5
votes
Accepted
Is this question suitable for the site? "Did Gaza have the potential to become a 'Singapore' in the Middle East?"
A question I sometimes ask people who post questions is "What would you expect an answer might look like, for and against the proposition?"
I can't imagine what a "No" answer would ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
4
votes
Accepted
Is asking "was the typo in the headline on this picture of a news site genuinely made" on-topic?
As the help center says, Skeptics is all about challenging notable claims.
If someone came across an image of a headline like that, then there are a number of questions I could imagine a person would ...
- 11.6k
4
votes
Political campaigning to influence a presidential election on Skeptics, no one cares?
I care, but my flags are not followed up by actual close votes from non-peons.
I suggest that any question regarding the 2020 US presidential election and questions related to the respective parties ...
- 1,066
3
votes
When is the number of statements to verify too large?
The intent of restricting questions to fewer claims is to limit the effort needed to give a complete answer, as the Stack Exchange system has a single accept and requires one answer to be the better ...
- 78.8k
2
votes
When is the number of statements to verify too large?
In my opinion: One. Two at the outside, if they are closely related.
The StackExchange system seems to work best when you only have one question.
The difficulty is you can have an excellent answer ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
2
votes
Victims of crime
If the claim involves victim blaming (eg "this assault victim was a slut who had sex with six other men the previous night"), then I'd look at the question very closely before deciding whether we want ...
- 39.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Are questions about supposedly haunted places or objects on-topic?
I can't see any reason why such questions wouldn't be on topic.
We might well ask the questioner what sort of evidence it would take to convince them that the place or object was or wasn't haunted, ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
2
votes
Are questions about claims that can be empirically verified, but not at this time, on topic?
I think you misunderstood that clause:
there are claims that are potentially verifiable but we have no clue whether they are verified. Your example is one. Sure -- we have not dug 10km under Giza, ...
- 78.8k
2
votes
Accepted
(IMO) There are inconsistencies between Skeptic On-topic criteria and some existing questions
Basically, this meta-question is questioning the decision of the community and mods not to close one particular question immediately.
Short answer: Yep. In hindsight, I wish it had been closed.
It was ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
1
vote
Answers to the current issues that considered on-topic are helping to promote propaganda rather than clarify
I am largely ignoring the specifics of the question here - that is addressed in (IMO) There are inconsistencies between Skeptic On-topic criteria and some existing questions
I am ignoring the ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
1
vote
Is notability a sufficient (not just a necessary) condition to ask a question here?
Some background:
I think this is a duplicate of a 9-year-old meta question: If a claim is commonly accepted, does questioning it require a notable counter-claim??
I think my answer here is still "...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
1
vote
Accepted
Change link in 'Notable claim' off topic close reason?
Done
Thanks for the suggestion (and thanks @Sklivvz for doing the work).
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
1
vote
May I question the past findings of a tribunal or investigative body?
If you doubt whether he killed Jones, the trial is strong evidence and we can't simply discard it. It's one of the strongest possible pieces of evidence. Further trials and revisions would probably be ...
- 78.8k
1
vote
Question about a dog collar
It sounds like the question would be acceptable on both - but only some of the potential answers would be acceptable here. (Anecdotes would not be.)
(I wrote this as an answer so I could give you ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
1
vote
Asking for sources
[Note: This is just one opinion - it is the community's choice.]
I am in this to be a soldier in the fight against misinformation being foisted upon an undeserving public.
I am in this to help push ...
OddthinkingMod
- 144k
1
vote
Accepted
Are answers based on personal (but documented) experience acceptable on skeptics?
Generally, no.
Skeptics.SE is different than other Stack Exchange sites in that it requires questions to be "notable" enough, and answers to be referenced.
See:
FAQ for New Users
FAQ: Must all ...
- 3,879
1
vote
Victims of crime
If a topic is truly notable, the cat is out of the bag. People are already talking about the claim and clarifying the truth makes things better for everyone. There is no violation of privacy or ...
- 78.8k
1
vote
Are religious miracle questions on-topic?
I agree with ChrisW's division of "miracle" questions into two components, but would categorize them differently. Let's consider a possible claim:
[Famous faith healer] has healed hundreds ...
- 3,953
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible