The "Meta" Cafe

10:05 PM

The first order of business is to discuss updating our list question policy and address existential questions related to it as per this meta.

4

room topic changed to The "Meta" Cafe: For serious conversation on A&M.SE meta topics only. [meta-discussion] [serious] [site-policies]

Eric

10:23 PM

... I get it, it's funny because Meta is a pun on Maid.

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

On the pinned topic, we'd like to revisit the subject of list questions and bundle in a response to existential question in there

we can either make some policy suggestions and have ppl vote on them or leave brief guidlines and have the community decide what direction to go with this

it's up to the everyone to decide how they want to run this site. I will support whichever direction you guys would like to go as long as there is a clear consensus

Eric

I don't think we can fairly say "no" to existential questions. While they're not particularly interesting, there really is no way for an asker to know whether or not there's an answer.

It is admittedly hard for someone to conclusively say "no", of course (like in this question).

At the same time, I'm wondering if we can reduce the scope of them to make them answerable by documentation alone.

The problem with the two given questions is that they both address in-universe aspects which may appear only in a fraction of an episode, whereas a question like, "Is there any anime published without a manga?" is much more answerable.

(As always, I think we should stick with "absolutely not" on any questions that ask for more than one item; that is, OOU list questions.)

Toshinou Kyouko

I think that's more of a 'is this a thing that happens in anime production' rather than 'are there any anime that have x theme'

the latter is more of a recommendation style question

just my 2 cents

I'm heading to bed now so I'll chime in in the morning

Eric

10:39 PM

Yeah. Maybe that's where we draw the line. If the question is about a tangible, definable element of an anime, rather than something related to the story or elements (i.e. in-universe), maybe it's passable.

Frosteeze

10:53 PM

@Eric For those kind of questions, I'm kinda okay with it as long as the asker provides adequate research of their own (e.g I looked through MyAnimeList and I saw evidence of an anime that has x)

Eric

@Frosteeze If they saw evidence of it, what would the question be?

Frosteeze

although I've heard that SciFi & Fantasy doesn't allow for these kind of questions, so it is possible that it's not appropriate for SE

Eric

I can't find a SF&F thread on this...

Frosteeze

@Eric Like, say they saw on a news article an announcing an anime featuring x. Their question could be "Does an anime that features x was made?" if they couldn't find the anime listed on MAL or something

@gao made the search for that I think and he came back saying SF&F doesn't allow it

Eric

Ah gotcha. They closed a couple of them that were upvoted.

Well, one that was upvoted.

-13

Q: Is there any Hollywood Sci-fi Movie which is not an adaptation from some book/comic?

All the Sci-fi Movies I have ever watched turns out to be either the adaptation from some book or Comic. Are there movies which are just movies and not a small part from some book/novel/comic series? I think there must be some movie, at-least one movie.

movie

Personally though I don't see an issue with a question like this.

It could be rephrased as "Are all Hollywood sci-fi movies based on books/comics?" and I think it would stand up fine.

The issue I have is when they start sounding like recommendation questions.

"Is there an anime with a hero that carries an energy sword?"

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

11:04 PM

@Eric if we ere to make an exception, where would be make it?

Eric

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ This is the best I can think of right now:

25 mins ago, by Eric

Yeah. Maybe that's where we draw the line. If the question is about a tangible, definable element of an anime, rather than something related to the story or elements (i.e. in-universe), maybe it's passable.

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

senshin mentioned that certain "well-motivated" questions should be excepted

but how and where do we draw this line

Eric

That's a question for senshin.

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

we need to be more specific or else it'll wind up like id reqs

Eric

Personally I think it should be the exact opposite of list questions.

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

11:05 PM

how so

Eric

Existential out-of-universe questions should be allowed, but existential in-universe questions should not be permitted.

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

@Eric did you mean should not for the former?

Eric

Sorry. I meant to write "prohibited", not "permitted".

Things about production year, medium, techniques, producer, etc. are passable while things like main theme, character types, and specific scenes or dialogue are not.

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

@Eric any examples to give?

Eric

- GOOD -
Actual questions:
Has an anime ever come out before the manga was published?
Is Akira the only anime produced in 24fps?

Hypothetical examples:
Are there any anime produced before the year 1970?
Are there any anime produced without using digital tools?

- BAD -
Actual questions:
Is there any anime with an overweight female protagonist?
Is there any anime about carrom or in which carrom is played?

Hypothetical questions:
Are there any anime with a hero who uses an energy sword?
Are there any anime that focus on the idea of "friendship is power"?

ʞɹɐzǝɹ

11:27 PM

sore wa domo

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