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4:06 AM
@bilbo_pingouin I want to make a question about a flower calendar, and how it could be accurate enough to be useful, but I don't know to make it a narrow enough question.
 
 
2 hours later…
6:08 AM
@AndyD273 yeah, when readong bowl's comment, I thought about the same... but faced the same problem :)
 
 
4 hours later…
9:51 AM
 
 
4 hours later…
1:43 PM
very floral
 
2:33 PM
@TimB Heh, ok.
Though, the question seems to be going a couple different ways... the title is talking about a calendar, and the question is talking about a clock.
 
2:51 PM
...so I don't know if I like this being considered off topic or not
5
Q: How to determine where is the nearest shore when standing on the island?

skornosI am creating a book where the character meets a situation where he stands on the small island and there is a fog so he cannot see where is the nearest shore and he needs to get there. Is there a way how to determine this? I need a logical explanation why he decided to go to the one side even if ...

It seems like a perfectly good question to me. It illustrates how part of a world works...
the situation isn't specific to one character I guess is my point.
thoughts
 
it seems more like how to do a thing, no worldbuilding involved
 
Well I did answer it! I can see where people consider it plot, since the way it was asked was for a person, but I agree, a little editing and it is good to go.
 
@DaaaahWhoosh Does gaining an understanding of how something works count as world building?
I would argue that yes it does
 
eh, it might, I think it would depend on the answers.
might be a better fit for LifeHacks SE
 
Bob, Fred, Jesus and Elminster could all be swapped in for this imaginary character and it wouldn't change the answer...
...well ok if Elminster and Jesus have magic (arcane and divine respectively) it could change things but do you see my point?
 
2:57 PM
I see what you're saying, and I agree with it, I guess in that case it would have to have some greater effect on the world
and I don't see that effect, it's just one guy trying to get somewhere
 
...thats part of the world ;)
 
well, sure, but not a part that most of the world cares about :I
it's essentially plot building
 
for me that question is also about a plot
the only worldbuilding part implied in the question is an island with a lot of fog and some landshore nearby
but the question isn't about those
 
It might be bad wording. If it was 'could you locate the shore in fog?' then it might be more on-topic, because maybe there are a lot of people who need to do this on a regular basis
 
yeah, rewording might help that question... like how do sailors find a shore, etc.
but that's also what 'on hold' is about
 
3:07 PM
I edited. The core of the question is about finding land in the fog What character is doing it and why isn't really relevant, thus (in my opinion) on topic. Take a look at the edit.
 
Gotta say, seems on-topic to me tbh. The gap between "Worldbuilding" and "Plotbuilding" is very small. After all, our worlds are for the most part a giant plot device that allow us to generate specific situations
 
@James where did you get those limitations from?
oh, looks like they're from comments
that's fine then. I'm just always worried about people editing in new constraints
 
I thought it was pretty close to on topic in it's original form, I just wasn't sure of the right wording to fix it.
Even just removing "I have a character" and replacing it with "How would someone" may have been enough
Hehe, So I was away for a bit, just saw @Samuels comment on the stared list about writing X-files. I have to disagree with him, if only because it would be closed as off topic under the character and plot generation reasons.
Now, if the Whooshists would lighten up a bit and allow themselves to have some fun, then we could probably do it ;)
 
3:26 PM
@AndyD273 lol @DaaaahWhoosh you have your own movement.
 
@AndyD273 I don't know if I'm a Whooshists... but it's not a question of having fun or not... it's a question of centering ourselves...
plots have a tendency to be opinion-based, multiple, etc.
and they are not about worldbuilding...
 
@bilbo_pingouin They can be though. Opinion based, sure. Multiple good answers, yeah. But they be about world building still. It really depends on the question.
I mean, what if my plot was "I am going to build a world"?
Building Harlequin's Moon is a science fiction novel by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper. The novel is set in the distant future as a group of space travellers, marooned in an inhospitable planetary system, attempt to terraform a moon and create a sufficient civilisation on it to refuel their ship so they can continue to their original destination. == Plot introduction == A couple of centuries from the present, artificial intelligences and nanotechnology are in widespread use in the Solar System and in some cases have caused disasters. Some people do not trust these technologies and plan a simpler...
 
that is of course true... it always depends on the question. And how it is formulated. But generally "how does [Joe/My character/you name it] do something in those circumstances" is typically not about worldbuilding
@AndyD273 then we are not concerned about how you are going to do it, but what you are going to build
 
Right, though those are usually easily switched around, like the finding the mainland question above.
 
neither are we with why
 
3:36 PM
Instead of "how does joe do this task?" it can be changed to "this is my world and my constraints, this is what I'm trying to do in my world with my current ideas, is there a better way?"
 
@AndyD273 no. Not always.
@AndyD273 well to me it isn't on-topic
and I'll VTC that question
because your world is fixed
you aren't asking to change your world, you are asking how to move around it. So OT.
unless, and that might be the case for the fog question, your question is more about: there's that huge moutain in the middle of my lake, how did the society grow around it
so you are not asking about a single guy facing that issue... but the whole population. And that is part of the worldbuilding
IMO
if it is a situation that is faced by only one person, then it's only a plot and not WB
 
@bilbo_pingouin The whole population of the island is facing the issue...does it matter that the population = 1?
 
yes it does.
people living there permanently would know in which direction the main land is...
it's about one character being there temporarily due to some circumstances, and trying to find a way ahead.
 
But it is a situation that could apply to anyone off a mainland anywhere. The problem isn't specific to a single character nor would the answer be. It could apply in any multitude of situations.
for any number of characters
 
it doesn't matter who it could apply to, it doesn't have a long-lasting effect on anything
if it was part of a fogworld culture who travel the oceans, always finding land, then it could be on-topic. If you're asking about the fogworld itself, and if it can be navigated, then that could help you build a culture, so again it's on-topic
 
3:46 PM
@James that's why I said that for that specific question, rewording it might do the trick. Because if you have many islands, and population living on them, they'll need to develop some system to orient themselves. And that's affecting the society and thus the WB.
 
It's certainly a good example for story building vs world building :)
 
@James I agree. It really is about the world, in that the population wants to know how the world works. Take Bowlturners answer. The wind direction is a (real)world thing
 
@AndyD273 Nice way to describe it :)
 
@TimB Yeah it is admittedly borderline but from my perspective it is asking about how the world functions as opposed to what a single person should do, thus on topic.
 
@bilbo_pingouin I do agree that not every plot question can be fixed, but a vast majority of them can simply by finding the root of the question
 
3:48 PM
I think the main point here is that we all agree the question can be on-topic, we just disagree on if it was in its original wording
 
@DaaaahWhoosh I would agree with that
 
remember that questions gets put on-hold. And the new Story points to a link to how the question might be reopened, when the OP fixes their question and wording. That's IMO, how we should proceed. And not fix it ourselves, as we may deviate from the original intend of the OP.
So please add more details to the meta discussion about how to reopen story-based questions
 
@bilbo_pingouin I do agree with this. I also suggested that the OP visit the chat if he wants help with wording.
 
@DaaaahWhoosh that might be a good exercice for meta... write the same question in various ways, and ask people to upvote and downvote whether they are on or off-topic in the given formulation
 
@bilbo_pingouin yeah, that could be interesting
 
3:54 PM
@bilbo_pingouin I'll go one further. I propose, as an exercise, getting a list of topics and get participants to to write their own examples of an off topic version and an on topic version
As we can see, there is some grey area in some of these, so some of the borderline questions will probably have a lot of both up and down votes
which doesn't tell us much, other than opinions vary
 
either exercise sounds fun and educational, I would participate in both
 
4:19 PM
I will predict that the result will demonstrate that there is significant grey area (and always will be)
 
on the contrary, I think it would show that I am right
because everything shows that
 
@DaaaahWhoosh of course you do lol
 
but really, if people have to actually write their own off-topic reasons, maybe they'll learn that they can't just assume the OP is being on-topic
though I guess maybe the people who don't think off-topic things are off-topic won't be able to participate
 
@DaaaahWhoosh I'm sorry, but that's a double negative. You need to go sit down and think about what you've done. ;)
 
4:37 PM
@AndyD273 Believe me, I thought long and hard about it. And I don't think it's incorrect. Sometimes, you can't not use double negatives.
 
4:52 PM
I'll start it later today... if no one does it before :-)
 
5:10 PM
Here's an example of one that probably can't be fixed :)
0
Q: Could the Siberian Eruption Get Any Bigger?

JohnWDailey252 million years ago, Siberia erupted, releasing enough lava to fill in a volume anywhere between one and four million cubic kilometers. Any time someone thinks "large igneous province", the Siberian Traps seem to be the first thing on his mind. But the actual largest igneous province is the O...

 
I sort of disagree with that closure...
or, I guess, holding
 
hmm
the problem is that the answer isn't very interesting. It's "yes"
although if you dug into why it could get interesting
The correct wording would be "how could"
or "what change could"
although you'd need to be careful to keep the scope constrained
 
it may actually be more on-topic on Earth Science...
 
yep
 
Do we have a migration path over there?
 
5:18 PM
Does more on topic there mean it's off topic here?
 
@TimB I prefer "if you want it to be, why not?" That way you don't look as lazy.
 
there are no preset migrations paths from worldbuilding to anywhere
 
@TimB As a general rule, no. It can be on topic in both places.
 
mods can migrate questions to any site on the network though
@AndyD273 I think that answered the migration question :). Things have to be MUCH more on topic on the other site or off topic here to be worth migrating
 
@TimB Not to sound whooshist, but I think it's lacking constraint at the very least
 
5:21 PM
@AndyD273 You filthy Whooshist!
 
Sure but it would be just as lacking in constraint there
if it's a bad question it's bad anywhere
in general a migration is only called for if something is simultaneously a bad question here and a good question elsewhere
 
Do other sites care about constraints as much?
 
I still don't think it's a bad question
 
for example when someone accidentally posts a coding question here and I migrate it
@DaaaahWhoosh it could do with some work
 
@DaaaahWhoosh Can you think of another answer besides "yes"?
 
5:24 PM
note that a question can be bad (downvote) but not bad (close)
 
@TimB That's true. I rarely use the downvote and kind of forget that it's there
 
close means off topic/not answerable/too broad/whatever
 
@AndyD273 Well, I don't know the answer, so it could be 'no'
 
downvote means "don't like it as a question"
 
How is the site design thingy going?
 
5:30 PM
@Hohmannfan every time someone asks, they move it back another month
 
Oh no!
 
Two Weeks. It's always 2 weeks...
 
6-8 weeks?
 
5:50 PM
oh, looks like that volcano question just got a somewhat invasive edit
anyone want to confirm/deny my suspicions?
 
6:09 PM
@DaaaahWhoosh That seems like a border case. I am not sure about this one.
 
I just think it presumes a bit too much
 
Edits from high-rep users do not appear in suggested edits, correct?
 
I guess not, since they just go through
I think we're supposed to trust high-rep users to do the right thing
 
I would like to have an option to let my edits pass through review first in some circumstances
I do not always do the right thing :)
 
@Hohmannfan I definitely agree with you there, I often find myself fallible
 
6:17 PM
Just a check-box labelled "review before commit" or something. That would be great to have.
 
I like this idea too
 
If in doubt don't do it :)
that's the same way moderators work since we also bypass the reviews
only we do it on everything :)
you can always ask in chat or meta for a 2nd opinion
 
@TimB I was thinking more about that even if I am pretty sure what to do, I may have worded the edit poorly as a non-native speaker of English.
 
6:33 PM
We don't really need it for a spelling correction or basic grammar, but editing someone else's question to "improve clarity" or whatever is a lot trickier and having some over site to double check my assumptions would be nice. Even if it just went back to the OP as a suggestion to approve or improve upon would be cool
 
The OP is always notified about edits on their posts, even from high-rep users
 
@Hohmannfan Yeah, but as a highish rep user, it might be nice to be able to make an edit that doesn't commit right away, but instead shows up as a suggested edit for OP to see, but maybe not WB general
@DaaaahWhoosh I have been informed "Earth Science Stack Exchange is not interested in speculative scenarios." so it would be off topic over there.
 
6:48 PM
@AndyD273 whaaaaaat why would anyone not be interested in speculative scenarios?
 
Worldbuilding covers some speculative scenarios, but not all. There is a "whatif" proposal at Area51 if anyone is interested.
 
Filthy whooshists, the lot of 'em!
 
@AndyD273 What is wrong with us Whooshists?
 
@Hohmannfan Shh bby, is ok
 
 
1 hour later…
8:23 PM
@AndyD273 @James @TimB and @DaaaahWhoosh I made that meta exercise... :)
 
I already went running today...
 
apparently you don't want me to know about it :(
 
damn, James got it twice
 
Im special like that.
 
now :)
 
8:25 PM
Anyone ever play Mount and Blade?
 
0
Q: Story vs World building: study case

bilbo_pingouinThis is yet another post to try to rationalise the limit between story-building (off-topic) and worlbuilding (on-topic). A recent question: How to determine where the nearest mainland shore is when standing on an island? was first closed for story building, then edited and reopened. It started...

@James nope, I don't even know what this is about
 
@bilbo_pingouin I assume swords and horses
 
yep... but video game?
board game?
RPG?
 
The original...or rather the original + a major update is Mount and Blade: Warband
 
none of the aove
 
8:27 PM
Awesome PC game
I recently started replaying it because I found out someone did a full conversion mod to make it Lord of the Rings
 
how many different ways are there to block things?
 
context?
 
This is a good gameplay video
Part one shows character creation
Its a fantastic game.
 
looks good... :)
I don't play much myself... I think the last PC game I actually played was never winter nights...
 
There are 7 factions (I think) each has its own troop/weapon/armor types
So you can have knights from one faction, horse archers from another, spearmen from another faction (each faction has strengths)
and there are 5 or 6 levels of upgrades for troops
anyway its on my brain cause I just found this game play video of #2 that will be coming out ...later not sure what the date is
@bilbo_pingouin I still break that out from time to time...
 
8:37 PM
0
Q: Story vs World building: study case

bilbo_pingouinThis is yet another post to try to rationalise the limit between story-building (off-topic) and worlbuilding (on-topic). A recent question: How to determine where the nearest mainland shore is when standing on an island? was first closed for story building, then edited and reopened. It started...

 
@WorldbuildingMeta that wasn't very fast
 
@bilbo_pingouin Am I allowed to word my own question, even if I think the ones you posted are a mix?
Currently it says I should do that only if they are all on- or off-topic
 
@Hohmannfan yeah, you can... :)
 
Interesting way of doing it by the way, has something like that been tried on this meta before?
 
not to my knowledge
but you should vote on all the questions...
or answers ;)
 
8:45 PM
I am really not sure about one of them, but OK
 
yeah I know, but if we want to have the extreme cases with many + or many -, and the less clear cases with 0... we have to decide on all ;)
 
leave comments too, comments help
 
So I have now posted a question that is an answer to a meta-question about questions :)
I'm So Meta, Even This Acronym
Stolen from THE Randall
 
ISMETA?
= is meta
@DaaaahWhoosh yeah, I understand that some might be too broad... but let's keep in mind the on/off-topic part :)
 
@bilbo_pingouin I can't... I can't stop seeing too broad... IT'S EVERYWHERE! CONSTRAIN! CONSTRAAAAAAIN!
but mostly I see a lot of idea generation
 
8:57 PM
@DaaaahWhoosh The universe is too broad
 
which I still think is off-topic
 
IG does not exist anymore...
 
@Hohmannfan your mother is too broad!
2
 
you're hearing voices ;)
 
had to start that one...
 
8:59 PM
@bilbo_pingouin I have to say, I disagree with its removal. I don't think we have a suitable replacement yet
 
@DaaaahWhoosh the whole discussion isn't over yet. For me I do agree, IG was a bad name... most of what we do is IG.
 
@bilbo_pingouin I'd say what we should do is meta-idea-generation
 
Is not that just a big word for creating ideas?
 
add it as a risk factor
 
9:03 PM
add idea generation as a risk factor?
 
well, it should appear somewhere in the complete discussion... or start a meta post dedicated for it :)
 
we already had it discussed in a meta post
the decision was to burninate since it's just a subset of too broad
however feel free to add a variant of it as a risk factor if you think it can make something off topic
 
it's a mix of too broad and opinion-based...
FWIW, I am the second highest close reviewer, and since July, I never used IG as a reason. Because, most of the time too broad is the right way.
 
But it seems like you are not the only one turning bowls at that queue :)
 
@Hohmannfan nah, since I got the reviewer badge in December, I am not spending any priority on it. But I have the feeling that many people abandoned that queue.
 
9:16 PM
@TimB I don't think it's always a subset of too broad, but I would be fine with its removal once we'd implemented some of the other risk factors, such as open-ended
I guess I should've spoken up before it got removed, but I get tired of disagreeing sometimes
 
this is a general problem, that all those discussions... are usually done between at max 10 persons... so it's hard to see any statistics...
but nevertheless if no one present a given point of view, it is ignored
so even if it means you have to disagree all the time, you should take the time to do it... so that people have a chance to see the other point of view. Especially those who "simply" vote and never express anything
 
9:32 PM
well, I have been saying for a while that I think idea generation is a bad thing
as in, a legitimate close reason
but everyone keeps on going back to the 'everything we do is idea generation' argument, which I thought the case studies did a good job of disproving
 
I think that it is normal, and rather good that we are all different, and have different opinions. The main concept of SE is a rule of majority. But the majority can only appear when every view was heard. So it is very important to present different views. But it is as essential to accept that it is not shared.
I mean sometimes we have fundamental questions about the scope, and there's only one answer, with one point of view. And we are left to assume that that is the view of the community at large.
 
I am a little bit worried: How many use this site? A lot! How many are in chat or on meta? Just a few.
 
well that is understandable. Many (will) come from google, because they found a question similar to the question they had, and want to learn the answers provided. Many users are not dedicated to this community, but come because they have a question (whatever the reason), ask it get some answers, and never come back.
And a few are more dedicated to the site and thus are more active on meta, chat, etc.
it is the same on all the sites.
 
But still: There are a lot more active answerers than chat/meta active people too.
 
I believe most of us went to SO to read some answers, ask some questions etc. But how many did take part of the community (via active meta and/or chat participation)?
 
9:46 PM
 
yes, but quorum was awarded more than 200 times
 
Is it possible that most of the users are not aware of the existence of a chat?
 
@Hohmannfan It's possible. I was a pretty active WB user for over a year before I figured out that chat existed. And that's only because one of my answers had enough comments to fail over to chat
Then I figured out there were other rooms, and ended up here
 
I discovered it on Space exploration when somebody told me about it
 
I had a suggestion a while back that a clear link to the chat be located on the side bar, but at the time no one liked the idea
 
9:54 PM
there are probably different reasons... some are not aware. Some get to the site with their phones, which does not feature the chat. Some chats on other sites have bad reputation. Some people want to save time to concentrate on answering questions on main. Some newer users may feel intimidated. Some are already on other SE chats and don't have the time to be on that one as well...
@AndyD273 on meta, there are links on the right side... and on main there are right-side links to meta on various pages. And you get here in two clicks (StackExchange then Chat).
 
@bilbo_pingouin It took me forever to check out Meta too. I'm just saying it's not intuitive, especially if you aren't actively looking for it, or don't know it exists. If I'm just browsing through questions, I'll probably never see it.
 
I think the typical way to both meta and chat is through the comments... ;)
 
@bilbo_pingouin Probably, but after finding the chat the site got a lot better, since I had a place to get advice on asking questions and other things. I don't see why it's considered right to hide it away in a locked room in the basement with a sign saying beware of leopard. Put it out in the open where anyone can at least see that it exists.
 
yet I don't believe that if you put it on the front page, with flashy neons and a sexy dude (today's IWD) inviting you to join in... all would. Not even a majority.
 
10:11 PM
This chat room so much need the tag
 
@bilbo_pingouin not all women find dudes sexy... add a sexy woman who's not being objectified and I think you're on to something
 
sexy androgyne?
 
@bilbo_pingouin is that even possible?
sounds like a contradiction
 
well, I don't know, but at the same time, so does sexy and inviting and not objectified ;-)
 
"standing there for a purpose not related to their person at all, and not being objectified"
 
10:18 PM
ok... let's put some cute cats instead
everything's better with cute catz
 
I prefer 'kittens'
you don't even need to say they're cute, it's implied
 
fair enough, kittens it is
well for cats, it helps... but for kittens not necessarily...
 
I guess it helps for alliteration, cute cuddly kittens are probably cuter than regular kittens
just like poor pitiful puppies
 
so... "yet I don't believe that if you put it on the front page, with flashy neons and a few kittens playing, and a person cordially inviting you to join in... all would. Not even a majority."
 
I vociferously object to that statement
no one can reject neon kittens
 
10:22 PM
 
btw, did you know that "chat"... is the French word for cat?
 
@bilbo_pingouin I did, but now my mind is blown
 
@DaaaahWhoosh not sure that would keep the cute image... neon kitten... would be awesome... but cute? not sure.
 
Just imagine kittens in little Tron costumes
 
Neon kittens not cute?
 
10:26 PM
well, if you're familiar with Japanese animation and/or mangas, you'll know that there is always a debate between kawai (cute) and kakkoi (cool)
tron kittens would clearly be in the Kakkoi category for me...
 
Keeping Linnaeus system up to date: A proper classification of lolcats
 
someone is asking a question about instrumenting the ocean... does that make English sense?
 
@DaaaahWhoosh well, from a language that brought you the baseball-batting someone... why not ;)
 
but, what does it mean, then? Attaching instruments to the ocean, or perhaps using the ocean as a musical instrument?
 
I think it is about deep sea exploration with probes
 
10:36 PM
I guess it means scanning... but using the ocean as a music instrument sounds cool
 
@bilbo_pingouin I'm sure an ocean would sound cool
 
it would
 
I am used to the sound of the ocean, and I agree
 
yep I was as well to some extend...
and hearing the waves from the storm is a great thing.... when you stand on firm grounds
 
I wonder if you could put some sort of machine in the ocean, where it would create small waves that would make the ocean sounds sound like a song
I guess it would be hard to get different notes
 

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