Questions tagged [scope]
For questions asking whether a particular topic or work is appropriate and on-topic on this website.
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Can questions about a movie/TV show/video be on-topic? If so, which ones?
We had a recent question about a series of YouTube videos. The question boiled down to "this line seemed to reference something that was said in a previous video, what is it referring to?"
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Should we allow questions asking for identification of the outputs of language models?
A user new to the site recently asked for the identification of a poem output by a large language model (some version of OpenAI's ChatGPT). The user had asked the model for a poem in German on a given ...
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Do we want to accept "how do I start?" type questions?
I recently encountered this question, which is basically asking for general advice on how to start learning about British Literature on her own (possibly with a goal of improving English skills). As ...
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Should we rethink our policy on story identification questions / identification requests?
Almost a year ago, verbose asked How do we ensure that questions on this site attract scholars and enthusiasts? In my second answer to that question, I wrote that identification-request questions are ...
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Would it be on-topic to ask on Literature what was the name of, URL of, or what happened to, that Philip Larkin online forum last seen about 2005?
Would it be on-topic to ask on Literature what was the name of, the URL of,or what happened to that Philip Larkin online forum that seems to have disappeared from the internet? I saw it in about the ...
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Should I ask on Literature whether it's true that streets in Ireland in 1955 were "end-on to hills", more often than those in England?
Philip Larkin's 1955 poem "The Importance of Elsewhere" implies that Irish streets are often end-on to hills.
This answer on Stack Exchange Meta contains the suggestion that the answer to ...
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Would a question about how science writers/journalists deal with a particular misnomeric technical term be on-topic at Literature?
Would this question be on topic here? Should journalists be pointing out that “coronavirus spike” and “coronavirus spike protein” are misnomers when they use the terms?
It has nothing to do with ...
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What kinds of non-work-specific literary-device questions are on-topic?
The question which led to this one: Can "women echoed" be considered a figure of speech?
Its topicality has been debated in the comments, so I'm bringing this to meta.
What kinds of general ...
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Why were my questions about two books by Cornelius Ryan on war not answered?
I posted questions about two books that are written by Cornelius Ryan, but they were not answered or commented upon. The questions appear as "recently deleted questions", because now they ...
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Should dictionaries be on-topic?
Recently two questions about dictionaries have been posted here:
Is the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) a descriptive dictionary?
Has there ever been an African-American Vernacular English dictionary?...
Rand al'ThorMod
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Are questions about non-famous works and authors (English or a foreign language) on-topic here?
Well, asking and answering about well-known English and foreign-language literature work is frequent here; English works need no explanation, but those famous foreign works have been translated into ...
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Are questions about war books, detective stories, or thrillers accepted here?
If I post questions that are excerpts from war books and which are not intelligible to me, will these questions be accepted and answered? Are questions asked from detective stories and thrillers well ...
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Are questions asking to critique the OP's work on topic?
We recently received a question about a haiku-like poem written by the OP. Formally, the question seemed to ask for interpretations of the poem, but it also asked what the effect would be of replacing ...
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Are we ready to say what's on topic?
The ‘What topics can I ask about here?’ section in the Help Centre currently apologises for being unable to say what is on topic:
Unfortunately, we haven't been around for that long and therefore don'...
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Can questions asking for list of list on-topic? [duplicate]
(The title is clumsy. I appreciate any help on making it better.)
The question I'm about to ask may be classified as a recommendation question, therefore it may be closed. However, since it can be ...
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Would a question about the philosophical underpinnings of Ozymandias be off topic?
I had a recent, valid question put on hold, (with some pedantic comments) but it seemed to raise a larger question about the scope of literature.
Essentially, the people who closed the question are ...
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Are questions about translations in general on-topic?
This was prompted by this question: Does a translation editor need to know the language of the source document?
Recently, a question was asked about the editing / translation process of a work in ...
MithicalMod
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Is it on-topic to ask for help finding the source of a quote?
I have found a quote attributed to an author, but I have been unable to locate the source of the quote. Is it on-topic to ask for help identifying the source?
In case it makes a difference, the quote ...
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Is 'Did Eric Clapton name his dog after Dr. Dolittle's Pooch?' on-topic for a literature site?
Is Did Eric Clapton name his dog after Dr. Dolittle's Pooch? on-topic here?
I was reading Are questions about authors on-topic? and the only answer, which is at +18 votes states:
I would say that ...
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What should our policy be on questions copied from ongoing contests?
EDIT: not a duplicate of Policy on questions based on homework or tests (which I was clearly well aware of, having answered it myself), since that question was about "homework"-type questions, without ...
Rand al'ThorMod
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Is it on-topic to ask for the year of publication of a given work?
With standalone novels, the year of publication is easy to find out. But I have found that with short stories or poems, who are always part of a collection, it can be difficult finding out when they ...
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Can I ask which program to use to order my library?
I know it looks off-topic, on the other hand people interested in literature tend to have vast libraries so they met the same problem I am facing now: how to find a book out of the 12k books in my ...
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Are questions about teaching literature on topic?
The site's current description on Area 51 says,
Q&A site for scholars and enthusiasts of literature
This is a broad description, but just to be sure, I would like to know whether questions ...
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Is this on-topic for Literature SE?
I posted this question on ELU SE to much uproar (it is now on-hold), so I asked why it was being closed, on ELU Meta and they seem to suggest I migrate it to Literature SE. Would my original question ...
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Are questions about performance on-topic?
A while ago, I asked the question Why is Richard portrayed without a hunchback in the 1955 Laurence Olivier adaptation of Richard III? That question has now attracted three close votes. The comment ...
user111
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How do I ask homework questions on Literature Stack Exchange? [duplicate]
Mainly copied from https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/714/7433
What is the policy on asking homework questions on Literature Stack Exchange?
What kinds of questions are considered homework ...
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Expand the on-topic guide
The on-topic guide includes the following items:
Questions about how to interpret a specific scene, quote, theme, plot point, etc. in a work of literature.
Specific questions about the ...
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Should synopsis requests be on-topic?
I came across this Close Votes review and couldn't work out what to do with it. On the one hand, asking for a summary of a specific book is perfectly answerable and not likely to lead to ridiculously ...
Rand al'ThorMod
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Are questions about music on-topic (part 2)?
This site has recently received four questions about music that go beyond looking looking at the lyrics, and ask about the sound music makes:
Is Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall" ...
user111
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What are the rules for asking about song lyrics?
The community consensus is that song lyrics are on topic. I agree with this policy 100% - this could be a great "draw" for the site, too, because it seems like there's a dearth of quality information ...
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Are comic identifications on topic?
Are comic-identification questions on-topic? (I asked one, and created a tag for it - should it be tagged story-identification?)
When tagging comics, should we have a tag for the writer and a tag for ...
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Are questions on authors' personalities and/or recent activities on topic?
I was curious about two topics: why is Bill Watterson so reclusive and what's he been doing for the last 20 years since he stopped writing Calvin and Hobbes? Are those appropriate questions for this ...
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Are questions regarding digital recordings of theatre productions on-topic?
There is a recording of the performance of Waiting for Godot by Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart online at the National Art Library.
Is it on-topic to ask how to access that recording, if at all ...
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Are trivia questions about authors on-topic?
A question has been posted recently with the following title:
Asimov Chair of Books
And the following body:
Am I crazy, or was there once a photo circulating the internet of Isaac Asimov sitting ...
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Should this XKCD question be closed, and why?
What were the original two results for 'died in a blogging accident'?
This question about an XKCD comic currently has three votes to close, and Hamlet♦ has left a comment saying he'd be happy ...
Rand al'ThorMod
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Would questions about the Bible be on-topic? [duplicate]
In reference to this comment on Area 51:
@AChildofGod Ah yes, sorry; that was a no to "Bible Answers" too. Incidentally, if you're looking for more of fact book for answers about the bible as a ...
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References on specific pieces of literature
Is asking for references to criticism/essays/articles/etc. relating to a specific piece of literature on topic here?
I went ahead and asked such a question on the main site: Is there much critical ...
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Could /help/on-topic be filled in?
I am new to this site and wanted to check what's considered on-topic. So I went to the /help/on-topic page and found it's just the boilerplate text with no real information.
As mentioned I'm not ...
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Are questions about scientific papers on-topic here?
I recently asked a question about a scientific paper (Why is the Turing Test really a test about gender?), which got closed for being off-topic.
However, I would argue that the question is on-topic, ...
user111
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Are questions about details of translation of a book on topic?
Example question I had in mind:
In this answer edit, someone changed my translation of a word "арбалет" from "arbalest" to "crossbow".
In the context of translating the ...
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Are questions about different editions of a book on topic?
I am going to link this to an example question on the site, if the consensus is that it is off-topic I will remove the example question.
Are questions about differences between editions (in reason) on ...
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Are questions about writing techniques on topic here?
When we write questions on this site, are we allowed to ask questions on writing techniques?
Research:
According to Area 51:
Beta Q&A site for scholars and enthusiasts of literature....
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Does Oral-Literature count as literature here?
I got into a small discussion with Hamlet (site mod), over this answer of mine. In the comments Hamlet said:
Oral literature counts as literature. Just because people don't write things down doesn'...
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Should questions about speeches by authors be on-topic?
I recently answered this question: Did Twain mean the coin should be enlarged or not? But after answering it, I began to wonder what it actually has to do with literature. It's about a speech given by ...
Rand al'ThorMod
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Would a question about the relationship between a book and its video game be on topic?
Let us take the book series TombQuest, by Michael Northrop. This book series is published by Scholastic, and they have a website for it. This series is a multiplatform, which means that there is a ...
MithicalMod
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Are the lyrics of a poem / song on topic? [duplicate]
Precise situation is this: there's an old Christian song (1870's) for which there are a couple popular lyric versions. I would like, if possible, to determine which one is the original.
Several ...
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Are questions about author's personal opinions on-topic?
I recently asked the question What is C. S. Lewis' opinion about homosexuality?. The question was closed as being off-topic.
Are questions about authors' personal opinions on-topic or off-topic?
user111
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What are the rules for resource requests?
It seems like a lot of other sites on the Stack Exchange network tend to discourage (or outright ban) requests for off-site resources (tutorial or book recommendations, etc.).
I didn't see anything ...
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Does our site scope include libraries?
Libraries are treasuries for literary works. But are they on-topic at Lit.SE?
I think good questions about libraries can be asked:
What is the largest library in Europe?
How do libraries store ...
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Does our site scope include literary awards, events, and news?
These are topics that are very much linked to the field of literature - but they're ancillary, not directly about the books and the actual body of work.
For example, questions about literary awards:
...
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