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8:00 PM
I read The Eye of the World recently
 
@Shog9 been trying to slog through LotR
 
@DForck42 SLOG?
It's an easy read
 
@Mithrandir SHOG?
:-P
 
LOTR is a good series.
Or course, I may be biased...
 
@Mithrandir it's kinda boaring and meandering, and it takes characters 5 pages just to agree that a blanket's a blanket
 
8:01 PM
I probably prefer The Silmarillion, though.
 
@DForck42 But sometimes it's not a blanket.
@NapoleonWilson nooo
 
I've recently finished the first book (or collection of short stories, rather) in the Witcher series.
 
That's boring.
 
lol
 
I found it unbearably tedious to read, but listened to it on tape while working
 
8:02 PM
Need to check @Napoleon's excellent guide on SFF to be sure of which one to get next.
 
...Eh, The Silmarrilion.
 
coffee time
 
@Mithrandir The Silmarillion is everything else than boring. It's basically a universe worth of different stories packed into one book.
 
Speaking of , I wanted it to be named on SFF, Rand...
 
8:02 PM
Everyone has their opinions.
 
0
Q: Who wrote The Urantia Book?

kenorbOn Wikipedia page, the author is unknown, on the website it's said the authors include universe beings (such as archangels, chief of Seraphim, etc.), However somebody had to write a book. Are there any theories or predictions who did it?

Hey it's the supernatural dude
he has like 5 proposals on A51 about stuff like that
 
@Mithrandir Of course.
 
@Shog9 I have 27 tabs open in this window.
 
Not that I didn't like LotR either, though. And I had the privilege to read it after watching the films.
 
@Randal'Thor 54, exactly double
 
8:04 PM
I have 3. This chat, Literature.se, and a new tab.
 
About to set up two special windows just for Lit and Meta Lit.
 
I hate having lotsa tabs
 
so do I
I have them all in a bg window
 
@DForck42 How far have you gotten?
General question: Would it be worth asking that folks spread out their questions a little bit?
 
In which way?
 
8:13 PM
I know we're all curious, but maybe making things less rapid-fire can help everyone see more of the site at once. I spent 10 minutes on an answer and then half-a-dozen questions arrived.
@NapoleonWilson Wait a bit before asking another question.
 
Oh, temporally then.
 
@NapoleonWilson Yes, definitely.
 
Sounds reasonable, especially if you consider that probably everyone runs out of votes today.
 
@HDE226868 I was thinking that too ... but how exactly can we ask them that?
 
I'm waiting till I think of another one...
 
8:14 PM
I mean, I have at least three more questions written up and ready to post and I'm waiting for tomorrow.
But we can't force people to stop and wait. And a meta PSA might be overkill.
 
Also, remember the asking per days badges! ;-)
 
I used all of my pre-written questions already.
 
@Randal'Thor s/PSE/PSA/
 
@NapoleonWilson That and the rep cap.
 
*facepalm*
 
8:14 PM
Though only a few folks have hit it so far.
 
translate: ודקג שךך םכ צט רק-'רןאאקמ /וקדאןםמד שךרקשגט
(from Hebrew) And do away with those shchch dekg 99 rnaackm "./cdanmmed I ךרקשגט
 
@Mithrandir you'll get there eventually ;)
 
@ArtOfCode there we go :)
 
user61230
Man, we're already getting so many answers that just put in the bare minimum effort.
 
@ArtOfCode Either typo, or I've spent too much time on Puzzling.
 
8:16 PM
@Randal'Thor typo. It's Public Service Announcement, not Public Service Expectaction :)
 
@HDE226868 not even to Rivendell(sp?) yet
 
I want more votes :P (shameless, I know)
 
@DForck42 Ooh. Then you have quite a lot of good stuff to go.
 
@Mithrandir Shush, you :-P
 
8:18 PM
@HDE226868 yeah
 
PMYP
 
i just lost interest for a while, gonna pick it back up soon
 
??
@Randal'Thor Never
 
@Mithrandir The thing you were quoting earlier.
 
I'm outta here, see y'all later
 
8:19 PM
Adios
 
@HDE226868 Wow.
Terriblefan's has the best quote, IMO.
 
user61230
@HDE226868 This is the question I was looking at.
 
user61230
Most of the answers there I've downvoted because they just googled an analysis of the poem and copy-pasted it in, with a source link. It's the barest minimum effort possible.
 
user61230
Well, a few of them FGITW'd and edited.
 
@Emrakul There should not be more quote than original text, I feel. I suppose I'm already guilty of that once, but that was tying together many separate quotes to come to some independent conclusion.
 
user61230
8:25 PM
@HDE226868 Yeah, I agree. I think we're going to have to watch out for that becoming a systemic problem, too. It's all too easy to just look something up and re-post it.
 
user61230
(And I think merging many quotes together is totally kosher, honestly.)
 
@Emrakul It is. At leas the answers there largely agree.
 
And a "primarily opinion-based" on an analysis question. Matter of time it was.
 
user61230
Yeah, that's true. But I get the feeling all the sources use each others' analyses, too... ;)
 
8:31 PM
@HDE226868 The upside of a glut of questions on first day is, people who come here looking to answer, have lots of options - hopefully, for a while - and thus don't quickly lose interest, twiddling thumbs waiting for interesting things to answer
@Emrakul Comment and downvote. Full broadside. And post on meta about downvotes being GOOD.
 
@DVK-in-Florida I can certainly agree with that. I just think that over the day, they could be spread out more.
 
heh I'm already at the top of the editors list
 
@Mithrandir I'll shamefully admit to having had NO pre-written questions. I decided to just wing it on inspiration and rainbows.
@HDE226868 You can't fight excitement :)
 
@DVK-in-Florida True. Maybe if I had some questions, I'd be more sympathetic.
 
I had some pre-written questions for What If, too, before it got closed...
 
8:34 PM
@HDE226868 Didn't you post some on Area 51? You can use those.
@Mithrandir "What if"?
 
@DVK-in-Florida I don't think I did.
 
@DVK-in-Florida I may copy my "Vote Early, Vote Often" meta post from Arts & Crafts over here.
 
@NapoleonWilson Do we have access to close review queue? Which one?
 
Do we have any Vox Populi badges yet?
 
I just researched some answers and waited to see if they would be asked.
 
8:35 PM
@Mithrandir It's not closed, it's alive and well.
 
@NapoleonWilson which one?
 
@DVK-in-Florida Everyone has access to Close/Reopen review queues in private beta. Even 1-rep users.
 
@NapoleonWilson Oy. Big difference there.
 
@Randal'Thor Do we even have 1-rep users? Even Napoleon earned 2 :) Everyone's been beasy beavers, as they should.
 
10
Q: Prevent "Speculative Science" from being closed like "What If" was

SamProposal: Speculative Science Recently in yet another discussion about too broad scope of this topic, I saw moderator's opinion talking that adding science qualification to topic is not enough for creating acceptable bounds to topic's scope. He argued this with fact that science word could have ...

 
8:36 PM
@DVK-in-Florida Napoleon started off with 101.
 
@DVK-in-Florida The "Light Brigade" one. It's admittedly a little short, and people have a tendency to interpret that as homework (and a disdain of that, as grown from the more technical sites). But it's a totally fine analysis question.
 
@Randal'Thor Ah OK, now I know why i was all puzzled after I misread that chat comment (I was like, even just for an edit you get 3 not 2)
 
> I'm voting to leave open because this can be answered objectively based on analysis of the text. — Rand al'Thor 13 secs ago
3
 
@Randal'Thor Me too! </aol>
 
@Gallifreian please read the stuff about site overlap before posting any more meta answers on the otpics
2
 
8:39 PM
Damn, now that that's got starred I'll have to do my starboard magic so that it shows up properly.
 
@NapoleonWilson I'm a lil disappointed with current answers, I was hoping for a bit more in-depth analysis (they aren't bad, just not as excellent as I'd have hoped given the topic)
 
@DVK-in-Florida Yeah, but I already spent them on downvotes. :'(
@DVK-in-Florida The top-voted one by Terriblefan seems really good to me, though. But I have admittedly never heard of the poem.
 
@DVK-in-Florida gotta give the site time to mature
 
@DVK-in-Florida No, for an edit you get 2.
 
I need one more vote for a Nice Question badge
 
8:41 PM
@NapoleonWilson I thought so too.
You never heard of the Charge of the Light Brigade? :-O
 
@NapoleonWilson But your rep, if you have 1, goes to 3.
 
I guess maybe it's kind of a British thing.
 
@NapoleonWilson I was going 1+2=3 :)
 
@Randal'Thor No, while drenched in Englishisms, I still come from a primarily non-English culture.
 
9
Q: Did J K Rowling base platform 9 3/4 on the Gump?

MithrandirIn the Harry Potter series, there is platform 9 ¾ in Kings Cross Station. You travel through this place to go to a magical place. In The Secret of Platform 13, by Eva Ibbotson, (which is older than Harry Potter) the Gump is a magical thing that you go through to a magical place, located in King...

 
8:42 PM
Is it sad that I got Mortarboard on Meta faster than on main site?
 
@Mithrandir Oh, true.
 
@DVK-in-Florida i did the same tbh
 
@Mithrandir I temporariliy refuse to answer Harry Potter questions. Mostly, afraid to get sucked in too deeply. I'll cover them if existing resident experts leave any holes.
 
@DVK-in-Florida Not at all! It means you're contributing to help set policies and start interesting discussions as well as just Q&A.
 
@DVK-in-Florida I just want an upvote ;)
I'm actually trying for a silver tag badge on SFF for Harry Potter.
 
8:44 PM
@Mithrandir I just got shamed into voting more, so here you go.
 
I've got a score of like 298 and like 43 answers
 
@DVK-in-Florida Are there any existing resident experts? Sly said she doesn't have time for Lit, and Alex isn't even on SFF much these days.
 
@DVK-in-Florida thanks you
 
@Mithrandir Sickles are useful
@Randal'Thor I think @Mithrandir might be, actually?
 
That's a compliment, 'specially coming from you... :)
 
8:46 PM
@Mithrandir I distinctly remember good answers by you. Fully earned.
 
May be we can get @Au101 on here too.
 
@Randal'Thor looks around
 
Hey @Gallifreian!
 
@Randal'Thor Mmm?
 
8:48 PM
@Skooba You just got drafted into HP experts. Good timing
 
@Skooba It all depends on your threshold for defining 'expert' :-)
 
@Randal'Thor much like those on entryways....
 
I still think of DVK, Sly, and Alex as the top HP people around, but of course plenty of other people (present company included) do really good answers there too.
 
@Randal'Thor you can't feel my gaze through a computer screen and across an ocean?
 
BTW, I STILL haven't managed to successfully read through the whole Harry Potter and the Ghostwritten Fanfic. I'm on attempt #4
 
8:51 PM
Well, once songs are, it's not far to movies, especially when understanding them as extensions of plays. And I'd avoid that path very much.
 
@DVK-in-Florida Methods of Rationality?
 
Has anyone here actually read ?
 
@DVK-in-Florida or Cursed Child?
 
@Mithrandir The first few. But it's been a while.
 
...Like, besides for me.
 
8:51 PM
@Skooba No, THAT one I slurped in quickly. It's actually amazing. I meant the theatre play that's NOT written by JKR.
 
testing th ewaters with this question
0
Q: Why was the Obscurial ommitted?

DForck42In the Fantastic Beasts Character Guide, there's a section that contains most of the animals that were shown in the movie. However, curiously, the Obscurial is missing from the book, despite its importance to the story of the movie. Why was the Obscurial omitted from the character guide?

 
@Mithrandir It's on my short term list but haven't had time yet.
Speaking of, should we create a new separate chat room for book recommendations?
 
user61230
@DForck42 If any time's a good time to test the waters, this is it :]
 
@DVK-in-Florida yeah.... I read it in a few days, but after about 1/3 the way thru it was out of spite
 
Hello, Literature SE.
 
user61230
8:53 PM
I also have a long-term dream of doing a Lit.SE secret santa book exchange.
 
SQB
I like the dark background we have in Mos. Can we get a more subdued background here? Like a library, with dark browns, for instance?
4
 
@Skooba I don't have enough spite left. I spent it all trying to finish watching Independence Day sequel to the end. Talk about willpower.
 
@NapoleonWilson imho i think the lyrics of a song could be ok, but a movie question should have to be about either a PUBLISHED script of the movie, or a book based off the movie. the movie itself is off-topic
 
@SQB Oh god, please not. That is one of the worst design ideas on SE.
 
@SQB yessss...
 
8:54 PM
@DForck42 Agreed, though we can have fun discussing caveats (book vs movie questions?_
 
well, it needs to be readable
 
well, I'm back
anythign interesting happen?
 
@DVK-in-Florida honestly, I'd rather just wait for someone to post those questions than try a meta discussion
 
SQB
@DForck42 It was... obscured.
 
@SQB lol
 
8:55 PM
@DForck42 The only reason I supported this proposal was the fact that it's no competition to the sites I love. ;-)
 
@NapoleonWilson lol
 
@b_jonas Hello!
@Emrakul Ooh, that would be awesome.
 
lol, already a vtc as off-topic
 
Not from me, I promise. ;-)
 
from me
 
9:00 PM
@Emrakul Heh, we keep almost ninja'ing each other on meta :-)
 
user61230
@Randal'Thor Oops. :]
 
I'm almost out of votes on meta for the day.
 
@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ Meta's getting a bit exciting
 
@Mithrandir What, you VTCed and answered? :-/
 
Yep :P
I changed my mind though
Ima retract the VTC
 
user61230
9:03 PM
Man, I hate that Literature launched on a day when I'm so busy.
 
@DVK-in-Florida Until you spent all your votes. :'(
@Mithrandir Can you enlighten us what Himarm's comment on your answer is supposed to tell us?
 
@NapoleonWilson I answered with a nitpick, it got downvotes, I deleted because they edited, I undeleted it and edited it with a new answer, I rollbacked and deleted, and posted a new answer on his advice.
 
@NapoleonWilson Yep, I'm now completely out of votes on meta.
 
As soon as I added a FHRC I got 3 more votes... ;)
 
@Mithrandir O...kay.
 
9:07 PM
Woo. Repcap :/
 
SQB
SEDE query showing differences in scores between book IDs and film IDs.
 
@Mithrandir i feel slightly dumb
 
SQB
It came up on meta, somewhere.
 
BUT, the obscurus is NOT in the beasts section
 
SQB
Any thoughts on the query?
 
9:07 PM
@DForck42 no problemo, just make sure to accept ;D
 
but probably becasuse it has it's own
 
Do you think, Bob Dylan should have received the Nobel Prize?
 
thank you
 
@Skooba decided to prove his HP expertise by actually, y'know, answering. Good approach. I should look into that.
 
There. I am among the first to not receive rep from the repcap on Literature.SE :P
 
9:09 PM
@Mithrandir I was the first :-)
 
@DForck42 see my new meta post. give an answer if you feel strongly
 
@Randal'Thor That's why I said among
 
@Skooba saw it
 
3
Q: Are novelizations of films (or television) on topic?

SkoobaQuite simply asked, novelizations are literature, but they started as "screen" works. Should they be considered on-topic?

helps if it post the right link
 
Woot! Double mortarboard. Mischief managed.
Now back to regularly scheduled compiling code.
@Randal'Thor That discussion somehow reminds me of Daredevil and Vanessa's argument over who suffered more
 
9:14 PM
@DVK-in-Florida I don't get that reference ... presumably some donkey or other ;-)
: abolish the daily vote cap for private beta sites
5
 
@Randal'Thor yeeeeeeees
 
Is this too broad?
5
Q: Translation: When should original language be kept?

NoahMInspired by this question. In many translated works (the first to come to mind are translations by Richard Pevear and the English versions of Isaac Bashevis Singer's writings) there are elements of the original language which is kept, while the bulk of the text is rendered into translation. Why ...

 
@Randal'Thor There's actually a literal Donkey question on main Q&A. I was going to point it to you
 
Possibly more one topic for Writers
 
@Randal'Thor Should that be migrated to Writers?
@Mithrandir Jinx :)
 
9:17 PM
@DVK-in-Florida No, because I said it first :P
Don't forget:
4
Q: Can I steal a question from a closed site?

MithrandirCan I ask questions that were asked on the closed site as my own? What if I give attribution?

Does anyone else have helpful post flags yet?
I flagged DVKs post as NAA and it got deleted :P
 
I have a helpful comment flag.
Da...wut? Da effin' time turner? :'(
 
@Randal'Thor I edited it to ask for the why of it and not a how-to a while ago
Not gone through yet
 
@Mithrandir I've flagged a bunch of comments; haven't checked to see if they've been marked helpful yet.
 
Is it just me or is real bad?
 
@Helmar Burn with fire.
 
9:28 PM
Yeah, sounds like that'll be a pretty broad tag.
 
We don't need to have every single question tagged either or .
 
@Helmar buurn
 
Not quite intrinsic, but still covering most of the questions on the site.
 
Is there not a meta question about non-fiction yet?
 
It seems such "companion books" are largely non-fiction and don't tell an actual story. I doubt a pop-science book on gravitation would be on-topic, just because it has the word "Interstellar" in the title.
 
9:30 PM
Urgh, a tag too?
I hope whoever suggested the edit on the Time-Turner question got rid of that one too.
 
@Randal'Thor Editing out is already in the queue ;)
I did :)
 
@Helmar Oh for enough rep to approve suggested edits.
 
@Randal'Thor Stupid... that spoiler question on meta needs to be edit to read "spoiler markup" not spoiler tag.
2
 
What's really frustrating to me so far is that I've read very few of the books people are asking questions about :( Anyone else experience this as well?
 
@fi12 That's just how things work, though.
 
9:32 PM
@fi12 So ask your own question rather than waiting for one to answer.
 
@Randal'Thor I think the author declined my edit
 
@NapoleonWilson Oh, I entirely agree.
@Catija I've asked seven questions so far and have answered one.
 
Or Gilles and I edited the same time
 
@fi12 You can ask and answer the same question.
 
@Benjamin I've done that as well.
 
9:35 PM
Since we aren't allowing reading recommendations on site, should we have a chat for them?
@fi12 Okay. You could also coordinate with others to ask questions.
 
@Benjamin Sure! Chat is a great place to talk about favourites and recommendations together.
 
Given the tagline for chat is literally a recommendation request... Seems appropriate ;-)
 
@Benjamin I don't even know that we need a special room for them... there's no reason to shove everyone into a secondary room when the main room is here... it's on topic.
 
> I'm tired of it being used to encourage self-harm on other sites.
Boom! Gotta love Shog. Second-best comment today.
 
@Catija I didn't really mean that. I am glad to see others support that.
 
9:38 PM
@Mithrandir Noooooooooooooooooooooooo! </skywalker_wail>
@Helmar Meta tags in general are really bad.
 
@fi12 We could have themed weeks, in which we all read a book and ask and answer questions about it.
 
@Mithrandir Did we just teach @DVK something he didn't know about Pottermore? :-o
2
 
@DVK-in-Florida Just reposted my clean tags post from IoT meta from a few months ago
 
@NapoleonWilson What, where?
 
O_o
 
9:40 PM
@Randal'Thor Well, I couldn't control myself and had to look into the ID discussion once more.
 
Hmmpp. I like the 2 upvotes; I don't like the repcap.
 
@Benjamin I proposed one but didn't get much response yet
 
Oh hey, I got a silver badge!
What was that for?
Ah, Convention of course.
Makes sense.
 
48 mins ago, by DVK-in-Florida
Speaking of, should we create a new separate chat room for book recommendations?
 
I think that my answer was better than @DVK's in this case... Yet he got the check...
 
9:41 PM
@DVK-in-Florida It seems the consensus is that book recommendations belong here.
 
@Randal'Thor Bows respectfully
@Mithrandir Sorry. I agree actually. You got an upvote from me as consolation :)
 
@DVK-in-Florida Thanks, but... repcap :P
(and I upvoted yours)
 
How should tag wikis be written for books?
 
@Catija Main room seems too busy and high-velosicty to sustain special topic like recommendation effectively
 
check sff for example
 
9:44 PM
@Benjamin (1) Without plagiarizing Wiki; (2) Concentrating on explaining what the tag should be used for and not describing the work
8
 
@DVK-in-Florida Honestly, that makes no sense
 
@Helmar Why not?
 
There is nothing you can write in there that doesn't apply to the whole class of books
 
I'm going to bed now. Adios!
 
@Helmar for the specific book? sure there is
@Mithrandir night!
 
9:46 PM
Night @Mithrandir!
 
@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ Like what?
Remember, tag wikis are not about the book, but about the tag!
 
for example, you can give the tolkien tag "For discussion of Tolkien himself, not about his works"
oh for a book
hm, then things like "[the two towers]: use in conjunction with the [lotr] tag"
 
I just came back to say: WOW I'M IN FIRST PLACE ON THE SITE FOR REP
 
yep
only by 3 points though ;p
 
That's a clear indication that one of the tags isn't well conceived. But that happens in a naturally growing taxonomy
 
9:50 PM
@Mithrandir not sure how that happened TBH, did you repcap yet?
 
@Mithrandir Only because some of us don't have accepted answers yet :-P
 
@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ yep
 
wow you guys sure are chatty
 
I accepted answers, that's how
 
9:50 PM
because I have 1 accept + a repcap
@Mithrandir but 3 above?
 
And I had an accept
 
yeah that makes sense
not sure about 3 above but whatever
 
And I should have gotten another accept (:P), but whatevs
 
@Helmar The author rejected your tag-only edit and approved my tag-and-typos edit. I hadn't seen your edit when I made mine.
 
9:52 PM
@Benjamin That's actually a great idea, perhaps some like Worldbuilding's fortnightly topic challenges?
 
@Gilles You couldn't, we either clicked on edit around the same time or it was already rejected, otherwise you couldn't have edited ;)
 
@fi12 Let me try to dig up a post about why I regret proposing that. I will say, though, that on a site like this, it could go more like Mythology's Myth o' the Month.
 
what do we do where the name of the work is over 25 chars?
for tagging
example:
0
Q: Who chained the albatross to the mariner's neck?

Easterly IrkIn the long poem by Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner talks about an albatross being chained to his neck: Instead of the cross, the albatross About my neck was hung. This doesn't really make much sense though. Assuming it was literal, who chained the dead bird to hi...

the full title is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", but that's too long
 
@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ same with a series of unfortunate events ;)
 
9:55 PM
@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ I think what you have is fine, it still seems to convey the message
 
Tried to change the tag and got blocked
 
@Helmar yup
 
also that questions hould be pretty easy, just if anybody wants to answer
I'm too tired to work it out though
@fi12 cool thanks
<shrug> best I could do
 
@EᴀsᴛᴇʀʟʏIʀᴋ They have the same problem on Movies & TV. I think truncation is the only real option, right @Napoleon?
 
9:59 PM
Hey @BESW! :-D
 
[wave]
 
user61230
Welcome, @BESW! Glad to see you here!
 

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