Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
1,307
questions
0
votes
1
answer
53
views
Does Skeptics.SE presuppose methodological naturalism?
Does Skeptics.SE presuppose methodological naturalism—i.e., the claim that everything can be explained by natural processes or that there is no such thing as miracles?
- 351
1
vote
1
answer
35
views
Are archive-links allowed?
A way to bypass paywall to journals and other online publications is internet archive.
Are these links allowed on Skeptics?
Pro:
Enable access for everyone to check if the quote/reference is valid.
...
- 6,478
9
votes
1
answer
288
views
Have we lost most of our best contributors?
I was surprised to see that Users Reputation by Year - Skeptics Stack Exchange shows that I'm in the top 10 users on this site by reputation for the current year, yet (no false modesty here) there's ...
- 3,936
4
votes
1
answer
76
views
Do the requirements of an old claim change if the claim relates specifically to current events in that time period and not timeless scientific fact?
I know that generally, old claims need to still be notable today to be allowable here. This makes a whole lot of sense in that it isn't worth debunking obsolete scientific theories that haven't been ...
- 3,396
2
votes
1
answer
80
views
Headline on answers to questions?
Is there a reason that we don't make a point of putting a headline 1-5 word answer on all answers?
Given the proportion of questions that boil down to "Is this claim accurate/true/real", ...
- 129
3
votes
2
answers
93
views
Should extensive edits reset vote counts?
Poorly written question is voted into oblivion. Later extensive edits improve the quality, yet if voted users don't bother to revisit the votes the improved question remains unseen.
A solution: Add ...
- 6,478
-1
votes
2
answers
155
views
Feedback on question "Is present discrimination the only remedy for past discrimination?"
Is present discrimination the only remedy for past discrimination? is closed as off-topic. I'm asking for feedback on reasons, please?
Why I'm confused:
The quote seems to fulfill the notability ...
- 6,478
1
vote
1
answer
76
views
Questions that ask about polling in totalitarian/authoritarian countries
Related to Qs like this. I'm pretty sure I can find some piece of propaganda that says that [almost] everyone in China adores Xi Jinping as their president, and likewise for North Korea or even ...
- 57.1k
1
vote
3
answers
114
views
Is the existence of a regulation an implied claim that it is effective?
There are a lot of laws, regulations, etc. out there that seem to imply without stating that they are effective, with the argument being that the legislature, regulatory agency, or other authority ...
- 3,396
6
votes
2
answers
149
views
Feedback on downvotes on my answer. Fixing my errors
In a recent answer I got 3 down-votes. If people disagree with me or dislike the content, that's perfectly fine. I understand and respect their decision.
However, seeing as it's 3 out of 7 voters, I'm ...
- 399
-2
votes
2
answers
164
views
What needs to be done to reinstate my deleted answer?
A question here raised scepticism about a news report of how the US sabotaged the Nordstream pipeline in Europe - Did the CIA blow up the Nordstream 1 pipeline?
As @Joe-w pointed out in the comment, I ...
- 101
-3
votes
2
answers
184
views
Shouldn't this question on a current event be closed?
A question here raised scepticism about a report from a former (?) journalist of how the US sabotaged the Nordstream pipeline in Europe - Did the CIA blow up the Nordstream 1 pipeline?
This is a ...
- 101
-10
votes
2
answers
170
views
What exactly does "Essentially unreferenced" mean when references were provided?
A moderator posted the following regarding this Answer:
I have deleted your answer now because it is essentially unreferenced. A YouTube video by Stefan Molyneux is not a reliable reference.
This ...
- 1,063
1
vote
1
answer
56
views
To what extent is a notable claim of "we don't know" in scope?
I follow some YouTube channels on classic video gaming (retrogaming). Several of these channels have published videos on a certain product that was hyped in the marketplace in the early 1990's as an ...
- 3,396
-9
votes
2
answers
133
views
Skeptics Stack Exchange, and its relationship with "Poisoning the Well"
Question
What ought to be the relationship between "Skeptics" and those "Skeptics" who intentionally go out and "poison the well", particularly on behalf of other people'...
- 1,063
-3
votes
1
answer
97
views
Claims involving personal information about notable people - Part2 (7 years later)
So what's the verdict here? Claims involving personal information about notable people about https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/31738/has-emma-watson-stated-or-been-credibly-reported-to-have-...
- 469
4
votes
1
answer
60
views
What is to be done about a mis-attributed image?
This answer to the question, "Did JK Rowling ever describe Harry Potter goblins as 'hook-nosed'?" is built around an illustration that is claimed to be from the original 1974 publication of ...
0
votes
1
answer
132
views
Can we reopen "Did Jeffry Epstein kill himself?"?
It has been a minute. This controversial question here:
Did Jeffry Epstein kill himself?
Is nearly three years old, and is beginning to be forgotten about. Before that happens, and before things ...
- 1,063
5
votes
0
answers
33
views
2022: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
- 101
5
votes
3
answers
176
views
Is a claim that a public figure is transgender an acceptable claim?
I have recently encountered a claim that a certain well-known public figure/celebrity that has publicly denied being transgender is, in fact, transgender. The claim appears plausible and mentions some ...
- 3,396
4
votes
3
answers
134
views
Are statements by artificial intelligence constructs notable?
The Stack Exchange Network has been abuzz recently over the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chat bots such at ChatGPT to generate content suitable for posting as answers. Some sites, notably Stack ...
- 3,396
-1
votes
2
answers
91
views
Can we ask a question that its claim can't be debunked or confirmed?
On two occasions we can't debunk or approve a claim:
It's not mentioned in the sources.
The claim is very new; so there are no sources about the matter.
How can we deal with these questions here?
- 147
3
votes
2
answers
67
views
Is asking about a controversial matter on-topic here?
For instance, think about the cause of death of a famous person. Some claim it was a suicide and some claim it was a murder. Can I ask about it? For example, "Did X commit suicide?" or "...
- 147
0
votes
1
answer
22
views
Is it a problem when the original claim has ambiguities?
I've seen this happen a few times on this site, most recently with my own question Are 20% of automobile drivers under the influence of marijuana? . Some users asked me about whether I expected an ...
- 3,396
4
votes
2
answers
105
views
Should we allow links to personal Google Docs?
I recently edited an answer where the OP had taken some data from a large site, simplified it, and presented it in a personal Google sheet.
Should that be allowed?
[I removed it pre-emptively, but I ...
OddthinkingMod
- 140k
0
votes
3
answers
77
views
If it's a daft idea is the author no longer notable?
On Skeptics there is currently a question, whether the sun revolves round the earth. This idea was floated by someone I never heard of, who is, apparently, a "notable source". Perfectly good ...
- 101
5
votes
1
answer
100
views
What kind of sources are acceptable to demonstrate the "existence" of a claim made on a History Chanel type program?
If I want to request input on a claim made on a television program for entertainment purposes rather than from a scientific source. For example, Ancient Aliens, Curse of Oak Island, etc., what kind of ...
- 671
1
vote
1
answer
92
views
Should hype-train-riding pre-print articles be considered notable?
Inspired by a comment on this question.
Some research basically re-examines some previous claim with slightly changed methods or in slightly changed conditions, acting on assumption that previous ...
- 1,483
1
vote
0
answers
73
views
Is the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research a genuine peer review journal
Is the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research considers to be a peer review journal for the purposes of use and citation on this website.
At link to it can be found here
...
- 671
0
votes
1
answer
67
views
How do I ask question about a potentially mislabelled video when the video does not contain contain any disputed content?
I have a link to a website containing the video.
I am trying to ascertain if the description of the video on the website is accurate or not.
I have had multiple people down voting\voting for the ...
- 671
1
vote
1
answer
61
views
Why is the system asking me to wait a day before asking a question, and when does that day start?
Why is the system asking me to wait a day or more before asking another question?
2
votes
1
answer
79
views
Claims about the existence of social media posts
We have some questions about claims that a particular prominent person or entity made a particular post to Twitter / Facebook / other social media. Not about whether the content of the post is ...
- 9,295
5
votes
1
answer
89
views
Questions about predictions in sacred texts
There have been several questions along the lines of “are values of important constants in the Bible”.
Would it be within the spirit of the site to treat these as X Y problems in that the X (...
- 1,189
1
vote
1
answer
87
views
Power user Edit(orializing) controversial questions to make them weaker?
I had a strange experience with having my question on a controversial topic edited by a power user. In some ways the question was improved by adding more details, but also subtly changed the meaning, ...
- 145
1
vote
1
answer
93
views
Add a "landfill" tag to the sites tags (withdrawn)
A user recently suggested in a comment that we have a "landfill" tag:
I just think we also need to explicitly label unreliable sites as unreliable/conspiracy/etc. instead of letting people ...
- 14.5k
10
votes
2
answers
199
views
How to deal with re-surfaced old questions that don't meet today's standards?
I've noticed a number of old questions that have resurfaced as active due to edits either to the questions or to answers. Many of them don't meet the contemporary criteria for on-topic questions as ...
- 9,539
1
vote
2
answers
250
views
Request to undelete mod-deleted "Transgender" question
@MadScientist deleted this question:
"Do Trans people want to change "their biological sex"? Is that impossible?"
He apparently also suspended the account for a day.
While the &...
- 19k
3
votes
1
answer
30
views
Are questions about product warnings on-topic?
We currently allow questions about product claims in advertisements.
Would questions about claims made in product warnings be similarly acceptable if they are otherwise reasonably clear and notable?
I ...
- 3,396
3
votes
2
answers
73
views
Should we have a tag for crazy law questions?
"Crazy laws" (also known as "stupid laws", weird laws", "unusual laws" or similar) are a pop culture phenomenon going back at least to the 1990's that consist of ...
- 3,396
1
vote
1
answer
73
views
Deriving a well elaborated question on a delicate and difficult historical/actual topic
I've come across a thing/claim which is quite unpleasant but it comes from a blogger I have used to trust for a long time, he has also a considerable audience, and I've also double checked the ...
- 757
-10
votes
1
answer
186
views
Transparency and proper procedure: why are moderators and their duties so mocked and tainted on SkepticsSE, leaving users clueless and powerless?
What's going on here?
First a moderator gets just (re)-appointed, without any election?
Note: this is not against the actual person getting that job then, but it is firmly against this example of ...
- 44k
2
votes
0
answers
85
views
Standard for (not) closing Russia-Ukraine war questions [duplicate]
Right now it seems rather haphazard:
Did a Turkish cargo ship get bombed in the Black Sea during the Russian invasion of Ukraine? NOT closed (also answered).
Did a Ukrainian woman tell a Russian ...
- 57.1k
1
vote
0
answers
86
views
Propaganda Questions
I noticed on Politics Meta that a recent post was made about protecting the site from propaganda questions related to current events surrounding Ukraine and was wondering if anything like that was ...
- 4,798
9
votes
3
answers
303
views
How should we handle questions about the 2022 war in Ukraine?
There will doubtless be hundreds of questions from old and new users about claims about the war in Ukraine, and it might be good to discuss how to handle them before it gets out of hand.
Personally I ...
- 1,046
-3
votes
2
answers
172
views
Premature comment deletion on a non-answer exacerbating HNQ-badness; mods seem to refuse to act upon answer quality despite terrible content, again
Again we see the HNQ issues on a 'popular' Covid question without any proper answers.
Is there an unusual distribution of adverse events by lot number for COVID-19 vaccines?
And the comments under ...
- 44k
4
votes
0
answers
60
views
2021: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
- 101
2
votes
1
answer
51
views
Improving the question regarding 'surgery results based on gender'
The question is not mine, yet something I find interesting: Are women 32% more likely to die if operated on by a male surgeon? The Question is closed due to being unfocused.
As I see this: It has ...
- 6,478
-1
votes
1
answer
131
views
Incorrectly and arbitrarily deleted answer for being alleged as "theoretical"
My answer to this question was arbitrarily deleted by a mod. It was sourced, and was not (despite the allegations) theoretical. I carefully read the definitions of "theoretical answers" and ...
- 57.4k
1
vote
2
answers
136
views
We can't blame the British. How can we fix the Israeli cat question?
This recent question has been through a few edits (at the time of writing - I am hoping it gets some more).
The original title was "Is Israel's stray cat problem due to the British?"
I ...
OddthinkingMod
- 140k
10
votes
1
answer
178
views
What makes a UFO question a good UFO question?
"UFO" and "Unidentified" are unclearly defined
The term UFO has two separate meanings.
The more formal meaning is exemplified by Wikipedia's definition:
An unidentified flying ...
OddthinkingMod
- 140k