All Questions
503
questions
7
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answer
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Announcing the May 2018 topic challenge: Ursula K. Le Guin
In accordance with our meta agreement to have topic challenges, and since the list of suggestions has a single highest-voted entry at the end of April, it's time to announce the next topic challenge! ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
5
votes
1
answer
85
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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 ...
- 176
5
votes
1
answer
72
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Are our traffic statistics broken?
A few days ago, our Area 51 statistics listed our "visits/day" as around 1500. Today, this statistic is listed as 25. Our site analytics also show a surprising drop in site traffic in the last day.
...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
10
votes
1
answer
129
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How much self-research should we be encouraging
One of the comments on my question Is the impenetrability of Chapter 14 of Ulysses deliberate, or a consequence of its stylistic pastiches? gently chided me for not showing the research effort I'd put ...
Matt ThrowerMod
- 21k
4
votes
2
answers
217
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Best Questions & Answers from 1st Quarter of 2018
It's almost April, and time for yet another in what's now becoming a grand old tradition of gathering collections of particularly good Literature Q&A to get some easily available links to show off ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
3
votes
1
answer
95
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Announcing the April 2018 Topic Challenge: “Look Who's Back”
In accordance with our meta agreement to have topic challenges, and since the list of suggestions has a single highest-voted entry as March nears its end, it's time to announce the next topic ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
6
votes
1
answer
155
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Announcing the March 2018 Topic Challenge: the works of Michael Ende
Two days late (sorry), here's the next Literature SE topic challenge: our first author-based challenge!
In accordance with our meta agreement to have topic challenges, and since the list of ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
7
votes
0
answers
79
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What sort of backup is needed for a good experience-based answer?
Among the many different kinds of evidence that might be used to support an answer on this site (passages from a story, quotes from an author, citations to published analyses, close reading, well-...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
1
vote
0
answers
37
views
Should we tag song lyrics questions by composer or artist?
We've got a substantial amount of song-lyrics questions. So far, a lot of them are tagged with the artist (e.g. rolling-stones, radiohead), and a few with the composer (e.g. leonard-cohen).
It's ...
MithicalMod
- 23.3k
9
votes
2
answers
116
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What can we do to improve the number of answers on the site?
Today I discovered that you can track the progress of a site in beta via Area 51. (I also found that the original proposal came from Hamlet, which made me a bit sad but there we go).
This was news to ...
Matt ThrowerMod
- 21k
4
votes
0
answers
67
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Can we become an exception to the 5-tag limit?
Stack Exchange doesn't allow a single question to have more than 5 tags.
Here on Literature, this can be a problem and mean we need to remove tags which 'should' really be on the question. For ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
6
votes
1
answer
216
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Announcing the February 2018 Topic Challenge: “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”
After a brief hiatus over the Christmas and New Year period (because apparently virtual hats and topic challenges are too much fun to have all at the same time), Lit.SE topic challenges are back!
In ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
7
votes
4
answers
257
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Best Questions & Answers from 4th Quarter of 2017
Despite the failure of the last, here's yet another in the grand old tradition of gathering collections of particularly good Literature Q&A so that we have some easily available links to show off ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
1
vote
3
answers
396
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Should we start deleting answers that don't support their claims?
Recently, a moderator deleted two low quality answers. The explanation given does a good job of explaining why:
We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just ...
user111
8
votes
3
answers
124
views
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
- 71.1k
7
votes
1
answer
76
views
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 ...
- 847
-2
votes
1
answer
60
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Add an "insufficient information to identify" Off Topic reason
It seems like book/story identification questions that lack sufficient detail will often be closed as "too broad" or "unclear."
Other sites, such as Stack Overflow, already have "incomplete/...
10
votes
1
answer
192
views
Why is it important for answers to explain why their answer is correct?
I've noticed that several recent answers have received downvotes because they don't explain why the answer is correct. For example:
Hi, welcome to Literature Stack Exchange! Can you please add ...
user111
5
votes
2
answers
98
views
New tag for musicals? Or use author + title tags?
For questions about theatrical musicals, should a musicals/musical tag be created? Or should the work just be tagged using its title and author?
For example, should a question about the musical ...
- 2,156
-2
votes
3
answers
245
views
Deletion of answer based on Reddit posts?
https://literature.stackexchange.com/a/5127/175 was removed because "it is substantively only copied from other places.".
Citing and reproducing content from other websites, appears allowed? See ...
user175
5
votes
0
answers
64
views
Replace the code block button with a multi-line quote button
The text editor on this site has a code block button. There are very few reasons for posting code on a site about literature--I suppose it might be warranted for answers to questions about the digital ...
user111
3
votes
1
answer
78
views
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 ...
- 101
4
votes
1
answer
57
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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 ...
- 44k
2
votes
1
answer
43
views
Scope of 'style' and 'language' tags: retag 'language' question?
We currently have both a style tag and a language tag.
The language tag currently has one question, namely about whether the language used by a 15-year old character intentionally represents the ...
- 44k
3
votes
3
answers
211
views
Should we replace the "Primarily Opinion-Based" close reason with the old "Not Constructive" close reason?
In the past, people have criticized the "primarily opinion-based" close vote reason by saying "well, aren't most of our questions kind of opinion-based"? (This has definitely been a discussion on a ...
5
votes
1
answer
136
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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 ...
- 2,156
2
votes
1
answer
63
views
The tag [the-dark-tower] is ambiguous
We currently have the tag the-dark-tower, which has been tagged for a question about C. S. Lewis' novel The Dark Tower. However, there are several other literary works with the same title:
a series ...
- 44k
2
votes
0
answers
52
views
Would the tag [the-taming-of-the-shrew] also cover questions about The Taming of a Shrew?
We currently have a tag the-taming-of-the-shrew for the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew. However, there is also a play called The Taming of a Shrew (note the different article!), whose ...
- 44k
4
votes
1
answer
43
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Rename [hitchhikers-guide-galaxy] to [the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy]
The tag character limit was recently lifted to 35 characters. With that room now available, I'd like to suggest that we rename hitchhikers-guide-galaxy (24 characters) to the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-...
- 380
9
votes
2
answers
238
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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
5
votes
2
answers
80
views
Thoughts on a word-choice tag?
We have a few questions about the selection of particular words in a phrase or poem. Examples:
Language in A View from the Bridge
What is the rhetorical purpose of the description of Miss Emily?
...
Matt ThrowerMod
- 21k
5
votes
2
answers
151
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Why was a user able to post a question with just the 'untagged' tag?
Today on Literature, a user was able to post a question with the untagged tag by itself. If you look at the first revision of this question, you can see it:
And they did this on purpose. From ...
user2100
-1
votes
2
answers
174
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Let's follow official Stack Exchange policy regarding comments
I recently flagged this comment. The comment reads:
Probably overreading. Plato's ideal-transcendence can't be reduced to a quantifiable dimension.
I flagged it because it was an answer posted as a ...
user111
11
votes
2
answers
154
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Should we bowdlerise obscenities in question titles?
For example, In "Fuck Blocher", why does Bligg say he speaks for the swiss youth and secondos? - should the title say "Fuck Blocher" or "F*** Blocher"?
Arguments for F***: it avoids ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
2
votes
1
answer
75
views
Expand scope of tag 'the-art-of-war'
We currently have a tag the-art-of-war with the following tag wiki excerpt:
For questions about The Art of War, the book by Sun Tzu. Use in conjunction with [sun-tzu].
While Sun Zi's The Art of ...
- 44k
5
votes
1
answer
122
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Announcing the November 2017 reading challenge: "Tower of Secrets"
As October nears its end, it's time to announce the next month's challenge! At the time of writing this, the leading suggestion is...
Tower of Secrets, by Victor Sheymov, suggested by BESW.
To provide ...
- 8,365
-1
votes
1
answer
99
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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 ...
- 183
2
votes
2
answers
106
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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 ...
4
votes
1
answer
135
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What kind of research is expected for questions here?
The tooltip for downvotes says "This question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful." That being said, what constitutes adequate research effort? For that matter, what do we ...
1
vote
3
answers
125
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What are some common reasons that people downvote?
Note: This is partially a follow-up to this Meta post. It is also inspired by http://idownvotedbecau.se/ for Stack Overflow, which features explanations of common downvote reasons and tips on how to ...
11
votes
0
answers
139
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Lit.1 and Lit.2 - a comparison
The earlier incarnation of Literature SE - "Lit.1", as I call it - came to an untimely end after 269 days of existence. As the current Literature SE is 269 days old today, I thought it was a good time ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
6
votes
1
answer
109
views
Best Questions & Answers from 3rd Quarter of 2017
This post is a continuation of the grand old tradition of gathering collections of particularly good Literature Q&A, so that we have some easily available links to show off to people.
Now that ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
30
votes
11
answers
932
views
Our site can be cold, unforgiving, and unapproachable. We're driving people away. What should we do about it?
This is shaping up to be a bit more of a rant than I meant it, but this is a serious problem, and I'm growing increasingly frustrated. I feel this is something we need to explore.
A good community is ...
user80
3
votes
2
answers
317
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I asked a question about where I can find a translation of a specific work. Why is it being perceived as low-quality?
A while ago, I asked a question trying to find a high-quality, reliable translation for a particular work.
To date, no comments have been posted offering helpful insight as to why the question is ...
user80
4
votes
1
answer
146
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What makes for a strong answer on this site, and conversely, when should an answer be downvoted?
I'd like to start by mentioning that I'm an active, high-rep user on several SE sites, including ELU, Philosophy, Writers and Parenting. I supported this site in its formation stage, and have been ...
- 2,296
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1
answer
151
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Announcing the October 2017 Topic Challenge: "A Grain of Wheat", by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
In accordance with our meta agreement to have topic challenges, and since the list of suggestions has a single highest-voted entry as September nears its end, it's time to announce the next topic ...
MithicalMod
- 23.3k
7
votes
2
answers
249
views
Should we be using comments as substitutes for answers?
I've been noticing that this site has been using comments as substitutes for answers in quite a few questions. Examples: 1, 2. I've probably done this a few times myself.
I think one explanation ...
user111
8
votes
0
answers
85
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What's our elevator pitch?
Throughout SE history (e.g. The Real Essential Questions of Every Beta), there's been a lot of talk about providing an "elevator pitch" for a site. What is the site about, what's its goal, ...
Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
6
votes
1
answer
93
views
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
- 71.1k
3
votes
0
answers
106
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Why did these questions receive downvotes?
I have several questions related to song lyrics:
Why does "Nighttime Birds" associate night with warmth?
Are there two separate narrators in "On Most Surfaces" by The Gathering?
...