The Reading Room

Benjamin

10:00 PM

@Riker Then, I may have some Hamilton questions coming.

Riker

@steelersquirrel when's the game?

steelersquirrel

@Benjamin Yes...over at Movies and TV ;)

b_jonas

There's a Jules Verne FAQ at jv.gilead.org.il/FAQ

Riker

@Benjamin as long as the music isn't part of the questino you should be okay

user61230

(I'm still going to insist you can never really separate the story from the music in a musical work.)

b_jonas

10:00 PM

I quite like Jules Verne.

user61230

(And the "you can only ask about the words and not the song" thing hasn't really been fleshed out with examples on meta.)

Benjamin

@Emrakul I agree, but this is mainly about the writing.

@Riker 3:30 pm PST.

so 1.5 hours cool

10:01 PM

lol

Rand al'Thor

@HDE226868 I already know the answer to the first of those. As for the second and third, from my point of view they would only be reformulations in order to try to get the information I really want (the number) without asking for it directly, which is what Emrak called the XY problem.

b_jonas

@Emrakul Um, I don't think the rule should be "you can only ask about the words", but you obviously should ask things that are clearly mostly about the music. Luckily there are already two SE sites about music.

steelersquirrel

I would post a Steelers meme, but I don't want to get into trouble ;)

Riker

well then @Randal'Thor refresh my chat profile?

cc @steelersquirrel

HDE 226868

@Randal'Thor Fair enough. I did feel that the original question suffered from that, so I'll acknowledge that these aren't any better.

Riker

10:03 PM

I updated my avatar to include a steelers logo to commomerate this afternoon

steelersquirrel

@Riker WUT?!?! Really??? OMG!!! That's so AWESOME!!

Riker

well it's broken on main so I don't have that much hope

Benjamin

Does anyone here use fountain pens?

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas We know he's capable of strong friendships (Watson). He can probably imagine at least what it might be like to have a son, perhaps in an unemotional sort of way, even if he knows he'll never have one.

Riker

it shows up on my profile but not on my questions/answers

Rand al'Thor

10:04 PM

Also, it's possible to be asexual and have adopted kids.

Riker

should look like that

but bigger of course

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor I see.

Napoleon Wilson

@Emrakul Indeed, that's why musicals are simply off-topic.

Rand al'Thor

@Riker Image not found

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor Yes, but when the question is whether he's a gay couple with Holmes, then don't we actually have to decide that he's aromantic and couldn't form a partnership bond with Holmes, rather than whether he's asexual?

Riker

10:06 PM

shows up for me

b_jonas

The "asexual" thing is sort of a red herring.

Riker

user61230

@NapoleonWilson That wording implies the question is decided. Again, this hasn't really been fleshed out on meta, just in discussions on chat.

Napoleon Wilson

@Emrakul I know. And I know you know, which is why I didn't bother to add any disclaimers.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Having children doesn't necessarily imply romance either. Again, adoption.

steelersquirrel

10:09 PM

@Riker YESSSSS!!! That's so cool that you did that! You are now my favorite child :P

Riker

it doesn't appaer to work though :/

user61230

There was someone here asking if they were on-topic.

Benjamin

@Emrakul Yes, but I knew what he meant.

Rand al'Thor

@Riker Chat profile refreshed!

Riker

works!

b_jonas

10:09 PM

@Randal'Thor Possible.

Riker

@steelersquirrel you see it?

steelersquirrel

YAY!

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel Tut tut, you shouldn't have a favourite child ;-)

b_jonas

My take on that quote is that Holmes himself was sure he'd never have a son, but he said those words to make a point towards the banker.

user61230

All I'm trying to say is, if both sides of every question keep talking as though the issue's been decided their way, we're just going to end up talking past each other without meaningful resolution.

2

Riker

10:10 PM

steelersquirrel

@Randal'Thor Any of my children who changes their avatar to include the Steelers logo is my favorite ;)

Riker

multiple favorites? seems legit

user61230

It's just a combative way of talking about topicality.

steelersquirrel

None of my other children have done that. Axelrod did for a while, but he's not one of my children ;)

Riker

he's the weird eccentric grumpy and cynical uncle

and himarm is still the drunk maid right

Rand al'Thor

10:12 PM

@b_jonas Agreed! It's interesting, but I don't think it has much bearing on the (a)sexuality issue.

steelersquirrel

Hehehe!!! Totally!!

Riker

also did you see this:

in The Screening Room, yesterday, by Nevermore

Internet spouse? She has an internet spouse and an actual boyfriend? What a flousy!

in The Screening Room, yesterday, by Riker

@Nevermore it's more of an internet tax-deduction-partner but yeah

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor Yep.

steelersquirrel

Yes. I saw. That's normal banter that we do ;)

Rand al'Thor

Dammit @Emrakul :-P

Here, have another notification. — Emrakul 15 mins ago

user61230

10:13 PM

MWAHAHA.

user61230

I am a dastardly evil.

Rand al'Thor

I was expecting that comment to be Mithrandir.

Riker

^ when I first read it

cool @Randal'Thor can you refresh my profile again I changed it to a PNG not jpg

Napoleon Wilson

@Emrakul Agreed.

steelersquirrel

Please explain your down vote? — Benjamin 44 mins ago

Riker

10:15 PM

epic it works

@steelersquirrel what about it?

thanks rand btw

steelersquirrel

@Benjamin I don't understand the down votes, either :(

Benjamin

0

Q: Is Sherlock Holmes religious?

In this question, it is established that Sherlock Holmes, from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was asexual and in explaining that it is stated that he showed very little emotion in general. This led me to wonder if he was religious in any of the books. Based on the text of the works of Sir Ar...

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel Re your Hemingway question ... those quotes don't all appear together in the book, right? You've picked out separate passages which mention hunger?

Benjamin

@steelersquirrel Yeah, it doesn't really make sense, but.

@Randal'Thor No, that was about a different question, I belivee.

steelersquirrel

@Randal'Thor Yeah. They are from different parts in the book. I couldn't figure out how to separate them. It needs to be reformatted, I just don't know how to do it.

Rand al'Thor

10:17 PM

@Benjamin Interesting. I suspect that might be answered in A Study in Scarlet.

@steelersquirrel OK, I'll fix it.

Edited and upvoted.

Benjamin

@Randal'Thor Do you plan to answer it?

steelersquirrel

@Randal'Thor Thank you, good sir :)

Benjamin

What time does the rep cap reset?

Napoleon Wilson

@Benjamin 0:00 UTC.

Benjamin

@NapoleonWilson Okay.

Rand al'Thor

10:20 PM

@Benjamin In 1 hour 39 minutes.

Napoleon Wilson

(in about 1:40.)

Rand al'Thor

@Benjamin No, I don't know anything about Hemingway.

Benjamin

@Randal'Thor I mean my Sherlock question.

steelersquirrel

HDE's answer needs more love...it's a good answer.

Rand al'Thor

@Benjamin Possibly. I've had a quick look in A Study in Scarlet, hoping Watson's list "Sherlock Holmes - his limits" might have something, but it didn't.

> Knowledge of Literature - Nil.
> Knowledge of Philosophy - Nil.

but nothing about religion

Benjamin

10:24 PM

@Randal'Thor Okay.

Rand al'Thor

So I currently don't have much to go on for an answer.

Other than the obvious - that his extreme rationality means he probably wouldn't believe in anything spiritual, and would be an agnostic if not an outright atheist.

Napoleon Wilson

Except...19th century.

steelersquirrel

I feel like we just had a question on M&TV about Sherlock's religion that Catija answered.

Rand al'Thor

@Christian That question is about the BBC TV series, which is extremely different from the original Doyle stories, including in its portrayal of the character of Holmes. — Rand al'Thor 5 mins ago

Benjamin

@steelersquirrel Hence, you did.

Rand al'Thor

10:28 PM

I truly hate that TV series.

Napoleon Wilson

(And since contrary to the writers of the TV-show Doyle probably didn't want to depict him as an asshole, the safest he would have done at that time was probably to simply not mention his religious attitude in that case.)

Rand al'Thor

It cheapens the characters of Holmes and Watson, and turns interesting and well-thought stories into semi-farcical entertainment full of cheap quips.

Benjamin

Would a question about the education of Sherlock Holmes be on topic?

b_jonas

There are a lot of adaptations of Holmes, since the Doyle works are in public domain and famous.

That series isn't the first and probably won't be the last one.

steelersquirrel

No. It was this one: movies.stackexchange.com/questions/66893/…

Napoleon Wilson

10:31 PM

@steelersquirrel Urgh, the other one was better. ;-)

b_jonas

A famous one is that Asimov's black widower mystery story about Moriarty's thesis.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Oh, that reminds me, I actually have an ID question for Lit!

steelersquirrel

@NapoleonWilson Sorry. The answer that Catija gave just reminded me of Benjamin's question is all. Gheez, why are you chastising every thing that I say today?

b_jonas

That said, some of Eric Knight's stories count as sci-fi or fantasy, so there could be questions on Sci Fi SE already.. let me check

Nope, doesn't look like.

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel Awww, I'm not! :'(

b_jonas

10:34 PM

There's one about Jack London though => scifi.stackexchange.com/q/123171/4918

Napoleon Wilson

(Did you miss the smiley (or forget yours)?) ;-)

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor An ID question you deem worthy for the site? This, I gotta see.

steelersquirrel

@NapoleonWilson I didn't put one on...because I'm not smiling, probably.

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel I see. :'(

Benjamin

Asking again: Would a question about the education of Sherlock Holmes be on topic?

b_jonas

10:37 PM

@Benjamin If it's about Sherlock Holmes as depicted in the Doyle novels or other literature, then yes, it would be on topic. If it's about that recent TV series, then probably no.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Well, I'm in favour of ID questions (admittedly not as strongly so as @Gilles). But perhaps I should wait until Napoleon's asleep to post it ;-)

steelersquirrel

@Benjamin I would think so. It's about a character in a book...but, I am not very familiar with this site and it's inner workings, though.

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor heheh

Wait

Napoleon Wilson

@Randal'Thor Well, I'm not too invested into the site for that really. You want to poke into that wasp's nest, feel free to do so. I'd be more concerned about other kinds of questions.

steelersquirrel

@Randal'Thor Post it in about an hour when the Steelers game starts ;)

b_jonas

10:39 PM

@steelersquirrel Is the question that FAQ of why some of what Doyle claims about some areas missing from Holmes education seem to contradict the later stories?

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel Nobody is really familiar with this site yet! It's only been around for a few days, and lots of policies haven't even been worked out at this point.

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel Provided I still want to watch that. :'(

Benjamin

@b_jonas No.

steelersquirrel

@NapoleonWilson WUUUUT?!?! Why would you even say that? Why are you doing this to me today? OMG. I even almost killed myself to get a signal to call you to make sure that you're okay...why would you say that? :'(

Benjamin

@b_jonas It is about the book, so it should be fine.

Napoleon Wilson

10:42 PM

@steelersquirrel I'm sorry, I was just messing with you. Of course I want to see it, I'm already wearing my hat! ;-)

steelersquirrel

@b_jonas Oh, gheez. I'm not the one to ask. I'm not familiar with that character at all. I'm sorry.

Rand al'Thor

@NapoleonWilson I've been thinking it would be a good idea for someone like me or Gilles to post a really exemplary ID question, so that we have something to point to later on, and so that Lit's first experience with ID isn't a subpar question by a less experienced user.

@steelersquirrel There's a Steelers game today?

Napoleon Wilson

@Randal'Thor Well, there already was one, it got downvoted into deletion. ;-)

Riker

@Randal'Thor in 45 min yeah

steelersquirrel

@Randal'Thor YES!!! It's the game to see who's going to the super bowl! We are playing the evil Patriots!! <stressed>

b_jonas

10:43 PM

@Randal'Thor Steal one from Sci Fi? There are good ID questions there, not only bad ones.

Rand al'Thor

@steelersquirrel Well, good luck! :-)

steelersquirrel

@NapoleonWilson Pfft! a...alright.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Oh, I know there are plenty of good ones there. But I'm not sure how I feel about stealing questions from another site. There's already been a meta post here frowning on that idea.

HDE 226868

@Randal'Thor Yes, let's go in new directions here.

I'm already uncomfortable with what's happened so far in that regard.

b_jonas

Hmm...

Rand al'Thor

10:46 PM

@Benjamin Huh, it seems I was wrong and Sherlock Holmes was religious.

@HDE226868 Have there been many copied posts? I haven't noticed, other than a couple of reading-order questions.

HDE 226868

@Randal'Thor A couple, I believe.

Rand al'Thor

Oh, and a couple of my answers which were broadly inspired by posts on SFF but written up quite differently.

b_jonas

I'm not sure if it's exemplary, but do you want to steal my old solved book ID question en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/… then?

Riker

@HDE226868 hey congrats on the first gold badge of the site

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel You missed your smiley again! ;-)

Riker

10:47 PM

even if it's on meta

HDE 226868

There's literature.stackexchange.com/q/91/71 and at least one other.

@Riker Aw, thanks. :-)

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Well, that's already solved. Anyway, like I said, I've thought of one myself to post.

b_jonas

@Riker What where?

Rand al'Thor

@Riker Wow! Nice job, @HDE! I was expecting that to take much longer.

Riker

@HDE226868 congrats retracted you put a space between the colon and parentheses </sarc> but seriously ._. shudders

b_jonas

10:48 PM

I don't see a gold badge.

Rand al'Thor

Also congrats on passing me in silver badge count on main ;-)

Riker

@b_jonas meta

reversal for the question about NSFW questions

HDE 226868

@Riker Shhh. . . He's missing a nose, like Tycho Brahe.

b_jonas

Ah! MEta

Riker

>+20 answer on a < -3 Q

@HDE226868 ouch = (

Rand al'Thor

10:49 PM

@HDE226868 Like Major Kovalev, more like.

b_jonas

meta.literature.stackexchange.com/help/badges/57/reversal

I see

Riker

ye

b_jonas

That badge is easier to get on meta though.

Riker

true

esp. right now

Rand al'Thor

@HDE226868 That one was posted on Lit.1 (by the same OP, in fact) and then migrated to SFF. Bit different from just lifting from SFF.

steelersquirrel

10:50 PM

@NapoleonWilson I'm sorry. I'm just really anxious and I am trying to do other things before the game starts and you're having the reverse effect on me!

HDE 226868

@b_jonas Much easier.

@Randal'Thor That's true. I'm trying to remember the other one.

Napoleon Wilson

@steelersquirrel Okay, I'm sorry. I'll stop talking ~~about football~~ now.

steelersquirrel

<sigh>

Rand al'Thor

The best place to earn Reversal is on meta sites. Some meta questions can't really be turned into good ones, but still should get good answers. — rand al'thor Jan 10 at 1:18

steelersquirrel

I have to go, anyways.

GO STEELERS!!!

Rand al'Thor

10:52 PM

@steelersquirrel Good luck to your team!

Riker

see ya!

HDE 226868

For what it's worth, I actually upvoted the meta question because I think it brought up a potentially worthwhile point.

Riker

I didn't vote on it at all but I did upvote your answer

HDE 226868

@Randal'Thor Emrakul has also passed you, as of 6 minutes ago.

b_jonas

> You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.

In "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons". I think these are the crazy sorts of noodle incident remarks that have induced Agatha Christie to write similarly outrageous ones in the Poirot novels.

Rand al'Thor

10:57 PM

@HDE226868 Oh! Well, congrats to @Emrakul too :-)

I haven't got even one Enlightened here yet.

user61230

Thanks! :]

Rand al'Thor

In some cases, because I spent too long on writing up a really good answer and someone else got in before me, even if I ended up with the tick.

BESW

@b_jonas If you like straight-faced contemporary parodies of the excesses of the golden age of mystery, try Trent's Last Case.

Rand al'Thor

Well, it's the content that counts, not the badges, and we're all doing pretty nicely with that.

BESW

Bentley was almost prescient.

b_jonas

10:58 PM

@BESW I like detective stuff, and there's still a lot of Agatha Christie I haven't read yet. They're not easy to acquire here.

Well, many of them are, but the rest, the ones I haven't read, aren't.

Rand al'Thor

I have a 1984 question, but there have been so many of those already, I think I'll hold off and post some on other works first.

BESW

I also find Margery Allingham far superior to Agatha Christie--and pretty much everyone else.

b_jonas

And she was a... uh. prolific author? I meant to say she wrote a lot, but there's a fancy word for it.

Poirot and Hastings are their own parody anyway.

BESW

Allingham gently mocks some of her contemporaries, but mostly saves her satire for British culture itself.

Riker

@Randal'Thor because that and animal farm are two of the best books to exist

though I do think animal farm and it's "who does <x> represent" is being overdone

BESW

11:01 PM

She's one of those authors who writes about her own time period with insight and clarity usually reserved for authors with the benefit of decades of hindsight.

b_jonas

@BESW I see.

Rand al'Thor

@Riker Yes, which is why I liked the idea of putting them all together in one.

Riker

yeah, so did I

Rand al'Thor

I'm voting to reopen, because too many "what does X represent in Animal Farm?" questions get boring, but putting it all together in one could create an excellent resource for people to refer to in the future. (Although I still think a community-wiki answer might be the best way to go.) — Rand al'Thor 50 secs ago

Riker

I do think bebs did a bad job though

b_jonas

11:04 PM

Maybe I should try to read her books.

BESW

Other great detective authors... Josephine Tey, Boris Akunin, Martin Cruz Smith, Michael Dibdin, Jonathan Gash.

Riker

voted with ya

Rand al'Thor

@Riker Their answer isn't great, but there'd be nothing to stop someone else posting a better one if they hadn't closed the question.

Riker

yeah

Rand al'Thor

Jeez, now we have Hamlet, Helmar, and Himarm on 528, 530, 532 rep. Not confusing at all.

b_jonas

11:12 PM

@Randal'Thor We have three or four Dark Lords with high reputation on Sci Fi SE.

Benjamin

@Randal'Thor That was my thought.

Riker

@Randal'Thor himarm has rep?

3

oh he does

b_jonas

scifi.stackexchange.com/users/64888/the-dark-lord , scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1660/voldemort , scifi.stackexchange.com/users/54107/lord-voldemort .

Riker

lel I love how disbelieving in himarm gets stars

cc @steelersquirrel

@Emrakul your question about the khazars is really cool, just saying

user61230

Thanks! :]

Riker

11:15 PM

it's like the author did that just to troll the hell out of analysts

user61230

Reading your answer, 1s

Riker

cool

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas At least their names are actually different.

For a moment I thought you meant we had a few users literally called "The Dark Lord".

Riker

you don't? I thought SFF did

like, literal "the dark lord"

@b_jonas holy fucking shit I know that last one

he's my friend IRL I play tf2 with him

it's the same avatar, he's from albania and just moved to CA

and the same name on steam

Rand al'Thor

Small world.

b_jonas

11:17 PM

Oh yeah, all three of them seem to have avatars depicting the Dark Lord

Rand al'Thor

Did you know he was on SE?

Riker

not at all

he doesn't know I am either

b_jonas

@Riker What game is "tf2"?

Riker

team fortress 2

FPS by valve, makers of CS:GO, dota, half-life, and portal

Rand al'Thor

Riker

11:18 PM

;-;

oh well though

I can wait 43 min I think :P

BESW

I'm disappointed. No Arawn Death-Lord, no Black Rider, no Kozmotis Pitchiner or Lone Power?

Riker

it would be nice now, because rep-cap, but oh well

Rand al'Thor

No, that was an actual upvote. Not a failed one.

DVK-in-Florida

@Randal'Thor The Dark Lord is very active on SFF. I started to get really worried when he was asking about improving tactics.

Rand al'Thor

My last one of the day.

Riker

11:19 PM

thanks so much!

for spendnign the last vote on me

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida It leads to some funny comments along the lines of "Well, you should know!" on his posts.

Riker

@Emrakul feedback on the answer?

Rand al'Thor

And when someone didn't get the joke, he called them a Muggle.

user61230

@Riker I like it. I'm still thinking about it.

Riker

cool, thanks

@Randal'Thor lol

user61230

11:20 PM

You've got my upvote for sure.

Riker

ah nice

have you upvoted yet then? or not

b_jonas

@BESW There's a Darth Vader, and one user with the older name of Morgoth, but they're not very high reputed.

user61230

@Riker I have!

DVK-in-Florida

Are we going to get tons of shipping questions on here? "Did X and Y form a romantic couple? Because I ship them so much".

Riker

ah okay I was a bit confused as to the parsing of that statement

@DVK-in-Florida prolly

this is the new tumblr

b_jonas

11:22 PM

@DVK-in-Florida I don't think so. We don't get that many on Sci Fi, do we?

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas And their offspring, the late, great Darth Melkor.

Riker

lol that's a person?

Benjamin

@b_jonas Well, that was sort of the question about Holmes.

Riker

that's a perfect name

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas Darth Vader lost pretty much most duels he had against properly trained Jedi. Heck, he lost to whiny brat Luke with barely any training, in the end. Not much of a basis for a reputation.

user61230

11:23 PM

Oh, sorry, yeah. I like it as a frame challenge. I'm assuming there's something there, and there might not be. I've gotta think a bit more about whether I believe that, though I'm open to the idea ;)

Benjamin

30

Q: Did Arthur Conan Doyle code Holmes and Watson as a gay couple?

Given the Victorian era, a writer couldn't deliberately create an openly (or even quietly) gay couple for public literary consumption. But gay people existed, and had romances. Arthur Conan Doyle knew Oscar Wilde and got on with him very well, and Wilde was not exactly shy and retiring about his ...

sherlock-holmes arthur-conan-doyle lgbt

b_jonas

@Benjamin Yeah, but I say we won't get many.

We'll certainly get some, like we do on Sci Fi.

@Randal'Thor I think he's renamed since though.

Riker

@Emrakul yeah, I still think he's mostly just trolling everybody :P

DVK-in-Florida

@Randal'Thor Speaking of, someone ought to invite Jimmy/Darth Melkor to Literature.

Riker

the author I mean

Benjamin

11:23 PM

@b_jonas True.

Riker

@DVK-in-Florida jimmy?

DVK-in-Florida

@Riker That was his user ID iirc, before he got assigned his Sith name

b_jonas

And you know how people ship basically any two characters in Harry Potter or MLP:FiM.

Whether it makes sense or not.

user61230

@Riker I almost want to believe that, just because it would be funnier :P

b_jonas

Plus they often ship non-characters too.

Riker

11:25 PM

@DVK-in-Florida ah okay

@Emrakul lol

Benjamin

@b_jonas Yeah, but sometimes that can lead to interesting analysis.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Jimmy Shelter -> Darth Satan -> Darth Melkor -> nothing.

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas I was once informed about a fanfic shipping a great squid and Dumbledore's chair. At that point, I realized people just treat HP fanfic as a homework in combinatorics.

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida Oh, good idea! Do we have any way of contacting him?

DVK-in-Florida

@Randal'Thor I am pretty sure he still has accounts on non-SFF sites.

Benjamin

11:26 PM

@b_jonas Is there sexual tension between Old Major and Napolean in Animal Farm?

Riker

@DVK-in-Florida o_o

Benjamin

@DVK-in-Florida Combinatorics in which we must list all options.

DVK-in-Florida

In other words, HP fanfiction is ontopic on Math.SE

2

Benjamin

@DVK-in-Florida Would you actually ask that question?

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida A fully connected graph, or something?

DVK-in-Florida

11:29 PM

@Benjamin Nyah. I seriously doubt it'd stay unclosed for longer than 5 minutes, probably deservedly. There's an outside chance of scoring an HNQ, but not likely.

Rand al'Thor

I never learned much combinatorics. @b_jonas is the man for this.

BESW

@Benjamin Combinatorics!

Benjamin

@Randal'Thor Combinatorics is okay. Graph Theory or Set Theory for this would be great fun!

DVK-in-Florida

Am I the only one who evaluates HP fanfics on the basis of how well the explain how Arithmancy works?

b_jonas

-17

Q: Why would Harry and Ron go for human females?

From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: ‘And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce …the Bulgarian Team Mascots!’ The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval. ‘I wonder what they’ve brought?’said Mr Weasley, leaning forwards ...

harry-potter romantic-interest

Benjamin

11:31 PM

@DVK-in-Florida Not really.

b_jonas

^ A Recent shipping question

And then of course people argue about which ship is the best. Not rationally, or in any way based on the canon, but only like you argue about which sports team is the best.

Riker

@DVK-in-Florida probably not but I don't know anybody else who does

b_jonas

I'm not immune to this either.

user61230

@b_jonas w-what, oh my god.

Riker

lol

b_jonas

11:36 PM

@Emrakul heher

Veela aren't nearly close to the craziest things shipped

Benjamin

@b_jonas What are?

b_jonas

@Benjamin Abstract ideas, I think.

2

Benjamin

@b_jonas So, why didn't Ron ask out Fermat's Last Theorem?

Rand al'Thor

13 mins ago, by DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas I was once informed about a fanfic shipping a great squid and Dumbledore's chair. At that point, I realized people just treat HP fanfic as a homework in combinatorics.

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas Oooh! Now, i'm challenged. I want to write an on-topic SE question on which ship is the best, that will stay open.

Benjamin

11:39 PM

@Randal'Thor I saw that.

b_jonas

@DVK-in-Florida I think there's already one

Rand al'Thor

That's a lot crazier than Veela.

b_jonas

@DVK-in-Florida scifi.stackexchange.com/q/133277/4918 "Why didn't Harry Potter marry Hermione?" is open for months

Benjamin

I have a great author question for after the rep cap reset.

Riker

hey rincewind has an account here

Rand al'Thor

11:40 PM

1

Q: Why has this Animal Farm question been reopened?

This question about Animal Farm has just been reopened by site moderator Rand al'Thor. It was closed in 2015 as off-topic due to 'not being about science fiction or fantasy' in line with the accepted policy about Animal Farm not being on topic. Why has it been reopened?

discussion closed-questions vote-to-reopen moderation

b_jonas

Oh no, it got closed and then reopened, sorry

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas That's asking about specific ship. No challenge. I meant "which ship is the best?" as a question

b_jonas

@DVK-in-Florida Wait what? Really?

Rand al'Thor

> It would have been awkward, especially with her being in love with Ron. — Valorum Jun 29 '16 at 7:54

2

heh

b_jonas

And you don't mean some sort of pun where you're asking about water vehicle ships, right?

DVK-in-Florida

11:41 PM

@Randal'Thor @valorum clearly is not well versed in fanfiction

@b_jonas Nope. fanfic pair relationship ships

b_jonas

Yes, you can take that as a challenge. I don't see how you'll be able to pull that off.

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas Me neither, yet.

Riker

@Randal'Thor looks like I lost a good bit of my lead over you in rep yesterday, with being gone 90% of the day

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida Then he's lucky.

DVK-in-Florida

@Riker Differences in rep under 20k are easy to make up

Riker

11:43 PM

true

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida Says the guy with, what, 800k network-wide?

Riker

399k with hidden accounts

b_jonas

@DVK-in-Florida hehe

Riker

(from chat profile)

DVK-in-Florida

@Randal'Thor I donno, I ran across fanfics that were, imho, superior to some of JKR's own books, in many ways.

b_jonas

11:44 PM

@DVK-in-Florida More than one?

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas Yep. Mind you, it's easy for me because I deliberately concentrate on novel length fics when trying to find new ones, which is where quality usually is found.

b_jonas

I see.

But it's hard to find fanfics that are better than the original, because people usually write fanfics when they already like the original source.

DVK-in-Florida

@b_jonas Hard. But nowehere near impossible, unless the original is already of uber-high quality (and imho, JKR is nowhere near that)

b_jonas

Well sure. JKR has a lot of shortcomings. As always, it's worth to read it by concentrating on the good side.

And, you know, one of the reasons why it's worth to participate in a good community about fiction works is that other people can often highlight good points of a work, and if you listen to their words and then possibly re-read or rewatch the work after that, you can enjoy the work better.

This isn't the only reason why I like Sci Fi SE, but it's certainly part of it.

Fiction becomes better when someone else explains why they liked it.

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida I bet there's no good LotR fanfic.

Although ... see the end of this question:

22

Q: What did Aragorn do with his sword between the battles of Pelennor Fields and Morannon?

After the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Aragorn draws his sword Andúril and says: "You shall not be sheathed again until the last battle is fought." The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 9: "The Last Debate" The date is March 15; the "last battle" he has in mind...

lord-of-the-rings tolkien books return-of-the-king

Benjamin

11:53 PM

@Randal'Thor How about most high fantasy literature from the 20th century?

How would we feel if an author chose to join to answer questions about their books?

DVK-in-Florida

@Randal'Thor "The Last Ring-Bearer" is amazing

b_jonas

@Benjamin We have a meta question related to that. It's happened a few times on Sci Fi.

Rand al'Thor

@Benjamin I would say, YES EFFING PLEASE.

b_jonas

51

Q: Have we had ANY professionals participate in SFF?

Are/were there any SFF professionals (writers, or movie people) who posted on this site? By professional, I mean someone who did a paid job involved with producing SFF content.

discussion site-promotion

Rand al'Thor

@DVK-in-Florida Oh ... true. That's on my to-read list.

DVK-in-Florida

11:55 PM

@Benjamin Happy.

user61230

@Benjamin I would be glad to have an expert, but treat their answer with the same skepticism I apply to everyone.

b_jonas

@Benjamin ^ It's about authors joining about any topic, but in the answers you'll find some where an author joined about his own work. (Though sometimes it's hard to identify them for sure.)

Benjamin

Do we have a version on Literature?

DVK-in-Florida

@Randal'Thor Bump it. :)

Rand al'Thor

@Benjamin Not yet. The site's only 4 days old; I doubt we've had any professionals yet.

It would also be a lot less likely to happen on Literature, since we have far more questions about works whose authors are dead.

Benjamin

11:57 PM

@Emrakul You would treat the answer to a question about the intent of a work by the author of the work with the same skepticism as you apply to others.

@Randal'Thor Tolkien would find a way.

Rand al'Thor

@Benjamin We chatted about this last night, and how authorial quotes aren't always necessarily the best source to use for literary analysis.

Have you seen the kind of nonsense JK Rowling comes out with these days?

2

user61230

@Benjamin Yeah. I mean, it depends on the question. "Did the author write about what they were trying to say?" would be a question I'd trust the author completely on. "What does this mean?" maybe, not so much.

Benjamin

@Randal'Thor No, not really.

@Emrakul Okay, I can agree with that.

BESW

Although "What did the author mean to say?" is a different question from "Does the work say what the author meant to say?"

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