This is a bit borderline, because it's not clear whether the question is on-topic or not. But given that they seemingly deleted it because they didn't like a single user's comments, and it sounds like they might be quitting the site, I'd much rather undelete it and give them some more positivity so they stick around.
Valorum's comment likely annoyed the user. So they deleted their post. Now it's undeleted, which is likely not going to do more than aggravate them even more, which has a better chance of making them leave the site than simply letting them do what they want. Furthermore, the comments are still there.
I have a personal guideline of not bending or breaking rules in the name of retaining users, because users who only stay if the rules are customised for them? Not users we really want or need. But within that frame it's important to be as flexible and kind as reasonable.
I have been trying to catch up here, and would like to express several things 1) I was not bothered by Valorums comments--I enjoy interacting with V. 2) What pissed me off was the close votes, as stated in my comment. I just went through this kind of political crap on EL&U this week, and it took a while for people to catch up with what I was saying
...and . 3) I do not want anyone bending the rules for me--if something is off-topic, so be it. But if we are still in the process of developing scope, should we not rush to limit it?
@Randal'Thor I was one of the people to close-vote and I think that type of question should be pseudo-on-topic depending on framing, but I thought we should discuss it on meta first.
For the question itself, I feel like it's begging the question that Mark Twain can only speak authoritatively on things which he's personally experienced.
@Cascabel I never proposed bending any rules. Personally I haven't voted on your question yet, because I'm not sure what to think of it.
There was some discussion in here (chat) about questions specifically relating to an author without reference to any of their works, a la "did Tolkien have a driving licence?", but I don't think anyone took it to meta.
You're drawing a connection between the quote, his experience, and unreliable narration, which I'm not following--especially since as much as Twain tends to write in first person, he's usually writing as a character rather than as his own true self.
@BESW @Emrakul @Randal'Thor @Riker @NapoleonWilson @HDE226868 How would you all feel about setting up an informal wiki for collecting information that doesn't fit the Q&A style, a la StackOverflow Documentation?
@Randal'Thor Not really, more like collected and combined questions, answers, and information about specific works, including links to where to access works.
But what would this Documentation thing even be for? (Besides that, be aware that you likely won't get any supprot from SE for this, it would have to be an entirely external site, which at this point in time is way too early to consider.)
A few active SE sites, like SFF and Worldbuilding, have blogs where their users can collect information or opinions which don't fit the site's Q&A format. But it might be a little too early days yet to start thinking about that for Literature?
@NapoleonWilson s/likely/definitely. They ain't going to branch out Documentation to new betas any time soon, and they're even abolishing support for site-integrated blogs.
Right. I just assume that everyone is in the same time zone as I am ;)
user61230
@steelersquirrel Honestly? I'm... not sure yet. Maybe if I'm nominated? My reluctance is largely that I resolutely hold an opinion about the site that... only a small handful of people agree with, so far.
user61230
I don't want to push the site somewhere it doesn't want to go, and it's much easier to be interpreted as "THIS is where we're going!" instead of "I think this is where we should go; do you?" if you've got a diamond by your name.
@Emrakul Well, that shouldn't matter too much, should it? Wouldn't the community have to decide on stuff like that? I know that Ankit and Napoleon over at M&TV don't agree with ID questions being on topic, but the community decided that they want to keep them, so they still moderate the site even though their personal opinions don't mesh with some of the site stuff like that. You seem passionate enough about the site to be a good choice at least.
user61230
Thanks, it means a lot :] And, yeah, you're right; it ultimately all comes back to the community, no matter which way it's cut. So we'll have to see. I might; (I'm hoping) the decision is a bit of a ways off.
Ultimately, it boils down to moderators who want to see the site succeed and work with the community to ensure the growth and success of the site. You guys seem to be passionate about the site, which is good! I always like to see moderators work with the community rather than rule with an iron fist just because they are a moderator :)
So it's not like regular moderatorship in that regard.
user61230
Thanks :] And yeah, that makes sense. Trickier when you really want to take a side, too. But I'll definitely consider it. I'm open to the idea, at least. (But for now, I'm gonna nap!)
Yes, I've been keeping @Emrakul up late with tales of multicultural intersemiotics.
user61230
3:43 AM
@Riker I'd suggest posting something, honestly! People might not agree, but it's better to talk about now when we've got a lot more ability to change stuff around.
I know that Charles Dickens changed the ending to Great Expectations after prompting. Did he do so with any of his other books?
Of course, he may have changed the endings of all his books a hundred times before publishing. However, I'm looking for alternate endings that have also been published.
As far as I can see, in every single book of the classic Hardy Boys series the brothers get kidnapped in chapter 19. From a cursory glance, I can tell that this applies to The Hooded Hawk Mystery, The Mystery of the Chinese Junk, The Yellow Feather Mystery, The Firebird Rocket, The House on the C...
I recently read Alice in Wonderland, and was struck by the use of organic substances (mushrooms, drinks) to alter reality. There seems to a strong pro drug message in the story line.
A news article Is Alice in Wonderland really about drugs? bbc.com, 20 August 2012 asks the same question, but be...
In O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman, the speaker acts as if he has a close connection to Abraham Lincoln saying,
My father does not feel my arm
This suggests that they are in such a relationship that Abraham Lincoln would have felt his arm and was a fatherly figure to the speaker.
...
I know this is a hard as but when I was a kid I had a book about a town that asked some Easter Bunnies to paint the town for Easter or the Easter Bunnies just painted the town or one Easter Bunny painted a bridge or there was one Bunny that painted the town or.... there was painting and bunnies a...
I've heard that Arthur Conan Doyle's depiction of Professor Moriarty was inspired by several real-life figures, including Adam Worth. Given Doyle's wide-ranging set of villains and antagonists in the Sherlock Holmes canon, I'd assume that this is not the only case.
Did Doyle base any other antag...
I ask this question because I am surprised that this question is up for closing. It is not a very good question, but I thought we had addressed this in this Meta post. Is there a specific reason it is being up for closing besides being a stupid question?
ok i can get if you might have an aversion to a ticker box in the top left
but there was a point where the rpg.se chat room switched various feeds from chat messages to a ticker, and it was when the feed bot was spamming the main chat far more than anyone was using it for messages, which broke up the ability to maintain some consistency in conversation
@Randal'Thor Good to know that I shouldn't worry about Close votes. There seems to be someone going after all of the ID questions, arguing that they're "not in the scope of Literature as stated in the Help Center", which currently refers to unicorns. :P
Stanza 26: (from the English version by FitzGerald)
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! Your reward is neither Here nor There!"
What's the "Tower of Darkness" referred to?
I'm assuming the tower part is a minaret, but beyond that I have no clue.