Questions tagged [scope]
The scope tag has no usage guidance.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Should there be a question about the UAF WTC7 study?
As some of you might remember, I asked a question about the University of Alaska Fairbanks study on 7 World Trade Center, which claimed that fires did not bring it down. It was downvoted, and IIRC ...
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Is a private communication from a celebrity notable?
One of our foundational rules on notability is that claims made by celebrities are automatically, ipso facto considered notable by the very fact that they were made by celebrities. Most of the ...
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Is asking "was the typo in the headline on this picture of a news site genuinely made" on-topic?
There is a picture circulating on social media of a BBC headline from 2017 about a major UK political figure with an unfortunate typo: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es5oYlpWMAYbvLg.jpg. I want to ask ...
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Is notability a sufficient (not just a necessary) condition to ask a question here?
Stemming from this meta-exchange and also in view of some recent disputes on a q, is notability a sufficient (not just necessary) condition to ask a question here?
As defined
A claim is 'notable' ...
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What makes a social media post notable enough to be the topic of a question?
Currently there is not really any guidance on here on what makes a claim notable. There's obviously "it was said by Trump/Biden/Johnson/Cook/Rihanna/insert A or B-list celebrity here" and &...
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Are very old claims on-topic?
The vast majority of questions on this site cover recent claims, but I have not been able to find anything in the Help Center or Meta saying that a claim becomes off-topic after a certain amount of ...
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Can I ask whether the events recounted in a Twitter thread could plausibly have happened and/or match up with reality?
https://twitter.com/archer_rs claims to be an author who is recounting a Brexit related tale (told in 2 parts, starting from https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status/1277505330885386240 and continuing at ...
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Are questions about supposedly haunted places or objects on-topic?
There are a fair number of claims about supposedly haunted places or items, and some of these claims have been documented in articles and documentaries with somewhat specific claims (e.g. here) of ...
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May I question the past findings of a tribunal or investigative body?
One of our standard close reasons is
Questions about unresolved current events and issues currently under investigation by a court of law, government, or other similar investigative body are off-...
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How notable must doubt be?
Skeptics requires questions to be about notable claims. The burden of proof is on the question to provide evidence that the claim is notable.
Must the question also provide evidence that there is a ...
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Does a notable claim remain notable if notable sources remove the claim?
Consider the situation:
A notable source posts an article including an incredible claim.
Someone links to the source as a notable claim, asking a question on Skeptics.
At some point in the future, ...
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Would my question fit on this site?
I'd like to know:
Why do people repeat certain typing mistakes?
I'm from Lebanon, the "Lebanese" way of saying yes is "eh", people keep making the same mistake, typing "rh", never ever "wh", I ...
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What should I do about a huge compiled list of claims?
So, I just read an article (on cracked.com) that has between 20 and 100 claims, depending on how granular one goes, most of which at first glance seem interesting enough to want to test them for ...
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Are questions about claims that can be empirically verified, but not at this time, on topic?
One of the basic requirements on this site is that questions must be empirically verifiable.
If a claim is notable, and could in theory be subject to empirical verification, but the likelihood of ...
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Is migrating these kind of questions to other Stack Exchange sites a good idea?
In the question Did the murder of Ernst von Rath partly provoke the events of "Kristallnacht"? , it's being proposed to migrate the question to History.SE . This has happened already with at ...
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Are questions about becoming a better skeptic/researcher on topic?
When examining a claim, you must understand the claim and the sources. You must then research the sources, see if the claim is skewing those sources or if those sources are themselves faulty. You must ...
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Should off-the-cuff claims by Donald Trump be considered notable without evidence that people actually believe them?
At the risk of offending EVERYONE of all political spectrums, should we really accept tweets by Trump as "notable" without explicit evidence that people actually believe them and don't just treat them ...
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Does the non-notable close reason apply to claims that already ostensibly provide evidence?
Are the top selling prescription drugs only effective for one in five patients?
The claim has a link to an actual peer reviewed article that supports it. It is pointless to ask a question that ...
user30557
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Would it be on topic to use skeptics.se when ever I have a question no other SE site would fit for?
I just asked my self: Imagine I come across a question which doesn't fit on any SE site. (What not happens often, but it happened 1 or 2 times so far...)
So when I phrase my question into a claim and ...
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Can we make a community decision regarding an "interestingness/consequence/relevance/etc." test?
I have recently noticed users introducing an "interestingness" or "consequential" test in addition to or in place of our notability requirement.
That result doesn't sound very interesting
The claim [....
user30557
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Can a claim be made based on a URL of an article, even if meaningful information differs between the URL and the article text?
Can a notable claim be made based on a URL of an article, even if meaningful information differs between the URL and the actual claim in the article text?
This just came up as a topic in comments, ...
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Is an opinion of supermodel considered "notable" without showing more people believe it?
Do "nightshades" and tomatoes cause inflammation?
is a question that is based on a stated opinion of a supermodel.
On one hand, it's likely that a lot of people know of that opinion, ...
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Why are strawman claims allowed to stand? [duplicate]
This question: Did Bernie Sanders never "earn a steady paycheck" before 40?
Makes for a nice NHQ fodder, due to the topic.
Except the "claim" it cites is 100% strawman.
The ...
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Do we solve puzzles?
A recent question cites a puzzle, and is skeptical that there is an answer.
It looks like a notable claim and an expression of skepticism that it is true.
Should we accept puzzles as questions?
See ...
OddthinkingMod
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Can implied allegations be referenced without direct notability?
There are a number of very common implications I hear often that I may want to ask a question on, but which are just indirect enough to be a little harder to find quotes for. I'm wondering at what ...
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Are "what is this?" questions on topic?
What is the source for the supposed "sound of hell"?
This question asks, and gets an answer for, the question:
what is the origin of this sound?
Is this type of question on topic? If so,...
user16797
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What is a good stack exchange where to learn about skepticism?
Was the "Irish ghost video" staged? If so, how?
The last comment of the video analysis explains how original research is not allowed.
OR is not "disliked", but explicitly forbidden by ...
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Handling claims that are implied, rather than explicit
If a claim is implied, rather than explicitly stated, is it acceptable to ask about the claim on Skeptics.SE?
In the question Is a giant wolffish the result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident? ...
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What should be done about properly answered non-notable old questions?
Example : Did Nazis use alternatives to Zyklon B?
On one hand, it's NOT notable, by any stretch ("according to my dad").
On the other hand, it's already well-answered, a while back. So the main ...
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Is "belief in the claim" part of notability time constrained?
I was reading a Meta question about "Flat Earth" question, and the answers (at least one) seem to be predicated on a time constraint:
Several people believe (note present tense) the claim
I think ...
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Is there an inconsistency in notability requirements?
I have observed in the past moderators closing the question because it is not notable enough, specifically posted on blog/social media that doesn't show much viewership.
However, others seem to be ...
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Are question about “Flat Earth” or other obsolete theories admissible?
Once in a while (and at least twice recently) someone asks questions about, say, “alternate” scientific claims (flat Earth and sight explained by rays from the eyes). This questions are generally ...
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Should we limit [quote] questions?
I'm tired and grumpy, but not sleepy. Probably not a good time to exercise mod powers. So, instead, I will have a bit of a whinge here, to see if anyone else agrees with me, or has suggestions on ...
OddthinkingMod
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Are "is this a legitimate phenomenon?" questions on-topic?
I bumped into an implausible-sounding story from a reputable news source (the BBC, in this case), but for which I can find no supporting evidence (e.g., a Wikipedia article). Would it be on-topic to ...
user3150
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Why was this question re-opened?
Does Islam lead to higher crime rates?
Why was it re-opened? It seems to have
no notable claim evidence at all (and any notable knowledge on the subject is 100% contradictory to the claim, what ...
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Is the second half of this answer valid content on Skeptics.SE?
This answer to " Have prior U.S. Presidents used executive actions to change immigration policy " contains two halves:
Analysis of prior executive actions on immigration policy (full disclosure: I ...
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Is it the law here that "all answers must be referenced"?
Several 'top' users of this site are fond of commenting: "Please provide some references to support your claims."
Alongside is usually provided a link to this Skeptics.meta question.
Said meta ...
user17967
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Why are questions tolerated where the subject and the question in the body are very different?
For example, the question asks "Does X happen" (often, where X happening is not controversial and nobody ever is even skeptical about it happening).
The body instead poses the actual notable claim ...
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What is the history of Skeptics.StackExchange?
As a new contributor on this website, I often wonder how this community got to where it is, and how important conventions were established. After getting a lot of feedback from experienced users, I'm ...
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Are magic tricks in scope?
Background
It is common to get questions related to magicians and magic tricks, both by self-described illusionists and scammers.
These come in diverse forms:
Questions about whether "magic is real"...
OddthinkingMod
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FAQ: Must all questions be notable?
One of the key themes of Stack Exchange right from the start has been that you can't have a site about everything. Each SE site has a topic, users who are devoted to that topic, and who will ...
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