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12:10 AM
1
Q: What are the differences between the "comparative" and "cross-mythology" tags?

HDE 226868I was looking through the tags and considering some edits (not yet suggested), when I noticed that two tags, cross-mythology and comparative, looked very similar. They both seem to be about elements that exist in more than one religion, though cross-mythology seems to be more focused on elements...

 
 
5 hours later…
5:13 AM
The some of the example questions look great ... So are they to remain as example questions?
 
 
1 hour later…
6:41 AM
I think most of them have been asked actually.
 
6:55 AM
I hope I get an answer to my question
 
7:14 AM
@Semaphore Yes. That's why I said some. Those few questions can help a lot. Like the top voted Odin's ravens and Ragnarok questions
@santiago It will be answered :D Not by my though :P I dont know much about Australian mythology. Awesome question btw :D
@santiago It will be answered :D Not by me though :P I dont know much about Australian mythology. Awesome question btw :D
 
coolness!, thank you for that
I have posted the moderator nomination thread in meta
 
Uhh .. I hate it when my messages get repeat sent
 
0
Q: Who should our moderators be?

santiagoIt maybe a bit early, but it is something definite to start thinking about. From the Moderator Pro Tempore blog: About a week into the public beta, we will seek out members who are deeply engaged in the community’s development; members who: Have a reasonably high reputation score t...

 
@santiago Nice :D Checkin it out
@santiago did you flag the question btw ?
 
yup
 
7:25 AM
okay :)
 
1
Q: Who should our moderators be?

santiagoIt maybe a bit early, but it is something definite to start thinking about. From the Moderator Pro Tempore blog: About a week into the public beta, we will seek out members who are deeply engaged in the community’s development; members who: Have a reasonably high reputation score t...

 
8:20 AM
0
Q: Greek, Roman, and Greco-Roman tags. Are these synonyms?

fredsbendWe currently have greek, roman, and greco-roman tags. I'm not sure what to suggest as synonyms for what. First, we all know that greek and roman mythology is so similar that "greco-roman" is a legitimate term in all academic circles, so perhaps greek and roman tags should be synonyms of a greco-...

 
 
2 hours later…
9:52 AM
@santiago We don't need no stinking moderators.
 
lol
aren't you a mod @YannisRizos ?
 
That should be proof enough that moderators are no good @EroSɘnnin
 
Lol .. I disagree
 
lol
 
10:08 AM
zis chatroom iz zo zilent
 
 
4 hours later…
2:33 PM
@EroSɘnnin I honestly didn't know if we had a chatroom or not until today
 
lol
There was a meta post about the room :P
 
for some reason I read that question as "we need to pick a name before creating it"
(can you tell it's my first beta?)
 
ah ..
@Ixrec (its my first beta too)
:P
 
This beta's doing pretty well, it seems. There's always a huge peak at first, but it's pretty high.
This is the third time I've been in a private beta, so I don't have much experience, either.
 
@HDE226868 I thought we were loosing it. But it seems good now :D
 
2:38 PM
It's also the weekend, which can impact things.
 
Right you are
 
my impression from looking around SE and Area51 is that this should be a very straightforward beta; everyone knows what this subject is, there's loads of material to ask about, plenty of experts to answer it, there's no existing site that people are likely to confuse us with, and it's not one of those "weird" sites like code review or puzzling where they seem to be doing something other than Q&A with the Q&A format
2
honestly, when I first saw the proposal my reaction was "why don't we have an SE for this already?"
 
@Ixrec Indeed.
 
@Ixrec Yes. We're definitely one of a kind ^_^
 
whoa whoa whoa activities
 
2:41 PM
@EroSɘnnin Haha, that's what people said about Worldbuilding.
 
Yo yo yo
 
it's also unlikely to have a problem with lazy homework questions the way programming or math sites do
worldbuilding probably qualifies as a "weird" one, though it's by far my favorite of the weirdos =P
 
@HDE226868 Worldbuilding is also unique :D
 
@Ixrec We're pretty odd, yes. :-)
 
worldbuilding is great fun to read
 
2:42 PM
it was fun doing the site self-eval for WB: "Hmm, is this question about an asteroid breaking the Earth in half better than every other website about asteroids breaking the Earth in half?"
great way to enjoy wasting time
 
Yup. It lets creativity and knowledge out
 
My only issue with WB is that some folks used to use some speculative science. Then we began the tag, I wrote up some tough questions, and a clear separation happened, which worked out well.
 
@HDE226868 while I was going through your answer, I noticed that you did not include a possible explanation (from wiki)
 
I think the only "issue" I saw with this beta so far was a few too many answers citing Wikipedia
 
@EroSɘnnin What do you mean?
 
2:44 PM
but christofan(?) came down on those like a ton of bricks so it seems to be fixing itself
 
@HDE226868 Well, in the wiki page, it is also said "In Latin, Charon's obol sometimes is called a viaticum, or "sustenance for the journey"; the placement of the coin on the mouth has been explained also as a seal to protect the deceased's soul or to prevent it from returning."
 
@EroSɘnnin I should probably add that.
 
@HDE226868 Yes you should :)
But I don't think wikipedia facts would be appreciated much
@Ixrec Yeah. He did a great job :D
 
@EroSɘnnin Done. I'm still worried about the interpretations I cited from there, but other sources seem to back it up. The things Wikipedia cited were books by historians, which seemed nice.
 
yeah, I'm not mean enough to do stuff like that
 
2:47 PM
@Ixrec Seconded (that christofan did a good job). I'm glad that someone sorted the whole thing out.
 
@HDE226868 I think you should add those books by the historians as reference and not Wiki (since wiki took them as reference)
We should avoid Wikipedia in answers as much as possible
 
especially since all the good wiki articles cite real sources
 
lol
@HDE226868 Great answer :D
 
@EroSɘnnin Thanks. I'll have to hold myself back on some answers. I currently hold the record for longest on Skeptics, at the 30,000 character limit. I wanted to add in a few quotes, and then I found more sources, and it snowballed into something monstrous. But I think that on Mythology, things will be easier.
 
@HDE226868 In here, more the sources, better the answer and it will be appreciated (I guess) :D
 
2:58 PM
I think that applies to most SEs
at least on SciFi.SE I'm more likely to upvote answers that quote the scripts/books
 
Almost all SEs, maybe.
 
@Christofian heya :D
 
@Christofian hi
now for a totally unrelated question: how do you guys feel about the proportion of greco-roman questions vs everything else?
 
hey, thanks for the compliments
 
I recall there was a concern we'd be nothing but that, and it's clearly the majority, but it doesn't look overwhelming right now to me
 
3:02 PM
@Ixrec I dislike it, but my hope is that people will discover that there are other interesting cultures out there as they learn more about mythology, and that it will start to even out
 
Yeah ^ agreed
Once we get to public beta, things will be a lot different
 
I've been thinking of deliberately reading a little about mythologies I know nothing about (voodoo maybe?) just to produce some non-greek questions
 
I think the best way to combat it would be to ask questions about other cultures -- the more questions, the more likely it will be that someone will find out how interesting non-greek mythologies are
 
@Ixrec Could be a problem. On Worldbuilding, a lot of questions use the tag. On HSM, the top tag is , which has more questions than the next top three tags - combined.
 
@Ixrec persian mythology is really interesting: look up the Shahnameh
 
3:06 PM
@Christofian never heard of it, and "epic poems" are always interesting, so definitely will try that, thanks
 
top 4 tags on anime.se
>.<
 
I have to admit, until a few weeks ago I honestly didn't know there was anything other than id requests on Anime.SE
 
@HDE226868 I think it's easier to learn more about other mythologies than it is to learn more about other types of history: reading a translation of a story is usually enough for me to think of a dozen questions.
 
Its okay to have good id-req questions (well-detailed) and we welcome it. But noo .. it had to be image only and poorly detailed stuff
 
@Christofian Especially since some of the stories take place in times so different from our own.
 
3:09 PM
@EroSɘnnin isn't it mostly "there was this girl with pink hair and lots of people died"-type stuff?
 
@Ixrec Yes. Exactly those.
 
Does someone want to make a meta post about this?
 
@HDE226868 about the site's greco-roman bias you mean?
 
@Ixrec About identification questions.
 
oh, we have that already
7
Q: Is asking for resources and myth identification allowed?

fredsbendOn most SE sites, eventually someone comes along looking for a specific resource. The usually ask a question in the form "Where can I find a [book, site, etc] about [insert topic]?" These aren't necessarily bad, but the community needs to decide if they are allowed or not. The close cousin woul...

0
Q: Can I ask for identification of ancient cylinder seals?

kenorbAre questions about identification of specific ancient cylinder seals on-topic?

 
3:11 PM
Ah, I missed that. Thanks.
The first, at least.
 
I say resource request is good
Myth-id is a big no
 
heh, the two people I know of strongly opposed to myth id are both from Anime.SE
 
speaking of myth-id questions, does this question (by @HDE226868) qualify: mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/379/…
 
@Ixrec lol senshin?
 
I guess that's a myth resource request?
@EroSɘnnin yep
 
3:13 PM
lol
@HDE226868 better change question details before close votes come flying
 
Slight change made.
 
imo myth id should at least be given a chance in public before we assume it'll be as terrible as it is on Anime.SE
 
@HDE226868 since you mentioned However, I haven't been able to find any other accounts of Arthur's death. , I think you should ask for textual sources describing how Arthur died
@Ixrec We could ... But it's unpredictable about how it will turn out. If we were to include id-req , then guidelines should also exist.
@HDE226868 thats better :)
 
@EroSɘnnin "guidelines for high-quality id-reqs" would be a good meta post
 
See, this is the great part about chat. You can discuss questions without comment clutter.
 
3:21 PM
@Ixrec Yeah. But we dont have an actual id-req question as the base.
@HDE226868 Totally agree with you.
 
 
2 hours later…
5:04 PM
@HDE226868 mentioning wikipedia in the question is not an issue
because the answer will either support/disagree with Wikipedia via another source
 
@EroSɘnnin I figured.
@PythonMaster Are you in here, by any chance?
 
I'm not sure if it'll change anything, but I'll link it just in case
aand done
 
Great.
 
3
Q: How are the two humans selected to repopulate the world after Ragnarök?

PythonMasterAccording to Norse Mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events that means great disasters for the world and the end of many important and powerful gods: In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a num...

There's nothing in the edit queue. I wonder why the edits aren't accepted
 
I suggested editing in the source (Wikipedia), PythonMaster rejected it because he had seen the quote from your question. Deion hasn't yet suggested his proposed edit yet, I think.
 
5:19 PM
Hmm.. I've edited it now
uhh .. so close
 
. . . to 1k?
 
yuss >.<
its so tempting
anyways whatcha doin @HDE226868?
 
@EroSɘnnin Taking a break from studying, and putting off going for a run.
Speaking of which, I should probably go on one.
 
Ohh. My exams got over yesterday.
So freee
But I miss school now
 
I have a few AP exams, then SAT subject tests, then finals. But 1.5 weeks from now, it will be easier.
I should get running while it's not too hot out. See you later!
 
5:33 PM
Ahh, best wishes for your exams :)
See ya :)
 
6:12 PM
I'm falling behind with rep :/ I know it's not a competition but still.
 
6:29 PM
@piper you haven't asked a question yet?
:P
 
6:47 PM
@EroSɘnnin Nope :P I'm not a big asked of questions, what hooks me with mythology is the research and piecing things together.
I may ask something one day though.
*asker
 
Should community promotion ads be discussed yet?
@Piper Me too. I love research.
 
do we need to have some ready the day we go public?
 
@Ixrec We don't have to, no. Would it help? Yes. But there's no need to worry about them. We could get an early start soon, but I don't know how much it would help.
 
@Piper Same. I love finding more about everything. Lol. You could ayoq then. Then you would be sharing the results of your research :)
 
I guess we're probably missing a few experts in the less-popular mythologies, so it might be worthwhile
 
6:50 PM
@Ixrec Less popular? Which all tags?
 
@EroSɘnnin comes to mind
 
lol
 
@Ixrec Beat me to it!
 
lol
Hmm .. so it seems
I would love to learn more about it :D
 
6:52 PM
I've looked into the other questions, and they're tough. There's not a lot of info out there.
 
admittedly most of the tags that aren't has <5 questions so there may be sampling bias here
I could claim we're lacking an expert, but that's only one unanswered question
 
What's the boundary between and ? They're far from identical, but they're still close.
 
what exactly does celtic mean? every time I look that up I only get more confused
 
@Ixrec From my (limited) knowledge, the Celts lived across some of Western Europe, primarily in the British Isles.
 
and Central Europe
 
7:00 PM
Non-Eastern Europe, then.
 
Not entirely certain of that :P
But I guess, yeah
 
I suppose we need a expert, then.
 
Celtic is generally Scotland and Wales
Northern England too in places
 
@Piper What about Ireland? By the way, how far north is "Northern England"? Northumberland, or further south?
 
I don't think there's a distinct line. Northumberland is fine for an arbitrary line but I'm sure there was Celtic culture in Yorkshire too.
Yes and Northern Ireland
I mean, the Celts were everywhere in the UK but the Romans kept them mostly away from central and southern England
 
7:09 PM
I've read about that, yes.
 
But then it splits into Welsh or Cornish or Brecon mythology
*Breton
 
yorkshire is pretty norse
i thought northern england is less celtic and more scandinavian
 
Where do the Gaels fit into all of this?
 
irish and lowland scots
 
Yeah Scotland via Ireland
 
7:14 PM
in terms of mythology celtic should apply to all celtic traditions in all of europe, not just the insular celtic remnants
 
Yes I agree
My knowledge of Celtic culture is really limited to Wales
 
Yannis is our next mod. No questions asked I hope. And hopefully me and some other deserving person!
 
So I'm not confident enough to commit to answering Q's
 
we have mods already?
 
@PythonMaster Absolutely.
 
Does anyone want to nominate anyone else yet?
 
@HDE226868 I'm writing a nomination for Yannis right now
 
I've decided to nominate two people
 
unless we need multiple mods, I'm happy with the blindingly obvious choice of Yannis
 
and one of them's Yannis
 
7:25 PM
It would be amusing if two nominations for him were submitted at the same time.
 
I know who I'm nominating
Does Yannis want to be a mod?
 
Amm
 
Awkward silence.
 
No one checked? :P
 
10 hours ago, by Yannis Rizos
@santiago We don't need no stinking moderators.
:P
 
7:27 PM
He gives off a mod-ly vibe though
 
probably because he is one (on other sites)
 
He's got mod powers
 
iirc he got the beta's 10k (well, 1k) tools first
 
There are some sites where that's the case, where community moderation is awesome. Flags need to be handled and users need to be removed, and migrations need to be made, but those aren't incredibly common on some sites.
2
A: Who should our moderators be?

ChristofianI would like to nominate Yannis: He has a lot of experience with the Stack Exchange network; he's the moderator of two sites and has more reputation than I will ever have. His questions are interesting and his answers are well sourced. When we are in public beta, I will use his questions and an...

 
^_^ upvotes
 
7:31 PM
all the upvotes
 
5!?! Wow.
 
We have a winner folks
 
I think that means everyone in chat upvoted (except chris since he posted it)
 
and two more to go
 
Mod 1: Yannis. Mod 2: Yannis Sockpuppet #1. Mod 3: Yannis Sockpuppet #2.
4
 
7:33 PM
Lol that XD
 
Oh, I forgot something I meant to say earlier. What chat feeds do we want?
 
I will nominate myself shortly. You have no idea how fast I earn moderation badges during a private and public beta.
 
Mythology.meta, xkcd, etc.
 
@HDE226868 is there a list of available feeds?
 
@Ixrec I only know of those two. The Pod Bay (Space Exploration) has more, all related to . . . space exploration.
There are loads more, I'm guessing.
 
7:35 PM
I assume we want Qs and As from the main site too
 
meta, main, stack twitter
 
Main site stuff isn't recommended because of the volume.
 
the other chatrooms I'm in have at least some of the main site feeding into them
 
Recent questions from main and meta?
no need of answers
 
yeah I think recent questions is what I normally see
 
7:37 PM
Yeah
 
if the number of questions picks up again can always disable
 
^true
 
if it gets too spammy, that is
 
there's already a meta feed
so we need recent Q main and stack-tweets feeds
 
7:45 PM
How do we stand on q's about prehistoric mythology? Mother goddess and totem worship etc? They didn't exactly have stories,but...
 
We already have several questions on reconstructed prehistoric myths, so I don't see why not
 
Cool
 
we certainly haven't restricted ourselves to just stories (despite my meta post implying otherwise)
 
Yeah, I'm planning a trip to Creswell Crags so I'm on a prehistoric kick right now
 
besides, more Q&As for myths I knew nothing about before is a win for me
(my personal background is reading some greek, some norse, some judeo-christian stories, and that's kinda it)
 
7:51 PM
Greek is my main background in terms of academia etc
Sumerian is another favourite
But prehistory is my one true love
 
I have read Gilgamesh at least
 
Gotta love Gilgamesh
 
part of me is tempted to ask what the deal is with the 13th tablet since what I've heard implies it's literally the world's first fanfic
 
I know ;)
Isn't all mythology fanfic of a sort?
Oops blasphemy :P
 
that might be stretching definitions a bit =)
 
7:58 PM
is there an english word for "the target of veneration"?
 
admirable?
 
no idea, sounds like a good English.SE question though
 
Venerable
 
8:15 PM
See ya guys later :)
I'm off to bed
 
Adios.
 
Goodnight!
 
bye
 
I haven't posted an answer today :/ I'll have to get my writing cap on tomorrow. There have been several questions I know the answer to but just haven't answered :/
 
8:31 PM
much laziness!
although i only just got around to answering the guan yu question from like, day one too
 
That's a great answer though!
 
thanks!
 
It's always interesting to learn more about the Chinese
 
8:51 PM
0
Q: Tagging deities and other figures

HDE 226868I see we have a zeus tag, which has been used in a couple questions. There are twelve main gods and goddesses in Greek mythology, along with a host of other beings (titans, centaurs, sirens, Cyclopes, etc.). Do they all deserve their own tags? There may be a decent number of questions about her...

 
 
2 hours later…
10:28 PM
How detailed do references really need to be?
In H.SE for instance I usually use wiki for dates, names, definitions etc and scholarly sources for analysis.
 
I dunno about level of detail, but there seems to be a strong consensus that primary sources are preferred over wikipedia
in part because for mythology it seems to be quite easy to find most of the primary sources online
 
I meant like
 
I think scholarly sources are preferred, but if you're linking to something to describe your point (as opposed to it being your sole source), for definitions as you say, I think wiki is okay. For example, if the original source is discussing a particular battle, you might also link to the wiki page for the battle for those who don't know about that event
 
i dont see a lot of value in digging through historical records to pull up a reference for Guan Yu receiving this and that title
but that seems to be what's being asked for
 
ah, that is a tricky one
citing every piece of it does seem like overkill
well, I know nothing about Chinese mythology, but for me it seemed like the key claims were the two you have in bold: in year X he wasn't included at all, and in year Y he was in the "middle of the pack"; some kind of source for those would be an improvement
"everyone knows" he was deified eventually so it's not as important to cite the parts at the end rigorously
 
10:36 PM
its not really that important imo, i really only included that for background info - that he gradually climbed his way up
mostly dont feel like it cause i'd have to translate stuff myself to provide references in these situations, sigh
i guess it'll be easier to just avoid questions like this in the future
 
11:10 PM
It's difficult to know how much to cite.
Like, we think of some things as common knowledge, but are they really common knowledge to non mythology buffs?
Pantheon genealogies, war dates, etc
 
@Piper wikipedia really suffices for those imo
would anyone really think it necessary to cite (say) a professor saying zeus was athena's father?
 
11:54 PM
Alright @YannisRizos Can you make greek -> ancient greek tag synonym please
 

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