All Questions
531
questions
17
votes
2
answers
186
views
Is this site focused on Literature Analysis or literature in general?
There seems to be two conflicting opinions about the purpose and scope of the site that I trace in Meta (and Area51) discussions and comments.
Is this site focused on Literature Analysis as its ...
- 4,645
9
votes
1
answer
109
views
What kinds of mythological questions are on topic?
Understanding the context and influences of certain pieces of literature requires understanding the mythology of the culture it came out of. So I would think some questions about mythology should be ...
- 1,073
18
votes
4
answers
267
views
Please stop "pushing" stuff away to other sites
I keep seeing comments left on questions to the regard of:
I think this question would be more appropriate for the Science
Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
or
You should ask this on SFF ...
- 1,863
12
votes
3
answers
108
views
Tag name conventions: to the or not to the?
We had a question earlier about the tags lord-of-the-rings and the-lord-of-the-rings. While that issue has now been resolved by Robert Cartaino, I thought it'd be worth trying to establish a consensus ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
-7
votes
1
answer
87
views
Off-topic for lack of research? [duplicate]
Why cannot questions on the main site be flagged as off-topic due to lack of research? The option is not there.
- 1,339
13
votes
2
answers
77
views
Tag synonym request: lord-of-the-rings -> the-lord-of-the-rings
Can we please have the-lord-of-the-rings and lord-of-the-rings as synonyms? In SFF, the latter is popular and in Movies.SE, the former. I think both are likely to be used here. (I personally prefer ...
- 7,079
3
votes
1
answer
60
views
Is the author's personal experience as it relates to a book on-topic?
The question, https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/734/did-the-events-of-the-last-of-the-light-brigade-actually-occur was voted to be closed. It was specifically asking about the experiences ...
- 223
6
votes
2
answers
82
views
Is the tag wiki for the [russian-literature] tag appropriate? [duplicate]
This is the tag wiki excerpt for the russian-literature tag.
For questions about literature written in Russia, in Russian, or by a Russian author.
That doesn't seem quite right to me. According to ...
- 4,615
9
votes
1
answer
83
views
How does one write a good question about influences?
One of the fun parts of analyzing creative works (at least, for me) is to trace the influences prior works and especially ideas have on later creators and creations.
How does one write a good ...
- 4,645
21
votes
1
answer
179
views
Please don't make trivial edits
The front page of the site was recently flooded with approximately 20-30 edits which did nothing but remove contractions from posts, e.g. changing "I'm" to "I am" and "it's" to "it is".
May I take ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
10
votes
1
answer
61
views
Is a [title] tag useful?
I proposed a [title] tag for the questions a bout the title of books. When people need to understand, or discuss about the meaning of a book, they could use that tag.
Examples:
What is the ...
user227
8
votes
1
answer
97
views
How should we distinguish between series and individual books?
Questions, such as [redwall] could apply to both the book and the series. How should we distinguish between questions about the book, but not the series as a whole?
- 6,281
8
votes
2
answers
94
views
Do we need an [authors] tag? (And if so, can [writers] be a synonym?)
We already have a meta discussion about tags for individual authors, of which we now have plenty, but I just noticed that there's also an authors tag with 6 questions. The tag wiki excerpt says:
...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
7
votes
1
answer
70
views
What are the criteria for the Beta badge?
The Beta badge is supposed to be awarded when you:
Voted 10 times, added 3 posts score > 0, and visited the site on 3 separate days during the private beta.
But there are plenty of us who've voted ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
-4
votes
1
answer
139
views
Why are questions about censorship on-topic? [duplicate]
We've had several questions come up about why certain books are censored or banned in certain regions of the world. While this is interesting, I don't see how it actually relates to the study of ...
- 4,615
11
votes
1
answer
89
views
Old Literature Stack Exchange migration links no longer work properly
I've been browsing elsewhere on Stack Exchange, and I noticed that a few questions that have been migrated redirect to Literature via their post numbers - as they should. An example is What order ...
- 6,042
14
votes
2
answers
147
views
How big a role should quotes play in answers?
I've seen a lot of answers within the last day or two that consist largely - or almost entirely - of quotes from authors or their works. I understand that it's always important to look back at the ...
- 6,042
14
votes
3
answers
199
views
Why is our best content being ignored?
We're three days into the private beta, and people have been asking some interesting and sophisticated questions about literature. People have been asking wonderful questions about the meaning behind ...
user111
20
votes
1
answer
186
views
Please, let's develop our scope, not force it
Coming fresh of another private beta I'm looking a bit worried on some of the meta posts over here. For starters I'll quote what has also been pinned in our chat, what Robert Cartaino the director of ...
- 1,031
8
votes
2
answers
250
views
Should questions asking for the availability of a translation be on-topic?
Certain shopping questions might not be about shopping at all.
For instance, questions asking whether a particular work has ever been translated to a particular language.
One example is this ...
- 8,504
6
votes
6
answers
184
views
Should questions asking about availability of a specific book be on-topic?
Current example of such a question is Could I have purchased this Mongolian phrasebook while I was in Australia? As far as my understanding goes, it's asking whether it was possible to purchase a ...
- 8,504
3
votes
2
answers
116
views
Why have I lost 7 reputation from one downvote?
My reputation dropdown indicates that I've had a change in reputation of -7 from this question, which only has one downvote. Therefore, shouldn't I have only lost 2 reputation instead of 7?
- 4,615
11
votes
1
answer
72
views
Can [on-topic] and [scope] be merged and synonymised?
The scope tag is for questions about the scope of the site. That includes questions about what kind of things are on-topic or off-topic, but there have already been four questions using the on-topic ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
11
votes
1
answer
98
views
How do we answer questions asking for prior examples if there are none?
I've noticed that we're getting a lot of questions like this one. I'm picking this question not in specific, but because it's a good example of a general question I had.
Sometimes, questions like ...
user80
10
votes
1
answer
156
views
Are operas considered literature on this site?
I am asking specifically about the plots or stories of the works (rather than the music).
Example question about an opera:
Had people related the work of Gogol before "The Nose"?
- 6,858
27
votes
6
answers
368
views
Should we allow questions about religious texts?
Science-Fiction & Fantasy has a policy of excluding all religious texts. This makes sense because SFF is about fiction, and stating that a particular religious text is fictional is pretty ...
- 848
11
votes
1
answer
54
views
Unable to review close votes
I'm not quite sure why this is, but when I try to review close votes, the only option I have is 'Skip.' A screenshot:
Is this because of my low rep?
- 105
-1
votes
2
answers
133
views
When will Literature get its own badges?
This is my first time to participate in an SE beta. I've gotten a badge or two already, but I noticed that they show up in my notifications as the same shape as whatever other SE sites use (i.e., a ...
- 671
-9
votes
2
answers
159
views
Should questions with sexual topics even be allowed?
This recent question deals with a sexual topic, and I'm wondering whether these (embarrassing?) questions should even be allowed. Of course Literature is full of this sort of topic, but should we let ...
9
votes
5
answers
228
views
Do we need/want any sorts of content warnings?
I've writing a question revolving around the rape in Ian McEwan's Atonement.
I do not want to put "rape" in the title, as it will show up on the main page. On the other hand, I also don't want to ...
- 3,178
7
votes
3
answers
168
views
Should interactive-fiction/visual-novels/gamebooks be considered on-topic?
For those who aren't familiar, titles like Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series of interactive fiction or video games like VA-11 Hall-A.
There's plenty of similar interactive-...
- 411
-3
votes
1
answer
78
views
What are the recommended literary term tags? [closed]
This question is slightly different from other tag related questions, in that I'm asking which tags the site would benefit from, when viewed from subject matter expertise perspective.
On SciFi this ...
- 4,645
13
votes
2
answers
176
views
Are questions about authors on-topic?
Are questions about authors on-topic, or just their works? For example, asking about authors' lives, motivations, interviews, or anything relating to their work.
- 411
12
votes
2
answers
151
views
Does literature have to be "professionally" published?
In this day and age, you don't need a publishing house to publish a book. Self-publishing is possible and happening. There are several popular web serials (including, but not limited to, fan fiction). ...
- 7,079
11
votes
2
answers
83
views
What are the criteria for private beta?
Forgive my ignorance, but I couldn't find any documentation on this subject.
This is the first time I've been part of an SE private beta and I am unfamiliar with the process. The info page you have ...
Matt ThrowerMod
- 23.3k
14
votes
3
answers
112
views
Is fanfiction on topic?
Are works of fanfiction within the site scope (either as independent text, or in context of the main literary work that they are fanfiction of).
I'm asking about questions with fanfic as their topic.
...
- 4,645
18
votes
5
answers
442
views
What types of non-fiction are on topic?
Having read the current tour the "ask / don't ask" is short and vague. Now I would expect that since we are currently in private beta. However, to me a big definition on scope would be a ...
- 4,301
17
votes
1
answer
130
views
Reading requirements
Do I have to read a book before I ask a question about it? Can I ask questions about books I haven't finished reading yet? Do I have to read a book several times before I ask a question about it?
- 5,032
8
votes
1
answer
59
views
Is literary non-fiction on-topic? [duplicate]
Literary non-fiction is a form of non-fiction, in which the author uses the techniques of literature to describe a factually accurate account of a true occurrence. Is this on topic?
- 6,281
9
votes
2
answers
91
views
Why don't we have a meta feeds bot in the chatroom now?
As the first-day meta enthusiasm has cooled down a bit now, why don't we make a meta feeds bot for our chatroom, to post the latest meta questions like on all other SE sites? We can even name it ...
- 718
4
votes
1
answer
52
views
Should asking about meaning of a particular excerpt/quote of a book be on-topic? [duplicate]
Sometimes, I (I think we all do) come across a passage or quote where we couldn't quite understand what author means in that context.
So, should asking such questions be on-topic?
Users can get ...
- 491
0
votes
2
answers
88
views
Author name formats
We have margaret-peterson-haddix and c-s-lewis. I think it should be uniform whether a name is stated in full or initialised. If this is not resolved early and enforced it will become virtually ...
- 361
5
votes
1
answer
44
views
Addressing tag scope inconsistencies
It feels like the tags on the beta had kicked off extremely inconsistent in the range of scopes. In my experience from other sites, when I ask a question it should be reasonably clear whether I am ...
- 361
4
votes
1
answer
89
views
Is it kosher to copy questions from the Area 51 Definition phase?
Back in the Definition stage in Area 51, Literature attracted a total of 84 example questions, 40 of which received at least ten upvotes. But not all of these questions have yet been asked here on the ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
3
votes
2
answers
81
views
Are questions on online literature and e-books on-topic? if yes, then please make tags for them
I asked this question on Literature SE, related to online published e-book. But I had no clue of what tag to attach. There are no generic tags like: "E-book","Online-Literature" etc.
Since there are ...
- 358
18
votes
4
answers
494
views
Should we embrace non-Googlers?
Common Stack Network policy is to embrace non-Googlers. The Stack Exchange wants to be a place Google sends folks, not a place that sends folks to Google.
Unfortunately, many sites and some of our ...
- 5,032
8
votes
2
answers
101
views
Should we use the [poems] or [poetry] tag, and can we make one a synonym of the other?
Right now, this site has a poems tag and a poetry tag. Which tag should we use? I'm partial to poetry, since the word "poetry" refers to the art form, while "poems" refers to poem in the plural.
...
user111
11
votes
3
answers
138
views
Is it acceptable to remove spoiler blockquotes from questions and answers?
We recently discussed spoilers on this site, and the consensus was that while spoilers in titles should be avoided, spoilers in the body of questions/answers were acceptable, and therefore that ...
user111
5
votes
3
answers
153
views
Should we allow questions about a literary work's impact on the language?
Not long ago, I posted this question:
How many of Shakespeare's words in his plays were new?
... which has now been closed, reopened, and closed again. One of the close-voters said:
I'm ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 74.4k
3
votes
1
answer
63
views
Should "character-explanation" and "character-analysis" tags be synonyms?
One of the two questions with the tag "character-explanation" can be interpreted as a character analysis and also the term used in literature is generally "character analysis". Should these tags be ...
- 105