24
votes
Accepted
Should Scots language questions be considered in the English language community?
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the status of the Scots language with respect to English:
Because there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing
languages from dialects, ...
- 28.5k
24
votes
Accepted
Why aren’t my questions being answered
I'll try and help by reviewing some of your questions and pointing out what might be putting people off from answering them.
Let's start with Why are most interjections a variation of God/Jesus’ name?...
- 28.8k
21
votes
How can I rekindle interest in an old question?
Don't be duped
No, you can't ask it again. It will just be closed as a dupe.
The first rule to remember is that, in general, there is no guarantee you'll get an answer to a question, here or ...
- 28.5k
17
votes
How can I rekindle interest in an old question?
Tips for Newcomers
Avoid posting grammar questions at the weekends. The majority of regular users are away from their computers and generally have lives outside EL&U
Create a memorable, or, ...
- 87k
13
votes
Accepted
Where are our new Yoichis or How I stopped worrying and started to love the ELU-ba-bomb
When I become disappointed with the inflow of current questions on EL&U, I resort to one of two strategies—neither of which involves worrying about how to improve the quality of new questions. ...
- 155k
11
votes
How do I gain reputation so I can participate more?
That's not quite how reputation works. Voting for other people's answers (and questions) gives those people reputation (except on meta). Also, nobody gets reputation from comments, even when they are ...
LaurelMod
- 60.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Why can't a user delete their own question that was just asked and has had no activity?
As I tried to say in the comments, only registered users can delete their own posts. If you check a user’s profile and you see this, they are not registered:
Basically, this user has chosen to post ...
LaurelMod
- 60.9k
10
votes
Why was my question and account deleted?
It is our policy that when a user account is suspended, any accounts that are created to circumvent that suspension are deleted without notice.
If you have further questions or if you want to appeal ...
Kit Z. FoxMod
- 27.6k
9
votes
Accepted
What if senior users could put on hold "proofreading" questions single-handedly?
I've often thought that a "weak" close would be useful - a way for folks with some knowledge in a given area to quickly take a new question off the table so that it could be discussed, edited, etc.
...
- 361
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 ...
- 155k
9
votes
Accepted
Move a question about hyphens and dashes from graphicdesign.stackexchange.com
This would be on-topic, but it would be closed as a duplicate of When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?
Anglo-Saxon is a hyphenated compound; Washington–Moscow indicates two ends of a ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
8
votes
Accepted
First proposal tag wiki rejected
The Twentieth Century ran from 1901–2000, not from 1900–1999. :)
tchristMod
- 132k
8
votes
Could/Should we create a collection of exemplary questions to encourage high-quality asking?
The idea appeals to me, but in practical terms, I don't think it is really feasible, for various reasons.
Mechanical: as far as I know, there is no existing Stack Exchange system that would be ideal ...
- 76.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Can I ask for help in lyrics for songs?
EL&U is not a transcription service, bluntly, but in the past we have entertained questions which ask about phonological phenomena and accents that can be demonstrated in a clip, e.g.
Is D-...
- 42.9k
7
votes
Could/Should we create a collection of exemplary questions to encourage high-quality asking?
You want a nice collection of exemplary questions? That's easy; simply use this link.
Footnote: I once praised Yoichi Oishi's questions in an ELL meta answer.
As others have said, I don't think having ...
- 58.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Should I delete a question if I made a crucial error in it?
You cannot delete that question. You can only delete a question while it is unanswered, or it has only one answer which has not been upvoted.
Where you can delete the question, it is reasonable at ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
7
votes
Should Scots language questions be considered in the English language community?
I don’t see any value in having a general policy either way on this. I would definitely be against a blanket policy against questions about Scots.
As Dan Bron says:
If there evolves a more acute pain ...
- 76.5k
7
votes
Posting questions from "How English Works" and proposing answers
Thank you for asking the meta question before posting your English question.
You ask:
Can I post my questions and answers here to check them? Or, how can I find the answers for the exercises?
The ...
- 37.9k
6
votes
Question was WRONGLY dismissed (not closed) as "already answered"
This question has been answered numerous times. A good starting point for researching what would be the best older question to link this one to is this search: [personal-pronouns] i me
The older ...
- 28k
6
votes
Newcomer Question
Welcome, Suhayl.
I hope you find EL&U an enlightening place. There is certainly a wealth of knowledge relating to synonyms, and not just synonyms, but thousands of single-word-requests. When it ...
- 28.8k
6
votes
Should we change the default suggested tags?
single-word-requests
This tag is for questions seeking a single word that fits a meaning. To ensure that your question is not closed as off-topic, please be specific about the intended use of the ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
6
votes
Ethnic slur in question: what's the procedure?
This site has traditionally recognised the difference between using abusive / inflammatory language and asking / commenting about it.
Usage of such language is frowned upon, to put it lightly, but ...
- 37.9k
5
votes
How can I rekindle interest in an old question?
One method that has not been mentioned yet is creating a list of bounties with no deadline as a post on meta. Several other sites have done this so far, e.g. Language Learning Stack Exchange. Whereas ...
- 2,307
5
votes
Should Scots language questions be considered in the English language community?
Weighing in late here, but this appears to be Scots:
The Lord’s my herd, I’ll want for nocht,
He gars me tae lie doon
In girsie howes, an syne I’m brocht
Faar wimplin burnies croon.
...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
5
votes
Did I ask a question, now deleted, tagged [psycholinguistics]?
The Recently deleted list only goes back a month or so.
Moderators do have access to the deleted:1 search criterion, but there seems little point
in reproducing the output here. If it's mod-only ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
5
votes
Other words for 'said'?
What you're asking about is compiling a thesaurus. They already exist, and are in the list of reference works which should be consulted.
While lists are not expressly mentioned in the Help, they do ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
5
votes
Should we change the default suggested tags?
I would keep word-choice, the explanation is short and it tells the author to use SWR if they don't know the word they're looking for.
- 87k
5
votes
Accepted
Is "There is no answer" an acceptable answer?
"There is no answer" (or "no such word" or "no such rule" or whatever) is an acceptable answer to a question where that is, in fact, the answer. As you say, this is ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 97.4k
4
votes
Accepted
How do you access "Meta"?
For the first part of your question, yes: you should ask questions about the site on Meta.
You can access Meta more or less directly by clicking on the StackExchange icon at the far right of the top ...
- 58.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible