where 51.87% of all questions asked that year were closed. 2017's data is now in and we've ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
5
votes
Single word requests, crosswords, and the fight against mediocrity
Of all of the topics on this site, this is the one that I enjoy the most. When it's done well.
There's nothing worse that having a question asked without a clear set of guidelines for what type of ...
- 37.9k
5
votes
Why was this question migrated
I migrated it because it was from someone who is trying to learn English, and didn’t understand a would-be “rule” they were presented with.
tchristMod
- 134k
5
votes
Why was this question on usage migrated to ELL?
I think the question is fine here. Given the comments, it seems to be about a definite regional difference. And it's not a trivial-to-explain one at that, again going off the disagreement in the ...
LaurelMod
- 65.4k
4
votes
Why was this question on usage migrated to ELL?
The question has been returned from ELL and is now closed on ELU.
As it stands it's a list question, which is specifically discouraged because every answer would be equally valid.
In what regions or ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 101k
4
votes
What is the difference between these two questions?
The difference, at least as I saw it, is that in the case of the migrated question, the asker was an English-language learner who wanted to know whether they simply had to learn certain collocations ...
tchristMod
- 134k
4
votes
The "bare/bear with me" question: what should we do with it?
For what it's worth, here's my opinion, partially copied from some comments I left earlier.
Delete: To me, it seems that there wouldn't be any damage done if we deleted it. I don't think having it on ...
- 80.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is this same type of question able to be asked on two different sites?
Yes, it is fine that both sites can answer the same kind of question. There is inevitably going to be some overlap between topics in the wide variety of SE sites (do you want your question about the ...
- 59.3k
3
votes
Is posting a word game accepted?
A decade+ later, I think very few people on this site would agree with the accepted answer. Though the tag word-games has 21 questions, very few of the un-closed, un-locked ones are actual word games. ...
- 8,452
3
votes
Are tip of the tongue questions completely unsuitable here?
Generally, if they're too specific, as in, "I forgot this word, it starts with C, and ends with T, had only three letters in it, used for pets, this and that and that and this etc," they're not a good ...
NVZMod
- 22.6k
3
votes
Accepted
Migrating word requests within a field with an existing tag
The tags are ad hoc. That one exists and has been added to a question has no bearing on whether the question should or should not be migrated, closed, etc.
- 32.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Can I ask for the "identification" of a word depending on a meaning?
Yes, you can make single-word-requests. Please read our guidelines for such questions.
IMO the most important things to do are to provide a sentence you want to use the word in and provide any words ...
- 29.1k
2
votes
Can English Language & Usage help with making StackExchange more welcoming?
You're asking multiple questions which I hope others will also attempt to answer.
There's your title question "Can English Language & Usage help with making StackExchange more welcoming?". This ...
- 70.9k
1
vote
Accepted
Can English Language & Usage help with making StackExchange more welcoming?
My take is that some of these issues could fit on EL&U (main), but they would need to be very carefully posed to be about a specific English usage issue. We have a general "no proofreading" policy ...
- 22.7k
1
vote
Accepted
Questions about English Literature
Over eighty questions have been asked about Shakespeare, and some specifically asked about pronunciation, or the meaning of lines in his plays.
Pronunciation of 'host' in Shakespeare's ...
- 90.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible