34
votes
Accepted
What do we do with science fiction and fantasy?
No. As we do on Movies, we don't dictate which site has "precedence" or "priority" over the other. If someone asks a question here that's On-Topic here, it should stay here, even if it's also On-...
33
votes
Accepted
Should we assume that questions about a book spoil that book, or should we use spoiler markup?
Honestly, I'm a big fan of M&TV's policy:
No Spoilers in Titles
Most answers will contain spoilers to someone. There's no way to draw a line that will make everyone happy.
If the OP is asking for ...
33
votes
Accepting nominations — Who should moderate this site?
Notes:
This nominee would be a good choice because they have shown themselves to be a good moderator over at Puzzling, and has shown themselves to be active in helping with the moderation on this ...

MithicalMod
- 23.3k
30
votes
Should graphic novels be on topic?
I think they should be On-Topic. There can be quite extensive character analysis, plot explanation, etc. related to comics that would add quality content to the site. AND, not all comics fall into ...
29
votes
Accepted
What do we think about story identification?
Identification questions are like... The cabbage, radishes and shredded carrots that some sushi shops put on the platter before stacking up the meat & rice. They make the plate look nice and full, ...
28
votes
Should we allow questions about religious texts?
I think this can work, if we all agree to not disparage anyone.
Once again, I swoop back to Mythology Stack Exchange. We deal with everything from tales from the Sumerians to the Quran (a relatively ...
25
votes
What do we do with science fiction and fantasy?
On-topic questions should not be migrated (possible caveat: unless explicitly requested by question's OP?). Rationale for that is laid out in SE reference on migrations.
Caveat: questions which are ...
24
votes
Accepted
Should recommendation questions be on-topic?
No.
Book recommendation questions have a tendency to invite multiple answers, none of which is more correct than any other. Both the answers themselves and the votes cast on them will likely be based ...

Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
24
votes
Accepted
24
votes
Accepting nominations — Who should moderate this site?
Notes:
This nominee would be a good choice because he has shown a great interest in the quality of the site, and has taken part in a great many things to help this site grow. Rand also referred many, ...

MithicalMod
- 23.3k
23
votes
Reading requirements
There shouldn't be any strict requirements about this.
Some questions, such as reading-order questions, are best asked before someone has read the books. But even for plot explanation or literary ...

Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
22
votes
What should our main site chatroom be called?
The Book Club
From Wikipedia:
A book discussion club is a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more often ...
20
votes
What should we do about snarky comments denigrating specific works?
Flag 'em.
It might be arguable whether they count as "rude or offensive", but at best they're "not constructive".
This falls under the same basic rules of courtesy as this recently-featured main ...

Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
20
votes
Should recommendation questions be on-topic?
Absolutely not.
Rand's answer is good, but I thought I'd add something.
I moderate Hardware Recommendations, wherein we deal with recommending computer hardware to people who ask for it. The one ...
20
votes
Quoting from non-English literature
What
My strong recommendation is to always, if possible, include both.
If you have access to it, include original text.
Always include English translation, if nothing else, from Google Translate.
...
19
votes
Accepted
Should reading-order questions be on-topic?
TL;DR: Yes. Very much so.
Why are they good?
Reading-order questions are possibly the most practically useful questions this site will ever see. Questions about literary analysis, or plot points in ...

Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
19
votes
Should graphic novels be on topic?
I think they should be on-topic.
There's a masters thesis on Frank Miller's Sin City. Another thesis on Alan Moore's Watchmen, not to mention a whole book titled Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach ...
19
votes
Should questions with sexual topics even be allowed?
I don't see a reason against such topics. On Stack Exchange, folks are expected to behave maturely, and that involves covering topics that - well, require some maturity to handle. For the same reason, ...
19
votes
Who are the experts? Not us. We've grown a philosophical bezoar - let's work this through!
This is the . . . eleventh time I've been in a Stack Exchange site from its beginnings in private beta or before, over two and a half years. And let me say this: what you've brought up is something ...
19
votes
Accepted
Why was the previous Literature SE closed?
I'm going to answer this question in the form of quotes from several previous meta discussions on the same or related issues, along with some of my own commentary based on how this incarnation of the ...

Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
18
votes
What do we do with science fiction and fantasy?
If the question is on topic here, leave it here.
If for some reason we may think the querant will get a better answer there, we may direct them to SFF in a comment, but since the question is still on ...
18
votes
Are songs and poems on-topic?
Poems should be on-topic without further qualification. For hundreds of years, poetry was nearly the only type of literature produced, and some of the greatest works of literature are poems.
I favor ...
18
votes
Accepting nominations — Who should moderate this site?
http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/5129611.png?theme=dark
Notes:
The nominee has done good work helping the site grow, e.g. this. They clearly aren't in this for the glory but for Greater Good, as ...
18
votes
Accepting nominations — Who should moderate this site?
Notes:
I'd like to nominate Hamlet for a few reasons:
Contributes high-quality content (both questions and answers) on a variety of topics (poetry, classics, fantasy, etc.)
Involvement on meta, ...
17
votes
Accepted
Is literary analysis on-topic?
Yes, but we should demand quality answers, as well as quality questions.
Questions should show work done, otherwise be downvoted as "not sufficient research".
If too many crappy homework questions ...
17
votes
Accepted
Are questions about the process of creating specific literary works on-topic?
Yes.
As these questions would be relating to a specific work or author, there is a defined scope.
Depending on the age of the work, there may be interviews and articles discussing this with the ...
17
votes
Author name formats
I've been trying to set some consistent standards for author tag names, e.g. ensuring that we never use just a single name for the tag: thus william-shakespeare instead of shakespeare.
However, to ...

Rand al'ThorMod
- 71.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
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