The Pantheon

12:26 AM

0

Q: Are discussion of mythology-related pseudo-science off-topic

This question caught my attention: Who were the Anunnaki according to Sumerians' tales? Which is asking about the Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis, a pseudo-science hypothesis, positing that mythological beings (in this case the Anunnaki, a group of Mesopotamian deities), are in fact extra-terrestr...

Christofian

1:51 AM

hi everyone,

I've been thinking about our ongoing conversation about acceptable sources, and I wanted to through this idea out on chat so I could get feedback before I post it on meta.

I've noticed that a lot of questions begin with "I've read on wikipedia that _________." However, the wikipedia page didn't answer ______, so I would like to know if anyone can elaborate.

(here's an example: mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/208/…)

I'm worried about these questions for the following reasons:

1) They don't really show that much effort.

2) I don't think these questions are problems that anyone serious about mythology would have. People who study mythology presumably are doing so by reading actual stories, and not wikipedia articles. It would be like someone asking on scifi.se "I read on wikipedia that Harry Potter did _______. Can someone elaborate?"

thoughts?

El'endia Starman

@Christofian I agree with what you've said. However, do keep in mind that the low-hanging fruit is always snapped up in the first couple weeks of beta (private and public). Then the questions will veer towards being more expert.

At least, that's the plan.

Semaphore

Your example's just a really bad question tbh.

I don't think wikipedia is necessarily the reason

Christofian

@Semaphore what would a good close reason be

Semaphore

on history.se we'd close for being trivially answered

El'endia Starman

@Semaphore We don't have that on Christianity.SE. I wish we could have 4 custom close reasons.

Semaphore

2:03 AM

hehe

Christofian

@Semaphore that may have been a bad example, but there are other examples that may illustrate my point more clearly

5

Q: What is Loki considered to be?

I was reading about something and came across the wikipage of Loki. There it says that Loki is a shapeshifter. Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon, mare, seal, a fly, and possibly an elderly woman. But when I take a look at the Dutch wikipag...

norse mythohistory

2

Q: How did Gilgamesh die?

Do we know how and in which circumstances Gilgamesh died? According to these answers seems that The Epic of Gilgamesh doesn't mention that, however Wikipedia page mention something about Sumerian poem - The Death of Gilgamesh.

gilgamesh sumerian mesopotamia

Semaphore

Not sure about the Loki one - I think potentially classifying an entity is a valid question, but I don't think this was the case here.

Christofian

@Semaphore it's not that the question is bad, it's just that I think the question shows no effort because they're just asking about something said by some random person on wikipedia.

Sometimes you get good questions by doing that, but a lot of times you get bad questions.

Semaphore

well, the second example is someone who is too lazy to even follow the link to the answer on wikipedia

so i agree that's absolutely abysmal in terms of effort

Christofian

here's another example: mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/210/…

@Semaphore I agree with you, and I think an objective way to get people to show effort would be to have them ask questions based on actual stories or sources better than wikipedia

Semaphore

2:13 AM

i just want to point out if you set the bar too high, you might end up not getting any questions

/me points at history.se

El'endia Starman

@Semaphore Do elaborate.

Semaphore

just a case of it being too hard to ask a question

i hope we'll have a good how to ask section

Christofian

@Semaphore you're probably right about that. But I think that in a month or too, this is an issue that probably should be revisited. What are your thoughts on implementing a guideline like mine at a later point?

Semaphore

you mean questions based on actual stories?

Christofian

@Semaphore Mostly. I think asking a question without quoting a story would be like going on scifi.se and asking a question about Harry Potter without quoting Harry Potter. In the worst case, it implies that you haven't read the mythology you're discussing.

Semaphore

2:18 AM

i agree that'll produce some good questions, and we should encourage that kind of questions, but i'm less certain about restricting questions like that

cause there could be questions like mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/16/…

Christofian

I don't think that should be a blanket ban though: there are probably a lot of questions about the religious purposes of myths that wouldn't necessarily involve quoting the story

Semaphore

yeah

Christofian

@Semaphore that's an example of an exception

Semaphore

is that really an exception though, i feel like it's a significant topic

Christofian

@Semaphore exception was a bad choice of words: what I meant was:

that question isn't about a specific story/god/myth, but about how two cultures influence eachother. I think questions like the above examples, where they're talking about specific stories and specific characters, should at least have a quote about that story/character

(does that make sense)

Semaphore

2:23 AM

yeah okay, i see what you mean

that would make for a good guideline in the how to ask section

slightly tagentially, what about if they ask for, say, examples of a deity doing something? where do we stand on that

Christofian

I think they should at least explain why they think examples of a deity doing something might exist. And that would most likely involve a quote from something. If they can't do that, then they're wasting our time.

(here's another example: mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/182/… -- it's a good question, but since it's asking about an event in the epic of gilgamesh, could it quote from the epic of gilgamesh)?

Semaphore

yeah i think that's a good rule to have

Christofian

I'll have to think about how the rational for the rule should be worded.

and I agree with you that now might not be the best time to implement it (though I am worried that such a rule will be harder to impliment after the private beta)

Semaphore

hopefully we'll have a better idea of where the site's headed in a week

Ero Sɘnnin

2:44 AM

>.< someone keeps downvoting my answer

fredsbend

The 100th question was mine:

0

Q: How does the Genius concept fit into the Roman Mythology?

I'm having trouble understanding how the Roman mythology revolves around or is associated with the concept of Genius. From what I understand, every thing has a spirit or soul, that can be venerated in some way. This was the thought that eventually led to the Imperial Cult, where the Emperor himse...

roman genius imperial-cult

El'endia Starman

@fredsbend Wow, 100 questions in a little more than 2 days.

Ero Sɘnnin

3:04 AM

@El'endiaStarman So it's a very good thing or good thing?

El'endia Starman

@EroSɘnnin I was mostly just impressed.

On the other hand, I just now took a look at the stats from the first days of private beta for C.SE, and it turns out that we had at least 99 questions per day for the first four days.

Ero Sɘnnin

Oh

El'endia Starman

Wait, no, that was for answers. Whoops.

Ero Sɘnnin

lol

El'endia Starman

135 questions in the first two days of private beta.

Ero Sɘnnin

3:09 AM

I think we're doing fine. Area51 will provide more stats details

El'endia Starman

Yes, I do believe we are doing quite well.

Ero Sɘnnin

:D

El'endia Starman

4:13 AM

> Vote limit reached. Vote again in 19 hours.

Piper

You know, mythology can be really, really weird at times. Sometimes I forget and it hits me again just how much weirdness happens in these stories...

2

The gods discuss...

7:45 AM

0

Q: Should we allow tags for external media?

This question is tagged greek along with age-of-mythology. Now considering that Age of Mythology is a game and it is referred to within the question, should we allow such tags? Same questions can be asked about books. Should we permit tags for the book(s) that OP mentions in their question?

discussion tags

Yannis Rizos

8:45 AM

Thanks for the excellent answer in my Germania question @Semaphore. I suspected Tacitus was talking about Thor (and Odin later on when he mentions Zeus), but didn't have the sources to back it up. Also, the find on Hercules Magusanus is very interesting.

santiago

9:51 AM

hi!

Yannis Rizos

10:13 AM

Hello

The gods discuss...

11:16 AM

0

Q: Is age of mythology tag needed?

In the question asked here the user decided to create a tag age of mythology. This tag refers to the popular game that includes mythology. Should we maintain this tag? Keep in mind that doing so will also spawn tags like God of war game, Darksiders game and other games that deal with mythology.

discussion tags tag-cleanup

The gods discuss...

12:41 PM

1

Q: What is this site's line on "List Questions"

Related: Why are people answering list questions? Different StackExchange sites have taken different stances on what are commonly referred to as "list questions". I think it's important that we establish this site's guidelines as early as possible. What should this site's guideline be?

discussion

Luna

12:59 PM

What is the correct thing to do when reviewing edits, where the suggested edit is something that is currently under discussion in meta but has no consensus?

Yannis Rizos

@Luna Link?

Luna

@YannisRizos minor thing (tags) but would be good to know what to do generally as it's happening with close votes and things as well: mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/225/…

Ero Sɘnnin

I think the tag should be kept for now

until we make a decision on it in meta

Luna

That's what I thought, just wanted to check. There's been a few questions closed already even though we're still working out what is and isn't on topic

Ero Sɘnnin

Hmm .. we need to organize ourselves

Semaphore

1:05 PM

@YannisRizos Thanks, glad you liked it

age of mythology really doesn't seem like a useful tag to me tbh

Ero Sɘnnin

I think we should check out what <Religion>SE have done with such cases

@Semaphore same

Yannis Rizos

@Luna I rejected it. I don't like the tag, but I think it's crucial to talk about things first and act later while we are still a very young site.

Luna

It doens't to me either, but while there's still a d discussion going it seems premature to edit or close things

^ what he said

Yannis Rizos

If I saw a similar tag on a mature site, I'd eradicate it without hesitation.

Ero Sɘnnin

@YannisRizos Should we follow examples of mature sites?

Yannis Rizos

1:07 PM

If I start acting on Myth.SE as I act on - for example - ~~Programmers.SE~~ History.SE I'd probably downvote more than 2/3 of our questions.

Ero Sɘnnin

But we need culture related SE

Yannis Rizos

Very few questions on the site pass my "sufficient prior research" requirements.

Ero Sɘnnin

not tech-related SE

Yannis Rizos

Better? ;P

Ero Sɘnnin

Yup

lol

Gotta run .. be back l8r

Piper

1:22 PM

I woke up to +85 rep and 2 new badges, nice :)

Semaphore

2:28 PM

grats grats

The gods discuss...

3:03 PM

0

Q: Create the Tag Descriptions!

In order to have a well worked out beta we need to understand the tags that we use. So, we need people to start creating the description for the tags. This will allow new users to better understand what to classify each question.

discussion support

The gods discuss...

4:58 PM

1

Q: Are questions asking how some supernatural event/ability/power works on topic?

Example: Why can you look at Medusa in a mirror and not be turned to stone? It seems to me that such questions, unless the mechanism is explained in the myth, are purely speculative and not definitively answerable. Are such questions on topic?

discussion

El'endia Starman

5:56 PM

The Real Essential Questions of Every Beta

6

The gods discuss...

7:31 PM

0

Q: What are good sources when answering questions?

When answering questions, we often need source material. I read a lot of mythology as a child, but I don't always have these texts at hand, and often they were re-tellings of the stories aimed at children - not the greatest sources for answering questions on SE. Clearly Wikipedia is a place to s...

discussion sources

Christofian

10:15 PM

@YannisRizos I agree, I'm downvoting so many questions and answers (I'm loosing a lot of reputation that way).

I think I'm doing a good job writing comments explaining myself, though. I hope I'm being helpful.

fredsbend

11:04 PM

@Christofian Do downvote liberally. It helps the site. And keep that attitude throughout the site's life, well past beta.

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