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2014/05/02 | 954 | 4,144 | <issue_start>username_0: I've been examining some tags and saw that in the [conventions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/conventions "show questions tagged 'conventions'") tag, we have exactly 3 questions, all of them are closed (2 as off-topic, one as too broad).
Now the questions themselves weren't that 100% great, but the question is, are convention questions on topic at all? If so, what isn't on-topic, and what is? Do we want any questions about conventions?<issue_comment>username_1: I think that we should keep an open mind on the topic, but at the same time better define the scope of these questions (which comes down to objectivity and subjectivity, the location of the poster, and interests [cosplay, doujinshi, VN, etc]). The 1st question about AMVs is off topic due to being more of a legal question, of which we have no expertise in (unless someone here is secretly or is planning to be a bar certified copyright lawyer). The second one about cosplay is considered to be a recommendation question (thus off-topic). The third one was deem to be too broad, but also very opinion-based.
Think about your audience
-------------------------
Think about what type of people you want to use the site. While we don't necessarily want subjective question and answer on which anime convention is the best, some more objectified question like what the largest anime/manga convention in X country can be helpful for people just getting into the anime and manga subculture.
Think about the topic
---------------------
Question not on the specific topics of the events of the venue, but more about the venue locations like: "I'm going to X convention, what are some ways I can get to the site via Y mode of transportation?" should be off topic. Question about the events and topics might be more appropriate.
"What are the major attractions/events/speakers of Z convention?," or "Who illustrated the catalog for Q convention?"
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that we should consider them at least. Although the questions we had so far were pretty low quality, there might also be some questions worth while such as
* 1) Questions regarding convention rules
not all conventions follow the same rule sets, and some rules can be pretty well hidden on sites. For example at Animecon it is not permitted to carry large props, which is quite the ambiguous rule. And no more clarification is given until you buy a ticket. Personally I don't think allot of unique questions will be found, as in most cases the answer can be found on the site it self, but there might be some unique ones like the one mentioned.
* 2) Questions regarding the clarification of certain events.
Lots of events happen at cons. Including off course the Cosplay competitions, concerts And the likes. Asking questions such as "Is it okay to do a echii cosplay for the competition?" or "How does the cosplay competition actually work?" Would in my opinion be worth while.
* 3) Questions regarding availability.
This is a pretty broad topic, and can be seen from availability of hotel/motels/public transport near the con, to the availability of for example dressing rooms for potential change of cos-playing clothes.
I also think if we start accepting those kind of questions allot of potentially unwanted questions might also pop up
* 4) Questions regarding the program.
Programs change, it's simple as that. Besides the fact that its usually marked on the site, its a future event we do not know of till announced. I think those should be handle like when will xxx start airing and be closed as announced future events.
* 5) Questions regarding meet-ups
Fair chance will be that there will be questions about planning meet ups. Less likely but there chances are still there. I think those kinda questions should be handled as off topic
Overall I think we should accept questions regarding conventions. Personally I don't think there will be allot of traffic on the site regarding conventions, and if there is we most likely want to judge them on a individual basis as some might prove to be valuable questions.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/05/20 | 1,326 | 5,433 | <issue_start>username_0: I've asked the following question: [What should a university-level course about manga and anime culture cover as part of its curriculum?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9805/what-should-a-university-level-course-about-manga-and-anime-culture-cover-as-par)
It is of course opinion based but I believe in this case there should be an opinion that majority can agree with and that opinion should be the answer to the question.<issue_comment>username_1: Personally, I think this question may have been closed a bit too quickly. It's true that subjective questions don't work as well in the Stack Exchange format as objective ones. However, that doesn't mean that no subjective questions are welcome here. There are [good and bad subjective questions](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/). The bad ones tend to be a large majority on our site, but the good ones are arguably some of the most valuable questions, and shouldn't be closed.
The close reason used was "primarily opinion based", which is not synonymous with "subjective"; a question is primarily opinion based when all answers are equally valid and there's no method to distinguish between good and bad. I think everyone here can agree that, for example, [Nausicaä](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(film)) and [Neon Genesis Evangelion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion) are more important in the history of anime than [Buso Renkin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buso_Renkin) or [So Ra No Wo To](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Ra_No_Wo_To), regardless of which of these you actually enjoyed more. There's nothing really opinionated about that.
---
With that said, I'm not yet going to nominate the question for reopening. As of right now, the question is rather broad. You haven't narrowed down exactly what you want. Designing a full course, complete with lectures, is obviously too broad for this site. Are you looking for just a syllabus of what sort of topics might be covered and approximately how much time will be spent on each? That could potentially work. There's a bit of opinion in which topics are more and less important, but honestly there's barely even enough time in one semester to cover the stuff that we'd all agree is important.
What would the goal of this class be? To educate people about the general trends in anime/manga history? Or to get people to the point at which they can catch most of the obvious references in the average comedy series that airs these days? Or to understand Japanese culture better by studying the particular case of anime in depth? Also, how much anime do you expect the average student will have seen going in? Each of these would require a very different syllabus.
What format of class are you planning? Are you going to show anime during lecture? Or are you going to lecture and let people watch on their own time as "homework"? Or some combination? This is important because it determines how much time you have available to you. If you're going to be showing most of it during lecture, that limits the amount that you can cover in depth pretty severely.
There's a host of similar issues that could also use clarification. It seems like you want us to answer these, but that's where your question is getting too broad and subjective. Generally, the more you can tell us about what you want, the better your question is. If you can tell us the format and goal of the class, I think we'd be able to tell you what the major time periods and themes were. If you can address some of those points above to focus your question better, I'd consider voting to reopen it.
Alternatively, I think the sub-question of whether there are any existing college courses on anime history is already basically fine for this site. I don't think there's more than a handful of such classes.
---
To make an analogy, if you asked "What should be taught in an introductory college English course?" on [English SE](https://english.stackexchange.com/), you'd probably get a similar response. The question is too free-form to work on a Stack Exchange site. There are simply too many options, and designing a course from scratch is too big an undertaking for a single question. But if you focused your question more, e.g. "What works of Hemingway would best show the evolution of his literary style in the context of a college freshman writing seminar?" and provided details in the question as to what broad topics you want to cover in the course, it would be a much better question (though off-topic on English SE which doesn't cover literature).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I edited the question. I am not sure if I narrowed it down enough, however this is what I want to know. If that is still to broad, then the question should be left "on hold" and closed.
Again, I'd like to ask everyone not to judge the other members of the community by saying: "nobody can answer because we are not good enough". Consider only the question form and contents in respect to the rules of the site. It's fine if the question gets not answer for long time or even never.
[What should a university-level course about manga and anime culture cover as part of its curriculum?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9805/what-should-a-university-level-course-about-manga-and-anime-culture-cover-as-par)
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/05/23 | 1,261 | 5,148 | <issue_start>username_0: It would make sense to have <http://manga.stackexchange.com> redirect to <http://anime.stackexchange.com>.
The site *is* Anime **& Manga** after all.<issue_comment>username_1: Personally, I think this question may have been closed a bit too quickly. It's true that subjective questions don't work as well in the Stack Exchange format as objective ones. However, that doesn't mean that no subjective questions are welcome here. There are [good and bad subjective questions](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/). The bad ones tend to be a large majority on our site, but the good ones are arguably some of the most valuable questions, and shouldn't be closed.
The close reason used was "primarily opinion based", which is not synonymous with "subjective"; a question is primarily opinion based when all answers are equally valid and there's no method to distinguish between good and bad. I think everyone here can agree that, for example, [Nausicaä](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(film)) and [Neon Genesis Evangelion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion) are more important in the history of anime than [Buso Renkin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buso_Renkin) or [So Ra No Wo To](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Ra_No_Wo_To), regardless of which of these you actually enjoyed more. There's nothing really opinionated about that.
---
With that said, I'm not yet going to nominate the question for reopening. As of right now, the question is rather broad. You haven't narrowed down exactly what you want. Designing a full course, complete with lectures, is obviously too broad for this site. Are you looking for just a syllabus of what sort of topics might be covered and approximately how much time will be spent on each? That could potentially work. There's a bit of opinion in which topics are more and less important, but honestly there's barely even enough time in one semester to cover the stuff that we'd all agree is important.
What would the goal of this class be? To educate people about the general trends in anime/manga history? Or to get people to the point at which they can catch most of the obvious references in the average comedy series that airs these days? Or to understand Japanese culture better by studying the particular case of anime in depth? Also, how much anime do you expect the average student will have seen going in? Each of these would require a very different syllabus.
What format of class are you planning? Are you going to show anime during lecture? Or are you going to lecture and let people watch on their own time as "homework"? Or some combination? This is important because it determines how much time you have available to you. If you're going to be showing most of it during lecture, that limits the amount that you can cover in depth pretty severely.
There's a host of similar issues that could also use clarification. It seems like you want us to answer these, but that's where your question is getting too broad and subjective. Generally, the more you can tell us about what you want, the better your question is. If you can tell us the format and goal of the class, I think we'd be able to tell you what the major time periods and themes were. If you can address some of those points above to focus your question better, I'd consider voting to reopen it.
Alternatively, I think the sub-question of whether there are any existing college courses on anime history is already basically fine for this site. I don't think there's more than a handful of such classes.
---
To make an analogy, if you asked "What should be taught in an introductory college English course?" on [English SE](https://english.stackexchange.com/), you'd probably get a similar response. The question is too free-form to work on a Stack Exchange site. There are simply too many options, and designing a course from scratch is too big an undertaking for a single question. But if you focused your question more, e.g. "What works of Hemingway would best show the evolution of his literary style in the context of a college freshman writing seminar?" and provided details in the question as to what broad topics you want to cover in the course, it would be a much better question (though off-topic on English SE which doesn't cover literature).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I edited the question. I am not sure if I narrowed it down enough, however this is what I want to know. If that is still to broad, then the question should be left "on hold" and closed.
Again, I'd like to ask everyone not to judge the other members of the community by saying: "nobody can answer because we are not good enough". Consider only the question form and contents in respect to the rules of the site. It's fine if the question gets not answer for long time or even never.
[What should a university-level course about manga and anime culture cover as part of its curriculum?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9805/what-should-a-university-level-course-about-manga-and-anime-culture-cover-as-par)
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/06/15 | 811 | 3,445 | <issue_start>username_0: When someone downvotes a certain question or answer shouldn't they be made to comment on the reasons they downvoted? People aren't helping these SE sites by just downvoting.<issue_comment>username_1: It doesn't help to not know why you were downvoted, by commenting you help tell the person what was wrong and how to fix it, therefore helping the site and helping the person improve, by not telling you are being a hater. I'm not saying this because I have been downvoted, because I wasn't downvoted that much. It was the fact that I was downvoted without being told a comment. I think that to help the site people should start telling people what they did wrong, by not that's like sticking someone in prison without a trial by no commenting. I am not saying not to downvote because then why should the person change if they aren't being punished, I am just saying that they should comment as well. Because I have no problem with you telling me..... "You were wrong, because blah blah blah blah", I have a problem with you saying "downvote you, and no comment". I expect downvotes on this answer and question but I want comments to, not to say it will happen, I just want.
Sorry if this confrontational.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It is true that downvoting without comment does little to help the poster understand what they did wrong. For this reason the system has a built-in reminder when you downvote to consider leaving a comment saying what can be improved.
However, the fallacy here is that the primary purpose of voting is *not* to help/punish the poster. It's to judge the quality of the content being posted. Good questions and answers should be upvoted. Bad questions and answers should be downvoted. That's how we attempt to judge how good a question/answer is. It's not a perfect system, since you only get the number of people who think the post is good, not any estimate of how good (or how difficult). But it's alright for some things. In particular, if you think of votes (or reputation) as an assessment of your worth, value, or knowledge, you're going to be needlessly agitated when people downvote your posts. No one is downvoting *you*, though we might be downvoting *your posts*.
The tool for helping the poster understand what they did wrong are comments. On this site, we don't have a ton of activity, typically less than 1 post per hour on average. We're not overwhelmed with new posts, so it should almost always be possible to explain your downvotes, and this is the considerate thing to do. Unless you think the poster is posting in bad faith or beyond help, you should explain why you're downvoting. However, this is not in any way required, and should not be because there are cases where the poster is posting in bad faith or is beyond help.
If a post gets one downvote without comment (especially if it also gets upvotes), I'd recommend just ignoring it. Check your answer to make sure there's nothing obviously incorrect, or that your question is [on-topic](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). If there's no problem there, then ignore it. Perhaps the voter missclicked (I've done this myself at least once here, so it's not impossible), or maybe they're mistaken about something. If you're getting multiple downvotes and no explanations, then consider [asking here on meta](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/ask) what the problem is.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/07/01 | 3,281 | 13,043 | <issue_start>username_0: Since introducing the [guidelines for ID requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892), I feel that the quality of 'memory'-based requests have gone up somewhat.
However, there are still a lot of requests that are image-only, such as <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/7438/what-is-this-shoujo-manga-pic-included> or <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/11459/could-someone-help-me-to-identify-these-girls> , which only provide image data, with no secondary source of information.
These type of questions are reduced to two points of information as a requirement because an image is a significant boost to help answerers find a title. But as opposed to the text-based questions, this seems to not be enforced at all.
These image ID requests do often tend to come from things people have seen on Facebook or some other website with no context.
Do we allow these single-source image questions to continue, or should we require another piece of information to avoid closure?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes. There are exactly two possible cases with these images:
* Either the image can be found with Google reverse search, in which case, there should be a canonical to close as duplicate against.
* Or it can't, in which case there are not enough details to answer the question, and it should be closed as "unclear".
In both cases, image only identification requests are not good questions to answer.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I disagree with [Madara's answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1035) claiming that there are only two possible ways to answer identification requests. This seems like a drastic oversimplification, to the point that it's factually incorrect. Most of this post is intended as a reply to that line of thinking. **For my answer to this question, see the last paragraph**.
To put it simply, I rarely use Google image search simply because it's rarely the best tool for the job. To make an analogy to programming, if `for` loops are the only form of loops you've ever used, you'd think they're sufficient, but better programmers know that there are lots of different types of loops which have different use cases. I'm sure that for some users here, Google image search is the only tool they use regularly to ID images, but with that you're really only getting the easy ones, and often times not getting as much as you could be.
---
To give several examples from my history where Google image search was either unnecessary or unhelpful (feel free to skip to the conclusions if you prefer):
* [Which anime is this woobie taken from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4236/which-anime-is-this-woobie-taken-from/4237#4237)
In this question, Google image search turned up 0 relevant results at the time I was searching. It didn't answer the question. However, there are steps you can use to answer it. First, looking at the style of the image, it's likely that this is *not* from an animated medium. The quality is too high and the style is different. It looks like a typical VN CG.
In fact, I'd seen images of the same characters before, though only a couple more pictures. But based on that, I was able to figure out through Anime Characters Database that the girl was [this character](http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=2287). Browsing a few CGs it was enough that I was convinced it was the same. Later I was able to go back and confirm this and identify which VN in the series it was. Google image search literally never helped with this.
* [What is this anime or manga about "Leben Nicht"?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/5443/what-is-this-anime-or-manga-about-leben-nicht/5446#5446)
For this one, you could have gotten the right answer through Google...if you cropped the image to just the upper right panel and then waded several pages of results (all in Japanese) before finding the artist's pixiv profile (also in Japanese), and then browsed that to find the original image.
Instead, it was faster to just do an ordinary Google search for "leben nicht site:pixiv.com". This took me to a different image of the same character, but that pointed me back to the original artist. Still needed to know Japanese, but that's unavoidable in answering this sort of question. Google image search was just not helpful, though you could have made it work if you were desperate.
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/11287/identification-request-what-the-flute/11298#11298>
This one is pretty well documented on my answer itself, and not a great example since I didn't even succeed, but it's at least evidence that Google isn't the only tool here. The first thing to do *was* to do a Google image search to find the highest resolution copy of the same image, but that's where Google's usefulness ends. The image was simply on too many "Free Anime Wallpaper" sites to show up with anything remotely useful. However, the full resolution image confirmed suspicions from the small image that this was photoshopped. Incidentally, if you thought to flip the image and then went to page 24 (for me) of the Google image search results, you would have found a link that would *eventually* lead to [this post on e-shuushuu](http://e-shuushuu.net/image/473312/). More specifically, it took me to an e-shuushuu search page which was cached, and going a couple hundred images in you would have gotten to this image. I only discovered this after I'd already found that image page through other means. This sort of thing is often highly dependent on your search history and location and changes regularly, so it's not a good idea to rely on it.
To find the original image, I went on an image board and just searched for images of girls with flutes and purple hair and head ornaments. After a few dozen images, I managed to find the original one (posted in the answer). That gave me the artist's name. Cross-referencing a different image board (which had other images by the artist but not this one) was enough to get me to the artist's Pixiv page and Wikipedia page. Exhaustively checking that it wasn't from anything listed on Wiki was enough to confirm my suspicions based on the image's style and resolution that it wasn't from any anime, though I still wasn't able to locate the original. But this was at least enough to write an answer, and for the reasons I stated in my answer going farther would be hard here.
* [Where is this girl in a maid uniform holding a cat from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9634/where-is-this-girl-in-a-maid-uniform-holding-a-cat-from/9637#9637)
In this case, Google image search didn't give anything useful. However, I happened to already know the source in question. Based on that information, I was able to locate the original uncropped version of the picture. Google image search for the uncropped image did give me a few nice facts to put in my answer, but they weren't necessary to answer the question. Even if I hadn't known the source, I could have still found it just based on what I could see from the picture by going to an image board. Note that for me it *now* shows the full image under the "related images" section, but this was not true at the time and may be partly due to my answer.
* Offsite example
This is one example from several years ago (before this site existed), but I figured I'd share it since it's quite different from anything else here. One of my friends had a hard copy of a certain piece of fanart of a character. We knew the character, but not the artist. I scanned his image, but Google didn't give any results. But since we knew the character, I could just download every (high quality) image on Pixiv with that character with a program. I then ran that archive together with the scanned copy through a duplicate checking program, and sure enough it found the duplicate which pointed back to the original artist. Sure, anyone *could* have done that, but it's at least evidence that Google isn't the only useful tool.
* Several other cases
In at least five other cases, I've simply had no use for Google image search, though it may have given the correct answer. For instance, [in this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4321/what-anime-is-this-image-of-a-girl-caressing-a-skeleton-from/4322#4322) I knew the answer immediately. It didn't require Google. I eventually did a Google search, but the only additional thing I learned from it was additional places that the image was used. In [this case](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6502/can-anyone-tell-me-what-anime-this-nekomimi-girl-is-from/6504#6504), I knew the answer without any Google searching. It turned out that appropriately cropping the image, one could get some relevant results with Google. In [this case](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4122/what-manga-is-this-image-with-a-depressed-girl-from/4123#4123), I again answered without Google image search, and later used Google to figure out exactly what page of the manga the image was from. Sure, in all of these cases, Google alone *could* have given the answer, but it was simply faster to just know it. Here's [an example](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3617/from-what-series-is-this-odd-lolicon-poster/3618#3618) where I answered in under a minute; if you think you could beat that by Google image searching, you're almost certainly mistaken. I could give more examples to this effect, but I don't really think there's room for debate at this point.
---
So no, it isn't just a matter of "Google or nothing". There are *plenty* of other ways to identify a series. If you didn't realize this, that's probably why I was able to answer these questions and you weren't. But I'm far from the only user here who has answered ID requests which didn't appear on Google. I'm quite certain that [this image](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/11269/what-anime-does-this-pic-come-from) had no results on Google when it was asked. I know because I tried it myself. The same is true for at least most frames of [this gif](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/8802/who-is-this-and-what-show-is-it-from/). That doesn't mean they aren't answerable; the answers were found.
Also, it's worth pointing out that if your idea of a *good* answer is just "Google and copy the title", that's not what a good answer means in this case. There's plenty more that you can say about an image apart from just the title of the series. Some of these are things that you can find via Google (e.g. characters, artist). Some are things you can't (e.g. at what time a screencap occurred in an anime). But in general, answers here should be informed and contain as much information as possible, not just the stuff Google gives you for free. That's true *not just* for ID requests, but for **all questions** on this site. If the best you can do is copying from some other site, it's not a very good answer. We should be striving to do *better* than other sites, not copy their content.
As for asking the OP to provide more information, e.g. where they found the image, this is sometimes of use. But often it's unnecessary. If they found it on a friend's facebook wall, I'm not going to try to get in contact with their friend to ask what it's from. I doubt anyone else is either. We have better methods of IDing images than relying on someone's friend. Not that I mind such content being added, but if there's already an image present, I don't see any reason to mandate it. It might help in 20% of cases, but 80% of the time it's basically irrelevant. That doesn't seem like a good thing to determine the fate of questions on.
We should continue to allow these questions because there's simply no reason to ban them. If they're easy to answer with Google image search, then answer them. If you don't feel like it, then don't. If you think that the OP didn't do enough research before asking here, downvote. But there's no good reason to close them. And especially for the images where Google fails, these absolutely shouldn't be closed. Such questions are certainly *challenging* to answer, but that doesn't mean they're unanswerable. They aren't "unclear" at all; you know *exactly* what the OP wants, but you just don't know the answer (because Google doesn't know the answer and apparently you're incapable of beating a machine). They *have answers*, and if people here are smart enough and knowledgeable enough we'll eventually find most of them. Closing is for questions which will just not work in this format, either because they aren't questions at all or because they're too subjective. Closing is **absolutely not** for questions just because they're difficult. If we're going to start closing hard questions, we might as well ban every anime with fewer than 100,000 viewers on MAL, because the chance that anyone here will know the answer is low.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2014/07/25 | 4,217 | 17,952 | <issue_start>username_0: Let's start fresh
-----------------
Let us take a moment and start a fresh conversation about the value of [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions to our community. Let's start with a fresh, clean slate with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions. While they are popular... do they really contribute to the site and community?
Before we make a decision, let's take a look at some data points from the SE Data Explorer...
Let's take a look at the [site activity and vote graph](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/161411/site-activity-and-votegraph#graph).
What is it that we see here? Clearly we have a lot of unanswered questions (zombies).
Poor zombies... they're being neglected and could use some slaying.
### What's causing these zombies?
Let's take a look at the [total unanswered question history by tags](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/172449/tagged-zombie-timeseries?Weeks=52&TopTags=15#graph).
What do we see? Why our old friend, [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")!
The amount of question does seem troubling, but what about the *quality* of those questions?
Let's take a look at the data for [question and answer score by tags](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/160176/average-score-for-questions-and-answers-by-tag). (Sort them the amount of questions, descending.)
Even compared to the most popular tag, [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), the average score for [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is disappointing.
From this data, we see that our community tends to have a polarization towards specific series tags, much like programming languages on Stack Overflow. This along with our various meta tags like [culture](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/culture "show questions tagged 'culture'") and [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") are valuable to our community for the content they provide.
But what about [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")? Do these questions contribute anything valuable and worthwhile to our community? Do they attract so-called "help vampires" that plague much of the Stack Exchange network of sites (especially Stack Overflow)?
I personally believe that the current state of identification questions diminishes the value of the site to the average user. If things continue at this pace, our site might be flooded with mostly unanswered or low-quality [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions.
[identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions are typically easy to ask, topically neutral and initiated by new users. But is this a good thing or a bad thing?
<NAME> brings up a convincing point about these types of questions in [Movies and TV SE meta](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/a/75).
>
> In a not-too-distant future, most of those questions will be asked by hit-and-run users who will never return to this site. And you'll get bored having to tease out a decent question and provide answers to a post that will not add one lick of value or interest to this site.
>
>
>
If you go through unanswered [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions, you'll notice a good portion of them to be don't seem to have much response from the OP as the age of the question increases.
Have [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions helped us attract new **returning** users? Are there many good identification request questions that got you interested in this site or a particular series?
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the topic of the value of [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") to our community. Give us good examples, bad examples, or those in between. This is an important topic of discussion and should warrant more attention. If possible spread the word on current and new [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions, to attract more attention to this discussion.
### Now what do you think?
I have given you my opinions, so please take some time to consider the topic and give your thoughts. You're free to agree, disagree, or be undecided. You're an important part of this community, regardless of how much or how little reputation you have. Your opinion matters because it lets us know how you feel and what kind of experience you would like.
I'm not necessarily saying all [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions are bad, nor that we should get rid of all of them. I'm suggesting that we should perhaps be more stringent on the quality of these questions. The human memory can be very unreliable (witness testimonies are a good example of this), especially when a fair amount of time has passed. Your memory might be affected by current trends, media, or even your day to day, if you're going by just memory alone, unless you never forget anything, you'll probably be missing bits and pieces.
For an example, if I'm trying to remember [a certain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oruchuban_Ebichu) ecchi/dirty joke anime series about an office lady and her talking hamster, Ebichu. I might confuse the characteristics of Pikachu and Ebichu, and because they share similar characteristics, being mousy and cute animal creature. I might mistake Ebichu as being yellow or have stripes, because I watch the anime regularly. If I give such an erroneous description to someone trying to help me the mismatch actually makes it hard for that person to find the series since they're going to be looking for a yellow hamster.
This discussion will be open awhile to garner more attention feedback, so take your time. If you feel that you have a better solution, feel free to post your suggestion as an answer.
As a side note, the discussion primarily focuses on [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") as a standalone tag. Whether or not we should be tagging questions about identifying a specific reference in a specified tagged series (e.g, who is being parodied in X series in Z screenshot) should be left for another discussion.
**tl;dr:** [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions are not of good quality (by nature), piling up, they don't seem to actively contribute to user retention. A complete ban on such types of questions seem counter-intuitive as there have been some good questions, but the bad ones seem to be spoiling the rest of the bunch. If you're indifferent about these types of questions, it's probably because you don't feel that they actively contribute anything, unlike the series tags or meta tags like [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'").<issue_comment>username_1: Until these kinds of questions (and answers to them) are strictly prohibited on SE, I will answer them if I know the answer and if I feel like typing it and finding some references, even though I know that the poster might not ever come back to the site.
I like helping people when it's as easy as googling a link to a credible source about something I know and just typing a short description, a 3-minute job. Gratitude in response to a helpful answer is a reward enough for me. Of course, I might not feel like doing this at times, but it's only natural.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There are currently 440 questions asked with this tag, with 57 unanswered.
Naruto, as you have mentioned, has 407 questions, but only 8 are unanswered.
As you mentioned, we are polarised towards series specific tags and Naruto also has a large fan base in A&M so I feel this is a slightly unfair choice.
So taking a different question tag, like anime-production (132/11) or Tropes (92/5) which are also non-series specific - we can see percentagewise that we are not far off the ~11% unanswered that identification requests has.
On Area51, it says that a healthy beta is 90% answered rate, so ideally that's what I'd like to aim for with these, and its not too far off it
There are a multitude of issues with these questions
* Generally not as interesting to answerers. No identification requests normally exceed any significant upvote count. I don't think this will change regardless of rules enforced
* Identification requests have a much larger scope. Naruto consists of several media types, but identification requests could be targeting an individual scene in one out of every anime ever. This means this questions can be *very hard to answer*, and I think this is a large contributing factor to the unanswered stat
* It probably does attract zombie users, but as long as they're here I don't think there's much to do to mitigate that
I think the rules defined [earlier in the year](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions?rq=1) are on the right track and don't need immediate rework, maybe we need to be more strict with closing questions that don't fit the requirements though
I personally don't like the questions, but they serve a useful purpose and I still think we should keep them, as long as it does not overtake the site.
**TL;DR**: I think the rules we have in place are adequate, we have closures for under defined questions, perhaps maybe we should be more stringent if it is getting out of hand
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: In my opinion the main reason so many ID requests are unanswered or with no answers is due to the fact that users who ask these types of questions are 'no shows' and often don't return back to the site to accept the answer and simply because this sites majority only like/have knowledge in areas such as Naruto, Fairy Tail and other popular tags and anime series or image only identification requests because of Google's, yes, annoying Reverse Image Search.
To me reverse image search is likely to get a new first user a -1 or a -2 on an image id request due to how easy it is to find what anime it is from just a 'right click on picture' in Google Chrome or a 'upload picture by URL' on iexplorer, Google. Personally I tend to upvote. There's nothing worse than just getting a -1 straight away. Also image identification, whether they are easy to find or not hardly get upvoted anymore. The most you might get is if it is a moe picture and that will be +5 max. I was surprised to see how many ID requests (image only) and other identification requests got +11 and even more and the answers got ridiculous + 15 - +20 in some cases last year and even nearing the end of the year last year. (might be exaggerating a bit, but I'm sure I have seen some).
I do know that there was Google Image Search then and these answers mostly all used Google Image Search too.
Generally I thought Stackexchange encouraged more questions. I have to say that being more stricter on identification requests is a bit silly. It sounds like you want to force and strain visitors/question askers into writing 60 paragraphs of description. Sometimes even 3-4 lines is enough for some person who knows it to answer it if you include the Genre, a specific scene and some other details and it kinda reduces people from just looking away to the next question and losing interest due to how long it is.
Finally the last thing I would say is that if we want more answers to the unanswered id requests then we need a wider and bigger Anime & Manga community with people who watch and read different types rather than Naruto and other animes/mangas that fall under the category ***Shounen***. That way, if someone asks a id request for a yaoi manga for example, we have some other users who can answer them on the site and if we have more people, with a variety who watch different things then there is more of a chance of these getting answers and possibly good ones too. To be honest, I didn't really notice this. To me it doesn't seem to be spoiling anything, its just that there aren't any answers to them....yet....otherwise I think I might just stay undecided for now.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I actually have a few ideas on how to alleviate this problem, but I think to see most of them implemented would require effort from the part of Stack Exchange. Before I propose these ideas, I will cut to the chase and offer my opinion: **it is feasible to keep identification request questions going as they are now, at least until this site leaves Beta**. Granted, we need to be more stringent and add more QC guidelines and be more clear of what they are.
Option 1: Have a separate forum for identification requests
-----------------------------------------------------------
This could be a chat room or another Stack Exchange site reserved for identification requests. If such an SE site is formed, we could even merge Anime & Manga identification requests with those from Arqade and Movies & TVs, and just migrate all questions having only the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag to that site.
The current threshold to participate in the site's chat rooms is 20 reputations, which is not asking too much from the new users. We can even make this easier for them by rewarding reputations to users for completing the Tour. Now about the Tour: I really dislike it in its current unhelpful form. The site Tour should be more unique and tailored to Anime & Manga, and provide more incentives (e.g. privileges) for new users to complete them. More about this in the next section.
Option 2: Require new users to complete the Tour before they are able to ask identification request questions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When a user asks their first question, after they click on the **Ask Question** link, they should be brought to a page asking *What is your question about?* and a list of the 3–5 most popular tag names on the left and tag wikis on the right. The first in that list should be [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"). If they check that, they will be brought to the updated Tour page, in which they will learn about some useful tools for identification request questions such as Google Reverse Image Search for images and Shazam for music. Then give them some tests similar in nature to the [review tests (audits)](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/157094/questions-about-review-testing) that could test them some identification questions that could be answered using Google Reverse Image Search to check that they know their tools. If they fail too many times, they will be banned.
Option 2.5: Further require some reputations to ask identification request questions (does not apply to trusted users)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is if we adopt Option 2 and want to be more strict about the qualities of identification request questions. We can also add one more restriction that they can not ask a second identification request question unless they accept or leave a comment on their first one, given that it has an answer with more than 2 upvotes. This is going a bit extreme, so it should be reserved for the time when the number of low quality identification request questions skyrocketed.
Option 3: Downvote and ignore more the bad questions
----------------------------------------------------
Unlocked, unanswered questions that have negative scores [will be automatically deleted by the system after 30 days](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5221/how-does-deleting-work-what-can-cause-a-post-to-be-deleted-and-what-does-that/5222#5222), and questions with -4 score or lower [won't show up on the front page](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/117119/how-many-downvotes-to-push-an-active-question-off-the-active-list/117120#117120). Plus, downvoting a question [doesn't cost one reputations](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/93023/why-do-i-not-lose-reputation-when-i-downvote-posts/93024#93024), unlike downvoting an answer which does. Voting is easier and less time consuming than flagging and also saves the reviewers and moderators some time from unnecessary hassle.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/08/15 | 541 | 1,938 | <issue_start>username_0: I was wondering but is the site batoto a legal manga reading site or not? I noticed on an answer on this question: *[How did the Female Titan cut Eren's titan form?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/5197/how-did-the-female-titan-cut-erens-titan-form?answertab=active#tab-top)* has a link, linking to Batoto.
Batoto sounds legal when I was Google Searching it. I have used this site before and enjoy high quality manga and minimal ad's etc however I am probably guessing just like all other manga reading sites on the internet, this ones probably illegal too.
So is Batoto legal?<issue_comment>username_1: Batoto distributes unlicensed manga for free, so it's pretty safe to say that it's illegal. They do remove manga once they're officially licensed overseas, which I guess is better than some other sites, but it's still not a licensed provider of any manga I know of.
Moreover, Batoto is one of the many targets of the [recent crackdown](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/30/national/japan-begins-anti-piracy-campaign-300-internet-sites/) by the Japanese government on piracy sites:
Thanks to Krazer for the image.
Based on that, it seems pretty clear that for our purposes, this isn't the kind of site we want to be advertising or asking about.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: We've already had this discussion. We are not lawyers and not meant to be. If the link supplements the answer and adds details, it's not our position to deal with the legality of links.
If Stack Exchange receives a takedown notice, the staff will handle it, or instruct us moderators to handle it.
---
Of course, if the question itself is seeking advice on where to get unlicensed media or about sites with questionable legality, (i.e. the answer will 100% be bad), feel free to close, delete and flag.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/08/19 | 2,000 | 8,043 | <issue_start>username_0: Usually a question is voted according to it's content. A well posed or interesting question will receive lots of up-votes to give it some spotlight for possible interested readers to read. Now how should identification requests be voted? I usually upvote the answerer, as id-request usually take some effort to find, but what makes a certain id-request question more valuable then another?
For example if we would look at the top four most voted id-requests the question basically contains nothing more than a picture. Does that mean those are good asked questions? We know they aren't, but they come out on top and set an example of what id-requests should look like. One could argue that picture based questions are valuable as they usually come from a forum and if another person would google that picture they'd come out on our website. But wouldn't we want questions like the fifth top question to come out on top? Questions with a lot of information to go on. Well structured, with some effort put into?
Anyway **tl;dr**, are there any regulations or guidelines towards voting identification requests or should I just continue to vote based on the feeling I have when reading the question?
---
Top five questions
1. [What manga is this image with a depressed girl from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4122/6166)
2. [What are the cats watching?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4767/6166)
3. [What anime is this winking girl from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4282/6166)
4. [What anime is this blonde girl wearing a purple dress from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/5099/6166)
5. [Identify anime with submarine under aerial attack](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/6600/6166)<issue_comment>username_1: I vote based on the hover text for the voting buttons:
>
> **Up:** This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear
>
>
> **Down:** This question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful
>
>
>
Research effort speaks for itself; clarity and usefulness in ID requests go hand-in-hand, in that anyone else who will find the answer useful needs to *be able to find the question via keywords*.
For your specific examples (*disclaimer: since some questions are older, my voting habits may have changed, and thus what I write here may not reflect whether or not I have voted on said questions*):
1. Would not vote for. While the answer is not easily found by searching, the question has a single useful keyword and the OP does specifically state their research effort. ("I have tried other sites" is internet jargon for "plz help I'm desperate".)
2. Would not vote for. Again, not so easy to find by searching, and the title keywords are *okay*, but the OP does specifically state their research effort.
3. Would vote down. Easily found by reverse image search, no keywords, no research effort stated.
4. Would vote down. Easily found by reverse image search, no keywords, no research effort stated.
5. Would absolutely vote up. *Not* easily found by search, *very* well keyworded, and though the OP does not state specific sources of research, there is a list of I-thought-it-might-be-this-but-it's-actually-not results.
Keep in mind, voting is *a user preference* and we cannot enforce rules, nor should we even try. That breaks the entire spirit of voting and its level of anonymity and freedom.
**tl;dr** There are no regulations. Vote however you want!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I won't say there are any strict guidelines on how you should vote up or down. Merely some suggestions...
If you feel that a particular id-request question is good and well formed (even if you don't know what the series is), feel free to up vote it. But if you that is is not particularly good question (i.e., too vague) you are free to downvote it as such. If you do, try to leave a comment explaining why, it'll help better educate the OP and other users who might have similar questions.
Due to the ambiguous nature of identification question, many users are unsure of the quality. If you're unsure, feel free to ask someone. They'll be more than happy to help. If you're unsure how to gauge the quality of an id-request, use the [guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/892/63) as a starting guide. Does it fulfill the minimum criteria? Why or why not? Once you get a good feel for what's good and bad, things should come naturally to you. It's perfectly natural to be confused, because people might life to ride the bandwagon with voting.
When judging the quality of a question, consider the following:
* **Does the title adequately summarize the body?** "I need help remembering this anime" doesn't make a good question, you'll need to know more off then bat before you can even start looking. If I were to ask "What is this anime with sky-surfing mech about a boy with messy brown hair that's looking for a girl with blue hair?" you have a better place to start, because right off the bat you can ask yourself, do have I seen or heard of this series?
* **How well does the question fulfill the [guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/892/63)?** The nature of id-requests rely heavily on a person's memory, which is rarely infallible. We typically then to piece thing together from our everyday, so piece might get jumbled up. You might confuse details from a childhood TV series with one from a book you read recently or as a child. The guidelines are there as a minimum standard to help you get started and organized, whether people choose to follow them or not is up to them.
* **Do you understand what they are trying to ask about** If can't understand what the OP is talking about, ask them or try to help them better articulate their question. Given the international notoriety of the media, it's likely that English isn't everyone's primary language.
* **Did the OP attempt to at least try to do some (re)searching themselves?** Help vampires have plagued the Stack Exchange family of sites for a long time and are typically unavoidable given the nature of the site and community. We don't have it as bad on our site, but that doesn't mean we should be lax about it. If a question feel like they asking "plx halp me find this anime" and it's obviously that if they made the [smallest of efforts](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/793/how-can-i-identify-an-anime-using-reverse-image-search) they would've found their answer, you can consider down voting it. However before you do, take into consideration a person's technical skill, not everyone is technologically savvy. Fans of anime and manga come not only from different countries, but from different ages and demographics as well. A newcomer might not know what the latest most popular anime in Japan is or what they symbol their friend where when cosplaying as a ninja. If the OP take the time to explain why they are unable to find something or why they're looking for something, try to give then a benefit of the doubt. Nobody likes doing work for someone that didn't bother trying to do it themselves and they shouldn't.
* **"Did you find the question useful?"** Sometimes an id-request question might help you find a series that you've never heard of otherwise and would actually like. Feel free to give the OP an upvote in addition to the answerer.
A blatantly incorrect/bad answer stands out as being bad the more down votes it has. A blatantly bad question is made more prominent with down votes. The inverse is true for upvotes. Use your best judgement and vote to help other distinguish the good from the bad.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: ID requests are a whole different type of questions on this site, and still they can be poorly/nicely worded and full/devoid of details that help to answer them. Voting rules should be the same as usual. If the questions is clear and interesting − upvote. If it's unclear and therefore very hard to answer − downvote, with a comment helping OP to improve it.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/08/20 | 1,907 | 8,042 | <issue_start>username_0: Prompted by TONS of questions (just browse the site, won't even link examples here) about where to find SUB or DUB of your favorite anime, where the OP does not care about HOW he will access his media, but adds the sacred `"how can I legally"` to the question and suddenly everything is OK.
Should these questions with the caveat added be considered acceptable?<issue_comment>username_1: I disagree that adding 'legally' does not dodge the bullet - it discourages users from posting links to illegal sites, and answers will be deleted if they do.
Sure the original poster mightn't have any intention of obtaining it legally, but if we don't post illegal sites, There will be no legality problems over this.
If we were to close questions about finding shows legally, we could miss out on some good questions, like [Was the ufotable Touhou anime ever released?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/56/was-the-ufotable-touhou-anime-ever-released) - Admittedly it isn't 'where can I watch this' but is the same in concept.
I do agree however that many of these questions are low quality, but I don't think we can avoid that apart from downvoting questions which will then eventually be deleted from the site
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I disagree with your question in two ways (and mostly agree with [the answer by username_1](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1089)). In fact both of them have already been discussed here before.
---
First, regarding the question of whether adding "legally" is a good idea:
The primary purpose of all community moderation policies is not to enforce any laws, including copyright law. Copyright claims are handled by Stack Exchange Inc. We have no part in this process. In fact, nearly every post here which contains an image is probably technically violating copyright law (though some may still qualify as fair use). If the rights-holders wanted those removed, they could go through Stack Exchange's [designated agent](http://stackexchange.com/legal/terms-of-service#designatedagent) and follow the standard DMCA protocols. But those sorts of minor copyright violations aren't the target of our community moderation.
Rather, our goal in explicitly prohibiting questions "requesting illegal or copyrighted" works (as per the [help center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic)) is because we're trying to create a reasonably respectful and professional Q&A site on this topic, and explicitly promoting pirated content on this site runs against that interest. If people really want to steal products from creators, they can probably find many ways to do so, but we don't want to be helping them with that.
There are 3 kinds of common incoming requests for anime/manga. We sometimes get ones asking explicitly for legal sources. These are not in any way in conflict with the above. We also occasionally get ones which are explicitly asking for unlicensed sources. This second category is explicitly off-topic according to the help center, and we have an off-topic reason for these questions. The third kind are questions which are not explicit with regards to this, and how to deal with them is also not as clear.
A previous question on this third class of questions already exists: [Should questions asking for translated anime/manga without specification be closed?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/795/should-questions-asking-for-translated-anime-manga-without-specification-be-clos). The consensus there is to give users the benefit of the doubt and assume they were trying to ask a question in the first category, but also to explicitly edit this into their question and preferably leave a comment alerting the user of this policy in case they are not aware. If you disagree with this, you're welcome to add a differing opinion there, but so far my answer seems to have a pretty strong consensus.
---
Second, regarding whether these are in fact good questions:
I disagree with you that these are uniformly bad questions, but I'm sympathetic to the viewpoint that many of them do not show much research effort. Others are rather specialized and will only be useful for a small number of people. And this information can change, making such questions similar (but not identical) to the "unannounced future events" questions that we do close (e.g. "Will anime X get a second season?").
None of these are really fatal flaws though. It's possible for a question asking about releases to be legitimately challenging to answer. One needs to track down various press releases (not always in English) and follow through, which could even involve contacting the customer service department of the licensing company to see if there have been any updates. This can actually be surprisingly challenging in some cases. Regarding small audiences, many people import anime releases (since they're only officially released in a small number of countries), which tends to make these questions apply to a larger audience than one might otherwise think. And regarding being like the "future events" questions, these are different in that they're objectively answerable at the moment. The answers might later become obsolete, but we can deal with that just like with any other question where that is a problem: edit and/or post a new answer.
When you see a question which has any or all of these problems, you should do (at least) one of two things. If you can improve the question, edit it to fix the problems. If the question demonstrates a lack of effort on the part of the asker, downvote it.
We've also discussed this topic before (see [How should we deal with questions asking for where to buy, watch, anime or manga media or such related merchandise?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/595)), and the (again strong) consensus was to allow these questions. Since then, I've not seen us be overrun by such questions; there have been maybe a couple dozen. You're welcome to post your opinions there on this if you disagree, but I'm not seeing any evidence for your claim that we're going to be flooded by these.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I am probably the user responsible for you bringing this question to life.
My opinion:
***If*** the question can be edited, **it should be**. I think the site closes to quickly. For me I like to give questions the chance to be answered by narrowing it down in form of editing.
I usually like to edit spelling, grammar at times, cleaning up a question and if a question asks for where to watch or download anime X or find anime A in subbed or dubbed, I usually like to edit it to reflect that they want to find it legally whether they intend that or not. Personally when I come across questions like these, instead of closing, I like to edit it if possible. If not I just close.
If we did this it would just mean less reason to use the close votes. Although I haven't usually done this when I have edited questions before I think when it is edited we should maybe direct them to this answer here on the question [How can I tell if a site is Legal?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/922/how-can-i-tell-if-a-site-is-legal?answertab=active#tab-top) and notify the user to have a look at the legal websites linked there as they may be found there.
For example *[Free! Iwatobi Swim Club](http://www.crunchyroll.com/free-iwatobi-swim-club)* can be found on Crunchyroll if they asked for example *Where can I watch Free! Iwatobi Swim Club online legally?*. ;)
If it's a question that goes along the lines of....
---
*Title*: Where can I watch Free! in subbed?
*Body*: Is there a place where I can watch Free! in subbed!! I am desperate and really need help!!!! Does anyone know a site where I can watch it?
If there is a question like this, instead of closing, I would suggest editing it to reflect that they mean legal.
If you have any comments/suggestions or disagree you can downvote or leave a friendly comment below. :)
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/08/21 | 864 | 3,562 | <issue_start>username_0: I noticed that the template for replying to id-requests has become something like
* Name of the manga/anime
* Picture with evidence
* Synopsis
* Link(s) to sources
Coincidently I came across some old one-liner answers from 2013. There will probably be more of those around.
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/2606/6166>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/6231/6166>
At that time it was apparently accepted to give one-liner answers, while now they would be voted down or suggested to edit with more evidence. If such answers are encountered much after date, should they be flagged according to the current standard that is set out? Or should they be left alone as it might become a tedious job cleaning them all up and not really worth it?<issue_comment>username_1: As there are currently around 500+ questions under [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"), I think it is possible to clean up old answers. There is no need to do it all at once - just do a few at a time - to avoid getting tired at the workload and also preventing the active list from being flooded with old questions.
I suggest prioritize editing answers which have been accepted, or confirmed by the OP to be the answer via comment. Low-quality answers which are added later on, or those that the editor cannot be sure to answer the question, should be left alone (or flagged).
When editing, please try your best to match the details in the question. The synopsis alone may not have much similarity to the description in the question. I understand this is effort unrewarded, but if one cares about the quality of the sites, reputation doesn't really matter.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm not convinced this is worth the effort to clean up. Of course, any improvements are always welcome, but I think there are probably other things which are more critical to improve, e.g. ID request titles. If you encounter an answer like this in "the wild" and feel like cleaning it up, go for it, but I have a hard time believing it's worth anyone's time to actively search these out.
However, this is something that we can find relatively easily, unlike poorly titled questions. I wrote [a data explorer query](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/revision/221414/290628/shortest-answers-by-tag?TagName=identification-request) for this purpose (mostly by cutting and pasting stuff from other queries). It returns a list of all answers with a given tag sorted by their length in characters, and some other meta data related to them. While this could be improved by dealing with links and images better, it should be useful at least for finding the worst offenders if you feel so inclined.
With that said, a word of caution. You can certainly find most of the answers which need more detail this way, but the false positive rate is also large (probably over 50% even if you only look at the shortest few dozen answers). Many of the answers, including some with a very low character count, are nonetheless perfectly complete answers to the question which anyone can verify. If you are going to do this, I suggest focusing on the ones which *need* additional information to be verifiable by someone who has not watched/read the series, not just anything which is short. I also agree with [username_1's answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1094) to prioritize accepted answers and to tailor edits to the question as best as possible.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/09/06 | 205 | 823 | <issue_start>username_0: Linking to external sites subjects to link rot.
Is it a good idea to host all such images on imgur and add a footnote citing the source of the image?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, but you should make sure you use the tool in the editor - As this will go through Stack Exchange's pro account and the images will not expire.
<http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/new-image-upload-support/>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: We should convert all images to imgur links, but we should also add an **Important notice!** for image identification requests saying that the image link must be provided as it is on where the OP found it, so it would improve the chances of finding the source.
Images often have title, character or artist name in the url. Can't allow that to go to waste.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/09/15 | 386 | 1,537 | <issue_start>username_0: Several answers on the site are from wikia (several of MY answers are based off of wikia...)
How reliable is the information contained in the wikia pages. They do not have the careful curation of sources like wikipedia, for one.<issue_comment>username_1: As someone who has contributed to a lot of Wikia sites, I can really only say it depends on the Wiki.
Some are very, VERY strict, like Wikipedia, and reject edits that do not cite sources. Others are not as strict, and let information go without citing sources (unless it gets controversial). And lastly, a few will just let whoever do whatever and sources are rarely found in Wikis like this.
I agree with Krazer that we should look at [tertiary sources](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_source), or at the *very* least the person posting the Wikia answer should be familiar enough with the series to confirm and clarify the details provided. Just dumping the Wikia response (or worse, just the link) for the OP is not helpful and should be discouraged.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Basically, you can always figure out if it's reliable or not. If there are no citations whatsoever and most of the pages are 1-2 sentence long, along with many missing pages, it's not a good source. If there are a many references, screenshots, quotes, and overall it's somewhat like (or better than) Wikipedia, then it's a reliable source.
A gaming example would be the official and any unofficial Team Fortress 2 wiki. The difference is huge.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/09/25 | 1,357 | 5,212 | <issue_start>username_0: From watching just the first movie, I would say no.
But the stories are too different, and they go such separate ways that, at the end of the third movie, I am watching something completely inedit.
Having only one tag would help group all Evangelion questions into one feed, but also would be useless to identify what continuity the OP is speaking of.
For example, if one were to ask: "Did Kaworu and Shinji ever kissed?", someone would have to ask in comments "NGE or Rebuild?"
So, three choices:
1. Do not make another tag. Leave the [neon-genesis-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/neon-genesis-evangelion "show questions tagged 'neon-genesis-evangelion'") tag only.
2. Create two tags. [neon-genesis-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/neon-genesis-evangelion "show questions tagged 'neon-genesis-evangelion'") and [rebuild-of-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rebuild-of-evangelion "show questions tagged 'rebuild-of-evangelion'"). Let people interested in Evangelion follow both or only one if they want.
3. Change the [neon-genesis-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/neon-genesis-evangelion "show questions tagged 'neon-genesis-evangelion'") into just [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'"), and make it apply to both. Maybe do tag synonims.
My personal opinion is #2 or #3. Rebuild's movie 4.44 is due next year, and there will be a renewed interest in discussing the movie storyline, comparing both, etc.
Leaving rebuild questions tagged as [neon-genesis-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/neon-genesis-evangelion "show questions tagged 'neon-genesis-evangelion'") can be confusing to some users.<issue_comment>username_1: I'm semi-strong against option 2. I understand your point (even though I haven't watched Rebuild), but I think it's kind of annoying if we have multiple tags for series that are in the same franchise, even if one is a reboot of the other or significantly different from it. Whenever I write a question about Fate/Zero, I'm afraid people will miss it if I don't also tag it Fate/Stay Night, so I add both tags, which just feels like an unnecessary extra step. And I would definitely add the Fate/Stay Night tag if I were asking about one of the more obscure properties, like Strange Fake, or even Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, because the chances are pretty good that people who know about Stay Night know about these others, and I would want to make sure those people saw my question. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
The other thing is, I assume that certain questions will apply to or solicit information about both the original and Rebuild. E.g. your example "Did Shinji and Kaworu ever kiss?"; the questioner might want to know if it ever happened in any of the original, Rebuild, the original manga, the Angelic Days manga, or the Girlfriend of Steel video games. Personally, if someone asked "Did Shinji and Kaworu ever kiss in Rebuild?" and I was going to write an answer, I might also mention whether it had ever happened in Neon Genesis, just for the sake of completeness. (For example, "No, they never did in Rebuild, but in Neon Genesis...")
So I only see the putative Rebuild tag being useful for narrowly focused plot questions, and I expect that most of those questions will have to mention some context, which usually begins "In Rebuild of Evangelion movie x.yy, ..." I just don't see it as being that confusing for Rebuild questions to be tagged [neon-genesis-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/neon-genesis-evangelion "show questions tagged 'neon-genesis-evangelion'"), even if it is a different story and different continuity. That goes double if we go with option 3 and make an [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'") tag.
SciFi and Fantasy SE takes the approach of having separate tags for related properties. For instance, they have a Star Trek tag, a Star Trek TOS tag, a Star Trek TNG tag, and so on for all the bajillion Star Trek properties. The Star Trek tag acts as sort of a "One Tag to Rule them All" in that every single question related to Star Trek appears to have this tag, and tags for The Original Series, The Next Generation, etc. are added as necessary. This is sort of a compromise between your option 2 (with completely separate tags for the original and Rebuild) and option 3 (with a single general tag). It wouldn't be my personal preference, for the reasons I stated above, but it would suit me better than straight option 2, where the two separate tags are officially unrelated and one of them (probably the NGE tag) most likely ends up becoming the One Tag.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think option 3 is the best for the site. It covers the timeline in the Sadamoto manga, the new movies, the origial TV series + movies, the spin-off manga and Anima light novels. If there's a specific timeline or property related to the question, it'll need to be clarified or included in the question.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/17 | 583 | 2,437 | <issue_start>username_0: We currently have three off-topic reasons:
1. Requests for illegal materials
2. Reading recommendations
3. Unannounced future events
I feel that all three are reasonably used today, and I've noticed another trend which isn't completely new, but I start noticing it more and more.
I propose a **fourth** off-topic close reason,
4. This identification request contains too little detail to be answered. Please refer to **[these guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892)** and add more details to your question.
I know this falls under the subset of "Unclear", but I think a close reason specifically for that, with the appropriate links and explanations is a good idea. It's not always clear to users what we expect of them in these types of questions.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, I completely agree with this proposal. I've often felt uncomfortable closing id requests with too little detail for the reason "Unclear what you're asking", because I don't think it's unclear at all—they want to know what this anime they remember is. The unclear part is how anyone is supposed to recognize it with the amount of detail provided, but that's not the same as being unclear on what the actual question is.
For a while I was giving "Too broad" as a reason to close these kinds of questions. That made more sense to me for a lot of these, because with the lack of detail, the description could apply to a huge number of shows. There was one question asking for a show where the characters put up barriers before a battle to contain the damage; a bunch of us chimed in with comments saying "Nanoha!" "X!" "Shakugan no Shana!" until one of us randomly stumbled on the answer; when three such different shows are all plausible answers to a question, it seems pretty broad to me. But that does misinterpret the meaning of "too broad", and the community rallied behind "unclear" in any case, which, as I said, doesn't seem quite right either. A new close reason would solve this, and also help new users by giving them something to search for on meta or in the help center when no one bothers to leave an explanatory comment.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You make a good case for this, and have done well with the existing off-topic reasons - go ahead and add a fourth.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2014/10/28 | 2,108 | 7,983 | <issue_start>username_0: I was gonna create this post only for [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"), but then noticed [this other post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/735/49) that asks for the same for [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'"). As such, I'll make this about both (also because the other post is almost a year old, and got very little attention).
We have [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") so that users with low rep that want to ask a question about a series which has no tag yet can use it, and wait for somebody with enough rep to create it for them.
And we have [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") for when users want to have a series or image identified.
However, many new users seem to either use completely random tags for either of the above, or to recur to [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") many times.
---
I propose that **these two tags be suggested by default** here
in order to have something more like what happens in meta
where the tags suggested are fixed (I think the ones suggested on the main site are random, but if not, at least these two tags should be there by default).
---
Or maybe have [some warning](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1084/49), like the one that shows up if you use [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"):
That could read something like **"Can't find the tag you're looking for? Try 'retag' for a new series or 'identification-request' if you want help identifying a series"**.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think it a good idea to encourage the use of [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") *or* [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'").
To tackle retagging first: **it's not unusual for authors to miss-tag their questions**. There's not a site on the network that doesn't have tags that are misused frequently. We have [an escalation process to remove bad tags](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/242661/1438) and we make it as easy as possible for [high-reputation users](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/moderator-tools) to edit question tags. So the usual path is for authors to do their best to tag correctly and editors to fix their mistakes. I consider [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") to be a [harmful meta tag](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/the-death-of-meta-tags/).
While I think identification questions are less than ideal, I do think [they have a place on many sites](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1085/5367). But I don't think encouraging such questions is a great idea. People already jump to those sorts of questions on many sites and prompting more hurts the overall usefulness of this site.
---
I completely missed [Shog's meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1083/improve-question-quality-by-informing-users-of-reverse-image-search-sites/1084#1084) so I'm taking back my snap advice for the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") wiki.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Update:** I liked username_3's suggestion the best, so...
[](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/ask)
---
The way I see it, y'all are caught between a rock and a hard place. [Jon's right](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1139/having-identification-request-and-retag-show-up-as-tag-suggestions-by-defaul/1140#1140): retag is a crappy tag. Of course, that's the whole point: to exist just long enough for someone with tag-creation privileges to see it, get all sick and disgusted about it, and replace it with something better.
[identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is a necessary evil - ya definitely don't want folks using it any more than they *need* to, but when they're actually asking an identification question... They better use the right tag.
The problem is, it's not really possible to convey *any* of that in that little bit of tag suggestion text. All you can really say is "these are examples of tags". And then... You'd be giving them the two worst possible examples. Without any guidance on how/why they should be used.
Yeah. Your lives suck. Tagging-wise. You have my sympathy...
But! There may be hope...
>
> However, many new users seem to either use completely random tags for either of the above, or to recur to anime-production many times.
>
>
>
And why would they do that? Well, because the most obvious tag is [anime](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime "show questions tagged 'anime'") - and that's not available. So the next best thing is any ol' tag that *starts* with anime, right? Well, no. But that's what they go with given no other options
So, what if we just attached a bit of guidance to [anime](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime "show questions tagged 'anime'")? Like [we already did for identification](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1083/improve-question-quality-by-informing-users-of-reverse-image-search-sites/1084#1084), but without the ability to actually submit the question that way - something like, "if you can't find the right tag, use [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") and we'll make one for you!" I'm just thinking out loud; come up with some better guidance for lost and I'll wire it up to [anime](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime "show questions tagged 'anime'") and [manga](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/manga "show questions tagged 'manga'")... Then we can see if it works.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: After a bit of thinking I noticed that there is a huge stupid hint that doesn't provide a lot of help to new users. Just look at the original text. The first paragraph doesn't even answer the question "how to tag". This is what I came up with (some more editing and it could be a lot more helpful):
Special tags are [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"), [anime-history](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-history "show questions tagged 'anime-history'"), [manga-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/manga-production "show questions tagged 'manga-production'"), [terminology](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/terminology "show questions tagged 'terminology'"), [tropes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tropes "show questions tagged 'tropes'") or any other tag that is not about any one specific anime or manga work.
There's no need to add new functionality or anything. We just need to edit that horribly unhelpful hint box that takes up so much space and helps so little right now.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/11/11 | 872 | 3,752 | <issue_start>username_0: Recently, I've noticed that lots of id requests are getting resolved without any real answers posted. Either someone's stab in the dark comment turns out to be right, or the OP puts in a little more research and finds the title, then shows up and puts it in a comment. In both cases, once the OP knows the answer, he or she scampers off without posting an answer and can't be reached.
This bugs me. I want questions to have real answers if they've been answered; I don't want answers buried in the comment threads on wrong answers. If that wrong answer gets deleted, there goes the real answer. I don't want answers buried in the comment thread on the question itself either. I want real answers with substantive content, something that could potentially help other users if they're looking for the same series and remembered different things about it.
Does this bother anyone else, and if so, what should we do? In one instance, I wrote an answer based on what the OP put in the comments, after it became fairly clear the OP was gone and wasn't coming back. Now there's a real answer, but I didn't discover it, yet I'm getting rep for it, which doesn't seem right. In another instance, another user discovered the series and posted a real answer after the OP had found it, because the OP put that information at the bottom of a long comment thread on another, wrong, answer. I'm glad we got that real answer, but it was probably annoying to that user to find that all the effort put into answering the question was unneeded by the OP.
Some ideas I had for what to do in these cases:
* Free-for-all: The first user to notice gets to post an answer and gain rep.
* Community wiki: Write the answer and make it community wiki.
* Delete: The questions aren't useful, so get rid of them.
* Nothing: I'm the only weirdo who is bothered by this.
* Something else: Give me your ideas!
What does the community think is the best way to deal with this?<issue_comment>username_1: My vote is for community wiki.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This is a common problem. Comments are meant for clarification and improvement *for the question*, if you choose to answer in the comments, you take the risk of someone actually posting it as an answer.
If you see someone answering in a comment, especially if they don't migrate it to an answer later, feel free to answer yourself.
Of course, it still needs to be a detailed answer, include plot points, images and anything else that might improve the quality of the answer.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Thanks to everyone for your input. I'll summarize the points made so far. As @Madara Uchiha says, if someone finds the answer and then posts it in a comment without writing a real answer, we should feel free to write our own answers. As @JNat said in comments, we can write a regular answer or a community wiki answer, as suggested by @username_1. If it bothers you to get reputation for an answer you didn't write, use community wiki; if you don't have a problem with that, write a regular answer.
Either way, the most important thing is that the question gets answered. As @nhahtdh brought up, it's quick to put up a template answer with a link to Wikipedia, but it takes much longer to track down which episodes/chapters had the exact events that the OP refers to. But even a template answer is better than a title hidden at the bottom of a comment thread, so as long as the template answer contains some of the points from the OP's description, we shouldn't be afraid to slap one up so the question has a real answer. And of course, if you're cruising the site looking for something to do, you can edit the answer to add more detail.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer] |
2014/12/01 | 248 | 1,029 | <issue_start>username_0: Some SO sites do have a sandbox for questions (for example Code Golf)...
There are some interpretative questions I would like to ask, but since they cannot be answered via Word of God, there is always the chance people will misunderstand and flag/downvote it just by skimming it.
So, is there a sandbox in anime.se?<issue_comment>username_1: That would be [chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If there is doubt, user can double check their question here on meta before asking, like in StackOverflow. Well, or as @username_1 suggested, in chat room.
There is no need for a dedicated sandbox. CodeGolf's requirement is different, since they need to check the loopholes in the question and evaluate whether the challenge is doable, not duplicated before and interesting. Our questions don't require such stringent quality check, and the frequent edits (and close votes if applicable) are enough to keep the site quality in check.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/12/04 | 2,697 | 9,646 | <issue_start>username_0: This is the main information post about our [Maid Café (メイド喫茶) chat room](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-)'s chat bots. Yes, chat bots are *our new maid service*.
The room currently has the following bots working:
* [Taisho](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/116952/taisho)
The room also at one point had:
* [HoiHoi-san](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/106166/hoihoi-san)
* [Karasu](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/123344/karasu)
* [Ruri](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/122690/ruri)
---
### For a better experience, you might want to install:
* [Our famous StarScript!](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/235178/move-onebox-images-to-separate-section-in-starred-message-list)
* [Hide chat room description and tags so you can see more starred images on screen](https://stackapps.com/questions/6237/remove-chat-room-description-and-tags)
* [Hide site logo and links from the bottom right corner and prevent chat input area from hogging horizontal space which obstructs the starred images](https://stackapps.com/questions/6589/minimize-chat-input-area-%E2%88%92-remove-links-and-site-logo-no-auto-width)
---
Basic bot information
=====================
This section contains information for users that are only interested in what they can get from the chat bots right now. If you're not a programmer or don't have any interest in the inner workings of bots, skip the Advances info section.
HoiHoi-san
----------
She's our mechanical maid and the oldest non-human resident of the room (although we're not sure about some of our "users"). Her command calls start with `!!`.
### Functions
* `!!Google something` − Returns the first three results from Google search api;
* `!!Wiki something` − Returns an article link if there was a match;
* `!!Define something` − Returns the definition of a word or phrase on Wikitionary;
Taisho ~~and Karasu~~
---------------------
These ~~two~~ bonkuras are a cat ~~and a crow~~ with a red scarf that lets them speak in Japanese. We figured out how to translate most of their speech into English. They do essentially the same things. You can call them with the `#` prefix.
### Functions
* `#post` − Posts a picture of a cute girl, or even several. The cuteness varies from image to image. You can contribute to the image stash by asking the regulars in chat;
* `#unbox` or `#unonebox` − As the name suggests, breaks the format of the last message required to onebox it by adding an ellipsis symbol `…` at the end of the message. This is useful for hiding image previews or very big oneboxes that clutter chat space;
* `#undo` (also `#Delete`, `#Remove`) − Deletes last deletable message by bot. `#Undo 4` − deleted 4 last messages. `#Delete 1234567` − deletes bot's message with messageid 1234567. For obvious reasons, bot cannot delete any other user's messages like this. Only messages that have been posted no longer than 2 minutes ago can be deleted like this. If you are absolutely sure the message has to be deleted after this command stopped working, ask a moderator to delete it.
* `#id link` − Returns several image identification service links for the specified image link;
* `#isch link` − Returns google image search link;
* `#last` − Returns image ID links for the latest posted cute girl image. This service is one of the most popular, so naturally this command had to be implemented;
* `#alias` − Adds, removes or lists command aliases. To add an alias, use `#alias set` . To remove an alias, use `#alias remove` . You cannot remove original commands like that, of course. To list all aliases for a specific command, use `#alias list` .
* `#tag` − Finds out who posted the last image, its tag, and when it was fed to Taisho.
* `#` − Returns "I don't know this command" message. Due to incessant attempts to blame the developer for not adding a `post` command alias for all possible words, in conjunction with terrible attitude of the users and infinite laziness and unwillingness to accept all unknown commands as `#post` aliases, a new feature has been developed for easy aliasing. After receiving a response to an unknown command, press *up arrow key* and then send the exact same message (unedited) again. Bot will alias that command and post a picture simultaneously.
Ruri
----
Ruri would play text games with you, but now she's on a long journey overseas. We hope she comes back one day to make our daily lives a little better.
---
Advanced information
====================
This section covers more of every bot's inner workings and explains how some of the more complex commands work.
HoiHoi-san
----------
HoiHoi-san is based on a modified [Zirak's chat bot](https://github.com/Zirak/SO-ChatBot). There are many chat rooms across StackExchange that use Zirak's bot as a base for their own. It's written in JavaScript and runs in a browser as a bookmarklet. It uses the browser as a way to communicate.
Currently @ton.yeung is developing a [C# reimplementation of HoiHoi-san on Github](https://github.com/tonyeung/Stack-Exchange-Chat-Bot).
Taisho
------
The chat users are controlled by a chat bot app developed by [@Hakase](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/36474/hakase). The app is written in C# and uses ChatExchange.Net to connect to chat and send/receive messages.
### Image posting module (aka #post)
This module is set to automatically post images every *15* minutes. To be precise, after *15* minutes pass since the last image was posted by this module, it will start checking if *50* chat messages have been posted since the previous image was posted. Then, the module will wait *30* seconds since the last chat message to post the next image. This last interval is added to avoid interrupting a discussion with the large image.
Values in *italic* are variable and can be adjusted through following commands:
* `#post timeinterval T` − Wait **T** minutes before checking if enough messages were posted;
* `#post postinterval P` − Count **P** messages since the last image post;
* `#post waitinterval W` − Wait **W** seconds after the latest chat message appeared in chat, after which the image will finally be posted.
But please don't edit these settings, it's been working just fine for the past 3 years.
Ruri
----
She was created by @Prix who generously left us his RuriLib, which is a chat interaction library, that the current SE Chat Bot App uses.
---
Feel free to update this meta post with the most complete information about our chat bots!
Please, send feature requests and bug reports to the chat bots' respective developers.
---
Also check out these SE chat API libraries:
* [ChatExchange](https://github.com/Manishearth/ChatExchange) for Python;
* [ChatExchange.Net](https://github.com/ArcticEcho/ChatExchange.Net) for .NET languages;
* [JChatExchange](https://github.com/Vincentyification/JChatExchange) for Java (still under development);
* [SE-Chatty](https://github.com/KeyboardFire/stackexchange-chatty) for Ruby.<issue_comment>username_1: Taisho can now post images with specific tags.
Syntax: `#post`
Example: `#post wallpaper`
If there are no more images in the specified tag unposted, Taisho will simply post a random picture out of all unposted links.
To add images with a specific tag to unposted link pool, append the tag name when adding link list. You can use as many tags as you think would be reasonable.
Syntax: `#post add | |`
Example: `#post add http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=ExAmPlE wallpaper | konosuba | megumin`
To see the list of tagged links, use command `#post tags`.
---
Another way to add images with lots of different tags in a single text upload (apparently pastebin wants you to solve captchas for each uploaded text file, so this will help you speed things up):
```
link1
link2
tag1 | tag2 | tag3
link3
link4
tag4
link5
tag5 | tag6
link6
link7
```
The first section will be added without any tags, and the sections which are followed by a single line with tags delimited by `|` will be tagged as you would expect.
---
For your convenience, there are also image tag aliases. This means you can use different words to request images from the same tag.
To see what tag aliases are already set by users, say `#post tag aliases`
To add new tag alias, use `#post tag =`
To remove an alias, use `#post tag remove`
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_1: How to add images to Taisho's list of unposted pictures:
1. Find an album of nice anime-related images. They must not break any SE rules like containing nudity and such. Preferably high resolution and quality. Just be sensible.
2. Upload those images on a reliable hosting and get direct links to them. Imgur is one valid choice.
3. Put all direct links to the images separated by new line into a .txt file or an online text hosting site like Pastebin. An example of text file contents:
```
http://i.imgur.com/VHllhiu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wWGuSnK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2QvNewu.png
```
4. Get link to the .txt file or raw version of online text hosting. If it's on Hastebin, it should look like this: `http://hastebin.com/raw/asdfasdqwer`.
5. Add images to Taisho like shown in these examples:
```
#post add http://example.com/images.txt
#post add http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=_7a12H0_
#post add http://hastebin.com/raw/asdfasdqwer
```
6. (Optional) If you wish to add images with specific tags, add tag name after the link (separated by a space) like so:
```
#post add http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=_7a12H0_ sometag
```
More on the image tags can be found in [this post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2362/191).
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/12/14 | 1,060 | 4,322 | <issue_start>username_0: I was thinking about a question I wanted to ask on the non-meta site when I ran across this issue. For clarity, I'll detail what my question would have been. Note that I'm just using this to show an example, **I'm not asking the question quoted below.**1
>
> Question: *What is the relationship between Shinobu and Araragi in the Monogatari series?*
>
>
> Summary (shortened): *How are Shinobu and Araragi related? Why does Shinobu live in Araragi's shadow? Why was their relationship sour, as revealed in episode *X* of Nisemonogatari?*
>
>
>
For reference, I will assume that the answer(s) to this question will be explained as I get further into the series. If this would have been a valid question (e.g. it *isn't* explained perfectly later in the story), just assume that it wouldn't have been.
Thus, the proper answer and response to a question like this might be something along the lines of:
>
> This question is answered clearly at a later point in the story which you appear to have not gotten to yet. If you still don't understand, feel free to come back and ask the question again when you've caught up. If you weren't aware, the series is continued at `(some website)`with the name `(some name)`.
>
>
>
Is there a flag or standard response to use when this scenario occurs? If not, should there be? (Has this ever even been an issue?)
---
TL;DR
-----
**What do we do about questions that are asked by someone who doesn't know the answer because they haven't reached the point in the story where it is answered clearly?**
1Not yet and not here on meta, at least.<issue_comment>username_1: No, no, no, this is silly. The whole idea of Q&A isn't answering the question just for the original poster, but for anybody who might have that question.
The reasons why the OP doesn't know the answer may be:
* They still haven't read to the point where it is explained because the chapter the answer is in has not yet been released. This may change anytime in the future, and then the question will be valid, but until then it may be closed as off-topic about unannounced events.
* They didn't pay enough attention or skipped the answer for some other reason. If it's an important plot point to the story, and not something that can be easily found on google, the site allows such questions to exist. The purpose of Q&A includes answering questions to provide encyclopedic knowledge on a specific topic such as a particular anime/manga.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I guess what you're worried about here are spoilers. This has come up at least a couple times before for me, and I'm sure also for other users.
Generally, our standards are to answer the question asked in the best way possible, even if it requires information which the asker may not be aware of. This can lead to spoilers. In answers, it's common courtesy to write such spoiler information inside spoiler tags, which you can include by typing `>!` at the beginning of a paragraph. The result will look like this:
>
> This is spoiler text.
>
>
>
The reasoning for this is that it's more important that the answer be on the page than that the OP not be spoiled. The OP is just one person asking a question, but there can be hundreds or thousands more who reach the same question via Google and want to know the answer.
Of course, answerers don't always follow this. Even when they do, it's not hard to accidentally see things you don't want to see. So a good rule of thumb is to not ask unless you really want to know the answer, even if it means you might see some spoilers.
In some cases, if a question is very clearly answered later, it may be better to first post a comment stating that this is answered later in the series, preferably with some reference to episode/chapter number. That way the asker will know that they can just keep going forward in the series and will eventually have their answer, and they'll know that if they keep their question open and read the answers they're risking being spoiled. But so long as the question isn't deleted, it still needs to receive an accurate answer, and a comment like "this is answered in episode 8, go watch up until that point" is typically not an answer by our standards (though it is fine as a comment).
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2014/12/18 | 2,820 | 8,680 | <issue_start>username_0: Dear Gifter and Giftees,
After [all that shipping](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1165/lets-go-great-anime-se-gift-exchange-phase-1-ship-it-out), it's the time you've all been waiting for~ It's time to show off the gifts you've gotten from your giftees! Don't worry if your's have arrived! Quantum teleportation is coming soon! It the mean time bear with the wait of snail mail!
You don't have to be in your photo, but please do post a picture of your gift and anything you want to say to you giftee! That's all! Once all the the giftees have gathered we'll post the statistics of matching for this exchange! Look forward to it!
**All members are free to post their holidays gifts**, whether they participated in the exchange or not! Strut all you want~
If you haven't received your gift from by Jan. 10 and haven't receive any notice about your gift, contact a [moderator](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users?tab=moderators) via chat or by email at **<EMAIL>** and we'll work something out! And we won't have you be disappointed a second time!
On behalf of the moderators at Anime & Manga SE, I wish you a happy and festive holiday, and wish you good fortune in the coming year~
<issue_comment>username_1: Seems like I am the first one to be showing off. I received the manga: "The book of human insects".
I were a bit skeptical at first by the images shown on the cover, but the title actually got my hopes up. After reading the first 50 pages or so, I really started to like the story. And managed to read the whole thing in 2 days ;)
Thanks allot for the awesome gift ^^!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Here is my gift. It's courtesy of the great **username_7**!
Volume 6 of the awesome slice-of-life fine arts 4koma manga *GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class*!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Ecy1.jpg)
(Better quality ver coming soon)
Yay~ Thanks~
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Tonight I am going to post what I got, I will update this answer with peekshurs!
Sorry for being so late, I am too forgetful .\_.
**EDIT:**
Courtesy of username_5, a lovely christmas card :3
Two cute plushies (chick and Totoroooo~)
The first volume of the Yotsuba&! mango :3 I've not gotten round to it, but I will probably pick it up in the coming weekend :)
And a Tankōbon (I believe that's the right name for it :P) of "All you need is kill"
I love the plushies, they're cute :3
I'll probably read Yotsuba& this weekend and start on All you need is kill ^^ They look interesting :D
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I got the first three (or in fact the first nine, since they're 3-in-1) volumes of the manga version of Neon Genesis Evangelion from **username_3**.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/F14zz.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0WWbc.jpg) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8a4ao.jpg)
I haven't had the chance to read them yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll love them (the anime is one of my favourites). I can't thank my gifter enough, and these books will have a special spot on the shelf!
**And I hope we can make the gift exchange work again next year~**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Thank you **<NAME>**!
It took a while to get here, but it finally arrived. Customs must have been curious about what my gift was too!
(Kyouko-censored)
Time to open :D
Padded with some Japanese newspaper. The sports section - there seems to have been some horse racing event on recently.
Turfy \o/
Now, back to the gift! After taking out the newspaper, there was.....
**A figurine of Mikasa Ackerman from Attack On Titan!** (At this point I was shaking - half with happiness/excitement, half because I had gone to the gym just before coming home to open it)
I carefully took her out of her encasing and started checking out poses and different accessories - She's very customizable :D
Mikasa is my first full size figurine ( I have a Yotsuba& keydongle and a tiny non-posable Lucky Star figure), So I am super happy to get my first one today ^\_\_^. Here are some photos of Mikasa in action
I then had to eat, because I didn't realise so much time had passed!
I started getting into photography this year, so Mikasa will be my first model :D I looked up some guides online to improve my photos. There's lots I need to try doing - Different lighting, backgrounds, angles, ... I look forward to it :D
Myself and Mikasa are so happy we could die:
BUT NOT UNTIL WE AVENGE MADARA'S GIFT IN THE NEXT SECRET SANTA!! D:<
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Just finished my first episode of Katanagatari... and then I got my gift, a Katanagatari art book!
and what's inside...
In Japanese! I need to learn how to read it :p
It's a great gift, I always want an art book. Thanks!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I totally forgot that this post existed.
I got this awesome set of things--fuzzy socks, a cat glasses case, a coin purse, a few plushies, a cat hoodie-cape, some sort of egg-shaped thing, a phone charm, a Sailor Moon pen, and a Sailor Moon bow clip.
I thought I knew who my secret santa was, but I realized I have no idea, so thanks to whoever you might be.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Thank you **<NAME>** for the amazing gift!
I actually got mine a few days ago, but was too busy to post and show it off. So here I am!
I got home after a long week away, to find it waiting for me. At first I didn't know what it was, but then I understood once I saw the address. Excited, I made sure to take images before I tear it open (Okay, maybe I forgot and started tearing it open before I took the picture, don't judge me!) (Banana for scale):
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ah6An.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DaoAO.jpg "An inner package, really? XD")
And in the package was... An adorable Chibi figure of [Eren](http://myanimelist.net/character/40882/Eren_Yeager) from [Attack on Titan](http://myanimelist.net/anime/16498/Shingeki_no_Kyojin)!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/5BOfY.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xjV1K.jpg)
Along with 2 beautiful bookmarks and keychain holders
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/re9tI.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/kzLfx.jpg)
Some poses:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ABt7p.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7cir4.jpg)
Thank you for a gift that will surely make a permanent addition to my desk :D
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/12/26 | 836 | 2,709 | <issue_start>username_0: I have seen people post with blank spaces with a header spoiler when the mouse is hovered on top of it the text comes up. How do I do that. I'm sure is this the right medium to ask about this, if it no i'm sorry but please do guide me on how to make the disappear thing on spoilers.<issue_comment>username_1: The markup is:
`>! Spoiler paragraph.`
How it actually looks:
>
> Spoiler paragraph.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Paragraph
=========
Since you can't use double new line in spoiler block to separate paragraphs, you need to work around by adding line breaks by ending the lines in 2 spaces.
>
> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.
>
>
>
> Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
>
>
>
Source:
```
>! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.
>!
>! Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
```
To be more explicit (space between `>!` and `TEXT` is optional):
```
>! TEXT
>!
>! TEXT
```
Heading. List. Numbering. Blockquote. Horizontal Line.
======================================================
There is currently no support for Markdown quote, Markdown heading, Markdown list and Markdown numbering inside spoiler block. You need to use HTML to emulate them.
>
> Unordered list
> --------------
>
>
> * Item 1
> * Item 2
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> Ordered list
> ------------
>
>
> 1. Item 1
> 2. Item 2
>
>
>
> > Here is a famous quote.
>
>
>
>
>
Source:
```
>! Unordered list
--------------
>!
>! * Item 1
>! * Item 2
>!
---
>! Ordered list
------------
>! 1. Item 1
>! 3. Item 2
>!
>!
> Here is a famous quote.
```
Spoiler banner
==============
I personally prefer to use a blockquote as a spoiler banner when the spoiler content is too many, and the content needs to be formatted to make it presentable. I place the banner before the spoiler content, and leave the spoiler content outside spoiler block.
>
> `/!\` Spoiler Warning
> ---------------------
>
>
> The content from this point on contains spoilers. Read it at your own risk.
>
>
>
Source:
```
> ## `/!\` Spoiler Warning
> The content from this point on contains spoilers. Read it at your own risk.
```
(There are better ways to present the warning sign, but this is the simplest way and readily typable).
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2014/12/30 | 6,354 | 24,650 | <issue_start>username_0: [Krazer's post from July 2014 about identification requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1063/is-it-feasible-to-keep-identification-request-questions-going-as-they-are-now) asked the following question:
>
> Do [identification-request questions] attract so-called "help vampires" that plague much of the Stack Exchange network of sites (especially Stack Overflow)?
>
>
>
That is, do identification-request questions attract users to the site that consume the time of answerers, while not contributing back to the site?
It sure looks like they do!
===========================
Here are some data about participation of users whose first post (meaning "question or answer", i.e. comments ignored) on the site was...
* ...an [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question: [data](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261681/vampires1) for "category 1"
* ...in [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [bleach](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bleach "show questions tagged 'bleach'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), or [fullmetal-alchemist](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fullmetal-alchemist "show questions tagged 'fullmetal-alchemist'") (these four tags together have about as many questions as identification-request, though significantly fewer users): [data](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261705/vampires2) for "category 2"
* ...*any* question: [data](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261735/vampires3) for "category 3"
All of these exclude users who created their accounts less than 4 weeks before the latest data dump was imported to SEDE, as well as users who created their accounts during the site's private beta.
---
Consider the following summary statistics:
```
╔══════╦════════════════════════╦═════════════════════╦═════════════════════════════╗
║ ║ Asked other questions? ║ Posted any answers? ║ Commented on non-own posts? ║
╠══════╬════════════════════════╬═════════════════════╬═════════════════════════════╣
║ cat1 ║ 42 -> 8% ║ 45 -> 8% ║ 161 -> 30% ║
║ cat2 ║ 53 -> 39% ║ 33 -> 24% ║ 69 -> 51% ║
║ cat3 ║ 184 -> 19% ║ 153 -> 16% ║ 367 -> 37% ║
╚══════╩════════════════════════╩═════════════════════╩═════════════════════════════╝
```
It comes as no surprise that category 1 users (people whose first post was an id-request question) contribute less to the site in aggregate than category 2 users (people whose first post was a big-3 or FMA question) or category 3 users (people whose first post was a question of any kind).
Data becomes very sparse as you look for more fine-grained statistics (since we're still a small site), but a glance at the histograms for the various columns in the SEDE queries universally has the right tail being meatier for categories 2 and 3 than for category 1, indicating, again, that category 1 users are (on average) more vampiric.
---
I will now take a moment to reiterate all the reasons I'm aware of that we should ban identification-request questions:
* [They do not make the site interesting and bore the site's users.](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/32/identify-this-movie-questions/75#75)
* Voters don't like these questions, as evidence by [the low score of identification-request questions relative to questions on other popular tags](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/160176/average-score-for-questions-and-answers-by-tag) (sort by "# Ans" to see this more clearly). [[On SF&F](http://data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/160176/average-score-for-questions-and-answers-by-tag): same deal.]
* Many of these questions go unanswered - [they're zombies](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/172449/tagged-zombie-timeseries?Weeks=52&TopTags=15#graph). [[On SF&F](http://data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/172449/tagged-zombie-timeseries#graph): even worse.]
* [Fully 20% of the questions on this site are now identification-request questions](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261651/the-identification-requests-are-taking-over-cumulative?TagName=identification-request#graph) - and [this trend is *accelerating*](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261652/the-identification-requests-are-taking-over-averaged-instantaneous?TagName=identification-request#graph)! (Why is this bad? A superabundance of questions on any one topic makes a site unpalatable to users who don't like that topic. Would you enjoy Stack Overflow if it was brimming with COBOL questions?) [On SF&F: [the fraction of identification requests increased for a while but then leveled off](http://data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/261652/the-identification-requests-are-taking-over-averaged-instantaneous?TagName=story-identification#graph).]
* [32% of identification requests](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261772/the-vampire-flies-away?Param=1) that received an answer within 24 hours have no response from the OP (in the form of a comment or accepted answer). [The corresponding figure for the site as a whole is 17%](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261772/the-vampire-flies-away?Param=2). [For the site minus ID requests, it's just 13%](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261772?Param=3). [On SF&F: [27% for ID requests](http://data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/261787?Param=1); [14% for the site as a whole](http://data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/261787?Param=1)]
* Lots of identification requests have been showing up in the Hot Network Questions sidebar lately. This is bad, because this makes our site look dumb to users on other sites in the SE network. (Unfortunately, this is anecdotal, because I don't have data about what has being showing up in HNQs lately. I know Logan was keeping track of this stuff at some point in the past - maybe he still is?)
* Many identification-request questions are tantamount to "can you read my mind?", or *worse*, "can you read the mind of my friend, on behalf of whom I'm asking this question for some bizarre and utterly incomprehensible reason?". Christ. Arqade has banned "game-identification" questions that lack an audiovisual artifact. They've been doing this longer than we have. I think they know what they're doing. (Comparisons to Movies.SE would be helpful, but running similar tag-based analyses there is unfortunately intractable because of the absurd amount of meta-tags they have.)
* [Despite there now being a popup thing that tells you to try reverse image searching](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1084/1908), some people just aren't doing that ([one](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/17161/1908), [two](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/17085/1908), [three](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/17010/which-anime-is-this-child-wearing-headphones-from)). Yes, some of these will end up only giving you Japanese or Chinese results, which the OP may not be able to read, but quite frankly, if you really care what an image is, I expect you to at least run it through Google Translate and see what that tells you (i.e. I basically subscribe to the Jeff Atwood school of thought: posting on Stack Exchange should be what you do after you've exhausted every other option available to you). What this tells me is that allowing identification requests is attracting lazy people to the site, and we don't want lazy people.
* Identification requests generally don't get very many views (despite prurient identification requests yielding large positive outliers, as I point out further below): [out of 61 tags with at least 10 questions](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261783), identification-request questions are the 7th-least-viewed in aggregate on a per-question basis. (This assumes that a question with V views tagged with A and B adds V to the total view count for both A and B. This is imperfect, but I'm not sure what works better.) Alone, this is no argument (we don't want to get rid of [nanoha](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nanoha "show questions tagged 'nanoha'"), after all), but seriously, these questions aren't (and by nature, cannot be) helpful to future viewers. If they were, they'd be viewing them!
Other things that peeve me about identification requests:
* We have a steady stream of people posting things that are just vaguely anime-style that we end up having to trace back to some rando's original art on pixiv. Super-useful, right?
* Most of [our highly-viewed identification requests](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261782/highly-viewed-id-requests) appeal to a rather prurient interest. 6 of the top 10 strike me as prurient:
+ <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9587> - seems prurient
+ <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13867> - prurient
+ <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6045> - jesus christ guys
+ [What is the name of the anime this pink-haired girl is from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9927/) - prurient
+ [Manga/Anime of two female secret/military agents featuring countless upskirt moments](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/16783) - prurient
+ <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6191> - oh heavens above<issue_comment>username_1: I've noticed a trend among regular Stack Overflow users which, as someone who doesn't use SO, is frankly bizarre. SO users tend to think of SO (and by extension all SE sites) as a battleground between "good questions" and "help vampire questions". They think the people asking for help are lowering the quality of the site, and will ultimately lead to the site being unusable, by good questions not getting the spotlight they deserve.
That may be the case on SO, but there is no battleground here. Questions are not starved for attention. We only get around 10 questions per day, and many of these are seen by the regular users here. Even questions with low view counts still typically get to around 100, and nearly 1/6 of all our questions have passed 1000 views. I have no trouble reading all of them except a few series I don't follow. Of all the sites in the network we could become, SO is number 1 on my list of SE sites I hope we *don't* become like. This is a *recreational* site about several media of *entertainment*. If we take ourselves as seriously as SO, it would simply not be fun, and there's no point to this site if it isn't any fun. The problems they face there, with not enough users to answer all the questions (even the well-written ones) are problems which I would just give up on if they were here, and I'm someone who is rather dedicated to this site. I have a hard time believing we'll ever be much like SO, or that it would be a good thing for us to try to be. So to me, the idea that people who aren't "contributing" and "only" ask one question is very strange: that question is already a contribution!
More to the point though, that's really what we're here for: to help people with questions about anime. That's in fact the **only** reason we're here. There are no "help vampires". There are people who want answers to questions about anime. Some of them ask questions well, and some poorly, but we ideally want all of them to get their answers here, and in the exceptionally poor cases we'll send it back to the OP saying that the question needs work and hopefully offering constructive criticism. If the user sticks around, that's great, but they are definitely not under any obligation or anything of the sort, and we shouldn't count them as bad if they don't feel like sticking around.
Your analysis shows that users whose first questions are [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions post fewer posts on average than the site. I don't see why that's a problem. We're a question and answer site. There can't be answers without questions. Each question is fundamentally keeping this site just a little bit more alive and active. If a user only feels like asking one question and gets their answer here, that's still a net positive for us. Sure, I'd love it if everyone stuck around, but not everyone particularly wants to. If the only way we can help them is by identifying an anime for them, that's still something.
And ID requests are helping people, whether or not you like it. For one, when we answer them correctly (which is not all that much less often than the site average), we help the OP. In addition, I (and several other regular users) have found them useful for purposes other than the OP's original one, e.g. to discover new series I was not aware of. This is extremely rare outside [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"), but not uncommon while browsing it. You may say that "this isn't what the question was for", but you can't deny that it's still a helpful source.
It's not unheard of for identification requests to actually get a significant number of hits, presumably by people looking for the same series. Look at [Anime with a little red haired character who pilots a racing pod](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/809/anime-with-a-little-red-haired-character-who-pilots-a-racing-pod) or [Where is "See you Space Cowboy" from?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/7876/where-is-see-you-space-cowboy-from) for two examples. Yes, this is rarer than for other tags, if by "other tags" we mean mostly things like [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") and [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"). But if you look at questions on tags with only a few uses (e.g. obscure manga series from decades ago) I think you'd be hard-pressed to claim the situation a whole lot worse there.
The really big sin of [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is that they're grouped in a way that makes it easy to think there's something wrong and target specifically. It's a big tag without the following and compiled knowledge-base of a big-name series. If you look at the tag alone, it looks huge. It has more questions than [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"). And it has a lower answer rate than any of [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [bleach](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bleach "show questions tagged 'bleach'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), and [fullmetal-alchemist](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fullmetal-alchemist "show questions tagged 'fullmetal-alchemist'"). Wow, it must be terrible, right? No, in fact, the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")'s 87.1% answer rate is almost the same as the site-wide rate of 87.5%. The oddballs here are the mega-popular series which have a combined 98.7% answer rate.
But identification questions are generally about pretty obscure stuff, so it only makes sense that the answer rate would be similar to the more obscure stuff which is more representative of our site as a whole than those few extraordinary tags. We aren't going to get 20% of our incoming identification requests looking for Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, or FMA no matter what we do, so the less popular series are over-represented in the tag. Relative to our site-wide stats identification requests are pretty much average in terms of answer ratio, but it's hard to identify or target the other "problematic" questions because they're not yet statistically significant or worth the effort. Likewise, the views on most identification requests aren't stellar, but they're only particularly bad when you compare them to other big tags; if you look at the site in full they're not terrible, though admittedly below average (but still above what a question would get on SO). Much the same story holds for the scores in the tag. [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") looks like a bundle of really bad questions when compared to the likes of [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), but it's more of a bundle of fairly average questions compared to the site as a whole, and removing it doesn't really help our average stats appreciably.
Moreover, deciding whether or not a topic is a good fit based on this kind of statistical analysis seems profoundly backwards to me. Statistics like traffic are only useful for understanding trends in the absence of any major changes to the site. If we keep the policy and enforcement the same, an improvement in answer rate is a good thing. But it's a good thing because it means we're helping more people. Changing the policy simply because this stat will improve isn't helping more people, it's trying to game the stats. We should be thinking about in what way we can help the most people, and to me, none of the arguments I've heard presented here or anywhere else are convincing that the answer isn't to "allow good questions, both on identification and on other topics".
---
Now, with all that said, I do agree that there's a limited (but perhaps growing) problem, not with identification requests as a whole, but specifically with *unanswerable* identification requests, and a seeming inability to separate these from the acceptable ones via voting and/or closing. This is a real problem and in my mind requires some action. Some questions tagged [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") are just a dump of a couple random disjoint plot points that aren't even memorable, and the OP expects us to read their mind. Even if users here know the series which is being asked about (which we probably do in many cases), we wouldn't be able to answer it. That *is* a problem, and frankly, our [existing criteria](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions) don't cut it when it comes to doing this. Quite often a question will get by on a technicality when I actually check these. Other times, a perfectly answerable question (e.g. one containing a complete plot summary of a unique series) nonetheless doesn't technically fit.
I've thought a lot about this over the past month or so and have a fairly concrete proposal for a modification to the guidelines which I think will alleviate a lot of this. I'm intending to post this proposal in the very near future (to spoil it a bit, it's a modification of my earlier proposal at [What kind of policy should we adopt for current and future "identification-request" questions with no audiovisual artefacts?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/783/what-kind-of-policy-should-we-adopt-for-current-and-future-identification-reque/792#792) from before we had any concrete guidelines, adapted and simplified to make it easy to decide). It also fixes much of the issue of repetitive/non-descriptive titles. I've been testing this for some time now and I found that in about 90% of cases I could immediately determine in seconds if a question was good or if it needed more detail. My intent is to post this suggestion in the next day or two if there are no major delays.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I feel conflicted about ID requests. At the time Krazer made the referenced post, I was still new to the site and thought it was a little harsh to talk about getting rid of them altogether. But hours of chasing wild geese and trying to squeeze blood from stones for the benefit of hit-and-run questioners who won't even accept an answer afterwards has changed my mind a little.
If I have a definite idea of what series the OP is thinking of, I don't mind answering an ID request, but there are many, many times when the question is impossible to answer, because, as senshin says, it's "tantamount to 'can you read my mind?', or worse, 'can you read the mind of my friend, on behalf of whom I'm asking this question for some bizarre and utterly incomprehensible reason?'". If, like me, you're not very bright, you might go spend time doing the OP's research for them and come up with nothing, because you have no idea what you're actually looking for. When I did my own research to find the incredibly obscure series Chiisana Obake Acchi, Kocchi, Socchi that I'd seen when I was five and only remembered fragments of, I had a pretty good idea when I'd found it, because what I found triggered more memories and fit with my recollections. But I didn't have that when I was searching for a series on someone else's behalf; this essentially made it impossible for me to find the series. Questions whose answers can't be found don't contribute anything.
I'm also pretty fed up with what senshin calls "a steady stream of people posting things that are just vaguely anime-style that we end up having to trace back to some rando's original art on pixiv", or even worse, things like [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14513/what-anime-is-this-blue-haired-toy-character-wearing-a-big-yellow-watch-from). That doll doesn't look even vaguely anime-related to me, and when I asked why the OP thought it did, no response. Answering these questions doesn't require anime knowledge; it requires Google gymnastics and lots of spare time. And the answer is not likely to be worth much to anyone later.
On the other hand, I think username_1. makes a lot of good points about why ID requests aren't a problem. I'd add that questions looking for a series, when they're well answered and aren't left dangling (as they so often are), have a somewhat subversive side benefit—they can introduce readers to new series. I've tried a few new series because an ID request looking for it caught my eye. So in that way, I suppose these users are contributing the site, albeit very very indirectly. And certainly, as username_1. says, "identification questions are generally about pretty obscure stuff, so it only makes sense that the answer rate would be similar to the more obscure stuff which is more representative of our site as a whole", and I'm the last person who would want to limit questions about obscure series on the site just because there's a good chance the questions won't be answered. After all, I am the one who asked questions about Hanayamata, Reset!, Bungaku Shoujo, and Zaregoto, even though I was pretty sure no one on the site would be able to answer them. And on SO, while I don't read COBOL questions, I do rely on the community of Clojure experts who post answers about that relatively obscure language. So in another sense, these users are contributing by broadening the focus of our community beyond just Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. Still, I have to admit that these hit-and-run questioners who show up, ask one bad question, and disappear, bother me.
One final note, about the prurient ID requests: this is likely something our community will have to address in the future in a larger way. While not all anime appeals to prurient interests, it does seem that anime deals with sex and romance more often and more pruriently than is typical in the works that SFF.SE and Movies.SE cover. The anime fandom *is* the fandom that made up terms like "trap", "shimapan", and "lolicon", along with entire specialized vocabularies for describing fictional homosexual relationships designed for the titillation of heterosexual readers of the opposite sex from the characters (yaoi, yuri, uke, seme, etc.). We will likely have to deal with this in a more proactive way than SFF or Movies if we want to keep things fairly clean, and ID requests, since they're so popular with new users, could be ground zero for this issue.
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/01/02 | 909 | 3,386 | <issue_start>username_0: Links subject to link rot or the content of the link may change, therefore, all contents on SE must stand by itself even if the link is gone. However, even if the content can stand by itself, the link usually has some interesting additional content that is not related to the question/answer at hand, and sometimes, they are cited as the source of some claims or quotes.
It is inappropriate to quote everything in the post since it makes the post bloated and irrelevant, not mentioning possible copyright violation. Still, it might be interesting for future readers to check out the full content of the link or cross-check the cited source.
Some examples:
* [What is the relation between the female protagonists of these two manga series?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/17199/what-is-the-relation-between-the-female-protagonists-of-these-two-manga-series) (Since we are not sure whether it is true, the content might be removed on TvTropes in the future, leaving use without context).
* [What is the name of the manga in the bottom right of this picture?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/17183/what-is-the-name-of-the-anime-manga-in-the-bottom-right-of-this-picture/17184#17184) (The link to Shounen Sunday is going to rot extremely soon)
Therefore, while it is not required, it is nice to save a copy of the page on the date that the question or answer is posted to preserve the context/source of citation so that the content on SE still makes sense in the future.
Is there any convenient way to archive a copy of an external webpage?<issue_comment>username_1: Currently, I only know of [archive.org](https://archive.org) Web Archive. Go to <https://archive.org/web/> and paste the link in the box below to ask archive.org to save a copy of the page right now.
Image taken from [this answer](https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/57374/get-archive-org-to-save-the-latest-copy-a-page-its-copies-of-this-page-are-ver/65760#65760) on webapps.SE
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: SE developers could make use of some [tools](http://robustlinks.mementoweb.org/tools/) to combat link rot. These tools include [amber](http://amberlink.org/), a server-side plug-in that gives visitors a fallback option (mirrors) if links go dead, and [robustify.js](https://github.com/renevoorburg/robustify.js), a script that works in combination with a server-side script that checks whether links still work as they are being clicked and, if not, redirects the user to a snapshot in a web archive. Of course, a snapshot has to exist prior to the redirection; there are many [web archives](http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/about/#find) that can take snapshots of webpages, and versioning systems can take them [automatically](http://robustlinks.mementoweb.org/spec/#data-attributes).
---
A local solution might be the [Mozilla Archive Format](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mozilla-archive-format/) addon for Firefox. It can save and view webpages in both MHT and MAFF formats. An MAFF file is basically just MHT files compressed into one ZIP file, but opening it opens all saved webpages automatically in Firefox. One may also take screenshots and upload them to the i.stack.imgur account for better safekeeping, but the downsides of this approach should be very obvious.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/01/03 | 18,112 | 56,777 | <issue_start>username_0: This is the special meta post where we post our recommendations. It's not for asking, just for posting whatever you feel like others would be interested in watching/reading/playing/hearing.
Also, below is a list of third-party sites which may be helpful in finding recommendations.
### Third-party links
* [MyAnimeList](http://myanimelist.net/) − On any work's page there is a "Recommendations" section;
* [Anime Planet](http://www.anime-planet.com/) - The homepage contains links to current popular anime & manga, and creating an account leads to personalised suggestions based on your watching and/or reading habits;
* [Reddit / Anime suggest](https://www.reddit.com/r/Animesuggest/) − Browse and search existing suggestions or ask for your own;
* (other recommendation sites go here)
[List of suggestion engines.](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/7337/are-there-any-anime-suggestion-engines/7341#7341)
---
### Our own recommendations
Post a new **answer per recommendation** in the following format:
* Work type − anime, manga, visual novel, drama CD, etc.;
* Work title − with a tag link on the main site, if it exists;
* Short description − general info about the item;
* Tags − sometimes description just doesn't cut it.
There are also **community wiki lists** that contain works united by the same general description which is a strong point of the work (good or bad).
Bad (overall) works may still have something good in them, like an anime series with terrible plot, but absolutely lovable characters. Or a horrendously drawn manga with unexpectedly wonderful story. Don't forget to **comment** why you still recommend something like that despite its flaws.
---
You can sort recommendations by date if you press the "Oldest" link/button.<issue_comment>username_1: ### *WTF!?*
You're left with the feeling of strong confusion after watching/reading these because of very unclear or underdeveloped plot.
* [**Glasslip**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/23079/Glasslip) *[anime]* − love, friendship, mystery, actually nothing;
+ You may think something interesting is gonna happen, but it won't. Ever. − [*username_1*](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/191/hakase).
* [**<NAME>**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/14293/Nerawareta_Gakuen) *[movie]* − school, psychics, time travel, love, friendship;
+ Nicely animated. Nevermind the plot. − [*username_1*](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/191/hakase).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: [**Nichijou**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/10165/Nichijou) *[Anime]*
[nichijou](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nichijou "show questions tagged 'nichijou'")
An eccentric to the maximum anime about everyday lives of several highschoolers who get into all sorts of unbelievably stupid and fun situations all day.
***comedy, gags, random, school, cultural references***
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: [**<NAME>**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/10495/Yuru_Yuri) *[Anime]*
[yuruyuri](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/yuruyuri "show questions tagged 'yuruyuri'")
Right after starting middle school, Akari Akaza joins the Amusement Club which is composed solely by her two childhood friends, <NAME> and <NAME>. <NAME>, Akaza's classmate, becomes a member after finding out about the dissolution of the Tea Club.
The Amusement Club, situated at the tea room facility since the Tea Club disbanded, has no clear purpose, being free for the girls to do whatever they want.
**Slice Of Life**, **Comedy**, **Yuri**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: [**Barakamon**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/22789/Barakamon) *[Anime]*
[barakamon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/barakamon "show questions tagged 'barakamon'")
As a punishment for punching a famous calligrapher, young handsome calligrapher <NAME> is exiled to a small island. As someone who has never lived outside of a city, Handa has to adapt to his new wacky neighbors, like people traveling on a tractor, unwanted visitors who never use the front door, annoying kids using his home as a playground, etc. Can this city guy handle all the crazy hardships? Find out in this wacky island comedy full of innocence and laughter!
***comedy***, ***slice of life***
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: [**K-On**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-On!) [[Anime]](http://myanimelist.net/anime/5680/K-On!)
[k-on](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/k-on "show questions tagged 'k-on'")
A story about four Japanese high school girls <NAME>awa, <NAME>ama, <NAME>ainaka and <NAME>buki joining the light music club of Sakuragaoka Girl's High School to try to save it from being disbanded. However, they are the only members of the club.In their second year, the club welcomes another guitarist, underclassman Azusa Nakano.
---
An anime with lots of fun, comedy, music and Tea and Cake.
**Comedy, Music, School, Slice of Life**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: ### *Disappointing ending*
The ending does not resolve the important plot points, leaving you frustrated. This is a spoiler list.
>
> [**Highschool of the Dead**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/highschool-of-the-dead) *[anime]* - Really good anime and manga, but the mangaka [D<NAME> passed away](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-03-26/high-school-of-the-dead-manga-creator-daisuke-sato-passes-away-at-52/.113968), so we probably will never see the continuation of the story.
>
>
>
>
> [**Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/sora-no-otoshimono) *[movie]* - For final movie it's far from the original manga, lots of skip chapter and different ending, read the manga, it's so much better.
>
>
>
>
> [**Eden no Ori**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cage-of-eden) *[manga]* - really interesting manga, but for some reason they rush the ending and leave so many plot hole.
>
>
>
>
> [**Mahou Sensou**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/19769/Mahou_Sensou) [*Anime*] - An anime with magic, action and fantasy. Not a bad anime to watch but a cliff hanging end will disappoint you and you can't draw any proper end conclusion.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: ### [Shirobako](http://myanimelist.net/anime/25835/Shirobako) [Anime]
[shirobako](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shirobako "show questions tagged 'shirobako'")
I watch this anime at first for the anime production theme, but I like this series since I empathize with the characters' unclear vision of their future. A recommended watch for anyone having the same uncertainty.
**anime-production, following-your-dream**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: [**Monogatari Series**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/5081/Bakemonogatari) *[Anime]*
Including: *Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, Nekomonogatari: Kuro, Monogatari Series: Second Season, Hanamonogatari, Tsukimonogatari, Owarimonogatari, Koyomimonogatari, Kizumonogatari*
[monogatari-series](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/monogatari-series "show questions tagged 'monogatari-series'")
An anime follows Araragi Koyomi dealing with lots of supernatural event. Gods, spirits, devil, and apparitions along side with lots of heroine.
Artistic as hell, eyegasm animation, as always from SHAFT. The character designs were drop dead gorgeous. The lighting, shading, dimension, movement and coloration added to the atmosphere were beautiful.
This anime has lots of dialogue and heavy-weight conversation. It's full of phrases that you will remember for a life time. It's sarcastic, erotic, symbolical, with lots of wordplay. You will love them even if you don’t get them. But for those who don't like so much dialogues, they will find it boring.
**Similar anime:** *Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, Arakawa Under the Bridge, xxxHolic*
**Mystery, Supernatural, Romance, Based on a Light Novel, SHAFT PRODUCTION**
Screenshots :
(From [Anime-Planet](http://www.anime-planet.com/), first row: *Bakemonogatari*, second row: *Nisemonogatari*, third row: *Monogatari Series: Second Season*)
Useful links:
* [What is the in-universe chronological order of the Monogatari Series?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4695/2869)
* [What is the production order of the Monogatari series?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4727/2869)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: ### *Love Triangles*
Series that consist of tangled love interests and their complex feelings
* [Chihayafuru](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/chihayafuru) *([anime](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/chihayafuru))* − [karuta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karuta)-based anime
* [School Days](http://www.anime-planet.com/manga/school-days) *(manga)*
* [School Rumble](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/school-rumble) *(anime)*
* [Good Ending](http://www.anime-planet.com/manga/ge-good-ending) *(manga)*
* [Molester Man](http://myanimelist.net/character/75194/Molester_Man) *(manga)*
+ Not what it sounds like it's about >\_> − [*username_2*](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1530/toshinou-kyouko)
* [Nagi no Asukara](http://myanimelist.net/anime/16067/Nagi_no_Asukara) *(anime)*
* [Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (Ano Hana)](http://myanimelist.net/anime/9989/Ano_Hi_Mita_Hana_no_Namae_wo_Bokutachi_wa_Mada_Shiranai.) *(anime)*
* [Golden Time](http://myanimelist.net/anime/17895/Golden_Time) *(anime)*
* [Kimi no Iru Machi](http://myanimelist.net/anime/17741/Kimi_no_Iru_Machi) *(anime)*
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: [**Mushishi**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/457/Mushishi) *[Anime]*
[mushishi](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/mushishi "show questions tagged 'mushishi'")
An enchanting collection of stories set in old-time Japan, in a world where *mushi* are the elemental forms of life live alongside mankind, invisible to most. Ginko studies and resolves undesirable effects of mushi on ordinary people.
The series is very slow-paced and has a fitting soundtrack, making for a unique soothing experience.
***old Japan, relaxing, how do you not already know about this***
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: [**Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica**](http://myanimelist.net/anime/9756/Mahou_Shoujo_Madoka%E2%98%85Magica) *[anime]*
*aka Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, Magical Girl Madoka Magica*
[madoka-magica](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/madoka-magica "show questions tagged 'madoka-magica'")
 
 
Madoka Kaname and her friends are regular high-schoolers. They go to school together every day, talk about different things, love, hate, be jelly and all that. As time goes by, they are offered a chance to become Magical Girls and take on the great task of fighting darkness and evil that taint the existence, in order to make the world a better place.
***Shaft, mahou shoujo, Urobuchi Gen***
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: **[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) [Anime]](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/jojos-bizarre-adventure-2012)**
[jojo-no-kimyouna-bouken](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/jojo-no-kimyouna-bouken "show questions tagged 'jojo-no-kimyouna-bouken'")
Beginning its tale in 19th century England, young aristocrat <NAME> finds himself locked in bitter rivalry with <NAME>, a low-born boy who Jonathan's father took under his wing after the death of Dio's father. Discontent with his station in life, Dio's fathomless lust to reign over all eventually leads him to seek the supernatural powers of an ancient Aztec stone mask in the Joestar's possession—an artifact that will forever change the destiny of Dio and Jonathan for generations to come. Fifty years later, in 1938 New York City, Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar must take up his grandfather's mission and master the abilities necessary to destroy the stone mask and its immensely powerful creators who threaten humanity's very existence, the Pillar Men.
---
Great, over-the-top fight scenes and fabulous posing.
It continues in the currently airing Stardust Crusaders
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: [**<NAME>** (Book Girl)](http://myanimelist.net/anime/6408/Bungaku_Shoujo) [novel]
[bungaku-shoujo](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bungaku-shoujo "show questions tagged 'bungaku-shoujo'")
<NAME> was once a best-selling author under the female pseudonym <NAME>, but after a trauma, he quit writing, until he entered high school and happened to meet <NAME>, the eccentric president of the Literature Club, who turns out to be a creature that eats books and tastes the stories. Konoha is recruited as Touko's personal writer/chef, crafting delicious snacks for her every day. But Touko is also nosy and active, so she has a tendency to get the two of them involved in mysteries and strange incidents that, surprisingly often, have a literary theme.
The series has a shoujo feel to it; there's a lot of drama, a lot of trauma, and a lot of interpersonal turmoil. The plots have the same artificed feeling as Victorian English literature such as the work of Dickens and the Brontë sisters; the second novel is directly inspired by *Wuthering Heights*, while the fourth novel is a very Victorian take on *Phantom of the Opera* starring modern Japanese high school students. As such, the stories can feel unrealistic and contrived; alternately, they're classically inspired and carefully crafted. It all depends which way you swing.
But it can't be denied that the art is gorgeous, and the characters are likable and unique, especially Touko, who is like a less obnoxious Haruhi crossed with Kami Nomi's Shiori Shiomiya. There are also anime based on the novels, in which Touko is voiced by Kana Hanazawa, if you're into that. If you enjoyed Clannad, Kanon, Chobits, or shoujo fantasy in general, you might like Bungaku Shoujo.
More pictures!
Official art by the books' illustrator, <NAME>
Touko in the Bungaku Shoujo anime, enjoying a snack.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: [**Hitsugi Katsugi no Kuro** (Shoulder a Coffin Kuro)](http://myanimelist.net/manga.php?id=4453) [manga]
By <NAME>, the author of GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class. (You can tell because Kuro, the protagonist, looks like a taller and gloomier Kisaragi Yamaguchi.) This is less well-known than GA, but in my opinion, much better.
Kuro is a mysterious traveler, a teenage girl who's often mistaken for a boy due to her ambiguous features and dark Puritan-style clothing. She carries a coffin on her back and travels in search of a witch who cursed her, alongside a talking bat named Sen and a pair of children, Nijuku and Sanju, who are artificial humans with various strange powers (including transferring colors between objects, growing wings, and separating themselves from their shadows) that Kuro rescued from the basement of a mad scientist's house.
From left to right: Kuro, Nijuku, Sanju, Sen
The series is a 4-koma, but there's nothing particularly 4-koma-like about it; it's a dark fantasy that reminds me of the work of <NAME> (*Coraline*) or <NAME>. Among anime, the closest thing I know of is Kino's Journey: both series follow a protagonist who doesn't talk much on a journey through a series of strange lands, though Shoulder a Coffin Kuro places a lot more emphasis on art and character, and is just a bit more lighthearted. The series also has aspects of Aishiteruze Baby or Bunny Drop, where an inexperienced person (Kuro) suddenly has to take care of a child (Nijuku and Sanju).
Shoulder a Coffin Kuro is by turns dark, moving, cute, charming, witty, and funny, and always imaginative and amazingly drawn. Kiyuzuki is particularly good at the 17th Century European-styled cities, in which each brick in each wall seems to have its own history, but also does a great job with countryside and machinery such as airplanes and motorcycles. The series deserves a much bigger audience than it has; to my knowledge there is no anime and the series has gotten very little attention in the US, though it does have an official release by Yen Press. It's been somewhat overshadowed by its more conventional cousin GA, but if you like Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle or Kino's Journey, or if you're the kind of person who loved *The Nightmare Before Christmas* as a kid, you should check it out.
Another shot of the cast. Notice how every brick has its own unique set of chips, cracks, and scuffs.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: **One Outs** *[Anime, Manga]*
>
> It's Light without a Death Note, but with a Baseball.
>
>
>
Our main character <NAME>, is pulled from an underground baseball gambling game called "One Outs" into the World of Professionally Baseball in Japan.
When signing for the team, he proposes the owner sign him on a performance-based contract to determine his yearly salary:
+5 million JPY per out he pitches.
-50 million JPY for every run he allows.
Baseball knowledge isn't really required to enjoy it - me being the example as I've never seen/played a baseball game in my life.
At least check it out on wiki/MAL...
>
> The story begins when <NAME>, the star batter of the fictional Lycaons in
> Japan's Pacific League, heads to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to train and bring himself out of a slump. There, he meets <NAME>, a 134-kmph (83 miles per hour) pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling form of baseball called "One Out." At Kojima's urging, Tokuchi signs up with the Lycaons under an unusual contract: he gets 5,000,000 yen (about US$46,000) for every out he pitches, but loses 50,000,000 yen (US$460,000) for every run he gives up.
>
>
>
**Genre:** *Sports*, *Psychological*, *Seinen*
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: **Witch Craft Works** *[Manga specifically, but there is an anime]*
The female lead is without a doubt the most badass Tall, Dark and Bishoujo there is...in my opinion at least.
<NAME>, is revered at her school as "Hime-sama", standing a whole head above every other character, literally - including guys and the male lead(Takamiya). However, this isn't all she is. Unbeknownst to most, incuding Takamiya at the start of the series, she is also an *EXTREMELY* powerful witch, with the power to control fire.
Give the series a look just for her, not that the story is bad - personally I love the story too, one of my top five manga if I had to pick.
(I included the series description at the bottom if you need to know the story to be convinced.)
**Genre -** Action, Fantasy, Magic, Seinen, Supernatural
Series Description -
>
> <NAME> is a regular student whose only problem seems to be that he sits next to <NAME>, the school's #1 beauty. They have never spoken to each other before and any small interaction between them immediately results in her fanclub beating him. Yet when a falling part of the school's building is about to send him to the afterlife, it's Kagari that comes to his rescue. Only... she's dressed as a witch, carrying him in her arms and floating on a broom?! Kagari tells him it is her mission to protect him and that now she can finally protect him openly rather than undercover.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things
----------------------------
[@username_4 already mentioned K-On](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1204/you-want-recommendations-heres-a-list-of-them/1209#1209), an absolute giant when it comes to this style of show, and [@ToshinouKyouko mentioned Yuru Yuri](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1204/you-want-recommendations-heres-a-list-of-them/1207#1207), another giant, but here are others you might check out if you like this sort of thing.
* **Lucky Star** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/1887/Lucky%E2%98%86Star) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/587/Lucky%E2%98%86Star)] [lucky-star](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/lucky-star "show questions tagged 'lucky-star'") - Cute otaku girls doing cute (otaku-themed) things.
* **Azumanga Daioh** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/66/Azumanga_Daioh) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/85/Azumanga_Daioh)] [azumanga-daioh](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/azumanga-daioh "show questions tagged 'azumanga-daioh'") - A gateway drug into the world of cute girls doing cute things.
* **Aria** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/477/Aria_the_Animation) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/81/Aria)] [aria](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/aria "show questions tagged 'aria'") - Cute girls becoming gondola-rowing tour guides in a replica of Venice built on 24th Century Mars. You have to watch just to find out how amazing that inauspicious premise can be. When it comes to utopian visions of the 24th Century, Star Trek: The Next Generation cannot even begin to compete with Aria.
* **Hanayamata** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/21681/Hanayamata) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/34977/Hanayamata)] [hanayamata](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hanayamata "show questions tagged 'hanayamata'") - Cute girls doing traditional Japanese dancing.
* **GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/5670/GA:_Geijutsuka_Art_Design_Class) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/13634/GA:_Geijutsuka_Art_Design_Class)] - Cute girls doing art. Cute, charming and also very creative and beautiful, like its cousin Shoulder a Coffin Kuro, also by mangaka Satoko Kiyuzuki.
* **Hidamari Sketch** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/1852/Hidamari_Sketch) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/1362/Hidamari_Sketch)] [hidamari-sketch](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hidamari-sketch "show questions tagged 'hidamari-sketch'") - More cute girls doing art. By <NAME>ica character designer Ume Aoki.
* **Sketchbook** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/2942/Sketchbook:_Full_Colors) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/4576/Sketchbook)] - Another cute girls doing art theme that features a cameo appearance of a character from Aria. Not to be confused with Hidamari Sketch.
* **Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? (Is the Order a Rabbit?)** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/21273/Gochuumon_wa_Usagi_Desu_ka) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/49835/Gochuumon_wa_Usagi_desu_ka)] [is-the-order-a-rabbit](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/is-the-order-a-rabbit "show questions tagged 'is-the-order-a-rabbit'") - Cute girls serving coffee in an Alpine village where signs are in Japanese.
* **Kill Me Baby!** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/11079/Kill_Me_Baby) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/18472/Kill_Me_Baby)] - Cute girls inflict great pain on each other. More funny than it sounds.
* **Kiniro Mosaic** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/16732/Kiniro_Mosaic) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/26036/Kiniro_Mosaic)] [kiniro-mosaic](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/kiniro-mosaic "show questions tagged 'kiniro-mosaic'") - Cute girls going on exchange student programs between Japan and England.
* **Yuyushiki** [[Anime](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/yuyushiki)] - Cute girls using HooYa! (essentially Google Search) to find out interesting facts
* **Strawberry Marshmallow** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/488/Ichigo_Mashimaro) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/371/Ichigo_Mashimaro)] [strawberry-marshmallow](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/strawberry-marshmallow "show questions tagged 'strawberry-marshmallow'") - Chika and her equally cute elementary school girl friends doing cute things in cute ways, basking her cute big sister in the glory of moe aesthetic.
* **Komorebi no Kuni** [[Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/37871/Komorebi_no_Kuni)] - Just enjoy the cute girls and the scenery in full color.
* **Saki** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/5671/Saki) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/6310/Saki)] [saki](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/saki "show questions tagged 'saki'") - Girls of varying abilities and cuteness challenging each other to a mahjong match.
* **Girls und Panzer** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/14131/Girls_und_Panzer) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/42223/Girls_und_Panzer)] [girls-und-panzer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/girls-und-panzer "show questions tagged 'girls-und-panzer'") - What could be cuter than a girl and her tank? Watch Miho and other girls compete in a Panzerfahren tournament. For less tank and more cute girls doing cute thing read [Girls und Panzer: Motto Love Love Sakusen desu!](http://myanimelist.net/manga/57187/Girls_und_Panzer:_Motto_Love_Love_Sakusen_desu!)
* **Hibike! Euphonium** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/27989/Hibike!_Euphonium)] [hibike-euphonium](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hibike-euphonium "show questions tagged 'hibike-euphonium'") - Cute girls playing in the brass ensemble. In contrast to most of these shows, the club is huge, with tons of members, and there are *boys* in it. Also known as Sound! Euphonium.
* **Bakuon!!** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/30795/Bakuon) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/31337/Bakuon)] [bakuon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bakuon "show questions tagged 'bakuon'") Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, like riding their motorcycles and racing against each other.
* **New Game!** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/31953/New_Game) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/62509/New_Game)] [new-game](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/new-game "show questions tagged 'new-game'") Dream world where all the programmer and designer are cute girls to develop a game.
* **Anne Happy** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/31080/Anne_Happy%E2%99%AA) and [Manga](http://myanimelist.net/manga/85191/Anne_Happy%E2%99%AA)] [anne-happy](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anne-happy "show questions tagged 'anne-happy'") Cute girls who are terribly unfortunate.
* **A-Channel** [[Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/9776/A-Channel) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=34940)] [a-channel](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/a-channel "show questions tagged 'a-channel'") Cute Girls Doing Cute Things in 4koma format.
* **Moe Cockroach (Gokiburi Gijinka), Gokicha** [[Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=58032), [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=67984)] [gokicha](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/gokicha "show questions tagged 'gokicha'") It's cockroach [*ugh*] but it's moe \o/ but it's cockroach [orz] but still moe (There are 2 short ONA but the manga is better drawn and have the exact same and more story)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: **Hotarubi no Mori e** [anime movie]
<NAME> approves: 9/10.
**This recommendation/review may degrade your viewing experience, either by hyping or spoiling it too much. Read at your own discretion.**
---
With just 45 minutes of running time (40 if you don't count the end credits) and with such a simple plot, it's hard to put a synopsis without spoiler info, so I suggest you just read the tags, but here it is:
>
> The story of Hotarubi no Mori e centers around Hotaru, a little girl who gets lost in an enchanted forest where apparitions reside. A young boy, Gin, appears before Hotaru, but she cannot touch him for fear of making him disappear.
>
>
>
From the first 5 or so minutes, we could already deduce how the story is going to play out (given that you have read the tags). The hackneyed plot, however, is only a strength of this movie because of how well it is executed. The movie benefits from a tight plot, artfully segueing from the present journey to the past ones and back, and only focuses on a single element in a scene. It has comical moments, times of peacefulness and happiness, as well as blinks of trailing sadness, all the emotions one experiences when in love, and in the right proportions, too.
There is some incredible character development in this short span of screen time. We see Hotaru grow from a kid to a girl, and then to a young woman-to-be. With the passing of each season, Hotaru's feelings for Gin also budded, grew and developed increasingly. The movie captured the thoughts of an innocent girl in her stages of development so well, and the fact that the Hotaru at her different ages are superbly voiced by the same CV, SAKURA Ayane, is just the icing on the cake. Gin also received some character development, albeit in a much more subtle manner.
The music, while not particularly memorable, is so simple and good it can't get any better. The western musical instruments, especially the piano, are surprisingly more fitting with the Japanese and Shinto settings than the eastern musical instruments would be.
The animation is decent, not breath-taking for its era and type, but that just goes to show that the story and the vibes are more important than animation quality. In fact, I would argue that most of the time, photo-realistic animation is just wasted money and actually hampers the presentation of the spiritual stuff and/or central messages (sorry, Shinkai Makoto fans, but *5 Centimeters Per Second* might be an exception). The anime is done by the same team behind *Natsume's Book of Friends*, so there are similarities between them.
Despite the ample premonitions throughout the anime of the inevitable, this panda who has withstood tears to watch many anime still cried like a dog upon the second watch. It's like snow melting in your hand: it aches a little from the cold, but the warmth that comes afterwards is worth it. My advice on how to enjoy this movie fully (as with any anime IMO): watch it in HD when you can be by yourself at a quiet place and when you are not emotionally high or low.
---
**Slice of life. Romance. Supernatural.**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: [**Gankutsuou**](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/gankutsuou-the-count-of-monte-cristo) *[Anime]*
[gankutsuou](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/gankutsuou "show questions tagged 'gankutsuou'")
Loosely based on the story of The Count of Monte Cristo, Gankutsuou is a feast for the eyes. It blends traditional animation with elaborate textures, uses appropiate usage of 3d animation and is distinctly different in style to most other anime. I recommend watching this purely for the visual feast, but the story is very good aswell.
[Below Synopsis from Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gankutsuou:_The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo)
The story takes place in the far future of the 51st Century, during the year 5053.
While visiting Luna for the festival, Viscount <NAME> and <NAME> make the acquaintance of the Count of Monte Cristo, a self-made nobleman. When they part, the Count promises to visit Albert in Paris. After he arrives, he introduces himself to the most powerful families in France (the Morcerfs, the Danglars, and the Villeforts).
The general plot of Gankutsuou, while broadly the same as the novel on which it is based, changes many aspects of the source material. In the novel, the narrative arc follows the Count chronologically; in the anime, the story begins with Albert and Franz meeting the Count on Luna (which occurs, in Rome, many hundreds of pages into the book), and the Count's back story is pieced together throughout the series. The anime's plot includes futuristic elements, talking about space travel, computer systems and robots, different fates for some characters, the disposal of several side-plots, and an altogether different ending.
**Mystery**, **Drama**, **Sci-fi**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Teleported to a fantasy world
-----------------------------
### Games and riddles
* **Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sō Desu yo?** [[Light Novel](http://myanimelist.net/manga/45855/Mondaiji-tachi_ga_Isekai_kara_Kuru_Sou_Desu_yo) and [Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/15315/Mondaiji-tachi_ga_Isekai_kara_Kuru_Sou_Desu_yo)] - A story about 3 children with special power summoned to another world to participate in games to help a "No Name" community fight the Devil King. The characters in the world they are summoned to are based on legends and folklore around the world.
**comedy**, **action**, **legend-and-folklore**
* **No Game No Life** [[Light Novel](http://myanimelist.net/manga/48399/No_Game_No_Life) and [Anime](http://myanimelist.net/anime/19815/No_Game_No_Life)] - A story about a pair step-siblings who an undefeated gamer in the online game world. They play a game of chess with a god from alternate world and defeat him. They are then invited by the god to his world where everything are decided by games, even the position of being a god.
**comedy**, **ecchi**, **neet-protagonist**
### "Defeat the demon king!"
* **<NAME> no Nariagari** [[Light Novel](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=113647) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=107199)] - Iwatani Naofumi is summoned to another world to become one of the four heroes, namely the Shield Hero. Starting out with poor popularity and labeled as the weakest, Naofumi found himself betrayed on the third day of his adventure. Having lost faith and money, all that's left is just his shield. *(From mangaupdates)*
**betrayal**, **action**, **game-element**
* **<NAME>** [[Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=108009)] - A boy has been in love with his childhood friend, but as it turns out, she is a princess from another world and she has to return to fulfill the prophecy. He follows her into the portal to her world in the middle of the ceremony. Suddenly, they are attacked by creatures from the Abyss, and his childhood friend - the princess - decides to kiss the boy and gives him the ring, which gives him the power to defeat the demon. This marks the start their adventure to collect the rings defeat the demon king.
**action**, **magic**, **harem**, **romance**
* **Konjiki no Mo<NAME>ai** [[Light Novel](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=116177) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=116497)] - To combat the 'Evila' race's Demon King, the kingdom summons five high school students from 21st century Japan who have the power of Heroes. However, only four out of five of those students had the status title of 'Hero'. <NAME> was summoned by accident and he did not have the title of a 'Hero' but instead he had the title of 'Word Master' and 'Innocent Bystander'. Seeing through the 'Humas' kingdom's deceit and insanity, Hiiro decides that he has no wish to partake in their selfish war. *(From mangaupdates)*
**game-element**, **magic**, **cool-protagonist**
### Other
* **Ore to Kawazu-san no Isekai Hourouki** [[Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=105582)] - A university student is taken to another world against his will by a wizard who wished to pass on his magic.
**comedy**, **magic**
* **<NAME>** [[Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=105574)] - The hero union's BBS, where heroes gather, crossing many dimensions. A bulletin board made by heroes for heroes. *(From mangaupdates)*
**random**, **comedy**, **social-network**, **cross-time-and-dimension**
* **World Customize Creator** [[Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=105581)] - Tagami Yusuke, led by a mysterious voice, is summoned to another world, "Caltsio". He was just a young video-game lover, but Fate decided to make him become the "Evil God of Calamity" of this world, obtaining the ability to create and customize everything, Customize Creation. *(From mangaupdates)*
**game-element**
* **Isekai de "Kuro no Iyashi Te" tte Yobareteimasu** [[Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=118731)] - The story is about a girl who is dragged into an alternate world by black hands, where she found out that she can use magic.
**shoujo**, **female-protagonist**, **game-element**, **magic**
Reincarnated to a fantasy world
-------------------------------
### "Defeat the demon king!"
* **Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!** [[Light Novel](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=118345) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=113872)] - A story about a hikikomori who dies for a stupid reason, and is offered a chance for reincarnation to another world to subjugate the demon king. He is asked by the goddess to choose one thing to take with him to the other world, and he chooses the goddess herself, and their adventure begins.
**comedy**, **sword and magic**, **gathering-of-weirdo**
### Other
* **<NAME>** [[Light Novel](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=111591) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=110083)] - To sum up, *"If a man stay virgin until 30, he will become a wizard"*. The main protagonist is a hiki-NEET. He died saving a girl from an approaching truck, and reincarnated into a world of sword and magic, where he decided to live his life to the fullest.
**sword and magic**, **action**
* **Re:Monster** [[Light Novel](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=112379) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=109745)] - Tomokui Kanata has been re-incarnated in the weakest goblin, named Rou, after having undergone an unfortunate death. However goblin Rou has retained his previous life's memories, an unusual evolution, as well as becoming strong enough to gain status boosts from eating. *(From mangaupdates)*
**survival-of-the-fittest**, **sword and magic**, **demon-protagonist**
* **E? Heibon Desu yo??** [[Light Novel](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=118732) and [Manga](https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=117057)] - Yukari was a high-school student when she died in a traffic accident, but when she woke up, she had been reincarnated as the daughter of a count in another world! But strangely, what was waiting for her was a life of poverty, so she decided to make use of the knowledge from her previous life.
**female-protagonist**, **magic**
---
*(Some series known to be of the above 2 tropes, but I haven't read so I don't know where to put them)*
* **The New Gate**
* **Overlord**
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Cross-Referencing
-----------------
Giving a nod to other work is common, be it for something the animation studio did previously, other animes in general, or popculture outside of anime. However, some series clearly takes this [further than others](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReferenceOverdosed). I find great joy in realizing these, so in no particular order here are just a few animes generally recommended but in particular for the amount and quality of their homages.
* [SHIROBAKO](http://myanimelist.net/anime/25835/Shirobako) [Anime] [shirobako](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shirobako "show questions tagged 'shirobako'")
Popular animation studios, [people from the industry](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2ozfb3/preparing_for_shirobako_anime_terms_definitions/). Becomes less common in the second part.
* [Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken](http://myanimelist.net/anime/26349/Danna_ga_Nani_wo_Itteiru_ka_Wakaranai_Ken) [Anime] [danna-wakaranai-ken](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/danna-wakaranai-ken "show questions tagged 'danna-wakaranai-ken'")
Shorts about the otaku lifestyle through the eyes of an outsider, this consists of hardly anything but references. Including amongst many others imageboards, shota/loli(cons), yaoi, otaku slang, dating asf. Second season coming [Spring 2015](http://myanimelist.net/anime/29067/Danna_ga_Nani_wo_Itteiru_ka_Wakaranai_Ken_2_Sure-me).
* [Denki-gai no Honya-san](http://myanimelist.net/anime/24031/Denki-gai_no_Honya-san) [Anime] [denkigai-no-honya-san](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/denkigai-no-honya-san "show questions tagged 'denkigai-no-honya-san'")
From the 18+ section of an Akhibara bookstore comes anything from Hentai-ified Ghibli movies, to Nausicaä monsters, the obligatory Evangelion references, waifus, lolicons, bukkake, AV idols and seriously just anything that could possibly be raunchy (although not only that). Becomes a bit less intense in later episodes but still very present.
* [Lucky☆Star](http://myanimelist.net/anime/1887/Lucky%E2%98%86Star) [Anime] [lucky-star](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/lucky-star "show questions tagged 'lucky-star'")
Another series about the otaku lifestyle, this time in full 24 minute, 24 episode glory. Not a single episode without some referencing of other works down to the karaoke endings of classic anime songs. And who needs a fourth wall anyway.
* [Space☆Dandy](http://myanimelist.net/anime/20057/Space%E2%98%86Dandy) ([Season 2](http://myanimelist.net/anime/23327/Space%E2%98%86Dandy_2nd_Season)) [Anime]
Tons of references, perhaps more focussed on western culture compared to the other works in this list. *Glee!* in space? *Saturday Night Fever* with John Travolta aliens? *Space Invaders*? Space Dandy has you covered.
* [Excel Saga](http://myanimelist.net/anime/379/Heppoko_Jikken_Animation_Excel_Saga)
A highly caffeinated show full of low-brow slapstick and visual reference to all sorts of anime. I got pretty burnt out on it after about seven episodes, but Episode 4, which parodies renai games, is still pretty funny. The original US DVD release had on-screen pop-up notes because there were so many shows being parodied at once.
* [Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai](http://myanimelist.net/anime/306/Abenobashi_Mahou_Shoutengai)
Similar to Excel Saga, it picks a new genre to parody every episode and does so with lots of slapstick, low-brow, zany, over-caffeinated humor, but also has a main plot that's weirdly Studio Ghibli-like, with a touching coming-of-age story and one of those trademark Gainax endings.
* [Genshiken](http://myanimelist.net/anime/240/Genshiken)
One of the greatest of all anime about otaku, Genshiken constantly references and parodies other anime by showing us what otaku in its alternate reality are into. One of its parodies, Kujibiki Unbalance, was even made into a real anime.
* [Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai](http://myanimelist.net/anime/8769/Ore_no_Imouto_ga_Konnani_Kawaii_Wake_ga_Nai)
Series I had quite a few amusing parodies, homages, and references, including Nanoha parody *Stardust Witch Meruru*, X/1999 parody *Maschera: Lament of a Fallen Beast*, and a visual novel called *Oniichan no Pantsu nanka Zettai Nusunde nai n da kara ne!* Series II didn't really, other than the ones it carried forward from Series I.
* [Gintama](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/gintama)
A large part of Gintama's attraction is that they make fun of almost everything - This means lots of references to other anime series, japanese culture, western culture, video games - anything an otaku would know about :)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: [**Katanagatari [Anime]**](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/katanagatari) [katanagatari](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/katanagatari "show questions tagged 'katanagatari'")
Another light novel series written by NisiOisiN. Katanagatari is a story about Yasuri Shichika, a swordsmaster who can not wield a sword, along with Togame, a self proclaim strategist, in a journey to collect 12 deviant blades for the shogunate.
Unique and unusual artistry with colorful environment and outfits, the character design is simple yet beautiful and exciting, you just can't find this anywhere else.
While it sounds like a generic fighting shounens, most of the time consists of clever dialogue and witty wordplay rather than actual action scene, just like another NisiOisiN work, Monogatari Series. But don't think it is lack of stunning action sequences, it have plenty spectacular battles, just not that long.
**Similar anime:** *[Monogatari Series](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1212/2869), Samurai Champloo*
**Adventure, Feudal Japan, Martial Arts, Swordsmen, [NisiOisiN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisio_Isin)**
Screenshots :
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: [**The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo) [Movie]**](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/the-girl-who-leapt-through-time) [toki-wo-kakeru-shoujo](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/toki-wo-kakeru-shoujo "show questions tagged 'toki-wo-kakeru-shoujo'")
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0UO1j.jpg)
<NAME> is your ordinary, cheerful, tomboy high school girl who spend her most time with her two male best friend. Then suddenly, she gains the ability to leap through time. However, she doesn't use her power to save the world or win a lottery, she uses it to fool around, such as cheating on a test, or redo a karaoke night for 10 hours. But as the story goes, she realizes the consequences of her action.
Brought to you by Madhouse, the animation is clean and fluid, the character movement seems realistic. And with [<NAME>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiyuki_Sadamoto) as the character designer, you know what to expect. The character design is simple yet charming on its own way. However, the CGI used for the time-travel sequences are ugly and feels very clunky. The character looks out of place on this background.
**Similar anime:** *5 Centimeters per Second, Steins;Gate*
**Drama, Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life, Based on a Novel, Time Travel**
Screenshots :
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LeIUNm.jpg)[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nsFwem.jpg)[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UiPVHm.jpg)[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hVpUKm.jpg)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: My list of recommendations
**Love Live!**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8ekZU.jpg)
An anime about a girl who created a school idol group to save her beloved school from closing down. She is then joined by 8 other cute girls of various different background and personality. There are two seasons of it. **Two, OK!**
p.s. Ayase Eri is my waifu! хорошо forever!
**Date a Live**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/02GVC.jpg)
It has two seasons. It is about a high school student, <NAME> trying to save the Spirits. Spirits are cute pretty girls with power to destroy the world. Because of this, they are feared and hunted down, and...killed. Shidou has the power to seal their power inside himself, which enables the Spirits to live pretty much like a normal girl.
It has bishoujo, loli, psychopath bishoujo, tsundere loli imouto, twin sisters, famous idol with big breast, the girl next table that is in love with you.
Note: There are a filler episode in the first season that you better skip. IIRC it is episode 6.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: In respond to [this question](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4008/anime-manga-recommendation-for-kids-between-5-10-years-old) and [comment](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4008/anime-manga-recommendation-for-kids-between-5-10-years-old#comment8043_4008), here are some anime and manga recommendation for kids between 5-10 years old
Family friendly anime/manga
===========================
* **Doraemon** ([anime](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/doraemon)/[manga](http://www.anime-planet.com/manga/doraemon)) [doraemon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/doraemon "show questions tagged 'doraemon'") Nobita is very unlucky elementary student. He's weak, crybaby, dumb, and lazy, so his great-great grandson come from future and give him a robot named Doraemon from future to help him.
+ I read and watched this anime when I was four and it was super effective - [*username_6*](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users/2869)
* **Pokemon** ([anime](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/pokemon) and several movies) [pokemon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pokemon "show questions tagged 'pokemon'") I think we are all agree that this is one of the most famous family friendly genre anime. Ash - or Satoshi in Japanese version, the kid who never grow up, dreamed of becoming [Red](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Red_(Origins)). He then traveled all around Pokemon world [to catch them all!](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/35656/how-many-pokemon-did-ash-catch#comment47845_35667)
+ Just watch out for some [banned episodes](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Banned_episodes). They were banned for a reason
[Ghibli Movies](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/studios/studio-ghibli)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ghibli is famous for their family friendly genre for years. Most of their movies are great
* **My Neighbor Totoro** ([Movie](http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/my-neighbor-totoro)) [my-neighbor-totoro](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/my-neighbor-totoro "show questions tagged 'my-neighbor-totoro'") Two sisters and their father moved to their new home in the countryside. While the little sister playing outside, she found a strange, small creature and decides to follow it. In the deep forest, she fell through a hole and landed on the stomach of a large and gentle forest spirit named Totoro.
---
**Useful links**
* [How can I identify child-appropriate manga?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21936/2869)
* [Looking for manga apps which filter out mature content](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20621/2869)
* [Where I can buy/rent digital versions of Studio Ghibli films?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3982/2869)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: Romance and Drama Animes
========================
*Who doesn't like a little bit of drama and romance*
(This is an unordered list, the position of the entry doesn't denote it's ranking in any proportion, click pictures to see full image)
* Kimi no Na Wa [ 君の名は。]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iPfw5.jpg)
It is a heartwarming story with a sci-fi twist, and honestly one of the best artworks and combination of music and filmography anime has ever been evident of. A feature film, directed by critically acclaimed <NAME>, with a duration of 1 hour 46 minutes.
* Koe no Katachi [ 聲の形 ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fIajI.jpg)
Not a romance, *per se* but definitely one of the most impactful drama anime ever made. It takes us through the journey of <NAME> a bully during his childhood days and <NAME> a deaf girl. Shouya and his friends initially bullied Nishimiya-san over the fact that she was deaf, but when they broke the limits of bullying, Shouya was the only one victimized; this makes him fall into a state of depression until high school, when he meet Nishimiya-san again. This movie is about how Shouya comes to terms with himself about the depression, and moves forward. Other than that, KyoAni did a fantastic job on the art as usual, and the OSTs are a solid 9.5/10.
* Toradora [ とらドラ！ ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yo6zd.jpg)
It is one of those tsundere anime, with an ending you can probably expect, but still would get all warm and fuzzy while the anime unfolds into a sweet story of how a two person with almost opposite personalities can fall into love.
* Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso [ 四月は君の嘘 ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fVwLS.jpg)
A tear-jerking anime to say the least, portrays one of the most highly rated drama and classical music. The music and OSTs in this anime can get off any music lover. Other than that, it's ending is hear-wrenching and while you might have predicted the ending yet again, still it makes you at least drop a tear or two.
* Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterunda [ 心が叫びたがってるんだ。 ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Emmdn.jpg)
I don't see a lot of people recommending or watching this anime, but it's one of the best drama / romance anime film being made. It makes you feel attached to the characters, and fleshes out most of them as well. The only thing I can complain about is the ship. (*/me cries in corner*)
* Eureka Seven [ 交響詩篇エウレカセブン ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/b14qr.jpg)
Shounen, Mecha, Romance, Drama, with actual romance, not one of those shounen where you get only romance undertones. What else would you want?
* Clannad After Story [ CLANNAD〜AFTER STORY〜 クラナド アフターストーリー ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G4wdY.jpg)
Ah, Clannad After Story, an anime that would make you cry, happy, sad, delighted, and euphoric. It packs a Slice of Life show between what happens after Tomoya marries Nagisa, and takes you through one of the most epic tales. You just can't not feel sad, if not drop another tear or two at Episode 16.
* Tsuki ga Kirei [ 月がきれい ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vd2kh.jpg)
It is a realistic approach to how a middle-school relationship would form. It conveys the actual feelings and hardships a guy can face with a relationship during the early teens / pre-teen age. And the ending is conclusive, and the final frame is as memorable as it could be.
* Plastic Memories [ プラスティック・メモリーズ ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mRPRh.jpg)
In the world of Plastic Memories, humanoid robots called "Giftias" which ceases to function properly after 9 years, that is they lose their memories and become hostile. The anime tells shows us the bonding of one such Giftia and an human, which can only end in... we know it...
* Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo [ さくら荘のペットな彼女 ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aNbPK.jpg)
Sakurasou is a Slice of Life series where you see one of the most fleshed out character developments and get to love the interactions between the dorm members. The relationship between the Main Characters is also very cute... although... not a tight ship to be honest
* Akagami no Shirayuki-hime [ 赤髪の白雪姫 ]
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/287AZ.jpg)
A simple fantasy Slice of Life show about how a bishoujo falls in love with a prince of the neighboring country... It's just a heart warming show... <3
Upvotes: 0 |
2015/01/24 | 1,477 | 5,671 | <issue_start>username_0: I've been thinking for quite a while now that maybe putting up a [hentai](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hentai "show questions tagged 'hentai'") tag for eligible questions may be appropriate. For several reasons:
* Users who don't want to see them can ignore them
* These questions tend to be a slippery slope, so users who wish to moderate (as well as the moderators) can follow them
* It can give us valuable metrics as to how many such questions are asked, by whom and about what.
A possible con is that in case the tag becomes too popular, questions tagged [hentai](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hentai "show questions tagged 'hentai'") will have that appended to their titles.
What are your thoughts? Is it a good idea? A bad one? Do you have a better suggestion?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it would be a good idea to have it purely for the reason that it allows for better categorization of questions.
Hentai is essentially its own sub-genre of anime and creating it will allow those interested to easily search for it OR avoid it as required and desired. Currently, you open a typical question titled "Who is this girl with the red hair?" and are then hit with a NSFW image you didn't know would be there - the tag would solve this problem and others similar.
To answer Hakase's comment, the scope of hentai is relatively straight forward. I'm sure most people have the level of common sense to know whether or not something is pornographic. *Having said that, some To Love-ru Darkness OVA's are insanely close, but I wouldn't consider it Hentai.*
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: TL; DR: No.
===========
For multiple reasons:
**First off:** The Stackexchange Network is open for use by users from the age of 13 onwards. This introduces by legislation a responsibility to disallow inappropriate content for such participants, because pornography is considered harmful to minors.
Public display of pornography without a disclaimer notice is illegal in the US (which is the relevant legislation for SE)
**Secondly:** Does anime.stackexchange.com want to get known as hentai.stackexchange.com? If no, then we should consider clearly keeping that out. If only to shut up the critcism and condemnation by association that may happen from outside the network.
While anime certainly include ecchi and moe elements, hentai is flat out pornography. That's simply a different caliber. It's like comparing a cliché romance movie to ... (I think you got the idea)
**Thirdly:** Hell what benefit does it have? Do you really want to proudly announce: "I am the [hentai](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hentai "show questions tagged 'hentai'")-expert on anime.se!"?? I certainly wouldn't.
The point about statistics is IMO moot. If we don't have such questions yet (or rather not many), what is the point in collecting statistics?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: We've debated genre tags like this before in one of the chat casts. In that case I think we were discussing [lolicon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/lolicon "show questions tagged 'lolicon'"), but the same logic applies here. The consensus at that time was that a genre-based tag *could* work, but it would need to be used on questions about the genre itself (e.g. production, tropes, etc.) and *not* questions about individual series. So in this case, [What was the first Hentai ever made?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/18846/what-was-the-first-hentai-ever-made) could be tagged [hentai](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hentai "show questions tagged 'hentai'"), but
[What is the song played in Operation 11: Fallen Angel Rina?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/1952/what-is-the-song-played-in-operation-11-fallen-angel-rina) should not be. We didn't discuss identification questions (e.g. [Anime identification request about guy with invisible pills (hentai)](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/18892/anime-identification-request-about-guy-with-invisible-pills-hentai)), but it seems best to also leave these untagged.
The reason for this is fairly simple. Use of the tag in the former way is perfectly fine, since it's about the content of the question. However, the latter style of tagging describes the genre of the *series*, which is almost always irrelevant to the actual content of the question. Tagging series questions with genre tags would make the series tags redundant and the genre tags bloated, facing essentially all the problems of [meta tags](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/the-death-of-meta-tags/). It's also not clear exactly where to stop. Should every question tagged [fate-stay-night](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fate-stay-night "show questions tagged 'fate-stay-night'") also be tagged [hentai](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hentai "show questions tagged 'hentai'")? Of course not, but the original visual novel certainly qualifies as an H-game.
So, if we do make a hentai tag, I'd say it should be for meta-questions about hentai as a genre, not for any-and-every question about hentai series. That may not be what's being proposed here, but it's the only way I can see this tag being a useful non-meta tag. Actually policing tag use to make sure it happens that way is a nontrivial amount of work. And at this point, I simply don't see a lot of questions like this (there are a few others, but less than a dozen), so I don't think the tag is worth it right now given the amount of extra work it will cause. It could become worthwhile in the future though.
Upvotes: 4 |
2015/01/28 | 467 | 1,777 | <issue_start>username_0: Are questions about VA's, producers, studios, etc. allowed on the main site?
While not about the actual subject material they are an integral part of the topic.
If there is no precedent for this, then maybe a better question would be:
Should these questions be allowed?<issue_comment>username_1: I think as long as it is linked to anime - whether that be through history, a particular show, etc, it should be fine.
Questions about their personal lives etc probably aren't appropriate.
Here's one that already exists:
[Who was the first seiyuu?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14344/who-was-the-first-seiyuu)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Asking about the industry, its workings, its staff, and notable figures are all fine and on-topic.
Asking about a notable figure's personal life, hobbies, etc, is a bit off-topic. But if it has a connection to a series or anime/manga production staff. It should be fine.
For an example, if I were to ask [shirobako](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shirobako "show questions tagged 'shirobako'") *"Are any of the characters in the anime based off real life people?"* This is a perfectly acceptable question. [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") *"What productions did {{insert notable animation director}} work as key animator?"* is also perfectly acceptable.
If I were to ask *"What are {{insert notable voice actress}}'s three sizes?"* This would be off topic for the site. If you're really curious and want to know, you can as this in our [main chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-), where *almost* nothing is off-topic.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2015/02/01 | 2,114 | 9,085 | <issue_start>username_0: Good morning/afternoon/evening people!
As a follow-up to our last [**Quarterly Feedback Survey**](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/968/49) (which, incidentally, has been more than a quarter away... oops), I hereby give you **a link** (now removed) (it has been posted in the chat room for over a week, but I remembered not everyone goes to chat) to a survey regarding the year that has passed. **We want to know your opinions of what you thought went wrong and right on the year of 2014.**
As with the previous survey, the process is completely anonymous and powered by Google Forms
Once again we'd like to get as many opinions as possible, so even if your opinion is negative or differs from everyone else's, **we'd still like to know. So your honesty is also very important to us!**
On the free text questions, please try to **be as descriptive as possible**, so that we can try to better assess the problems you may bring up.
Finally, the results will be posted as an answer to this question, as with the previous meta post (the first link above).
**Thank you for your cooperation!**
---
P.S.: As I mentioned above, the link has been available on [the main chat room](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) since January 17th and we've already gathered some answers, so we'll leave the form open for (about) **a week** (or so) before we remove the link from this post, and let you guys know the results in an answer then! Thanks once again.<issue_comment>username_1: Below are the overall results from the survey regarding how we did in 2014. There's a **tl;dr version at the bottom**, so you can skip the ginormous wall of text. I'm gonna try to keep the positive stuff a bit shorter, so as to reduce the length of the post, and to allow us to focus on what needs to be changed. If you feel anything was left out, either point it out, edit it in, or contact a [mod](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users?tab=moderators) (we can create a private room to discuss, if you prefer). Also, feel free to comment on this answer, and open any individual meta posts on the topics mentioned here.
How did we do in 2014?
----------------------
We received 12 answers to our survey, with an **average score of 7.(45)** (leaving out one user that did not answer), with scores **ranging from 4 to 9.**
What did we do well?
--------------------
Overall, **we have been growing, both in content quality and number of users/visitors.** The **implementation of guidelines for id-requests** was mentioned, also pointing out that they are flawed and may not work well for new users.
We have been gathering some **more visibility from search engines, and have a good group of "engaged, knowledgeable, respectful and helpful users."**
Also mentioned were: **our chat rooms are fun; the mod/edit tools are good; a greater "interaction with community via events/question pushes"; and, of course, [our first ever gift exchange](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1131/49).**
Where can we improve?
---------------------
Despite the fact that in the previous section most of the users saw improvements on the general quality of our posts, **low-quality of posts** was also mentioned in this section. With particular **emphasis on the id-requests**. Their overall quality is bad (despite our guidelines), and most of them are asked by **hit-and-run users**. That means we need to **"attract and keep good users"**. It was also suggested that we should try to **make some sort of event for recommendations, thus possibly attracting some new users, whose tastes go "beyond Naruto, One Piece, and Death Note."**
The overall **visibility and clarity of how we work** were brought up, with special attention to **little attention toward meta posts, the fact that most people seem uneducated about voting and closing (and how they're not necessarily connected), how we seem to have some friction toward changing already implemented policies/guidelines, and how many of those guidelines are based on "well, we once allowed this..." kind of decisions.**
Users think we basically rather down-vote the bad stuff than up-vote the good stuff, sometimes take down-votes as a synonym for "should be closed", and many times don't close question that should be closed because of their number of up-votes.
How would you rank your moderators?
-----------------------------------
Of the 12 answers, one user did not rate us, the rest **averaged 9.(09), ranging from 7 to 10.** Looks like we did good ;) thank you
What can us mods do to improve?
-------------------------------
Better engagement with the community, make decision confirmations clearer, and try to get our schedules to better complement each other.
tl;dr
-----
**Good:** We got a score of 7.(45)/10; the quality of posts improved, visitors/users number rose, greater overall visibility of the site; mods rated 9.(09)/10, need to improve on engagement with the community, making decision confirmations clearer, and try to get our schedules to better complement each other.
**Bad:** Hit-and-run users, overall quality of content (special focus on id-reqs), improve and enforce guidelines
With the above, the general opinions of users regarding the past year have been covered.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_1: Below, will be the results of the topics we presented as up to discussion in the next chat casts.
On the topic of...
------------------
...getting more active users
----------------------------
Most of the users seem to agree that **it is an important matter, but not a pressing one.** The general opinion is that we should **focus more on improving the content of the site (reduce drastically number of id-req questions)**, and that the community will grow naturally because of that. Some activities could also be of use, but generally **waiting for "the internet to take effect"** seemed to be the most suggested feedback (getting more visibility in certain sites may boost user base and visit count).
Other users suggested that we try to **organise some activities in meta and chat**, since participating in those requires a certain amount of reputation, which would be gathered by contributing to the site. **Reaching out to existing anime communities and Japanese users was also mentioned.**
...questions in Japanese
------------------------
Despite some **minor positive feedback** on this matter, the **general consensus was that they should not be allowed**. The few positive aspects that were brought up were the fact that there's a big and knowledgeable untapped community out there, which as access to resources different from the English speaking community's; they could be particularly helpful regarding the [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") and [manga-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/manga-production "show questions tagged 'manga-production'") questions.
However, the main con presented was the fact that **most of the present community would not be able to understand the questions**. This could lead to a several number of negative aspects, such as **harder implementation of general guidelines** (marking a question as duplicate, for one)**, the difficulty of assessing whether an answer in Japanese was helpful or not due to lack of understanding, and ultimately the fragmentation of the community according to spoken language.** Some users propose that it is fine, **as long as they are also translated into English.** But this would also bring about the problem that we'd have to **have users willing/available to translate the questions/answers at any given time.**
It was also suggested twice that **these should have their own SE site.**
...content policy with H(entai) rated content
---------------------------------------------
**Mixed consensus** on this subject. Some of the users suggested it **should be disallowed altogether**.
General suggestions by users who weren't against it were: **no explicit material (be it language, pictorial, or otherwise); purpose not pornographic; just keeping out the images; no profanities; no links; censoring and proper warning.** The main arguments for allowing H questions were the fact that some well known series (Fate/Stay Night) would have to be banned if we were to disallow these. The users who think these should be allowed, basically stated we should go with the "scientific approach" regarding these topics.
...anything we left out and that you'd like to mention
------------------------------------------------------
Aside from mentions of "more moe" or "mascot!", the only other thing mentioned (and only twice) was that we **need to settle the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") matter once and for all.** Specifically, the fact that we need to finally have a **clear and official meta post** on this.
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/02/01 | 1,181 | 3,432 | <issue_start>username_0: My question is about this answer of mine: <https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/600/122>
It frequently gets edited by bots, replacing the content by stupid advertising. It's not a problem, because the edit always gets declined, but I get "spammed" with notifications.
I don't know where I can see declined edits for an answer, but here are some examples:
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/12986>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/12388>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/12243>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/10646>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/10554>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/13092>
Are there other answers that are edited frequently? Is there a possibility to prevent that (like locking the answer)?<issue_comment>username_1: We can lock the answer if that's what you wish, but that will also prevent voting on it ("Lock" is a nuclear shutdown option). If you wish that, simply flag the answer with a custom flag and ask for that to happen (link to this post too, for context).
I have notified our Stack Exchange overlords with this.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Add 3000 invisible characters to the end of the post, for example by typing `` over and over. That should get these edits automatically rejected as vandalism. It's worked for me in the past on other SE sites.
(You can copy and paste the extra characters from this answer.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: For whatever reason, spam edits on posts on SE are far from uniformly distributed. Spammers tend to identify a small number of posts which they want to target and direct most of their edits on those posts. Your question is very likely one of these spam edit magnets. I don't think any particular criteria for a post being targeted are known to anyone except the spammers and possibly SE employees. (There is some source where SE employees discussed this, perhaps on one of the meta sites, but I can't seem to find it now.)
SE is aware of the existence of such posts, and in fact is quite interested in identifying such posts, which are useful for calibrating their spam filters. Unfortunately, there's not really much that you can or should do; your post will probably keep attracting spam edits for a while. You could disassociate the post from your account by contacting SE (to stop getting notified about every spam edit suggestion), or you could have a mod lock the post, but both of these have negative consequences. It's easier for the analytics to identify such edits with longer answers, so elongating your answer (as a mod has already done) will probably reduce the number of spam edits which make it through to the review queue. You don't really need to worry though; such obvious spam edits will essentially never be approved, so the worst thing that happens is you get some irrelevant notifications.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/02/20 | 235 | 868 | <issue_start>username_0: 
It says "your answer couldn't be...".
I tried posting a **question** on meta and not an answer. A bug perhaps?<issue_comment>username_1: You are right that the message is wrong. It should say "question" instead of "answer". You should put this bug report up on Meta.SE.
As for the warning itself, meta questions must have one of the tags [discussion](/questions/tagged/discussion "show questions tagged 'discussion'"), [bug](/questions/tagged/bug "show questions tagged 'bug'"), [feature-request](/questions/tagged/feature-request "show questions tagged 'feature-request'"), [support](/questions/tagged/support "show questions tagged 'support'"), so it's by design.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This will be fixed in the next build (rev `2015.2.20.2330`).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2015/03/01 | 1,283 | 5,048 | <issue_start>username_0: I was reading what type of questions are allowed and it said clearly:
>
> you are asking an open-ended, hypothetical question: “What if \_\_\_\_\_\_ happened?”
>
>
>
are not really allowed/encouraged. However, I wasn't quite sure if that meant every "hypothetical question" is disallowed. What if there is an answer to the question that has very high probability of being correct? What if even though it never happened in the anime, the question probably has an answered that could be backed up with detail events that happened from the anime?
The question I was thinking was:
>
> If Pain got in a battle with Hashirama Senju, who would end victorious?
>
>
>
It is true that the question is (unfortunately) hypothetical since these two never had the please to fight. However, one could infer which one would win from different events in the show. For example, pain already fought two users of sage mode (jiraya and naruto), so there are things we could infer about who would be successful. Furthermore, Hashirama did battle madara with the rinnengan and we know the result of the battle, so we can infer further things. Etc, so it could lead to very interesting answer leading to better understanding of both characters fighting style.
Anyway, is that question allowed? Are all hypothetical questions plainly banned? What if they have potential to having very well backup reasoning from the show?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think they should be disallowed. If you can base the answer with solid arguments, drawn from canon or from logic and sound application of scientific knowledge, it is ok.
If we were to disallow these kinds of questions, several great questions and answers would just vanish. This SE site is an entertainment site, so we can affort to be a little more lax on the subjective side than other sister sites, like SO.
So without any attempt of laying ground rules, I will list some examples of when I think its ok:
* If the canon can support the argumentation for the answer, it is valid (like a Death Note rules what-if)
* If it can be answered using real-world physics or other scientific knowledge, but outside canon, it is valid. Ex: [How is Misaka's railgun so destructive?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2235/how-is-misakas-railgun-so-destructive?s=1|1.0961)
The question need to set the ground for an answer that is verifiable; i.e. in the case of an hipothetical battle, even the fans of the defeated party would agree that he would be defeated in those conditions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Okay, hold up.
As I commented on the question, I think that hypotheticals within a single universe are fine in some cases - namely, when the universe has its own internal logic that is reasonably coherent. Death Note is a stellar example of this, and there are surely other franchises that work reasonably well.
Similarly, questions that ask about real-world justifications for some anime thing are generally okay (a la [How is Misaka's railgun so destructive?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2235/)), since even if the anime's rules are wishy-washy, the real world obeys very clearly-defined laws, so we only have one source of uncertainty here. Granted, sometimes the answer is "this thing that happens in anime X is completely incompatible with the way the real world works because Y", but that's fine.
However, I don't think that hypotheticals that involve *multiple* universes - like Mindwin's question <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19778/> - are ever okay. Both Mahouka and Code Geass have fairly coherent internal logic (for magic and geasses, respectively), and so I think that hypotheticals within either universe would generally be okay.
But when you mix them? Oh my god that's a horrible can of worms. Here's why:
1. We now have *two* sources of uncertainty, whereas in the within-one-universe and universe-vs-real-world cases, we only have *one*. This makes it drastically more difficult to consider how the rules of the two universes should interact. What exactly does it even mean for Geass to use psions to work? What is a Code in the context of the Mahouka universe's magic framework? Does the concept of "immunity" to passive Geass powers like C.C.'s even make sense?
Any universe-mixing question is going to have any number of points of uncertainty like this, and there's no obvious way to resolve them. After all, there's no a priori reason to expect the fictional laws underlying the two universes to be compatible.
2. This opens the door to "Can Flash beat Accelerator?" and "Can Goku beat Superman?" questions, which we absolutely do not want. (Right? This isn't a controversial point of view, is it?)
3. Tangentially, what value do these questions give? I'm not of the opinion that this site should be entirely about "problems you want to solve" like SO/etc are - amusing diversions are fine - but even so, this type of question still seems too far removed from the realm of useful questions.
Upvotes: 4 |
2015/03/26 | 1,851 | 6,462 | <issue_start>username_0: 
*“Awesome! Those unknown materials are waiting for me! I'll have to get my gadgets out then.”* — <NAME>.
---
**Step 1:** Read the community wiki below.
**Step 2:** Share your tools and know-hows that trump all the others in at least one instance of answering an [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question.
**Step 3:** ???
**Step 4:** PROFIT!!!!<issue_comment>username_1: Text
----
[Google Search](https://www.google.com/) is your obvious choice. You should also utilize [punctuation, symbols and operators](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433) in your searches to get the most out of what Google Search has to offer. I find myself most frequently using the symbols `"` and, to a lesser extent, `_` and `-`.
>
> **Note:** Google will customize search results according to a number of different factors. This means that different users will see different results for the same search terms. These factors include, but are not limited to:
>
>
> * Country and location
> * Language
> * Device
> * Browsing history
> * SafeSearch filter setting
>
>
> It is impossible to entirely remove the variance in search results because some of the factors are totally outside users' control, e.g. algorithm testing and update lag across data centers.
>
>
>
>
> **Tip:** Do your search in another language if you're not getting satisfactory results.
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Try to find the answer to [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19597/looking-for-anime-shown-as-a-comic-strip) by typing `comic single for 16 years` into Google's search box. Now, try `comic "single for 16 years" -site:stackexchange.com`. Which web search query was easier for you to find the answer?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Images
------
[**For specific techniques on reverse image searching, see *this post*.**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21618)
[ImgOps](https://imgops.com/) is an extremely useful meta-tool for image operations. It incorporates the following reverse/similar search services: Google, Bing, TinEye, Reddit and Yandex, though all, except Google, perform poorly in my experience. The reverse/similar search services used to include Baidu Shitu as well, but has since been removed.
Baidu's specialty lies in identifying the name of the series from anime screenshots and manga pages, and sometimes even surpasses that of Google.[[case 1]](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/18647)[[case 2]](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20324) Its similar images feature is also often quite accurate. It may be a bit tough to use Baidu Shitu (Shi-tu, not Shit-u) if you don't understand Chinese. Nevertheless, Baidu is a serious contender to Google in the reverse image search department.
I also note some resources linked to by ImgOps that might come in handy at times: iqdb (anime), saucenao (anime+), trace.moe (anime) and ezgif.com. The first two are useful for finding anime wallpapers and artworks, while the last one can be used to break an animated GIF into its individual frames so you could cherry-pick the frames that will return a hit from reverse image search. [trace.moe](https://trace.moe/) is a godsend gifted to us by [soruly](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/22462), which, at times, can even pinpoint the episode and time of an anime a screenshot is taken from.
>
> **Tip:** If reverse image search didn't turn in anything useful at first, wait a couple of weeks/months and try again. The (full) image could have been indexed by the search engines during this period, so you [might get lucky like me](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/16938) and find it in your subsequent trials.
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Crop the image from [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20324) and reverse image search with Baidu. You should get something like this:
>
>
>
>
> 
>
>
>
>
> Although the romaji is given in this case (Chou <NAME>u), you should still know how to proceed from here if it weren't given. Copy the Chinese characters enclosed in either of the red boxes added by me, and do a Google search on those characters together with the word "English". It is not clear to me if one would be able to get the name of the other series (Madou King Granzort) without knowledge of Chinese: let's leave that as a challenge.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Music
-----
The major players in the music identification category are [Shazam](https://www.shazam.com/) and [SoundHound](https://www.soundhound.com/soundhound).
>
> **Tip:** Try different song segments for identification and remember to check for false positives!
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Identify the piece of music requested by [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/14380). I recommend using Shazam for this exercise, as SoundHound identified a recording that is not the anime version.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Videos
------
Capture a screenshot of the video and do a reverse image search with that, or enclose subtitles, if any, in quotes and do a text search using Google.
>
> **Tip:** If the video is from YouTube, Vimeo, etc, read the title, description and comments carefully! Chances are, the answer is already written there.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Characters
----------
**Attribute-based databases**
* [Anime Planet](https://www.anime-planet.com/characters/all)
* [Anime Characters Database](https://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/search.php)
* [aniSearch](https://www.anisearch.com/character/index)
**Keyword-based databases**
* [MyAnimeList](https://myanimelist.net/character.php)
* [AniList](https://anilist.co/search/characters)
>
> **Tip:** If your character doesn't show up in the first 100 results, try removing an attribute that you might not be sure of. For example, in the exercise below, the character's eyes appear brownish, but are actually red.
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Identify the character on the television in [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4767) by searching for a *black- and shoulder-length-haired adult male* on Anime Characters Database.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/03/28 | 1,941 | 6,755 | <issue_start>username_0: The question [Is Avatar: the Last Airbender an anime?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19566/is-avatar-the-last-airbender-an-anime/19567#19567) was closed for being opinion-based.
Yet, [Can an animated show created outside Japan be called Anime?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6198/can-an-animated-show-created-outside-japan-be-called-anime?lq=1) and [What differentiates anime from regular cartoons?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/69/what-differentiates-anime-from-regular-cartoons/81#81) remain open.
I believe all three can be answered definitively (most likely with very similar answers).
Regardless, I think either all three should have the same open/close status - unless someone can enlighten me as to why a specific series is different to the anime/cartoon comparison as a whole<issue_comment>username_1: Text
----
[Google Search](https://www.google.com/) is your obvious choice. You should also utilize [punctuation, symbols and operators](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433) in your searches to get the most out of what Google Search has to offer. I find myself most frequently using the symbols `"` and, to a lesser extent, `_` and `-`.
>
> **Note:** Google will customize search results according to a number of different factors. This means that different users will see different results for the same search terms. These factors include, but are not limited to:
>
>
> * Country and location
> * Language
> * Device
> * Browsing history
> * SafeSearch filter setting
>
>
> It is impossible to entirely remove the variance in search results because some of the factors are totally outside users' control, e.g. algorithm testing and update lag across data centers.
>
>
>
>
> **Tip:** Do your search in another language if you're not getting satisfactory results.
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Try to find the answer to [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19597/looking-for-anime-shown-as-a-comic-strip) by typing `comic single for 16 years` into Google's search box. Now, try `comic "single for 16 years" -site:stackexchange.com`. Which web search query was easier for you to find the answer?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Images
------
[**For specific techniques on reverse image searching, see *this post*.**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21618)
[ImgOps](https://imgops.com/) is an extremely useful meta-tool for image operations. It incorporates the following reverse/similar search services: Google, Bing, TinEye, Reddit and Yandex, though all, except Google, perform poorly in my experience. The reverse/similar search services used to include Baidu Shitu as well, but has since been removed.
Baidu's specialty lies in identifying the name of the series from anime screenshots and manga pages, and sometimes even surpasses that of Google.[[case 1]](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/18647)[[case 2]](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20324) Its similar images feature is also often quite accurate. It may be a bit tough to use Baidu Shitu (Shi-tu, not Shit-u) if you don't understand Chinese. Nevertheless, Baidu is a serious contender to Google in the reverse image search department.
I also note some resources linked to by ImgOps that might come in handy at times: iqdb (anime), saucenao (anime+), trace.moe (anime) and ezgif.com. The first two are useful for finding anime wallpapers and artworks, while the last one can be used to break an animated GIF into its individual frames so you could cherry-pick the frames that will return a hit from reverse image search. [trace.moe](https://trace.moe/) is a godsend gifted to us by [soruly](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/22462), which, at times, can even pinpoint the episode and time of an anime a screenshot is taken from.
>
> **Tip:** If reverse image search didn't turn in anything useful at first, wait a couple of weeks/months and try again. The (full) image could have been indexed by the search engines during this period, so you [might get lucky like me](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/16938) and find it in your subsequent trials.
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Crop the image from [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20324) and reverse image search with Baidu. You should get something like this:
>
>
>
>
> 
>
>
>
>
> Although the romaji is given in this case (<NAME>), you should still know how to proceed from here if it weren't given. Copy the Chinese characters enclosed in either of the red boxes added by me, and do a Google search on those characters together with the word "English". It is not clear to me if one would be able to get the name of the other series (Madou King Granzort) without knowledge of Chinese: let's leave that as a challenge.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Music
-----
The major players in the music identification category are [Shazam](https://www.shazam.com/) and [SoundHound](https://www.soundhound.com/soundhound).
>
> **Tip:** Try different song segments for identification and remember to check for false positives!
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Identify the piece of music requested by [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/14380). I recommend using Shazam for this exercise, as SoundHound identified a recording that is not the anime version.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Videos
------
Capture a screenshot of the video and do a reverse image search with that, or enclose subtitles, if any, in quotes and do a text search using Google.
>
> **Tip:** If the video is from YouTube, Vimeo, etc, read the title, description and comments carefully! Chances are, the answer is already written there.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Characters
----------
**Attribute-based databases**
* [Anime Planet](https://www.anime-planet.com/characters/all)
* [Anime Characters Database](https://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/search.php)
* [aniSearch](https://www.anisearch.com/character/index)
**Keyword-based databases**
* [MyAnimeList](https://myanimelist.net/character.php)
* [AniList](https://anilist.co/search/characters)
>
> **Tip:** If your character doesn't show up in the first 100 results, try removing an attribute that you might not be sure of. For example, in the exercise below, the character's eyes appear brownish, but are actually red.
>
>
>
>
> **Exercise:** Identify the character on the television in [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4767) by searching for a *black- and shoulder-length-haired adult male* on Anime Characters Database.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/03/30 | 2,886 | 12,003 | <issue_start>username_0: We are currently working on assuring that the image-identification policies on this site are addressing the site's best interests. They are a big deal for this site, considering that not only does meta have a tag called [identification-questions](/questions/tagged/identification-questions "show questions tagged 'identification-questions'"), but they also take up 24% of all questions on the main site.
Mostly, though, there are two kinds of identification requests. There are **memory-based description requests** and **image-based requests**. While both situations and policies need addressing, I'd first like us to iron out image-based requests.
First, let it be clear that I am talking about *identifying an anime or manga from one or more images*. Some questions, while tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"), are **not** identifying anime or manga, but rather elements of a series. ([This question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4239/274) is one example.)
So, here are some examples of questions that this post is addressing.
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20483/274>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20475/274>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20454/274>
What I'd like to do is **determine the community's opinion on the feasibility of these questions and what action should be taken on them.** Specifically, should we leave them open and up to voters, or should we have a policy that allows us to close them?
Some pros and cons I've considered are:
* Pro: They are generally easy to answer and show more detail than is easily described.
* Pro: They do not really harm the site in any way. (As addressed [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1040/274).)
* Con: We frequently get requests that can be easily found via Google Reverse Image Search (or TinEye, or SauceNao, etc.).
* Con: They are completely SEO-unfriendly; that is, no one can benefit from them by searching Google, even if they are looking for the same image's source.
* Con: We are frequently asked about the source of images which are fan art or completely original characters. (Or vocaloid mascots.)
* Con: The size and quality of these images is frequently questionable, at best.
* Con: (Related to above) They are frequently avatars that are cropped to the point where the character in them could be one of many, especially if it's fan art.
**What do you guys think of these questions?** Are you in favor of keeping them? Are you in favor of closing them? Are you in favor of adding requirements to them, in addition to posting the image?
*Note: [This question](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1034/274) addresses the same issue, but is about 9 months old and looks at it from a different point of view.*<issue_comment>username_1: As the writer of the previous meta topic, I'll pitch in.
There are three types of image-only questions that I've identified:
### *No-Research*
These questions are simply a matter of doing reverse image-searching. These should be downvoted for lack of research effort under the current rules. We have several measures in place for this already, unfortunately not everyone does the Tour.
### *Images the Community recognises*
Nice - a community member can post the answer.
### *Images the Community doesn't recognise*
There's not much content to go on. We can search attributes of the image 'red haired maid anime' , 'red hair maid outfit anime', etc. These don't lend themselves easy to further research.
Proposal
========
I believe we need to have a standard for images questions that requires information about the 'lost' media besides the image.
In doing so, we achieve several things:
* Questions are easier to answer (More information, more likely we can find it)
* Questions are of higher quality (Questioners have a better idea of the media they are looking for and will be more likely to provide id confirmations, or more details upon questioning)
* Answers are more likely to be accepted (See previous point)
* Reduced fan-art images (Most fan art does not have plot or other elements behind it)
What should that standard be?
=============================
Preferably, we can come to a community consensus on this, but here's an example of what it could look like:
* Image Requests also fall under the '3 pieces of information' rule that apply to non-image requests currently
* Images must feature a character, landmark or other recognisable item in the given image
* Images must be sufficiently large to make out the details on these previously mentioned features
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It seems like the real main problem people have with image-based identification questions is that many (though not all) of them can be solved by reverse image searching, a tool which is by now well-known here (though not more broadly on the internet). There are several points that I'd like to make regarding this specifically.
* We've had a warning appear for new [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions for [almost 6 months](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1139/having-identification-request-and-retag-show-up-as-tag-suggestions-by-defaul/1141#1141). In that time, the fraction of such questions has, by my estimate, dropped. I don't have solid statistics on this, but from looking at the most recent 100 questions in the tag, it looks like only about 20% of them are of this type.
* The problem with these questions isn't a problem with any individual question, but rather with them all being highly similar. Users here get bored of the same answer over and over again. If we got only one or two questions of this type a year, it's hard to believe anyone would complain. Nor is anyone complaining much about the questions on which reverse image search fails, but which can be solved in other ways.
If this is really a problem (which I'm not sure it is, but other people are apparently convinced of it), rather than proposing a new rule (which will make things more confusing and unwelcoming for new users) I suggest we take the approach that other SE sites adopt when they frequently get slight variants of the same question over and over, specifically, making a canonical question and marking duplicates. New moderation rules add complexity to the site (both for new users and the high-rep users who enforce them) and tend to cause problems even for some otherwise fine posts, so they should be avoided whenever alternative solutions exist. Marking duplicates rather than adding a new requirement is more philosophically sensible, since the problem is really that all these questions are, in some sense, abstract duplicates.
We should write a canonical question/answer showing how to identify a picture with Google reverse image search. In fact, we already have [such a tutorial](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/793/how-can-i-identify-an-anime-using-reverse-image-search), but it's on meta rather than the main site. Once we post the canonical question, future image-based identification requests which can be answered via a Google search should be marked as duplicates of the canonical post. Of course, we should be certain that Google actually does answer the question, which means checking the results. If most or all of the top results point to the answer (in English) then it is a duplicate. If there are a lot of irrelevant results at the top, or the answer doesn't even appear until going through a couple pages, you should not assume your search results will be the same as the asker's, so it's better just to answer the question.
---
The above addresses what seems to be the primary "con" point in the OP and which is also the main complaint of most people with regard to these questions. For completeness, I'll briefly state why the other points aren't such big problems.
>
> Con: They are completely SEO-unfriendly; that is, no one can benefit from them by searching Google, even if they are looking for the same image's source.
>
>
>
This is only true if your definition of "search" in SEO is "Google text-based search". But if we're really all about promoting image searches, we should really include image searches in the definition of "search". And in those terms, these questions do pretty well. They do especially well in the case where reverse image search doesn't already know what the image is, which incidentally, is the important case that will not be marked as duplicates under my proposal.
Sure, they won't be bringing in tons of traffic that way. But our goal here is decidedly *not* to simply maximize traffic. It's to have the best answers for anime and manga questions, whether they're common or uncommon. If the origin of a particular image is one such question (and not already answered in many other places), we want to be at the top of that image search, just the same that we want to be at the top of an ordinary text-based searches.
>
> Con: We are frequently asked about the source of images which are fan art or completely original characters. (Or vocaloid mascots.)
>
>
>
I don't see a problem with fan art if we can identify it. The appeal of a piece of artwork isn't solely in the art style. Even if we could *a priori* restrict fanart, I wouldn't want to. The same is true for original characters. [This identification request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13867/who-is-this-girl-with-red-hair-in-a-sheep-outfit/13871#13871) (which, incidentally, was not answered by a Google search at the time it was asked) is about an original character. But despite that, there's plenty of other images of the same character, and even some short manga.
To put it simply, I don't see why the popularity or amount of related content should factor into our consideration at all from a moderation standpoint. It already gets factored in from a voting standpoint, as more people will vote for things they know about, but moderation ought to be independent of such considerations. Whether the source is fanart of an original character by a no-name artist or from a major series, it should be just as on-topic and welcome here.
>
> Con: The size and quality of these images is frequently questionable, at best.
>
> Con: (Related to above) They are frequently avatars that are cropped to the point where the character in them could be one of many, especially if it's fan art.
>
>
>
I've grouped these together because they're really the same point. I've only seen a couple images like this ever. It's not "frequent" by any stretch. Only one of them was bad enough that one could really not even tell that the image was anime-related or what it was supposed to be, and that one was quickly dealt with by the existing policy. The other one was a low resolution version of a large image (maybe 50x50), but in that case we actually managed to find the right answer despite the low quality. I no longer have the link handy for either, but having looked through some more questions recently, I haven't seen any more examples.
So, out of a hundred or more questions that I've seen like this, there have been only a couple cases which were described by this, and only one in which that was an issue big enough to make the question unanswerable. To put it simply, this is not a "frequent" problem, it's an outlier, and most certainly not something to base site-wide policy off of. We'll always have outliers; the goal of policy is just to create a system which will work well for most of the questions most of the time, and there's always going to be some element of subjective decision with regard to the exact boundaries. So far, this has not proven a problem (we've handled every case of it without any issues), so there's really no need to debate it here further.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/04/08 | 3,572 | 14,256 | <issue_start>username_0: As a new user to anime.stackexchange (and StackExchange in general) here is some feedback.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* I can't tag one of my most recent questions as "07-ghost" because I don't have 150 reputation...
* I can't comment on questions because I don't have 50 reputation...
* I found a question I was pretty sure I could answer ([Anime about boy who can accelerate objects; also meets girl with wooden katana](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/20588/help-in-remembering-an-anime)) but I can't answer it because you guys voted it "closed"
* My attempts to edit it all get rejected because "This edit was intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer." (Fair enough, but editing the answer in is literally my **only** option.)
* I don't even know if the above issues are because of StackExchange or this specific community...
I understand you probably want to avoid an Eternal September with the community but seriously, I feel like an unwelcome observer, not a participant. :\<issue_comment>username_1: You can start feeling as a participant after acquiring enough reputation to do all these things, including reopen votes for closed questions. Most new users don't know how SE sites operate and make mistakes that cost other users some time to fix and could harm the sites' quality. You're welcome to prove that you are a great user by posting answers to open questions, even if they already have answers, but make sure you add something that has not yet been addressed in an answer. Your answers will be upvoted and you can quickly start doing the good work afterwards. Best regards, and welcome to StackExchange.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Let's do this point by point:
>
> I can't tag one of my most recent questions as "07-ghost" because I
> don't have 150 reputation...
>
>
>
This is an SE feature so that no one spams tags. You can request tags, just so you know. Tag it as 'retag' and someone will tag it appropriately.
>
> I can't comment on questions because I don't have 50 reputation...
>
>
>
I'm not sure about this, but I'm pretty sure you can comment on your own questions. The key here is that it has to be your own posts. Not others'.
Again, this is an SE feature. This is not A&M's fault.
>
> I found a question I was pretty sure I could answer (Help in
> remembering an anime!) but I can't answer it because you guys voted it
> "closed"
>
>
>
Yes, it was closed because it does not meet our guidelines for Id-requests. I don't see how this is unwelcoming. The question lacks unique details. All it had are generic details that could fulfill hundreds of other anime. Not to mention that the asker may had misremembered the details themselves. Your answer has a high percentage of being wrong since the description is extremely vague.
>
> My attempts to edit it all get rejected because "This edit was
> intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an
> edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer." (Fair
> enough, but editing the answer in is literally my only option.)
>
>
>
Again, you can only post comments on your own posts. Which sucks, I understand, but this how SE works and there's nothing A&M users can do about that, as far as I know.
I know it's painful to start out as a new user. All I can say is that you should not take anything personally. When someone closes your question or rejects your edit, it's not because we do it out of spite. We do it to keep the site quality up and for you to hopefully learn what is acceptable and what's not. When it comes to our main SE site, we have to keep a rigid system in order for Senpai to notice us us to graduate.
Sorry if we seem unwelcoming, but to make up for it, Welcome to A&M SE!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Let me address each of your concerns in turn:
* That is a known issue. But like most other limitations, it's there to prevent abuse. If any use would just be able to create any tag they wish, you'd have [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [naruto-shipuden](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto-shipuden "show questions tagged 'naruto-shipuden'"), [naruto-shippuden](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto-shippuden "show questions tagged 'naruto-shippuden'"), [naruto-shipuuden](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto-shipuuden "show questions tagged 'naruto-shipuuden'"), [naruto-shippuuden](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto-shippuuden "show questions tagged 'naruto-shippuuden'"), [shippuuden](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shippuuden "show questions tagged 'shippuuden'") and so on. If you have a tag you want to create, tag it with [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") and mention it at the end of the question. Someone with higher privileges will come and edit it for you.
* Again, this is there to prevent abuse. We don't want spam in comments (especially because comments are currently hard to moderate). 50 reputation is pretty easy to achieve, you can probably make it within the day if you take it easy.
* Flag it! Flags let us diamond moderators know that something is wrong. Just flag it with a custom flag, explain that you have an answer but you can't because it's closed, and a moderator is likely to reopen it for you. (I've done it for you now, go ahead and answer it!)
* See point above. Flagging is the right course of action for you here.
* All of these privileges are Stack Exchange Network level. 50 reputation points are required to comment on all sites, and 150 (sometimes more) is required to create new tags. However, as you reach 200 points on any site, you'll get a +100 bonus on every other account you make on the site (so the basic privileges like vote up, comment everywhere, etc, are unlocked for you in advance).
I hope you don't find the site too unwelcoming, we're always happy to accept new users. We're a bit more quality oriented than most forums out there though, that's why we're a bit stiffer.
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask here on meta, or comment on my answer (you can, since you opened the question).
Happy browsing!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: First off, welcome to Anime & Manga SE. Most of these issues you have raised are not specific to this site, and are rather general to Stack Exchange. I'll address these in turn.
>
> I can't tag one of my most recent questions as "07-ghost" because I don't have 150 reputation...
>
>
>
This is a built-in limit which we have no control over here. Personally, I'd like to see it removed, or at least for new users to be able to suggest tags on their posts. But this is a rather small site on the Stack Exchange network, and the problem is relatively uncommon on most sites, so we have to deal with it.
For now, our suggested solution is to use the [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") tag and specify in your question the intended series. A high-rep user will edit the correct tag in. I wish this were more intuitive, but there's really not much we can do about it.
>
> I can't comment on questions because I don't have 50 reputation...
>
>
>
You can comment on your own questions and answers to those, but you're right that you can't comment elsewhere. That again is Stack Exchange-wide, not specific to this site.
The reason for this is that, unlike new questions and answers, new comments aren't likely to be seen, so it's difficult to identify spam comments. I don't claim that you're a spammer, but the system doesn't quite trust you yet. In any case, the core of the site is questions and answers, and comments are mostly temporary and not worth any rep, so you honestly aren't missing much.
>
> I found a question I was pretty sure I could answer ([Help in remembering an anime!](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/20588/help-in-remembering-an-anime)) but I can't answer it because you guys voted it "closed"
>
>
>
Here, you've stumbled upon an unfortunate case. [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is somewhat controversial among members of this site. Almost everyone agrees that good identification questions should be allowed. But also, most people agree that a lot of incoming identification questions are low quality and don't stand any realistic chances of being answered.
Because of the volume of incoming questions, we can no longer afford to treat each one individually, so we have some [minimum standards](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) for new identification questions. It's worth noting that these guidelines are somewhat controversial, but for now they're the accepted policy. If the question doesn't meet those, we put it on hold until the poster improves it to meet those. In some cases, the question might be answerable even when it doesn't meet the criteria there, but to keep things consistent the rule is still enforced. So, with that in mind, you unfortunately won't be able to answer closed ID questions like that unless the asker comes back and improves it, or you manage to convince other users that it shouldn't have been closed.
In this case a moderator reopened the question you pointed out, so you should be able to answer it now.
>
> My attempts to edit it all get rejected because "This edit was intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer." (Fair enough, but editing the answer in is literally my only option.)
>
>
>
I'll assume you are unable to post an answer yourself because the question you're looking at is closed or on-hold. That's the only reason a user like you with more than 10 reputation wouldn't be able to post an answer on an undeleted question. In that case, the users here have decided that it violates one or more of our policies, which you can read in the [help center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). Usually there will be one or more comments on the question saying what is wrong, and a banner.
In some cases, the question can be improved to be reopened. If it's an identification question, that improvement usually has to come from the asker, but for anything else, you can suggest edits yourself. If your suggestions don't change too much and fix the problem, they'll probably be accepted, and the question will be put in a queue to be judged for reopening. Once it is reopened, you can add your own answer
Alternatively, if you think nothing is wrong, you can flag the question for reopening immediately, or you can come here on meta and ask why the question was closed. Compared to other SE sites, we're actually pretty lax in terms of closing questions, and we'll usually reopen a question if a good argument is made for it.
The one thing that doesn't really make sense to do is to edit existing answers on the question, especially if you're trying to add a bunch of your own thoughts. If the question is closed, that means we've identified that it has problems. If nothing is done about those, we'll probably unfortunately eventually have to delete it. Rather than trying to edit your own answer into another one, you should try to fix the problems of the question first and foremost, and then once that's fixed, post your own answer. That probably sounds like a lot of work for just one question, and it won't happen in a matter of minutes, but questions here are intended to stick around for a long time and in the grand scheme of things our approach eventually gets things right.
>
> I don't even know if the above issues are because of StackExchange or this specific community...
>
>
>
This is probably because you're still a new user and unfamiliar with the system used here. Try checking out our [tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour) to get a general idea of what the site is for, and the [help center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help) for more details. If you still have questions, this is the place to ask.
---
I realize this system is rather unfamiliar to new users, especially those who are used to the more lax policies on fora and social networks. We do judge the quality of posts somewhat strictly, and at the low end a lot of things are restricted to prevent spammers from having their way with the site. I think you've confused that unfamiliarity with us being unwelcoming, but that definitely isn't intended. The low-end limits aren't intended to stick around for very long. You've only been on the site for 2 days, and once you're a bit more familiar with the system and the site and you've earned a bit more rep, those will disappear.
If you're looking for ways to get reputation quickly, I'd suggest checking out the [unanswered questions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/unanswered). There's a lot of them, and you can probably find a couple that you can answer. You'll probably have more success if you spend a lot of time writing a few well-researched answers to good questions rather than just trying to get an answer on every question you can. Our users here value quality a lot, and are much more likely to upvote an answer which goes above and beyond.
It's also worth noting that if you know a lot about a series that people haven't already asked about, you're allowed (even encouraged) to [answer your own question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer), which can be a great way to gain a lot of reputation if you do a good job. Finally, while there aren't any right now, you should keep an eye out for [bountied questions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions?sort=featured). If you can answer one of these well, it's an easy way to gain a lot of reputation.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2015/05/03 | 1,423 | 5,949 | <issue_start>username_0: I answered [Who is the creator of <NAME>?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21027/7579) because I knew the answer off the top of my head and it took me ten seconds to write it. I knew it was not a very good question; I would have known even without seeing the numerous downvotes and the comment telling the OP to just Google it.
Ever since then, it's been haunting me. Did I do the right thing? I'm obviously not going to harvest loads of reputation for that answer, but does answering questions like this encourage people to post more of them? We're flooded with awful identification requests, but some of these awful identification requests do actually get answered, against all odds, and that could encourage others to post their own awful identification requests. I know what I did isn't against the rules (just as the question, as bad as it was, wasn't against the rules and therefore couldn't be closed), but, in the opinion of the community, is it against some kind of moral guideline for maintaining the quality of our site?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no "moral guideline" for answering questions here. If you want to answer the question, answer it; if the community thinks it's bad enough that it shouldn't be answered, then it will be put on hold.
On larger sites like Stack Overflow, I often see people getting belittled for answering "simple", "obvious", or "bad" questions (whether they have close votes or not). To me, this goes against the spirit of a Q&A site.
Does it "encourage" more bad questions? Jury's out on this one, since we can't survey people to see what they'd ask before and after they see a "bad" question on our site. That said, there will *always* be people who ask bad questions, whether we answer them or not.
**My opinion:** If you want to answer the question, answer it. You helped someone find the information they were looking for when no one else would. A+, my friend.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You should totally answer it. The quality of the question does not determine the quality of your answer. Even if the question is bad and closed, your answer can still help people. And if you want to improve the question, but for some reason it's not possible, post your own version of the question with your own answer, eve if that means it will be closed as a dupe of the original one. SE guidelines are just that. Do what makes sense and preserve the best parts.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: To cultivate a welcoming site for first-time visitors, it makes sense to answer easy and basic questions. In order to graduate, we need a corpus of repeat users, so if answering a new user's simple question helps more new users become interested in SE in the first place (instead of feeling like the site is only for experts and get deterred from getting involved), that's a good thing.
Repeat and long-term users wouldn't normally ask such easy questions here, so once a newbie gets used to the SE format and the Anime and Manga SE's specific guidelines, they likely will naturally become less interested in asking basic questions that they could find at the top of the first page of Google search results in 10 seconds. I don't think answering such questions would generally lead to more of them being asked by the same person. If each new user asked a couple of such questions but then a fair percentage of those users felt encouraged to get more involved and start asking more interesting questions, and a percentage of those folks became long-term staples of the community, it would benefit the site.
When I answer a [question that seems silly, or extremely beginner-level](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22155/did-sakura-lose-her-virginity-to-kakashi), or simple, I do my best to make my answer educational by expanding on the question (if we simply closed such a question for being remedial, incorrect assumptions and unfounded rumors would spread further... and then more people in the future might ask the same question). If we flesh out the answer beyond a single sentence or yes/no, the OP gets the question answered, but anyone else who looks at it afterward might also learn something useful from it. For the question "Who is the creator of *<NAME>*?," Torisuda did not only provide Togashi's name but filled out the answer with some general info: he also is well-known for *HUNTER x HUNTER*, how he came up with *Yuu Yuu Hakusho*, and that he is married to another very famous mangaka. That is value added content that makes reading the answer contribute to the informative aspect of the site and could pique a rookie's interest in exploring more and thereby becoming more knowledgeable over time ("Oh, he wrote *HUNTER x HUNTER* too? I've heard of that, maybe I should check it out").
StackOverflow has a somewhat different situation: it is a Q&A site open to anyone but it aims to be extremely useful to professionals working in the field. The Anime and Manga SE is not primarily comprised of nor targeting as its user base 1) professional mangaka, animation directors, and animators in Japan, 2) translators and professionals in the licensing business, or 3) manga and anime scholars conducting academic research in universities inside and outside of Japan, so it is not primarily aiming to answer the sort of specialized questions that those demographics would be more likely to ask (such users and such questions would certainly be welcome and on-topic here, but they would likely ask/answer niche or hard-to-find information that the pros can't even easily get ahold of in Japanese publications and news sources). At this point, this SE is primarily aiming to be a resource for non-industry anime and manga enthusiasts, and thereby belittling people or looking down on them for being green is counter-intuitive. A goal is to foster a fan culture of better-informed viewers and readers.
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/05/06 | 7,930 | 33,685 | <issue_start>username_0: Lately there have been concerns about over the images posted by one of our community developed chatbots.
The intent was to make the chat room a bit more colorful and interesting during down times. There comes to be a time and a place for all things. Some people feel that because of the content of our image service, we turn away potential newcomers (gender aside) to the site. Is this is case? Is this not the case?
Do we need to review some of the content? Cut back on some parts? Move them somewhere else? Are some parts too much? Too little? To lewd? Too specialized? Too generalized? Too focused? If you're put off by this content or want to see more diversity or some other things, please let us know.
In order to better improve the user experience of the site, we'd like to be as accommodating as possible. If something is intimidating, offensive, troubling, irksome, or off putting about any of the part of the site, please let us know. We the moderators of the site are here to address your question and concerns. More than anything we welcome your participation on our site, it's only thanks to the users that we are where we are today.
I welcome you to an open dialogue in the ["Meta" Café](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/23068/the-meta-cafe), or privately in chat. Please come in and let us know what you think of our site and our community.<issue_comment>username_1: I originally brought this topic up, so I feel I should probably post my feelings on the matter. I realise the topic has somewhat divided the community and while I regret that, I think the topic needed to be raised.
**Here's my take:**
I enjoy the maid café. However, I think the image auto-posts can be objectionable. Some users may think this is over-sensitive, but I think as a site that ideally wants to be all-inclusive, that this complaint is valid.
As much as I like cute girls, having them as a focal point of the image stream is somewhat objectifying them and women in general. For an example: would it be acceptable if in Movies & TV there was a constant stream of cute female actors? Probably not.
The images do encourage discussion and helps the *empty chatroom* problem that many chatrooms face (no recent history of chat == no sign that people are willing to talk). For this, I appreciate the bot. However, I would prefer that the images are content-checked to be:
* Non-single-gendered
I think this is covered in my point before about objectification, but it would be better if we had a mix of character art from other genders also.
* Non-suggestive/Explicit
In general this isn't really a problem, but occasionally there are images that fit in this bracket. Many people browse this site at work and I'm sure they don't really want their boss to see that on their computer. Not to mention, we are also a 13s-friendly site and don't particularly want to get mislabelled as inappropriate content on internet filters. Obviously this is very subjective and in general I think we need a policy on this site for this content in our questions/answers and on our chat site.
---
**What can we do?**
Obviously, a good bit of work has gone into the bot in creation, image population and it has it's merits as mentioned before - I don't want to get rid of it, but I would appreciate it if the choice of images were varied. It doesn't have to be just a mix of genders, but a mixture of landscapes and other anime art would probably give more value to the bot. a possible solution is to pull the top images off of Pivix or something - this way the content will be not user-selected and therefore come with uncertainty over if people like Kyouko will whine about it.
Another (extreme) option is removing that part of the bot's functionality altogether. I think this is possible, there was a suggestion from another user for other conversation-starting auto-posts, for example: a random anime/manga.
I do not think *hiding* the image in a link/obfuscation is a valid solution, it's better - but it still has the implications of objectifying women. I would like the Maid Café to be free of that negative attitude.
---
I realise there are some reservations from the other users for various reasons. Here are some possible answers to possible reservations.
* What about all the current images in the bot's list?
To be frank, that shouldn't be a consideration in this issue. It's not a feasibilty question, it's an appropiateness question.
* You can go through the images yourself and remove the ones that you find inappropiate.
Why should a user be obligated to police someone else's work rather than the contributors making sure their content is acceptable. I think it's reasonable to expect users to flag content they don't agree with - but going through external products is out of scope to be honest.
* What gives you the right to speak for women?
I'm not speaking for women, I'm speaking as a user of the site. I personally don't like the idolization that the stream of images represent - and if I feel this way, I'm sure others who are more offence-taking than me feel similarly, or stronger.
* But we love cute girls, I don't want cute dudes.
This ironically is a flip of the problem. What if Anime & Manga was full of women posting cute men?
---
Just as a conclusion, I'd like that people keep this discussion constructive - I'd rather not have a flurry of objections on chat/in the comments to this post. If you have alternate suggestions/reactions please post another answer.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I've generally had good experiences — I certainly can't think of any bad ones — but I *could* see, as a woman, people being slightly uncomfortable with things, and I definitely have felt that way before. For instance, the chat desciption is:
>
> We're now serving anime & manga with a side of Moé. Smiles are free and the lolis are the best.
>
>
>
Granted, [what moe is](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/894/2604) is a bit vague, but the impression I get of it, *combined with my impression of "lolis"*, is slightly off-putting, particularly since the latter has sexual connotations for me, and particularly since I've only ever seen it used in the context of female characters.
I wasn't offended by the stuff in the image archive — there was a link on chat — but pretty much every image I saw was of a female character, and some of them were even kind of sexualized, even if I'd consider them borderline safe for work. I'd hardly go around screaming claims of sexism because of this. It's probably not much worse than the slight, innocent discomfort I might feel among male friends discussing between themselves women they're attracted to, and this could well just be due to site demographics.
*But it's still not quite a good thing.* At the very least, it might make me sceptical of being *more* involved with the community. I don't see it downright turning off users from asking questions: outside of chat, it's easy to avoid potentially irksome stuff, particularly if you don't follow the "right" series, because questions are supposed to be "professional". Perhaps as a bare-bones Q&A site, that's fine, but it doesn't seem ideal.
I wouldn't really care if this were simply intermittent conversations between users, but as something a regular chatbot is involved with, it's not the most welcoming. (As an analogy of sorts, I'll provide this: I like *Monogatari*'s Hanekawa, but it's tiring to see people on the internet only post pictures of the sexualized Black Hanekawa or of her infamous cleavage.)
Thus, I think [username_1's suggestions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2351/2604) are mostly appropriate and in order.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As someone involved in this, I'll state the complaints I see and exactly what I propose to improve the situation. My goal is not to create a perfect world without sexism or anything dramatic like that, but simply to get things to a point where any user on the main site feels comfortable participating in chat. We can debate feminist theory and the effect of anime/manga on women in Japan another time, but frankly, that's only marginally relevant here and our goals are much more down-to-earth.
---
First, I feel I should clarify the situation. There are two connected components that together determine the effect the bot has on the chatroom. The bot itself is a piece of software written by Hakase which accepts links to images and posts them randomly according to rules which can be modified by verified users (room owners and moderators last I checked) and on-command. In principle, any user who wants to can add any image they like to the bot. The goal of this was to create something which would allow users here to upload their favorite anime/manga-themed images images and save them for times when the chat has downtime. This would create more discussion. I will refer to this as *the bot*.
In practice, I'm the only user who has done so, so the collection is rather slanted to my own interests. Those interests are somewhat limited. I have a collection of approximately 25000 images which I collected over a period of several months. I've uploaded them to Google Drive and fed them to the bot about 1-2k at a time when it gets low on images. I'll refer to this component as *my library*.
It's important that these two components are not conflated. The bot itself was always intended to be a community project. The fact is that there isn't much community involvement in it, but that's really the problem here. Because of that, it is drawing exclusively from my library, and gives off the impression that the entire community's interests are the same as mine, which is not exactly true.
---
Now that this clarification is out of the way, I've seen complaints that basically fall into 2 categories. The solution to both of these is more community involvement, but it's useful to differentiate the two since they're conceptually very different. This post is rather long, so I've made a tl;dr version for the solution to each of these problems.
**1. The bot posts some inappropriate images**
I've heard this from a relatively small number of people, but it seems to come up repeatedly. It's rare that people can point to a specific image and say exactly what makes it inappropriate, but there is a general sense among some users that some of the images aren't as unobjectionable individually as one might like.
To be clear, this is a complaint about my library, not the bot itself. As such, I'll detail the procedure I go through to check the images and my goals in doing so.
Initially, when downloading images, I used various image boards. Pixiv was probably the most common, followed by Danbooru, Sankaku channel, e-shuushuu, yande.re, and konachan. Most of these sites are not work-safe, but all the ones which aren't safe rate images, and in searching, I stuck to those images rated as "safe". This already removes anything sexually explicit, most nudity, etc. The downloads were done by hand.
In reviewing the images, I noticed that a small number of them were still perhaps debatable, even though they had been classified as "safe" rather than "questionable". They were mostly no worse than things we've posted in chat before, but since the bot would be posting randomly on command and would be a regular user, upon talking to the other room regulars, we figured that the images it posts should be held to some higher scrutiny than what we'd hold the regulars to.
As such, when I upload images, I manually hand-check each one and see that it conforms to reasonable standards. Since users under the age of 13 aren't permitted on SE, it seems reasonable that the bot should be permitted to post roughly PG-13 level images, but in practice I aimed for mostly PG-level. For reference, the sorting is not solely to remove images which are not appropriate, but also to remove those which are not of particularly high quality.
Because of the sheer magnitude of images needed (the bot posts 20 images per day, which means we need over 1000 new ones every 2 months) these checks have to be done quickly. In practice I average 5-10 seconds per image, which means that going through about 1200 images (which will produce about 1000 to be posted in chat) takes about 2 1/2 hours by hand.
In checking, I have a small number of hard-and-fast rules for what to remove. Anything with nudity or visible underwear is removed. There are a small number of other less common rules I follow. Beyond that, anything I'd need to think twice about uploading from my account, whether or not I'd actually do it, is removed. The end result is that the collection is significantly more conservative than what I myself would post. I've seen many other users (including many of those who are now complaining) post images that would not meet these standards.
-
I say all this not because I think it means that I should get a free pass, but simply to say that this is something that I'm already putting a great deal of effort into. I think the large majority of the images posted are not objectionable individually. There may be a small number of seriously objectionable posts that I miss. This is inevitable; I can't spend several minutes on each image dissecting it, and even if I could, there would always be a small miss-click rate. This small number might still create an impression on the regulars; if it's only 2% of all images, that still comes out to 3 or 4 images per week at the current rate, which a user might see as a much more statistically significant trend than it actually is.
Beyond that, there are images that some users have complained about, but can't explain exactly what the issue is. Upon investigating such cases, I (and often some other users) can't see anything wrong. This illustrates an important principle that **what is appropriate is subjective**. If it were possible to do so, I'd read the minds of all the regulars and check that each image is acceptable to each one. But I don't have the ability to read minds, and I can't see what one would complain about in many of these cases. I'm happy to refine my methods further if people have concrete criticisms that lead to useful checks that can be performed quickly by eye. But I'm already incorporating every check I can think of at the moment, so simply saying that an image is "NSFW" or "suggestive" without qualifying what exactly in the image is the problem is not particularly helpful, because in all but the rare cases of a mistake on my part, the image is SFW by my standards. I encourage those who think there are systematic errors in my methodology to point these out so that I can improve it.
On the other hand, if you see a questionable image, but can't exactly explain what the problem is, I'd suggest you think a little bit more about what is actually wrong with it. If it isn't something you can explain after thinking about it, it's probably highly subjective and you may want to try to have a bit more open mind about it at least until you can figure out what the problem is. This isn't really any different from anything else in life; for example, while some people have opinions on others without having any solid reason or explanation for their opinions, it generally behooves open-minded and intelligent individuals to explore these opinions and discover the reasons behind them. But if you're sure the image is inappropriate, and still can't explain why, keep reading.
I'm also not saying that users should ignore these few inappropriate images. That doesn't solve the problem. The bot shouldn't be the reason an active user on the site doesn't want to go to chat, even if they only see inappropriate images rarely.
-
The solution I propose is that (other) users become more involved in moderating the bot to deal with these potential issues. Just like the main site, the way we can get this to work is by community moderation, which is only fitting given that the bot was always intended to be a community-run project.
I'm perfectly happy to allow any other chat users who want to do so to inspect the images in my library before they're fed to the bot (in fact, I've asked several times if there is any interest in doing so). but that doesn't solve the problem completely.
Preliminary inspection can only go so far, since even if my library is totally clean, there's little to stop other users from uploading their own images which don't conform to the same standards. What we need is for people to be moderating the bot's images. This is allegedly a community project. It was started with broad community support to provide the community a nice tool to keep conversations going and interesting. But now, it seems that everyone in the community other than me is no longer interested in contributing. If we want the bot to be running in the main room, it behooves regulars of the room to at least familiarize themselves with its internal moderation capabilities and apply these when appropriate.
First off, the bot can (and should) be turned off during long serious discussions, such as those related to meta policy. This can be done via the command `#post disable`. You can also modify the parameters such as how often it will post or how many messages to wait between posts; for more details I suggest referring to [this meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1166/191) about Maid Café chat room bots.
More importantly, when an image does appear that isn't appropriate, you have the ability to remove it within 2 minutes. The command `#undo` will remove the last posted message by the bot. While I've seen many users complain about messages, few if any have bothered to actually remove them with this. I'm not sure if that's because it is not sufficiently well-known or for other reasons, but in any case, that's available. This should be done if the image is definitely not appropriate for the room.
Secondly, if you personally don't want a given image on your screen, but it isn't clearly inappropriate, the `#unbox` command will edit the previous message to add an extra character after it within 2 minutes. This will allow other users to click the link to see the image, but you won't need to see it. The current functionality is slightly broken; it will still edit the message, but not correctly convert it to a link. This should be fixed shortly.
To be perfectly clear, these functions are available for any users, and everyone should feel welcome to use them. I ask that you reserve `#undo` for clearly inappropriate cases and use `#unonebox` in questionable cases. But no one should feel like they have to put up with a particular image on their screen which makes them uncomfortable from a bot whose intent is to make chat more enjoyable and comfortable for everyone who wants to join.
While these are pretty good and should make moderation easy enough, I think we can also do more on the software end of things to make the bot more flexible. 2 minutes is a fairly short amount of time, and it's possible to miss an image for that long that you want to get rid of. While the image will usually fall off the screen that quickly, it may still be visible to some users with certain user scripts installed on the star board or if you scroll the screen up.
A regular user (like the bot) can't delete or edit their own messages after that amount of time though. For now, you can message me or another chat mod to get them removed, but that's less than ideal, and chat flags are even worse. Ideally, I'd like for the bot to have room-owner privileges, which it could use to move messages after the 2-minute deadline to a different designated bin room. This functionality does not yet exist, but if it is implemented, that would allow users to deal with such messages after 2 minutes. This is something I'm only somewhat considering right now, and there are possible objections to having the bot be a room-owner, but if this complaint continues to arise, it may be the best option.
-
**TL;DR**: There are several functions already available to anyone to moderate the bot. We can't hope to solve this completely without community involvement, nor should we try to since it's always been a community project.
* `#post disable` turns off the posting module.
* `#undo` removes inappropriate messages within 2 minutes.
* `#unonebox` converts the one-box to a link to remove questionable images from your screen while keeping them accessible to other users.
* If 2 minutes is not enough time, we can try adding a function to bin an image, which would have no time limit. Feedback is appreciated on this suggestion.
* In the interim, you can message a mod to deal with any other cases, or in particularly egregious cases use the chat flag system (though it's definitely preferable to use the bot's own internal moderation capabilities whenever possible). I can't speak for any of the other mods, but I at least will be fine removing or unoneboxing any image someone complains about, whether or not I agree with their complaint.
But, in any event, I don't believe that the seriously inappropriate images are actually extremely frequent, given the amount of work I've done in pruning my library. They may occasionally occur, but they're something of a red herring here. Still, feel free to liberally use the above moderation tools; they're there to be used.
---
**2. The overall effect of the bot's sole focus on female characters has the aggregate effect of objectifying women.**
Let's clarify this, since the use of "objectifying" here is not standard, at least in the feminist literature I'm familiar with. The current collection of images is essentially all female characters. The aggregate effect of a bot which only posts females gives off the impression (true or otherwise) that the community is only concerned with female characters. It would not be a great leap in inference to assume that the (mostly male) community here is primarily interested in female characters for the sake of their femininity as an object to be distilled and consumed regularly, and then relating that back to real life, may get the impression that this is a somewhat sexist community.
This is different from the sort of objectification you hear about in e.g. movies. In movies, the complaint is the reduction of a (typically female) character's personality and role to that of an object which is effectively owned by another (typically male) character; this is an in-universe phenomenon that the viewer has no part in beyond observing and internalizing. Here, since we have still images, the complaint has nothing to do with story or personality; rather, it's about the perception of this community that a stream of images of feminine characters creates. No individual image is objectifying in this way, as none of them are able to depict characteristics or story and exist only to be consumed. In the standard sense, this is really weird terminology which would seem to have us objectifying a character from an anime or illustration which is literally already an object to be consumed by us; it's hard to see how that is an issue if you don't look deeper.
But having many of these images together without any others may still have some effect on the perception of our community. Specifically, it may have the effect of associating us with the idea of objectifying women and leading to the inference that we are fans of such objectification (valid or not). So I'm not particularly a fan of the use of "objectification" in this way, but we'll stick with it since I don't think there's a significantly better standard term in the literature I've read.
-
To be perfectly clear, this was not my intent when compiling the images. I've explained my thought process thoroughly [in this chat message](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/21524297#21524297); I don't think it bears repeating here simply because it isn't particularly important. One of the lessons of feminist literature (and more generally literature on all culturally disadvantaged groups) is that something which is intended as acceptable and reasonable can still be unintentionally perceived as discriminatory or aggressive. I think we may have fallen into a minor case of that here.
I don't think this would be such a problem if it were only me doing it, but a bot has an illusion (true or false) of being community-supported. The impression is that the only value we find in anime/manga is the abundance of cute girls, which is not true for most of the users here.
-
Let's be honest about this. The bot is basically a red herring when it comes to this complaint. It's an easy target since it's visible to regulars, but it isn't even close to solely responsible for the perception of our community.
Our main chatroom's name is "Maid Café (メイド喫茶)". That already probably turns off a lot of users including some women. The concept of a maid cafe isn't exactly gender-neutral. Furthermore, the description is written in a mixture of English and incredibly ugly italic Japanese text with a bunch of very technical terms that the average person would not understand or would potentially be turned off by.
Our dialogue isn't even close to gender-neutral either. Forget the bots; our users enjoy talking about things like fanservice scenes and praising lolicon. The images the bot tosses out aren't even close to the worst ones that get posted. And this isn't a new thing; chat has been that way since long before we had any bots. Indeed, the bot was initially created to automate a process I and other users were doing manually of posting images during downtime, predominantly of female characters.
-
Now, before we go any further, we need to ask ourselves to what degree this is actually a bad thing. "Objectification" is something of a feminist buzzword, but we have to question whether it's actually a problem here.
In some ways, it really isn't such a bad thing. Yes, it has the effect of excluding some people from chat. But exclusion isn't a bad thing; it's the principle on which Stack Exchange was built. For those confused by this, I highly suggest this great talk by <NAME>. The relevant section begins about 14 minutes in, but the whole talk is interesting:
[The Cultural Anthropology of Stack Exchange](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpGA2fmAHvM)
The point is that the way Stack Exchange works best is by creating an atmosphere that is significantly more welcoming to experts than to those who aren't. In the context of anime, our goal should be to make an atmosphere that experts find comfortable, and users who don't know or care about anime will not have any interest in. Chat being the deepest level of the site, it should be the most biased in that way towards keeping the expert interested users around and active.
I don't think anyone will question that there's a definite correlation between people who appreciate the bot's output and people who have a strong interest in anime. So, in some sense, the bot is really doing a good thing here.
**But** that's only at a very surface level. While interest in the bot does correlate with anime expertise, it also correlates with all sorts of other spurious things that we don't really need. Female anime fans are probably less interested than male ones, and fans of genres like action or (heterosexual) romance may feel left-out too.
I don't know whether the overall positive effect is bigger or smaller than the overall negative effect, or even if they're comparable. But we can keep most of the positive effects *and* get rid of the negative effects. These are real issues that we should try to solve and can make some progress with here, unlike the huge goal of ending objectification of women (which we're simply in no position to deal with on any real scale).
-
Getting rid of the bot isn't going to fix sexism in the world, or even in our chatroom. It isn't going to change our culture. Nor is it going to make more women interested in anime and manga as a whole.
And this isn't the headquarters of some feminist organization, it's a chatroom about a Q&A site for Japanese cartoons and comic books. We need to accept that anime and manga aren't gender-neutral, and that nothing we do here is going to change that, nor should that be our goal. Anime is still primarily made for a male fanbase and our site's demographics are accordingly skewed more towards men than women (according to Quantcast; incidentally, we aren't anywhere near as skewed as a lot of other sites like many of the tech sites). There are some very positive effects anime and manga have on gender-roles in Japanese culture, but also some negative ones, and like it or not, we're bound to both of these here.
Our goal should just be to make a chatroom that main-site users feel comfortable and welcome in.
So with the more modest goal of representing anime fans equitably rather than trying to cure "objectification", there's some real progress we can make.
-
The solution to this, to the extent that we need to solve it, is in fact quite similar to the other problem. We need more people adding more images of their own interests to the bot. The bot is supposed to represent the community's interests as a whole. Instead, it's come to represent solely (a subset of) my interests.
In fact, any user already has the ability to add images to the bot. There's few real rules about what the images should be either. Anything you want to add is fair game, be it cute girls, handsome men, or artichokes. The only serious rule is that everything should be appropriate and on-topic (and the latter is using the broadest possible interpretation of on-topic).
The process is unfortunately a bit complicated. I intend to make another meta post detailing the steps I take so that other users can follow the same steps. However, anyone can do it who is sufficiently interested in doing so.
I encourage other users whose interests don't (or do, if you like) match mine to add your own images. I'm not going to go out of my way to look for a ton of images that I don't even care about (or rather, I can't, since I can't even judge them effectively), but everyone else should feel free to share their own interests through the bot. That's what it was originally intended for, and to the extent that people are having issues with it now, it's because there isn't enough participation on this front.
I don't know if this will cure the issue of "objectification" from a constant stream of images of female characters. But what it will do is make the stream of images representative of what we do care about and are interested in. More diversity in interests, so long as they remain anime- and manga-related, is surely a good thing in light of what impression it gives off of our community. And if we get a lot of fujoshi in chat who really want to share their love of BL or male idols or shotas, I'm perfectly happy with that so long as it stays on-topic and appropriate, and that might help counteract the image that all this community cares about is cute girls. Or we might end up with 35000 different images of artichokes if that suddenly becomes the most important thing for us to chat about. The possibilities are really endless.
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**TL;DR**: We need users other than me uploading their own images to the bot to more equitably represent our broad interests. This was always intended to be the case, but only after this discussion did we realize that by failing to do this, there can be negative effects as well as the positive ones the bot creates in chat for some users
I've already had a couple users express interest in adding their own images in chat. I will upload a guide to meta shortly on how to do this. Other users interested in doing this are definitely encouraged to do so.
As much as I would like to solve this on my own, it simply isn't possible. The fundamental problem is that the bot isn't representing people's interests, and so those people whose interests differ from mine need to go to some effort as well to get them represented by the bot. I realize that means some work, but this is a community undertaking, and a single person is not a community.
---
In all of this, the unifying theme is that the bot really does have to be a community task. It can't be just me adding and managing images. It was originally created to be something for everyone in the community to both add to and post from, but somehow that didn't happen. There was a strong consensus among community members that we wanted a bot like this, but no one besides me really wanted to put much work into it.
If the community isn't willing to take this up any more, then maybe we really don't need the bot any more. Sure, I might leave chat if that happens since I'd have little more reason to stick around, and some other users might be sad. It may also kill a lot of discussion that we currently have about the stuff it posts. But all of those are potentially acceptable if the bot is creating an atmosphere where a lot of serious anime fans on the main site feel under-represented and not particularly welcome.
On the other hand, if the community is willing to step up and add images and moderate the bot, I think it will be one of the most unique and engaging features in our chat and keep everyone interested. Right now it's having a positive effect for some people like me, but not everyone, and that isn't good. But it really doesn't take any major changes to the bot itself to make things good for everyone; it just takes people putting in a bit more effort to make the bot their own.
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/05/09 | 8,177 | 29,441 | <issue_start>username_0: We have a bot that posts images in our [main chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) intermittently. Currently it is [Taisho](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/116952/taisho). How can I upload my own images to this bot, and what steps do I need to take to ensure everything will work correctly?
---
Attention!
==========
Since September of 2016 Google Drive is no longer working as an image hosting service. Use Imgur or other services instead. That also means the whole thumbnail biz is no longer working because image file names will be randomized. If you're not sure about any part of uploading process, come to chat and discuss it with us.<issue_comment>username_1: This process is what I follow to upload images to the bot. Some of the steps are optional, and some steps can be performed in different ways than how I do it or in a different order. My methods are probably not the fastest possible, but if you follow them to the letter there shouldn't be any problems. All the software I link to is freeware that has worked for me. A small number of things (mostly command-line) may only work on Windows; if you use a different operating system it should not be hard to modify these to the correct version for your OS.
Before you start, I recommend reading through the whole process at least once to get an idea of what needs to get done and how much work this entails.
---
Step 0: Check bot status
========================
You'll probably want to do this several times during the process (at the very least, when you start gathering and when you're ready to upload), so it's at the top. There are two commands you can post into chat to check the current status of the bot.
* `#status` will give you statistics about the bot itself, which has more than just the image-posting module. Most of these statistics aren't very useful but you may need it occasionally.
* `#post status` gives statistics about the image-posting module. It will tell you whether automatic posting is enabled, the parameters, and how many unposted images are remaining. The number of images remaining is probably the most important of these for this process. If the number is too low (the bot posts about 160 per week) we need to upload a lot more soon. On the other hand, if you're uploading niche images, don't upload 2000 when there's only a couple hundred images remaining in the bot, since those will dominate. Basically, so long as you apply a bit of common sense, this is pretty easy to understand.
Step 1: Gather images
=====================
You'll need to download a large number of images that you like. Ideally, these should be the highest available quality for each image. Try to avoid images that are cropped, downscaled, or otherwise modified from the original.
There are several image board sites which I use for this purpose. Most of these are **not work-safe**. They all have slightly different purposes, but (other than pixiv) are mostly equivalent so you can pick whichever you prefer or use any combination. You may need to use other sites as well if these are not sufficient.
* [Pixiv](http://www.pixiv.net/)
* [Danbooru](http://danbooru.donmai.us/)
* [Sankaku channel](https://chan.sankakucomplex.com/)
* [e-shuushuu](http://e-shuushuu.net/)
* [yande.re](https://yande.re/)
* [Konachan](http://konachan.com/)
* [Zero chan](http://www.zerochan.net/)
The use of these sites is mostly self-explanatory. You can search for tags which represent certain properties of the image. Most of them also allow for restricting your search to images considered "safe", which may not be exactly the same as what our chatroom considers safe. All of them allow for downloading original images.
I suggest staying away from more general image sharing sites like Tumblr, imgur, and Facebook. These are known to apply (sometimes severe) compression to the images. In addition, modified images (cropped, filtered, etc) are quite common. These generally do not give great results with our bot, and you can almost always find higher quality versions of the same images on other sites or with one of the various reverse image search engines.
You'll want to download all the images into a single folder with nothing else in it. The number of images you'll need to get is up to you, but keep in mind that most of the later steps aren't significantly harder for thousands of images than it would be for 10, so it may be useful to get significantly more than you'll actually need and remove some later.
As a note, I recommend avoiding animated gifs. At least some of the steps below (for instance, creating thumbnails) are much harder for them. It should be possible to get things to work with animated gifs, but they're a lot more work than other formats. If you stick to JPG, PNG, and stationary GIFs, you shouldn't have any trouble in the later steps. Also, users in the main room may be annoyed if an animated gif is particularly distracting.
While I could give a great deal of advice on how to best optimize this step and what is/isn't worth doing, this is really a topic for somewhere else. The goal of this post isn't so much to tell you how to download images as to tell you what to do once you have finished downloading them. I suggest experimenting to see what works for you.
Note: It's highly recommended that once you finish downloading, you make a backup folder by copying the existing one to a secure location, and update this with each step as necessary. It's not hard to accidentally destroy things in some of the later steps, so having a backup will potentially save many hours of work.
Step 2: Rename images
=====================
If you, like me, used a half-dozen different sites with different naming conventions to get your images, it may be somewhat annoying to have them all in the same place. This step is optional, but will rename them all randomly with a fixed format, which makes them easier to work with. If you don't do this, things should still work fine as long as none of your filenames ends with `_thumb` before the extension.
For this, I use this [random names script](http://www.howtogeek.com/57661/stupid-geek-tricks-randomly-rename-every-file-in-a-directory/). It's relatively self-explanatory. You download the script and put it in the same directory as your image collection. Then run the script. It will randomly rename each of the files in the directory. After that, move the script and the translation file it creates to a different directory. For whatever reason, it seems that site is now broken and the script isn't available there, so I've uploaded the script [here](https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B37SNNYCVhA_fmNUc1ZqN182S1R1VzA5YVJBQlcyNzV5eXJ1Y1JmN09mX2RHUENKeHJFOUk&usp=sharing) if you still want it. Alternatively, you can use Advanced Renamer (see below) for this step.
Occasionally, when running this script, you'll be left with some junk files in addition to the correct ones. Simply sort the folder by extension to find the junk ones and delete them.
Step 3: Remove duplicates
=========================
If you have more than a few dozen images, there's a decent chance you have some unintentional duplication. This is very difficult and time-consuming to find by hand, since in many cases the images are not exactly the same, but are closely related.
For this, I use [VisiPics](http://www.visipics.info/index.php?title=Main_Page). It will identify not just exact duplicates, but also similar images. You can adjust the sensitivity of the checks it uses; it may be useful to test this some. I use fairly strict sensitivity, and also check all identified duplicates by hand before deleting them. This was sufficient for anime-themed images.
For an archive of over 20000 images, this resulted in a few hundred duplicates, but your results may vary. The full scan takes a few hours with that many images.
Unfortunately, there's no practical way to check for duplicates between different users' uploads. This could be added as a feature to the bot in the future, but right now, we have to live with the fact that there will be some rare duplication when multiple users add the same image. This will probably be relatively rare, but for that reason, it's especially important to ensure your own contributions are as duplicate-free as possible.
---
The above steps (in principle) only need to be performed once, and can work for an arbitrarily large collection of images. The steps below need to be done each time you want to upload some of them to the bot. If you aren't uploading all of them at once, start here on subsequent uploads.
Step 4: Sort images
===================
So you now have an archive of a lot of images without duplicates. Most likely, you won't want to upload the whole thing at once to the bot, and there may be other concerns that you have about some of the images.
At this point, I strongly recommend going through the images and hand-checking each one. There are many reasons to perform a second check, such as making sure all images are high quality and appropriate for the room. I generally sort my images into 3 folders:
* Post: There are no issues posting this image in the chat room.
* Low Quality: The image may be artistically low quality, have unusual dimensions, or otherwise be not worth posting in chat.
* Questionable: The image is not low quality, but may not be appropriate for chat.
This sorting takes a few seconds (5-10) per image. Low quality is essentially entirely subjective, and I don't think I can quantify the methods I use here, nor is it necessarily useful to do so. Questionable is aimed at being more objective. Anything with nudity, underwear, or sexually explicit is put here. Beyond that, anything I personally find to be sexually suggestive goes here, and I have a couple other minor rules that aren't really worth noting here. The goal of this is not to completely remove all inappropriate images, which is an impossible task since in many cases it's almost completely subjective, but just to do a good enough job that people can deal with the remaining subjective cases in the room after they are posted.
Depending on your interests and images, you may want to modify this step significantly. I still highly recommend hand-checking each image before they're added, and removing ones you don't think should get posted. While there aren't currently any restrictions on who can upload to the bot, such restrictions might need to be added if users don't police their own uploads to some degree.
Step 5: Make thumbnails of images
=================================
Now, you should have a folder of images to post. The problem is that they're probably mostly large images, and some people in chat are on low-bandwidth connections. So that we don't end up causing them problems, we've developed a [user script](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1161/chat-has-pictures-and-they-are-big) which will allow the chat version of the picture to be a small 300x300 image, while the link points (for those running the script) to the original. Accommodating this means you'll need to do a bit of extra work generating the thumbnail files.
The logic of the following operation can be illustrated like this:
Imagine the blue square is 300x300 pixels. Pictures with portrait and album orientation will be downsized to fit the square keeping the original height/width ratio, so the thumbnail is not distorted and not cropped.
For this step, I use [ImageMagick](http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php). First, be *absolutely sure* to make a copy of the Post folder called "Thumbnails" or something similar. The two folders should be the same initially. ImageMagick will overwrite all the images in the Thumbnail folder with downsized versions, so don't run it on the main folder, only on the copied one. Everything we do in this step is in the Thumbnail folder.
Next, check the thumbnail folder for any small images. Chat will downsize any images to fit in a 300x300 pixel box. If you have any images where both the length and width dimensions are under 300 pixels, move them temporarily to a different location. These images are already small enough to act as their own thumbnail versions; you don't want to resize them. After you run ImageMagick on all the other images, move these back in the thumbnail folder. In most cases you will have few (if any) of these, but if you do have some you need to follow this step to avoid the chat version getting upsized.
Now, you have a folder of a lot of images that you want to downsize so that the larger dimension is 300 pixels. Open a command prompt and navigate to the thumbnail folder. Then run the following ImageMagick command:
```
mogrify -resize 300x300 -quality 100 *.*
```
This will take some time to run if you have a lot of images. The end result will be that all images in the folder are resized to fit in a 300x300 box. The `quality 100` ensures that the resizing is done as faithfully as possible. It isn't necessary, but even with this enabled, most thumbnails end up quite reasonably sized, and at lower quality levels there may be noticeable compression artifacts on some images, so I recommend it.
In rare cases, this may generate junk files the same way that the renaming did; you should delete these the same as before. In rarer cases it may fail to resize a small number of images. In these cases, you can handle the remaining ones via running it again, or by one or more `convert -resize 300x300 quality 100 filename.ext filename.ext` commands.
After this step, it's recommended to check that the number of files in the thumbnail directory is still the same as the post directory, and that all of them have both their width and height less than 300 pixels. If so, this step worked.
Step 6: Rename thumbnails
=========================
Now you have two folders, one with thumbnails and one with the original images. Both of them should have files with the same names. You need to get one folder in which the thumbnails have `_thumb` added to their filenames.
For this step, I use [Advanced Renamer](http://www.advancedrenamer.com/). It can only handle 10000 files at a time, but that's more than you should be uploading at once anyway so it's fine. In principle, Advanced Renamer could work for step 2 as well.
Click the "add" button and click "directory", then find the thumbnail folder. Add this to the renamer. It should load all the thumbnail image file names; you can check that there's the right number of files loaded. For renaming method, use the rule `\_thumb.`. If you look in the right column of the middle table, you should see the new filenames of the pattern `name_thumb.ext`.
Once you check that everything looks right, click the "Start Batch" button to do the renaming. This should finish in a matter of seconds. Recheck the thumbnail folder one last time that it has the correct number of files and that they all have `_thumb` attached to their names.
Step 7: Generate list of all thumbnail filenames
================================================
This isn't actually used until step 10, but generating the list now saves some extra work in the form of eliminating duplicates. We want to generate a list of all the filenames of files in the directory. This can easily be done via command line.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the thumbnail directory (if you aren't already there from step 5). Then run the following command:
```
dir /b /s /a:-D > names.txt
```
This will create a new file called `names.txt` in this folder. Open it with [Notepad++](http://www.notepad-plus-plus.org/). The contents should look like this, likely with more lines:
```
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\12810-22653-26093_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\14349-27417-26639_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\17822-1683-12809_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\21372-19840-12974_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\23193-19768-15737_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\24102-18218-2554_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\2416-24375-13269_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\8713-11952-23783_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\899-18705-32578_thumb.jpg
C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\names.txt
```
Delete the last line with `names.txt` and then save the file. Then move it to a safe location which you won't forget about.
Step 8: Upload images to Google Drive
=====================================
Now, you should have 2 folders. One is named "Post" which has all the full-size images, and one named "Thumbnails" which has the chat-sized images. These two folders should have the same number of files, and the names should be the same except that the Thumbnails directory will have `_thumb` at the end of each filename. You should also have a text file with all the thumbnail names. Once you check all of these are correct, move the thumbnails to the "Post" folder. For things to work properly, they need to be in the same folder.
Now we're ready to upload the images. There are several minimum requirements for the uploading/hosting service you choose.
* Needs to keep images available indefinitely, i.e. no expiration date or view limits
* No watermarks
* Allows bulk uploads
* Allows hotlinking
* Stable urls
There's also some highly desirable features:
* Systematic url structure
* No image compression
* Easy interface
For all of these, [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/) is the preferred place to upload. There are others that are in principle workable, such as Dropbox or Flickr, but Google Drive is also what all the various user scripts (including the thumbnail script) assume, so you should use it. While there are a couple of rare bugs which can cause headaches, overall it's the easiest way, and the 15 GB of storage per account lasts a long time (after which you can simply make another account).
Note in particular that you **can not** just copy a bunch of image links from boards like Danbooru or Pixiv. These sites almost universally block hotlinking. While the image will show up for you, it invariably will *not* for anyone else in chat. Also, you **should not** use services like imgur or minus, because these don't guarantee your image will still be visible a long time in the future, and the bot may take a long time to post the link. Doing either of these will probably only result in your images getting removed because no one can see them. From here on I will assume you are using Google drive.
In the drive, click "My Drive > Upload Folder" and upload the Post folder, which should now have both the original and thumbnail images in it. This uploading will take some time. Note that if it fails for any reason, it isn't easy to restart the upload; you're usually better off just deleting the failed attempt and trying again. The uploading doesn't usually fail though unless your internet connection goes out or you close the tab.
You'll want to check that the upload worked properly. Go to the folder and check that it has the right number of files, which is twice the number of images you are uploading. You can check this by going in and clicking any image. Once the image preview loads, in the lower left corner it will tell you the number of images in the folder, e.g. "1 of 18 items". If you have more than 50 images in the folder, it only loads 50 at a time, so you'll need to repeatedly scroll down to load more. Unfortunately, after a few hundred images are loaded on screen, the folder has a chance to crash if you scroll too quickly, so you'll want to do this slowly. Other rare bugs that sometimes happen are images failing to get uploaded or getting uploaded twice; keep an eye out for these since they're quite possible if you're uploading 1000 or more files at a time.
Note that this check can not easily be automated via the Google drive API. The reason is that the API fails when more than 500 items are in a single folder, and only finds 500 of them in many cases. This bug has been known to Google for a long time, but they haven't fixed it, and there's no indication that it is likely to get fixed.
Step 9: Share Google drive folder
=================================
Now that you've uploaded the "Post" folder, you should see it in your drive. Right click and click the Share button. In the pop-up menu, click Advanced, and then click the Change button next to Access: Private. Change this to "Public on the Web", and make sure it's set to "Anyone can view".
Unfortunately, recent interface changes have made the next step a bit harder, but it's still doable. Right click the folder and click "Get link". Copy the link url. It should look something like this: `https://drive.google.com/open?id=<KEY>&authuser=0` Copy everything after `id=` and before `&authuser=0`, i.e. `<KEY>` in this case. Take this long folder id string and copy it into the url `https://googledrive.com/host/[folderid]`. This will take you to a rather bland-looking page that has a lot of links. Note that the url you get is actually a redirect page, but unlike the page it redirects to, the link itself is stable. In this case, you'd end up with <https://googledrive.com/host/<KEY>>. If you upload a lot at once, you'll notice that this page doesn't actually have all of the links to your images, only 1000 or so. I don't know exactly which 1000 it has, but if you actually parse this page you'll find that it's missing a lot of links.
If you take this folder url and add to it the filename of one of the uploaded files, the url you'll get will look like `https://googledrive.com/host/<KEY>EN3Q3lZM2s/24102-18218-2554.jpg`. If you [go there](https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/24102-18218-2554.jpg), you'll see that indeed, this link hosts the image. While this process seems a bit sketchy, it's actually completely intended, supported, and stable. It isn't particularly well-documented or easy to find though, especially in the new interface. Check a few of these from a private browsing window to make sure everything seems to be working alright.
You've finished uploading and sharing the images now. You'll want to check here that all the images are publicly visible. There are some rare bugs which will make things not work for a small number of images. Sometimes (about 1 in 1000 files) a file will fail to get shared properly. You'll see it while you're logged in, but no one else can. Hence, you should open the folder in the main Google drive interface but in a private browsing window, and check that the number of files is the same as what you expect. If any are missing, you'll need to re-upload those individually. I've had to do this every time so far, so it's safe to assume you'll need to as well if you're uploading a lot.
Step 10: Generate list of thumbnail urls
========================================
All the hard work is done at this point, and you're potentially only a couple minutes from getting all the images added. Now, we just need to get the hosting urls for all the thumbnail images. Open the `names.txt` file from step 7 in Notepad++. All the lines should be of the form `[path]\filename.txt`. In my example, `[path]` is `C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails`. Go to Search > Replace. In the "Find what" box, put `[path]\` (i.e. `C:\Users\Logan\Pictures\Example\Thumbnails\`) and in the "Replace with" box, put `https://googledrive.com/host/[folderid]/` (in our example, `https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/`). Your file should now look something like this:
```
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/12810-22653-26093_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/14349-27417-26639_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/17822-1683-12809_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/21372-19840-12974_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/23193-19768-15737_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/24102-18218-2554_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/2416-24375-13269_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/8713-11952-23783_thumb.jpg
https://googledrive.com/host/0B37SNNYCVhA_fnRQd1JUQ05SOTJPaXNZS08xQm5lNTlUdVJCVFVpNkV1WXM4SEN3Q3lZM2s/899-18705-32578_thumb.jpg
```
If it does (and if the number of lines is still correct), you're ready to move on to the last part.
Step 11: Upload list to pastebin
================================
Go to [Pastebin](http://pastebin.com/) and copy the text of the `names.txt` file into the text box. On the optional paste settings, it needs to be either public or unlisted, and the expiration period should be at least long enough to finish the remaining steps. Click submit, and you'll be taken to your submitted pastebin (example: <http://pastebin.com/UZmNtDkp>). Each line on this should be the hosting url for one of the thumbnail images. Check one last time that the pastebin has the right number of lines.
Step 12 A: Feed pastebin raw url to bot (without tags)
======================================================
In the header, of the pastebin, click the "Raw" link. It will take you to a raw text file, e.g. <http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=UZmNtDkp>. Copy this url, and in the main chatroom run the command
```
#post add [pastebinurl]
```
Where `[pastebinurl]` is the raw url you copied. If this works properly, the bot will tell you:
```
Links processed: 9, valid: 9, invalid: 0. Posted: 0, unposted: 0. New links added: 9.
```
With 9 replaced by whatever the correct number of images that you tried to add was. So long as you've followed all these steps properly, there should not be any "invalid", "posted", or "queued", and they should all be added. Congratulations! You're done uploading images (for now).
Step 12 B: Feed pastebin raw url to bot (with tags)
===================================================
If you want to tag those images so they could be specifically requested from the tag pool, add tags at the end of the above command like so:
```
#post add [pastebinurl] [tag1] | [tag2] | [tagN]
```
Be sure the tags make sense and describe the images in the batch properly. Remember that people will be using those tags, not search engines, so don't use synonymous and similar words. If an image belongs to an anime or manga, use that anime/manga's name, or use the tag `original`.
Examples:
```
#post add [pastebinurl] wallpaper
#post add [pastebinurl] wallpaper | Miyazaki
#post add [pastebinurl] Madoka
#post add [pastebinurl] KonoSuba | Megumin
#post add [pastebinurl] original
#post add [pastebinurl] original | scenery
```
---
I'll be the first one to admit this method is fairly complicated. By now, I have no trouble doing it from memory, but for someone who has never done it before it may be intimidating. Some of the steps could be automated better, but I've had no incentive to do so.
For me, when uploading 1000 or more images at a time, the vast majority of the time that isn't already automated is spent in step 4, which can not reasonably be automated. Hence, there's very little actual time to save even though the process is rather complex. It would be great to have a simple method that works for a small number of images (say, less than 20) in a fraction of the time, but I don't have any such methods at this time. I'd encourage others to make simplifications to this though so that it's more accessible for people without putting a great deal of time into all the steps.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Short version:
1. Find interesting/cute/fun/beautiful anime images. They should be of high quality and preferably large. No explicit sexual content allowed. Just be sensible.
2. Make 300×300 pixel thumbnails and add "\_thumb" to their file names, right before the extension. Example: `madoka.png > madoka_thumb.png`.
3. Upload all images into a Google Drive folder with access rights set to "Public". Test folder and image visibility from private browsing window.
4. Make a list of all thumbnail image urls. Put them on Pastebin. Get a raw link that looks like this: `http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=AsDfGhJk`
5. Post `#post add http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=AsDfGhJk tag1 | tag2 | tagN`. In response get `Links processed: 234, valid: 234, invalid: 0. Posted: 0, unposted: 0. New links added: 234.`
For details see the [full version](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2357/191).
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/05/10 | 588 | 2,153 | <issue_start>username_0: We've talked about this for a while, but we've never done anything about it... so let's do this now. Let's talk about what we should do with image id-requests that can be easily found via reverse image search.
What constitutes as "easily" reverse image searchable? There's various ways of going about it... you can use: [Google](https://www.google.com/imghp?sbi=1), [Tineye](http://tineye.com/), [SauceNao](http://saucenao.com/), or [iqdb](http://iqdb.org/).
I want to propose that if it's explicitly clear on at least the first page of a Google reverse image search who someone is or what series it's from, it should be marked as off-topic (probably bundled in with our bad id-req reason).
I don't think we should be bothered with these kinds of trivial id-reqs, nor do I think they should take up space on our front page.
What say you community? Should we put the hammer down on these simple image id-reqs?<issue_comment>username_1: **YES!!**
(We don't need them!)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: **NO!**
(I think we should let them be...)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Neither!!**
As usual, this poll presents a false dichotomy: *Either* we add a new off-topic close reason *or* we do nothing. Neither of these is an optimal solution.
The best option (as I explained in more detail [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2321)) is to realize that the *real* problem with these questions is that they're all abstract duplicates; it's a volume problem rather than a content problem. This calls for a canonical question and answer and closing future questions as duplicates of that when they're trivially answerable by reverse image search.
This will allow the remaining non-trivial questions to remain answerable and be easier to follow for both experts and new users than some abstract meta policy that requires one to check several completely different sites to even know if the question is on-topic.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2015/05/12 | 2,431 | 9,900 | <issue_start>username_0: When I get an answer that seems correct, I accept it, whether it has been days or just a few minutes. But it made me wonder. Should I leave the question open for a bit longer, to encourage others to come in and read the question? Is there a general *best practice* that could be followed or wouldn't it matter too much?<issue_comment>username_1: I get your concern — accepting an answer can sometimes drive users with good (or better) answers away from answering the question. I've refrained from accepting answers myself once or twice too ([here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/778/did-jiraiya-meet-naruto-by-chance#comment3854_778) and [here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14577/was-there-an-animation-mistake-between-317-and-419-in-the-second-episode#comment27744_20553), for instance), but in these instances my main reason for not accepting answers was actually that neither of the ones posted really made me feel like the questions were completely answered, so I felt shouldn't just accept the best "good enough" answer.
>
> Is there a general *best practice* that could be followed or wouldn't it matter too much?
>
>
>
There really isn't a best practice to follow. Accepting answers, much like voting, is completely up to the individual. Accepting an answer is — in sites that use the SO model but really don't have questions about *solving problems* — the closest thing to saying "Thank you! This answer was helpful (and answers my question, of course)". If you feel an answer fully addresses the question(s) you posed, feel free to accept it — **or not**! Nothing prevents you from retracting the vote at a later time if new answers come in, or to just leave the answers unaccepted and wait for other answers. And aside from that, you can always [start a bounty](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/bounty) if you feel better answers are out there.
Now, for some numbers to try to help better visualise the situation:
* We have 5,346 questions on our site;
* Of which [2,900 have an accepted answer](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/313648) (meaning about 54% of the questions have accepted answers);
* Of which [446 distinct questions](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/313653) (about 15% of the above) have received new answers after having cast (and not retracted) their most recent accept vote. To be more precise, there were [at least 748 answers posted to questions where the most recent accept vote was not retracted *after* that accept vote was cast](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/313448/has-question-received-any-answers-after-having-accepted-one) (which means that the 446 questions I mentioned before have an average of 1,67 answers);
* I estimate that up to 20% of the questions with accepted answers have received new answers after having accepted an answer. The query I link to above does not account for all of the cases, since the data available does not give us the precise time an answer was accepted (you can read more about it in the description of the query, and in the comments throughout it). As such, I've only accounted for answers that were posted *in the day after an answer was accepted*. This leaves out answers like [this one](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/21437/49) (picked just because it's a recent case that was still clear in my mind) that were posted in the same day the answer was accepted. It also does not account for cases in which the accept vote was changed (like [here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/55/49), in which my answer had been accepted at one point, and then new answers came in, and the accept vote was changed).
These numbers help you get a better understanding of the situation, but we obviously have no way of knowing if the other 80%-85% of questions that have not had new answers posted since an answer was accepted have not had them *because* of the accepted answer ([correlation does not imply causation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation)). It could be that other users thought the question was indeed answered, and they could add nothing new, regardless of the fact that there was an accepted answer. However, the numbers illustrate that there have been a lot of new answers posted in questions with accepted answers.
Bottom line: accept an answer if you feel it fully addresses the questions posed. Or don't, if you feel something better is out there.
---
**EDIT**
The above numbers are based on public queries, because I had decided it's be useful for other users to be able to access the queries and potentially contribute with more feedback or smarter ways of getting more accurate numbers or whatever. Nevertheless, I remembered I can also run this query on data that's not publicly accessible, if I just give the community the numbers I get from it. As such, I reran the above queries to give some more accurate numbers, and the results are as follows (note that some numbers have, naturally, changed; but I'll keep the old numbers above for reference):
* We have 5,599 questions on our site (that's an increase of 253 since the day I posted this);
* Of which **3,017 have an accepted answer** (meaning about 54% of the questions have answers; same as above [which now shows 3,002, an increase of 102]);
* Of which **510 distinct questions** (about 17% of the above; meaning 2% more than the above [which now shows 465, an increase of 19]) have received new answers after having cast (and not retracted) their most recent accept vote. To be more precise, there were **847 answers** (that's 99 more than the above [which now shows 788, an increase of 40]) **posted to questions where the most recent accept vote was not retracted *after* that accept vote was cast** (which means that the 510 questions I mentioned have an average of 1.66 answers; a decrease of 0.1 when compared to the above numbers). Both of these numbers are regarding questions that *have not changed their accept vote* after the answer(s) was posted and disregard answers that were posted after the accept vote was cast *but were afterwards deleted* (as I had a quick look at the results and figured most of these were low-q or spam, so not worth keeping around [if they were taken into account the numbers would be 744 and 1483 respectively]). This point addresses the main focus of the question, in the way that it shows that **17% of the questions with accepted answers receive 1.66 new answers posted after their most recent accept vote was cast (*and* that vote was not retracted)**;
* From this point on, I'm introducing new data that I wasn't able to get in the queries from before the edit (some of the above data is also new, and the numbers are significantly different). **There are 302 answers that have had their accept vote retracted at some point** (either because it was changed to another answer [more precise numbers for this below], because it was simply retracted to leave the question unanswered, or replaced on the same answer because the user was testing the buttons or something of the sort);
* There are **70 questions that had their accepted answer changed to another answer that was posted after the first answer had been accepted**, and these got **116 answers that were posted after that vote was changed**. If my head is not starting to malfunction, these 70 can be added to the above 510, to get a total count of 580 question that got new answers after they had accepted other answers, of which 12% where actually changed to the new answer. This means just a little over 2% of the questions with accepted answers have actually changed their accept vote to an answer posted after the accept vote had been cast.
So the bottom line here (in terms of numbers, and not in terms of what you should do) is that 54% of our questions have accepted answers, and 19% of these have had new answers posted since another answer was accepted, and just a little over 2% have changed their answer to one of those new answers. A total of 963 answers have been posted after an answer had been accepted, which means 12.6% of our answers were posted after another answer had been accepted on the question in which they were posted.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Additional to what username_1 said, it might be worth mentioning that accepting too soon, might indeed influence people from visiting your question. They might be scarce at this point in time, but I can't help but think that there might be people out there, who are not too bothered with every question on this SE. Those people would just browse through [all unanswered questions from their favourite tags](https://anime.stackexchange.com/unanswered) and if you had accepted prematurely, the question might never pass the eyes of such people, who might be able to give a better answer then already presented.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I post an answer if I have something substantial to contribute which is not covered by other answers already posted (if any). It doesn't bother me if one of the other answers is already accepted.
It has been a while since I stopped caring about reputation, but let me put that aside and look at it from the perspective of someone who *does* care about the reputation (which, by the way, includes my former self):
If I have a useful answer to a question which already has an accepted answer, what do I lose by not posting it? A *measly* 15 points1, because the asker rarely unaccepts an answer to accept another one. *However*, 2 upvotes to my answer makes up for that loss! Thus, you see, even if you care about the reputation points, it is still beneficial to post an answer if you have one.
---
1 On a somewhat pedantic note, this is not really a "loss" because one cannot assume that my answer would definitely be accepted if there wasn't an accepted answer already.
Upvotes: 1 |
2015/05/22 | 1,368 | 5,137 | <issue_start>username_0: Our previous stance on Vocaloids(quite old): [Are questions about VOCALOID allowed?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/133/are-questions-about-vocaloid-allowed/137#137)
I ask this as the [What is the background story of Hatsune Miku?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21705/what-is-the-background-story-of-hatsune-miku) question was re-opened by a moderator claiming that the community consensus was different now.
Is that correct though? What is our stance on questions about Vocaloid, Touhou, etc?<issue_comment>username_1: Sure - as the moderator who reopened the question, let me elaborate on what I believe the current consensus is. This is not a statement of site policy, but rather my take on how we currently do things.
---
I think that the current consensus is to accept questions on not just anime and manga, but also things that are part of the larger "otaku" industry/community, which I think uncontroversially includes (e.g.) light novels and visual novels, and perhaps-controversially includes things like Vocaloid; games in the style of KanColle and Girlfriend Beta; whatever Love Live was when it was first created (a "multimedia project", I guess?); and so forth.
I offer as evidence the following:
* We have lots of questions about visual novels without anime/manga counterparts.
* We have questions about [Touhou](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/touhou-project), which is, at its core, a series of self-produced video games. Despite there having apparently been a few official manga (I don't really follow Touhou), most of the questions are not specifically about those things.
* We had [a question about Kantai Collection](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9603/is-there-a-naming-scheme-for-the-abyssal-ships) that is more about the game than anything.
* We had [a question about the Shuuen no Shiori song series](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9627/where-can-i-watch-the-shuuen-no-shiori-bookmark-of-demise-music-videos), and I would be surprised if there were opposition to other questions about Vocaloid song series that lack anime/manga counterparts. (For example, if we had had a question about Kagerou Project back when it was still just a song series, I'm pretty confident we would have been fine with it.)
* We even had [this recent question about Hatsune Miku herself](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19509/why-is-miku-shown-with-a-leek).
* We have a fair number of [questions about AMVs](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/amv), which seem to me to be even one step further divorced from the core of the "otaku" community than things like Vocaloid.
[The particular Miku question under discussion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21705/what-is-the-background-story-of-hatsune-miku) is, admittedly, going to turn out to have a silly answer ("no, Miku lacks any explicit characterization outside the domain of fanworks"), but I think it's still a legitimate question insofar as Hatsune Miku is clearly part of the anime-o-sphere.
Or, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the boundary between what *is* core enough to the anime industry as to be on-topic and what *isn't* lies somewhere beyond Vocaloid. (I can't really think of any topics that would be borderline, unfortunately, so I'm not sure how to articulate where the cutoff ought to be.)
(In closing, I would like to point out that we apparently don't object to questions about AtLA and RWBY, which aren't even peripherally anime-related.)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think <NAME> is correct to be concerned that "Technical questions about the vocaloid software or gameplay mechanics should not be allowed," as such questions would fall under the Arqade SE, the Game Design SE, or perhaps even the Programmers SE. Since these SEs might not be interested in answering questions about vocaloid characters and other in-universe or fandom details, those could be incorporated here without infringing too much on their on-topic territory. If a vocaloid or other non-anime/manga title gets an anime or manga adaption, questions that apply to the adaption(s) would be clearly on-topic. But just as we should prefer that anime questions get posted here rather than in the Science Fiction & Fantasy SE (some do get posted and answered there), I think we should defer to other SEs for questions regarding vocaloid software.
In the same vein, gameplay for customizable card games and other physical games is on-topic for the Board & Card Games SE and therefore should not be considered on-topic here. However, fictional games that are only mentioned within manga/anime, or which originated in manga/anime and later became playable in real life, would be on-topic here, such as this: [How does one play Gungi?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/7110/how-does-one-play-gungi). Kantai Collection does have anime and manga, so questions about its characters could be on-topic here, but a question about gameplay seems to fall within the primary topic of the Board & Card Games SE.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/05/25 | 8,516 | 30,235 | <issue_start>username_0: Time flies while we're having fun, did you know? We almost two and a half years old.
We [had a discussion](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/135/what-should-our-site-design-look-like) in late 2013 on the topic, but I think now is a good time for us to ponder again about our site design, now that we finally started to settle in a bit more users. What would you like to see in our site design?
For now let's try to keep things simple.
If we were to graduate, we would have at least something (but not limited) like the following:
* A super cool new banner (it's been mentioned that we can get an artist do a commision for our banner)
* A fabulous new custom site design
* Awesome icons for our badges
* A super exclusive icon for our community
But let's not stop there! Let's try to do something interesting and unique with our design. While the final decision is up to the folks at Stack Exchange, it doesn't hurt to try to dream a little bigger now does it?
What would be something interesting and unique you ask?
* Maybe a css style that changes with the season or just with the times of day (UTC time). It bit like [Gmail's "Tea House"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P16hgLlnr-o), but we needn't get as complicated (maybe just 3 different states, and not sun/moon tracking).
* Maybe a Google Doodle type interactive banner for our main site?
* Maybe a special gimmick for our "Ask a Question" button
* Maybe a [special mascot character](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/848/sos-the-great-anime-se-mascot-idol-search) we can "replace" the community bot with?
Whatever ideas you have in mind, not matter how *krazy* (or trivial) it may seem, we'd like to hear it.
As some of you may or may not know, on the site we have a small social media (unofficial, i.e., unaffliated with ) community for promoting our site on [Facebook](http://fbl.me/animese) and [Google+](http://goo.gl/jcdBXF). For that community we adopted [a logo](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/426/what-should-our-unofficial-community-name-and-logo-or-mascot-be) that we used to cross promote our site.
Before you go off on your own trying to make things, note that this is simply an information gathering session to get a better idea of what you'd like to see our site as once it's graduated. Try to keep things simple, but not too abstract. Any concept art and sketches are welcome nonetheless.
Some points (all optional) to consider writing about are:
* What is the first thing you want users to see when they visit out site?
+ What should the color scheme be like?
+ What subject do you want the cool banner to be of?
* What do you want our badge icons to look like? (Try to keep the design simple something too detailed might not transfer over well when shrunken down)
* What about other icons and element? (E.g., for our answered question element theme, we can have it looks like a stamped signature, like how [Yahoo Japan Chiebukuro](https://i.stack.imgur.com/reSI3.png) does for their Q&A site)
* Notes or comments on a logo design or color scheme
* Should we have a mascot? If so, if not, why?
* Any other points you wish to discuss (e.g., special theme for our chat room)
Let us know what you'd like to see when we graduate! Remember! Only with our combined efforts as a community can we truly grow. I look forward to hearing about what you guys have in mind for our site and community.
*Some Personal Remarks:* I don't think we should stick with a particular anime or manga as part of the theme, unless we can get a well-known (or decently renowned) manga/anime artist or illustrator to do a comission centerpiece for our site. Something like that would be a nice to have, but we'd probably need to get in contact with them to see if they are willing and have availability. It's something I'd like to do if possible, but that ultimately is a discussion for another time. Maybe we can find someone on Pixiv if we can't get a real pro to do it?<issue_comment>username_1: Few of my suggestions:
* Season based design will not look global, as you might know all of us are not from same region. Different region different weather and season and applying UTC means ignoring most of all users.
* I think we should use few elements from famous anime/manga Like pokeball for badges or some Naruto clan symbol for badges.
* I think it will look good if we do fusion of black and white with colour to represent manga and anime both.
* Mascot, why not. It will looks cool and I don't thing anime and manga site should be dull at all. It should be cheerful.
* Some made for site manga comic page for bottom with our own mascot.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: How about a new position for our stack logo?
All the SE (graduated) sites have their logo on top, either on the left side or in the middle.
But ours should be on the *right* side. Why? Because mainly, it would give a manga-vibe and also, it will be certainly different.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Banner and custom site design
-----------------------------
[What Eric came up with](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/728): iconic characters in a marching line like that in the [ED of Carnival Phantasm](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3002). If not, then [some character who is a combination of many from different series](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/20115).
Icons for badges
----------------
Since the badges are divided into three categories: bronze, silver and gold, we may match icons of the three imperial regalia of Japan that appears everywhere in anime to the three class badges. It doesn't have to be the imperial regalia, anything that comes in threes and is representative of the anime & manga culture could work.
Site icon
---------
I really like the look of the [*mon* of 画](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/459) and feel that it should appear somewhere on our community site. However, I can't tell by looking at the *mon* what subject it is supposed to represent. On the other hand, the current site icon with its kanji character 画 is pretty clear to me that it is about manga and anime†
Mascot
------
I don't think we should have a mascot, but I'm not opposed to having one if the mascot is overwhelmingly accepted by the community.
Tour page
---------
If we ever get our customized Tour page, I wish we could have Chiyuki from Death Parade as our guide to familiarize new users to the SE Q&A model and go over the rules and functionality of our site in her own unique \*-tsu ways. But, because of licensing issues, we probably can't have any visual or audio of the real Chiyuki.
Re some personal remarks
------------------------
I put forward a candidate: VL, the creator of [Arancia](http://arancia-project.com/). I also think [えむかみ](http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2981)'s art style is compatible with our needs for the site design.
---
† In Chinese, anime is written as 动画.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: How about we do it ourselves again and write a userscript that overrides whatever site design we get if we think we can do better?
I'm not sure any site is getting a theme that changes several times a day or even with each of 4 seasons. But we could totally stick some pics together and make it happen with a custom style.
Not saying we should abandon this post, on the contrary, whatever SE team won't implement, we could do add on to their design. Or just ditch it and make our own if we don't like it!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: **Woo! Party time!**
---
>
> Maybe a css style that changes with the season or just with the times of day (UTC time). It bit like Gmail's "Tea House", but we needn't get as complicated (maybe just 3 different states, and not sun/moon tracking).
>
>
>
I absolutely love this idea. I think it would be really cool to have a banner with trees on it that would show the Sakura blooming in April, and the leaves turning yellow and red in fall. It would definitely show that our site is unique and just how awesome of a community we are! (You know, very colorful. Seewutididthar?)
At the same time, I wouldn't want to see it change daily or by time of day. I think that would just be too distracting.
---
As for some specifics:
* *What is the first thing you want users to see when they visit our site?* - Anime. Our banner and site should reflect our chosen media. They should *know* they're on an anime site.
* *What should the color scheme be like?* - See below.
* *What subject do you want the cool banner to be of?* - This is where I'm not sure. Personally I'd like to see a detailed anime background, something like [this](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8JHaidj6UhEYWRZeDVmbi1oMjQ&authuser=0), with characters in the foreground, both male and female. And of course, our mascot should be the most noticeable if we have one.
* *What do you want our badge icons to look like?* - I like the idea of using candies for this. It's not anime-exclusive, but I think it goes well with the atmosphere we want to convey. (These are seen in designs below.)
* *What about other icons and element?* - See below.
* *Notes or comments on a logo design or color scheme* - I like the icon we've been using for the community sites, because it is very much like the stylized kanji that Japanese prefectures use on their flags, and uses a very fitting kanji at that. For more beyond the logo, see below.
* *Should we have a mascot? If so, if not, why?* - Yes. What better way to represent an anime community than with an anime character?
---
With all this in mind, I put together a few designs last week. They're all pretty similar, but make varying degrees of changes. They use the site name "Ayama", which is one [I came up with earlier](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2358/274). I think it fits better than trying to cram "Anime & Manga" into the banner.
**Note that in the below designs, artwork from DeviantArt was used ([{1}](http://fav.me/d7pgst8) [{2}](http://fav.me/d5hbt5v)). These would be replaced with commissioned art in the final design.**
Design 1
========
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CI8KN.jpg)
Color scheme:
This was my first attempt. I attempted to use elements of anime in the banner, and manga for the main page, as sort of a complement to the (respective) visual, and textual components of the site. Some icons are close to, or identical to, the vanilla site, but notably there is the accepted stamp (similar to what Krazer suggested), the candy badges, and the site logo. It uses very muted tones to contrast elements like the anime characters as well as suit the tone of black-and-white manga without actually being monochromatic.
Design 2
========
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BW6ND.jpg)
Color scheme:
This design is very similar to #1, but tries to somewhat mimic the minimalist approach that Stack Exchange has been taking with their recent sites. 3D elements are reduced in z-distance and fonts and effects are simplified.
Design 3
========
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2AVs4.jpg)
Color scheme:
In the vein of #2, I wanted to try seeing what our site would look like with more color (to reflect anime moreso than manga, but still represent both cultures). This uses a brighter color scheme and does away with the manga pages (though they could be re-added if we decided we wanted them with this scheme). It very much touches on Stack Exchange's latest design ideas, trying to use flat colors while still creating contrast between them (such as the brown-blue of the logo and title).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Okay, this is the 4th time I've written this answer and made these images because something kept going wrong, so I'm keeping it minimal and I'm not focussing on making it look pretty.
**Overall Site Design:**
* I like @キルア's example of the manga panels running down the side.
Some suggestions though.
* I think we should stick with 'Anime & Manga' for our site name. There is definitely room for it and it's much easier to understand than *Ayama* - our user base is primarily English-speaking - Even I had to look up what the kanji was and what *Ayama* meant. I do like the petals inside the stylized version though - which is why I chose the flowered yahoo stamp
* Black & White is pretty dull. I think it could work as a *silhouette* background on Meta, but not on the main site. By adding Yahoo's stamp and saturating it a bit, look how much more it **pops out**.
* The images that were included were nice, but they won't be the final version as they're someone else's characters. If we do go this route - and have a mascot - I think they should be featured up there instead.
**Smaller Features**
* Sweets don't instantly scream *Anime & Manga* to the user. I would prefer something relatable - take for example @iklsr's shuriken on the previous suggestion:
I'm not saying it has to be shuriken, It could be cherry blossom leaves or something else featured in anime a lot (and on a side note, they don't *have* to be gold-silver-bronze either - maybe the leaves could be gold,deep red,pink?
* Again, I like @キルア's example of this [(in the previous question)](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/747/1530) - not those exact icons, but I can see this concept working, I just don't have enough artistic skills to demonstrate it :P
**Mascot**
I think most people support the idea of a mascot (although, choosing one is a different matter >\_> ). I still think the mascot should have a surrounding theme of investigation - rather than one with some silly quirks, As it will integrate into the site smoother. I like @username_3's suggestion of having them explain the tour page (although I'm not sure how willing SE would be to do that :P). It doesn't necessarily have to be the mascot I proposed in the meta question, but I think they fit the theme & the site well.
**Things to bear in mind**
* I think we should be careful of overlapping into purely Japanese imagery in case Japanese Language / Japanese Culture graduate.
* I think we should be careful not to over-use the Manga Temple font.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Basics
------
**The name of the site should be written in a clear, easy-to-read font** in English: “Anime and Manga” or “Anime & Manga.”
The font used should **always be the same** (in site design, on facebook, etc.): Think like famous, successful logos such as ESPN, FedEx, ebay, Star Wars, etc.
The logo should generally be a **square or round shape** (think like the McDonald’s “M”, the Apple apple, the Pepsi circle, the Starbucks mermaid, the AT&T “Death Star,” the Nike checkmark, the Superman “S,” logos of TV channels and car manufacturers) so that **it can be shown stand-alone in a compact space OR paired next to the name** of the site. Notice how the main SE logo does this: there is a square logo to the left of the easy-to-read words “StackExchange.”
The logo should be **as simple as possible** so that it becomes easily recognizable (McDonalds and Apple’s logos are easier to conjure up in your mind than the Starbucks mermaid or KFC’s Colonel Sanders). Helpful advice is available at the Graphic Design SE: the most useful ones are [What are the key principles that effective designs share?](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/30262/what-are-the-key-principles-that-effective-designs-share) and [What technical/objective qualities do good logos have?](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/27/what-technical-objective-qualities-do-good-logos-have), but there are more [here](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/220/how-can-i-design-a-simple-logo-without-any-prior-skill-in-graphic-design), [here](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/3565/what-should-be-taken-into-consideration-when-designing-a-logo), [here](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/29549/any-books-on-actual-how-to-of-logo-design), [here](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/297/learning-logo-design), and [here](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/27705/how-to-design-a-simple-text-and-a-shape-logo-for-a-website).
I advise **no Japanese** syllabary (“lettering” such as kanji, hiragana, katakana) in images such as logo, banner, buttons, and mascot design. For those who cannot read it, including it in the logo or on a button could be off-putting and they feel like they are in the dark, like this site is too esoteric. There are other cases in the site where it makes sense to provide Japanese, but not in the site design.
Any **illustration** needs to accurately reflect standard, recognizable anime/manga art style even if it is illustrated by someone who is not a pro in Japan. Of course real mangaka bear different art styles, but I can almost always detect whether an illustration is professional manga or high-quality doujinshi, versus drawn by a non-Japanese outside of Japan in basic imitation of the general art style (for example, [OEL "manga"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_English-language_manga), [anime/manga-inspired comics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Manga-influenced_comics) and [web-comics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anime_and_manga_inspired_webcomics), and [anime-influenced animation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime-influenced_animation)). To convey a sense of authority, the illustration must not look non-anime/manga style (like *Avatar: The Last Air-Bender* character design) and it must not look like amateur fanart. There are many talented fanart artists on [Pixiv](http://www.pixiv.net/), so someone who can pull off **authentic-looking** anime painted cel (or computer animated) art and/or manga art should be commissioned or recruited if original illustration is desired.
... “Ayama” is counter-intuitive because 1) it is not at all clear to a first-time visitor what the word is supposed to mean, 2) it is not even clear to many of us otaku as to what it is supposed to mean, and 3) Japanese contractions are in the format of the first two syllables of the first word + the first two syllables of the second word, which would be “Ani” (アニ) + “Man” (漫＝まん) = “AniMan.” “AniMan” is not a good name to choose because it sounds male-centric (given that “man” is a gendered English word).
Specifics
---------
**Logo**
Yes.
The Logo and Buttons need to be **anime/manga specific** (something that originated in anime/manga, not something generally about Japanese culture that could just as easily be adopted for the logo/buttons of the [Japanese Language SE](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/) or the [Japanese Culture SE](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/59039/japanese-culture)). Furthermore, something like a cherry blossom is associated by Japanese people with Japanese culture, but it is not a tree exclusive to Japan. The [Science Fiction & Fantasy SE](http://scifi.stackexchange.com) uses the Rebel Alliance logo from *Star Wars* for its buttons, which fits the theme well because it is an image that is specific to sci-fi and is never found outside of sci-fi (it would not fit as a button for any other SE).
An example **could be an adaption of an item that was featured in a classic manga or anime**, such as an iconic item in *Testuwan Atom* (Astro Boy) since Osamu Tezuka is generally regarded as the “God of Manga” in Japan and outside of Japan. Oda Eiichiro (who created *ONE PIECE*) may be the most well-known mangaka alive in Japan today, but adopting something more timeless than current series might be preferable.
... I advise a logo design other than [ʞɹɐzǝɹ’s *mon* (family crest) logo](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/426/what-should-our-unofficial-community-name-and-logo-or-mascot-be/459#459) style because, while a *mon* is recognizable within Japanese culture and among some anime/manga fans, 1) many will not register what it is supposed to be, and 2) according to Japanese cultural convention (as far as I know), new *mon* cannot be invented, in the same way that certain kanji cannot be combined to create a new name that is considered culturally "proper." It could be viewed as awkward, or at worst, disrespectful, by Japanese visitors to the site.
**Banner**
Yes.
It should feature the Logo and the name of the site in easy-to-read font.
**Google Doodle-style Changing Banner**
No.
Google can do it because almost every internet user in the world instantly recognizes the Google logo, so they can make adaptions to it and people will still know they’re at the Google website. Any logo that is not on the level of McDonald’s or Coca-Cola cannot change up their logo or visitors can get confused.
Google Doodles [already feature Japanese holidays and occasions](http://www.google.com/doodles?q=japanese) such as [Setsubun](http://www.google.com/doodles/setsubun-2015), [Hina Matsuri](http://www.google.com/doodles/girls-day-hinamatsuri-2011), [Tanabata](http://www.google.com/doodles/tanabata-2014), etc. so it would not be unique to do this at SE.
**Mascot**
Yes.
Anime/manga tend to have mascots, so it is fitting.
The mascot can be the logo, or it can be used elsewhere. Like a logo, it should be simple (not require a lot of lines to draw).
Preferably a **cute *chibi* (square-ish) mascot** (think like magical girls' animal guides, or cell phone charms carried by anime characters), since those are more common in anime/manga than human-sized or non-cute mascots.
**Button Icons and "Ask a Question" Button Gimmick**
Yes — but only if these are originated in anime/manga and not too series-specific.
This site should ideally **feel inviting** to fans of shounen, shoujo, children’s anime, etc. Choosing buttons or a gimmick that some demographics would not recognize would not help broaden the user base, and could send an unintentional message that a certain series or genre is more important than others.
Again, something from an established and renowned classic like Tezuka’s work might be better than something contemporary.
An alternate theme for buttons could be a small illustration of a [**tool of the trade** used in manga illustration](http://www.jamieism.com/1883/prince-of-tennis/become-mangaka-part-2-learn-tools) or in anime production (before some artists have switched over to computer), such as the [feather sweeper](http://deleter-mangashop.com/goods_en_usd_732.html) which is iconic in *Bakuman.* and can be see in *Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun* and *Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to*, or the [curve ruler](http://deleter-mangashop.com/goods_en_usd_735.html) or the chunky black ink bottle.
**Badge Icons**
Yes.
Again, something that originated in anime/manga yet not too specific that some people feel left out.
The [Arqade SE uses coins](https://gaming.stackexchange.com/help/badges), so it would not *necessarily* overlap to think up something that connotes leveling up in a game.
Although it is specific to one anime title, **if it could be somehow accomplished** without committing copyright infringement, how about a ["poké ball"](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9_Ball) (known as a "monster ball" in the original Japanese version)? 1) *Pokemon* is not strongly associated with a particular genre such as *moe* or *shoujo* and the series has been running non-stop from 1997 to the present without signs of running out of steam even though it has spawned a bunch of copycats, 2) the series became well-known around the world beyond the otaku demographic (from little kids up through their parents) via the video game and customizable card game (and the infamous news story about seizures) and the animated part of the franchise is generally understood to be Japanese animation by non-otaku, and 3) it's a "gotta catch 'em all" item which fits the idea of collecting badges. How did the Science Fiction & Fantasy SE get permission to use a *Star Wars* logo for their buttons?
... I advise badges that do not reflect the imperial regalia, since that is political, historical, and cultural rather than anime/manga specific.
**Site Design**
Yes, if it is clean.
The best site design is **simple** (think of Wikipedia, Anime News Network, etc.) and primarily **white in background color**, so visitors can easily find things quickly.
A simple, **clean layout connotes authority**, which helps visitors and users trust that the answers are reputable and trustworthy (for example, see [StackOverflow SE](https://stackoverflow.com/), the [English Language & Usage SE](https://english.stackexchange.com/), the [Mathematics SE](https://math.stackexchange.com/), etc.).
Even though the [Arqade SE](https://gaming.stackexchange.com/) uses bright colors, the artwork is very simple (retro) rather than in-your-face excitement bursting at the viewer.
See [What are some common mistakes that a designer can make when designing for web, and how can they be avoided?](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/5037/what-are-some-common-mistakes-that-a-designer-can-make-when-designing-for-web-a), [What makes a design professional?](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/3503/what-makes-a-design-professional), and [How to direct users eyes on a website](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/307/how-to-direct-users-eyes-on-a-website) at the Graphic Design SE.
**Color Scheme**
One idea: Bold color on the left side margin to represent anime, and black and white on the right side margin to represent manga.
This could be done with キルア’s idea of the manga sheets hanging out from each side: it could be the edge of anime cells on the left and the edge of manga pages on the right. This would have color, fit the theme of the SE, but not be intrusive.
See [How can I improve my color selection skill?](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/3245/how-can-i-improve-my-color-selection-skill) at the Graphic Design SE.
**CSS Style**
No.
I second username_1's **concern about season-based design** (unless it were optional in account settings, so some users could opt to see a simple/clean layout similar to the current one, some could choose summer, and some could choose winter, based on their location on the globe). Ideally, SE would be frequented by people from many nations, and they ought not be off-put by a northern hemisphere-centric design just because Japan is north of the equator.
**What is the first thing you want users to see when they visit the site?**
Name of the SE in clear font, links to “About” and “FAQ” for first-time visitors, and a list of Questions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I agree with much of what's been mentioned so far, especially the posts by キルア, username_7, and Toshinou-san. In particular, I agree with username_7 that we should try to stay away from specific recent series and make the site inviting to everyone, and both username_7 and Toshinou-san cautioned against lapsing into purely Japanese imagery which is only associated with anime and manga in Western minds.
Otherwise, I have a few random suggestions:
### Mascot
I like the idea of a mascot, either an animal mascot or a cute girl mascot. I like a cute girl mascot, but I can see why that might be less than inviting to some users. Maybe something that resembles Madoka's Kyuubei (but without the evil).
### Color Scheme
I like the idea of an azure and white color scheme, like Aria's predominant color scheme:
To me, it feels relaxing (like readers should feel when they're browsing a fun site about anime), but it can also look fairly solid and official. It's low-key, but not boring.
### Original Art
Gao and username_7 both mentioned getting someone from Pixiv to do some art for us. I think that would be amazing.
### Badges
One of the older threads had a suggestion to use shuriken as badges, and it seems that suggestion won't die. I don't really like it. Although I did like username_6's suggestion of cherry blossoms, username_7 is right that this is more Japanese than particularly anime.
What about using a stylized quill pen, like the ones mangaka draw with?
It has a distinctive shape (especially in side-view), it's easy to color gold/silver/bronze, and it's specific to manga. [Movies and TV](http://movies.stackexchange.com) uses a film reel for badges; this is similar to that.
### Accepted Answers
This might be too purely Japanese, but what about a maru (circle) sign for our accepted answers instead of a check? Reason: [see this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/17101/7579).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: pink theme
(just a quick meme theme where everything is a shade of pink)
```
.container {box-shadow: #FFFAFE 0 120px 0 inset}
#hlogo a {color: #F27FE0}
.question-hyperlink:hover, .answer-hyperlink:hover, .question-hyperlink:active, .answer-hyperlink:active {color:#e0aadf}
.question-hyperlink, .answer-hyperlink {color:#FB66E9}
.owner {background-color:#FEEEFC}
.user-info {color:#907292}
a {color:#C24EC1}
#sidebar .module.community-bulletin a {color:#C24EC1 !important;}
blockquote {background-color:#FEEDFF; border-left: 2px solid #f48eff}
.post-tag, .geo-tag, .container .chosen-choices .search-choice, .container .chosen-container-multi .chosen-choices li.search-choice {
color: #865983;
background-color: #FEF7FF;
border-color: #DBC0DB;
}
```
feel free to edit to improve the tones or something
Upvotes: 1 |
2015/05/30 | 3,994 | 16,112 | <issue_start>username_0: I see there [are](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/21/is-discussing-hentai-allowed?lq=1) [posts](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/755/how-should-we-handle-potentially-nsfw-content-from-questions-and-answers) on this meta regarding explicit content, and generally the answers say that it's allowed as long as there are no offending images or links to the material. However, while [some questions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21921/what-anime-is-this-picture-of-a-woman-holding-the-face-of-a-man) of this type are left open and answered as usual, I sometimes see [similar questions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21950/search-for-yaoi-manga) being closed for the same reason.
Please clarify: Are these types of questions allowed or not?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm going to be as clear as possible here, because it seems as though it's not, despite having to explain it on meta and on chat multiple occasions.
We've done extensive research with how other sites on the network handle explicit content. We've asked several staff members what's their personal opinion and what's the network's policy with regards to explicit content.
* The Movies & TV community does not accept questions with regards to porn. Plot questions regarding movies which have sexual scenes in them are fine. **Questions about porn are not**.
* The Arqade community does not accept questions with regards to porn games. Questions regarding games with mature content in them is fine. **Questions about porn are not**.
As for the very specific case of [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions that resolve to hentai. **We will not become a hentai search engine**. **We will not become a hentai identification service**.
As for the **official** response from SE. There are plenty of posts by SE staff that apparently get silently ignored all over the network in metas.
Here's the most prominent one
>
> **[No, I don't think we want this, as it would cause us to get globally banned from web filtering software.
>
> So including adult links, or even mentioning adult sites by name, is explicitly not allowed.](https://webapps.meta.stackexchange.com/a/367)**
>
>
>
To conclude:
* **Anything strictly hentai is off-topic. Ecchi is fine**
* **Identification requests that are clearly about hentai (because the asker specifically asks for hentai) is off-topic.** And editing to make it prettier doesn't make the question any less off-topic.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: This answer is more of a comment to Madara, but since it would have been too large to fit in a comment box, I put it as an answer.
If hentai is forbidden then should all following questions be closed as well? I have only gone through the id-requests I have personally answered and not through all of them, so there are probably many more of these cases, but all the following animes were classified as hentai by MAL.
<https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21804/6166>
<https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/12910/6166>
<https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21921/6166>
<https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/13557/6166>
I have to admit that it indeed felt pretty weird having to go through a bunch of hentai episodes to properly answer those questions...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: My take on this: that question was closed incorrectly, twice. Our community has a fairly clear consensus on what is and isn't allowed. We've amassed the 5 reopen votes needed to reopen the question, and that too was ignored. (For kicks: the total reputation of those voting to reopen here is 41,499, and while that obviously shouldn't factor into official policy at all, it's an indication that the people reopening here likely know what they're doing.) The moderators here are acting rogue based on their own objections to such material rather than on any site consensus or actual SE policy.
As for the general case, questions about explicit content are allowed here, at least based on the previous consensuses. But questions which are themselves explicit are not. A well-made post can avoid violating the [ToS](http://stackexchange.com/legal), the [Content Policy](http://stackexchange.com/legal/content-policy), and the [Be Nice policy](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/be-nice). So long as you keep any discussion of sexual content to a minimum, use clinical language, and avoid obscene images completely, such a question is acceptable here. In general, this isn't usually very difficult unless your question would already be inappropriate here for other reasons (e.g. a recommendation question).
I can find nothing in the question there which is remotely problematic; the only words with sexual content are "love hotel", "suck", "impotent", "seme", and "uke", and none of these are very problematic. Sure, graphic descriptions of sexual acts would be a problem, but there is none of that here. This is almost a perfect example of how to write a question about a hentai; the only problem is that as an identification request it only barely meets the requirements. The moderator's closing of the question because of his own objections to what he believes the answer will necessarily be come off as absurd and juvenile.
In fact, the objection [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2406) demonstrates a serious misunderstanding of hentai itself. Equating "hentai" to the western concept of "porn" is completely misunderstanding many things. "Hentai" includes all series that explicitly show sexual activities. Most of these have a lot more story and characterization than western pornography. It is better to identify hentai with the western concept of "adult entertainment" which while literally synonymous to "pornography", has a completely different connotation. Many hentai like Kite or Bible Black have serious stories and very clearly can't be simply equated to "porn" without missing the entire connotation that carries. Nothing in the question here would indicate to me that this manga is any different; in fact, most of that post describes the story rather than anything sexual.
And it's worth mentioning that adult entertainment of this type *is on topic* on [Movies SE](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/263), under exactly the same rules as here. In fact, they have [a tag](https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/adult-movies) for such questions, which isn't exactly complete, but at least demonstrates that the community there isn't actively removing such questions just because of their subject matter (as the new "policy" would seem to be here) but only because of the actual content of the question.
---
Since I know people will complain about this point unless I mention it, let me just say that the [post at Meta WebApps](https://webapps.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/364) is *not* SE global policy. It was posted as a proposal by a single (former) employee on a single child meta site, and doesn't hold any more weight here than it does on Yahoo Answers. While it's clear that the WebApps community is okay with it, our policy can differ (and already does, in my opinion). SE global policies are those which every site is *required* to follow, and those appear or are directly linked to on this site itself, e.g. the [Be Nice policy](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/be-nice) in the help center or the legal link below. Anything else, on Meta SE, or other child meta sites, or (obviously) private discussions with anyone, while potentially useful as a guide, is **not** SE global policy, at least in terms of moderation.
Furthermore, we've had employees on this meta site before discuss this very topic, and they did not state any such global policies. The most prominent is [this one by Tim Post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/759/), which says that we should seriously consider whether we want to allow hentai, but *not* that it needs to be banned to be compliant with SE global policy. His response is more along the lines of "children as young as 13 use these sites, and please keep that in mind". However, nothing in the closed question would be inappropriate for children as young as 13; by that age (at least in much of the world including the U.S.) such children would have learned quite a bit more explicit things in school, and the content of the question wouldn't pose a problem. The manga itself might not be appropriate for 13-year-old children, but then again, neither is something like [shingeki-no-kyojin](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shingeki-no-kyojin "show questions tagged 'shingeki-no-kyojin'"), which has gratuitous gore and violence. So long as the question and answer themselves are not problematic, we don't need to be arbitrating the content of the original works.
Indeed, quite a few other sites in the network do allow discussion of adult/sexual matters. There was a Sexuality beta site which failed for unrelated reasons, and there's a [proposal](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/62814/sexuality) for a similar site now. Both of these were approved by the community team, meaning that there's no network-wide ban on discussions that happen to be somewhat sexual. Here's what the current CEO of SE says with [regard to a proposed Sexuality site](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/115732):
>
> [The] site in question will be "safe for work" and require the use of clinical language, **which is already the policy** when discussing questions of an adult nature **on other sites in our network.**
>
>
>
That is, as best I can tell, the most official response for how adult questions are to be handled, and he didn't seem exceptionally bothered by the presence of such discussions when done appropriately. (Of course, it would be alright to ban such topics with community consensus, but [as our community has clearly stated](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/21) since private beta and repeatedly confirmed, we *do* want to allow such topics here.) So I don't agree that SE policy requires us to ban these questions.
---
In fact, we're just finishing an official bounty event: [May 2015 bounties for tags: visual novels and adaptations thereof](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2342). Of the 59 series listed there, I counted 36 (over half) which were originally 18+ eroge, and several have never had any all-ages releases or non-hentai anime adaptations. A couple, like Wanko to Kurasou, are basically nukige, which is about as close to the western concept of "porn" as visual novels get. It's hypocritical to be promoting such content on the one hand, while simultaneously blocking it on the other. Given that this event was created by another moderator, it seems like there isn't even a clear consensus among the moderators themselves as to what is allowed, which is frankly a moderation disaster if policy is being implemented on the site itself single-handedly without even discussing it with the other moderators first.
Perhaps more importantly, it's essentially impossible to have any serious discussion or Q&A about anime and manga without at some point mentioning hentai. It's rather important to actually understanding the industry as a whole, even if you never watch one. About 10% of all anime on [MAL](http://myanimelist.net/) are rated as hentai, and that number is probably somewhat low. Manga are harder to classify, but adult-oriented manga are quite significant as well. Of course, for visual novels, the fraction is even larger, well over 50%. And while the raw numbers aren't so huge on its own, quite a few hentai works have had impact even among more mainstream works. I'm not aware of any "professional" sites for anime or manga which disallow hentai; various sites like MAL, ANN, AniDB, Hummingbird, etc. all allow it (within reason) because it's a crucial subset of anime and manga. The impact is to the point that I'd seriously question whether anyone can be considered an expert on anime or manga without ever having looked at such a work.
If anything, I'd say that hentai are something we ought to try harder to cover more completely. Right now, we're doing a terrible job at covering these series, and the new "policy" isn't going to help anything. As I understand it, the goal of this site is to become the best place to ask good anime and manga questions about all types of series, and we can't hope to be that if we're blocking a bunch at the start for silly puritan, holier-than-thou objections.
---
The other, most serious practical objection I've heard to allowing hentai is that it will get us blacklisted. Realistically, as I understand it, there's little to no chance of Google blacklisting us. Google is really only concerned with blacklisting sites that are suspected of distributing Malware; plenty of strait-up pornography sites are still indexed. I only know of one case where a site was blacklisted for having sexual content, and that was only for 1 day before it was removed. The site in question specifically focuses on such things, and is still indexed today; I won't link it here but it's a very well-known blog in the anime-sphere.
Realistically, we're never going to get that bad. We probably won't get close to the 10% of all content being hentai-related that MAL has. I suspect that the level here will be 2-3% of all questions at the most, at which point this isn't even a remotely realistic possibility.
There are various internet-filtering software which might identify this site and blacklist it, but those are used by a minority of all users, and it's still quite possible for this to happen even if we block hentai completely. Most of this software is configured so that people will only go on work-related sites at work. As this is an entertainment-oriented site, there's little reason to be on it at work anyway for a majority of viewers. Hence, I don't think there would be major consequences for being blacklisted in such software. In any case, while I don't understand the exact methodology used by such software, the use of clinical terminology would presumably go a long way to avoiding being blacklisted, and beyond that I don't see a good reason we should cater to a small minority who use this software rather than a sizable portion who watch and enjoy hentai.
---
This is a site about anime and manga, and that obviously includes hentai. Whether or not you like it individually, we as a community need to own that, not bury it. I'm happy to do my part in this, as are quite a few other users; I'd ask that moderators not screw it up by implementing new policies out of nowhere without first seeking community consensus.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I don't think everybody who agrees with Logan's "hentai is technically not porn" answer understand that while it is technically correct, the ID request posters are for the most part random internet users. Those users do not read what our rules have to say about ID requests in general, and especially on explicit topics (because it's not anywhere visible enough on the site for them, which is a part of this problem, but not the biggest).
Who can vouch for the whole internet of random people that they won't start posting inappropriate questions after they see that *"we do hentai identification"*? Because if that happens, the whole ID request service we provide might have to be discontinued, and of course, by that time the site's search engine ranking will be hurt considerably, because nobody can remove explicitly inappropriate posts quicker than google scans them. Do we really want to take that risk with ID requests?
I don't see a problem with appropriately worded non-ID questions about adult rated works, because non-ID questions are actually well enough regulated. But ID requests don't have strict enough rules and what rules there are, are not obviously not good enough to prevent a potential disaster.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/06/04 | 1,310 | 5,073 | <issue_start>username_0: So [this](https://anime.stackexchange.com/posts/22141/revisions) happened. A fairly new user posted a question with the title
>
> Question about Code;Geass R2 Episode 18
>
>
>
He tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible. This title was then shortly after changed by a different user to
>
> Why did Lelouch lie to Suzaku that he ordered Euphemia to massacre all the Japanese people?
>
>
>
While the first title was not a great title, it could be argued that the second title completely ended up on the other end of the spectrum spoiling too much, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. The first title, should indeed have been made better and while I understand that [searchability is more important than spoiling](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/47/6166) and we should indeed [edit posts for the greater good](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/120583/261323), where do we draw the line between butting in and editing it ourselves or telling the poster about our guidelines, making him learn and do it him/herself? At the meta post it is said (among other good points) that we should
>
> Make posts easier to understand, which helps both readers and the original poster
>
>
>
Yet, on the other hand we should keep in mind that
>
> When you edit other's posts, you're still editing *their* content.
>
>
>
So how far should we take our editing? What is more important? Letting people do they own thing or impose our guidelines onto them, whether they want it or not, because in this case OP was clearly not happy about the change?
---
Another example mentioned by mirroroftruth: <https://anime.stackexchange.com/posts/13326/revisions><issue_comment>username_1: I don't think the original poster should mind very much if their question, written in a way that barely (if even) passes quality threshold, would be rewritten into a detailed one, along with a proper title. If OP wants to have a question in the form that does not pass our standards, they can, but at the cost of closure and further deletion. It just doesn't make sense, but it's totally possible :p
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If it's a bad quality question, it should be edited. But there's nothing to stop it being edited again if someone doesn't think it's up to scratch.
For example you could edit the title to *"Why did Lelouch lie to Suzaku in episode 18?"* which avoids the spoilers (thanks btw :'( )
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: As I mentioned in [comment](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2414/how-far-should-we-take-our-editing#comment4610_2414) I had discussion about it and that time the manga chapter was just published. I edited to hide the spoiler but it really does not matter. After that I thought leave it as it is progressing. If you think you should hide spoiler edit it. If the title pass the standard of the site it will remain same if doesn't either OP will rollback or edit or other user will edit so that it fits. This process is better.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: About this specific question, the original title of
>
> Question about Code;Geass R2 Episode 18
>
>
>
doesn't say anything about what the question is about. If we allow such title, we have no idea what the question is about when we browse the list of questions, and the question is less searchable.
Given that the original post has *only the question* in the body, without any context, I decided to just use the question as the title instead.
The OP ends up editing the title themself, which reduces the spoiler to a level that we can compromise.
---
>
> [...] where do we draw the line between butting in and editing it ourselves or telling the poster about our guidelines, making him learn and do it him/herself?
>
>
>
If there exists a guideline, impose it and point people to the guideline, like the case with close votes. The guideline exists for these cases, so that we can get the job done and not involve in an extended meta discussion.
>
> So how far should we take our editing? What is more important?
>
>
>
I believe our editing should take it as far as possible, while refraining from causing conflict with the original intentions and ideas of the author. However, do strike a balance between editing an existing answer and writing a new answer of your own.
>
> Letting people do they own thing or impose our guidelines onto them, whether they want it or not, because in this case OP was clearly not happy about the change?
>
>
>
Within the spirit of respecting the original idea and intention of the author, we impose our guideline onto them. If the author put up a poor title, we give a new title to the question. If the author writes a messy post, we rewrite it while keeping to the original intention as close as possible.
The Q&A model give people ownership of their content, but it also comes with the responsibility to maintain their content. If the owner is not capable of maintaining their own content, then the community will come in and do their job.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/06/06 | 403 | 1,546 | <issue_start>username_0: [Why was there never a dub for Skip Beat?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13453/why-was-there-never-a-dub-for-skip-beat) was originally closed but reopened when it was changed to 'Why didn't it happen' rather than 'When will it happen'
Another question appeared recently <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22186/has-tokyo-ghoul-been-dubbed-in-english> asking "Why has Tokyo Ghoul root A not been dubbed in English?" which was closed under unannounced future events.
Is it on-topic or off-topic to ask why something hasn't been done?<issue_comment>username_1: As no one has formed their opinion in an answer, I propose that these should be closed as off topic as they are consistently unanswerable due to no information being available.
Even if you were a head of a company - there are other companies too that license series.
I think plot-related / in-story questions should stay though as these can be attributed to plot holes, other characters influences etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think we can allow questions asking **why** as long as:
1. The OP includes in the question the latest news or announcement about the event, **and**
2. It must be at least one year since the date of the announcement if the announcement doesn't specify a date of the event, **or** at least one month since the date of the event as stated in the announcement, **and**
3. The OP have to show some evidences that the event didn't happen (basically, *do your homework*).
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2015/06/11 | 2,010 | 7,892 | <issue_start>username_0: As proposed in [this meta](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2394/event-proposal-lets-start-doing-a-featured-spotlight-on-good-questions-and-que), let's call out the very best question and answers on our site to be noticed by Senpai. No matter how new or no matter how old. As long as they haven't been closed or are against SE guidelines, they're fair game!
Nominate question and answers that are good and noteworthy, the ones that need improvement, or have been neglected, but could use some touch up questions and answers you think this site has to offer! Give them more publicity! Show new users what good questions and answer look like and/or give life to some old questions that deserve a second chance.
You can nominate a question (answered or unanswered) or answer (accepted or not accepted) that you personally think you should be featured.
On every first weekend of the month, a good (or one the need improvement/attention) question and/or answer will be chosen and feature in meta and promoted on our [Facebook](http://fbl.me/animese) and [Google+](http://goo.gl/jcdBXF) community pages. You're free to share them on other sites/channel that you frequent, if you so please. Nominated question and answer that have been featured will be edited to include the date, month and year it was featured and a link to the meta post of when it was featured.
If you haven't voted on the featured question or answer, it's recommended you give them an upvote. If you really like an answer, why not consider giving it an upvote?
Limit your nominations to one question or answer per answer post. You may submit as many questions or answers as you'd like, but make sure that question or answer hasn't been nominated before you post. It's okay to nominate your own question and/or answer. It's all fair game! Even self answered questions.
If your question doesn't get selected, don't fret! There are more chances as there are months to come!
Try to follow this general format:
>
> (Type of nomination, e.g. "Question")
>
>
> (Title of and link to the question or answer.)
>
>
> (Short paragraph or two of why you chose to nominate it. Was it good or was it bad? What can we do to improve it if it was bad or neglected? Be persuasive!)
>
>
>
Leave a comment here or in [this chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-), if you have any question, concerns, complaints, suggestions, etc.<issue_comment>username_1: Question (attention/more answers)
[Why do guys in anime often lack nipples?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/17167/why-do-guys-in-anime-often-lack-nipples)
I think this is a question that can probably have a good definitive answer (cultural, law based perhaps) but doesn't just yet.
I think the correct answer would probably be an interesting read as over here manipples are a-ok for most age ratings if not all. Especially when the focus is not sexual (like swimming)
As much as the 'no one wants to see guy's nipples' is humourous - I would like to see if we can find out the real answer.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: Question (needs answer)
[Is there a meaning behind the paintings in Tsubaki Kureha's living room?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19502/is-there-a-meaning-behind-the-paintings-in-tsubaki-kurehas-living-room)
@Gao gave an amazing answer to [About the artworks used in the Elfen Lied opening scenes (contains nudity)](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/15130/about-the-artworks-used-in-the-elfen-lied-opening-scenes-contains-nudity) - I wonder if we could get another very insightful answer on the art in Yuri Kuma Arashi. The show references many other series and society and I wouldn't be surprised if there's more meaning to this than meets the eye.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Answer (accepted): [seijitsu's answer to "Why are there so many perverted virgins in anime?"](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/22209/7579)
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This answer was accepted and already has more upvotes than any single post I've ever written on any SE site, but I found it to be of such exceptional quality as to deserve extra praise. It deftly explains the seemingly paradoxical culture around sex and romance in Japan, and how this culture mixes with the basic rules of effective writing to lead to various things we observe in anime.
seijitsu has a record of writing interesting posts that explain where the real Japan and the anime Japan meet and where they part; for instance, I couldn't have asked for a better answer than the one I got to my question [Why do Aya and Youko consider going to a ramen shop alone so amazing?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/13828/7579), especially when I wasn't really expecting to get an answer at all. This was a recent and especially fascinating example, which I felt deserved to be noticed by Senpai.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Answer (accepted): [username_1's answer to "Are the visualizations in the anime from the light novels?"](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/22021/7579)
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The crux of this answer is "No." A serviceable answer would be "No, the novels never get that descriptive; it seems to be something Shaft added." But Toshinou-san goes way beyond that, taking on the entire scene when Koyomi first enters Suruga's room, and comparing the novel's mundane description of a messy room with the over-the-top ocean of BL books in the anime version, complete with translated passages and pictures. The research goes beyond anime, as the answer even goes into just how big the room in the novel was, and by how much Shaft exaggerated its size.
So far the answer only has five upvotes. I know there are at least a few more of us who follow Monogatari that could spare an upvote for an answer that went much further than it had to.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Question (needs attention): [In the Tsubasa Cat arc, when did Hachikuji meet Shinobu?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/22287/7579)
====================================================================================================================================
This question is something I've wondered about myself. In Part 3 of Tsubasa Cat, Koyomi encounters Mayoi, who tells him, after a session of their usual "Let me see your panties!" / "Shitsurei, kamimashita" routine, that she saw Shinobu at a Mister Donuts shop.
As far as I can remember, Mayoi didn't met Shinobu until the Shinobu Time arc in Second Season, and I don't remember Koyomi ever telling Mayoi about her or even explaining his situation with being part vampire. I haven't read the relevant novel. I wrote my hypothesis about what happened (in a comment), but it would be nice if someone more knowledgeable than me could offer an answer.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Answer (accepted): mirrororoftruth's answer to [What happens in the end of Tokyo Ravens?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/8469/what-happens-in-the-end-of-tokyo-ravens)
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The answer is accepted and the is another answer also. I would not have nominate this answer but looking from the view which is 9k while posting this answer the vote are very low which is just 2 and question is 4. As looking from most of the question which have higher view have more votes in question and answer. So i felt it deserve to be notice by Senpai.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/06/11 | 2,814 | 10,544 | <issue_start>username_0: Should we allow genre meta tags, and if so, should they be applicable to any series within that genre so that fans of that genre can more easily find those questions in order to answer them/learn more, or only to questions inquiring about the genre itself?
For example, we currently have genre questions such as the following, which have a smattering of varied tags attached to them, such as [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") [japanese-language](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/japanese-language "show questions tagged 'japanese-language'") [terminology](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/terminology "show questions tagged 'terminology'") [tropes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tropes "show questions tagged 'tropes'") and others, but some of the tags chosen weren't applicable to the question (the OP might not have been able to select a more appropriate tag).
* [Where did the mecha genre originate from in Japan?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3629/where-did-the-mecha-genre-originate-from-in-japan)
* [Who is the main target audience of yuri titles?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13482/who-is-the-main-target-audience-of-yuri-titles)
* [What is the opposite of “seme” according to otakus?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14364/what-is-the-opposite-of-seme-according-to-otakus)
* [In yaoi anime, why does the uke always say 'senpai'?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13325/in-yaoi-anime-why-does-the-uke-always-say-senpai)
* [Why are the male love-interests of shoujo often portrayed to be top scorers?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2420/why-are-the-male-love-interests-of-shoujo-often-portrayed-to-be-top-scorers)
* [Have the creators of Tokyo Mew Mew or Sailor Moon commented on the similarities?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3646/have-the-creators-of-tokyo-mew-mew-or-sailor-moon-commented-on-the-similarities)
* [What does 'moe' mean?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/894/what-does-moe-mean)
* [What would the list of manga genres in Japan be, based on bookstore labeling schemes?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19480/what-would-the-list-of-manga-genres-in-japan-be-based-on-bookstore-labeling-sch)
* [What is the difference between yuri and shoujo-ai, yaoi and shounen-ai and ecchi and hentai anime genre?](http://%20https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2681/what-is-the-difference-between-yuri-and-shoujo-ai-yaoi-and-shounen-ai-and-ecchi)
* [Is there a difference in drawing style between different anime for different demographics?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3477/is-there-a-difference-in-drawing-style-between-different-anime-for-different-dem/3483#3483)
* [What is the target demographic of Yuki Yuna is a Hero?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/15533/what-is-the-target-demographic-of-yuki-yuna-is-a-hero)
I would propose that
1. A "genre" tag could be useful for people to use when asking a question about **differences between or about similarities between genres and demographics**. It would be nice if questions like those above could be located in an easy-to-find location for users interested in answering and reading questions about genre.
2. Anime/manga-specific genre tags (such as "shoujo," "mahou shoujo", "yuri," yaoi," "moe," "nichijou," "seinen," etc.) could be useful so that, for example, someone who is **an expert in "josei" could easily find questions about their area of speciality to answer, and to find answers of interest to read**, without having to wade through many questions searching by series title. I, for one, would use such tags to periodically check for questions I could likely answer.
3. Although [previous discussion](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2239/8134) posited that "a genre-based tag *could* work, but it would need to be used on questions about the genre itself (e.g. production, tropes, etc.) and not questions about individual series," and that "Tagging series questions with genre tags would make the series tags redundant and the genre tags bloated," I would suggest that the **series tags would not become redundant**, because a user who can generally answer "shoujo" questions and is interested in reading their answers is **not likely to search title by title just to check for them**, especially since the OP might not know the title (for [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")) or the user might not remember the title off-hand in order to search for it but would recognize it if seen within that tag.
4. Some of the [previous reasons](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2238/8134) given for not creating a "hentai" tag were variations on being age-appropriate for a 13+ age, which is **not applicable** regarding genre tags other than "hentai" and possibly "yaoi" and "yuri."
5. Genre tags that are not specific to anime/manga (such as "sci-fi," "romance," "comedy") would be less useful than those for genres which have originated in anime/manga. I would make a motion that **only genres which have developed through anime/manga mediums** get tags. I don't think there are so many anime/manga-specific genres that the number of genre tags would be too unwieldy, nor that frequent users would try to pile a ton of genre tags all onto one question.
6. Meta tags which were [previously voted against](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/402/8134) were "characters," "character-abilities," "variations," and "plot-explanation," which I heartily agree with as 1) not helping users to find questions and answers of interest via searching by tag, 2) "don't add much to the question," and 3) "hurt search engine visibility." Anime/manga-specific genre tags would contribute to **search engine optimization** rather than detract from it.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know if they're a good thing. I feel that they could keep expanding until they're unmaintainably large:
What is this anime? [romance](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/romance "show questions tagged 'romance'") [yuri](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/yuri "show questions tagged 'yuri'") [shoujo-ai](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shoujo-ai "show questions tagged 'shoujo-ai'") [shounen](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shounen "show questions tagged 'shounen'") [seinen](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/seinen "show questions tagged 'seinen'") [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")
I read a lot of shoujo, and I do see that having the tag would be useful if you wanted to only answer shoujo questions (or similar) - but a search for the word *shoujo* or finding particular series seems sufficient to me. **Tags seem more to indicate what the post is *about* rather than a description of the contents.**
Example: The question is about looking for an id for an anime. The question is not about shoujo anime. (rather it is a description of the id-request)
One thing I would recommend regardless is setting up your favourite tags so that those questions are hilighted for you.
---
I might expand on this later, but I'm currently at work - so I'm making it community wiki if other people want to tag onto this side of the argument
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> 2. Anime/manga-specific genre tags (such as "shoujo," "mahou shoujo", "yuri," yaoi," "moe," "nichijou," "seinen," etc.) could be useful so that, for example, someone who is **an expert in "josei" could easily find questions about their area of speciality to answer, and to find answers of interest to read,** without having to wade through many questions searching by series title. I, for one, would use such tags to periodically check for questions I could likely answer.
>
>
>
>
> 6. Meta tags which were previously voted against were "characters," "character-abilities," "variations," and "plot-explanation," which I heartily agree with as 1) not helping users to find questions and answers of interest via searching by tag, 2) "don't add much to the question," and 3) "hurt search engine visibility." Anime/manga-specific genre tags would contribute to **search engine optimization** rather than detract from it.
>
>
>
I disagree with **tagging a question with genre tag in addition to the series title** for the following reasons:
* Without exception, the genre tags will end up having more question than the rest of the series tag. For the same reason as why the rest of the meta tags are frowned upon, it will hurt search engine visibility. Note that this refers to ranking of our pages on external search engines -- like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. -- not the search engine on SE.
Since the genre tag, which has the highest count of questions, will be placed in the title of the HTML page, as the search engine gives more weight to matches in the page title over the matches in the page body, questions from our site will rank lower.
Do note that it's natural to search for the name of the series rather than the genre of the series on search engines.
* Even if the problem above is resolved, as the number of genre tags expands, so is the amount of effort to keep the tags consistent over all questions of a series, for existing questions and incoming questions.
This is not yet mentioning all the potential meta issues that come with the introduction of genre tags (e.g. Which genre tags should series X have? How should we add genre tags for questions with 2 series tags? Question ABC will exceed the 5-tag limit - which genre tag should be removed?).
* When a question is tagged with series tag, the genre is mostly not relevant to the subject-matter in the question. It only serves to describe the series tag.
While I agree that the current system is not ideal for users to look for and answer questions by genre, I don't think tagging every question with its genres is a good solution.
Maybe a better solution is a tagging system for tags, where series tags are tagged with their genres (since the main purpose here is to look for series by genre), though the chances that it's implemented here at SE is small, since it will introduce significant changes to the existing system.
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/07/04 | 577 | 1,967 | <issue_start>username_0: As some may or may not be aware, quite recently at Anime Expo, [*Little Academia 2: The Enchanted Parade*](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1311401276/little-witch-academia-2/description) premiered at AnimeExpo on 07/03/15 @ 8:30p EST!
It's expected that many fans in this community were probably unable to make the convention. Being a Kickstarter backer, I have access to the advanced preview screening stream. Which is why I will offer to host **at least two** private community viewing sessions for the **~53 min OVA episode** before July 11th, via [Rabb.it](https://rabb.it/).
The rooms can have up to 10 users and there can be multiple rooms per session. Please take the time **propose and vote on some stream dates times** (preferably for two different global time zones) to host these sessions. Recording the stream during this session will be prohibited.
Please note that this is a private community event and not affiliated with StackExchange. All are welcomed to participate. The only requirement to attend is that you have an active chat account as invites will be distributed via chat. While this is a non-affiliated community event, StackExchange's [code of conduct](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/be-nice) will still apply. Any users found in violation may be removed and barred from future events.
You do not have to have watched the previous OVA to watch this one, but it will give you a better appreciation of Sucy's character.
Please note due to this being a broadcast stream, **a connection speed of at least 16 Mbps** (megabits/s, or ~2 MBps [megabytes/s] downstream) is recommended.
<issue_comment>username_1: **Date:** 7/4 (Sat.) or 7/5 (Sun.)
**Time:** 1:00 pm EDT (1700 UTC) or 8:00 pm EDT (000 UTC).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I propose 8/7 20:00 UTC , (7/8 for you Americans) simply because I can't watch it before then.
Upvotes: 0 |
2015/07/12 | 1,910 | 6,979 | <issue_start>username_0: The list of off-topic things on [our tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour) is extremely long. There are **eleven** items on the list; no other Stack Exchange site has more than *eight* (Server Fault, WebApps, Programmers, and Apple lead the pack). The total amount of text we have is also crazy long, at 1721 characters (vs. just 774 characters on the next runner-up, Apple). (cf. [raw data on pastebin](http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=ReHahM9s))
This is kind of absurd. Now, granted, people don't often read the tour page, but if they do, they will see that we are a bunch of angry internet soup nazis who hate fun. While this is probably true to some extent, we don't need to throw that in new users' faces.
As such, I propose we remove the following items from the list of off-topic things:
* Questions about the **Japanese language**, which should be on **[Japanese Language](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/)**
+ People do ask these questions occasionally, but they're easy to deal with - we can just edit it to make it on topic if feasible; migrate to Japanese.SE if it's otherwise a good question; or close it if it isn't. I don't think this merits a spot in the list on the tour page.
* Questions about the **gameplay** of anime-related and/or manga-related games, which should be on **[Arqade](https://gaming.stackexchange.com/)**
+ We don't have issues with people asking this sort of question, as far as I know. This seems to be a relic from early 2013 or so.
* Questions on **making your own anime or manga**, as they involve specific expertise outside the scope of this community. See: [Are Questions about "How to make Anime and Manga" off-topic?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6/are-questions-about-how-to-make-anime-and-manga-off-topic)
+ These questions are rare enough that I doubt this item needs to be in the list on the tour page. Its presence on this list probably stems from an early-beta fear that people would be overrunning this site with questions about how do I drawed manga; thankfully, that never came to pass.
* [Asking for](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/454/63) the **lyrics of a piece of music**
+ This has never been a major issue
* Questions about **fansubs or other fan-translations**: *When is X group going to do Y release for Z series in Q language*?
+ Nor has this.
* **Shopping recommendations/discussions**: *Should I buy X or Y?* or *Where is the best place to buy X?* See: [*How should we deal with questions asking for where to buy, watch, anime or manga media or such related merchandise?*](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/595)
– *Note that there are plenty of questions about anime figures and other merchandise which are acceptable, but anything asking us to compare products or vendors isn't constructive.*
+ This also doesn't seem to have ever been a major issue.
---
The following reasons, then, would remain:
* Anything **not directly related** to anime and manga: *What's up with that weird emblem on Japanese mailboxes?*
+ This is kind of redundant, in my opinion, but it seems to be conventional across SE sites to have a line saying basically "things that are not on-topic for our site are off-topic", so I guess we can keep this.
* Questions calling for **out-of-universe** lists: *What are all the anime that feature X? What are all the manga by Y?* See: [*Good List vs. Bad List*](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/348/what-is-the-status-of-list-questions-on-this-site) and [*How do we deal with out-of-universe questions?*](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/587/how-should-we-deal-with-out-of-universe-questions-in-general)
+ I'm not 100% sold on keeping this one, but it seems useful enough to keep around.
* **Reading or watching recommendations**: *I liked X, what should I watch next?*
– *You're welcome to use our [main chat room](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/anime-and-manga) to ask about such topics*
+ This one definitely needs to stay, since we get lots of these questions.
* Questions **requesting illegal or copyrighted information**: *Where can I watch anime X online?* *Where can I download chapters of manga Y?*
+ This is also useful to keep, since we get a fair number of these questions.
* Questions about **unannounced/speculative future events** in regard to anime or manga production: *Will manga X get an anime adaptation? Are they going to make a Nth season of Y anime?* See: [*What do we do with questions about future events/releases?*](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/27/what-do-we-do-with-questions-about-future-events-releases)
+ Same as above; we get a fair number of these.
Thoughts?<issue_comment>username_1: Personally I think there's no real harm having many off-topic rules in the tour page. That's what that section is there for - a broad overview on what's off topic. If I was a new user I'd probably scan there before asking my question if I knew it existed.
That being said I think we can remove:
* Questions about the gameplay of anime-related and/or manga-related games
* Asking for the lyrics of a piece of music
* Questions about fansubs or other fan-translations: When is X group going to do Y release for Z series in Q language? (this falls into illegal copyrighted information anyway)
* Shopping recommendations/discussions (mostly because it's not super clear which questions are acceptable and which aren't to new users viewing the page)
And in regards to:
* Anything not directly related to anime and manga: What's up with that weird emblem on Japanese mailboxes?
This could be used as an encompassing rule for the Japanese language reason above.
* Questions calling for out-of-universe lists: What are all the anime that feature X? What are all the manga by Y? See: Good List vs. Bad List and How do we deal with out-of-universe questions?
I've never been fond of this phrasing, but I think it's definitely one we should keep.
* Reading or watching recommendations: I liked X, what should I watch next?
Stay
* Questions requesting illegal or copyrighted information: Where can I watch anime X online? Where can I download chapters of manga Y?
Stay
* Questions about unannounced/speculative future events in regard to anime or manga production: Will manga X get an anime adaptation? Are they going to make a Nth season of Y anime? See: What do we do with questions about future events/releases?
Stay
---
So, actually, it seems I'm only opposed to the 'making your own anime or manga' one being removed. I think this is an important one to keep.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: [The list has been pared](https://anime.stackexchange.com/revisions/2332/8). I still don't think we need the "making your own anime" reason, but username_1 wants it, so it's still there for now.
I left [the help center page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic) as is for the time being.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer] |
2015/07/15 | 764 | 2,786 | <issue_start>username_0: In light of [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/23280/is-toyosato-elementary-school-open-to-visitors), which asks about the availablity of a real life location that was used as a setting for an anime. I'd like to ask if we should start including travel and location specific questions related to anime and manga.
Currently we already have a few questions about [real life locations](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/20214/is-the-location-of-a-bridge-to-the-starry-skies-hoshizora-e-kakaru-hashi-a-r) in anime/manga. Do we want to expand our scope to allow for questions on real life locations of places that appear or are related to anime. Such as what exclusive things can you get in the [Pokemon Centers in Tokyo](http://www.pokemon.co.jp/gp/pokecen/english/)? Or what things can you do at the [Attack on Titan](https://youtu.be/gy1bDt1fQjE) or [Evangelion attraction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5BeaQiMsGM) in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.
Questions such as those would probably fall under the a [tourism](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tourism "show questions tagged 'tourism'") (or otherwise appropriate tag [up to the community]) meta tag. We will have a bit of overlap with Travel.SE, but as we do have a few community members that have been to Japan and could share with a a bit of their expertise. I think it would be worthwhile. Additionally, it would allow us to expand out diversity of questions beyond just anime and manga series.
Of course we'll also have to figure where to draw the lines with these types of question (we don't necessarily want question like what show to I get to X site via Y means of transportation). What do you guys think?<issue_comment>username_1: I say we should err to the side of tolerance here. We accept the new topic, and see if we have any significant problems accepting and answering questions on said topic.
If we find that we do not have the expertise or we generally dislike the question, we can always migrate to [Travel](https://travel.stackexchange.com).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: There's definitely a fine line here, but here are some questions to consider (and my suggestions of how to mark them):
* How do I get to { Anime Tourist Location } **Off-Topic (Not our area)**
* What Anime Tourist Locations are there? **Off-Topic (Too broad)**
* Are there any museums in Japan that showcase < Artist >'s work **Off-Topic (List Question)**
---
* What can I do at < Anime Tourist Location > **On-Topic**
* Does < X Anime Attraction > Differ much from < Y Anime Attraction > **On-Topic**
* Is < X Anime Attraction > Closed down permentantly? **On-Topic**
* Can I book a visit at an anime studio on my holiday? **On-Topic**
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/07/18 | 831 | 3,191 | <issue_start>username_0: I saw some, if not many, in (what seems like) unanswered question from [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag, where someone replied with a title that they saw fit the asker's description. Some of it ended with the question resolved in the question's comment: where turned out it's the right answer, asker (being a newbie like me, that doesn't really understand how the site works) said 'thanks! that's it!', and done, leaving the question status itself remained unresolved. And then me, seeing from the list of questions page, opened it thinking it hasn't been answered, only to find that actually it has its answer in comment.
* Why don't they answer that immediately, back it up with the things they know fit the description?
* Is it because if it's wrong, it feels futile or what? But if that's so, it feels as if it's degrading other people who had tried to answer, posted it, but turned out their answer not the one OP (Original Poster/Asker) searching for.
* Or, is this really an encouraged behavior: "confirm it first through comment, then make it an answer is it's certified to be true"? Eventhough it may lead to "answered but not resolved" question?
If so, since I like trying to answer [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question, when later I wanna try answering a question, I'd just make a comment. More convenient, I can put one-liner and people won't rant about it being one-liner.
This ain't sarcasm (in case someone thinks so), since [in this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22908/what-manga-is-this-recruitment-page-of-a-scanlation-group-from/23311#23311) I was told I don't understand how this site works, thus I tried to see how it works. At first I was kinda so sure that behavior wasn't good since it leads to what I've said above, but then since I saw it's done by high-score users too, so I thought "Oh, maybe it's encouraged, just my not knowing that".<issue_comment>username_1: I say we should err to the side of tolerance here. We accept the new topic, and see if we have any significant problems accepting and answering questions on said topic.
If we find that we do not have the expertise or we generally dislike the question, we can always migrate to [Travel](https://travel.stackexchange.com).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: There's definitely a fine line here, but here are some questions to consider (and my suggestions of how to mark them):
* How do I get to { Anime Tourist Location } **Off-Topic (Not our area)**
* What Anime Tourist Locations are there? **Off-Topic (Too broad)**
* Are there any museums in Japan that showcase < Artist >'s work **Off-Topic (List Question)**
---
* What can I do at < Anime Tourist Location > **On-Topic**
* Does < X Anime Attraction > Differ much from < Y Anime Attraction > **On-Topic**
* Is < X Anime Attraction > Closed down permentantly? **On-Topic**
* Can I book a visit at an anime studio on my holiday? **On-Topic**
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/07/21 | 3,861 | 13,430 | <issue_start>username_0: Identification requests are a constant cause for concern in our community. Some say we should ban then altogether, some argue that we should just be more rigid in enforcing a set of guidelines, some agree with this last group but think we need to revise our current guidelines, and some think we’re perfectly fine the way we are.
Though it may not be determinant in making a decision, some more definitive numbers on identification requests and its users would help the community make a more informed decision, or at least allow the community to *know* these numbers. It would be good to know:
* How many users asked an [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") as their first question;
* How many of these questions have been deleted and why;
* When were these users created in relation to their first question;
* How many of these users accessed our site after having asked their first question;
* What are the scores of these questions;
* How many of these users sticked around to ask/answer more questions.<issue_comment>username_1: **All the following numbers are as of today’s date (July 21st, 2015).**
We currently have a grand total of **1,593 undeleted questions tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")**.
Of these, **1,246** were asked by their owners **as their first post**, and **1,212** were **tagged *exclusively*** with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")1.
This means that 347 of our currently undeleted questions tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") were asked by users who had previously contributed to the site in other tags. Furthermore, there were an additional 321 questions tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") which were first questions, and were subsequently deleted (11 of which had other tags too)2.
To put it in percentages, approximately **76.1% of the undeleted [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions were a user’s first question** (tagged *only* with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")), which means:
Approximately **20.4% of our total undeleted questions** were asked by **(1,212) users** that came here **to have an anime or manga identified for them**.
**Of the 1,212 users** whose first post was a (currently undeleted) [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question:3
* **820 (67.7%) were created at the exact same time the question was created**
* 26 (2.2%) were created up to a minute before the question was created
* 22 (1.8%) were created between 1 and 2 minutes before the question was created
* 77 (6.4%) were created between 2 and 5 minutes before the question was created
* 193 (16%) were created between 5 and 30 minutes before the question was created
* 22 (1.8%) were created between 30 minutes and 1 hour before the question was created
* 11 (0.9%) were created between 1 hour and 1 day before the question was created
* 7 (0.6%) were created between 1 day and 1 week before the question was created
* 27 (2.2%) were created over a week before the question was created
**Of the 1,212 users** whose first post was a (currently undeleted) [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question:3
* **198 (16.3%) last accessed our site at the exact same time the question was created**
* 158 (13.0%) last accessed our site after the question was posted and up to 1 hour after that
* 45 (3.8%) last accessed our site between 1 and 2 hours after the question was posted
* 52 (4.3%) last accessed our site between 2 and 5 hours after the question was posted
* 149 (12.3%) last accessed our site between 5 hours and 1 day after the question was posted
* 247 (20.4%) last accessed our site between 1 day and 1 week after the question was posted
* 168 (13.9%) last accessed our site between 1 week and 1 month after the question was posted
* 188 (15.5%) last accessed our site over 1 month after the question was posted
Regarding the scores for these 1,212 question:
* The **lowest** scored questions are at **-5**, and there are 4 of them
* The **highest** scored question is at **26**, with the runner-up scoring 17
* The **average score is 2.5**
* The **median is 2**
* The **standard deviation is 3.1**
* The **sum for all the values is 2,987**
**Of the 1,212 users:**4
* **1,014 (83.7%)** have **a single post** on our site
* 121 (10%) have 2 posts on our site
* 34 (2.8%) have 3 posts on our site
* 10 (0.8%) have 4 posts on our site
* 3 (0.3%) have 5 posts on our site
* 5 (0.4%) have 6 posts on our site
* 1 (0.1%) has 7 posts on our site
* 1 (0.1%) has 8 posts on our site
* 2 (0.2%) have 9 posts on our site
* 1 (0.1%) has 10 posts on our site
* 20 (1.7%) have more than 10 posts on our site
The user whose first post was an identification request question and that has subsequently asked/answered the most questions has **77 answers and 5 questions**.
**Of the 310 *deleted* questions** that were a user's first post, tagged only with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"):
* **219 (70.5%) were removed by the system:**4 5
+ **182 (83.1% of system removed, 58.7% of total**6**) of which were abandoned closed questions**
+ 29 (13.2% of system removed, 9.4% of total6) of which were dead questions
+ 4 (1.8% of system removed, 1.3% of total6) of which were removed along with the user7
+ 3 (1.4%) of system removed, 1% of total6) of which were stubs for migrated questions
+ 1 (0.5% of system removed, 0.3% of total6) of which were abandoned questions
* 58 (18.7%) were removed by moderators
* 31 (10%) were self-deleted
* 2 (0.7%) were removed via vote
**Of the 1,212 users** whose first post was a (currently undeleted) [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question:4
* **1,112 (91.8%) don't have the informed badge**8
* 100 (8.3%) have the informed badge8
**Of the 310 users** whose first post was a currently deleted [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") question:4
* **290 (93.6%) don't have the informed badge**8
* 20 (6.5%) have the informed badge8
---
1 The 34 questions that had other tags will be discarded from here on, since I’m trying to find questions that were about identifying an anime or manga *for sure*, and not to identify a piece of music or a certain reference of some kind in other anime or manga.
2 I’ve discarded the deleted questions because some of them are spam or nonsense, so it would only create some noise on the rest of the numbers. As such, I decided to only take into consideration questions that have not been deleted as of this time.
3 Missing 7 users because these were deleted users, or users who didn’t have an account here an whose question was migrated here, etc.
4 Percentages aren't exactly 100% due to rounding.
5 See [this Meta post](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/92006/208518) for more info on what abandoned, abandoned closed and dead questions are.
6 "Total" here meaning the 310 deleted questions that were a user's first post, tagged only with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'").
7 Removed along with a user who had been just created to post that question, but then self-deleted their account.
8 The informed badge is earned when users scroll through the [tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour). Used here to try to understand how many of these users have actually tried to find out how our site works before asking a question. For reference, 684 (8.3%) of our total users have this badge — which means those users actually don't fall too far from the overall average.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Thanks @username_1 for the data, here are some graphs to visualize this information better.
**Notes:**
* I'm going to refer to "Users whose first post was a (currently undeleted) identification-request question" as **ID-Users** during this post.
* Curve graphs are smoothed.
* I'm listing some observations too, hopefully being unbiased.
**Percentage of ID Requests**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZoEH6.png)
>
> Id Requests are just over a quarter of all undeleted questions
>
>
>
**How many of the ID-User's First Questions are deleted?**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CksuA.png)
**When Are ID-Users Accounts made?**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xJOvH.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/kiJnR.png)
>
> Most Users accounts are created at the same time as the question is asked. Or at least, in the same day.
>
>
>
**When do ID-Users visit after asking their question?**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/v6u24.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/llHlV.png)
>
> There's a big dip between 1hr and 24hrs. Do we have a split of ask-and-run users and users who genuinely care about their question?
>
>
> The majority of users don't care enough to visit again, but there are also users who have revisited the site later.
>
>
>
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hispd.png)
>
> A lot of users only ask one question, Some ask another, but less than 10% ask more than that. @username_1 points a 20+ user that "has subsequently asked/answered the most questions has 77 answers and 5 questions".
>
>
>
**ID\_Users with the "Informed" badge**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P49Qq.png)
>
> The tour page isn't being read by the majority of users. But as @username_1 mentions: 8.3% of our total users have this badge and this isn't too far off this figure - so *in general* the tour page isn't being read.
>
>
>
**Graph of the amount of ID Requests relative to other Questions (/10) over time:**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DRTB4.png)
[Source (Shown by user @Hakase)](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/339161/top-tag-vs-all-other-tags-over-time-cumulative?Weeks=999&TopTags=1#graph)
**Graph of the percentage of questions that are ID Requests on the site over time**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hw9Ma.png)
[Source (Shown by user @senshin)](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261651/the-identification-requests-are-taking-over-cumulative?TagName=identification-request#graph)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: It is almost two months ago that we blacklisted id requests and I was interested in how this impacted our monthly registration quota. So I went to SEDE and compiled [this query](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/515956/new-users-with-more-than-1-post-per-month-in-regard-to-id-request-blacklisting).
This query returns accurate results for the rows with '4 Months before' or further below. [This is because of the way automatic account deletions work](https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/02/when-is-an-account-abandoned/).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KRxd6.png)
This query shows the amount of new users that registered between the 24th 00:00:00 of the month and the 23rd 23:59:59 of the next month. The second column is the amount of users that were created in that timeframe and also had at least two Posts in that timeframe. The last column is the percentage of users that satisfy the second condition out of all the users that satisfy the first condition.
Looking at the data, it doesn't seem that blacklisting the tag did have any affect on the absolute number of active users. Instead, the amount of inactive users shrank.
Of course, there are some errors in the query, e.g. it does only count posts that were created between 24th and 23rd. A user that was created on the 23rd and created lots of posts since then but no second post on the 23rd is not counted.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/07/22 | 2,757 | 11,374 | <issue_start>username_0: We see them a lot. "I saw it when I was a kid", "I saw it when I was 10", these vague descriptions say a lot, and tell nothing.
A very primitive search (`[tag:identification-request] "when i was"`) shows 68 questions with that phrase, that's not counting things like "My brother watched it when he was 5" or even the more complex things like "I watched it with my brother when my brother was 5", but I think it's a start.
Using this phrase along with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") would trigger the system to display something like this (along with the "Your question couldn't be submitted. Please see the errors above." message):
<issue_comment>username_1: Thanks to @Hakase and @Madara for answering my questions about how this would be implemented. Since I haven't totally made up my mind on the specific issue of using the phrase blacklist, I'll summarize the pros and cons as I see them.
I'm still wishy-washy on the subject, but I'm leaning towards supporting the end of id requests altogether. @senshin summarized the response to this proposal from that point of view in a comment:
>
> Ah, yes, let's put more lipstick on the pig.
>
>
>
Movies and TV apparently has also gotten sick of id requests; when they had the initial discussion about whether to allow them, [<NAME> posted an answer](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/a/75) saying they would regret it. On January 6th of 2015, Movies and TV moderator <NAME> posted this comment on the answer:
>
> Oh my, how right you were with all of this, if we just had listened to
> you back then.
>
>
>
Arqade has apparently decided to [ban id requests](https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2674) on their site.
Using the phrase blacklist would just be a very small solution to a very small part of the rather large problem of lousy id requests. On the other hand, there seems to be widespread disagreement among the community on whether allowing id requests is a net positive or not. I can certainly see some negative aspects to getting rid of them, but it seems like when you need a custom close reason that only applies to one specific tag, that tag is a problem.
Coming at this from the other side, we already get [complaints that we're unfriendly to new users](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2316/7579). Imagine being a new user, possibly with subpar English skills; coming to post an id request; writing "when I was 10" in your question; and having the *system itself* pop up a message complaining about how bad your question is. It's like those password checkers that reject all your passwords—"this one doesn't have any uppercase letters", "this one doesn't have any special characters", "this one is too short", "this one is too long", "this one only has 25 bits of entropy, which according to information theoretic principles implies it can be cracked by a determined attacker in 3.23144153 minutes"...this site *is* supposed to be fun. Personally, I think we can do without a lot of these users posting id requests, but this could be annoying even to users who approach in good faith, read the FAQs and the tour, and do their best to post a good question.
I also still have some concerns that the system is too coarse-grained. If we're just doing a simple regex search, I'm not sure we can avoid false positives effectively enough to make sure this feature stays out of the way for most users and only affects users who really are writing an awful, vague id request. I think a lot of what Paul Graham writes in the first section of his [essay on spam filtering](http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html) is applicable here: using a regex-based filter like this is similar to using a spam filter that looks for "DEAR FRIEND!!!!!!!" in the subject line. It's us trying to identify what we think are the relevant features of bad id requests. Users who are really determined will find new and wonderful ways to be totally vague and unhelpful, while users who are actually trying may just be disgusted and put off that they're being called out for using a common English phrase. Some of them may find their way to meta to find out what they can do about this, but many more will probably just go "Jerks" and go off to some other anime site. Like I said, I don't know how much we really need these users, but it's something to consider.
On the other hand...jeez, every fricking person who writes an id request uses exactly the same vague, totally unhelpful wording, as if we know how old they are and thus what year it was when they were ten! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that user profiles used to display your age; maybe they thought people could just click over to their profiles and do the calculations. It's clearly not a good use of anyone's time, especially our moderators', to go through every single id request and post a comment saying "Can you please give an exact year? We don't know when you were 10, you see, as we don't know you, and can't even guess how old you are since you've put a picture of an anime character as your avatar."
Maybe we could try doing a test run. Set up the filter and have it on for a few months. After a few months, come back and look at the crop of id requests posted in that timeframe to see if there was any improvement, however marginal, using a set of statistics like the ones in [JNat's meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2467/7579). After all, if we have the filter in place, then many of the people using this phrase will likely either write better questions, or give up and go away. Whatever happens, we can use the statistics to find out what effect the filter is having and talk about whether we can live with that.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This answer was originally a few comments under the question, but I've decided it makes more sense to write up a complete answer.
---
I find it extremely annoying when users do this, especially when it's of the form "When I was X years old" or "when I was a teenager" as if that tells us something. While it may be possible sometimes to determine the user's age from their profile, this is certainly not the norm in such cases. "When I was younger" is less annoying to me; it's essentially synonymous to "a while ago". I'd still prefer people avoid it, but at least it doesn't mean they think they're telling us something useful.
With all that said, I don't think a blacklist is the appropriate measure. For starters, using such a phrase as if we can gather something from it is an indication that the asker doesn't know how to ask a question. They aren't thinking about it from the perspective of what might be useful to someone on the other side of a computer screen who doesn't know them. Their question is relatively likely to end up with other problems, and fixing this one preemptively won't make it suddenly fine. The date isn't usually the most important factor in determining what they are remembering anyway.
That might be okay if there wasn't any harm, but a blacklist always has a risk of false positives, and this one is pretty bad. "When I was \_" is a very general construct in English. The "\_" here could be many verbs, adjectives, or nouns. It could be, for instance, "When I was visiting India in 2010, I saw this anime on an English television station", which is a useful bit of information. Similarly, it could be "When I was watching One Piece, this PV came on during a commercial break". It would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine computationally (via regular expressions and other purely syntactic analysis) whether it's a good case or if it should be blocked. Also, according to [this comment](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2469/can-we-blacklist-the-phrase-when-i-was-when-asked-on-an-identification-request#comment4741_2471), the blacklist would probably need to apply to answers and posts in other tags, which just means even more false positives.
Since I'm sure this point will be made if I don't bring it up, yes, most of the good occurrences of this can be changed to evade the blacklist. Some of them can even be improved by being written differently. This is a general fact about English: it's rather fluid, and things can be written in many ways. But it's also true that the bad instances can be written differently, and a particularly lazy asker could just do this rather than following the advice. So the fact that the blacklist is easy to evade isn't really a positive point.
In addition, this doesn't seem to be *that* big a problem. The OP identified 68 questions with this phrase. That means we'd expect to get about 1 question matching this pattern per week, and in my book that's a pretty small problem. Among those, quite a few use the phrase but also include useful time frames in absolute ("late 80s") or relative ("5-7 years ago") terms. These should ideally be edited to all be in absolute terms and to have the phrase removed, but that's a fairly minor thing. The bad cases are likely to only be a couple per month, and few if any of those would be turned into good questions solely by removing this one fact and including a useful date.
---
So, in short, while I also find this very annoying, I don't think it's a major problem for the site, and I don't think a blacklist is the right way to try to fix it.
What I'd prefer is if we can come up with a guide for how to ask ID requests for new users which would include this and many other common mistakes (NOT our set of "guidelines" which are inconsistently applied and don't always correlate with question quality, but something that would actually tell users what they are doing wrong and how to fix it). We would point new users to this guide, and interested ones could see everything they are doing wrong and improve their questions. We'll still end up with a bunch of users not fixing their questions, but at least then the ones who really want to but don't know how will be able to improve their questions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Is it possible to make a pop-up that does not prevent a user from posting a question containing "when I was" but which alerts them that that they wrote that phrase and probably want to change it? (The text in the red pop-up that Madara Uchiha suggested looks good.) On the Japanese Language SE, when you start to post a question, you can see on the right-hand side the "How To Format" box which contains instructions such as the phrase "We prefer questions that can be *answered*, not just discussed." Then, when you start typing a title for your question, if site deems that the wording of the question title might likely be the sort which cannot be clearly answered (rather than simply generating a lot of opinions), it will pop-up a red message warning that you might be asking a question which cannot be easily answered and that therefore you might not receive answers to it if you post it. You can click the "x" in the corner of the pop-up to close it and continue writing, choosing to revise your wording if you like, but I *believe* that the site will allow you to post it even if you do not change the wording.
Upvotes: 1 |
2015/07/24 | 5,441 | 14,679 | <issue_start>username_0: >
> *In the style of [The Memes of Arqade and its Chat](https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2187/the-memes-of-arqade-and-its-chat)* which is...
>
>
>
> >
> > *In the style of [The Many Memes of Meta](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19478/the-many-memes-of-meta)*
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
Memes, memes, memes - where would the internet be without them? Much like a disease, they infest everywhere and spread really fast. And like any branch of that aforementioned net, we folks in the best SE site out there A&M community are no exception in having our own offerings.
[At the behest of our ~~Overlord~~ ʞɹɐzǝɹ,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/22983274#22983274) this brilliant meta post has been born as a testament to our combined capacity for inside jokes and humor through repetition.
So, post below all the memes you can gather that originated on our site, so everyone out there can look in and see just what wonders we've achieved over the last few years.<issue_comment>username_1: Meme: Eric hates hats.
======================
**Originator:** [Eric](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/274/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%AB%E3%82%A2)
**Cultural Height:** Every Winterbash
**Background:** Come Winterbash every year Eric does not hide his hatred for them. He [really,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19065388#19065388) [really,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=18246329#18246329) [really,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19078013#19078013) [really,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19043279#19043279) [really,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19063905#19063905) [really,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/22971609#22971609) hates them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_1: Meme: Hakase hates puns.
========================
**Originator:** [Hakase](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/191/hakase)
**Cultural Height:** Unknown
**Background:** [Not as much as Eric hates hats,](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/22966011#22966011) but [still pretty badly.](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/22965858#22965858)
**Related:** [Eric Hates Hats](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2475/1587)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: [@Mysticial](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/17/mysticial) day.
=====================================================================
You may be wondering ["what is @Mysticial day?"](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/20675851#20675851) Well, [it's @Mysticial day](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19461221#19461221), what more is there to say? [@Mysticial](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19461093#19461093)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: Meme: Lolis are the best.
=========================
**Originator:** Nobody
**Perpetrator:** Everyone, including [Bots](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=13594160#13594160)
**Background:** It's a simple fact of life. [You heard it here](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=9086110#9086110) first, [lolis are the best.](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=10252167#10252167) Even [HoiHoi-san agrees.](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=13594160#13594160)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_1: Global warming is [@Frosteeze's](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/293/frosteeze) fault.
============================================================================================
[IT JUST IS, ALRIGHT](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=22129702#22129702)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: Our manga series, turned 4koma creation spree.
==============================================
Here they are (as links, so they don't clutter the post):
1. [Taisho, The Begining](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zo3Am.png), by [username_3](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/2869).
2. [Taisho: The Taishoning](https://i.stack.imgur.com/37DIG.png), by [Hakase](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users/191)
3. [Krazer's Day Off](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gIPDB.jpg), by [username_3](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/2869).
4. [Hakase's New Invention](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ylSWZ.jpg), by [username_5](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1530/toshinou-kyouko).
5. [Second Best Girl](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6QpMN.jpg), by [username_3](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/2869). Related: [Monthly Avatar Switchup](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2685/2869). Currently on hiatus.
6. [The Most Powerfull Shinobi Off the Time](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zXUho.png), by [username_3](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/2869).
7. [username_2's Trap](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AKKrb.jpg), by [username_3](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/2869). Related: [username_2 Yuri Master](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2495/2869)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Wider
=====
**Originator:** Unknown
**Cultural Height:** Ongoing
**Background:** on occasion when one [posts fanart](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/19313425#19313425) from [madoka-magica](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/madoka-magica "show questions tagged 'madoka-magica'") or [hidamari-sketch](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hidamari-sketch "show questions tagged 'hidamari-sketch'"), if it does not follow the same art style used in either series one may receive a reply saying [*"wider"*](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/19313514#19313514).
Even characters outside the 2 series are not excluded. This is [Saber](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jfG75.jpg) from [fate-stay-night](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fate-stay-night "show questions tagged 'fate-stay-night'") and [this](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/19313720#19313720) is fanart of her using the same "wide" art style used in Hidamari....even that wasn't wide enough so it was [edited](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/19313874#19313874) but [some people wanted it wider still!](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/19313877#19313877)
Hidamari Sketch itself may not be wide enough despite spanning [Multiple Monitors](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3VDhz.jpg)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Meme: [username_2 Yuri Master](http://chat.stackexchange.com/search?q=%23yuri&Room=6697&User=96987&page=1&pagesize=50&sort=relevance)
==================================================================================================================================
**Originator:** [username_2](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1587/memor-x)
**Cultural Height:** Unknown
**Background:** [Happy yuri image star, he will star any yuri picture he can find](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=22954911#22954911) and [he has many levels of yuri classification](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/19409823#19409823). And by the way, he's been thinking about this meme for [long ago](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=21443688#21443688)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: **Meme:** <NAME>
**Originator:** [<NAME>](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/91/jon-lin)
**Cultural Height:** Ongoing
**Background:** <NAME> is:
* The one who ranks second among users with the highest reputation scores on Anime & Manga Stack Exchange.
* The one who watches [too much anime](http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Ornette).
* The one (and only one) who has the [silver badge](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/badges/97/identification-request) for the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag since February 13, 2015.
+ since identification requests were [purged](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/3839/1587) he is now one of 3 who will have the [unobtainable bronze badge](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/badges/88/identification-request)
* The go-to guy for questions about [neon-genesis-evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/neon-genesis-evangelion "show questions tagged 'neon-genesis-evangelion'").
**Usage:** ["You post after <NAME> answers."](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=19606223#19606223)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: **Meme:** I am a tomato
**Background:** I am a tomato [(sauce)](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=20002559#20002559)
**Usage:** "username_5 is a tomato"
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDLYW.png)
Additionally, from September 27, 2015, "Tomato" became the official catchphrase of this year's Holiday Gift Exchange:
>
> 9. In celebration of our site graduation and our new fellow [moderator](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1530/toshinou-kyouko) (mostly the latter), "Tomato" will be a featured catchphrase for this Exchange. Use it however you prefer, as a password, greeting and farewell (like "ciao"), etc.
>
>
> [Come one, come all to the SECOND Annual Anime.SE Holiday Gift Exchange!](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2617/come-one-come-all-to-the-second-annual-anime-se-holiday-gift-exchange#2617)
>
>
>
[Confirmation that tomatoes were the best was given by the highly intelligent AI life system in chat.](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/24464071#24464071)
As tomatoes do not make many noises, sound effects to do with this meme generally take the form of squishing noises. *squish* *squish*
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Meme: Death Note Puzzles.
=========================
**Originator:** [@Eric](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=22947894#22947894)
**Cultural Height:** When the next Death Note Question is asked.
**Background:** in the anime *Death Note* the titular item and those who own one follow a set of [56 Rules](http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_the_Death_Note). For some reason people ask questions on how to kill certain people in certain ways or certain situations of use that were never in the anime.
* [Killing Conjoined Twins using Death Note](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21874/killing-conjoined-twins-using-death-note)
* [Can Death Note misfire if a person changes their name and appearance to that of another person?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21873/can-death-note-misfire-if-a-person-changes-their-name-and-appearance-to-that-of)
* [What happens if a person can't die of a heart attack?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14564/what-happens-if-a-person-cant-die-of-a-heart-attack)
All queries for using the Death Note go towards the effort for [killing Kyubey](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8xdUv.jpg)
**Related:** 
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Meme: ʞɹɐzǝɹ is the big bad mean boss
-------------------------------------
**Cultural Height:** Unknown
**Background:** ["@ʞɹɐzǝɹ is the big bad mean boss"](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=26300787#26300787) -Tyhja
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Is Sakamoto a bot?
==================
**Originator:** [Sakamoto](http://chat.stackexchange.com/users/-179/sakamoto)
**Background:**
Sakamoto is the feed for [Maid Cafe](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697), posting new questions posted on the main site...at least that's what we thought initally.
there has been times when Sakamoto has taken que from [Taisho](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2362/1587) and [posts](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=27954986#27954986) [images](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=28362968#28362968). he has also expressed his stance on [Identification Requests](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/29014578#29014578). is Sakamoto really just a Feed Bot? has Taisho influenced his sentience?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: The [@username_3](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users/2869/darjeeling) Dippers.
======================================================================================
**Originator**: [@Tyhja](https://chat.stackexchange.com/users/123398/tyhja)
**Culprits**: [@Tyhja](https://chat.stackexchange.com/users/123398/tyhja), [@Cold-Fire](https://chat.stackexchange.com/users/212615/cold-fire), [@Tomato](https://chat.stackexchange.com/users/74083)[[1](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2503/1458)],[dimitri-mx](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users/1458/dimitri-mx)
**Cultural Height**: Unknown
**Background**: For ages people have liked a good username_3 thee, however here at A&M they like to take it a step further, up to the Japanese weird scale standards. Leading to our [@username_3](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users/2869/darjeeling) being dipped in about everything you can imagine.
**Mentionable Dips**:
* ([Hot](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=25649764#25649764)/[Luke-warm](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=32548604#32548604)/[Magic](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37230974#37230974)/[Black](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37243834#37243834)/[Salt](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=38238777#38238777)/[Fresh](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37910005#37910005)/[Java-Island](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=36827164#36827164)/[Cold](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=36381537#36381537)) [Water](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=36359336#36359336)
* [Zimbawe money purchased](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=36912075#36912075), [Green](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37562469#37562469)/[Red](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=35165085#35165085) [Thee](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=35018958#35018958)
* [A Birthday Cake](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=36617208#36617208)
* [The Sea](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37194254#37194254)
* [Lava](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37300138#37300138)
* [The Rain](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=38265193#38265193)
* [A Lake](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=38070343#38070343)
* [MX d3ullist's home](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=40368821#40368821)
* [Ectomorphing ranma mess](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/40392379#40392379)
But never forget, it's
[just a dip](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/6697?m=37623210#37623210)
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/07/28 | 1,161 | 4,863 | <issue_start>username_0: I seem to be getting booted off the site for asking identification request- type questions. This is problematic as I need these cels identified for my job. Please help me!<issue_comment>username_1: Firstly I'd like to say that that's an interesting job and I'm jealous.
But to the main point (most of which has been detailed in the comments by other users);
127 cels is a lot of questions. If you're experiencing blocks it's possibly because the site has rate-limiting enabled. This is basically to ensure that a user is not asking a lot of low-quality questions or spamming.
The fact that these questions aren't getting many upvotes is additional to this effect. The system probably considers users posting consistently good questions to be not doing any harm.
It might be worth reading these posts:
* [The complete Rate Limiting guide](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/164899/the-complete-rate-limiting-guide)
* [Rate limitations](https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/asking-rate-limited)
---
You aren't getting many upvotes because the questions have little substance to them and aren't interesting to other users.
Additionally, repeated questions that users aren't fond of tend to acquire downvotes too - and that further leads to blockages and low-visibility of your questions.
This is a community, not a input-output answer box.
---
If I were in your shoes I think the best course of action is to spread your search amongst other sites such as [/r/animesuggest](http://www.reddit.com/r/animesuggest) , [Anime Characters Database](https://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/), Forums and other sites that deal with these questions also.
>100 Questions on the same topic is not going to be looked upon fondly by any one site due to the change in flow of how the sites work.
**TL;DR:** The questions you're asking aren't getting any positive feedback from the users of this site so they're not receiving much attention and because of this you're potentially being rate limited. Two options - Spread your search elsewhere or improve the quality of your questions.
As a side note, If you have an imgur gallery of all the cels - feel free to comment with it below and I can scan through them if you want and see if I recognise any. (Unrelated to the site)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: We're not refusing to help you per se, at the same time we don't understand your position on this matter at all.
We don't know who work for and what kind of job you do that requires identifying 127 pieces of animation cels with next to nothing to go on. I'm sure you would feel the same way if some stranger came to your door and asked you to identify 127 pieces of early modern to postmodern European and American art, because they hear you know a thing or two about art.
From your comments it sounds like you don't care at much for Japanese anime or animation in general and that's fine. A job's a job. You don't have to like what you do.
However if you ask for help, it's common courtesy to at least explain to the other party why you're need this work done. Maybe it's for a upcoming exhibit at a gallery or museum, maybe it's from a collection inherited from a relative. Whatever the reason maybe, disclosing your intent will better understand what you're looking for.
The will the scope of the work if a bit excessive, we maybe able to helps you with a portion of it, but we certainly can't do your job for you. If you can tell us what you've tried so far and why that didn't work out, we can point you to the right direction. Not everyone is good at looking for stuff, but at the same time not everyone is willing to do another work for them without knowing why.
If you're under a nondisclosure agreement, then say so, provide what you can and we'll try to help you fill in the blanks. Answering question is about give and take. If all you do is taker, then there won't be anyone left to give you anything.
If you or someone else brought them from a Japanese seller, then there should be at least a receipt or invoice, even if it's in Japanese, there's a chance that there might be some leads as to where they came from. Collectors rarely buy anything without know where it came from. So instead of asking strangers on the internet where there individual cels are from, have you tried getting in contact with the purchaser? That might give you your first lead.
Seeing as you're located in San Antonio, TX area from your profile, have you tried reaching out to auction houses in your area for referral to an appraiser of animation cels? Without a subject matter expert to help you, identifying all those cels will be rather difficult. It can probably be justified to the owner of the collection to get the collection appraised for insurance purposes. Even more so if the intent is to resell them.
Upvotes: 4 |
2015/08/09 | 1,330 | 4,658 | <issue_start>username_0: Our current prompt for when you ask a question with the tag [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0nDBv.png)
Seeing as we don't allow image-only id-requests (see [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2473/1530)), maybe we should make it more clear that they need additional details.
If I was a new user and saw this - **it doesn't seem to indicate that asking an image-only question is inappropriate**, just that it should be reverse-searched beforehand.
I want to open the floor to the possibility of change to this feature.
Would it be good to change to something like:
>
> Are you trying to identify a series?
>
>
> Try and post as much information as possible - [See here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2473/1530) for question requirements
>
>
>
Although this removes the reverse search part of the prompt which isn't great either.
Opinions? Should we change it/leave it? Do you have your own better wording?<issue_comment>username_1: I vote in favor of changing the current message.
As [We need to do something about the new users behind identification-request questions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2472/we-need-to-do-something-about-the-new-users-behind-identification-request-questi/2473#2473) Also covers the image part in it self.
>
> If the question have less than three (two for questions that include image(s), audio, and/or video(s)) of the the above mentioned criteria, or if the description provided is deemed to be too ambiguous, it will be put on hold as "Off-Topic: This identification request contains too little detail to be answered." You should edit your question to add more details, before it can be reopened.
>
>
>
I also think that link to [What criteria should we use for QCing for ALL "identification-request" questions?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) instead of the current one, as this is allot shorter. And I am pretty sure that most people are not waiting to read a huge wall of text, especially if they are not even taking the time to provide allot of details in their original question.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What about something like this?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/j6Mva.png)
This points to the genral guidelines, but also suggests using reverse image search before posting image-only id-reqs.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If anything in addition to a wording change, I'd like to suggest some accessibility enhancements to the dialog for better contrast within the existing stylesheet:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ated1.png)
**Link color:** #FFF800; **dialog button color**: #F4F5F7
>
> Before submitting your question please take some time to read over **[our guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892)** for *"identification-request"* questions to make sure you've included sufficient detail.
>
> If you're looking to identify an image, try doing a [**reverse image search**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/how-can-i-identify-the-source-of-an-image-using-reverse-image-search) before asking.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: This was implemented, with just a slight change in the first paragraph of [ʞɹɐzǝɹ's suggestion](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2504/identification-request-prompt-rework/2520#2520), to reduce the amount of text in that little box:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HAJCk.png)
The colour suggestions in ʞɹɐzǝɹ's answer have also been implemented, as can be seen above. Here's what the HTML looks like:
```
Please read our **[guidelines for identification request questions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892)** to make sure you've included sufficient detail.
If you're looking to identify an image, try doing a **[reverse image search](http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/how-can-i-identify-the-source-of-an-image-using-reverse-image-search)** before asking.
```
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2015/08/10 | 2,866 | 11,250 | <issue_start>username_0: In connection with the moderator elections, we will be holding a Q&A with the candidates. This will be an opportunity for members of the community to pose questions to the candidates on the topic of moderation. Participation is completely voluntary.
>
> **The purpose of this thread was to collect questions for the questionnaire. The questionnaire is now live, and you may find it [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2537/2015-moderator-election-qa-questionnaire).**
>
>
>
Here's how it'll work:
* During the nomination phase, (so, until Monday, August 17th at 20:00:00Z UTC, or 4:00 pm EDT on the same day, give or take time to arrive for closure), this question will be open to collect potential questions from the users of the site. Post answers to this question containing any questions you would like to ask the candidates. Please only post *one question per answer*.
* We, the Community Team, will be providing a small selection of generic questions. The first two will be guaranteed to be included, the latter ones are if the community doesn't supply enough questions. This will be done in a single post, unlike the prior instruction.
* This is a perfect opportunity to voice questions that are specific to your community and issues that you are running into at current.
* At the end of the phase, the Community Team will select **up to 8 of the top voted questions submitted by the community** provided in this thread, to use in addition to the aforementioned 2 guaranteed questions. We reserve some editorial control in the selection of the questions and may opt not to select a question that is tangential or irrelevant to moderation or the election. That said, if I have concerns about any questions in this fashion, I will be sure to point this out in comments before the decision making time.
* Once questions have been selected, a new question will be opened to host the actual questionnaire for the candidates, containing 10 questions in total.
* This is not the only option that users have for gathering information on candidates. As a community, you are still free to, for example, hold a live chat session with your candidates to ask further questions, or perhaps clarifications from what is provided in the Q&A.
If you have any questions or feedback about this new process, feel free to post as a comment here.<issue_comment>username_1: Here is a set of general questions, gathered as very common questions asked every election. As mentioned in the instructions, the first two questions are guaranteed to show up in the Q&A, while the others are if there aren't enough questions (or, if you like one enough, you may split it off as a separate answer for review within the community's 8).
* How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
* How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
---
* In your opinion, what do moderators do?
* A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?
* In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Splitting this one off, since I think it's important:
>
> In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Borrowed from [Movies.SE's collection thread](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1560/):
>
> What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Adapted from [Scifi.SE's collection thread](https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/a/6450/):
>
> While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise?
>
>
>
(This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy.
As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: From [CodeReview.SE's collection thread](https://codereview.meta.stackexchange.com/a/5588/62429):
>
> "Moderators don't vote. They *decide*."
>
>
> Making binding decisions instead of voting will be a paradigm shift for nearly all of the nominees. How do you plan on making this adjustment?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: From [CodeReview.SE's collection thread](https://codereview.meta.stackexchange.com/a/5573/62429):
>
> As a moderator on Anime & Manga you will also become a moderator on all of chat.stackexchange.com - which has rooms for most sites (all except Stack Overflow and Meta.StackExchange).
>
>
> A heated discussion is flagged in "*The Suspension*" chat room which is associated with BridgeBuilding.stackexchange.com - there is swearing and name calling.
>
>
> What do you do?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: From [CodeReview.SE's collection thread](https://codereview.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5666/2015-moderator-election-qa-questionnaire):
>
> A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: A user who had posted some high voted questions/answers here has had some terrible experiences on other Stack Exchange Communities, as a resault they are now being self-destructive to them on a whole (ie. deleting their questions/answers, un-accepting answers, revenge voting, unnecessary flagging, destructive edits).
What would be your course of action not just to the user but to the content they created on Anime and Manga?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees.
>
> The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change.
>
>
> How do you deal with this situation?
>
>
>
**Context:**
there are a few issues (most obviously id-requests, but there are definitely other items) that some potential moderators will have a strong stance on. I think this situation may arise depending on who is voted in.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with.
>
>
> Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current.
>
>
> Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Power users who enjoy posting the most questions and answers don't simply equate to being the same people who are best-suited to routine, unthanked, humdrum administrative tasks. What experience (other than your contributions on this SE) do you bring to the table that demonstrates your competence as a moderator/admin?
Some ideas to share with us: in your job, internship, volunteering, club/org, website/forum/mailing list/social media, have you
* performed repetitive administrative tasks... and enjoyed it?
* organized and categorized material?
* copyedited others' writing?
* provided customer service?
* fielded questions about rules and protocols?
* moderated heated disputes?
* handled a person who didn't care about following the guidelines?
* had to delete offensive content or ban a user?
* avoided making top-down decisions even when you had the power to do so, instead opting to return some decisions to voting by the members at large?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: What should responsible moderators ***not*** do with their power? What behavior have you disliked in moderators (on any SE or elsewhere) that you vow you'll never do?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> A particular series tag / type of question seems to attract one-line answers.
>
>
> How would you encourage users to give more detail than just a single sentence / link?
>
>
>
Similarly for attracting one-line questions.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: What is **the range of genres and decades** (from early classics through to the present) that you're competently knowledgable in? How have you intentionally educated yourself about the breadth of the anime and manga artforms?
I believe that at least 2 out of 3 moderators should have a broad variety of watched/read titles and genres, for the sake of 1) possessing general competence in assessing the content of questions/answers across many genres, and 2) for this SE to move forward in growing into a reputable and authoritative information resource on anime and manga **over-all**: where questions about genres other than current *JUMP* shounen series rise in number and quality, and where experts educated in various under-represented genres feel comfortable joining without feeling marginalized or that nobody really cares if they're contributing or not.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/08/13 | 2,512 | 10,031 | <issue_start>username_0: Recently, we've had two questions on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra which garnered close votes: [Is avatar Korra bisexual?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/24013/7579) and [How can fans be used to augment earthbending?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/19921/2604). The first question has yet to receive the fifth vote necessary to close it. The second was closed, but later reopened. Looking at the [edit history](https://anime.stackexchange.com/posts/19921/revisions), the intersection of the group that voted to close and the group that voted to reopen is empty—so we had five users who thought the question was off-topic, and another five who thought it was on-topic. All ten of the users who voted on this are respected, high-rep users with lots of good contributions to the site, which suggests there is a pretty deep gulf over this issue in the community.
[A previous meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/415/7579) established that peripheral topics like Last Airbender, Korra, and RWBY are on-topic here, as well as allowing manhwa, manhua, original English language manga, and certain video games. This ruling was reinforced in [another meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/840/7579) on RWBY specifically, and in [this duplicate](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2385/7579) of the first post. However, some users evidently were either not aware of these posts, or disagreed with them, and have been voting to close Last Airbender and Korra questions.
Do we still want to accept questions on these shows?
I *do not* want to start another argument about whether these two shows are anime or not. To me, they are not anime under the commonly understood definition in the non-Japanese fandom. To me, any work in which the vast majority of the creative direction comes from non-Japanese sources is not anime. However, Final Fantasy is also not anime, and we allow Final Fantasy questions, so not being anime is not an automatic disqualification. We can argue in circles about whether the shows qualify as anime under someone's definition, but it never goes anywhere. Let's try to focus on practical policy instead of arguing over definitions and gut feelings.<issue_comment>username_1: I personally see nothing wrong with prohibiting these questions here, since all three still have a home on SF&F (all three series in question are fantasy, and AtLA/Korra in particular have a much larger userbase over there) and AtLA/Korra also are certainly welcome on M&TV (dunno about RWBY).
I am well aware that SE sites need not have mutually exclusive domains, but since this particular set of topics is controversial over here and uncontroversial on SF&F/M&TV, I think it makes our lives easier and nobody's lives harder if we just opt to migrate all new non-terrible AtLA/Korra/RWBY questions to SF&F or M&TV, as appropriate. (We can let existing questions be, or maybe just close them if ever they get bumped back to the front page.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I'll present my own take on the issue, but I welcome other opinions.
As I said in the question, to me, Last Airbender and Korra are not anime, but this should not mean automatic disqualification. [Toshinou-san's answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2530/7579) presents a good case for why they should be allowed despite not being anime.
Questions on Last Airbender and Legend of Korra are on-topic at Sci Fi and Fantasy Stack Exchange. From looking over their tag list, there are 110 questions tagged [avatar-the-last-airbender](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/avatar-the-last-airbender "show questions tagged 'avatar-the-last-airbender'") and 105 questions tagged [legend-of-korra](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/legend-of-korra "show questions tagged 'legend-of-korra'"). They're also on-topic on Movies and TV Stack Exchange, with one question each. We won't be leaving anyone out in the cold by refusing these questions.
I think we should encourage anyone who asks a question on these two series here to move their question to Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Although there is definitely crossover in expertise, the majority of Stack Exchange users who are interested in these shows seem to have settled on Sci Fi and Fantasy as their chosen site. As Esq points out in a comment [here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/24013/is-avatar-korra-bisexual#comment34644_24013), it's more important to congregate all the questions in one place than it is to argue philosophy:
>
> Anyways whatever the choice is I think avatar should not be split up
> into 2 places, all current Q&A should be moved to a single place.
> Consistency is more important than being right in this case
>
>
>
Having all the questions in one place means it's easier to find out if your question has already been asked, and it's easier for answerers to find your question since they don't have to check three different sites. Whether or not you think Avatar is anime, the fact is that most of the questions on the show are on SFF.SE, while most of the questions on Full Metal Alchemist and Dragon Ball Z (which are also on-topic on both sites) are over here.
I'm not sure I favor closing any questions on Last Airbender or Korra. I think if we had never decided to take them, it would have been viable to close them as they come in. But at this point, we've already had a policy of allowing them for a while. And it's probably confusing for people to figure out whether they're allowed or not. I'd rather strongly encourage people to move their questions to SFF, with migration as a possibility. Perhaps we could also migrate all currently open questions on these topics, and make it clear in our tag wiki that the tags should not be used for new questions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Personally I think they should be allowed.
These are as tangentally related to our userbase as other non-strictly-anime items that we allow are - like manwha. Clearly the userbase is interested in Avatar questions based on how many votes it got.
As for overlapping content, we have many questions about the plots of games - and there's an entire stack site for that.
I think it is fair enough that questions on works that are commonly associated with anime (even though they may not be) are of value to the community because of this status.
Whilst we shouldn't explicitly *encourage* these questions, I don't think that they shouldn't belong here.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This is a consensus answer which details a policy on Western anime-inspired works that seems to be agreeable to all who answered or commented here.
For Questioners
===============
Questions on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra are officially tolerated as on-topic on Anime and Manga Stack Exchange. You may ask questions on these series here. However, you are strongly encouraged to instead ask these questions on [Sci-fi and Fantasy Stack Exchange](http://scifi.stackexchange.com), where there is a thriving community of experts on these series. You may also consider asking them on [Movies & TV Stack Exchange](http://movies.stackexchange.com).
Questions about the live action Last Airbender movie are off-topic here, but on-topic at Sci-fi and Fantasy, as well as Movies and TV.
If, after posting your question, you decide you would rather have it on one of the other sites, please flag it for moderator attention. Choose the reason "Other (in need of moderator attention)" and mention in the message which site you would like the question migrated to.
This policy should not be taken to imply that Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra are, or are not, anime.
For Reviewers
=============
Questions on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra should be held to [the same standards as any other question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/closed-questions). They should be clear, reasonable in scope, and answerable with facts and informed speculation rather than pure opinion. Downvote, edit, and vote to close or reopen these questions according to the same standards you would apply to any other question.
Please don't vote to close solely because the question is about Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra on the basis that these shows are not anime. By looking over the question statement, answers, and comments on this page, you can see that several of us who participated in this discussion do not believe Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra are anime. However, the community has historically decided to allow questions on certain topics which are not explicitly anime or unambiguously connected to anime. Please respect that choice, or argue for a change in policy in Meta before voting to close.
You *can*, per above, encourage questioners to migrate their question to Sci-fi and Fantasy SE. You can also flag it for migration on the questioner's behalf, especially in cases where the questioner is a new user and doesn't understand the system very well.
For the Community
=================
This site was created to be a Q&A site on Japanese anime and manga, as commonly understood by non-Japanese fans of these media. The definition of these terms is somewhat nebulous, but in general, a work is only unambiguously anime or manga if it was made in Japan, under the direct and extensive creative control of Japanese people.
We've decided to allow questions on certain topics that fall outside of this definition because they are of interest to the community, and because they fall into a grey area in which one can argue that they are "close enough" to anime or "statistically anime" or fall inside the "anime-o-sphere". However, we are not going to become "East Asian-style Media Stack Exchange". If questions on these topics ever threaten to overwhelm questions on the core interests of the community, the policy will be reassessed and the topics may be banned.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2015/08/17 | 25,096 | 101,516 | <issue_start>username_0: In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected [from an earlier thread](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2508/2015-moderator-election-qa-question-collection) have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as the space for the candidates to provide their answers. Not every question was compiled - as noted, we selected the top 8 questions as submitted by the community, plus 2 pre-set questions from us. But then I saw a particularly nice question that I'm told is particularly relevant to the community as well, so I decided to staple it on as an 11th question.
As a candidate, your job is simple - post an answer to this question, citing each of the questions and then post your answer to each question given in that same answer. For your convenience, I will include all of the questions in quote format with a break in between each, suitable for you to insert your answers. Just [copy the whole thing after the first set of three dashes](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/revisions/c6f66b26-de71-4868-980b-915fa958aa87/view-source). Oh, and please consider putting your name at the top of your post so that readers will know who you are before they finish reading everything you have written.
Once all the answers have been compiled, this will serve as a transcript for voters to view the thoughts of their candidates, and will be appropriately linked in the Election page.
Good luck to all of the candidates!
---
>
> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: Nominee: **username_1**
>
> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
>
>
>
I think the issue behind this is our **confusing Meta site**. We have many re-openings of topics (especially on Id-requests) making it hard to figure out which ones are current. As part of this, I would like to make a definitive
question on Meta where the current policy will lie. This should be the only one linked in closure reasons, tooltips and referred to for discussion. We can then update this *one true source* on any changes. I think [@Torisuda's question on peripheral topics](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2535/what-topics-outside-of-anime-and-manga-can-i-ask-about) is a good example of this.
This will lead to more informed reviewers - keeping bad questions off the front page and better questions from users. We're starting to see this slowly take shape at the moment as reviewers are somewhat getting more strict on enforcing closure of under-specified requests.
As for my actual stance on the questions, I'm not a big fan of the questions, but I do see value in keeping them. I think a strong bias on this issue wouldn't serve the community as a whole well.
>
> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
>
>
>
Personally I think this isn't an issue for 99% of what moderating is about. I don't watch One Piece, but I can tell when a question is opinion-based, offensive or generally off-topic.
That being said, my weakest area of anime/manga would be Ecchi or Hentai anime. Shoujo & Seinen (non-ecchi) are my genres of choice - particularly love triangle dramas.
>
> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
>
>
>
I asked this because I think this is *very* relevant for our upcoming moderators. If ID requests remain, the protesters will also.
I would bring up the issue with my moderators in a group chat and have a final discussion about the issue in order to appease the other moderators. Perhaps there is a smaller section of the issue that is a valid point. However, I'd have to draw the line there and require they bring the chat to Meta if they have any more issues - in which case, any repeated points will be marked as duplicates to the existing policy (provided it is relatively recent).
>
> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
>
>
>
I talk about this in my first post. Definitive versions of topics need to be made **or** for minor topics, closure by duplication (closing the older post in favour of the newer post). If a new post is close temporally to an old one, it should be closed instead.
>
> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
>
>
>
I have no doubt that I will reach 20k rep with my ongoing commitment to the site and I'm not particularly attracted to the increased privileges (moderation tools) that Moderatorship provides.
Instead I feel that it is simply a higher progression of my auditing. Instead of flagging posts for moderators, I can handle the posts myself as I know what should be done with them. I already regularly clean my review queue several times a day, post suggestions on Meta, et cetera. This is simply letting me have more influence on the community than before.
>
> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
>
>
>
I think there is a split between particular users here. Whilst I can't pick anyone out (nor would I want to), I feel sometimes users can be heavy handed with new users - especially id-requesters. Whilst id-requests have their infamous history, we should treat all incoming visitors as potential recurrent members.
Conversely, I feel we occasionally are too soft on id-requesters that show little effort. This has been markedly improved after more clarity over our guidelines and I'd like that to continue.
I feel others are too soft on what counts as PG13. There have been several questions that haven't been instantly removed despite flags and close votes. We have to consider sensibilities that are different to our own.
>
> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
>
>
>
Once our site is graduated we have a certain security in the investment SE has made on our behalf. As such, I think trying to coax users in isn't as big an issue as it may have been previously.
I'm not saying we shouldn't try to attract more users, but I believe that high-quality content (and [a few baity questions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/69/what-differentiates-anime-from-regular-cartoons) of course) are going to get us more natural viewers and more importantly **higher-quality users**. [Stack Exchange is elitist by design](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvWsNd_-8RY) .
As a side-point anime & manga (not the site) 's main userbase is young males from all over the world. This means immaturity, transience and ALL CAPS QUESTIONS. This should be taken into account when detailing user retention and other statistics about our site.
>
> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
>
>
>
I welcome the criticism. If the user is particularly rowdy however, I will invite them to a separate chat room to discuss their issues with me. I'm fairly open to change and apologies if nessicary.
If they persist, they aren't only being offensive to me - they're disrupting chat and other users experiences of the site.
Comments are not a place for user-based discussion. I would again ask to talk about this in chat and remove their previous messages.
If they feel this issue is being dealt with incorrectly, or I cannot satisfy their inquries, I would redirect them to another moderator to deal with as an intermediary.
>
> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
>
>
>
This is a good question, and being one proposed by Grace, I imagine it's a relatively unsolved problem(?). I think this could be managed somewhat by SE to be honest - tighter restrictions on flags and tighter for newer users.
But I have to answer this not them. :P For one, the user should not be punished. Perhaps if their answer contains biases (possibly prompting the flags/arguments) these could be asked to be edited out. High-repped users can also protect the question to limit discussion on the questions.
Part of moderation is handling flags. Just because a user is controversial, doesn't mean they aren't valuable. Moderators, including myself should just *suck it up* for the most part - and deal with outstanding answers with either of the above suggestions.
>
> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
>
>
>
As a general user I usually will reply in the comments as to an incorrect closure/deletion and vote to reopen. If I am not confident with reopening, I'll open a meta post to discuss the issue.
>
> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
>
>
>
Continuing from an above answer, A moderator should be representative of the site as a whole. Not just who is online during the hours of chat discussion. They need to take into account the fastest-gun problem and also the tendency of users to upvote long posts and not read them, assuming the answerer knows what they're talking about.
This also highly depends on the majority consensus. Changes to policy need to be reasonable, and unless something is clearly of benefit / detriment - a strong case needs to be provided, not just strong voiced opinions. This is why meta posts such as our [statistics on ID-requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2467/can-we-get-some-more-definitive-numbers-on-identification-request-stats) are valuable. (Although as a note, we shouldn't rely solely on these type of data posts as decision makers)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Killua (Eric) answers your questions
====================================
>
> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
>
>
>
Currently, identification-request questions seem to be seen as a problem for our community. However, they are not as big of a deal as they are made out to be; currently, thanks to diligent voting and closing, our front page has less ID-requests than non-ID-requests, and those that *are* there are generally voted up, not down.
ID-requests are an excellent way for users who are not experts in anime to be able to ask questions, and they allow people who are not experts in any particular anime to be able to answer questions. They have brought in a handful of new users, and I believe that they do not actively harm our site in any way. Thus, I see no reason to get rid of them as long as we encourage active voting, commenting, and close-voting (when necessary) to deal with the low-quality questions.
Right now, I'd rate our guidelines as a 7/10, but I believe that at this time, changing them is not necessary. What we have now is sufficient, and should let us close off the majority of poorly written ID-request questions. Instead of laboring over this, we should be focusing on improving other areas of our site and user experience.
Should they become an issue in the future, policy changes may be required to ensure that we are voting and closing for the benefit of the community. To this end, I do have some ideas about how to improve them, including determining *helpful* versus *unhelpful* details given. However, **as stated above**, I do not believe changes like this are currently required.
>
> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
>
>
>
Yes, I admittedly have little experience with [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'") and [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"). However, I do not anticipate any flags that will require a detailed understanding of the series to respond to. Flags should be used when moderator attention (or intervention) is required, and generally deals with spam, non-answers, poor quality, or abuse. Two of these four has some element of knowledge required about the series, but generally quality can be determined without knowing the correctness of the material (simply how it is written, if it's poorly cited, and so on).
Being quite active in our site chatrooms, I am more than happy to talk with members of our community about the applicable question. So, in such an edge case where canon-specific material is required to make a judgment on a flag or issue, I will without hesitation contact someone who has a higher level of knowledge about the specific canon than I do.
>
> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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I communicate. It is frequently the case that one or more people will push an issue because they strongly believe that it is necessary (or at least beneficial). I want to hear about *why* they think such changes are beneficial, and *why* the current changes are not beneficial enough. It will obviously vary by case, but simply being able to sit down with the other two moderators and talk out the various issues will work wonders for finding a solution that as many people as possible are happy with.
To be clear, it is rarely if ever possible to please everyone. But getting multiple points of view on a situation is the best way to ensure that the most informed, beneficial decision is made in the end.
>
> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
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This is absolutely an issue. Even as an experienced member, I've had a hard time finding current policy information on meta before. Imagine being a new user.
Elected or not, I plan to personally go through meta with this in mind, and invite anyone else who would like to join, to help. (Being a moderator here would of course be helpful, but not necessary.) We need to go through *every* thread, close old policies as duplicates of new policies (and edit if necessary, to show that they are obsolete), and make our current guidelines clearer. We need to format our posts to be easy to read, because not everyone has the time or motivation to sift through walls of text.
If we want meta to make sense, something this drastic has to be done.
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> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
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Tasks like the above are greatly aided by moderator abilities, such as being able to close a question without further votes. Any time a policy change is made (tag changes, closing mass amounts of questions, reopening newly accepted question types), it is much easier for a moderator to make a broad sweep instead of requiring five close votes (or tag synonyms, etc.).
As someone who has raised flags, I also feel like these are cases in which I can make a difference; instead of having to wait for moderator or community intervention, I can take immediate action.
And lastly, I believe that simply having a diamond by one's name can increase the likelihood that people will follow your example. This means that the example I set will be one that people will actively notice, more than simply seeing my reputation count.
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
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Honestly, I feel like our site has hit a nice equilibrium with its enforcement. The only issue which I feel we were not strict enough on is the questions that are essentially questions about real-life, using an anime as an example. However, these questions are not harmful to our site, and still get decent answers, so I'm not too worried about the lax enforcement.
>
> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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My first "plan", which is not really a plan at all, is to actively encourage our existing users to participate in normal site activies: voting, commenting, coming to chat, and so on. Having more users participating around the site will encourage newcomers to do the same, and help us establish a trusted user base of people who want to participate in our activities.
Additionally, I was responsible for running the social community pages for a long time, before eventually they became too time-heavy to continue maintaining with our organizers' schedules. While they were effective at getting the word out about our existence, they didn't drive engagement much. People were more likely to upvote or click on our cat pictures than our featured questions.
However, I think these social sites are a gold mine if we do them right. We've previously organized things like gift exchange, anime watching sessions, and so on, and the social sites are a prime way to draw attention to these (as long as they have cat pix).
In the long-run, we still have to "toss things at the walls to see what sticks"; there's no getting around that. Things like an off-site blog might be highly benefical to us. But I think we have to use our existing tools (like social sites and engaging users) to make these ideas work, rather than try them once and discard them.
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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Talk to them. I want to hear their opinion about what I did, why they didn't like it, and so on. I would probably try to bring them to chat (Maid Cafe or otherwise) so that we're not filling up comment threads on meta. But one of my prominent statements in my campaign is that I'm not a perfect moderator, and I expect to make mistakes. I want to hear from people when they think I've made a poor judgment so that I can deal with it and come to a better resolution.
While ["Be Nice"](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/240839/192960) is an official Stack Exchange policy, sometimes "calling [someone] out" can get quite heated. If necessary, I would bring in other moderators for opinions. While things could escalate and result in an aggressive user, I do not anticipate this happening often; in general, being able to talk through the issue with the user would be sufficient.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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Again, this is all about talking to the user. This user is obviously capable of producing good content for our site, so they are genuinely interested in helping and sharing with the community. As mentioned above, "Be Nice" is an official policy (<3), and the user needs to be made aware of this. I would advise this user that they must at least be respectful of other users, regardless of their own opinions, and make an active effort to keep their discussions as civil as possible.
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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I would ask them why they did. The question clearly is an actionable question; that is, a decision needs to be made about whether the question remains closed or is reopened. Having a collaborative effort with that other moderator is the best way to get both points of view on the question, and then decide how that applies to our specific policies. I will have no qualms about voicing my opinion on the matter, about what should happen to the question and why, and I expect the same of the other moderator.
In the rare case that we are unable to come to a conclusion, there will be at least one additional moderator who can offer perspective on the matter. Through this kind of arbitration, I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to comfortably decide the fate of the applicable question.
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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This honestly seems quite a bit like question #3, though from a different angle. My actions strive to reflect the course of action I believe most beneficial to the community and site as a whole. If the community is split on the matter, there is obviously merit to both sides, and under no circumstance would I exercise an "iron fist" to get what "I" wanted. There is no "I" in "community". (Oh, wait... crap baskets.)
Both strategies above are sound: I will do my best to both represent the community, and to make good decisions for the site. In the case where the community simply cannot agree, then (like #3) I will make an effort to find the most beneficial solution for as many members of the community as possible. If necessary and agreed upon, we can run it on a trial basis; experimenting is a common practice for finding the best solution, and I believe that applies here as well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: *Nominee:* *<NAME>*
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> 1. What is your stance about [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") Questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from these requests?
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**ID-Requests should be enforced more strictly.** As ID request do profit the individual user but are of less importance to the site overall. Disallowing them in total would be a bad move, but preventing *bad content* from slowly seeping into the site by enforcing our [set criteria](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) more strictly should help regulate such behavior and correcting the user where possible.
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> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise?
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**I have a pretty all round knowledge, especially in the largely known and mentioned series, but in the event I will always find someone or someway to obtain the required knowledge**. I would always try to get people's opinions starting with the other mods. And if even they lack the knowledge in this area, I would research to see if I can somehow get enough knowledge in this area to judge, through either our community. Or external sources like picking up a series, or researching it. As if something is questionable to the point that I can't certainly say it's good or bad. It most likely will not be able to bring intermediate harm to the users and/or site, allowing me to take some time to be able to judge it. In the end ill always try to judge fairly.
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> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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**In this case I would come with fact driven answers as to why I think such a change is unnecessary/redundant.** If after such a scenario we still can't come to a conclusion. I would suggest to let the community join in on such a decision, as in the end, the community still is the deciding factor of such decisions.
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> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this
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**Yes I feel this is a issue, and would certainly like to clean/see it cleaned up someday.** Personally I got a nifty little list with the most important meta posts (in my eyes) such as the Id request criteria. But as the meta is meant for the community to ask questions
regarding their doubts, or practices on the site. I think it is fairly important that meta posts come to a definite/conclusive answer and preferably as fast as possible.
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> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep
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**It will allow me to perform large scale maintenance, and act fast in cases of spam, profanity and a like situations.**
I tend to lurk on the new/main page for several hours a day.
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough
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**personally I feel like the ID-requests are not enforced enough by both the mods and community.** This might be due to the fact the SET rules surrounding them have only be kind of set, with no definite foot hold. But this could definitely use some improvement. I think profanity, Spam and the like is being handled correctly and with reason, allowing the user to correct their mistakes where possible, and act in accordance with the ToS and set rules on A&M
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> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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**As I recommend the site allot whenever I go to conventions and cosplay meetings, I also get allot of feedback regarding the site and why or why they don't which to use A&M
Taking their opinions into account can certainly lead to a more pleasant user interaction for both new and old users.** I also think that more social media interaction can lead to allot of less user retention
And, whenever our personal design comes will probably help quite a bit as well. As I personally find plain white pages quite repetitive as well.
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as moderator, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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**If a user feels like I handled Incorrectly I would love to speak with him, preferably in chat if they want to critique or want me to clarify my actions.** Neither would I mind explaining why I handled in a meta post, if this is reasonably made that is. I would prefer to avoid extended comment discussions, so if I do get called out as such, ill kindly request them to come visit the chat room, or post a meta post about it if the user is still unable to join the chat I do expect decent behavior from such a user. Profanity and the likes will not be appreciated, and if after 1/several warnings the user still is unable to converse in a decent way
consequences might follow along with their shout out.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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**I don't think there is a ready solution for this besides just handling them.** It seems the user finds the need to convey something to the moderators, and who are we to not listen to such demands. When it does really go beyond scope we can always make the user aware of this in reasonable way.
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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**I would ask for clarification on why the other mode closed/deleted this particular question.** And discus why I feel this should not have been closed
and why he taught it should have been. And if possible edit the post to a point it can be suitable for the site. Or if we as mod's can not manage to decide, making a meta post to ask about the community's opinion is always a option
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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**If members are split I would prefer to first let them judge, giving them points as to why we think such a change would improve the site, and allow them to respond with either agreement or disagreement**
Based on that I would judge, and in the rare cases a overruling opinion is required of me as mod. I would most certainly be able to. But like the site says itself. SE is ruled by its community, being a mod only allows me to act on serious matters with more speed. And guide the rest of the community in the correct way, will still being one of those community members myself as well!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Hello, username_4 here.
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> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions?
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Here is a distillation of my views on them:
We (as a site) have actually already basically agreed that ID reqs are bad, because they are actually *out-of-universe list questions* in disguise. That is, they are of the form "Here are some features of a thing. Please tell me the thing(s) that have these features". Note the following:
* The fact that we can establish time bounds on them (i.e. the thing must have existed prior to OP asking the question) does not change this fact - we don't allow questions like "please list all the romance manga from 2014 and earlier".
* The fact that OP thinks he's only looking for a single anime barely helps. OP is ever-so-often wrong about this - he may be describing many anime, or none at all, and we may not even be able to tell!
I also oppose the position that views identification requests as some sort of "reputation welfare", in which we permit their existence on grounds that they allow more people to participate in the site. Participation in the site is not a thing to be incentivized in and of itself. Rather, it is the generation of valuable content for the site that should be incentivized.
I further take the following stance: even if we accept that ID requests are not *inherently* bad, we all agree that there are *some* of them that are bad. I do not think it is possible to filter the good from the bad in a way that is both 1.) articulable (i.e. not "I know it when I see it") and 2.) [sensitive and specific](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_and_specificity). Our current policy is articulated, but I can easily construct degenerate examples that are bad-but-identified-as-good, and good-but-identified-as-bad. I anticipate that *any* policy we construct will suffer from the same issue.
Finally, I argue that users brought in by identification requests add little to the site (on average), so you shouldn't be too sad about getting rid of them anyway. I have posted about this in a number of different places; if you genuinely are unaware of what the data show, I can try to track it down again, but please don't add extra work for me just for the sake of it.
If, in an alternate universe, the site had decided back in private beta to forbid identification requests, I honestly don't think we'd see so many people actively advocating for us to permit id reqs on the site. I'm pretty sure there's a heavy dose of status quo bias going on here. It would be nice if people who currently defend ID requests would consider the following: "If the site never permitted ID requests to begin with, would you advocate for permitting them as strongly as you currently advocate for keeping them?".
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> What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
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Now, changing perspectives: given that we *are* in the situation of having identification requests, what can we do to make things better? I offer the following non-exhaustive list of possibilities:
* Adopt an Arqade-style policy in which we permit only those questions which contain an image, a video, a piece of audio, or some other concrete thing. This goes a good ways towards dealing with the "out-of-universe list question" nature of ID reqs.
* Kick all ID requests into the close votes queue, so that they are guaranteed to be actively evaluated by users (this would require a little bit of shenanigans, a la [this post by Gilles](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/263564/)). This would, hopefully, at least do something about inconsistent enforcement (which is valuable insofar as it reduces controversy), and ensure that all posts pass some kind of muster (whereas, currently, I get the impression that some posts fail to undergo review simply because nobody has bothered to kick the process off). Bonus side effect: more Reviewer/Steward badges!
* Encourage users to downvote heavily, as I do, so at least they fall out of sight quickly. (This isn't really a "policy", but more a cultural shift that needs to be engendered.)
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> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise?
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Of course, the reason I proposed this question is that I happen to have virtually no knowledge of Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Bleach, or Dragon Ball (which are 5 of the top 12 tags, and 5 of the top 7 series tags), since I am not a fan of zillion-episode-long shows. While I can obviously identify things that are blatantly nonsensical/spammish/etc, I have often found it difficult to detect answers that are "not even wrong" in these tags.
Currently, if there are questionable flags in one of these tags, I generally leave them alone for Krazer or Madara to deal with, since they both know more about this stuff than me. Hopefully, we can continue doing this in the future. If, somehow, we elect no moderators that know anything about these tags, I suppose the thing to do would be to hop into chat and gather opinions from people in there. We have enough expertise on these tags sitewide; just not in *my* head.
Of course, since our site thrives on the long tail, there will *always* be topics that *none* of the moderators - and perhaps nobody on the site at all at a given point in time - know anything about. In these cases, and absent an explanation for why the flagged post ought to be removed/etc, I tend to err on the side of leniency - perhaps what a user has posted makes no sense to *me*, but with knowledge of the context, it might be a reasonably good question/answer.
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> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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I figure this question implicates me as one of the moderators who would repeatedly bring up discussion of change, but the question is framed as though I'm on the other side of the table, so I'll answer as such.
Is it a problem that a moderator repeatedly brings up discussion of change? If it gets to the point where it's disrupting or overwhelming meta, sure, I'd tell the other moderator to tone it down. This is the same response I would have to a regular user posting too-frequently about some given issue.
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> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
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Now that this issue has been brought, I do agree that yes, it's an issue.
That said, we don't have all *that* many policies. Broadly, there's
* What topics can I ask about? - [Torisuda's recent post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2535/), basically.
* In what ways can I ask about them? - so no "future unannounced events", no "out-of-universe list questions, and all of those things
* What about identification requests?
* And then a bunch of minor peripheral things, like:
+ How do we handle tag synonyms?
+ Why don't we use (e.g.) [fillers](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fillers "show questions tagged 'fillers'") anymore?
+ etc.
I don't think it would take a dedicated person more than a couple of hours to collate all the relevant information. I guess I could be that person; it just hadn't occurred to me (prior to this question being proposed) that this specific issue existed to begin with.
(In retrospect, this is one of the fundamental issues of co-opting a Q&A system for meta-discussion purposes - this is the kind of thing that requires ongoing maintenance, even though a better system would allow us to just stick all this information on a wiki-like static page. Oh well.)
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> 5. **In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?**
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This is, in my opinion, the most important question here. I reiterate from my nomination post:
* As the main guy who posts analyses of site data, access to `deleted:1` search to supplement SEDE is *enormously* helpful, particularly when we're talking about issues with posts that may have differences in deletion rates relative to other posts.
+ Concomitant to this, access to site traffic data is also reasonably helpful. While moderators are not to share the details of this data with the userbase-at-large, I *can* extract generalizations and broad trends from these data and share them with the rest of the site.
* Nobody was actively creating tag synonyms before I was appointed pro tempore. I have been doing a lot of that: <https://anime.stackexchange.com/tags/synonyms>. Since our site is small, moderator action is necessary to get this done.
* Somebody needs to maintain stuff like the tour page, the help center, etc. I have pushed for this kind of thing [since before being appointed](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/809/), and have continued to do so afterwards (cf. revision histories [one](https://anime.stackexchange.com/posts/2331/revisions), [two](https://anime.stackexchange.com/posts/2332/revisions), and so forth).
* It's been a while since the last time I went on a tag-wiki-editing binge, but the next time I do (and I probably will need to, soonish), being able to view the text of orphan wikis will be immensely helpful. (The last time I did this, some time in 2014, I didn't know that the text of orphan wikis was saved off for moderators to view; this resulted in quite some time wasted.)
* Among the candidates, I am the most active on Japanese.SE, which is our most common migration target (aside from our own meta; tied with SF&F and M&TV). This makes me best-suited to determine which questions need to be migrated there.
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
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As I mentioned above, our current policies on identification requests (which are inherently defective and cannot be otherwise) are *inconsistently* enforced.
Other than that, I don't think there's been much in the way of over- or under-strict enforcement. We (Krazer, Madara, and myself) have mostly been getting rid of crud that is uncontroversially cruddy and leaving non-crud alone.
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> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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I don't see either of these things as moderatorial responsibilities. Moderators should certainly be receptive and helpful to users who want to do things that improve user retention and so forth, e.g. by [featured](/questions/tagged/featured "show questions tagged 'featured'")-ing posts, creating chat events, etc. But that's as far as it extends.
(This is not to preclude moderators from engaging in these activities if they so desire; merely to suggest that these are not things moderators ought to feel obligated to do.)
Personally, I am largely unconcerned with site promotion (since the bulk of our traffic comes from search engines anyway). I have no ideas for improving user retention. I don't think it's [all that great a metric to begin with](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2538/) (I know how to improve it - expel id-requestors, who are mostly one-and-done!) - the better thing to measure is the amount of (good) content.
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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If they bring the issue up in comments, I would ask them to post about it on meta. Once the issue is open on meta, I would ask another moderator to examine my action and see if it was reasonable. If the other moderator deems it unreasonable, I would probably reverse the action and apologize. If the other moderator deems it reasonable, I would explain the reasoning that went into the moderatorial action.
Or something like that.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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At least at this stage in the site's development, I would err on the side of refraining from punitive measures towards the user - valuable content is worth the time it takes to clean up arguments in comment threads. This is not tenable at scale, but we aren't "at scale".
Telling the user to knock it off (in comments, or in chat) would probably be as far as I'd go; I can't imagine we'd run into a user who would be so disruptive as to warrant anything more than that.
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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Probably post about it on meta or something. But the current mods generally don't unilaterally close/delete except in "extreme" situations, and I imagine future mods wouldn't either.
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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How split? If we're talking a 50-50 split on a binary issue, I'd be inclined to leave things as is. User discontent is the fastest way to kill a user-governed site like this one, and overriding the will of the userbase by fiat is the fastest way to generate discontent. (Anyone been on Reddit lately?)
If, on the other hand, we're talking about a situation where there's just a minority faction in favor of position X, while a considerable supermajority of the community favors position Y, and position Y hasn't become "official" for whatever reason (inertia, laziness, nobody to take point, etc.), sure, I'd be willing to make position Y "official", whatever that means. I think this something that is legitimate for a moderator to do.
---
One other thing that I feel I should mention that doesn't fit anywhere else - I refuse to look at any questions in the [shingeki-no-kyojin](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shingeki-no-kyojin "show questions tagged 'shingeki-no-kyojin'") tag. I have been religiously avoiding (post-anime) spoilers for that series and have been almost completely successful so far. No way am I breaking that streak for anything.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Madara's Answers to your questions
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> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
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I think that identification questions are something we need to do very very carefully, if at all. We need to set a time and gather some real feedback from the community with regards to what we want and what we don't want. [Identification questions are gaining popularity and traffic faster than other tags](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2467/27), it's a trend we need to pay close attention to.
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> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
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This is indeed a problem. There are some cases where an answer may appear as though it doesn't answer the question at all, or is attempting to troll, but is an actual answer.
When in doubt, I will not handle the flag, and depends on the context, I'll ask my fellow moderators or even users in chat who are more familiar with the series in question.
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> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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For starters, I personally *do* think that the policy should be changed, but let's leave that aside for the moment. The mods can push for changes, they can start meta posts, and talk in chat, and begin cleanup operations. But the bottom line is, unless there's community consensus, policy changes are no-go.
So, personally, I would let my fellow moderators know that my opinion is that the policy should not change, but if they wanted to, they should push for it in the normal channels. If the community accepts their proposal, I have no problem following.
If I feel strongly enough about the subject, I will also provide rebuttals to the chat discussions/meta posts opened, and will present my own arguments.
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> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
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This is an issue. And the solution should come from both the mods and the community. If you notice a policy that had been forgotten or not implemented, flag it, or alternatively, try to spark the discussion (add an answer, edit the question, etc).
As for the subject of policies being scattered: Our core policies are in the help center, where they should be. I have no problem with our policies being all over meta, as long as they are searchable and there are no unmarked duplicates. We have work to do in that regard, I've noticed conflicting meta posts here and there.
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> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
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I think a moderator is a normal user with elevated privileges. However, a moderator is also perceived to be a role model in the community, someone who can be trusted enough to do things others cannot. Being a high reputation user is certainly helpful, and we need more of those users, but I think a moderator is about leading, because people look up to you and what you do.
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
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I don't think we're too strict with anything at the moment. We're pretty laid back, and when new topics arise, we're willing to open up and give it a try. I personally think we **aren't** strict enough with identification questions and NSFW content and franchise.
Identification questions are slowly taking over the site (see link in answer #1), we need to tighten our grip, for population control if nothing else.
NSFW content and franchise are *technically* on-topic on the site, however, we need to tread very carefully. There is no other site so willing to accept questions about adult content, and the subject of web filters is looming above our heads. While I don't think we should ban it completely, we definitely need to get some clearer guidelines up and running, and begin implementing them.
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> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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I think the main problem here is that we aren't voting enough. The Stack Exchange model is successful because when you start, you get privileges left and right and are challenged to get the next privileges. By the time the game stops being interesting, you're hooked and are an active member.
This only works when the community is actively voting on things. Our search engine traffic is excellent, we just need to make sure that the users who do register get voted enough, quickly enough to get them hooked.
It goes without saying that we shouldn't vote for the sake of voting. We should vote on good content as always, but we need to be more active about it.
As a moderator, I can only push others and serve as an example.
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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Firstly, if I was wrong, I would apologize. Secondly, if the user has been polite and raising legitimate arguments, but I think I'm still right, I would respond to stand behind my actions. If the user is trolling and ranting, responding publicly is likely only to make things worse. The user likely doesn't care for the response, he's here for the sake of arguing. Ignore, or in more serious cases, contact privately and/or suspend.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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Pull the user into a private chat room, explain the situation. If the behavior persists, we can escalate to private contact or a short suspension. Being a contributing user isn't an excuse for being abusive to others.
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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Communication is the key. Undoing another mod's action without prior discussion will only confuse both users and mods, and relays unprofessionalism. Moderators have a private chat room to discuss such things. And if we can't reach an agreement, posting the question on meta for the community to judge is the best course of action.
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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Despite how we're perceived, we are not elected leaders. We are elected exception handlers/janitors. We can definitely push, and ask, and speak up, but we shouldn't enforce policies without a consensus. If one feels strongly about a policy change, bringing valid arguments and stats which support your claim is the way to go.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: HAHAHA! You may have stopped me in the nominations, but you can't block my gifs here! **GO!**
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*Candidate username_6 reporting in for the Q+A session:*
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Here we go:
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> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
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To be honest, at the moment (especially after our recent clampdown after the attention it's recieved) we're getting on top of the bad posts more or less as they come in, closing and downvoting off the front page those that aren't up to scratch, and even upvoting those that have had some more effort put into them. The first thing to do is keep up this effort, or be even more vigilant if anything - let people know we aren't willing to take their rubbish lying down.
For the future, a review of our information would be best. Most newcomers (and even some veterans) haven't read the tour page, and even [ʞɹɐzǝɹ's](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/63/%CA%9E%C9%B9%C9%90z%C7%9D%C9%B9) beautifully written guidelines aren't getting the attention they need until after the storm, so to speak. There's been some talk of a 'fun format' of the rules that sounds pretty good - a series of 4koma's to address certain rules that should pique the interest of new users somewhat more than a wall of text. I too wouldn't mind doing this, and will likely be making some (horribly animated) educational gifs on the same subject matter after the elections, regardless of it's outcome.
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> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
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Aside from a small amount of One Piece, none of the major ones! Personally, I have more of an interest in shorter series that I can get involved with and finish quickly (relative to those 4, anyway). That gives me a broader range of topics to cover, even if it does mean less questions overall. There will be large a number of users that enjoy the big ones, but those slightly out of the spotlight like *Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei* are where I can stand out.
But oftentimes, it's not necessary to understand a series to respond to a flagged post. Unless it's a flag regarding a very technical point of an answer, an expansive knowledge shouldn't be incredibly important. The options for flagging should be, 90% of the time, easily discernable without watching the series in question. In the event of something requiring additional clarity, discussion with either a fellow mod, or an impartial party with knowledge of the series would be useful to make a solid decision I could have confidence in.
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> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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Moderators have the final say in a lot of matters, but topics that the entire community has a say in aren't something that can be dictated by two people, or even three, for that matter. If the community is truly split on something, the situation should be left as-is until a majority solution can be decided on, even if that does conflict with the opinions of the mods at that time. We're a democracy after all - this is one of the reasons we have meta and not a changelog filled in by the mods.
As an ambassador of the *community,* I'll uphold the above value to the best of my ability.
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> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
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Yeah, [LoganM](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/24/logan-m) (shout out) has brought this up as an issue that could do with sorting out. So far I know both myself and [Gao](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/8486/gao) (there may be more) have had a start of looking at this, but with issues like employment and whatnot we've both had to put a hold on it after around 30 or so questions reviewed.
What I'd propose would be gathering a group of people willing/interested in clearing up the old posts, and organising them into a more efficient workforce that can get through the lot in a relatively short amount of time. Then we'll have a much clearer idea of what we have where, and we should be able to begin to make singular posts from our old, scattered material that concisely cover specific questions for future reference.
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> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
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It's a great honor to be a community moderator - you've been elected by the community to wield obsolute power over them, and that power allows you to do everything and more a high rep user can do, with enhanced speed and efficiency. I've already jumped to 13th overall in the First Posts review queue after my short time here, and being a mod would enable me to perform these reviews (among other tasks) with celerity.
Being a moderator gives you that recognisable status to the rest of the users, and I'd love to lead by example.
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
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Of course, remaining vigilant in our crackdown on ID-requests is important, but while we're tough on the questions, it's best to remain helpful to the *users* as best we can. When closing, always try and post a message explaining why, and provide tips for improvement in the future. We were all a 1 rep newbie at some point, so think on how others might find it difficult to adjust to our site's slightly different format of asking and answering.
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> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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This is something I covered in the chat debate we had the previous weekend. I'd like to see more community interaction, basically. There are a lot of us in chat that get all the interaction we could ever wish for, but a lot of people don't use that resource. So,
* We should increase the visibility of chat. It's only 20 rep on any SE site to talk, so I'd really love to see more people involved in it. For me, it's the biggest reason I've got involved with this site as much as I have - the aquaintances I've made there have played (whether they like it or not) a huge part in encouraging my interest in our community.
* Something outside of chat to encourage community interaction. Something like a weekly poll stuck in the sidebar where StackEgg was. This would be something interesting that might get people to tune into the site every week, and it could even lead on to discussion in chat.
* A quarterly (or every two months, idk) mod post on site issues and the like. It could spotlight the best posts of the previous timeframe, bring up current issues (much like voting is at present), give information on upcoming community events and review previous ones. Not only this, but it helps get the mods out there in the community and having a presence, which is a good thing in my book.
If elected, I'm more than happy to do this. If not, I'll be very pleased if somebody else takes it on.
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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First you have to remember this was something that the moderator you has to answer for - it's not a personal battle, so don't let emotions cloud your judgement. First, you'd remove any comments or call-outs that don't abide by the "Be nice" policy. While it's fine to ask for clarification or dispute an action, there's ways and means of going about that properly.
Then, you review your decision - what do they believe you did wrong? Can you understand where they're coming from? Mods are human, after all, so they do make the occasional mistakes, just like the rest of us, so if I'd made an obviously wrong decision, I'd be more than happy to overturn it if required. In a more unsure situation, I might consult with the other mods to see whether they thought I'd made the right decision.
If I was being unfairly challenged, I'd bring in all the evidence I could to support my actions, and explain with detail why I'd taken the moves I had. That would hopefully be enough to resolve the situation, but no further action would be necessary unless the user began being disruptive. As a mod, you have to be able to take having one or two users disliking you on the chin, and that's no cause for concern as long as they're keeping that dislike to themselves.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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Regardless of how long a user has been around, if they're causing infractions, that's a separate incident. When reviewing hostile behaviour, it shouldn't matter whose name is next to that comment. If there are 50 gold badges or 0, 50,000 rep or 50, that's irrelevant - if a flag was raised about a comment, it's your job as a moderator to look at that from an impartial viewpoint, and take the appropriate action.
The first step to take would be deleting any comments that don't abide by our policies. From that point onwards, the actions taken against the user themselves would be directly proportional to the severity of the infractions. Account deletion is a very end-game punishment that I hope I will never have to resort to, but there are many other ways of imposing sanctions on a user if they do grow into too much of an issue. If the user is significant enough, there will likely be discussions between all the mods on a site to discuss the best course of action.
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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Well, of course, I wouldn't play God and just reopen it - they would have had a reason for closing it in the first instance, after all, and I wouldn't want to start a deletion war between two mods - we're the most powerful in the community and should know better. If it's not that big of a deal, I'd (♪) let it go (♫). There's more valuable things to be doing with my moderation abilities than arguing trivial deletions.
If I felt the delete carried more weight and was still unnecessary, that's when I'd have a chat with the deleter to find out why they did it - they might even convince me into their reasoning! Coming to a common understanding and result is the best way of dealing with this kind of situation.
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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For this, I'll basically repeat my answer to #3:
While mods are the most powerful in the community, when it comes to *community* decisions, they're only another user. Do mods get extra votes for mod elections? No. Do they get extra +1's for each question? No. Is a mod star in chat worth 5 regular stars? No. Mods have certain priveliges, but at the end of the day, they're still community members.
I have no issue going against a *group* majority decision if it's for "the greater good", but if it's an issue for the *whole community* and not a selection, it's the community's job to come to a decision, whether the mods agree with it or not. Like I said earlier, this is why we have meta and community voting, and not a mod dictated changelog.
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I may take things rather un-seriously a lot of the time, but hopefully the above has shown you all I can take a more rational approach to things if I have to :)
*The perfect mix of work and play; gifs - and a Q+A*
As a final note:
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Krazer writes a bunch of things, again
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> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
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While I don't enjoy some of the id-reqs we get, I am tolerant of them. These types of questions are bound to come up with when asking question about anime and manga. Instead of disallowing them, I feel that it's more efficient in the long run to have a set of guideline in place to maintain quality standard to the site is not overridden with them.
Right now the problem we have with id-req is that the users don't tend to read the guidelines we have in place for these questions. In order to curb the somewhat rampant growth of these questions users have been encouraged to downvote and close questions that do not at least fulfill the minimum amount of detail specified by our guidelines. This is intended to be more of a stop-gap measure until we can find a better solution to better educated the new users asking them.
My current solution to dealing with this issue is to focus our attention on other parts of the site and community. If we continually dedicate the bulk of our resources to dealing with id-reqs, we will get tunnel visioned and forget about the other parts that need attention.
It pains me to see our front page littered with id-reqs as there are many other times of worth question out there on the Internet and on our site that could user attention. This is why I'd like to ask users to focus on asking other types of questions so that these tags will overshadow id-reqs, this will show new incoming users that we're more than just a site for id-reqs and encourage them to ask different varieties of questions. I don't necessarily want to get rid of them, but I don't want users to focus too much of their attention on them and forget about the rest of the site.
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> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
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While having the highest rep count in the community, it doesn't necessarily mean I know it all. I have a passing knowledge of a majority of the major tags on the site. For those that I do not, I would most likely find some time to get to know them. Think of it as doing a bit of fact checking. Sometimes the OP might be mistaken, sometimes you might. Sometimes you might even stumble upon something they missed that might subsequently answer their question.
Sometimes these series are long and catching up to them for one scene in one episode might not be efficient, but I will at least make an attempt to do so.
We can't all like the same things, but it's important to be respectful about them. While there are anime that are regarded as better (or worse) than the rest, it's important to get to know what other people like so that you can get understand what they're looking for when they ask a question of give an answer.
While I don't frequent media from shoujo genre, there are times that I find myself-interested it them. You might not find that you like something until you've actually tried it.
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> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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The key here is to offer a compromise. Both sides should be heard on the matter about their key points. To me the community's opinions are the most important, but the experience and advice of veteran users and moderator have the same weight as well. Sometime boths sides are right, sometimes both sides are wrong. The importance here is to minimize the potential for strife as it will divide the community and make negotiations less productive. If no decision can be made after extended discussions and debates, it's best to find a temporary compromise to satiate the major parties involved (like the stopgap measure I've proposed for id-reqs) for the time being until we can work on a better solution. It's better to work with each other than against each other.
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> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
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Admittedly, the Mods and I, myself in particular have been a bit neglectful with keeping up to date and clarify certain site policies.
If elected, I will work with the other mods to find a place on meta to provide a clearer explanation and work out the any inconsistencies we have with the any of current and past policies. Additionally, I'll try to provide better guide to help newer users to how our site guidelines work (or work differently) with Stack Exchange's existing policies. Especially the ones on explicit borderline content and the topic of "hentai" in general.
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> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
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I feel that a moderator should do more than clearing queues, handling exceptions, and handling other administrative tasks. A good moderator is like a good narrator or GM, they should, in addition to their administrative duties, seek to help build a better users experience for their community (narrative, campaign) and users (readers, players), so they come back for more.
I have tried hosted a gift exchange (with the help of the other moderators), hosted anime watching sessions, done flavor of the week events for questions, all in an attempt to boost user engagement. While some of them had modest gain while others failed spectacularly, it was all to make the community seem like a friendlier place to be.
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
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Id-reqs and the enforcing of borderline explicit content have been something that's been in a state of limbo for a while. Dealing with these topics can be quite time consuming, especially if you're looking to satisfy the majority of users involved. Just as they say Rome wasn't built in a day, the policies that make of the foundation of the community need time to be develop and settle in before we can build more on top of it.
If something is not being handled appropriately in a matter as one would I would ask the users what they find most unsatisfactory and listen to their feed in order to find a satisfactory solution.
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> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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Currently our bounce rate from our analytics stats is very high, which means that most users don't stick around and look at other questions.
In addition to efforts to engage current users, such as anime viewing sessions, community exchanges, and potentially some sort of technical users group to work on anime and manga related project, I would like to get new users interested in our site by advertising our more well-developed questions across other recreational SEs as cross-community ads (E.g., "Have you ever wondered why nosebleed are so common in anime?").
Upping the effort to drawing attention using social is something else I would like to make a regular effort to do. Although search makes up ~90% of our traffic, we can't forever be reliant on our Google Search on it to carry us. The purpose of developing more community activities is to promote more interaction to intrinsically motivate users to participate in the community.
I want to users to here to have a good time and stay awhile and get to know each other. The better we know each other the more likely we'd recommend the site to our friends. Sure we might have a bit of a issue being seen as elitist by new users, but we can get past this with feedback from current users and their friends and users outside the community as well.
Just pushing buttons and being satisfied with the status quo won't be enough. In addition to efforts already made, I'd also like to look for feedback from the community about where they would like to us go and what to focus on. As more users participate and help build the community we'll grow and become stronger has a whole.
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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This has happened before. When this happens I will try to approach the issue objectively and offer my explanation of what happened, what I did and why I did it. The intent is to offer to them my side of story and then deal with any follow-ups that user may have.
Sometimes a user is obstinate on a certain viewpoint. If there is merit in elaborating on it, I will make an attempt to dissect the issues and pinpoint the area of conflict and work in it a matter that the user can relate, such as using simple analogies to commonplace things.
I will typically listen to what they have to say first before giving my own feedback. If I am wrong then I will admit that I am and acknowledge it. I make an effort to treat all issues objectively with as little prejudice as possible.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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Many users have many different ways of expressing themselves, I'm very lenient about that how they go about doing it as long as they don't intentionally antagonize other users or violate any core site rules (e.g., the content policy on explicit media).
Rather than admonishing them, I'd try to first find out the source of these flags and issues and talk with the user to better understand why this is happening and perhaps encourage them to channel their efforts to something more productive. It doesn't matter is the user is new or old, each user is equally important and should be be encourage to channel their efforts where they best fit.
Bans and suspensions to me are a last resort. I don't like waving them around like a bat, unless absolutely nothing else can be done.
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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Generally I would trust in their judgment, but sometimes their feeling might get the better of them. I would ask for their reasoning behind it their action/decision, if I feel that there is merit and that the situation was sufficiently explained to the user, I will leave it at that.
If however I see some fault, I will attempt to negotiate with the other mod, unless there is an overwhelming outcry from the community against the decision, I'll leave the final decision of whether the action was just up to the mod that made the decision.
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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As a mod of a community it's up to us to represent and enforce the interests of the community and not push our own ideals upon then. A well-developed community should be able to act upon and itself to an extend, without the direct intervention of the moderators. I feel that it's important for the moderators to not just help the community make decisions but also promote cooperation between users. I believe that no one individual's opinions should outweigh that of the community. If a mod believe that the community is headed in a wrong direction, it's up to them to inform and guide them to a right one by promoting consensus. Sometimes a mod may be right, while other time they may be wrong, it's up to the community to come to the final conclusion.
*XX. As a bonus, I'd like the brief address @seijitsu questions and comments from the comment to [this answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2514/63)*
If you should give an example of how a question and answer using such tags will for, so we can deduce how feasible it would be to add these metatags to the site. I'm reluctant to use genre specific tags they are only intended to be used as accessories to other tags. I'm fine with allowing publication specific tags, but but I'm a bit afraid that adding genre tags may lead to senseless bickering (e.g., can this really be considered [scifi](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/scifi "show questions tagged 'scifi'")). However if you can present a practical example from of a question from an expert of the subject, I'll consider making an effort to help you promote them.
It's a given that sometimes even the most knowledgeable ppl can miss out on the simplest inaccuracies in common everyday things. While we can't forcibly change any accepted answers, we can at least make an attempt to rally the community in upvoting the better answer and downvoting the opinionating one. You can bring this to this to our attention by leave a comment, casting your vote, and letting other people know in chat. We'll do what we can to rectify the situation.
One of the efforts in particular I want to focus on particular in regards to user engagement is to sit down and have a personal dialogue with prospective users, though current users to find out what they like and don't like about the site. SO I would like to invite you (@seijitsu and any other users interested) and anyone who they might think would be interested for an extended open dialogue (on a platform/service of your choosing) on what we lack, what's not working and what you think we should do about it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Nominee: *username_8 - The <NAME>*
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> 1. What is your stance about identification request questions? What should be done to improve our guidelines and requirements from identification requests?
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At this point in time my current stance is ***for*** Identification Requests as they can be a good entry level question for a new user in which it wont be closed as duplicate **when done correctly**
I believe the [current guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) are good enough but the problem lies in just who is taking the time to read them? some new users come here and post an id request but use the wrong tag (such as [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") or [tag: mangaka]) thus they wont get the pop up about the guidelines, others i believe are probably not seeing it as because they add [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") last.
So what needs to be done is to make the guidelines more visible such as possibly finding a way to add them to the [Tour](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour), maybe in the off topic section as we have a Off-Topic Close reason for when they don't contain enough information. something under the lines of
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> Identification Requests if they do not meet out [guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892)
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But this only helps with new users who take the time to go though the Tour and many don't even do that. ideally what would like to do is see a new feature implanted that brand new users (those with 1 rep) have to press [Post your Quest] twice, the first time bring up a pop up similar to what the id quest tag, with that we can redirect them to the tour or to the guidelines. this functionally gets removed once the user has met the rep requirement for [Participate in Meta](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/participate-in-meta)
the reason why i have yet to suggest it on Meta.SE for the SEx Gods to implement is that i have yet to figure out how it can aid other SE sites
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> 2. While you don't have to know the subject matter to be a mod, it often helps. Are there any major tags with which you have little to no experience? What will you do in the event that a questionable flag was made in an area where you have little expertise? (This is particularly important to our site since a large fraction of our questions comes from long-running shounen series like [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'"), [fairy-tail](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'"), etc. Since all these series inhabit the same genre/demographic, it is very possible that prospective mods who don't like that particular genre/demographic may have no knowledge of these series whatsoever.)
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It's going to be problematic if all 3 elected mods don't know anything about them however looking at the kind of flags that can be raised knowledge in a particular series is not required, after all a mod should be just as easily be able to tell when a question/answer is spam, clearly violates the [content policy](http://stackexchange.com/legal/content-policy) or is rude and/or abusive.
For custom flags there should have enough details to help the mod know what the user believes is wrong is a post but ofcause flags saying "this answer is wrong" or citing why it is wrong will be marked as not helpful (or whatever the equivalent is when a flag is rejected) as that is not what flags are meant to be for.
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> 3. You have been elected moderator of A&M SE, with two other nominees. The other moderators are heavily pushing a new change to the site policy, such as to id requests, but the community itself is split on the issue. You personally don't think the policy should be changed, but the other moderators are insistent it must be altered and repeatedly bring up discussion of change. How do you deal with this situation?
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i would ask for reasons why the policy should be changed beyond "I just don't like them" and that every other alternative has been implemented and shown not to help. beyond that i would want to see a Meta post with the community citing as to why they do/do not want the to change beyond "i like/don't like them" or "i get a lot of rep if this changed/remained"
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> 4. With A&M, there has occasionally been a tendency for some posts on Meta to fade into obscurity and be forgotten / never dealt with. Also, our meta policies are scattered among many Meta posts from various dates, making it hard for users to know what is current. Do you feel this is an issue? How would you deal with this?
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i dont personally find this all that big of an issue however it would explain why we were discussing why Avatar and RWBY should be on topic again when i remember on the Meta it being said that they are still on-topic
I mentioned this on the Chat once that we could create something like a table of reference Meta post where each answer would be the results of a ruling (ie. is Avatar on-topic, is id requests on Fan Made AMVs on-topic, the id request guidelines) plus listing the discussions that took place. if the decision on this changes we can update the answer
Ofcause it was noted to me by <NAME> that there is a shit ton of Meta Questions and a metric shit ton of answers, not all of which would be about site policy. if there is far too many then i would like to see Revision questions made where we get the general feedback of the current policies in place and use them as a basis, obviously people who posted before can re-post/cite their answers of their stance has changed. after that it's just a matter of making sure the post is exposed enough
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> 5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
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\*keeps staring at the fancy diamond by Krazer's name\*
oh right, question. going on by what is describe on [this SE Blog Post](http://blog.stackexchange.com/2009/05/a-theory-of-moderation/) there are 2 things that i can't do now and that's cast binding votes so i don't have to wait for others to vote to close or delete and seeing more stats of the site and really aside from the latter i do everything else so to be honest if made a mod i will just be doing more of what i have already been doing and seeing results quicker as i wont be needing to wait on other high enough rep users to wake up for posts that are clearly in need of moderation
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> 6. What current policies do you believe are too strictly enforced (either by mods or the community)? Which do you believe are not enforced strictly enough?
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to me every seems to be fine however my one beef is that some users with id requests just post up a name and that's it, sometimes with a link to My Anime List or the like and sometimes the summary of the series but never **why** it matches even if it happens to be the correct answer. ofcause the only thing that can be done with this answer is downvote them and undo this when the user updates their answer.
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> 7. Site promotion and (new and old) user retention has been an issue we've struggled with since the site's inception. Occasionally, we toss things at the walls to see what sticks, but that's not an effective long-term strategy. As a candidate, do you have any prospective (long-term and/or short term) strategies or ideas the deal with this issue (both within and outside of the Stack Exchange community)?
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When a new series airs the awarding of bounties for the first month or so after the series for has finished airing for new questions that receive a minimum score (ie +3) but to do this every time will be problematic without a good supply of rep, also offering bounties to old unanswered questions to promote them.
of cause in both of these id requests should be made exempt because we don't want out featured list to get full and we want new users to see that there is alot more to the site that id requests
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> 8. A user has an issue with an action you, as *moderator*, took; calling you out on meta, a chat room, comments, or otherwise. How do you handle this?
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Pistol, 6 chambers, 1 bullet, whoever dies looses, in case if the shot isn't fatal the gun is reloaded. oh and this immortal fox girl is my stand in.
to be serious i would point them to the rules which i am enforcing with my action and ask them what it is they have an issue to see if i can clear up the misunderstanding. if i have myself misunderstood something i will defer to the other mods for their opinion on how they would have acted in the same situation and if i am incorrect i should be able to reverse my action.
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> 9. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
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i would see what kind of flag they seem to be attracted and suggest an alternative course, as a mod i should be able to see who is flagging them so i see if that person has flagged anyone else, if all of their flags have been a single person while other people have been flagging other i would like to inquire why they are targeting one user
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> 10. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
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I would ask the mod to explain their reasoning while making sure they understand what my reasons for disagreeing with their decision hoping that we can some to the same understanding somewhere
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> 11. How would you attempt to change policy if you and the fellow moderators agree on an issue but other members are split on the matter? As an elected representative, should your actions strive to reflect the wishes of the community, or were you entrusted by the community to act against the majority consensus at times for the sake of the greater good?
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explain to the community why we want a change so they can understand what is going on and why there needs to be change along with what we believe to be the future benefits of such a change, given of cause the benefits vastly outweigh the consequences. but if the change isn't a "must happen or the site will die" then i would rather see the community vote on it
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/08/18 | 430 | 1,647 | <issue_start>username_0: [Sources for Christian themes and motifs in Naruto?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/24028/sources-for-christian-themes-and-motifs-in-naruto)
Looking through the question, it seems like a decent question to me. Asking if there are any sources stating the potential influence of Christianity in Naruto *all tough asking discussion groups potentially is on the edge* I don't see why this question should receive such a amount of down votes.
Could some of the people that decided to Down vote this particular question elaborate as to why they find this particular question to be bad? Just like [@Senshin](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1908/senshin) states in his comment
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> This question is the most down voted **(non-deleted)** post on the site by a large margin, and I don't see why.
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><issue_comment>username_1: I didn't downvote it, but the others who did probably did so because there was a wall of text and then a question.
Probably should have put the question up top.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It's because it's at first glance a seemingly ridiculous question.
At first glance, you think that the user is drawing parallels just to fit their own views. This wasn't helped by the title "*Naruto the Christian?*" that it had before.
After the edit though, this question has improved a lot and doesn't really deserve the downvotes anymore - but I imagine there was a bit of "this has a big downvote amount so it must be bad" attitude with some users.
Whilst the question doesn't interest me at all, I do recognize that it's a legitimate question.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2015/08/18 | 2,263 | 8,660 | <issue_start>username_0: What is the purpose of Anime.SE?
What kind of people do we want on Anime.SE?
I tried to find a meta post about this but really couldn't find anything.
The site tour says
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> Anime and Manga is a question and answer site for enthusiastic anime and manga fans
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If we take that at face value, we only want enthusiastic fans, and only questions and answers by and for enthusiastic fans. There has been disagreement with this mindset, though. I think its time that as a community, we clear this up.<issue_comment>username_1: There are currently three trends I'm seeing:
* Questions should be formatted correctly with good grammar
* Only questions about an anime/manga/etc should be allowed
* If it doesn't follow the site rules, the user is an idiot beyond saving
This would basically translate to professionals who also watch anime are the only people who are welcome on this site, as 1. Even native english speakers have trouble with writing, and 2. Professionals are just about the only people who would bother to go through the manual before doing something.
Considering the dominant demographics of anime/manga fans and the amount of people who are just discovering anime and manga, I believe these are unrealistic and unsustainable expectations.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: To be frank, I don't really know what you're asking. This is a very broad question and even though you've got two points, they're still pretty generic.
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> What is the purpose of Anime.SE?
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**Simple Answer:** To answer and ask questions about Anime & Manga and related topics.
**Longer Answer:** *Stack Exchange sites are whatever you want them to be* - they can be social (chat), they can help with things you're confused about and they can be a great resource to learn new information. *Do we really need to define and focus on one particular thing?*
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> What kind of people do we want on Anime.SE?
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**Simple Answer:** We want people who will contribute positively.
**Longer Answer:** Are we really looking for a *particular type of user*? We cater for fans of all genres, people who are really into anime and people who only have watched ghibli films.
Anime SE is open to everyone. The only thing we expect is a certain level of basic coherency and a willingness to contribute.
As far as who we want to attract - more experts would be good, but generally **active coherent users** are what fuels this site. Much of our questions are researchable, so we don't necessarily need hundreds of experts.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Stack Overflow and Programmers have discussions pretty frequently on whether they should change the way they treat new users. (Here's [a famous one from SO](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/251758/3376926).) The usual argument runs that new users should read the FAQ, they should familiarize themselves with the help center, and if they can't do those things, then, for the quality of the site, their questions should be deleted. Those guys can be mean as hell, especially to people with subpar English or writing skills.
I've not seen that kind of intolerance on Anime and Manga. By contrast, I've seen our users go out of their way to try and make sense of complete and utter nonsense so it could be edited into a decent question. (I've been that user a few times; as a former tutor of English as a Second Language, I understand that not everyone can have native-level proficiency.) Most downvoted and close voted questions receive a comment explaining why the question is not up to grade. Sometimes the comment may be a little brisk, but I've never seen anyone here heap mean or sarcastic remarks on a new user who wrote a bad question.
By Stack Exchange standards, we're actually quite friendly and lenient. However, we are more elitist and exclusionary than most other anime sites out there. Although many of our users get here from Stack Overflow, Physics, Science Fiction and Fantasy, or other Stack Exchange sites, many more come from the wider Internet, and they're not used to the high standards of Stack Exchange.
I suspect my answer runs counter to the direction many people want for the site, but, to be honest, I like being elitist, exclusionary jerks.
Before you downvote, hear me out. I've been in the anime fandom almost fifteen years. During that time, I was never attracted to any of the available anime fan communities on the Internet. Recently, I spent some time on Reddit and 4chan doing research for an answer here, and I remembered why that was. It's because every discussion they have goes something like this:
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> Clannad greatest animu evar!! So many feelz
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> Clannad forced drama bulsh\*\*\*\*TTT Y U NOT SEE IT?
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> U SUXX
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> NO U XUZZSU
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> UR MOM SUXXX...ON ME LOL
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The discussion on [Why is Clannad the best anime?](http://boards.4chan.org/a/thread/129499448) is actually on the better side of what I've seen on 4chan and Reddit, but the second thing someone writes on it is
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> Too vanilla. Now if Tomoya fucked Ushio, that would be something.
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I assume this person is just trying to be shocking by suggesting that the main character having sex with his five-year-old daughter is just what was needed to spice up the show.
Putting aside the puerile nature of the discourse, if you ask a question on one of these sites, it's impossible to ask people to support their answers with evidence because they'll just call you an idiot for not knowing what "everyone" knows, even in cases where the thing that "everyone" knows was concocted out of thin air by some bored forum troll.
Frankly, I don't want to invite these people to Anime and Manga Stack Exchange. I enjoy the fact that we have standards, and that we won't tolerate just any garbage that someone felt like throwing up on their monitor. Nothing we ask about on this site is really *that* important, in the grand scheme of things. No one is going to get killed or fired if I include some unsourced information in my answer on a show about 24th Century Martian gondoliers. But it is nice to think that people can't just make up whatever they want and start throwing it around as a well-known fact. And it is nice that no one here tries to be Howard Stern and make shocking statements just for the fun of it it, or starts randomly cussing because you don't believe their pet theory about the masturbation scene in End of Eva.
I think we have a good balance right now. We're a fan community; we don't require our users to be working on a Ph.D in pop culture studies. We're not the Math Overflow of anime. We're lenient towards people with subpar English; as long as we can make some kind of sense of a question, we'll edit or let it stand. We point new users towards the relevant parts of the manual, rather than just saying "RTFM or GTFO". We're tolerant towards the fact that people expect to be able to discuss Legend of Korra and Tales of Symphonia on the same site where they discuss Naruto and One Piece. At the same time, we don't tolerate the kind of worthless garbage that floods Reddit and 4chan, and we expect a basic level of politeness from everyone.
I think the kind of users we want to attract are people who are reasonably polite, have reasonable writing skills to express themselves, and are willing to learn and obey the rules. It's fine if they're not great at writing, as long as they can get the basic idea across. It's fine if they don't know a lot about anime; I have no problem answering basic questions like [Who's the artist of the Oreimo's Suki Nandamon original edition theme song?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/15069/7579) or even [Who is the creator of the manga Yu Yu Hakusho?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21027/7579). It's fine if they don't spend three weeks studying the help center before asking a question; we have plenty of people willing to take the time to help out a newbie. Not everyone will be this kind of user; some people evidently like how it is on other sites. If someone prefers the atmosphere at some other site, let them stay at that site. Let us remain an island of civility and intelligent discourse in a sea of sophomoric bile.
If this means we stay small, I think that's all right. We don't need to be as large as MAL and ANN. We'll make up for our size with high-quality content. People will come here when they have a tough question that requires a maniac level of fandom to crack. If, after that, they want to go back to that thread with 36,000 posts of people cussing at each other over whether Lelouch was alive at the end of Code Geass, let them go.
Upvotes: 4 |
2015/08/21 | 1,649 | 6,194 | <issue_start>username_0: Yesterday, I closed a question (<https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/24236/>). It was an identification request for pornography, though that may not have been directly apparent from the question alone.
This proved controversial; two users plus Krazer ended up reopening it. I suppose I must have misled myself into believing that porn-identification questions were unwanted here.
In order that we may have a documented position on this matter: do we want identification requests for pornography?<issue_comment>username_1: Do we want them? Probably not.
Should banning/isnta-close be a policy? Also probably not.
I'm ambivalent towards questions related to porn, so long as nothing explicit is posted and the dialogue is civil, I don't see why it should be banned.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't know what those users were thinking reopening that question. I think we've said it countless times that we don't want to become associated with "the site that identifies porn". *Even* if the work which this image comes from is not a hentai doujin (which I doubt isn't the case), **OP needs to find a less suggestive image** for the ID request to survive.
To those who are on the borderline about this: There is only one step from erotic to pornographic content, and at the rate we're receiving ID requests, it may be a very quick step.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: We really need to sit down and discuss how to categorize borderline and explicit content. As I've said before, the topic of "hentai" and ecchi (see the *[To Love-Ru](http://myanimelist.net/anime/3455/To_LOVE-Ru)* manga) is unavoidable with anime and manga.
It is in my belief that we should allow them, but keep them in check with a few set rules. People that don't follow them will have their posts deleted without exceptions. All content deemed graphic will have the same treatment.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: My problem was that the question was closed because the answer *might* have been hentai/porn.1
Looking at the borderline NSFW image, it doesn't suggest that it's hentai on the service, and since the OP hasn't posted something which is blatantly hentai or from a porn site, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. The User already said they did a Google reverse image, and while I would rather have seen a screenshot as proof, I'm going to take their word for it (look at me being so trusting).
While the image can be arguably SFW/NSFW, it doesn't violate [Stack Exchanges Content Policy](http://stackexchange.com/legal/content-policy) as I understand it. If it does then would this [Food Wars Foodgasm](https://i.stack.imgur.com/j4brN.png) violate it too? Or any image from an ecchi series? Or a screenshot from the *Strawberry Panic* anime of Hikari and Aname after they made love? My understanding is **no**, because they aren't Sexually Explicit Material, and personally I wouldn't be ashamed if someone saw me looking at the *Strawberry Panic* one even at work.
What if the answer wasn't a hentai manga, and someone just closed the question (in this case by moderator) saying that it's an "identify my porn" question in the comments, that could end up killing a question. It's one thing if it's a borderline NSFW image. However, what if a question is all text like [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/14724/1587), and such a comment was made, but the answer turned out to be not a hentai because the poster of the comment mistook it for something else or what they believed was in fact incorrect.
So if we close questions because the answer *might* be hentai/porn, then what happens when the answers are Visual Novels like *Fate/Stay Night*, *Sono Hanabira*, *Kamidori Alchemy Meister*, *Kira Kira* or *Canvas 2*. Some may see these as hentai because of the adult content, despite having non-H versions of them (*Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua*), all ages anime adaptations (*Canvas 2*) or have their stories expanded in non-H material (*Sono Hanabira*).
If we were to created the message that a woman who undresses herself but covers herself as much as she can is hentai, then where does that leave *Neon Genesis Evangelion*? In the Director's Cut version, you can see the Rei Clones' nipples. Same thing with Misato after she had sex with Kaji, and her position in that scene is much more NSFW than a whole lot of lifeless Rei Clones. While the Rei Clones, with some research will get one an answer, it may not be like that with Misato
So what should we do?
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If we allow ID Requests for Hentai or H-Doujins then
* The question has to meet out [current guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892)
* Any and all images must not violate the [Stack Exchange Content Policy](http://stackexchange.com/legal/content-policy)
+ If they are borderline then they must be in a spoiler tag `>!` and a textual heading must be placed to indicate as such
* The wording of the question must be tasteful, avoiding porn language and using politically correct terms while also avoiding describing intercourse scenes
* Answers should not contain links to where one can read/buy it if the answer is hentai, but they should clearly indicate if they are hentai or just NSFW, since not all Madoka and Nanoha Shoujo Ai/Yuri Doujins are hentai, but still can be lewd or have suggestive themes (they still retain the lovey-dopey yuriness of the couples)
If we do decide to now allow them when we close them, in a comment we don't leave something like "take your porno elsewhere" but something like
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> I have closing this question because the answer to this question can be found on Fakku (no need for a link) and it is clearly a hentai
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This way, even if the OP didn't know it was hentai, they do now and other users can validate this claim when/if they want.
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1: My mistake in reopening the question may have been misreading the times. Right now, when I look at the times for the answer and when the question was closed, the text still says "yesterday". However, the times have different dates
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/08/23 | 3,094 | 11,902 | <issue_start>username_0: As moderator election are coming to an end, I would like to invite members of the community to take some time to review all the policies we've made in the past and see if they are still relevant, but need revision, and see which need be deprecated or better clarification.
This is intent to take action on some of the more discussed topics from this election, as well as open for discussion previous. This way, the elected moderators will have a chance to review and make any necessary changes to improve over user satisfaction and experience.
Please considering use the following template for your replies:
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> **Policy:** (and what it needs) (e.g., [needs-update](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-update "show questions tagged 'needs-update'"), [deprecated](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/deprecated "show questions tagged 'deprecated'"), [needs-review](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-review "show questions tagged 'needs-review'"), [contradictory](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/contradictory "show questions tagged 'contradictory'"), [needs-clarification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-clarification "show questions tagged 'needs-clarification'"), etc.)
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> *{{Brief description and link to relevant meta (if applicable). If two or more policies are contradictory to one another, post links to all of them where applicable.}}*
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> **Reason:**
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> *{{What needs to be brought to attention}}*
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> **Remarks:**
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> *{{Optional, any personal remarks or suggestions on said policy}}*
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>
>
After sufficient review, analysis, and discussion, a meta with compendium of our site policies with their last review date will be create for easy browsing and reference to these policies.
**Clarification:** The intent of this meta is to collect problems areas our site, particularly with it's policies, so that we can build proper queuing system to address these problems one by one, instead of dividing our attention across multiple issues. This way, we give the users a transparency and clarify behind the state of policy making for the community.
The end-product is intended to be a general how to use guide (probably will be hosted on Trello) for Anime.SE detailing our current policies, those that we're working on, and known problems we looking to address.<issue_comment>username_1: **Policy:** Future Unannounced Events [contradictory](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/contradictory "show questions tagged 'contradictory'") [needs-clarification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-clarification "show questions tagged 'needs-clarification'")
Our current policy is closure for Unannounced Future Events.
**Reason:**
There are conflicting metas on what exactly ***Unannounced Future Events*** means.
[The original Meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/27/what-do-we-do-with-questions-about-future-events-releases?lq=1) :
>
> "What is to happen in the future" is something that should be kept off-topic.
>
>
>
[2013 FAQ Proposal](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/664/1530)
>
> Questions on future events with regard to the production of an anime or manga are off-topic
>
>
>
[The 2014 Meta Post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/800/2014-edition-how-should-we-treat-questions-regarding-future-unannounced-events)
>
> I suggest, much like @GraceNote's post on What do we do with questions about future events/releases? back in '12, that we leave future events to new sources such as ANN or Crunchyroll.
>
>
>
*I can't find anywhere where we actually define that future **announced** events are on topic.* It seems to be in some fuzzy space between 2013 and 2014, and the title of the 2014 post stuck.
This leads to some confusion when closing posts - *"When will X happen?"* **is only on topic if someone can find a news post about it?** I think our policy should be that any future events should be off-topic.
**Remarks:**
I brought this up before in [a previous meta](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2231/can-we-change-the-name-of-this-closure-reason), but it's still unchanged and has caused confusion with close votes a few times.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: **Explicit and Borderline Content:** [needs-clarification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-clarification "show questions tagged 'needs-clarification'")
We've had a lot of run-in media on the site that would be considered either explicit or borderline (even though they are hidden behind a spoiler and/or have a NSFW warning). It's sometimes hard to tell if the piece of media is explicit or not. A set of guidelines and set procedures would probably help streamline things.
**Reason:**
Due to individual circumstances we're can't all agree on what's lewd and not. In the fine art, there's a (fine) line between art and pornography. Our personal upbringings shape how we think about these things. We need to find some point where we can agree on at least.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: **Where do we draw the line with derivative and loosely anime/manga/novel related content** [needs-clarification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-clarification "show questions tagged 'needs-clarification'")
We've need a clearer stance on how to handle derivative content beyond AMV and doujinshi (i.e. what would be considered off topic) and very loosely related content such as Vocaloids and games (w/o a direct anime/manga/novel tie-in). While we've talked about [AMVs](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2270/are-identification-request-questions-looking-for-amv-on-topic) and [especially](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/352/what-is-the-criteria-for-questions-about-doujin-work/) [doujinshi](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/267/should-questions-about-doujinshi-be-allowed), we haven't talked about other derivative works such as remixes or identification request for dervative content such as a gameplay video with some sort of Jpop-like lyric.
For now we support (please add if you feel that any are missing):
* Vocaloid (to what extent is unclear)
* Plot-related to 2d/3d games (those that are "anime-styled" at least; however, there is no specific criteria)
* Original anime/manga style self-made/publish works (i.e. Doujinshi)
* Live-action series based off anime/manga/novels (we don't get many aside from plot comparisons atm)
Some examples of derivative content can be:
* A non-anime/manga gameplay video with some Jpop-esque music in the background
* A random anime-like image on a video music playlist
* A game or character skin with anime/manga-esque character or design
**Reason:**
It's a given that much of these issues involve fringe cases. but having a blanket policy to address them can save time and effort. We can still address any unique cases when they come up, but a there should at least be a more streamline way to handle questions for these types of media.
**Remarks:**
I believe that by putting a little effort here, we avoid doing more work later on. As much as we'd like to address everything and anything related to anime/manga/novels, not everything that is a good fit. We should start looking at where to draw the line sooner rather than later.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: **Policy:** ID Requests for image [needs-review](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-review "show questions tagged 'needs-review'")
**Reason:**
*As mentioned on chat a few times, image id-requests are hard to "provide more information for" if all the user has is a single image.*
*Is the requirement an image + 2 items?*
*an image + 1 item (making 2 items)?*
**Remarks:**
*As part of this I'd like to review our approach to closing image id-requests as per [Should we be closing image-only id requests differently?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2565/should-we-be-closing-image-only-id-requests-differently) - meaning we would have greater coverage of one rule - and few duplicates*
Also: Does a gif count as one image? What if someone takes frames from the gif, or has several images but no external info?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: **Policy:** Definition of an identification-request? [needs-review](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-review "show questions tagged 'needs-review'")
**Reason:**
*Several users have brought up the issue of the identification-request tag being inconsistently applied. When do should it be applied?*
*Some possible answers:*
* *Whenever something is being searched for (Very Broad)*
* *Whenever a **series** is being searched for (through some information/media)*
* *When a series title or is not known (e.g. character, music)*
**Remarks:**
See also: *[Creating a tag specifically about identifying music](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2584/creating-a-tag-specifically-about-identifying-music)*
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: **Policy:** Duplicate closures on identification requests[needs-clarification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-clarification "show questions tagged 'needs-clarification'")
*When do we close id-requests as duplicates, and when do we not?*
**Reason:**
*This is something that doesn't really come up, but going through a few old ID requests, I'm unsure of whether I should be closing id-requests that have the same series outcome*
**Remarks:**
*Should it always be dupe-closed? Or perhaps only when the question is looking via the same features (e.g. both describing the main character) as opposed to different ones (e.g. This anime has a cat with a moon symbol vs I think they referred to themselves as senshi or love warriors)*
This is probably the lowest priority of the any items posted here
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **Make site policies easier to read** (Our words are too complicated. Let's make them simpler.) [needs-review](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/needs-review "show questions tagged 'needs-review'")
From time to time we get frustrated when users don't read the rules and post thing however they like. But should we really be blaming these people and just put out some blanket policy without attempting to see the bigger picture?
Not all fans of anime and manga speak English well. Despite being a primarily English language site, we're not always accommodating to ESL user. I believe that our site policies could use a once over to be more accommodate the reading level of these users. We should establish some simple criteria such as what the recommended reading level for the site to be and having a place where users can get a brief summary on our site policies in simple English.
**Reason:**
Let's say you're someone from a non-English speaking country that just got into anime or manga, and you want to know more about the world of anime and manga. You find this site and realize that it's in English, you've had some exposure to it from school, but you haven't used it much. It's hard to grasp because the structure is different from your native language. You try your best but your question is not well received. You try to find out why, but your English is not good enough... so you just give up.
Some of our policies are a bit wordy (I myself am to blame for some of it). Having to read through them can be a bit of a hassle to younger users and a bit of a struggle to ESL users. We should try to find ways to provide more simple explanations to these users. Hopely this will get them to better understand how our site works and how to go about using it. We should try to simplify our policies and by doing so hopefully it will make the site more accommodating to new users.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/08/25 | 1,306 | 4,445 | <issue_start>username_0: This post is dedicated to lists of online resources useful for specific tasks. It's not for asking, just for adding whatever you feel like would help others do what anime and manga fans do − buy new anime/manga, translate from/to Japanese, look up characters in a database, identify images, etc.
Purpose of this post: Help users with their questions, redirect users to other sites for things we don't do here. Some lists are [already posted](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/resources) on the main site. This post is for things that don't strictly belong there but are still useful.
Add new resources into existing answers with the corresponding topic or create a new answer if there is no such topic already.
### Existing topics:
* [A&M databases](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2571)
* [Currently produced A&M](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2576)
* [Recommendations](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2575)
* [Identification](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2572)
* [Conventions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2574)
* [Merchandise](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2577/191)
* [Translate from/to Japanese](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2570)
### Possible topics of interest:
* Going to cons as a visitor or seller
* Cosplay making
* Making manga/anime
* Learning how to draw in manga styles
* How to tell if merchandise is good, fake or low-quality, pricing too high
* Where to find anime themed cafes
*Please, check with our list of [legal resources](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/923/191) before adding.*<issue_comment>username_1: Translate from/to Japanese
==========================
Want to translate something from Japanese to English or the other way around? Check out this list:
* [Jisho.org](http://jisho.org/) − Japanese from/to English. Supports romaji, kanji;
* [Google Translate](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/) − Japanese from/to most languages. Supports kanji (with hand-drawn option);
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: Anime and Manga databases
=========================
Purposes: Look up the full name, short name, English name, Japanese name, alternative name; Read reviews, synopses, descriptions; Look up the list of characters, character names, voice actors; Related works; Genre, tags; Ratings; Airing dates;
[**See this post on the main site**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4696/what-databases-and-listing-sites-exist-for-anime-manga-etc)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: Identify anime/manga image
==========================
Purposes: Identify anime, manga, characters by image;
[**See this post on the main site**](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/how-can-i-identify-the-source-of-an-anime-image-using-reverse-image-search)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: Conventions
===========
Purposes: Find conventions, location, date;
* [Where can I get listings of convention locations and dates?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22856/where-can-i-get-listings-of-convention-locations-and-dates/22857)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: Recommendations
===============
Purposes: Get recommendations, suggestions; Find similar, related anime/manga;
* [You want recommendations? Here's a list of them](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1204/you-want-recommendations-heres-a-list-of-them) − our own recommendations list on Meta;
* [Are there any anime suggestion engines?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/7337/are-there-any-anime-suggestion-engines/7341) − dedicated site list
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: Currently produced anime/manga
==============================
Purposes: Find out what anime is airing now, what manga is still in production; Airing dates, time;
* [Where do I find a table / listing of all currently airing anime series?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/156/where-do-i-find-a-table-listing-of-all-currently-airing-anime-series)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: Merchandise
===========
Purposes: Learn how, where to buy anime/manga related merchandise; Product quality; Pricing;
### Figurines
* [How can I tell if an anime figure is a fake?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22297/how-can-i-tell-if-an-anime-figure-is-a-fake)
### Other
* [Where can I buy anime cel sheets?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/9842/where-can-i-buy-anime-cel-sheets)
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/08/28 | 4,333 | 17,578 | <issue_start>username_0: So we got [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") for ID requests and [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'") for, according to its description, *anything* about music. Supposedly ID requests too, but this is not exactly how tags work, right? What about instead of combining these tags in questions where someone asks to identify music, we use [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'")?
The tag [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is primarily used to identify anime or manga. Should music be included?
What are the pros and cons of both options? Which should we use when?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> The tag [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is primarily used to identify anime or manga. Should music be included?
>
>
>
You are framing the question wrong. There are two questions to be asked here.
>
> The tag [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is primarily used to identify anime or manga. Should it also be used for questions where OP has found a piece of music, devoid of context?
>
>
>
And the answer to this question is *yes, of course*. "I heard this song and I don't know what it's from" has all the hallmarks of a conventional identification request.
>
> The tag [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") is primarily used to identify anime or manga. Should it also be used for questions where OP wants to know the name of a song that was used in a particular episode of some anime?
>
>
>
And the answer to this question is *no, of course not, why would you even think that is reasonable?*. "What's this song in episode 3 of anime X?" is no more an [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") than "Why did A do B in episode 3 of anime X?" or "Who drew scene Q in episode 3 of anime X?". Those who believe otherwise clearly fail to understand how tags ought to work.
(Prior art: [We shouldn't use [identification-request] on questions that aren't really identification requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2307/))
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think there needs to be some clarification here on what current [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions are and their scope.
Let's look at the wiki:
>
> For questions which ask about the identification of an anime/manga/character using a description; specific elements (like a character or song); or screenshots
>
>
>
**This is currently how they are supposed to be used.**
It also doesn't make much sense to keep the existing [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag if we would want to split them up - as it will be confusing to users. If there is a consensus to get [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'") and et cetera, we should also get [series-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/series-identification "show questions tagged 'series-identification'"), [x-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/x-identification "show questions tagged 'x-identification'"), ...
I don't think this is the actual solution to our problem. From the original meta question:
>
> I see why people are tagging these questions with identification-request - the asker wants something "identified", right? But this is a dangerous line of thinking. Should we tag Is Nadia voluntarily inspired by Castle in the Sky? with identification-request because the asker wants to "identify" the connection between Nadia and Castle in the Sky? What about The Kamisama Hajimemashita anime covers the manga up to what chapter? - doesn't the asker want to "identify" the chapter at which the anime ends? No, of course we shouldn't.
>
>
>
This problem still remains if we change this but it shifts from one tag to multiple - *should we create a [series-connection-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/series-connection-identification "show questions tagged 'series-connection-identification'") tag? a [chapter-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/chapter-identification "show questions tagged 'chapter-identification'") tag, does chapter ids fit in manga ids? ....*
Instead I propose that there should be some **clarification** for when the [id-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/id-request "show questions tagged 'id-request'") tag should be used. Whether that turns out to be for questions where the series is unknown,specific media elements, or some other decision.
For my actual opinion on splitting the tag up - I'm indifferent, but I don't want to do it for the wrong reasons
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with Toshinou-san that we need clarification about [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") edge cases—not just for music, but also for questions that ask, for example, to explain a reference, like [Who are these characters referenced in Chapter 4 of Spotted Flower?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4127/7579) (which is tagged [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")) and [Who are all the girls fawning over Araragi?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/17248/7579) (which is just tagged [monogatari-series](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/monogatari-series "show questions tagged 'monogatari-series'")).
However, I don't think making another tag for music identification is a very good solution. As touched on a bit in [the post username_1 linked to](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2307/7579), helping people find questions they can answer is a major purpose of tags. If you want to identify a song from Naruto, the person who knows is probably a Naruto expert. If you want to identify a song from [Mamotte Shugogetten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamotte_Shugogetten), the person who knows is probably an expert on Mamotte Shugogetten (if such a thing even exists). There probably isn't anyone on the site who's a "soundtrack expert" that can identify songs from both Naruto and Mamotte Shugogetten, but has no interest in other types of question on Naruto or Mamotte Shugogetten. (I can see such a person existing on Movies and TV—a music superfan who loves identifying songs that appear in movies and TV shows—but [things are different in anime](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/24272/does-anybody-recognise-this-song-from-princess-kaguya/24290#comment34993_24272).)
Given that, I don't really see a clear purpose for a [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'") tag. I suppose it could help people who love Mamotte Shugogetten, but aren't familiar with the OST, to avoid music identification questions. But the titles are usually something like "What song plays at time 7:23 in Episode 19 of Mamotte Shugogetten?". And the [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'") tag should be a good enough signal for that sort of thing on its own; my Gedankenexperimental expert can just look for questions tagged [mamotte-shugogetten](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/mamotte-shugogetten "show questions tagged 'mamotte-shugogetten'") and not tagged [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'").
Tagging music identifications as [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") has some of the same problems as the [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'") tag. We don't really have "identification experts"; id requests require either a good memory and a broad knowledge of anime, or the dumb luck to have seen and remembered whatever the OP is looking for and the reading skills to pick it out of their description. This is different from the knowledge needed to identify a song from a known series. My preferred solution would be just tagging music identifications as [mamotte-shugogetten](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/mamotte-shugogetten "show questions tagged 'mamotte-shugogetten'") [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'").
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Let's analyze the pro and con of using [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'") vs. [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'"), in term of categorizing questions.
We have 3 categories of questions related to music:
1. Identification request for a series, with a piece of music as clue (answer contains both the series name and the track title)
2. Soundtrack identification where the series is known (answer contains the track title)
3. Other non-identification questions related to music
We observe that category 2 and 3 specify complementing sets of questions for a particular series: music identification questions and other music-related questions.
We would like to analyze the categorizing effect of tagging based on the following scenarios:
1. Search for category 1
2. Search for category 2
3. Search for category 3
4. Search for category 1 and 2 (all music identification questions)
5. Search for category 2, for a particular series (all soundtrack identification questions of a series)
6. Search for category 3, for a particular series/topic (all non-identification music questions of a series/topic)
7. Search for category 2 and 3, for a particular series (all music-related questions of a series)
---
### Scheme 1a: With the previous scheme of tagging (before [username_1's meta thread](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2307/we-shouldnt-use-identification-request-on-questions-that-arent-really-identi)):
Tagging scheme:
* Category 1 is tagged as [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'")
* Category 2 is tagged as [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), plus series tag
* Category 3 is tagged as [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), plus appropriate tags.
Search queries for each scenario:
* Scenario 1 and 2 can't be searched, since category 1 and 2 are both tagged [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), and differentiated with the existence of series tag, which can't be excluded in the search.
* Scenario 3 can be found with `[music] -[identification-request]`.
* Scenario 4 can be found with `[music][identification-request]`.
* Scenario 5 can be found with `[][music][identification-request]`.
* Scenario 6 can be found with `[][music] -[identification-request]`
* Scenario 7 can be found with `[][music]`
### Scheme 2a: With the current scheme of tagging (after [username_1's meta thread](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2307/we-shouldnt-use-identification-request-on-questions-that-arent-really-identi)):
Tagging scheme:
* Category 1 is tagged as [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'")
* Category 2 is tagged as [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), plus series tag
* Category 3 is tagged as [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), plus appropriate tags.
(Same as above, except that category 2 is tagged as [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'") only)
Search queries for each scenario:
* Scenario 1 can be found with `[music][identification-request]`
* Scenario 2 and 3 can't be searched, since category 2 and 3 are not distinguishable, as we only have [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), plus series tag or other tags.
* Scenario 4, 5, 6 are not searchable, since we can't tell apart questions in category 2 and 3.
* Scenario 6 is only searchable for non-series-tag (like [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'")), with the observation that [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions don't use those tags.
* Scenario 7 can be found with `[][music]`
---
### Scheme 1b: Replace [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'") with [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'") for category 1 and 2, following the previous scheme of tagging soundtrack identification questions with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"))
Tagging scheme:
* Category 1 is tagged as [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'")
* Category 2 is tagged as [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'"), plus series tag
* Category 3 is tagged as [music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'"), plus appropriate tags.
Search queries for each scenario:
* Scenario 1 and 2 can't be searched, since category 1 and 2 are both tagged [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'"), and differentiated with the existence of series tag, which can't be excluded in the search.
* Scenario 3 can be found with `[music]`.
* Scenario 4 can be found with `[tag:music-identification]`.
* Scenario 5 can be found with `[][music-identification]`.
* Scenario 6 can be found with `[][music]`
* Scenario 7 can't be searched, since search syntax does not support `A and (B or C)`.
The search syntax is simplified for some queries, compared to the queries in scheme 1a. However, scenario 7 is no longer searchable.
### Scheme 2b: Replace [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")[music](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music "show questions tagged 'music'") with [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'") for category 1, following the current scheme of tagging category 2 without [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"))
This scheme doesn't make sense, since the purpose of [music-identification](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/music-identification "show questions tagged 'music-identification'") is to put questions in category 1 and 2 in the same basket. The search queries are more or less the same as scheme 2a. No problem is solved by doing this.
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/09/10 | 954 | 3,781 | <issue_start>username_0: As your site is undergoing our new design-independent graduation process, you'll be enjoying your own run of design-independent Community Promotion Ads!
### What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertisements to be shown.
### Why do we have Community Promotion Ads?
This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:
* the site's twitter account
* review blogs and research websites to keep on top of each new season
* events, meetups, and conventions
* anything else your community would genuinely be interested in
The goal is for future visitors to find out about *the stuff your community deems important*. This also serves as a way to promote information and resources that are *relevant to your own community's interests*, both for those already in the community and those yet to join.
### Why do we reset the ads every year?
Some services will maintain usefulness over the years, while other things will wane to allow for new faces to show up. Resetting the ads every year helps accommodate this, and allows old ads that have served their purpose to be cycled out for fresher ads for newer things. This helps keep the material in the ads relevant to not just the subject matter of the community, but to the current status of the community. We reset the ads once a year, every December.
The community promotion ads have no restrictions against reposting an ad from a previous cycle. If a particular service or ad is very valuable to the community and will continue to be so, it is a good idea to repost it. It may be helpful to give it a new face in the process, so as to prevent the imagery of the ad from getting stale after a year of exposure.
### How does it work?
The answers you post to this question *must* conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.
1. All answers should be in the exact form of:
```
[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]
[1]: http://image-url
[2]: http://clickthrough-url
```
Please **do not add anything else to the body of the post**. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.
2. The question must always be tagged with the magic [community-ads](/questions/tagged/community-ads "show questions tagged 'community-ads'") tag. In addition to enabling the functionality of the advertisements, this tag also pre-fills the answer form with the above required form.
### Image requirements
* The image that you create must be **220 x 250 pixels**
* Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
* Must be GIF or PNG
* No animated GIFs
* Absolute limit on file size of 40 KB
* If the background of the image is white, there must be a 1x1 border of not-white at the edges of the ad
### Score Threshold
There is a **minimum score threshold** an answer must meet (currently **6**) before it will be shown on the main site.
You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/ads/display/2595).<issue_comment>username_1: [](https://twitter.com/StackAnime)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: [](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: [](https://movies.stackexchange.com/)
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/09/13 | 749 | 2,438 | <issue_start>username_0: In this meta post we throw around any wild ideas for our community ads which would be displayed on other sites, should they reach the score of 6 points, and before that some approval from our own users. Post your text-only ideas in [this answer below](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2602), and work-in-progress images in the corresponding answers. Don't be shy to propose other fonts, images, background, etc if you think it will improve the ad!<issue_comment>username_1: Text-only ideas list
====================
* Ad for our list of recommendations meta post
* Araragi's hair and/or something else that immediately makes you think of Monogatari series
* Kyubei's signature line: "Make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl".
* "Get noticed by senpai / Join Anime & Manga @ Stack Exchange" − [from chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/27890935)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_1: Araragi/Monogatari
==================
 
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: Protagonist near window
=======================
[Why are the protagonists generally seated by the window?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4531/why-are-the-protagonists-generally-seated-by-the-window)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Something that could go on SF&F since they have loads of Harry Potter questions. Again, feedback is very welcome, photoshop isn't my forté.
[](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/23635/what-actually-is-modern-magic-and-how-does-it-work)
I've currently (unashamedly) linked to my question on ["How does modern magic work"](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/23635/what-actually-is-modern-magic-and-how-does-it-work), but we can by all means instead just link to the list of questions tagged [mahouka-koukou](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/mahouka-koukou "show questions tagged 'mahouka-koukou'"), or even something else if needs be.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: >
> Follow our ID Request guidelines or she'll follow [you.](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/27896084)
>
>
>
[(bonus)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fXS1g.gif)
Upvotes: 1 |
2015/09/21 | 1,016 | 3,205 | <issue_start>username_0: [Now that we know there's enough interest](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2605/1530), let's start filling in the details.
First up on the *to-decide* list is **the venue/event** that we can meet up at. This way, we get an A&M Meetup **AND** another fun event - that can be enjoyed together or individually.
There were some strong suggestions in the survey, but we don't know which one is best for everyone. Therefore, this post is for **suggesting the venue you would like the Great A&M EU Meetup to be located.**
[](http://www.deviantart.com/art/Hetalia-Map-Europe-435633235)
Feel free to elaborate on the suggestions you gave in the survey.
Obvious events are conventions / anime gatherings - but feel free to suggest anything we might find interesting! Please keep the [Locations of our users](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2605/1530) in mind though.
You can promote your choice through pictures, videos, long passages of text, cookies, whatever!
(But please use the format below)
>
> **Venue Proposal:** Event/Venue Name
>
>
> **Country**: Country Name
>
>
> **Date (if applicable)**: 01/01/2016
>
>
> **Why Should We Pick Here?** Do your best to sell it to us!
>
>
> **Things to bear in mind:** Is it expensive? non-english? hard to reach? safe? etc.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: **Venue Proposal:** [Japan Expo Paris](http://www.japan-expo-paris.com/en/)
**Country:** France
**Date (if applicable):** 07-10 July 2016
**Why Should We Pick Here?**
This is the largest convention in Europe. Last year saw 250,000 attendees.
The European Cosplay Gathering Finals are held here
And lots of exciting concerts from artists from Japan!
Definitely lots of things to do
**Things to bear in mind:**
Paris can be expensive.
Most of the convention is in French.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: **Venue Proposal:** [Anime Con](http://www.animecon.nl/)
**Country:** The Netherlands (The Hague)
**Date (if applicable):** Juneish 2016
**Why Should We Pick Here?**
Most of our attendees would be here - Higher turn out rate! Also people who may know the area.
[Lots of events](http://program.animecon.nl/)
Hosts a more casual [international cosplay contest](http://www.animecon.nl/program/events/cosplay-competitions/cccc) - more centered on the 'fun' of cosplay
And lots of exciting concerts!
Workshops :)
Maybe a cosplay meetup in a park?
Convention has a focus on anime
**Things to bear in mind:**
None that I know of.
[~93% of Dutch speak english to some degree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_in_the_Netherlands)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_1: **Venue Proposal:** [London Anime & Gaming Con](http://www.londonanimecon.com/index.php)
**Country**: England, UK
**Date (if applicable):** 5-7 Feb 2016
**Why Should We Pick Here?**
99.9999% of people will speak English
Central - Good access
<NAME> is one of the announced guests (she's great, saw her when she visited Ireland :3 )
A little smaller, more friendly feel, less company-ish.
Opening party wooo!
**Things to bear in mind:**
London is expensive.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/10/01 | 2,123 | 7,281 | <issue_start>username_0: [A&M has voted](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2612/european-am-gathering-lets-decide-the-event) and the chosen event for our EU Meetup is...
**[Anime 2016, The World Forum, The Hague, Netherlands](http://www.animecon.nl/)** This will be held from the **10th to 12th June 2016.**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KV30hm.jpg) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EEzJrm.jpg)
*Pretty~*
The next meta post will contain details of ticket bookings, travel, accommodation, etc. But for now **Let's decide what to do there!**
**Please suggest event ideas** here for us to do. This can be events based in the convention, or outside.
([Here's the previous Animecon programme](http://program.animecon.nl/) for potential ideas).
There is also some scope for pre/post convention events, for those that have arrived early/flying back later.
Please suggest events in this format:
>
> **Event Title:** Exciting A&M event
>
>
> **What day(s):** Range of days / Single day / Opening Hours
>
>
> **Details:** Short Description (unless it's a surprise/secret - in which case, we can privately talk) including any requirements such as tickets / age.
>
>
>
By suggesting an event, I will assume you will be somewhat willing to help out with the organization of the event (you'll have help from me and some others), Let's all get involved and make this a fun trip to remember! :)<issue_comment>username_1: Although this is not a recommendation on what to do, it might be useful to keep in mind, for the things we are going to do. As I am assuming most if not all of us will be dependant on public transport.
Accommodations in the surrounding area
--------------------------------------
For the people that still require a place to stay, here are some suggestions. They are pretty cheap, on a not to long of a distance from the station/city center/ animecon. Take note that going with groups tends to be cheaper. The total price is based on a Thursday till Monday stay. And the tourist tax tends to be €5.50/ person.
- [NH Atlantica](http://www.nh-hotels.com/hotel/nh-atlantic-den-haag)
* 1 person 109/night - 3 persons
* Totaling on €558 for 3 people included tax
* Special: 5% discount can be obtained through me.
* 30 minutes away from Anime con / 20 minutes away from city center
- [B&B Kussengevecht](http://www.kussengevecht.nl/)
* 1 person €75/night 2 persons €80/night
* Totaling at €320 (ex tax?)
If you need any help in regards of accommodations, transport, routes feel free to give me a message, as ill most likely be able to help.
I will also offer all our A&M members that come visit a free drink on the 10th of June. Why? Well, it happens to be my birthday on June the 10th. So I think it is fairly fitting ;)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Event Title:** Watch the Cosplay events together
**What day(s):** Saturday, Sunday Time: TBC
**Details:** We can watch a/some cosplay event(s) together and cheer others on if any of us are performing! There is also the ECG selections probably on the Saturday
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_1: **Event Title:** Visit the beach
**What day(s):** Any day with decent weather.
**Where:** Schevingen (~ 20 minutes from Animecon)
**Details:** Lots of things to do/ see around the beach in Scheveningen. Especially for Tourists.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: **Event Title:** Go to a amusement park/ pool
**What day(s):** Any day
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: **Event Title:** Cosplay Meetings
**What day(s):** Undetermined
**Where:** Undetermined
**Details:** There don't tend to be allot of cosplay meets during/ around convention times. But in case there are they would be announced about 1 month in advance.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: **Event Title:** Drinking Bubble thee
**What day(s):** Any day besides sunday
**Where:** The Hague
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Event Title:** Visit [*Tomato World*](http://tomatoworld.nl/nl/)
**What day(s):** TBC
**Where:** Tomatoworld ,
Zwethlaan 2 ,
2675 LB Honselersdijk, Nederland
**Details:** A tour of approximately 1.5 hours an educational advisor will learn you everything about Dutch horticulture in general and in particular about the tomato. Special interests such as technology, the growing methods or just for sustainability can be indicated in the application.
50 euro for a tour + 8per person which is a bit high for a silly event, but I could email and see if we can do a self-guided tour for less.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Event Title:** Find the A&M **ULTIMATE SHRINE MAIDEN**
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6j6Pjm.jpg)
**What day(s):** Probably either day of the convention, but TBC
**Where:** at the convention
**Details:** It's likely this event will be on again this year, although perhaps under a different theme. Here's the extract from the [con website:](http://www.animecon.nl/program/events/other-events/challenge-course)
>
> This event will be a series of mini games where several of your abilities will be put to the test. All games will train you to become a true Shrine maiden.
>
>
> Are you up for the challenge? Do you have the courage, knowledge, physical strength and foolishness to pull through? Come, then we will watch as you struggle towards the finish!
>
>
> During this event you can join in and participate at any given time. In order to lighten the pain we will hand out pric[z?]es to all participants.
>
>
> What’s with the long name? Our philosophy is ‘The longer the name, the better the event’. The past few years we also had the ‘Super Golden Sparkling Idol Training’ and the ‘Super Golden Banzai Challenge Course’. I
>
>
> Is there anything to win? To reward participants for their great efforts we will be giving away mini prizes to those that survive!
>
>
> Can I participate together with friends? Participation is very flexible, you can participate solo or together with friends.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Event Title:** Pub Quiz
**What day(s):** (Most likely) Friday from 9 to 11.
**Where:** Convention center
**Details:**
>
> A pub quiz is all about having a good time while having a nice drink with friends. The setting is usually a bar or pub and there will be several rounds of questions which are worth points. The rounds can be in theme, like a picture round, a music round and an Animecon themed round.
>
>
> In between rounds there will be a short break so the judges can collect your answers and count the points per team. Teams are limited to five persons per team, this is to keep things fair as more people probably know more answers.
>
>
> There can be as many teams as the room (and security) permits, it is also possible to join during the later rounds.
>
>
>
We're all members of the best Q&A site in town so I reckon we can do pretty good in this quiz! This is my personal favourite event of conventions. There's also prizes if we do well :D
**Note:** There may be an age restriction of 18 if there is alcohol being served.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/10/03 | 3,091 | 9,181 | <issue_start>username_0: It's that time of the quarter again: the fall season of anime is starting. We want to get as many tags as possible for this season's shows into the system, both so we get more interesting content on the site and so that low-rep users don't have to bumble their way into the [retag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag "show questions tagged 'retag'") workaround.
If you're looking for something to watch this season, consider picking something from the list below. Who knows, it might prompt you to ask some interesting questions!
(Previous editions: [summer 2015](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2455/), [spring 2015](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2303/), [and more](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tags-by-season).)<issue_comment>username_1: Note that shows for which we have tags are ~~struckthrough~~. Additionally, shows for which we had tags *at the beginning of the season* are unbolded.
New full-length shows
=====================
* **Brave Beats**
* ~~**Comet Lucifer**~~ [comet-lucifer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/comet-lucifer "show questions tagged 'comet-lucifer'")
* **Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou**
* **Dance with Devils**
* ~~**Gakusen Toshi Asterisk**~~ [gakuen-toshi-asterisk](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/gakuen-toshi-asterisk "show questions tagged 'gakuen-toshi-asterisk'")
* ~~**Heavy Object**~~ [heavy-object](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/heavy-object "show questions tagged 'heavy-object'")
* **Kamisama Minarai: Himitsu no Cocotama** (use *himitsu-no-cocotama*)
* **Lance N' Masques**
* ~~One Punch Man~~ [one-punch-man](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-punch-man "show questions tagged 'one-punch-man'")
* **Ore ga Ojou-sama Gakkou ni "Shomin Sample" toshite Gets-sareta Ken** (use *shomin-sample*)
* ~~**Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan**~~ [rakudai-kishi-no-cavalry](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rakudai-kishi-no-cavalry "show questions tagged 'rakudai-kishi-no-cavalry'")
* ~~**Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru**~~ [sakurako-san](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/sakurako-san "show questions tagged 'sakurako-san'")
* **Star Mu**, aka **High School Star Musical**
* ~~**Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider**~~ [subete-ga-f-ni-naru](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/subete-ga-f-ni-naru "show questions tagged 'subete-ga-f-ni-naru'")
* **Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai** (use *35-shoutai*)
* **Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid**
Full-length sequels
===================
* ~~Aikatsu~~ [aikatsu](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/aikatsu "show questions tagged 'aikatsu'")
* ~~Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Gears Crisis-hen~~ [cardfight-vanguard](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cardfight-vanguard "show questions tagged 'cardfight-vanguard'")
* ~~Garo: Guren no Tsuki~~ [garo](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/garo "show questions tagged 'garo'")
* ~~Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka??~~ [is-the-order-a-rabbit](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/is-the-order-a-rabbit "show questions tagged 'is-the-order-a-rabbit'")
* ~~Haikyuu!! 2~~ [haikyuu](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/haikyuu "show questions tagged 'haikyuu'")
* **Hidan no Aria**
* ~~K: Return of Kings~~ [k-project](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/k-project "show questions tagged 'k-project'")
* ~~<NAME>: Tekketsu no Orphans~~ [gundam](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/gundam "show questions tagged 'gundam'") (or, if you prefer, create a new tag *gundam-g-tekketsu*)
* **Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 2** (use *kindaichi-shounen*)
* ~~<NAME>~~ [noragami](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/noragami "show questions tagged 'noragami'")
* **Osomatsu-san**
* ~~Owari no Seraph: Nagoya Kessen-hen~~ [owari-no-seraph](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/owari-no-seraph "show questions tagged 'owari-no-seraph'") (cour 2 of a split-cour)
* ~~Owarimonogatari~~ [monogatari-series](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/monogatari-series "show questions tagged 'monogatari-series'")
* **Peeping Life TV: Season 1??**
* ~~Pokemon XY & Z~~ [pokemon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pokemon "show questions tagged 'pokemon'")
* **<NAME>**
* ~~Shingeki! <NAME>uugakkou~~ [shingeki-no-kyojin](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/shingeki-no-kyojin "show questions tagged 'shingeki-no-kyojin'")
* **Shinmai Maou no Testament Burst**
* **Soukyuu no Fafner: Exodus 2**
* ~~Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen~~ [utawarerumono](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/utawarerumono "show questions tagged 'utawarerumono'")
* ~~World Trigger: Isekai kara no Toubousha~~ [world-trigger](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/world-trigger "show questions tagged 'world-trigger'")
* ~~Young Black Jack~~ [black-jack](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/black-jack "show questions tagged 'black-jack'")
* ~~Yuru Yuri San☆Hai~~ [yuru-yuri](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/yuru-yuri "show questions tagged 'yuru-yuri'")
Shorts
======
* **Ameiro Cocoa: Rainy Color e Youkoso!**
* **Anitore! EX**
* ~~Diabolik Lovers More,Blood~~ [diabolik-lovers](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/diabolik-lovers "show questions tagged 'diabolik-lovers'")
* **Doushite mo Eto ni Hairitai**
* **Fushigi na Somera-chan**
* **Fuusen Inu Tinny 2nd Season**
* ~~**Hacka Doll: The Animation**~~ [hacka-doll](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hacka-doll "show questions tagged 'hacka-doll'")
* ~~Hokuto no Ken: Ichigo Aji~~ [hokuto-no-ken](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hokuto-no-ken "show questions tagged 'hokuto-no-ken'")
* **Itoshi no Muco**
* **JK-Meshi**
* **Kagewani**
* **Ketsuekigata-kun! 3**
* **Komori-san wa Kotowarenai**
* ~~**Kowabon**~~ [kowabon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/kowabon "show questions tagged 'kowabon'")
* **Kyoufu! Zombie Neko**
* **Mini Vanguard 2**
* ~~Miss Monochrome: The Animation 3~~ [miss-monochrome](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/miss-monochrome "show questions tagged 'miss-monochrome'")
* **Neko no Dayan: Nihon e Iku**
* **Onsen no Yousei Hakone-chan**
* **Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note**
* ~~Teekyuu 6~~ [teekyuu](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/teekyuu "show questions tagged 'teekyuu'")
Leftovers from previous seasons
===============================
* ~~Aquarion Logos~~ [aquarion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/aquarion "show questions tagged 'aquarion'")
* ~~Lupin III: L'avventura Italiana~~ [lupin-the-third](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/lupin-the-third "show questions tagged 'lupin-the-third'")
* ~~Ushio to Tora~~ [ushio-to-tora](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ushio-to-tora "show questions tagged 'ushio-to-tora'")
(and probably some others I missed)
Movies coming out on BD this season
===================================
* **Sarusuberi: <NAME>**
---
Listings culled from [Anichart](http://anichart.net/fall), [Senpai.moe](http://www.senpai.moe/?season=fall2015&sort=premiere&mode=table), and [The Cart Driver](http://thecartdriver.com/fall-2015-anime-season-preview/).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: Please keep this answer voted below [the other one](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2635/), so the other one is more visible.
I would like to set some targets for which tags we should try to have in the system by the time the season ends (at the end of December). Getting *all* of the currently unasked-about series in the system obviously isn't going to happen, since a lot of those series are e.g. family-oriented shows that nobody outside Japan watches.
Instead, I propose that we should try to focus on shows that are likely to have a reasonably-sized English-speaking viewer base. In my estimation, that means the following shows (that don't already have tags; bold for particularly "important" ones):
* ~~Comet Lucifer~~
* Concrete Revolutio
* Dance with Devils
* ~~Gakusen Toshi Asterisk~~
* ~~Hacka Doll~~ (a short, but by Trigger)
* ~~**Heavy Object**~~ (going to be super-popular because Kamachi)
* Hidan no Aria (this somehow got a sequel, so clearly somebody is still into the KugiRie-as-tsundere genre)
* ~~Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan~~
* ~~Sakurako-san~~
* Shinmai Maou no Testament
* Shomin Sample
* ~~**Subete ga F ni Naru**~~ (lots of hype here)
* Taimadou Gakuen 35 etc
I will probably watch most of these and ask questions about them as I have them. If you're watching any of these shows, you might like to try to do the same.
---
In summary: by the end of the fall 2015 season (plus a few days), we managed to get questions about 7/13 of the shows listed above. Not bad, though I have to think we could've done better. (I, personally, also watched Dance with Devils, but was unable to muster any interesting questions about it.)
Oh, well. On to winter 2016!
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/10/10 | 940 | 3,220 | <issue_start>username_0: This meta post is a place for handy travel information for anyone going on our trip.
Please share anything you might find useful for the trip.
We're still gathering [ideas for what to do](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2626/european-am-gathering-what-should-we-do-there?cb=1) on our [other meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2626/european-am-gathering-what-should-we-do-there?cb=1) , so if you have any fun suggestions - or haven't voted on things you'd like to do, check that post out too.
As the type of information here differs a lot, there'll be no *format* for answers. Please just keep them brief and informative :)<issue_comment>username_1: [Here's an editable Google Map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=znvnvC_9qPpg.kyr80_E8dlCk&usp=sharing) of locations which should be handy.
Feel free to add any points of interest onto the map.
Currently it has some locations of the suggested events, hotels and transport links.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_1: Most of Europe uses the same plug, but for those who don't, like myself and the UK - the plug type is as such:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jfYrg.png)
Don't forget to bring an adapter if you need it.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_1: The date of the convention is the **10th to the 12th of June 2016**, opening at 14:00 on Friday and closing on Sunday at 17:00.
You can buy tickets [here](https://tickets.animecon.nl/).
There is a bigger discount the earlier you book, and there are different tiers of tickets if you do not wish to attend every day:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PnYhH.png)
There is a good [FAQ](http://www.animecon.nl/faq/festival-related-faq) on their site if you have any con-specific questions.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_1: User @DmitriMX has given [some hotel suggestions here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2627/1530) - Probably best if you would like to halve the costs with another A&M'r.
The convention site has a [list of hotels](https://www.itotours.com/animecon2016/overview.aspx) too - sortable by distance to the center / cost.
There are also third party groups like [Hotels.com](http://www.hotels.com/) & [Booking.com](http://www.booking.com) as well, which are decent.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_1: Just to cover every base, by joining us on the trip you agree to some sensible rules:
* This is not an official *Stack Exchange* event, it is an event that has been organized within the site community. As of such,
* You are ultimately responsible for your own actions. You are responsible for your personal travel/insurance/food/lodging and any other costs you may incur during the trip.
* Although our members are probably lovely, if you trust other members with belongings/shared lodging, etc. - you do so at your own risk.
* If you behave in a way that is ruining others' enjoyment of the event, you may be asked to stop participation. Unwarranted harassment of any sort won't be tolerated.
* You are free to leave/join the group at any time.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2015/10/15 | 1,346 | 5,045 | <issue_start>username_0: I edited this question's title [(Death Note spoiler)](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19123) to avoid spoilers. Later on, it was rolled back. Should I not have edited it then?
I'm not quite sure that the title is [needed](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/47/4484) to contain such spoiler. The fact that it is tagged as Death Note seems sufficient to suggest who is meant by 'shinigami' and 'character'. Besides you can always type the real question in the post. This can still be searchable in google afaik.
So if the question is
>
> Why did John kill Jane?
>
>
>
, then why not have the title be something that censors (at least 1 of) the names like
>
> Why did X kill Y?
>
>
>
and then just say the real question in the post.
If this title isn't informative enough, then perhaps we can say the episode title/chapter or the season or volume. Eg
>
> Why did X kill Y in S02E04 ?
>
>
>
or (in case that would be a spoiler)
>
> Why did X kill Y in this season 2 episode ?
>
>
>
I happen to know in other sites like reddit or myanimelist, it is extremely forbidden to put a spoiler in the title. This isn't just for anime but other for other fiction subreddits/forums and even for, like, sports or gaming subreddits/forums.
'A good title is always more important then avoiding spoilers' would be completely nonsensical there. They even go a step further to say you should say what kind of spoiler you're hiding eg season X spoiler, manga spoiler, spoiler for another show, etc
Or maybe this is a stackexchange thing...What do movies se or scifi se do? Do they spoil people too?<issue_comment>username_1: **The general consensus for questions is that you do not have to avoid spoilers.**
As for the title, it just as stated in [the post you linked](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/47/1458).
>
> The rule I've always followed is to include spoilers in your title only if it's required for the title to be searchable, and clearly indicate what the question is about. In other words, if you can make a good title without spoilers, do so; otherwise include spoilers. A good title is more important than spoilers. **After all, the ignore tag feature will allow users to ignore any tags in a series they wish to avoid spoilers about**.
>
>
>
I am not to sure how you see your replacement with `Shinigami` And `Character` as:
* `Why did the Shinigami Kill the character?` would not make for a very good title
* `Why did Shinigami Kill L` Which shinigami are we talking about?
* `Why did Rem Kill him?` killed whom?
All with all, in this case including the spoiler makes for the best title, and also would most likely be the one most searched for when looking for a answer to such a question
A good title is always more important then avoiding spoilers
------------------------------------------------------------
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't really agree with the [other answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2655/1908).
I strongly advocate for avoiding spoilers in titles except when they are really, genuinely, 100% necessary for the post to make any sense. Keep in mind that when you google for an answer to some anime-related question, google indexes both the title *and* the body of the post, so stuff is still findable even if you're somewhat roundabout in the title. While I imagine the title is granted more weight, avoiding spoilers in the title still likely does little harm. I think that the benefit of avoiding spoiling users' experience with various shows outweighs the cost of losing some descriptiveness in the titles.
I also want to point out that while the claim "the ignore tag feature will allow users to ignore any tags in a series they wish to avoid spoilers about", is *technically* correct, it does not propose a *practically* useful course of action. Here's why:
Suppose that I'm <NAME>, some dude who's only seen Naruto. One day, I come to Anime.SE and ask some questions about a Ninetales Uchiha Hokage Rasengan. While I'm here, I see some questions on the front page about this thing called "Death Note". That sounds like a pretty metal sort of thing, so I figure I'm going to go and watch that when I get a chance. But! As I'm browsing the front page, I see another question title that reads "Why did Rem kill L?" that's tagged with [death-note]. And then I watch the first few episodes of Death Note, and suddenly the context of that question becomes clear - I know who Rem is, I know who L is, and now I've been spoiled on the fact that Rem is going to kill L at some point!
There's the problem - users cannot, practically speaking, ignore tags for all shows they may want to watch in the future. If you *know* in advance that you want to avoid spoilers for X, sure, ignore [X]. But if you don't, what can you do to avoid spoilers? If the spoilers are right there in the titles, there's effectively nothing you can do. And that's the problem with putting big spoilers in titles.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2015/10/27 | 1,162 | 4,448 | <issue_start>username_0: A certain [Hakase-type Tomato](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/24958867#24958867) had a good idea of a floating checklist for identification request questions. I believe that this is a good idea, as many of the new users who use this site for id-requests seem to struggle with details to give.
I'd like to open suggestions to the community for a checklist to help new users better understand they should include in their question, so other users have something to go on when they make an attempt at find what they're looking for. This checklist is meant to be a reference guide, rather than a set of requirements, explaining to question posers what their question lacks, instead of merely telling them that there is "not enough detail to be answered."
This way we can more explicitly remind these users of what their id-request may be lacking. What comes after that is up to them.<issue_comment>username_1: If you posted a **description** request, try the following to get better answers and more upvotes!
These **primary** details will help us most; try to give **at least one** of:
* A complete description of one significant character: Hair color, eye color, skin tone, clothes, etc.
* A complete description of one significant location: Type of location (farm, house, etc.), style of location (colors, notable characteristics), etc.
* A complete description of a plot point: Detailed information about a story arc, central theme of an episode, or concept focused on
**AND**
Some **secondary details** will help us a lot; try to give **at least two** of:
* Character's name (approximations are fine)
* Incomplete character descriptions: Gender, approximate hair style, etc.
* Type of media: OVA, TV show, serialized manga, one-shot, doujin, etc.
* Publisher, licensor, distributor, etc.
**AND**
And any **additional details** will help, too; try to give as many as possible of:
* Year you saw it (and month, if possible)
* Publication you read it in, or TV channel/network you saw it on
* What language your read/saw it in
* What kind of art style it has
* Genre
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: If you posted an **image** or **video clip** request, try the following to get better answers and more upvotes!
**First,** try a simple [Reverse Image Search](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/how-can-i-identify-an-anime-using-reverse-image-search) and let us know if that didn't work!
**If that didn't work**, try to **edit your question** to include some of the following:
* The image, video, GIF, etc. that you are asking about (duh!)
* How you found this image: link us to the forum thread, the website, etc. that you found it on
* Which search engines you've tried to find the source on
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As I see it, we gotta compile a shortlist of bullet list items that would fit in one or very few lines in the side widget. We're dealing with lazy people here, so the longer each point, the more chance of tl;dr and we don't want that. In addition to the basic description, add a `(?)` button that shows a list of examples. Consider *(the text within parentheses)* as an example of that hint.
General:
* Work type (anime, movie, ova, manga, text novel, game novel, etc.)
* Genre (comedy, psychological, fighting, fantasy, horror, slice-of-life, etc.)
* Year of production. If you don't know, try to guess.
* When you first saw/read it
* *[image ID]* Original image link *− [in addition to the image uploaded to i.stack add the original link for a way to backtrack the source]*
* What other works are like this / commonly associated with *− [this could help find it through recommendations and related/similar works on anime database sites]*
Character description:
* Human / animal / fantasy creature
* Peculiar features (metal helmet, red shades, skull-themed accessories)
* Hair style and color
* Eye color (some characters have different colored eyes)
* Clothes (uniform, suit, pajamas)
* Apparent age (some characters are definitely young, in their teens or old, and sometimes they are thousands of years old, but look like kids)
* Occupation (student, worker, teacher, detective, ninja, NEET)
Location:
* Inside a building / on the street / in a vehicle
* Sky color / interior decoration
* City street / school / office / cafe / shopping mall
Story:
* What was happening in the scene you remember
* What else was happening
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/11/06 | 1,189 | 4,913 | <issue_start>username_0: This morning I stumbled upon a change in the review system, the reputation requirements have been raised.
With this change **only 42 users** (162 with the old threshold) can do Close, Reopen & Low Quality reviews.
What exactly is the point behind this?
---
*I created a [data query](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/386695/reviews-done-each-month) that shows how many reviews are done per month. We can use this over time to visualize the impact of the new system.*<issue_comment>username_1: **Note:** It seems that this change was a bug; see [this answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2669/24). While my answer below is not really valid, we can still expect that this change will happen eventually, and when it does the logic presented here will still be just as valid, so I am leaving it here.
---
The new reputation levels are the standard levels on graduated sites. Previously, we had the public beta levels, for which [close votes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/close-questions) were available at 500 rep (and, for instance, [Trusted User](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/trusted-user) at 4k). If you go to any other graduated site, the rep levels will be essentially the same (barring individual changes).
This site has been ready to graduate for a while though, and [formally did so](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2594/congratulations-anime-manga-is-graduating) in September. The biggest immediate consequences of graduation are moderator elections and removing the "beta" label. After some time, the rep levels will also be raised (as it seems they have) and a custom site design will be added. This is part of the new [design-independent graduation procedure](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/263905/design-independent-graduation-is-on-for-early-september) which we are one of the first sites graduating through.
I can't comment on why it took so long for the rep levels to be raised, but this was always understood to be part of the graduation process, and is not in any way unexpected.
---
Personally, I'm all for this change. We want to encourage more people to continue participating for longer on this site. Having rewards at higher levels serves this purpose. Previously, for many users on the site, once they passed 4k rep, there was nothing else obvious to aim for. Now we have things that even the highest rep users can still aim for. The new levels are still rather reasonable; it's completely possible to get to 3k in a couple months if you're relatively active.
From a practical standpoint we can easily still deal with close/reopen voting and other reviewing whether there are 42 users or 162 qualified; a question only needs 5 close votes, and 42 is pretty large compared to 5 already. In addition, this site has been around for some time and has some rather well-established policies on closure. We want the people who are voting to close/reopen questions to at least be aware of these rules before voting. A user with 500 rep could plausibly not know any of these rules, as getting to that level only takes a few days of activity at minimum. A user with 3k rep will likely have been around for a while and probably at least knows enough to intelligently decide on these things. Sure, some users in the 500-3k range are qualified and know the rules, but even with just 3k users there's not going to be much difficulty getting things reviewed. At worst, it may take an extra few hours to get questions closed or reopened. The only front that we're lacking people on is answer deletion, and that's a rather rare case anyway.
With that said, I would like to remind and encourage everyone here to be voting on posts. If you read a good question or answer, upvote it. This is the best way to ensure that people here can maintain healthy reputation growth. In addition, I encourage everyone to ask good questions yourselves. There's been some complaints recently that good questions to answer are increasingly hard to find. However, few have taken the obvious step to counteract this of simply asking your own good questions. You can even [answer your own question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer) if you prefer. If you follow these steps, I expect you'll find that these rep levels are actually still within reach in a reasonable period of time.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This was a bug. Specifically, entirely my fault - I renamed the setting that overrides normal privilege thresholds for graduated sites and keeps them at the public beta levels. I forgot that the setting values don't get moved over in the rename, so the thresholds jumped up.
I restored the correct settings here and on other sites that have been graduated under the new design-independent system, so everything should be back to normal.
Sorry!
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2015/11/30 | 1,274 | 3,762 | <issue_start>username_0: The purpose of this Meta post is to list all the events that we, the Anime.SE Community run throughout.
`----------------------------------------------------------------------`
```
**Event Name:** [Name of the event]
**Run time:** [When the event will run. Either a single date or when it repeated]
**Status:** [Whether or not we are still doing the event]
**Description:** [Short description about the event. Post relevant links here]
```<issue_comment>username_1: **Event Name:** *Anime Club Event*
**Run time:** *TBC*
**Status:** *On-going*
**Description:** Using [Rabb.it](http://rabb.it/Krazer) and official sources such as Amazon Prime video, Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Funimation, where available [ʞɹɐzǝɹ ♦](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/users/63/%CA%9E%C9%B9%C9%90z%C7%9D%C9%B9) will announce in the [main chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) as well as our LINE group (give you LINE ID in chat for an invite)
* [Anime Club Event: Come watch anime with us this weekend!](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2666/anime-club-event-come-watch-anime-with-us-this-weekend)
* [Weekend Extra: Come watch Digimon Tri 1-4 with us!](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2676/weekend-extra-come-watch-digimon-tri-1-4-with-us)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: **Event Name:** Conspiracy Santa
**Run time:** Every Year (Starting October 10th for signups)
**Status:** On-Going
**Description:** Starting in 2014 the Anime.SE Community have started a Secret Santa kind of event for Christmas. to participate one needs ***200 reputation excluding the association bonus*** (at least 300 with the association bonus) and have an ***account age of at least 1 month*** by the end of the first day after signup
* [2015 Signup](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2617/come-one-come-all-to-the-second-annual-anime-se-holiday-gift-exchange)
* [2015 Event Start](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2650/am-gift-exchange-lets-start-conspiring)
* [2015 Gifts Showcase](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2686/am-gift-exchange-show-off-your-gifts)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: **Event Name:** *Monthly Avatar Switchup*
**Run time:** *15th of every Month*
**Status:** *On-going*
**Description:** Every month on the 15th [Hakase](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/191/hakase) will announce in the [main chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) a theme for the next month for people to change their avatars (and in rare chances names aswell).
eg.
* [Second Favorite girl](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6QpMN.jpg)
* [Everyone](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/24818223#24818223) [becomes](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/24818422#24818422) a [Tomato](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2503/1587)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **Event Name:** EU A&M Meetup
**Run time:** 10th to 12th June 2016.
**Status:** Once-Off
Description: The A&M members who live in the EU are going to meet up and have fun at Anime Con 2016! Come along if you can.
**[A&M EU Meetup Report!](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3849/am-eu-meetup-report)**
[A&M EU Meetup - The convention approaches!](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2823/am-eu-meetup-the-convention-approaches)
[European A&M Gathering: What should we do there?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2626/european-am-gathering-what-should-we-do-there?cb=1)
[European A&M Gathering - Helpful Travel Tips & Resources (Tickets, Accommodation, etc.)](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2644/european-am-gathering-helpful-travel-tips-resources-tickets-accommodation?lq=1)
Upvotes: 3 |
2015/12/05 | 1,836 | 5,561 | <issue_start>username_0: Hello Anime & Manga elves!
Now that you've put all that hard work into preparing your gift, it's about time to start unwrapping your own one!
Don't worry if your gift hasn't arrived yet, sometimes good things take time. If you haven't received your gift by the 10th of January, let one of the moderators know, by email or ping us in the [Maid Cafè chat room.](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-)
As we did last year, let's show off our gifts to the rest of A&M and make them jealous that they didn't take part! :)
You don't have to be in your photo, but please do post a picture of your gift and anything you want to say to you giftee! That's all! Bonus points for those who go the extra mile !
If you didnt participate in the exchange, feel free to show off a little of your own xmas swag.
---
On behalf of all the moderators at Anime & Manga SE, We wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and hope you'll join us again next year for another gift exchange! :)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0rdQKm.jpg)
P.S. [Check out last year's gifts too!](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1182/its-showtime-phase-2-lets-show-off-our-presents)<issue_comment>username_1: Thank you **<NAME>**! :)
During my lunch break I hopped down to the post office to get a package. I had ordered some xmas presents for my siblings, so I thought it was going to be that - but it was my A&M santa!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DAxypm.jpg)
(address kyouko-censored)
I started to open it - and there is a cute glasses-girl to greet me
and a cute dango-eating girl on the back with some rabbits too!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/j0w75m.jpg) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HtE1Mm.jpg)
Let's look at the present now~
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yVfU8m.jpg)
ooh :) I really like this little bamboo box. it's so nicely made and presented!
And inside:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/w2BEDm.jpg)
**Sushi Rolls!** Delicious.
On closer inspection they're actually little hand towels :)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pPtjTm.jpg) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mqfMEm.jpg)
Thank you a lot :) These are really cool little towels.
No fanservice photos of me using them tho ;)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sakVsm.jpg)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Thanks **@HashiramaSenju**!
Today, I got in the mail, a hefty assortment of delicious-looking snax from Hashirama's home country.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cU9Md.jpg)
Foreign snacks have always been a rare and delectable treat for me as there are a pletora flavors, textures, and ingredients out there waiting to be discovered. Some more healthier than others.
I've always wondered how Hashirama can subsist on just these snacks. Now I have an idea of how he does it and how delectable they are.
Additionally, I'm told there's another part coming and this is just an appetizer... Hmm I wonder what's in store for part 2! In the meantime, thanks for the yummy snax.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yB1Zj.gif)
To be continued in Part 2! つづく！
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Thank you [SWard](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/15660/sward) and fellow conspirators!
Last week I got this in my mail:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rrsH9.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/h1fhp.jpg)
I never read the manga, and am looking forward to doing so! Thanks to everyone, and looking forward to next year's edition!!!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Thanks to **@DmitriMX** for my lovely gift ^\_^
Here's the box
Open it up and we find another glasses girl! She must have run over after Tosh opened his gift.
Remove the excess paper and what do we have? A lovely Nendoroid Yamato from one of my favourite series, *Kantai Collection*! She'll be able to keep my Nendoroid Haruna company ^\_^
She'll stay packaged up until I return to university, but I'll make sure to update with some extra pictures once she's made it there!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Thank you *insert name* ( Sorry, I forget your name, and can't find it q.q) For my awesome new friend !
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNWwi.jpg)
I know I am late, but rather late then never :)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Dmwn.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z5U0e.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/i2LkL.png)
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/12/10 | 3,215 | 12,114 | <issue_start>username_0: As part of [solidifying & simplifying our rules](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2672/1530), let's look at tagging next.
The fact that our tagging is confusing has been brought up a few times in the past, and our current approach to creating new tags is somewhat case-by-case. For anyone unfamiliar with the site it's a little confusing why some tags get split and some don't. There have been [multiple](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2673/why-fma-and-fma-brotherhood-didnt-have-different-tag?s=1%7C1.2682) [meta posts](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/308/should-multiple-continuities-have-individual-tags?s=5%7C0.0835) [asking](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/84/should-minimalistic-tags-and-synonyms-be-used-for-anime-with-different-series/88#88) about it in different forms - so let's pin it down and decide solidly.
In this policy review, **let's look at how we tag series that have multiple continuities.** That is, series that have significantly different plots/stories and are essentially sub-series.
Some examples of this would be Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, The Evangelion TV Series / Evangelion Movies, and so on.
There are a couple of approaches we can take here and we'd like to hear what the A&M community wants to do.<issue_comment>username_1: I think the best approach is to [Keep It Simple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle). We should use a single tag for these related series.
I realise the benefits of being able to look up FMA:B rather than FMA, but it gets very complicated quickly - when is something a continuity? do we tag all the Dragonball series and all their movies?
It also opens the floodgates for considering even *more* tags, consider [attack-on-titan-manga](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/attack-on-titan-manga "show questions tagged 'attack-on-titan-manga'") , [attack-on-titan-anime](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/attack-on-titan-anime "show questions tagged 'attack-on-titan-anime'") , [attack-on-titan-junior-high](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/attack-on-titan-junior-high "show questions tagged 'attack-on-titan-junior-high'") and even [attack-on-titan-live-action](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/attack-on-titan-live-action "show questions tagged 'attack-on-titan-live-action'"). There may be questions about the series as a whole too. "Why are the titans attacking?" for example.
---
There aren't many questions for most series, the only ones that will benefit are the largest (FMA, is admittedly an example). Otherwise, we have 2 tags for maybe 3 questions (if even).
This also means an increase in the amount of retagging we need to do, the amount of tags we fall behind on season-by-season, etc.
---
I think having less tags, while less convenient for searchers is the more **practical** approach.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I feel that we need a change. Our current policy on this makes things a bit vague and just seems lazy overall. I feel that the mods share some of the blame in their lack of action on the matter.
Because this has been brought up multiple times, it's about time we make an attempt to take action on the matter. Just putting it off til later merely delay the inevitable.
Why should I care?
------------------
First off, I personally think it makes for bad policy to have the tags be inconsistent. It feels a bit lazy to lump the whole of one series with different continuities under just the umbrella of one tag. Having multiple tags to differentiate a series will make it easier for both asker and answers as these questions will better establish the context of which series on is referring to. This will better confine the scope of the question to only that series, making most question easier to answer as you don't have to cover all the continuities if the OP doesn't specify.
Remakes and reboots fall under the same umbrella. Series like *Hunter x Hunter* and *Ghost in the Shell* often times change up the plot, alter scenes, and/or even add additional characters. Being able to make a distinction between the original from the remake can make answering one much easier, especially when you haven't seen one of them. This allows fans who are "experts" fans on one series to be able to seek out and cover the one that they are most familiar with.
What does this mean?
--------------------
This doesn't mean every tag needs to be separated or be differentiated with an -anime, -manga, or -live-action suffix. It means we need to make a distinction between them. For example, by splitting [fullmetal-alchemist](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fullmetal-alchemist "show questions tagged 'fullmetal-alchemist'") into "fullmetal-alchemist-2003" and "fma-brotherhood" we can better focus on easy particular continuity and not have to specify which one we're talking about each time. It's the same logic as not needing to include the title series title in the question title when posting a question to reduce redundancy.
If a user asks about an event in a series with two different continuities (with a different outcome) and doesn't make a distinction as to which they are referring to, covering both might be require additional effort, especially if you've only seen one of them. It's a bit cumbersome to ask a *Gundam Build Fighters* specific question and need to differentiate it from the original *Gundam* or the *Gunpla Builders Beginning G* OVA, when all you have is the [gundam](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/gundam "show questions tagged 'gundam'") tag. A tag should refer specifically to a particular series rather than the franchise as a whole.
What we need is a clear set of guidelines to abide by. The an older series shouldn't be given precedence over a new one. If the titles are the same, we should add a date to both. If the difference between a manga and an anime is somewhat minor (no major divergences in the plot [e.g., the *Angelic Layer* anime vs manga and the *Akame ga Kill* anime vs manga, compared to the *Shomin Sample* anime vs manga]), there should be no need to separate the two (i.e., they'll fall under one tag).
Should there be exceptions?
---------------------------
There may be special circumstances to warrant separation. For an example, *Dragonball*, *Dragonball Z*, *Dragonball GT*, and *Dragonball Super* can be different enough to warrant separate tags while being all a part of one continuous series with shared characters, compared to Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, which should not. The *Fate/Stay Night* falls in a similar category, we should refer to the Deen TV anime as separate from the Deen UBW, which is separate from the ufotable remake of UBW and Heaven's Feel. Evangelion should be separated into the TV series, End of Evangelion movie, and the Rebuild movies. This way we can make a distinction and better focus on the topic specifically, rather than generalize them.
What should we do?
------------------
I propose that if we would like split series with different continuities establish an meta where we clarify everything from the guidelines of how to approach tagging to any exceptions to these guidelines, along with an explanation of why decide to do things this way. This would eliminate any confusion on the topic and set a precedence for future series as well.
Less isn't always practical, but consistency and clarity are. While it may require more work (for the mods and community; retagging question, synonymizing, making better tag excerpts and wikis, etc.) as a whole, I feel that starting to be more consistent with our current site policies can better shape our attitude and outlook on future policies as well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I've appreciated SciFi and Fantasy SE's approach more and more as time goes on. For large franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars, SFF has a single tag for the franchise, and then tags for the specific properties in the franchise. For example, they have a [star-trek](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/star-trek "show questions tagged 'star-trek'") tag, and then [star-trek-tos](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/star-trek-tos "show questions tagged 'star-trek-tos'"), [star-trek-tng](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/star-trek-tng "show questions tagged 'star-trek-tng'"), and so on. Questions about the franchise in general will be tagged with just the franchise tag. Questions about a specific series will have the franchise tag as well as the tag for the specific series.
So in our case, we would have an [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'") tag and then [eva-tv](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/eva-tv "show questions tagged 'eva-tv'"), [end-of-eva](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/end-of-eva "show questions tagged 'end-of-eva'"), [rebuild-of-eva](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rebuild-of-eva "show questions tagged 'rebuild-of-eva'"). Questions about the franchise as a whole, or which are open to answers drawn from any part of the franchise, can be tagged [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'"). Questions which are additionally focused on a single property would also have a specific tag. E.g. "Why was Asuka designed with red hair?" would be tagged [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'") because Asuka's character design pertains to the entire franchise and not just a specific series. "Why did Asuka say 'Kimochi warui'?" would be tagged [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'") [end-of-eva](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/end-of-eva "show questions tagged 'end-of-eva'"); this way it shows up in searches for [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'") questions, but it's also obvious that the question pertains to [end-of-eva](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/end-of-eva "show questions tagged 'end-of-eva'"). This also solves the problem of specific tags that only have two or three questions; while there will be such tags (I don't know that we'll have many questions on [eva-angelic-days](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/eva-angelic-days "show questions tagged 'eva-angelic-days'"), for instance), the questions will be double-tagged as [evangelion](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/evangelion "show questions tagged 'evangelion'"), so all the Eva questions can be aggregated when necessary.
While I think this would solve our problem, it has two disadvantages. First, it's high maintenance. We would probably need high rep users to buzz around adding and subtracting tags to make sure that every question conforms to the convention.
Second, we'll have to make up our own names for cases like the 2003 Full Metal Alchemist anime, because the tag would need to be distinct from the main [full-metal-alchemist](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/full-metal-alchemist "show questions tagged 'full-metal-alchemist'") tag as well as the [fma-manga](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fma-manga "show questions tagged 'fma-manga'") tag. I don't particularly like ʞɹɐzǝɹ's solution of adding dates and studios ([fma-2003](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fma-2003 "show questions tagged 'fma-2003'") or [unlimited-blade-works-deen](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/unlimited-blade-works-deen "show questions tagged 'unlimited-blade-works-deen'")) as these shows are not commonly known by those titles, which means people will be even more likely to tag incorrectly and make more work for other users. I don't have a better idea, though.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2015/12/16 | 564 | 2,293 | <issue_start>username_0: What exactly are the the standards for asking a question in title and body?
This just came up for me because I wanted to ask a question but had to unnecessarily make my title and body longer because I was shown the ["This post does not meet our quality standards." message](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/quality-standards-error).
So it would be nice to see **why** the title or body doesn't meet the standard and not let the users guess.<issue_comment>username_1: There's no *standard* per say, but generally questions should be as detailed as you can make them. This is why there are minimum character limits and such. The more detailed the question, the more likely it is that people will be interested enough to answer. One line questions tend to be seen as low effort.
The Title of your question should be a brief summary of the question:
* Why does X happen?
* If X happened, Why is Y still alive?
* What is the first instance of X in an anime?
The Body of your Question should expand on this summary, including any relevant information:
>
> I am somewhat confused by the fight scene between A & B in episode Q at time XXm:XXs.
>
>
> Character A says "I must destroy you, for you are evil", to which Character B replies "You cannot destroy me, No anime characters can defeat me".
>
>
> If this is true, how did Character A destroy Character B?
>
>
>
As you can see, this is fairly short - but it includes all the information needed for an answerer to immediately know what you are talking about. Therefore, the only standard we impose on how you form your questions is **Quality**.
This might seem intimidating to someone who doesn't have English as a first language, but other users will likely edit your spelling mistakes and such if you have put enough effort into your question.
(P.S. The answer is the anime is actually a comic crossover and Character A is actually an american comic character, not an anime character [What a twist!] )
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The error message now links to [the error message you pointed to in the question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/quality-standards-error), so that users are provided with better guidance.
Specifics about the algorithm are not public, though.
Upvotes: 1 |
2015/12/16 | 442 | 1,720 | <issue_start>username_0: I frequently see unanswered questions, not because there isn't good answers but because the user who asked them is no longer active.
**Should these be closed?**
As without an accepted answer they are not very useful. And if they are closed it will give an active user the chance to ask them, without it being a duplicate, and select the answer.
And if so can we have an addition reason for closing implemented such as user inactive or something?
**Or should there be functionality implemented to vote on inactive users answers so that people with good answers can get the recognition they deserve?**<issue_comment>username_1: I've addressed the main issue you bring up before [on Meta Cross Validated](https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2808/72321). Basically, as [the top answer](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/3672/208518) on [this Meta post](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/3669/208518) suggests:
>
> The number of up-votes shows the level of acceptance by the community.
>
>
> If the "accepted answer" has no up-votes, but yours has 12, clearly yours is the community-accepted answer :)
>
>
>
Good answers will get the recognition they need from the community's upvotes — don't sweat about an accept mark.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There's a difference between unanswered questions and questions without accepted answers.
Unanswered means that there is not currently an answer *with a positive score*. Even if a question's asker becomes inactive, the question itself can still be considered answered if the community votes it up. It will also then be removed from the [unanswered](https://anime.stackexchange.com/unanswered) page.
Upvotes: 2 |
2015/12/28 | 868 | 3,230 | <issue_start>username_0: Recently I came across [this](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/28447/which-episode-is-this-from-c%C2%B3) post, the author was asking from which episode a certain picture/screenshot was.
I wrongly voted to close this as a duplicate of ["Where is this picture from? How do I use Reverse Image Search to find the source of an anime/manga image?"](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/where-is-this-picture-from-how-do-i-use-reverse-image-search-to-find-the-source) (as we do with most image only identification requests).
The problem I have with this type of question is that it won't be of much use for anyone but the author.
Do we allow these kind of questions and if not what should we do with them?<issue_comment>username_1: **Should we allow *“From which episode is this image?”* questions**: No, too broad
**Should we allow *"From which episode is ....?"* questions in general**: Debatable
*"From which episode is this image"* questions become too broad fairly easily. Unless a [reverse image search](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/where-is-this-picture-from-how-do-i-use-reverse-image-search-to-find-the-source) quickly manages to exclude the image from being from a specific movie, or visual novel.
If that is not the case, it would mean that the person answering would need to have a very in-depth knowledge of the source material, which sometimes includes more than thousands of hours of screen time. Or they have to go re-watch/read the whole thing just to get this one answer, which in most cases will not help a lot of people either way. This is based on some of the "from which episode" questions we already have on the site.
Then should we just disallow "from which episode" questions all together?
No, I don't think that is a good option. Most image identifications become too broad fairly fast. And even though this can also be the case for a bulk of the other "from which episode" questions out there, they could be borderline answerable. [Taking this K-on question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/20602/in-which-episode-does-this-picture-from-the-opening-of-k-on-appear) and [this One Piece question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/15592/in-which-episode-do-they-say-that-from-the-outside-the-straw-hats-dont-look-li), which are also fairly broad, yet are not bad questions in themselves.
In both cases, I think the questions should at the very least suffice to the
[ID-request rules](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) in general, even if the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag may not always apply.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: While I'm not a fan of these questions, I think they should be judged on a case-by-case basis.
as @LoganM has pointed out (and @Dimitrimx in his answer) there are instances of good questions that can be asked in this format.
Therefore, I think we should deal with low-quality questions as usual and indicate it with downvotes.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2016/01/15 | 990 | 3,912 | <issue_start>username_0: It's 2016 now, and we've [made some changes to the sidebar size](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/272563/were-standardizing-the-sidebar-width-at-300px-on-all-sites). As such, we can now restart the Community Promotion Ads for 2016!
Keep in mind, we have updated some of the guidelines compared to previously - the changes are marked in bold in the Image Requirements section.
### What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertisements to be shown.
### Why do we have Community Promotion Ads?
This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:
* the site's twitter account
* review blogs and research websites to keep on top of each new season
* events, meetups, and conventions
* anything else your community would genuinely be interested in
The goal is for future visitors to find out about *the stuff your community deems important*. This also serves as a way to promote information and resources that are *relevant to your own community's interests*, both for those already in the community and those yet to join.
### Why do we reset the ads every year?
Some services will maintain usefulness over the years, while other things will wane to allow for new faces to show up. Resetting the ads every year helps accommodate this, and allows old ads that have served their purpose to be cycled out for fresher ads for newer things. This helps keep the material in the ads relevant to not just the subject matter of the community, but to the current status of the community. We reset the ads once a year, every December.
The community promotion ads have no restrictions against reposting an ad from a previous cycle. If a particular service or ad is very valuable to the community and will continue to be so, it is a good idea to repost it. It may be helpful to give it a new face in the process, so as to prevent the imagery of the ad from getting stale after a year of exposure.
### How does it work?
The answers you post to this question *must* conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.
1. All answers should be in the exact form of:
```
[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]
[1]: http://image-url
[2]: http://clickthrough-url
```
Please **do not add anything else to the body of the post**. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.
2. The question must always be tagged with the magic [community-ads](/questions/tagged/community-ads "show questions tagged 'community-ads'") tag. In addition to enabling the functionality of the advertisements, this tag also pre-fills the answer form with the above required form.
### Image requirements
* The image that you create must be **300 x 250 pixels**, or double that if high DPI.
* Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
* Must be GIF or PNG
* No animated GIFs
* Absolute limit on file size of **150 KB**
* **If the background of the image is white or partially white, there must be a 1px border (2px if high DPI) surrounding it.**
### Score Threshold
There is a **minimum score threshold** an answer must meet (currently **6**) before it will be shown on the main site.
You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/ads/display/2717).<issue_comment>username_1: [](https://twitter.com/StackAnime)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: [](https://movies.stackexchange.com/)
Upvotes: 4 |
2016/01/31 | 3,721 | 15,320 | <issue_start>username_0: So you probably know about those Identification Request type of questions, most probably from them swamping the front page pretty often. Let's talk about where they are now and where they may better belong.
A while ago the main site classified such questions as off-topic until one day we decided to allow them for reasons of goodwill. It's great to help others discover new things and remember old ones. Everybody feels good about doing that.
But what's not good is that those types of questions are usually of very low quality level, compared to all the other, "main" types of questions before ID requests. They bring down overall question quality and flood "recently active questions" tabs/views.
Also, they are not useful to a lot of viewers. Honestly, have you yourself read a lot of those? Is it that much better than just asking for recommendations in chat? How do you think the "satisfied customer count" differs between an average ID question and an average in-universe rule explanation?
Rules don't apply to IDs the same way they do to regular questions. There is a whole other ruleset to govern IDs now, which makes it apparent that they themselves are a whole different type of question (and this is why I'm talking about IDs and "main" questions separately).
Most users that come by to ask ID questions, disappear forever. Very few edit after getting closed, and very few stick around. Talk about time well spent.
I'm not saying IDs are bad and we should ban them. I'm saying maybe both IDs and the "main" content would be better off if they were separated from each other.
One idea that I've had for a while is to put them all into a separate tab called "ID requests". That would clear up all the "main" site views from them, and it would serve as an "exploration" view for some connoisseurs (personally, I don't think that's a viable exploration method).
Another idea is to completely move them from the main site to chat. That would also automatically mean 20 rep minimum requirement, and I see how a lot of the ID answerers wouldn't agree with this, as it basically doesn't allow 99% of newcomers to ask anything, while your goal is to help everyone in need. It's just one of the ideas. One important note: in chat, it's gonna be hard to track down all posts related to one ID request. So perhaps one "place" per ID is better.
Lastly, how about just moving this whole ID thing to a separate site from StackExchange and offer help there? Perhaps to one of the Anime&Manga social network pages? It would still be affiliated with SE but not clutter up the site, and anyone can post with a social network account.
How does all of that sound?
[](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/27212347#27212347)<issue_comment>username_1: IDs on a separate tab: not going to happen unless SE decides to implement this just for us.
Move IDs to chat: keep them on the main chat room, like on Arqade. There is no need to track down all posts related to IDs. Just ask, and if no one answers, tough luck. Maybe ask again later, or don't bother. We have already written [Where is this picture from? How do I use Reverse Image Search to find the source of an anime/manga image?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21618/8486) and [An arsenal of tools and know-hows for tackling identification request questions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2293/8486), read them and try those tools/techniques.
Move IDs to a site separate from SE: I don't know, since I probably won't be visiting said site.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dkBTK.png)
**The battle of id requests begins anew.**
There are very strong opinions on this topic, which I hope people can restrain in this thread.
Ignoring the question of if *do these questions belong here*, let me comment on your ideas instead.
* **New Main Section:** The first thing that sticks out to me is (As @username_1 mentioned), It's unlikely that SE will devote some engineering time to this. So I think that option is out.
* **Moving to chat:** We allow recommendation questions on chat, not the main site, so does that 20 rep matter?
* **Moving to chat:** Id requests sometimes need time to identify - apart from the low-effort questions, there's usually some research / specific knowledge needed. In a chat based enviroment, I forsee they would get only a few moments of attention and then dismissed.
* **A new SE site:** This would presumably work similar to Code Review SE. I don't think the subset of users interested enough to monitor 2 sites is significant enough to make a new site.
* **A new social site:** From what I've seen (I don't control the social sites), the interaction with them is pretty low from the userbase.
* **A new separate site:** Why not just give the work to an existing site?
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: [identifcation-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identifcation-request "show questions tagged 'identifcation-request'") issues:
* Question Quality
* New user turnover
* Flooding out other questions
I understand that no one wants this to become an identification request oriented site. I don't want that either.
I have heard the same information about new user retention for identification-request questions being extremely low. That's disheartening, as I'd really like our efforts we put forward count as an effort to grow the community.
Your argument about these questions having a different set of rules shows that the community is trying to improve the quality of these questions by setting up these standards. However, we can expect most users to be unwilling to read a large set of rules before posting a question. Thus, the lack of quality remains.
If Stack Exchange was willing to put in the development time to make such a place to house identification-request questions then I'd be 100% for such an option. As the others have said, I am doubtful that this will be the resolution to this issue. As a company it'd be easy for Stack Exchange to just say, either ban the tag, or allow the questions. It's also likely that if this option did get taken another war on identification-requests could take place some time down the road. If that happened, and we had asked Stack Exchange to make a feature for us it would make it much harder to change, as we, as a community, would have effectively wasted their development time.
As for putting these types of requests in chat: I would like to say that's not a good idea.
It's easy to offer recommendations at a moments notice to someone in chat since we can ask what type of genre or style they are looking for and offer them some titles we liked. However, ID Requests are different. There is a single answer to their question. It belongs in a Q&A style format. It has a single question, and a single answer.
Answers to identification requests are not ideal for a chat environment. This is because we cannot just produce an answer at a moments notice unless they give us an extremely detailed explanation of what was involved, and the right people read it. We know from experience that this would not be the case. Another thought about chat is the rep requirement would bar nearly all identification-request questions from happening, as these generally come from new users.
Having these identification request questions open as a question allows people time to come in and look at the question and determine if it's something that can be answered. Question and Answer is the correct format for [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions. The issue is not the format, it is the quality of the questions, and the results we receive for answering them (e.g. turnover rate).
---
So what do we do?
-----------------
Remove the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag from the site. These types of questions will then be off-topic on Anime.SE.
Redirecting these types of questions to another site as Toshinou suggested would be fine. There are plenty of forums that offer help with identifying anime & manga. We could simply make a post that offers suggestions of sites that can help similarly to how we instruct users to do reverse image searches.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I am for the separate tab idea. However, despite what everyone else is saying, there is an existing functionality on Stack Exchange which can be used for this purpose, given some more tweaking by SE Programmers (which I think will be less work adapting this functionality than building new functionality).
Currently on Stack Overflow, you can create tabs which you can specify tags, and the results are questions which contain those tags.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AG54w.png)
This only exists on Stack Overflow for now, so I suggest that Anime.SE, Gaming.SE, Scifi.SE, Movies.SE and any other entertainment SE site that may be created in the future have an automatically created tab for ID requests, where the tags specified for this tab is set up by the Community Moderators of the site, to account for the different tagging schema used across these sites.
>
> *But what about the other tabs which will still show [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'")*?
>
>
>
Like the above, there exists functionality for this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jm8n8.png)
To adapt this, the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag in this new tab would be automatically added to the Ignored Tags for new users and guests, so if registered users want to see these questions again, they can remove the tabs from this section in their profile.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: So I've been lurking from the shadows on this one, watching the number of identification requests steadily increase, and I've been thinking to myself...
**This can't go on.** This isn't how I wanted to contribute; by identifying series.
The thing is, if we *want* to support this, the only ideal place for it is chat. Why?
* A separate tab sends the message that it's okay to ignore these types of questions, and it's guaranteed that this tab will not get the same amount of traffic to it.
* A different site all but dooms these sorts of requests, and there's no real Q&A value to be had out of them (at least, in my mind).
Chat has its pros in that:
* Users are forced to have some modicum of participation on the site overall before they can ask an ID request
* There are users that are willing to help with ID requests in chat
* Questions with ID attempts are off the main site
For what it's worth, my vote is chat. That is, if the community-at-large wants to support such things in chat. It at least *sounds* like that's the direction we're going, but I don't want to burden them with something they may not really want.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: I'm not an active user on this site, and I don't have a particularly large interest in anime. However, I'm here for a simple reason. I'm a power user over at the *Movies & TV Stack Exchange*, where we have struggled with this problem for *years* and someone happened to highlight this discussion to me. There are a plethora of questions on our Meta discussing our identify problems, [but I can refer you to something I wrote quite recently](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2128/8219), which is a very detailed analysis of the questions asked on our site over the last five years.
In short, retention rates of identify-askers is pretty terrible (just 25% of askers have 125 rep or more, compared to 75% of non-identify askers) and the quality of questions is generally very poor (with substantial editing and modding needed for each one to make them legible). We've added in pop-ups and more information to assist users posting these questions, and largely they're ignored. We even put in a link to an external website which is a specialist place for these questions, and all it appears to have done is increase traffic to our site for these questions.
In short, 30% of all our questions are identify this, from 2011 (which was when we opened). However, that's all time. In the last two years, they've averaged 36% of questions on the site and they're continuing to grow.
If you take a look at our [Movies & TV home page](https://movies.stackexchange.com/) you'll hopefully see some wonderful, in-depth questions and analysis. But sadly, there's also a clutter of identify-this questions, most of which are looked at once by the OP and forgotten about. It's not clear they have any value to users down the line which is one of the fundamental purposes of any Stack site.
I don't believe chat would be a good place for these questions either, and new users wouldn't know to post them there.
Therefore, I'd strongly urge removing them from your site, so you don't have the issues we have on our own beloved site. The problem (and volume of them) *will* get worse, and sadly it will make the home page, for any new users, look like a random trivia dump, as opposed to a detailed, in-depth question and answers page.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: I stumbled across the Anime and Manga Stack Exchange recently and squeed with delight. And then noticed all of the poorly written, downvoted identification requests.
Then I started to think about what kinds of questions you might ask in a Q&A style format, instead of a discussion format. Honestly, I think there's more content to be had with discussion style, but occasionally I see interesting, valid questions float by.
However, the flood of ID requests is a flood, and kind of annoying for all the well known reasons stated above. Due to that, I don't see many other questions.
I think the tab idea is a great solution, and the fact that @Memor-x found a way to implement it is great. And then you can have a few default settings to get the desired effect: a tab just for ID requests, and a tab for everything else.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I see way to many Identification requests get closed, even when they have enough unique information for someone to come up with an answer.
---
Here is a list of Identification Requests that are closed, presumably due to a so-called "lack of information", despite the fact that they clearly had enough information that someone was able to post a correct answer:
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30504/anime-in-which-the-protagonists-sword-can-transform-into-different-formsabout>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30285/please-identify-an-anime-i-saw-atleast-10-years-back>
* <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30492/please-help-what-was-this-anime-called>
Upvotes: -1 |
2016/02/08 | 1,099 | 4,417 | <issue_start>username_0: As can be seen from our [previous meta](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2725/policy-review-image-only-id-requests), there is a clear community concensus that image id-requests don't have a place on our site.
As such, **we will begin phasing out these questions**. The first thing to do (for the moderators) is update the rules to reflect this change. This will start to happen a small while after this post.
**Effects of this change:**
* This closure will affect any tagged [identification-questions](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-questions "show questions tagged 'identification-questions'") that are solely based on a single image with no additional sources of information.
* Image-based Merchandise questions should now use the [merchandise](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/merchandise "show questions tagged 'merchandise'") tag and not use the identification-request tag. Similarly, Cosplay based questions should use the [cosplay](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cosplay "show questions tagged 'cosplay'") tag.
>
> Note that these execeptions will need to comply with general identification standards of providing additional information - such as venue, place of purchase, markings, et cetera.
>
>
>
As users, **we would like your assistance in cleaning up the existing posts** as there are a lot of posts to go through. Please close any appropriate posts as "Too little detail" and they will be added to the review queue. This closure reason will be edited to reflect our new stance.
Because there are so many of these questions, this is potentially a good time to score some nice review-based badges ;)
**For new questions / confused users, please direct them towards the original meta post to show them that these questions are no longer allowed.**
Finally, we realise identification-requests as a whole are a large elephant in the room - we will revisit the overarching issue after resolving these instances and seeing how they affect the overall quality and also the community's opinion.
Keep up the good work everyone,
-Toshinou
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/V3ZeS.jpg)<issue_comment>username_1: I have created a query to help everyone with their cleanup.
<http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/edit/433431>
It basically looks for identification requests that have an image and are under a certain length.
Feel free to use / fork / ignore
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I've noticed a few people still answering image-only id requests, or closing them as duplicates of the "how to reverse image search" question. Please don't answer them.
Let me repeat that in really big letters.
Please don't answer image-only id requests
==========================================
Answering them will encourage more of them. Even if they're technically off-topic, people who want to ask them will see that they can get answers before they're closed, and keep asking them. We know the people who ask these questions don't care about question quality and don't intend to become regular users of the site, so they don't care if they burn bridges by sneaking in off-topic questions under the fence, as long as they get their answer. Don't give it to them.
I would encourage everyone not to answer in comments either. If you want to help the OP, give them a link to the "how to reverse image search" question and another one to [Policy Review: Image-only id requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2725/7579), and let them know that image-only ID requests are now off-topic. If you know of another site where image id requests are okay, you can point them there. If the OP has 20 rep, you can send them to chat. Then help this site, and vote to close as "Too little detail to be answered."
Okay? :)
Otherwise, good job so far, everyone! I burned through all my close votes three days in a row, and I know lots of other people have as well. I even had the honor to kill my own image question. I just went through a review queue with 36 crappy image id requests up for closure. That's the most full I've ever seen a review queue on Anime and Manga. We're making progress.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FcSwC.jpg)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2016/02/11 | 1,392 | 5,518 | <issue_start>username_0: During the [tag cleanup](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2736/17758), several of the questions have been being converted to more general tags like [merchandise](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/merchandise "show questions tagged 'merchandise'"), [cosplay](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cosplay "show questions tagged 'cosplay'"), and [itasha](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/itasha "show questions tagged 'itasha'").
The idea behind the tag cleanup was that all picture-only [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions should be closed. Leaving these questions open because they are photographs has left some confusion among users as they are the same type of questions.
So, the question comes, should there be separate criteria or guidelines to allow these questions to remain open on the site, or are they okay as is?
Some example questions:
[Who are these two girl figures?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/22659/17758)
[Who are these female anime figures in military-style clothing?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/27817/17758)
[Who is this girl in a blue witch costume and braids cosplaying as?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/27208/17758)
[From which media does this redhead in lingerie painted on a car come?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/29271/17758)<issue_comment>username_1: We do seem to have gotten a little boost in merchandise, cosplay, and itasha id questions after deciding they were the only image-based identification questions we would take. I hope we won't come to regret allowing them.
So far, though, they haven't been troublesome. If they become a plague like the other image-only questions, we might have to reassess the decision to allow them. For now, I'm going to give sort of an abstract response. I recommend thinking about why the image-only id requests that we're currently outlawing are bad questions:
* They require no effort from the asker. Anyone can be idly surfing the internet and stumble on some picture with a character they've never seen before. A trained pigeon could do it. Good questions come from thought and experience.
* They are meaningless and trivial. Yes, I know we're an entertainment site, so nothing we do is deeply meaningful or weighty. But good questions present a real problem or a topic that can elicit deep thought and intelligent discourse, spurring answerers to use their expertise and intellect to respond. My favorite questions on Anime and Manga aren't going to save anyone's job or life, but they require answerers to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of anime history, or how animation is created, or literary analysis, or art criticism, or Japanese culture and language, or the specifics of a certain universe (e.g the Nasuverse); or they require answerers to notice small details, or have unique life experiences, or have amazing research skills. Image id requests require none of those things.
* Because it's so easy to slap up a picture and ask "Where is this from?", people don't do any research of their own before asking. Even if you don't know about reverse image search, keyword searches for images on Google can be surprisingly effective. But even thinking to do that is harder than just punting to someone else.
* 99% of these questions are solved with Google (or TinEye, iqdb, e-shuushuu, or some other Internet service). These facilities were available to the asker. Everyone knows Google exists and helps you find things. They didn't, because it was easier to just ask someone else to do it for them.
Judge these questions on the same criteria. Did the asker look at the figure for an imprint of some kind? Or did they have a piece of paper with the name of the series the character was from on it, and chose not to even bother Googling that name, like in [Who are these two girl figures?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/22659/7579)? Did they take a picture of the cosplayer themselves, or are they asking us to id a picture they stumbled across on some blog because they're too lazy to try Google?
This is all pretty abstract and subjective. I'm giving you this abstract answer because, honestly, I don't think we should sit around trying to come up with generic failure modes for merchandise, cosplay, and itasha questions. People who post bad questions keep finding inventive new ways to suck, and if our guidelines are too specific, we'll have to keep amending them. If you find an on-topic question that you think is bad according to my abstract guidelines, feel free to downvote, or go ahead and vote to close as "too little detail". The community will sort it out.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: For now, perhaps it would be best to require that users provide information about the item that is **relevant**, **substantial** and **not obvious from the image**.
Otherwise, it's essentially another low quality id-request. The only reason we exempted these questions was that they *could provide more information*
For example:
**Valid additional information**
I bought this in Akihabara, in a shop called X
I saw this costume when I was visiting Tomato-con
There are some markings on the bottom of the figure as seen in this additional image
**Invalid additional information**
My friend gave it to me
It is a figure of a blonde girl in a red outfit
I saw this itasha online
Upvotes: 2 |
2016/02/19 | 2,046 | 8,106 | <issue_start>username_0: ### Proposition
Let's upgrade the minimal requirements of an ID request to add a list of *at least* 3 wrong titles and 1 search query. Without this list, the post would be closed for not showing enough effort on the poster's part.
### Goals
1. Explain how users can search on their own, solving and preventing ID questions from being asked;
2. Improve the quality of IDs that have been asked;
3. Create more clear-cut rules for closing bad IDs. This will also reduce zombie ID count because of automatic deletion after 30 days.
I think we're having a problem where the [[closed] notification](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) doesn't explain how to fix a bad ID in a concrete, short and easily understandable way. It looks more like a bunch of guidelines *(that's what it's actually called in the close plaque, btw)*, tips and tricks and general recommendations. And the reviewers basically have to use common sense to arbitrarily evaluate an ID's quality. That does not sound like good rules to me.
Instead of what we have now, I suggest we make my proposed rules the first thing we show to the users whose ID got closed, and then, as an addition, the guidelines as a self-help message.
### How it works
The list of course can't be just *Naruto, Bleach* and *Evangelion*. It has to be relevant to the search query and the post's body.
>
> Example: Anime about police who kill people who haven't done anything bad yet
>
>
> I'm looking for this anime where police aims their pistols at people and the pistol tells them if it will kill the target or just neutralize. Sometimes the pistol doesn't shoot at all.
>
>
> I have looked for ["anime pistol police"](https://www.google.com/search?q=anime+pistol+police) and found out that it's not:
>
>
> * Patlabor
> * Dominion tank police
> * <NAME>
> * Hellsing
> * **Psycho-Pass**… *− and the ID never got posted*
>
>
>
These days ID requests are so lazy that you can find the answer by googling a few of the keywords in the question. What does that say about the poster? That they most likely didn't try googling. That is too lazy and should not be allowed.
If you see a list of wrong titles in an ID request, it becomes obvious that OP has made at least some effort. Of course if they meet just the minimum requirement, it makes them look bad, but still better than no effort at all.<issue_comment>username_1: It looks like a great idea as it will improve the quality of the ID-request which is a great debate. What's more, the thing about SE is showing that you actually took the time of searching, thinking. A question in SE should not be something that people "throw on our face" by thinking "we will do the work for them". Therefore, forcing to show a minimal effort of research sounds great to my ears.
As an example (even though we obviously **can't** compare them as the goal is not the same), Stack Overflow always ask for one who asked a question to prove that the question has research background. I think bringing this spirit in [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") could be a clear improvement.
Closing the question as "*contains too little details to be answered* " sounds logic as the author provides too few elements showing actual interest and research work in the question.
Better [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions are better.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: When I first read the post, I was opposed to this, but as I thought about it more, it started to make sense to me. I still think banning id requests is the best way to go. I've never actually seen a "good" id request. The "best" ones are minimally acceptable questions. I can only imagine we still have them around out of a spirit of charity and goodwill, since almost no one thinks they're good questions and the numbers show they don't generally attract people who contribute positively to the site. But if everyone insists on keeping them, I think this is a good addition to our policy.
Here's what I like about this policy: the onus is on the questioner. All reviewers have to do is leave a comment with a link to the requirements, and vote to close. The questioner has to go out and do the work of searching Google and finding three shows that aren't the one they're looking for. This is in contrast to our former policy on image id requests, where reviewers had to prove that the question wasn't easily solvable by reverse image search. That policy was complex and made more work for reviewers because they had to go out and try to find the stupid picture, fail, then come back and fight with close voters to keep the question open. With this policy, reviewers can immediately see that a question fails the requirements, and they can vote to close.
I also like that this policy is very concrete in its requirements. It has obvious, actionable steps. Our other id request guidelines are vague, and it's too easy for people to go "Oh well, that's all I remember" and decide to ignore them because hey, you don't remember what you don't remember. There's no excuse for not doing a Google search on some of the keywords from your question, other than ignorance, which we will remedy.
Here's a problem I see with this policy: there are people on the site who don't care how bad the id requests are, they're still going to answer them. We've seen this with our cleanup of image-only id requests, and I've also seen it going on with regular id requests. It's going to totally undermine us if we have a policy of closing any id request that doesn't have a Google search with three failures, but half the questions that don't have those things get answers anyway because someone who doesn't know the policy or doesn't care sneaks in under the radar and answers it. Bans are useless against hit-and-run questioners, and we know most id requesters are hit-and-run.
Here's another problem I see with this policy: people are lazy, and a shocking number of them suck at using Google. So we're still going to be opening ourselves up to stuff like this:
>
> hai im looking for htis asdjime where peepz ahd liek special powurz and stuffs...i did a google srecha for "anime liek speciall powerza1 and it sed one piece nruto fma but none of this is it cn u help ?? btw ther wher these drgon ballz in the sohw dunno if tht helpz?
>
>
>
Then we have to argue about whether the question deserves to remain open because they did, despite their total ineptitude, have a Google search with three shows in it. While we're arguing, someone else is going to show up and say "It's Dragon Ball Z" and the question will get answered anyway (see problem 1). Then people will keep coming and posting their lazy id requests with awful Google searches that turn up three obvious failures, because they've seen that other people get answers doing it.
However, overall, I have to say this is an improvement over the current situation. It has some hope of raising question quality, and it at least makes things easier on reviewers trying to decide if a question should remain open.
---
[1]: I actually did do a Google search on "anime liek speciall powerza", and Google knew what I meant. Google is amazing.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: This is more of a question than a yes/no:
>
> At least 3 wrong titles and 1 search query.
>
>
>
How will this deal with low users with really dumb questions like
>
> It's an anime about super powers
>
>
> It's not Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto
>
>
> I tried Google "anime super power"
>
>
>
or even worse:
>
> An anime about girls having fun
>
>
> * it's not naruto, pokemon, digimon
> * I searched "girl anime" no results
>
>
>
Users never cease to surprise me with the ability to ask questions of impossibly low quality
Upvotes: 3 |
2016/02/19 | 993 | 3,282 | <issue_start>username_0: If you want to find an anime or manga on your own and you remember something about it, this post is for you!
If you have a picture, but you don't remember anything, see [how to reverse-search images](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/where-is-this-picture-from-how-do-i-use-reverse-image-search-to-find-the-source) instead.<issue_comment>username_1: ### tl;dr
1. Search for "anime" or "manga" + keywords uniquely describing it.
2. If step 1 didn't solve it, see recommendations/similar titles to what you're looking for.
---
### 1. Search for unique identifiers
Remember the things that uniquely describe the work you're searching. You need something very unusual that you don't see in a lot of other titles. This may come as a surprise, but these keywords will immediately get you the results:
* Mecha robots, angels − *Evangelion*
* TV robot, giant iron − *FLCL*
* Vampire, red round glasses − *Hellsing*
* Police, pistol, criminal − *Psycho-Pass*
* Banana, microwave, time travel − *Steins;Gate*
* Photographer, camera, explosion, cult − *SpeedGrapher*
* Space, garbage collectors − *Planetes*
Of course, there are a lot of works related to either *castles, fighting, vampires* or *detectives*, but if you can remember at least one more distinguishing detail, it will narrow down a lot of results:
* Flying castle − *Laputa: Castle in the Sky*
* Fighting without a sword − *Katanagatari*
* Vampire blonde little girl − *Bakemonogatari*
* Detective dream − *Paprika*
When searching the internet, include the word "anime" or "manga" (or light novel, etc), or you might get a movie or something else non-relevant.
### 2. Look at recommendations and similar works
If you've found something that looks similar to what you're looking for, take a look at its recommendations and similar works. On MyAnimeList, it would be "Recommendations" tab:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7w1M.png)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: I only remember the characters
------------------------------
Search characters by their unique traits:
* [Anime character database](http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/search.php) − **tags**, work type, hair color, eye color, hair length, age, gender, etc.
* [Anime Planet](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/all) − name, gender, hair color, **tags** (select multiple unique character descriptions)
* [MyAnimeList all character names list](http://myanimelist.net/character.php) − name
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: I only remember the animals
---------------------------
Anime Planet has a wide range of [animal](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/animals) and other creature tags:
* [Dogs](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/dogs)
* [Cats](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/cats)
* [Birds](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/birds)
* [Rabbits](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/rabbits)
* [Reptiles](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/reptiles)
* [Frogs](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/frogs)
If you don't see the type of creature you're looking for, [look through the full tag list](http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/all#multipletags).
Upvotes: 2 |
2016/03/15 | 1,364 | 5,784 | <issue_start>username_0: I see that many of these identification request are being downvoted or closed by the wrong reason. Take [this one as an example](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30490/whats-this-funny-manhwa-called).
In StackOverflow, if you are making a poorly contextualized question, you get a Too Broad or Unclear reason (depending on the question, but it will fall in those categories). That is the reason this question should be closed with. Certainly ***not*** offtopic, since it's on-topic with the site.
Please, fix the closure reason since it is itself *unclear why you are closing*. Yes, it has a clarifying text in lower font, but:
1. There's no connection between something being off-topic and something being poorly asked.
2. It will rarely be read by the OP and will only notice "Off-Topic" most of the times, which will rarely be helpful to improve the question.
Please remember: closures are meant to improve the question to fit the site format. If you can't find the appropriate reason to close, perhaps there is not, and you should downvote instead of just closing. Otherwise, redesign the close reasons.
My proposal: *Unclear what you are asking*
For those comparing the cases with SO: The only OT close reason which was used as wildcard is regarding typos in code. Others still match:
* Environment issues are OT bc they do not belong to being code issues (they are better suited in SU.se, askubuntu, ...).
* Debugging help could fit in programmers.se (depending on the case) or codereview (when a significant part works and you understand the specific algorithmic problem). Is not a specific issue in part of the code you want to solve.
* Asking for libs is neither a problem about a specific problem in code lines. Softwarerecs.se is the appropriate site.
* General programming questions go to programmers.se when they are about methodology details, language capabilities, or software industry. They are not about specific issues in some code lines.
* Working code and ways to do it better have no issues in code lines (since the code... works) and it finds its place in codereview.se.
* The keyphrase here is: those questions are not about a specific issue in the code lines. If you intend to specify the wrong code, you are suitable on SO. If your question is too broad or unclear, it will be closed. If your question is crap, it will be downvoted. If a question fails to be MCVE even being somehow clear, it will be downvoted. **IF A QUESTION DOES NOT SHOW RESEARCH EFFORT, IT IS ENCOURAGED TO BE DOWNVOTED**, not closed, provided it does not get additional reasons to get it closed.<issue_comment>username_1: The reason it is 'off-topic' and not 'unclear' is because only the off-topic reasons are editable by the mods.
If we switch to *unclear what you are asking* we cannot guide users to the guidelines we want them to read.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: While the generic "unclear" close reason is applicable for most situations, the custom off-topic close reason is intended to give a more specific close reason by linking to a related meta post with an explanation of why it was closed and provide suggestions on how they can improve said questions.
This is not done without precedence afterall. We're taking a cue from how Arqade.SE handles identification requests. In their community they close identification questions unless the OP meets specific criteria, their off topic close reason then direct the OP [to links](http://blog.gaming.stackexchange.com/2012/08/i) and other [relevant meta](https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5081) questions.
Additionally, please note that different Stack Exchange sites have difficult cultures, policies, and user base. While Stack Overflow is indeed the uncontested king of all Q&A site on the Stack Exchange family of sites. We're much smaller and much more underdeveloped than them. Often times we lack the manpower to keep explaining why a closed question unclear. Instead, we use these off-topic reasons to help us explain why, in greater detail, their identification question was closed and how they can improve them.
Identification questions have for the longest time been the most localized questions type on our site. But with many recreation SE site it's a rite of passage. People are always going to have a question about something that's at the tip of their tongue, but not everyone is articulate enough to put in into concise words. You mention that few people will read beyond the "off-topic" title and you're correct, but this is a problem with the user. Many of our new users don't like to read. Why? Because we are a Q&A site on a recreational topic, there is no expectation for professionalism like on SO. Instead, we have a large number of <18 users that mainly peruse social media and web forums, each with a very lax understanding of what netiquette is and how to articulate a question.
We initially tried closing low quality and poorly contextualized questions as "unclear." It it ended up not being very helpful as we had to keep explaining why their questions were unclear. We're a site focusing on questions on a recreational topic, we don't expect a lot of professionally or articulately worded answers from professional/knowledgeable users (like on SO). Instead, we expect them to be like the average geek that like watching/reading Japanese cartoon and comics to pass time. Because the users themselves don't know what they're looking for, they don't know how to properly ask it. Identification request questions make for bad questions as they are heavily reliant on the fallible nature of the human mind. We're currently in the process of discussion the viability of keeping current and future questions of this type on our site.
Upvotes: 4 |
2016/03/22 | 3,285 | 12,644 | <issue_start>username_0: The tag [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'") exists, with 5 questions tagged. However, it doesn't really seem like it belongs here.
A tag is something set by the question asker: How can you know if something is an animation mistake before you have the answer? In comparison, it would be like if we had a tag named plot-hole. The fact that the problem is being caused by an animation mistake or a plot-hole isn't likely to be known by the asker, only by the answerer; so, it seems silly to have a tag like this.
Two of the 5 questions tagged ([this](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/25753/17758) and [this](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21400/17758)) are actually asking if it is an animation mistake, but these questions could have just as easily asked, "Why is \_\_\_ this way? This seems weird because \_\_\_\_".
I'd like to remove this tag from our site.
Note that by removing this tag I'm not moving to have these questions implicitly disallowed from the site. Instead, I assert that a series tag alone works well for any kind of question that would result in the answer involving an animation mistake.<issue_comment>username_1: The idea behind a tag is to have a way to tag a question for people with knowledge about a subject to find questions that are within their scope of expertise. Our [Help Center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/tagging) defines it as:
>
> A tag is a word or phrase that describes the topic of the question. Tags are a means of connecting experts with questions they will be able to answer by sorting questions into specific, well-defined categories.
>
>
>
Animation mistakes are not the topic of a question, but rather the conclusion and result to research or answer to a question. Ryan's suggestion of retagging questions to [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'") after an answer deems it to be an animation mistake is not the way tags are meant to work. This line of thinking isn't in line with the way other tags are handled either; since we don't retag questions to meet the criteria of an answer in any other cases.
Also, in such a scenario, who is really the judge of when to retag? While we do have community accepted answers indicated by upvotes on questions, it's rare that a question like this will have an official answer that would guarantee that it was a mistake: instead, answers to these types of questions rely on inference and references to source material.
Tags represent subjects that a group of people could have expert knowledge about. It seems unlikely that anyone could have expert level knowledge over the topic of animation mistakes. Instead, someone could have expert knowledge over an anime, including the mistakes that were made when adapting it to anime. The tag for the anime in question is sufficient in this case to find the correct person to answer the question.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I mostly agree with Michael's points about this tag, and in particular I think his comparison to a [plot-hole](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/plot-hole "show questions tagged 'plot-hole'") tag is apt, because all those [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'") questions he links are pretty much asking about plot holes, incredibly minor ones introduced by mistakes during the animation process.
Let's run down some of the criteria that other SE sites use to decide whether to keep a tag.
[The Stack Exchange Meta guide for when to burninate a tag](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/239190) suggests asking yourself the following questions when deciding whether to do away with a tag:
>
> Does it describe the contents of the questions to which it is applied? and is it unambiguous?
>
>
>
It kind of describes the contents of the question, but it can never *fully* describe them. I wouldn't say it's unambiguous. "Animation mistake" is not terribly precise. Is it a mistake if the animators drew something off-model? Is it a mistake if they didn't do it on purpose, but not a mistake if it was intentional? Is it a mistake if a character's hair is a little less floofy in one scene? Is it a mistake that they ever animated *El Cazador de la Bruja*? (It was definitely a mistake that I sat through that entire miserable sod of a series.) The question [Why is Dragon Ball Super's animation quality so terrible?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/24570/why-is-dragon-ball-supers-animation-quality-so-terrible) uses the tag in a completely different way than the other questions, but I can't say that either way is wrong based on the tag's name. The tag wiki unhelpfully tells us that the tag is "For questions related to mistakes in anime-series." If we do decide to keep it, we definitely should clarify what kind of questions it goes on.
>
> Is the concept described even on-topic for the site?
>
>
>
Yes. Moving along.
>
> Does the tag add any meaningful information to the post?
>
>
>
Kind of. Not really. The questions Michael links are all basically about plot holes, so the most important thing is knowledge of the series, not knowledge about animation. If we used this tag only for questions that required technical knowledge about the animation process, it would add information, just as tagging a question with both a series tag and [japanese-language](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/japanese-language "show questions tagged 'japanese-language'") adds information. (The Dragon Ball Super question actually does use the tag this way.)
>
> Does it mean the same thing in all common contexts?
>
>
>
Pretty much. Animation mistakes are mistakes in animation. The term is ambiguous (what constitutes a mistake?), but that's a definitional problem, not a contextual problem.
According to these criteria, this is not a great tag, but it's not world-endingly awful. It's mostly harmless and can safely be ignored if we choose.
---
Science Fiction and Fantasy has used [a rather strict nine-part test](https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/q/7871/28578) to decide whether a tag is allowed to exist. Recently there's been [some controversy](https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/q/9215/28578) over it, but let's give it a try, as long as we don't take the results too seriously. A tag gets +2 points for each "Yes", +1 for a "Sometimes", and -1 for a "No".
>
> 1. Does it make sense to be an "expert" in [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'")?
>
>
>
SF&F defines "expert" for their purposes like this:
>
> For our purposes, being an "expert" in a tag means: 1) if the only thing someone knew about a question was that it was tagged [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'"), that would be enough information for them to feel confident about trying to answer it, and 2) it's reasonable for someone to have a lot of knowledge about [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'") as a separate subject, and not only because it's a subset of a larger topic (e.g. would someone know a lot about light-sabers on their own, [or] only because they're an expert on everything about star-wars)
>
>
>
It does not really make sense to be an expert in [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'"). To know the answer to any of these [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'") questions, you do have to be an expert in the series (other than the Dragon Ball Super one, which represents a whole different problem with this tag). -1.
>
> Does it make sense for a question to be tagged only with [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'")?
>
>
>
Not really. If any of those linked questions hadn't been tagged with the series and had only been tagged [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'"), they would be missing vital information. -1.
>
> Does [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'") have a single, universally-unambiguous meaning?
>
>
>
As I argued above, the meaning of "animation mistake" is ambiguous. It made sense as a tag for the One Piece questions about arms that should have be bitten off and gloves that may not be on the correct hand, but it also makes sense for [Why is Dragon Ball Super's animation quality so terrible?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/24570/why-is-dragon-ball-supers-animation-quality-so-terrible), which is not the same kind of mistake at all. -1.
>
> Is [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'") likely to be used correctly just based on it's name?
>
>
>
I'm not even sure what the correct usage is, so I'm gonna have to say "Sometimes". +1.
>
> Are there "enough" (> 15) but not "too many" (> 10% site-wide) questions that qualify for [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'")?
>
>
>
We could probably dig up a couple more that could have used this tag, but I'm not sure about 10 more. -1.
>
> Are people like to use [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'") to find questions to answer?
>
>
>
I doubt it. I have my favorite shows. I like answering questions about my favorite shows. Some of those questions might come up from an animation mistake. But I can't imagine myself ever just wanting to answer a bunch of questions that come up from animation mistakes. -1.
>
> Are there likely some users (be objective!) who will favorite or ignore [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'")?
>
>
>
Apparently this tag has three followers. So I guess this is a +2.
>
> Could [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'") be reasonably used to feed questions to a specialized chat room?
>
>
>
Maybe. Gonna say +1.
>
> Can [proposed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/proposed "show questions tagged 'proposed'") be used to search for questions (for any reason) in a way that keyword searching cannot accomplish?
>
>
>
Yes. There's no obvious combination of keywords that would bring up all five [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'") questions, so +2.
>
> Very roughly speaking, tags that score > 12 are "good" tags, tags that score < 8 are "terrible" tags, others are likely good but may need some clarification/renaming/etc.
>
>
>
By my count, this tag scores +1, so it's pretty terrible.
---
Based on these criteria, I agree with getting rid of this tag. Because it's on so few questions, this won't be a lot of work, and I really don't think the tag adds much.
The Dragon Ball Super question is the only one where I think the tag adds necessary information. However, it was closed as a duplicate of [Is intentionally producing a lower quality TV release unique to anime?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/16668/is-intentionally-producing-a-lower-quality-tv-release-unique-to-anime), and that question is tagged [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'"), which describes its content even better than [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'"). So I think we should get rid of [animation-mistakes](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/animation-mistakes "show questions tagged 'animation-mistakes'"), tag the Dragon Ball Super question with [anime-production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/anime-production "show questions tagged 'anime-production'") instead, and reduce to other four questions to just the series tag.
Upvotes: 2 |
2016/03/27 | 2,254 | 8,701 | <issue_start>username_0: So i have been noticing some users posting answers to questions which clearly do not meet out [Minimum Guidelines for Identification Requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892) eg.
[Girl with face paint or tattoos. With a wolf](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30885/girl-with-face-paint-or-tattoos-with-a-wolf)
[Anime with a blue 4 legged creature](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30703/anime-with-a-blue-4-legged-creature)
[Looking for a manga about fighting for stars but I can't remember the name](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30747/looking-for-a-manga-about-fighting-for-stars-but-i-cant-remember-the-name)
Now i get the desire to help people out if the question's very brief description seems to point to one particular anime and isn't as unclear as everyone else might think. To me however this sends the wrong message to new users (who are the ones who will kill id requests) that these guidelines can be ignored so long as someone gives them their answer before their question is closed.
I am wondering this should really be acceptable? If not then should we do anything with the answers?<issue_comment>username_1: We decided that while some anime can be identified with very [few details](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/26896/17758), we should judge all ID requests the same, so we can form objective decisions on when to close and when not to close. The fact of whether or not it should be closed is not the same as if the question is *answerable* in its current state.
However, these guidelines that we've created should not be a reason to prevent a user from adding an answer if a user feels like the information provided by the identification request is enough to answer the question.
Whether or not you feel that an ID request is going to be closed is not a reason to prevent someone from adding an answer while the question remains open. Before it is closed, the community has yet to decide that it is off-topic.
I say leave good answers to bad questions intact. The users added those answers the intent of helping someone out, there is no reason to remove the answer if it meets our normal quality checks for answers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: tl;dr
=====
No, we shouldn't. These questions are crap, and answering them will encourage more questions like them. On the other hand, there's pretty much nothing we can do to stop people from answering them, so deciding here that we shouldn't answer them is basically meaningless. Therefore, we shouldn't sanction the answers unless we're going to finally ban id requests altogether. If id requests are on-topic, then no matter how crappy the question is, we shouldn't punish people who post answers. (Unless their answer is also crappy, which is frequently, but not universally, the case.) Whether to answer a crappy question or not should be a personal decision; whether the question is crappy enough to close remains a community decision.
The exposition
==============
As I wrote on another answer somewhere around here, I recently did some incredibly superficial research to find out if there was anywhere else on the net that we could direct people with id requests so we could at least get rid of some of them. I know Movies and TV found somewhere to send people (it was on one of their community ads), so they've been able to relieve the pressure a little.
I checked the usual suspects: Quora, Reddit, Yahoo Answers, and the forums at MyAnimeList, Crunchyroll, and AnimeSuki. You'd think, with the number of id requests we get here, that at least one of those places would also be flooded with them, but no, they had plenty of other stupid questions, but no id requests. Quora seems to have a pretty small anime segment anyway, but Reddit's is pretty huge and they weren't doing id requests at all that I could see, nor was Crunchyroll. On Yahoo Answers and MyAnimeList there were a few that went like this:
>
> Question:
>
> hai gaiz when i was younger i saw this anime...it was like about these people with like speclial powers who fghout over justize adn stuffs...teh op was like "DUH NUH NUH NUH NUH DUH NUH NUH" and it said the name of the show that i cat rememeber lol...anyone of u know it?
>
>
> Answer:
>
> Boku no Pico.
>
>
>
The thread would then promptly die.
On AnimeSuki they actually did have an identification thread where people could post id requests, but it was all one big long thread, so new id requests would get buried way at the back of fifty pages of off-topic posts.
On the other hand, suppose someone posted that question on Anime and Manga SE:
>
> Question:
>
> hai gaiz when i was younger i saw this anime...it was like about these people with like speclial powers who fghout over justize adn stuffs...teh op was like "DUH NUH NUH NUH NUH DUH NUH NUH" and it said the name of the show that i cat rememeber lol...anyone of u know it?
>
>
> Commenters:
>
> This can't be answered without more detail. Voting to close.
>
>
> Answer:
>
> This is clearly Ore no Udon Monogatari, an obscure shounen series from the 1980s based on a sentai show of the same name, released in English as Yoodon Fighters. It ran for 147 episodes from 1985 to 1987. I figured it out because your "DUH NUH NUH NUH NUH DUH NUH NUH" was clearly a phonetic representation of a song composed in 17/68 time on a 1983 Yamaha Model IVB synthesizer, the exact same measure and machine used by 80's synth band Rock the Prevarication, who performed the OP for the English release, which isn't mentioned on Wikipedia because it was only broadcast in the US for three days, and only in areas with zip codes ending in odd, prime Catalan numbers that fulfill the Goldbach conjecture.
>
>
>
My point is, as far as I could see, we're basically the only site on the net that consistently gives good answers to awful, vague id requests. Our users seem to have vast knowledge of anime and manga and to enjoy using their time to answer people's ill-defined questions. We get results, so our legend spreads as a magical place where wishes come true, as long as those wishes involve finding out the name of some anime you saw a long time ago that you barely remember.
If we want to discourage people from posting such bad questions, we have to stop answering them. We have to become as useless as the rest of the Internet at answering these questions.
Why we can't stop
=================
On the other hand, even if the entire Metaclass, the class of users containing everyone who participates in Meta and is worried about closing questions and maintaining quality, decides to stop answering awful id requests, they are still going to get answered by other users who aren't aware of our policy, or don't agree with it and have decided to just ignore it instead of arguing.
We really have no way to enforce this except closing awful id questions faster, and I'm not sure we can do it any faster; we've already got our moderators working like demons (welcome to MgRonald's, demonic <NAME>) to mop up all the terrible id questions that show up every day, and in the absence of anyone armed with a Hammer of the Mods, it seems to take about 16 hours for a close vote to coalesce around a question. That's more than enough time for someone to come along and slip in an answer.
And while lots of those answers suck, there are also lots like my model answer above: so thoroughly researched as to be almost miraculous. As much as I hate these questions, and as much as I wish we could get rid of them (I recently blocked the tag just so I wouldn't have to look at them anymore), it seems wrong to sanction good answers even if they're answers to crappy questions. We should sanction answers that suck, but we should do it because they suck, not because the question they answer sucks.
Unfortunately, it's a little more complicated than that, because I absolutely do think that users getting answers for crappy id requests that don't meet the standard before they can be closed sends the message that they can ignore the guidelines and still have a good chance of getting an answer. But as I said above, I don't think we can stop this practice anyway, except by banning id requests. The users who post crappy answers probably won't be bothered, because they're just as oblivious to the sanctions as the people posting crappy questions. The people who post good answers, on the other hand, will be hurt and offended that we've sanctioned their answer when the question was completely clear and obvious to them.
Upvotes: 3 |
2016/03/28 | 3,804 | 13,974 | <issue_start>username_0: We (me and a vague but definitely real group of users) in the [Maid Café](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) would like to make some games. If you are interested, ping me in chat or post/comment here.
There are **no limitations**, but consider these things:
* It should be fun. Pretty sure nobody here likes text-based "Choose your own adventure" genre, Match-3 or Pinball. Ask yourself if you would have fun making and then playing something;
* If we want to make a game sooner rather than later, the core game should be short and simple to make;
* If we want to make a game at all, 2D is the faster route than 3D.
Use answers for game propositions. If you have some other ideas, [let's discuss them in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-).
---
### Whatever you have in mind, don't hesitate to post it!
I'm just explaining *my personal* concerns about starting a collaborative project which often die soon because the goals are too high for project members. Compare the amount of artwork and story writing needed for an average VN and an average arcade game, and you'll see what I mean. But if suddenly a very dedicated group of people appears that want and will make a VN, I'd only be happy for them.
Part of the gig is learning how to use C#, Unity and whatnot for game development.<issue_comment>username_1: 2D Tower Defense
----------------
Like [Orcs Must Die](http://store.steampowered.com/app/102600/) or [Dungeon Defenders](http://store.steampowered.com/app/65800/).
Basic game:
* On a pre-made level enemies follow a path to the "End". If just one enemy reaches the end, you lose.
* Enemies are generated in small batches. Let's say 1 every second for a batch of 5, with a delay of 20 seconds between batches.
* Enemies can be killed by traps that automatically trigger when enemies step on them, and need 10 seconds to reset. Trap can kill all enemies within its trigger zone.
* Player can install a limited number of traps throughout the level. Inefficient placement will result in enemies passing through them.
* Player can kill all enemies within some range from the cursor, with a significant delay. We'll figure out the game balance in the process.
Extended game:
* More levels with multiple paths, possibly randomly generated from pre-made chunks;
* Enemy types resistant to certain attack types (like ice and fire);
* Trap types more efficient and useless against various enemy types;
* Different player attacks;
* Better art and sound? eh
If you're interested in this idea, or you want to propose changes, comment below.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: TCG (Trading Card Game)
=======================
examples: [Yu-Gi-Oh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Trading_Card_Game), [<NAME>](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/5825/1587), ***[Tanto Cuore](http://www.tantocuore.com/about.htm)***
Basic Game:
-----------
* 1 VS 1 with a Computer Opponent
* 1 VS 1 with Human Opponent
* 1st Series of cards
* In-game slideshow explaining rules
Extended Game
-------------
* 2 VS 2 Tag Team
* More Series of cards
* Playable Tutorial
* Single Player Story Mode(s)
+ Unlocking of more AI Opponents with themed decks/strategies
+ A new Story Mode for every released series
+ Tutorial can be integrated into story
Notes
-----
* Card Game rules will need to be discussed (personally i liked Yu-Gi-Oh's approach)
* New cards can be added later by players in a similar way to how League of Legends for Forum RPGs allows players to make new Characters
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Trajectory shooting game
========================
example: [DDtank](http://gamewise.co/games/49267/DDTank)
Introduction
============
It might be difficult but its my suggestion because I love these types of games. Trajectory shooting game will be like every person will have their own weapon and that player will use that weapon to throw it in the air and kill his opponent by correct amount of strength. Since it will be trajectory motion therefore player can adjust their angle and then throw object to hit their target. Also this game might be calculative one because users have to first calculate the correct amount of power and angle to throw object so that it will hit the target.
Basic game:
===========
* Human vs Computer. Like both players having health and both of them trying to kill each other by throwing objects.
* And Human vs Human matches.
* Wind system like due to wind the trajectory motion gets disturbed which will make every round different and difficult.
* There can be tutorial at starting showing how to play the game and how to improve their skills. It is important for players to learn how to play this game and how to calculate so that they can hit target.
Extended Game
=============
* We can use team vs team game match where every team got one chance to attack.
* It can be boss level fight. Boss level fight means player have to complete each level to earn level or any item etc.
* There can be armory settings like to increase defense and many more.
* Restricting the angle for different weapons.
* There can be different maps for various matches.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This was an idea for a game i thought up while playing Minecraft and tried to duplicate with mods but couldn't get close. the idea is that you would find a town and set yourself up with a job there whether that be starting a farm to supply their food or working, a guard to protect it or a smith/builder.
with these jobs you have different levels of responsibility ie.
* with the farmer you with just harvest the crops or own the farm itself and handle all the fiances including hiring other farm hands
* with a guard you can just follow your orders or be the town commander and order where your guards patrol
and later if you don't want to be tied down in a single town you can go out and explore or even take up the job as a [Ronin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C5%8Dnin) or a Traveling Merchant like Kraft Lawrence and Holo from [Spice and Wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_and_Wolf) or up and just move to another village
Basic Features
--------------
* Randomly Generated World
+ Staring Locations:
+ Village
+ Empty (have to find a Village)
* Crafting
+ Tools
+ Appliances
+ Furniture
* Combat
* Registered Jobs
+ Guard (Defend Village)
+ Farmer (Make Crops for Village)
+ Miner (Start/Work in a Mine collecting materials)
* Having a house to store all the crap you end up hording
Extended
--------
* More jobs
+ Shopkeeper/Smith (make items to sell)
+ Traveling Merchant (along with horse, cart and fox eared wolf god traveling companion)
+ Mayor (make you own town)
+ Teacher
+ - Normal
+ - Dojo Master
+ - Magus (Research and teach magic to others)
+ Ronin (more or less a sell sword)
+ Bandit (like a Ronin but you get to raid people)
+ Pirate (Bandit but with a cool eyepatch and a kickin ship)
* Hunger/Thirst/Sleep Levels
* Reputation
+ low rep can get you attacked by guards or thrown in jail
+ high rep can earn you discounts and favours
* Town relations
+ Town Guard can launch attacks against enemy towns
+ trading items gotten from one town to another which they don't like can lower your rep as a merchant
* Town Law and Order
+ Lawful Towns people wont have to worry about theft.
+ the opposite end is [Tortuga](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gUfY7.png) for pirates/bandits to sell their wares
* Different kinds of houses to buy
* ability to build your own house (either outside town limits or buy a plot of land in town)
+ ships will have a generic base but can be built on as if they are moving land
* NPC relationships
+ makes friend to earn favors/gain influence/get discounts/info
+ for pirates and bandits you can infiltrate a town, get info on guard placements or influence your new "friends" to help weaken a town from within
+ dating/marriages/children (same sex relationships included)
* Quests
* Bosses
* Different Town Cultures (can limit jobs/traceable items)
* Add iconic towns like [Konohagakure](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Konohagakure) or [Ba Sign Se](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Ba_Sing_Se) and add jobs associated with them such as Ninja, [Ramen Delivery Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRC_iNWt7kM), Dai Li Agent or Dragon of the West Tea Shop Guy
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Murder Game - FPS
=================
this idea was inspired by one Dark Brotherhood quest in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. all players are inside a single house and one of them is the murderer who has to pick off the remaining players without being caught.
the murderer is chosen at random and only the murderer will know at first. the other plays win if the catch the murderer. the Murderer will then have # minutes to commit their first kill before the game restarts and a new murder is select
in order to catch the murderer the suspect has to be detained by tying them up and placed in a zone for a certain amount of time until the suspect is taken out of the game.
once the suspect has been removed from the game all players will see what the suspect saw during the time of each murder as such it will be clear what involvement, if any, the suspect had with any murders. the suspect can be freed before they are removed from the game either by other player or themselves (by having a crafted tool to help their own escape)
the game will be in the First Person so that players can see someone approaching from behind unless in front of a mirror and hopefully sound will be close to how it works in real life so that when players "sleep" they see a black screen (or some other animation as if dreaming) but they can still hear (so they can wake up if they hear a strange noise like someone sneaking about)
Basic Game
----------
* Single Map (Mansion Interiour)
* Multi-Player Only
* Needs (Like Hunger, Sleep, Toilet etc, like in The Sims)
+ this allows the murderer to drug/poison their victims food or try and kill during their sleep
+ if someone is expect to go take a bath the murderer can rig something up to kill them (ie. plugged in toast falls in)
* Possible list of everyday tasks that players have to do one item on the list every # minutes
+ this prevents players just staying in one room
+ this forces the murderer to blend in aswell
Extended Game
-------------
* Other Maps
+ Estate (includes Interiors and Exterior)
+ Hotel
+ Neighborhood (remember the Pint Size Slasher from Fallout 3?)
* Other game modes
+ Hitman - the target is marked and everyone chooses roles. one player is randomly chosen as the Hitman to kill the target.
+ Death Note (Yes, a use for all those dam [Death Note Puzzle Questions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2608/1587)) - using the rules of the Death Note Kira goes to try and kill the players while they must find out who is Kira. may have to tweak the Death Note to prevent mass suicides and add a cool down time
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Side Scrolling Shooter
======================
Best Example: [Gunstar Heroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunstar_Heroes) [Sega Genesis]
with a remake for the [Game Boy Advance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunstar_Super_Heroes), and remastered to the [Wii Virtual Console](http://www.ign.com/games/gunstar-heroes/wii-864246), and [Nintendo 3DS](http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds-eshop/3d_gunstar_heroes)
This game is comprised with a game character typically from a variety of 2-3 characters to choose from. The controls are simple D-Pad with its up,down,left right, a shoot button, a jump button, and a change weapon button.
The Mechanics of the game is simple much like a survial shooter game where you shoot your way to the end of the Level, There are some little hindraces like a mini Boss or a certain task to complete before moving on to the next part of the Stage. The player selects a weapon type (i.e. laser, rifle, bazooka.. etc.)
This could be lengthy to finish with its different Stages just like in Gunstar Heroes that has 4 initial stages to chose from before going to Space aboard a spaceship (Spaceship is side scroller too). So the Initial game would probably have at least 4-5 short levels.
It would be much fun if the Player could join his/her weapons and combine it to form another weapon for more firepower. or a combination of the elements
(i.e.
fire and fire = lightning
earth and earth = metal
earth and fire = lava
just like avatar LOL haha
Basic Game:
===========
* Single Player (Player Chooses from 2 characters to play)
* The controls : D-Pad with its up,down,left right, a shoot button, a jump button, and a change weapon button.
* Customization is minimal. (i.e. only Weapons can be changed)
* The target is to get the the end of the level to Accomplish it and beating a Boss at the end.
* Short Levels consisting of hordes of enemies to shoot, punch, kick etc.
* Life is in Hit Points so several hits for the player's Death
* Real time Tactics to survive the enemy hordes appearing to stop the player from moving onto the next stage
* Final Boss awaits the Last Level
Extended Game:
==============
* Two player / Multi-Player / Co-op Mode - Teamplay and Real time tactics combined to finish the Stage
* In Story Mode, Another player's Death can cause the partners Life to be halved for faster respawn and not to spoil the pacing of the gameplay.
* Survival Mode (how long can a player last with just a single health bar)
* Two player PVP (Last Stand- players try to shoot each other in a level with diferent platforms for real time Tactics)
Note:
This game is Best for killing time and if a multi player mode / two player mode is made, It's fun to play family or with a friend.
* Rules such as Death and Continue Game should be discussed
* comments suggestions and others are welcome for further updates
* Stages Weapons, and Bosses that will be placed should be though out first.
Upvotes: 0 |
2016/04/21 | 6,280 | 25,610 | <issue_start>username_0: >
> **This discussion is now closed.**
>
> [Here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2812/identification-request-cleanup-phase-1-deprecation)'s phase 1 of what we've decided to do about identification-requests (deprecating).
>
> [Here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2824/identification-request-cleanup-phase-2-blacklisting)'s phase 2 (blacklisting).
>
> [Here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/3839/49)'s phase 3 (delete and lock).
>
>
>
**TL;DR for those who want to find alternative resources for ID request: [What identification requests are acceptable here? Otherwise, where else can I possibly get helped with it?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4189/2516)**
---
The topic of id-request is a very subjective one. I believe that it's difficult to provide an objective data for analysis. Afterall [correlation does not imply causation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation).
Id-requests are something we struggled with dealing with since they first came up on our site. Objectively on paper, they can make decent questions. But in practice, this is far from true. Some common complaints about these types of question are that:
* **They are too localized and oftentimes vaguely worded**, and typically unhelpful to other users. Someone trying to remember the same thing as you might recall certain details more vividly than others, this oftentimes results in different descriptions of the same thing.
There's no easy way to resolve this. Answering identification question is not unlike giving directions: if you don't give someone good directions they'll have a hard time finding what they are looking for.
Take a look at this map, made by a directionally-challenged character from a popular manga:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pChxY.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Utzed.jpg)
Would you find what you're looking for or where you need to go? The place you're looking for based off of these directions? Probably not. However more often than not we get users the ask question that feel like these maps, despite our attempts to help them include better details with [our guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892).
* **Users make little effort, but expect the world in return.** We've seen a lot of these types of id request questions. Most of them are in the form of image-only id requests, which got out of hand really quick, mostly because the ones asking the question almost never tried doing a reverse image search themselves and expect us to do it and tell them. We're not here to be someone's personal search engine/concierge service, we're here to ask and answer questions about the world and culture of anime and manga. *Filling our site with these questions can be as bad as watching filler episodes of a long-running anime.* It gets us nowhere.
[Since then we've disallowed media-only (only a link to an image, audio, video) identification questions](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2725/policy-review-image-only-id-requests/2726#2726), but we've made some provisions to allow users to ask questions about identifying *specific* [merchandise](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/merchandise "show questions tagged 'merchandise'"), [cosplay](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cosplay "show questions tagged 'cosplay'"), and the rare but occasional [itasha](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/itasha "show questions tagged 'itasha'"), using actual pictures that you've seen or taken yourself.
As of this post, the [help center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic) topic for what's on-topic and our [tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour) have been updated to note that users should follow these guidelines when asking identification request questions, including our updated stance on media-only identification requests.
* **Rarely do users that ask id-requests stick around or bother to come back.** Statistically speaking the [retention numbers](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2467/can-we-get-some-more-definitive-numbers-on-identification-request-stats) on id-request askers are low. Not only that, but a fair number of them are asked by unregistered users, whose accounts are cookie-based and volatile, meaning that once they lose their session cookie, they have no way of logging back to this account (without registering that account). This results in many id request questions being essentially abandoned.
While we care about making more of an effort to downvote and close these questions, the fact that these post continue to pop up and with the same issues, is a bit of a cause for concern.
I, for one, do not like to see the current trend of where identification questions are going and would like to start deprecating them. We've made many efforts and guides to help users write better identification questions, but as time goes by, reminding them of such gets pretty tedious. Our previous stance was to downvote and close these questions based on our guidelines. That's all fine and done, but it requires users to actively pay attention to these questions as they come up via the review queue or on the main page. Instead of devoting our time to dealing with these questions, I'd like to see our community's efforts direct to community development between users. We've done gift exchanges, viewing sessions, and even a multi-discipline project like game development: I'd like to see us nurture this spirit more. Therefore, I believe it's in the community's best interest to deprecate and eventually remove identification questions in their entirety from our site.
I do understand that there is opposition to removing the questions completely, which is why I'd like to give them one last chance to not only be heard but also defend their position on this matter and what they believe would help improve the situation of dealing with the influx of low quality and abandoned id-requests. Maybe we've overlooked something, maybe we could have done something better, or maybe we went about things in the wrong manner.
You may discuss or scrutinize the plans as much as you'd like here on meta or in [our main chat room](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-). Regardless of how much or how little reputation you have in this community, your proposal will be heard equally, as long as there is consensus on it within the community. However, **note that this is likely to be the final time to voice your opinions**. I would like us to finally reach a decisive conclusion on this matter once and for all.
You have until **May 8th** to make your case (for, against, other) and leave any comments.
However, while such question are off-topic on our site, they will still be welcome [in our main chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) for users with with at least [20 rep](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/chat) (globally on StackExchange).<issue_comment>username_1: I am against keeping identification question on the site and I believe that there are quite a few users within the community that feel that same way on this matter. I would like to propose the following plan for deprecating and getting rid of them:
1. Start closing all *NEW* [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions with a modification to the existing off-topic close reason to remind users that all identification questions are off-topic. **All users are encouraged to vote to close them as they pop up.**
2. After ~~30~~ **15 days**, blacklist the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") and associated tag synonyms, close *ALL* remaining [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions, and apply a [historical lock](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/126587/what-is-a-historical-lock-and-what-is-it-used-for) to them. This will most likely be done via a [feature-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/feature-request "show questions tagged 'feature-request'") to the CMs.
3. After ~~60~~ **30 days**, delete all [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions with a score of ~~3 or less~~ less than 4, without at least one answer with a score of 3 or more. The ones that remain will serve as a reminder to other (new) users that while we have allowed these question in the past, these question are no longer on-topic on our site. These questions will remain and be [untagged](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/untagged "show questions tagged 'untagged'") and locked permanently. Future questions should not only be locked, but also deleted.
Doing so will is meant to preserve some of the better identification request questions for purposes of keeping historical artefacts. The three-step process is meant to be less abrupt and ease everyone into the removal of the [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") tag and questions tagged with it.
Removing the tag will most definitely have a rather significant impact on our question and answer count. This is why, in return, I would like to us to start organizing more community events to talk about, recommend, and watch anime in a monthly basis (or weekly, if the initiative gains enough traction).
Some examples would be short weekly collaborative watch sessions for on-going seasonal anime (two sessions, each one for people in different time zones), and a monthly binge session of an entire complete series or set of movies following a theme (there will be 2 time slots to accommodate different time zones as well).
There is also the possibility of hosting themed community events involving asking question on certain tags: we've done similar things in the past, both when with [seasonal tags](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/tags-by-season?sort=newest&pageSize=50) and [themed tags](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/510/april-fools-2013).
I'll give you guys until the **end of the next month (May 8th)** to mull over this, before implementing anything.
[This](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/480246/identification-questions-that-wouldnt-be-deleted-q4-a3?MaxQuestionScoreToDelete=3&MinAnswerScoreToKeep=3) is a modified version of @Makoto's data query that shows the question that will be kept.
However, while such question are off-topic on our site, they are still welcome [in our main chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) for users with with at least [20 rep](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/chat) (globally on StackExchange).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'm on the fence about this but because no one has posted a contrary opinion yet, I'll offer this up. I'm uncertain about this because as I see it, there's one good reason why identification questions should be a banned, and few admittedly not as good reasons why they should be allowed. Given the balance between the two, I'm of the opinion we should err on the side of caution and so continue to allow identification requests.
### One good reason to get rid of them
Identification requests have one fundamental problem, and it's a pretty damning one. It unlikely that when answered they'll be all that helpful to anyone other than person asking the question. That's not what these Stack Exchange sites are supposed to be about. If questions only helped the asker then it wouldn't be worth the expense of running a site like this. The value in these sites comes from the fact that one question can end up helping a lot of people.
Now, I'm not saying questions should judged based on how many people they might help. There is a good reason why the [old "too localized" close reason was removed](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/185102/responding-to-your-too-localized-concerns), there just isn't a good way to set objective criteria for judging whether individual posts could help "enough" people. This is different though, this is an entire class of questions that don't seem to add much value to the site. That's a reasonable justification for not allowing them.
### A few reasons to keep them
The one saving grace here is that while identification requests are unlikely to be helpful to someone else trying to identify something, they still are of some value to people browsing the site. I read them to see if they mention anything interesting, some show that I never heard of and may like. It's not big thing but they do seem to gather views at rate similar to other kinds of posts, so they must have some value beyond helping the person asking the question.
What I think is the most compelling reason to keep them is that we seem to do a relatively good job of answering them. There doesn't seem to be another place that does a better job. It's not a question of the site lacking the expertise. There's also nothing that makes these questions fundamentally unanswerable or outside the scope of the site. This isn't a case where these questions don't fit the Q/A format. They aren't ones we can say are better suited to a more traditional discussion forum.
While this doesn't matter much as it used to, getting rid of identification requests would take a big chuck out of the activity on this site. The good thing is that since this site is no longer in beta, there's no fear of closure as a result (plus they changed graduation criteria so it's no longer activity based anyways). Still, it's not obvious this would help improve the overall health of the site. It's easy to say that people asking identification requests almost never post again and aren't contributing to the site, so banning them won't hurt, but that is actually hard to measure. While it's true not many accounts post again, it's hard to say how many people are posting using new accounts, having forgotten or lost the old one.
The lowered activity can have snowball affect as well. People who see a less active site are not as likely to become active. If you're someone like me, who isn't interested in shounen fighting anime, then this site effectively becomes a lot less active. I've probably read more identification questions here than not. Active users may end up becoming less active.
So I think there's actually some risk to banning these questions. There's lots of hard to predict ways their absence could negatively affect activity, like less word of mouth, lower search rankings, and the site not showing up in the "Hot Network Questions" list as much (though this site's id requests don't seem to show up there as much as other sites).
Finally, another reason to keep them is the fact that things have actually gotten better. The site now has better criteria for closing bad identification questions. The growth in these questions has plateaued, and no longer [threaten to take over the site](http://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/261651/the-identification-requests-are-taking-over-cumulative?TagName=identification-request#graph). So, just when they've gotten under control they should now be eliminated completely?
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Id requests suck, I've been convinced for quite a while that we should get rid of them, and I agree with ʞɹɐzǝɹ's plan to do so.
While there are many reasons they suck, and many reasons to get rid of them, I want to focus on one in particular--it takes way too much time and energy to police them.
On a typical day, I visit the site four or five times. Each of those times, there's usually at least one new id request to look at (I view the site from the "All questions" tab, ordered from newest to oldest). It's usually written as one long sentence all in a single paragraph in shoddy English, with awful punctuation and incomprehensible word use. Sometimes this is because the asker is a non-native speaker of English, but sometimes the asker is a native speaker of English who is just too lazy or ignorant to put any effort into decent writing. I have no way to tell, so I have to go in and make paragraphs and use commas and fix typos to make it minimally presentable. I've also started cutting out all the useless fluff that people add to id requests—"Thanks in advance", "When I was young I saw this show I really liked", "Please excuse my poor English", "I'm going crazy trying to find this", "It was really cute", "It had great art", "I met my spouse because of this manga", etc.
There's also been a rash of users recently who don't understand how tags work for some reason, so they just toss a bunch of random tags on their question instead of tagging it [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'"). [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'"), [bleach](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/bleach "show questions tagged 'bleach'"), [pokemon](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pokemon "show questions tagged 'pokemon'"), [dragon-ball](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dragon-ball "show questions tagged 'dragon-ball'") are all common but I just voted to close a question which had been wrongly tagged [satisfaction-guaranteed](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/satisfaction-guaranteed "show questions tagged 'satisfaction-guaranteed'"). So those have to be changed. (Since so many of our questions are id requests, it boggles my mind that they didn't see another question tagged [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") and figure out how they were supposed to do it. But id questioners do keep finding new, inventive ways to suck.)
Then the question is usually horribly vague, so I leave a comment asking the OP to add more information, like when they saw it, where they saw it, what exact year it was, etc. Typically I also downvote, and sometimes vote to close. Since I like to retract downvotes and close votes if it's justified, I come back later to check on it and see if the OP has done anything to improve the question. Very rarely is that the case. Usually the OP has posted some kind of whiny comment asking why everyone is complaining when that's really all they remember. Sometimes I try to explain to them why their question is bad, but it's usually a waste of time.
This process becomes draining, tedious, and frustrating after a while. I imagine it's also frustrating for the question asker. Also, the time I spend doing this is time I'm on the site, not asking or answering questions--in other words, not actually building up the site, but rather just trying to stop it collapsing under the weight of bad questions. Not making a better site, just trying to prevent it becoming a worse site.
I know it's not just me. I can see other users doing the same thing—users who once contributed great questions and answers, some of the best on the site, now spend all their time on the site sifting through garbage on the off chance of finding, not a diamond, but maybe an AA battery that isn't quite dead yet, or a jar that could make a good container for nuts and bolts and screws. I can see these users making the same edits, leaving the same comments asking for more information, voting to close, arguing with whiny questioners who expect service two hours ago, dammit, and an apology from the manager for the waiter's rudeness.
It's just not worth all this trouble. Whatever value id requests add to the site—and, as we've discussed before, many of us believe they don't add much—that value is not worth all the time it takes to police them according to the strict, baroque guidelines we've set for them. Instead, we could have users out there writing better questions, or answering better questions. If we ban them, they'll keep showing up, and we'll still have to vote to close them, but just automatically casting a vote to close isn't nearly as draining, tedious, and frustrating as that entire process of trying to goad an unwilling OP into writing a decent question.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Originally I would be for keeping [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") on-topic on the grounds that it can be a good starting point for new users.
**HOWEVER!**
I have now changed my stance. I am in agreement with [making them off-topic and the removal of low scoring questions.](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2806/1587)
My original view was that making an id-request question wasn't hard, and that new users would be able to post good quality questions. However this has not been the case, and the community has had to
* [Show how to do reverse images searches](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/where-is-this-picture-from-how-do-i-use-reverse-image-search-to-find-the-source)
* [Establish minimum guidelines](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/891/what-criteria-should-we-use-for-qcing-for-all-identification-request-questions/892#892)
* Remind users about these:
+ [When using the tag](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VdKqJ.png)
+ [In the tag](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tags/identification-request/info)
+ [In the Tour](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour)
+ [In the the help center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic)
in an attempt to try and improve the quality, but it appears that new users — and sometimes normal users who never used the tag before — seem to ignore all of these.
However, we can't put all the blame on questions. Stack Exchange is a Question *and Answer* Site. Making a lot of high quality questions is one thing, but we also want high quality answers too.
Like questions, I thought that new users could easily answer an id-request and get some rep — since 1 upvote = 10 rep, and accept = 15 rep, compared to questions which were 1 upvote = 5 rep. And writing a good answer to an id-request isn't hard: you name a title you believe that matches, give a description of the title then list how the title matches and possibly what parts may have been misremembered.
However, too many times, when I see an answer to an id-request by a new user, they are just one-liners, sometimes with a link, sometimes an illegal site and sometimes with padding crap like:
>
> it's Sakamoto desu ga!!!!!!!!!......................need 150 characters1
>
>
>
and even when the community posts a comment notifying them of this, it usually falls on deaf ears and another user has to use their time to edit the answer to include even a description of the mentioned title.
While other users editing answer isn't new, it's normally formatting, re-organizing text to flow better and removing banter. But for id-requests, users are more than often editing answers to add in new information (such as the case with [this answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/posts/31672/revisions)). Aside from the fact that the editing user is giving up time for another user who clearly doesn't want to put any effort into their *own* post, a third-party adding in more info into an answer is traditionally an edit rejection on the ground of conflicting with the author's intent (with the exception to quoting content from links).
---
Another thing is that id-requests are also the only tag which one can't ask and answer at the same time. Sometimes when a user discovers something interesting they post a good question and answer it, sharing their knowledge with the community.
However with id-requests you can't do that. As per what Krazer has said in the question and in [JNat's comment](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2805/what-wed-like-to-do-about-those-gosh-darn-identification-requests-questions?cb=1#comment6566_2808), how one person might recall a title could be very different from how anyone else might do it. Self-answering an id-request doesn't really add any valuable knowledge when compared to [this self answered question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/23753/1587).
Even when the user doesn't abandon the question, when they ended up finding the titles they wanted identified they end up self-answering with a one-liner, which is one of the problems.
---
1: can't remember if it was 150 characters or not, but you get the idea
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Just my 2 Cents.
1 - This was a ridiculous small time frame. For a matter of this magnitude you should have allowed at least six months discussion
2 - ID requests are basically all I'm interested in answering on this site, since the rest of the questions seem of even lower quality, like questions about some boring stuff from Naruto, Bleach, One Piece or whatever kids watch these days.
Upvotes: -1 |
2016/05/09 | 2,189 | 8,215 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm here to announce the first phase of the our clean up of "identification request", as detailed in [this proposal](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2806/63). Seeing that there have not been any noteworthy counter proposals, we're looking to move ahead with deprecating and eventually removing these questions from the site.
The cleanup will consist of three phases: deprecation, blacklisting, and removal.
Here is a summary of the actions that will be taken in this first phase:
* Phase 1: Deprecation (Ongoing for the next **15** days, until **May 23, 2016**)
* ~~Modify the existing "minimum standard" off-topic reason~~ Create a new close reason to say:
>
> **Identification questions** are off-topic (new and old), because they tend to attract low-quality and low-effort posts. The community has decided to no longer support these questions. Please refer to [this meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2805/what-wed-like-to-do-about-those-gosh-darn-identification-requests-questions) for additional details.
>
>
>
All "identification-request" question are now [off-topic](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2805/what-wed-like-to-do-about-those-gosh-darn-identification-requests-questions) and will no longer be accepted on this site. However, such question are still welcome [in our main chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) for users with with at least [20 rep](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/chat) (globally on StackExchange).
* Encourage all users with the close privilege to close all ***NEW*** [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") questions (those tagged and untagged). In other words, please do as you've been doing for the current "identification-request" questions, but now do them for all new, incoming "identification-requests." You may go around and close older identification request, but any unclosed "identification-request" questions from before this meta post will be taken cared of in Phase Two.
* Inform new users about the [merchandise](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/merchandise "show questions tagged 'merchandise'"), [cosplay](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/cosplay "show questions tagged 'cosplay'"), and [itasha](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/itasha "show questions tagged 'itasha'") tags as needed. There will be a separate meta (*to be updated*) on guidelines of how to use these tags.
What's been updated?
* The "identification-request" close reason [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'")
* The on-topic [help page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic) [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'")
* The [tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour) [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'")
* Added deprecation notice to the tag excerpt and wiki [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'")
* The tooltip reminder for the "identification-request" tag [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'")
What's coming up:
* Phase 2: Blacklisting (**15** days from this post, starting **May 23, 2016**, note the length was shortened after receiving feedback from users)
1. Ask the CMs for assistance in closing all remaining "identification-requests" (that have not been closed), and apply a [historical lock](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/126587/what-is-a-historical-lock-and-what-is-it-used-for) on **ALL** questions tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") (and tag synonyms, as needed) The tag will stay on the post, but it will not be editable by all users, except for moderators and CMs.
2. When a tag is blacklisted, any and all post that have said tag will not be accepted. While editing is allowed on locked questions by the moderators, subsequent edits to post with the blacklisted tag will remove the tag from the question.
As always please let us know if you have questions or comment on the details or procedures made in this post.<issue_comment>username_1: [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'"): I've removed the duplicate entry.
---
This seems to be a bit duplicated:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iq5a6.png)
Let's be sure to remove the bottom entry; since identification requests are explicitly no longer allowed, having a section that includes the proviso of it only being some form of media is unnecessary.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I found quite a few old questions tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") that seem to not quite be questions of the type we're banning. For example, some questions asked for references used in a series:
* [Who are these characters referenced in chapter 4 of Spotted Flower?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/4127/2604)
* [Was the names of the hot springs in ep8 of Gugure! Kokkuri-san a joke/reference to another anime?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/18777/2604)
* [Which characters is the cast of Youkai Shoujo - Monsuga cosplaying as in the chapter 31 color cover?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/21181/2604)
Some of the cases where the tag was used for character identification:
* [Who are the three Homunculi that are with Irisviel and Saber?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/15376/2604)
* [Who is this person with four eyes in OP song?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/16681/2604)
* [Who is this in Fairy Tail?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/8437/2604)
(There were also some other cases, such as people wanted to identify an episode where something happened.) Would these be affected by the closure of all questions with the ID request tag (and if so, do we need to clean these up by removing the offending tag)?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: For those who want to start going though [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") and start closing all the question which are still opened i have a search query one can use to return all the questions which aren't closed.
```
[identification-request] closed:no is:question
```
[Hyperlink (sorted by newest)](https://anime.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=%5Bidentification-request%5D%20closed%3Ano%20is%3Aquestion)
so far the first 50 results i got also didn't show those that are on-hold so it should skip those which have been recently closed.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: [status-completed](/questions/tagged/status-completed "show questions tagged 'status-completed'"): tooltip rectified, and line about the tag on the sidebar removed.
---
I know this will probably be moot when the tag is blacklisted in about 2 weeks however when asking a question it still seems to imply we allow these questions
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SD5W0.png)
My suggestions would be
1. with the "how to tag" remove the id request part
2. we can probably do away with the first paragraph of the popup if not the pop-up entirely since if users were reading the links in this we wouldn't have had so much crap.
an alternative is to alter the first paragraph saying that the tag is depreciated and now off-topic, linking to the necessary meta, something along the lines of
>
> identification requests are [off-topic](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2805/what-wed-like-to-do-about-those-gosh-darn-identification-requests-questions/2806#2806) and are in the process of being removed.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 |
2016/05/12 | 668 | 2,488 | <issue_start>username_0: We will be using an [annotated, free, and online](http://changingminds.org/disciplines/warfare/art_war/sun_tzu_annotated.htm) version of the book.
**What does this have to do with Anime and Manga?**
All the major generals during the sengoku period studied the book (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu). Any works featuring them could have mentioned the book.
**So why a study group for the book?**
Because its interesting, was written 1500 years ago, has influenced war, business, and anything requiring strategy. It still applies today, and the study group's aim is to see how it applies, and specifically, how it applies to the interests of the members of the study group.
Art of War study group will start when I've nailed down a time and a format.
**TIME:**
Since the current members are in the US, Europe, and Australia, a tentative time of Friday to Sunday, 6-9pm Houston time, which corresponds to 9am-noon Sydney time, and midnight to 3am London time.
**COMMUNICATION FORMAT:**
Either AM.SE chat or Discord. Will consider other formats.
**DISCUSSION FORMAT:**
Round table discussion. Look at that week's phrase(s) and describe how it relates to something in your life or how it could apply to certain realistic situations. Anything to drive a discussion really. This is fluid and can change if we find something better to drive discussion.
**MEMBERS:**
* ton.yeung(myself)
* armin
* quill
* krazer
* jnat
**SUBJECT TO CHANGE**
Rather, expect changes as we get through a few discussions and members provide their opinions on what went well and what didn't.
Please let me know if you want to participate by posting here if the time and format is okay. I will post the time and the link to wherever the discussion will be held here.<issue_comment>username_1: Time would be best if we could arrange it around 6-7pm HT, that's between 1 and 2am CEST. And of course Friday to Sunday.
Concerning the format, it doesn't really matter, but preferably something I already have, which is:
* Skype
* Hangouts
* SE chat
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The timeslot you mention would work for me. Do you have any particular weekend in mind?
Any of the proposed mediums would work well for me. Do you have a proposed format for the session itself? I mean, is it a sort of debate, or a lecture, or something else entirely? 'Cause depending on the format, one medium might be more suitable than another.
Upvotes: 0 |
2016/05/23 | 559 | 1,834 | <issue_start>username_0: The time approaches for
[Anime Con](http://www.animecon.nl/), where we will have our first A&M meetup! The convention runs from **10th to 12th June.** Check out [the schedule](https://program.animecon.nl)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/a5BLL.jpg)
You can find helpful resources at a previous meta post: [European A&M Gathering - Helpful Travel Tips & Resources (Tickets, Accommodation, etc.)](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2644/european-am-gathering-helpful-travel-tips-resources-tickets-accommodation?lq=1) including tips for Hotels, Getting Tickets, What plugs to bring, etc.
I suggest that we meet up on the Saturday at 13:00 at the maid cafe.(if you think another time is better, comment below)
Use this meta to ask any questions, look for a cosplay partner, a roommate, etc! :-)<issue_comment>username_1: I have offered some prayers on the shrine of the SE gods and they have blessed our event with some swag!
I need some information about tshirt sizes of anyone is going so I they can provide me with the right amount.
Please fill out this survey so I can secure you some swag (**By May 31st - I need time for shipping**)
<http://goo.gl/forms/653T9U81tMAFOz7C2>
-Tosh
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Train tickets can be expensive if you need come from afar. Me and a friend found [this page](https://www.ns.nl/producten/en/s/ns-groepsretour) that allows you to buy tickets for a group which can be cheaper (keep in mind that it's only a one way ticket).
We will be ordering one for **Saturday**.
If you are interested or if you need more information you can send me a message in in the [chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) or send me an email (<EMAIL>).
Upvotes: 2 |
2016/05/29 | 1,931 | 8,350 | <issue_start>username_0: **Update:
Since the reaction to this idea seemed pretty lukewarm, I've decided not to move ahead with this. If someone else wants to build an event on this idea, feel free to do so.**
---
This is a conspiracy to get some good questions and answers in less-trafficked tags.
If the response to this proposal seems positive, I'll move ahead with implementation in a week or so.
Proposal
========
We should form viewing circles—groups of users who are all following the same series at the same time. Hopefully, this will mean that when people ask questions about the series, other users who are also following the series will be able to answer them. The circle doesn't have to stay in lockstep; it's okay if you slip back by a few episodes, and it's also okay if you end up way ahead.
This proposal comes from several frustrating experiences I've had. The [naruto](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/naruto "show questions tagged 'naruto'") and [one-piece](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/one-piece "show questions tagged 'one-piece'") tags never seem to lack for questions or answers, but it's a real crapshoot in other tags, especially when it comes to currently airing or less popular shows. If you ask a question about a show that no one else is following, you either get no answers or you get overly general answers from people who haven't seen the show and are guessing based on tropes. Conversely, a lot of people won't even look at a question if it concerns a series they aren't following. So decent posts languish with few upvotes, and the users who write these posts get discouraged and seem to either give up and leave or spend a bunch of time in the review queues closing id requests. It's just a bad experience all around. While this is somewhat unavoidable, there's a *lot* we can do to improve it, and this proposal is one idea I came up with to do so.
Also, a lot of people mentioned that they discovered new series by reading id requests. Now that id requests are gone, this could be a good way to discover something new.
Process
=======
If this idea hits off, we can do it maybe once per season. You can also do manga; I don't think we really need to separate out manga.
Here's how we can form circles:
* Someone (probably me) will create a meta post to form circles.
* Everyone should write answers mentioning the series you want to form a circle around. It can be a single series, or it can be a franchise (e.g. all the Fate shows), or a small set of shows around some kind of theme (e.g. shows inspired by Eva, shows based on Key visual novels, manga by <NAME>, the films of Satoshi Kon). If you're doing multiple shows, you should mention the viewing order you'd like to follow so things can stay in synch. It would also be nice to mention where someone can watch the series (legally, of course), and whether it's been completely released or is currently simulcasting.
* We should all upvote answers that mention series we're interested in following.
* You can commit to a circle by leaving a comment saying "I'm committing to this circle". It's not official, but it's nice for the person who created the circle to know that others are interested in committing. You can also make suggestions or request clarification before committing.
* People are inevitably going to drop out as life happens (or as the show starts to suck), so large groups are probably better. I would encourage everyone to commit to popular, highly upvoted circles so the circle can survive these inevitable dropouts.
* For the same reason, we should all join several circles, not just one or two. That way if you can't stand to watch a show anymore, you can drop it, but still be involved with other circles.
* It's completely valid to join a circle watching a series you've already seen, if you'd like to rewatch it and maybe answer some newbie questions with your deeper perspective on the series. You can also possibly join a circle if you've seen the series and aren't going to rewatch it, just to assure everyone that there are experts on that series around the site.
* It's also perfectly okay to "join" a circle long after it's been formed and started watching the series—you know that other users on the site have seen the show, so you can ask questions with some confidence that there are experts around. And there might also be questions from the initial viewing still hanging around without good answers, that you can provide an answer for.
I prefer to do this on Meta rather than chat. Not all of us go to chat, and not everyone who might be interested in a circle is going to be on chat at the same time. Plus, doing it on Meta lets interested people vet the suggested circles to make sure someone else is actually interested in joining.
Please leave comments, questions, and suggestions here. If people seem interested, I'll create another post where we can actually form circles.<issue_comment>username_1: In addition to circles, I would like to propose a mutual contract (with possible bounty) system. Which basically is an agreement, by two (or more) users, where one party (the contractor) picks an anime of their choosing that they want someone else (the contracted) to watch, and the other party (the contractor) agrees to watch in exchange they watch an anime of their (the contracted) choosing.
The two parties may set some conditions, like the minimum number of episodes/seasons, how long they have to finish it and what they need to do in order to establish that they've finished a series. Typically, these contracts should follow the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Rep bounties may be offered as compensation. Additionally, you may ask the other party to ask (and self-answer) a question for additional bounty (inspired by @senshin previous bounties for tags event).
You can fulfill these contracts on your own or as a group. I will offer to stream any series available on Crunchyroll or Funimation via Rabb.it (no region restrictions) for any individuals and circles, as long as they set a schedule ahead of time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Re: Proposal
------------
I share your sentiment, but by forming viewing circles, this only increases the chance of the followed series getting more timely answers and votes to questions asked around the time the viewing circles are watching them, which may draw in more traffic and interest to the main site if they are currently airing shows. I don't know if it would encourage people to ask more questions about less popular shows, though.
Personally, before I start watching any completed series, I try to search the main site by tag name and see what questions there are and remind myself to look for/record the answers when viewing so I could go back and give my input when I am done with the series. This way, I can provide more complete answers and also spot and possibly correct the posts that seriously spoil the content without warning (I don't mind spoilers most of the time). And of course I also vote on the questions and answers, if any.
Re: Process
-----------
How do you co-ordinate this efficiently? And if you encourage people to commit to large, popular circles, how would it be different from the status quo? If it's informal and the purpose is just to have fun, then sure it doesn't matter. If that's the case, I would still prefer it to be an event attached to a chatroom because as a certain Tomato said, chat is a somewhat better platform for this purpose.
Positive aspects
----------------
I think your proposal is workable if it's only restricted to currently airing shows. Otherwise you have too many options for less impact. We should arrange the viewing sessions at the earliest time possible: as close to the release time of the latest episode as possible.
For less popular, non-airing shows, I think bounty offers is still the best method to attract answers. If we continue what senshin did, grouping each bounty offer by theme (e.g. Studio Ghibli's films), it will also serve the purpose of introducing anime to members who could filter by genre/theme if they so choose, and these anime grouped by themes might also require the same/similar area of expertise to come up with questions/answers, and having seen one might benefit knowledge of another.
Upvotes: 1 |
2016/06/09 | 1,094 | 3,782 | <issue_start>username_0: Phase 3: Delete and Lock
------------------------
[Continuing](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2824/identification-request-cleanup-phase-2-blacklisting) with our our cleanup of "identification request", as detailed in [this proposal](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2806/63).
I would ask the CMs to do the following as the *final* part of our three-phase process to remove identification questions from our community.
* Please delete all "identification-requests" without a question score of 4 or higher AND at least an answer with a score of 3 or higher.
* Please apply a [historical lock](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/126587/what-is-a-historical-lock-and-what-is-it-used-for) on **ALL** questions tagged with [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") (and tag synonyms, as needed).
+ If it's not any extra work, please give a brief synopsis of the number of questions that were deleted and the number that will remain locked.
As always, please let us know if you have questions or comments on the details or procedures made in this post.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rDyTT.gif)[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3UQOV.gif)
Farewell [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'").
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/K92I2.gif)<issue_comment>username_1: For verification and archival purpose, I have compiled [the list of questions to be deleted with post ID, title and score](https://gist.github.com/username_1/108f8a930f219f05799bd84d86c43661), based on the conditions above.
The list above is generated from [this query](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/497973), which will stop working next week, when Data Explorer is refreshed with a new dump.
```
select p.id as [Post Link], p.title, p.answercount, p.score, q.score
from posts p left join (
select a.parentid, max(a.score) as score
from posts a
where a.posttypeid = 2
group by a.parentid
) q on p.id = q.parentid
where p.tags like '%%'
and (p.score < 4 or q.score < 3 or q.score is null)
```
After fixing a derp in my query, the number of questions to be removed (1638) now more or less matches the number from username_2's post (1637), with the exception of one post which has been removed earlier by Oded. The one exception aside, **I have confirmed that both delete lists contain the same questions**.
[The number of remaining questions](https://data.stackexchange.com/anime/query/497978) (396) matches [the number currently on the site](https://anime.stackexchange.com/search?q=[identification-request]+is%3Aq), so there seems to be no hiccup in the process. For extra precaution, **I have compared and confirmed that the list of questions from Data Explorer matches the list from username_2's post**.
Note that the remaining questions cannot be accessed via [identification-request](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-request "show questions tagged 'identification-request'") when they are locked. Hopefully, the tag is still recorded in the question, so that [the search query](https://anime.stackexchange.com/search?q=[identification-request]+is%3Aq) still works.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This has been completed. [1637 were deleted](http://pastebin.com/wP74uCDZ), and [396 locked](http://pastebin.com/rTq91vN8). [As with closing before](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2826/49), the questions will appear as deleted or locked by me.
Upvotes: 3 |
2016/06/09 | 1,241 | 4,451 | <issue_start>username_0: Recently, [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/33627/what-are-the-evidences-in-behind-the-following-assertions) was asked wanting evidence in regards to 2 assertions. Since the question has been deleted, below is a screenshot for those who can't view deleted questions:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0jQsZ.png)
Looking at the [first link](http://ultradragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Eternal_Super_Saiyan) on *Eternal Super Seiyan*, at the bottom in the categories it says
>
> **Fan Fiction** | Transformations | Page added by SuperSaiyanKrillin | **Transformation created by SuperSaiyanKrillin** | Power Ups | Super Saiyans | Super Saiyan Form | **Fan Made Transformation** | SSJ Forms | SSJ Forns
>
>
>
It appears that [fan-fiction](https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fan-fiction) questions are [on-topic on SciFi.SE](https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/251/are-fan-fics-fair-game-for-this-site), which suggests that they are workable on SciFi, but I am wondering **if fan fiction/fanon questions should be on or off topic here on Anime.SE?**, and if they are on-topic, how should they be quality controlled? (i.e. tags, guidelines, etc)<issue_comment>username_1: I think fanfiction is on topic. Fanfictions provide a story on their own. They have simply a label slabbed on them. If they hadn't these labels, they would be accepted without discussion. ~~We should see them as extension of the normal canon.~~1 But each fanfiction series is unrelated to other series.
The fear of poor quality questions are without reason, in my opinion, because they won't cause more bad quality question than other stories that are not finished or have lots of loose ends.
If we don't have enough information to answer a question because it was never mentioned in the story or by the author then the only answer is
>
> We don't know.
>
>
>
But I think it should be made clear, that the question is about non-canon material. This can be done, either by a [fanfiction](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fanfiction "show questions tagged 'fanfiction'") tag or by specific tags for a fanfiction (because I barely read fanfiction, I take a normal scifi fanfic) [the-adventures-of-harriet-potter](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/the-adventures-of-harriet-potter "show questions tagged 'the-adventures-of-harriet-potter'").
I think we should take both, because the first tag can be used to ask for fanfictions in general, e.g.
>
> Are there any fanfictions that describe the life of C.C.?
>
>
>
This question could be tagged [code-geass](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/code-geass "show questions tagged 'code-geass'") [fanfiction](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fanfiction "show questions tagged 'fanfiction'").
Whether this question is on or off topic is a different discussion that can be had when this one is done.
TL;DR: Fanfiction is on topic.
==============================
1 I had the misconception that all fanfic is in accordance to canon, which is obviously not the case (how can gender swap be canon?) So a fanfic has its own canon.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would say that questions about fan-fictions are off-topic.
------------------------------------------------------------
There are a few reasons why I say this:
* People can say whatever they want in a fan-fiction, and sometimes
they aren't even related to the original anime or manga themselves.
* Often, the answers to fan-fiction questions are, **"We don't know!"**
* Fan-fiction questions can tend to be open-ended due to either bad storytelling or bad links to the original anime or manga, and it is stated in the [help center](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask) that:
>
> Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.
>
>
>
* Which leads me to: they distract from questions about **actual** anime and manga. And anime and manga are the whole spirit of this site!
To wrap up, I don't think the users on this site are entitled to answer questions about fictions of varying quality levels. That can get way off-topic, and it would create a whole slew of second-rate questions that people don't want to have getting in the way of legitimate, valuable posts.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2016/06/26 | 2,407 | 9,094 | <issue_start>username_0: So i doubt it's just only me but for the most part i don't track anime/manga news since in the end it makes no difference.
A little while back i voted to closed [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/33877/hunterxhunter-june-2016-updates) seeing all questions asking for "when is [X] coming out" or "any news on [Y]" as off-topic because they are asking for unannounced future events. but as you can see this wasn't the case with this question while [this question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/33891/1587) was off-topic, or at the very least no one was fast enough to answer before it was closed.
So as a user who has the [close vote privilege](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/view-close-votes) how can i tell the difference between a question asking for announced and unannounced future events? is it expected that before i vote i should check out the entire internet looking for the latest news before i make my vote? if i don't want to do that should i just abstain from ever voting to close as being announced future events?<issue_comment>username_1: I have been advocating getting rid of any 'future news' questions for a while now - and while it has recieved positive feedback, it only seems to be half implemented - even when my answer was accepted. It was also one of the top areas to clarify in our [2015 feedback session](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2564/lets-take-a-look-back-at-our-site-policies-2015-edition/2672)
* (2012) [What do we do with questions about future events/releases?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/27/what-do-we-do-with-questions-about-future-events-releases) (initial policy)
* [2014 Edition: How should we treat questions regarding future unannounced events?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/800/2014-edition-how-should-we-treat-questions-regarding-future-unannounced-events?rq=1) (let's get rid of them)
* [Where do we draw the line between "unanounced future event" and "opinion based"?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2621/where-do-we-draw-the-line-between-unanounced-future-event-and-opinion-based) (No answer)
* [Is a question that asks about a future event on-topic?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2483/is-a-question-that-asks-about-a-future-event-on-topic) (allowed - included because of future *series* questions)
* [Should we reopen questions about "future unannounced events" once the event is announced?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/876/should-we-reopen-questions-about-future-unannounced-events-once-the-event-is-a) (No)
* [Can we change the name of this closure reason?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2231/can-we-change-the-name-of-this-closure-reason) (No Answer)
If we go back to the first post out of all of this, @GraceNote makes a good point:
>
> "what is to happen in the future" is something that should be kept off-topic
>
>
>
Jnat implemented the closure reason back in 2013:
[What should be our custom off-topic close reasons?](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/626/what-should-be-our-custom-off-topic-close-reasons/664#664)
But **it was edited in the post to be changed from unannounced to all.** However, That change didn't make it the whole way through to the actual close reasons - and all the other meta posts.
---
I realise that some questions are interesting to people, but just like ID requests, the ratio is pretty bad for good:bad questions.
Therefore I propose (for hopefully the last time) that we can change the closure reason to cover all news events that have not already taken place.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: When we originally decided to allow questions about *future events with regard to anime/manga production*\*, the onus was on the asker to demonstrate that an announcement has been made, at which point it is reasonable to ask questions specifically within the context of that announcement. In practice the vast majority of questions about future events are not of this form. However, if (for example) someone linked an announcement of the [*Zaregoto* adaptation](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-05-05/nisioisin-zaregoto-novels-launch-anime-project/.101810) and wanted to ask whether only the original is getting adapted or also parts of the spin-off work *Ningen*, it would not make sense to close that question. Even if we can't answer it now (and I'm not sure whether we can), at some point we'll surely be able to. Most questions of this form will still be at least slightly interesting after the work has been produced.
If an announcement has been made but the asker is not aware of the announcement and coincidentally asks an answerable question, it's fair to close it anyway. Close voters aren't expected to know whether announcements have been made. Almost any "Will X get an anime adaptation" question falls in this category, even if the answer is already known. Of course, if an announcement has been made that the OP is not aware of, but it can be edited in to the question in a way that doesn't trivialize the question, that improvement would be grounds for not closing or reopening. This won't save the common "Will X get an anime adaptation?" questions, as they're trivialized by the announcement. So if someone asks "Will there be another season of SAO?" it's fine to close that question even if you know that a third season has been announced.
So, to put it briefly, allowing questions about announced future events is not supposed to allow questions where the asker happens to get lucky and an announcement has been made. It's supposed to allow questions asked within the context of an already-public announcement. That is to say, you can ask *about* the news, but you can't ask looking for news, as we aren't a news site. In practice such questions are rare, and the burden of proof of an announcement lies with the asker, not close voters.
---
\*Note that in-universe questions about future events are completely allowed, as we can just wait and answer them when they are eventually answered in-universe (either explicitly or by lack of an answer at the conclusion of the work). The problem with production questions is that the vast majority of the information is not public knowledge. So we can never rule out, say, another TV season of *Ranma 1/2* or *Slam Dunk*, even though it seems quite unlikely. In the rare cases where there is publicly available information (in the form of an announcement), it makes sense to allow questions about that information, but in the absence of any evidence to the contrary we can only assume that any information about such is private.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: There are two things that vex me about [HunterXHunter June 2016 updates?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/33877/7579):
* I don't think it's reasonable to expect people who are volunteering their time to moderate this site to go off and do an asker's Google searches for them just to figure out if a question is on-topic.
* I don't follow Hunter x Hunter, but it seems to go on hiatus like every six months, and in the interim we get a question like once every two months asking "When is Hunter x Hunter coming back?" (Lest you doubt me: [Any more HxH stories or episodes out there?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/33740/any-more-hxh-stories-or-new-episodes-out-there), [Is there any news about Hunter X Hunter?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30513/is-there-any-news-about-hunter-x-hunter)). We've also been getting pretty frequent "When is Attack on Titan 2 coming out?" and "When is the latest episode of Naruto / Fairy Tail coming out?" sort of questions.
This sort of question has so far been just a minor annoyance, more of a cricket in the shower than a plague of locusts. Still, I don't think they're the kind of question we should encourage. So I suggest we ask forgiveness instead of permission: close any question that appears to be about "unannounced" future events, and we can later reopen it if someone wants to put in the effort to verify that the events have been announced. That someone can even be the OP: we can reopen the question to allow a self-answer.
Since there aren't *too* many of these questions, I suggest we handle this with custom moderator flags: just raise a flag for "In need of moderator intervention", and write in the comment space "This question is actually answerable, please reopen".
---
By the way, [HunterXHunter June 2016 updates?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/33877/7579) appears to be a duplicate of [Is there any news about Hunter X Hunter?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/30513/is-there-any-news-about-hunter-x-hunter); it looks like the answers to both questions are referencing the same announcement from March that the manga was returning. Allowing questions like this will probably raise some ugly, sticky issues regarding duplicates, since they tend to get re-asked every so often and the answers will change over time.
Upvotes: 2 |
2016/07/13 | 846 | 3,393 | <issue_start>username_0: I was pretty sure identifying some element of a known series (a piece of music, an episode, a scene, a reference) was still on-topic and should be tagged with the series. But questions like this keep showing up in the close vote queue: most recently [What music plays in Hunter x Hunter SLOW MO?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/34229/7579), but also stuff like [In which episode does Luffy get his finger stuck in a bottle?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/33970/7579).
I was under the impression these kinds of questions were still on-topic; they're not always great questions, but no type of question is infallible, and that's what downvotes are for.
Can we clarify this issue? Should these questions be closed as identification requests?<issue_comment>username_1: I am under the impression that these are still on-topic as per Krazer's reply to my comment [in his answer which is the accepted policy to ID Requests](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2805/what-wed-like-to-do-about-those-gosh-darn-identification-requests-questions#comment6538_2806)
>
> @username_1 **Music identification is series specific, so it's not an id-req.** Questions about doujinshi should be acceptable. However identifying a doujinshi of a specific series is an id-req and should not include a series tag as there really is no direct connection. However if you wish would like to ask about finding a doujinshi a specific author did on a specific series, then you can use the author name and the series name as tags. This makes identifying the title more specific and answerable, as opposed to grasping for straws in the dark like we currently do for id-reqs.
>
>
>
Remember that Music Identification is generally a hell of a lot easier because we will know the anime and the asker is expected to give us when about the music plays in the form of describing the scene of a timed youtube link and most of the time the answer lies in the Soundtracks.
Scene identification for the most part i would be ok with it since you can get questions like asking when flashback originally occurred because with animation, to save money scenes are reused (ie. in Bleach when Karin thinks back to when she was at the graveyard and was attacked by a Hollow), the origin scene to a meme (ie. the pregnancy test meme), etc.
ofcause these kinds of questions, just as Krazer's comment says it's series specific and more or less fall under the lines of iding characters/objects within a series.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I am of the opinion that these particular questions are indeed on-topic; they eliminate a lot of the issues that we originally had with identification requests by being explicit and very narrow in scope.
However, I also believe that they make for poorer questions (and answers) in general. It may be nice to figure out what the name of some BGM is playing in the background so you can purchase it later, and it may be nice to have some closure on where a scene from an episode came from. However, I personally don't feel satisfied when I see [a similar pattern of answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/33977/102) as we did [with original identification requests](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/21211/102). This may be worth a separate discussion, but for now, identifications for music and scenes is on-topic.
Upvotes: 2 |
2016/07/20 | 1,041 | 3,848 | <issue_start>username_0: Recent examples are <https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/34353/rezero-kara-hajimeru-isekai-seikatsu>, [In the Erased manga do Satoru and Airi get together?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/34330/in-the-erased-manga-do-satoru-and-airi-get-together), and [Does Ash walk away from the starting pokemon in the anime?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/34196/why-does-ash-walk-away-from-the-starting-pokemon).
The common thread among these questions is that the OP is familiar with one form of a story (the anime, the game) and is asking questions about what happened in some other version (the manga, the anime) which are obvious to someone who's actually read/watched that other version.
We seem to be entering a bit of a close/reopen war on these. I keep going back and forth; in my opinion, they're not *good* questions, but I'm also not sure they should be closed. Downvoted, yes, but I don't know about closing.
Anyone have an opinion on this? Should we allow these in general? Should there be any criteria to decide which ones are too silly to allow?<issue_comment>username_1: Re zero is just too silly to even consider as a valid question, so let's not mix it in together with the other two.
---
Regarding Erased question…
There are cases where you can get an answer relatively easily, like (in my opinion) in case of this Erased question, by just browsing the manga's last pages and seeing how it diverges from anime. But these are just 2 versions, so as I see it, OP didn't bother to look it up, and so I downvoted the question for lack of research.
And then there are not so easy to answer questions like works with multiple continuities, different twists on the same story, alternative setting, etc. For example, Ghost in the Shell which has many movies and series.
I don't think it should stay closed, as it's a valid, even if not a very good question of its kind.
---
Regarding Pokemon question…
OP says:
>
> I've not seen the show, but I used to play the video games.
>
>
>
It is not stated which games, but I've played Yellow and [you just don't get the pokemon you were supposed to get because your rival is mean](https://youtu.be/2q32b5XoecQ?t=89), and it's within the first few minutes. But I assume that OP wasn't playing Yellow, and the newer games do give you some choice of a starter pokemon (haven't played any myself).
But that's not why it was closed. Because it was put in a way that it asks about the Pokemon Go game, it's not on topic here. The answer was given to a very related, but not the same question. I think we can fix this case by editing the question to "How does Ash get Pikachu in the anime?" and then it would be on topic.
update: I edited the Pokemon question to be on topic.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: In response to the latest edit:
>
> Should we allow these in general? Should there be any criteria to decide which ones are too silly to allow?
>
>
>
I think there should be some quality threshold to avoid having to answer and keep questions like [this one](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/34454/is-there-any-romance-in-absolute-duo-do-people-end-up-together). For example, if answer can be found on:
* Wikipedia or anime database page for the work;
* First page of a google search (somebody already asked this on forums or answered in reviews);
* The thing in question is made pretty obvious at the beginning or the end (which are both easy to locate), except where that something is implied and you think some viewers could miss it (which is probably evidence they didn't pay enough attention, and so they're being lazy by asking such a question).
If answer can't be found like that, I think it's reasonable to say it's not easy to find it, and it deserves a place on the site.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2016/08/04 | 6,437 | 26,958 | <issue_start>username_0: What is the purpose of this website? I can't exactly think of a specific purpose. Are we trying to spread the anime and manga industry or something or just answering question related to it?
As Shown on the tour page:
>
> Anime and Manga is a question and answer site for enthusiastic anime and manga fans. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about anime and manga.
>
>
>
I understand how low-quality posts are disliked by users and workers but why is this a reason to get rid of some very interesting features? It states that we want a detailed answer to every question about anime and manga, but doesn't getting rid of certain features defeat that purpose?
**I am, indeed, talking about identification-requests here,** and I don't know if there are other cases like it, but it is a shame to see such an interesting type of questions being disallowed. Especially for new comers: most of the new comers that came to this site posted an identification request; I was one of them. We are selfish people, we only wanted to fulfill our inquiries. But it feels bad to have what technological people think as common sense slammed into my face: because I had barely any contact with technology, I didn't know what a "reverse image search" was until I came to this site. You can't expect a beginner to get everything right the first time: we need time. Not everybody has a sophisticated thought towards anime and manga, they came here because they can't find a anime/manga that they have interest in, and as a community it's not very nice nor good thing to just refuse to answer their question.
I missed the chance for putting my voice out there during the decision due to certain reasons, and since I would like to think that I am part of this community, I would still like to get my thoughts across. It's sad to see potential users of this website to leave. There's a chance that they will come back to this website and contribute to this website; it's a slim chance but it's better than 0. The more people we have in this community the better for the site, right? There are many people out there that know a lot less than we do (or you do) and have other things to do with their life: it's hard to track down a anime/manga that doesn't show up on any searches. The site says I can still ask them in the chat room and I appreciate those people who tried to help, but come on: 4 responses average with even lower quality and all of them replies as "no". And how many people look back in the chat to see if there are any questions? Not many.
I had a look at some id-requests that were kept for historical value or something and they had some really good questions and responses. The example here is where a father joined this community and asked a question for his son. How many fathers would do that? What about the guy tried his best to draw a character to find an anime? He got over 30 up votes. Is that still a bad question? What the site is doing is: because certain newcomers don't know what they're doing, the site just completely gets rid of the privilege for everyone else who liked it and followed the rules.
I'm going to trigger a lot of people but it doesn't matter: I want to get my thoughts across.
**The aim of this site is to answer every question possible related to anime and manga. If the site just gets rid of the bits that it doesn't like, what is the purpose of this site if we just shutdown questions that some people don't like? What ever happened to answering every question?**<issue_comment>username_1: Like it says in the first paragraph on the [tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour) we're a question and answer site for anime & manga fans. People coming here to ask or answer already (generally) have an idea of what they're talking about, since they want either a greater understanding of a particular anime or manga or to share their own understanding.
Our primary purpose isn't to spread knowledge of the industry, and as such we don't allow questions that ask about recommendations (and now ID requests too). However, being a site where large amounts of information are shared, visitors are naturally going to gain a wider awareness of the medium.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Others might answer in more lengthy posts, but I'm gonna keep it short.
The main reasons to ban ID requests were:
* ID requests in their nature are **useful to very few people**, and the core purpose of any [StackExchange](http://stackexchange.com/sites) site is to collect questions and answers that would be useful to many people;
* Overwhelming majority of them were very scarce recollections, poorly detailed and could match anything. With only "Red hair" or "There was a robot" you could list a lot of works, and they would all be wrong;
* Most users have not bothered to read our very helpful guidelines that could dramatically improve chances of getting an answer, despite these guidelines being thrown at them everywhere.
* ID requests have become a very big percentage of the site's posts, and the main purpose of the site was shifting away from what the existing users have joined for. This was a great risk to site's diversity.
The situation was an example of [Eternal September](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September) where new users flow in and dilute the quality content, and existing frustrated users leaving because they don't like where the site is going.
And it is bad in the long term, because people would see all those badly worded and mis-formatted posts and think this is what we expect to see.
This wasn't good for the site, and the majority voted against this.
---
Most of us know that ID requests can be a great way to introduce people to anime and manga, but it just doesn't work out well on this site, as this 3-year experiment has shown. There are still many other sites out there that accept ID requests. Consider joining them instead.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: 1. Nature of ID Request Questions
---------------------------------
ID Request question is a **question about the identity** of a certain thing. In our case, that would be the identity of a certain picture taken from an anime/manga. However, this kind of a question **would not be** a question about anime/manga. In such question, the asker is not asking about the manga/anime since they don't even know what manga/anime it is. It **would be a question** about the identity of a certain image. **Anime SE is a site to ask about anime and manga not identity of a certain image taken from The Web God Only Knows.**
2. Site Contribution
--------------------
Most of the ID Request questions posted here are done by people with less than 200 reputation points. What does it means? It means that they are not contributing much to the site. **A contributing user would naturally have a high reputation points as they ask and answer questions.** If you would check their profile, you'll see that many of them are unregistered users and has only one question, which is the ID Request question. I checked this on the ID Request questions that is still left in this site since it has >3 up votes, which means that I excluded those with awful questions.
ID Request questions hardly contributes something to this site.
3. Burden to Editor
-------------------
There were lots more **ID Request questions** that has **negative votes** due to the **lack of effort** to put in good (or at the very very least, passable) question including, but not not limited to, image only question, gibberish language (no proper dot, comma, punctuations), proper formatting. I'm not saying that non English speaking users are not welcome here, no, we welcome them, but they also need to do their best to make sure their question is understandable. We have active users monitoring questions and editing them for this very reason. Surely at the very least the asker could put proper formatting, dot, comma, and punctuations to ensure that those reviewing the question could understand them and repair it. Such question was removed and is no longer available here, so I'm saying this based on my experience here.
4. Site Quality & User Base
---------------------------
As pointed by username_2, point 3 caused some regulars to leave, while at the same time hardly attracts new regular user.
While you might argue that the down and the close vote on the question discouraged users from becoming a regular at this site, the closed questions are all **closed with proper reasoning** which is visible for all to see. Had they **fixed the question** to fit with the standard, we would have voted to **reopen them happily**. What happened in **most cases was that they left it as it is**. This happened over and over and **degraded the quality of this site**, so of course we have to take action to **stop** this, and that is **by banning** it altogether.
Their behavior (asking and then leaving without giving a darn care on whether they get a proper answer) also suggest that from the very beginning they have no interest in joining us and enrich their knowledge about anime and manga.
Conclusion
----------
Add my answer to answers posted by other users, we are not removing bits that we don't like. We remove bits that is not related to anime and manga. We remove bits that is bad for the site. Since we love anime and manga, of course we would.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: So the first section of your question is answered by [the tour page](https://anime.stackexchange.com/tour) (as you yourself edited in) as well as by [Matt's answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/3875/49). It seems like you actually have a good grasp of what this site's about, and your edit leads me to believe that that is *indeed* the case. Which brings us to what you *actually* want to talk about: **identification requests!**
You raise a lot of different points about this topic, and I'll try to address them all separately, but not necessarily in the order in which you raise them. Note that whenever I use "we" below, I mean "the community" and not "the moderation team" or "the Stack Exchange staff."
The site's been around since December 2012, and the oldest identification-request question is *from that same month*. **That means identification-requests have been around since the site's been around.** You can see all the discussions we've had on Meta about them [here](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/identification-questions) (some might be missing, if they weren't tagged with [identification-questions](/questions/tagged/identification-questions "show questions tagged 'identification-questions'")). If you peruse through those questions there, you'll see our [multiple](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/702/49) [attempts](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/711/49) [at](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/783/49) [dealing](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/834/49) [with](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/891/49) [them](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1063/49) — we didn't just ban them out of the blue, and neither were we completely rigid about them from the start — before we decided to [have a *definitive* discussion on whether to keep them or not](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2805/49).
>
> it feels bad to have what technological people think as common sense slammed into my face: because I had barely any contact with technology, I didn't know what a "reverse image search" was until I came to this site. You can't expect a beginner to get everything right the first time: we need time.
>
>
>
I get that, I really do. In fact, *the community gets that* too. That's why, as the Meta discussions show, we tweaked our ways of telling newcomers that their post was sub par, and how they could improve them. We went from not having any specific guidelines or close reasons, to having them and tweaking them several times. The goal of these guidelines was *always* to try to help users who asked these questions, either by letting them know that we needed more details, or by pointing them to some resource that would allow them to find what they were looking for that time and in future times — *never* to make them feel bad about not being so comfortable about technology (if that ever happened, I'd like to apologize to you in the name of the community). Unfortunately, and despite our multiple tweaks to the guidelines and processes, we always ended up with the same question: **Is it worth it?**
Most of these questions were being asked by new comers, as you point out yourself. You have a whole paragraph devoted to expressing your belief in a positive response to the question I asked above, and in the fact that those new comers are potential contributors to the community. However, [experience shows us otherwise](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2467/49): most of the users who came by to have an anime or manga identified for them ended up being what I'd call "hit-and-run" users — ~97.5% (given the sample available at the time I ran the numbers, 1,212 users) of the users whose first question was an id-req created their account in the same day they asked their question, ~85% of the same sample never came back to the site after a month had gone by, and ~84% had less than 5 posts on our site. This means that, after two and a half years, only 33 out of 1,212 users had more than 5 posts on our site. So, we can ask again: **Is it worth it?**
And the conclusion we came to was that **no, it's not worth it.** [username_2's answer](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/3876/49) has a pretty good summary of why not, and so does [this Meta post](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2805/49). In fact, you mention the problem in the question itself (my emphasis):
>
> most of the new comers that came to this site posted an identification request; I was one of them. **We are selfish people, we only wanted to fulfill our inquiries.**
>
>
>
That's *precisely* what we found ourselves struggling with: *the community* was spending time and effort into helping people who weren't helping themselves. We spent time discussing and implementing guidelines, we spent effort in trying to look for anime or manga and requesting the users for clarification that, in many cases, did not come, when the users simply seemed to care less *about their own question* than we did.
Now you do mention, in your penultimate paragraph, some cases of users who showed a lot of effort in actually getting the community the details they were asking for — **and that's precisely why we decided to keep some of those questions locked and you can still see them.** But let's be frank: those were the edge cases, not the norm, and it does not make sense for us to optimize our guidelines, efforts and processes for the edge cases — especially if the norm is something the community simply does not find worthwhile.
You have a *lot* of reading you can do, as pointed out above, on why the community ended up reaching this conclusion. But, to sum it up:
* **We're a Q&A site, and we'd like to help out as many people as possible by answering their questions.** [We have a few rules we need those people to follow](https://anime.stackexchange.com/help/asking), though, and we frown upon low quality content;
* **Most of the id-req questions** fell under that category — low quality content — and **ended up producing *a lot* of work for and demanding *a lot* of effort from the community**;
* Furthermore, **id-reqs *didn't quite* fit our Q&A model, since they would only end up helping whoever asked them** — we even used to have a close reason for that ("[too localized](https://youtu.be/0hEtQ70scho?t=29m17s)"1);
* Most of the time, whoever asked the question did not care enough to follow up on it — which, again, meant *the community* had to spent time and effort maintaining these questions;
* **The site was slowly being overtaken by id-reqs,** which, given the above, produced burnout in the community, and in the most active users in particular.
To finalize: there's still chat, where many of our regulars are happy to give you a hand in trying to find your anime — note that, as with the case when we had these questions in the main site, though, they're likely to frown upon simple "hey, you know this anime with the guy with the red hair?" type of questions, since *we're not here to do people's work for them*.
If all that still makes you go "but *why* won't you help me?!?!?1!" then I need to point out the obvious: there's plenty of other sites and communities out there that are not as stringent about quality as we are, and they're likely glad to help you out :)
---
1 I'd recommend watching that whole talk, as it's pretty interesting and also helps people understand what Stack Overflow (and all the Stack Exchange sites, to which its model was "exported") is about. From minute 26 or so on, Joel actually starts talking about SO.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: You don't need to force yourself to participate, if you don't feel that you are able to. Our aim for this site is not to answer every possible question related to anime and manga. This site exists as a resource to supplement your interest in anime and manga and its subculture.
We claim to neither be the "best" nor the most knowledgeable site on the topic. There are many other people and sources much more knowledgeable than the core of this community combined. Here we will try our best to help you answer your question with as little distractions as possible.
The Stack Exchange "cultural anthropology"
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The concept of a Q&A site can be tricky for a new user to grasp at first. Initially they think something along the lines of "Question and answer, huh? That means that I can ask anything on the topic, right?" Partially, so. The Stack Exchange family of sites exist to collect and archive useful artefacts on specific topic. The model first started with programming question on Stack Overflow, as a lot of troubleshooting questions were collected in web forums. It was very difficult for an average user to sift through all the posts and seperate the relevant from the irrelevant. The voting, reputation, and answering system was created (and honed with time) as a platform to draw attention to these artefacts and spotlight the most useful ones, all the while giving users recognition for their contribution.
You may be think, "Okay, thats fine and all, but this is a site about Japanese cartoons and all that shit. There's nothing remotely professionally about us. We don't have professionals here (that we know of), we're just a bunch of nerds into a cultural export of Japan (or a derivative of it)." You would be right, we are a recreational Stack Exchange site and shouldn't take ourselves as seriously as our more professional sibling sites. However, even if we don't take ourselves as seriously. We need to maintain a consistent level of quality and consistency. Which is why not all question are on-topic.
Our expectations and you
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We don't expect you to be literate on the technological aspect of computers nor the internet. Nor do we expect you to be up to date on the latest subculture trend and show, or even know Japanese. We don't care about where you come from, what you like, or what questions you've asked before. We're all here because we enjoy anime and manga. That's all that matters. When something is closed we generally provide an contextual explanation of why and suggestions on what else you can do.
This site exists to help you help yourself and others with questions or problems you many have on the site topic. It is not a place for you to ask people to do things for you. You don't go to a librarian asking them to do your science project. You ask them for leads to resources so you can complete it yourself. Unlike web forums where the topic is typically subjective, we try to keep a objective, neutral tone. We prefer to get to solving the problem at hand than delve into long discussions on it (thats's what chat's for).
We won't do your work for you, but we'll do what we can to help you get what you need to finish it. If you stumbled looking for something, tell us where you've stumbled and where you'd like to go. We'll get you up and running in the right direction. We won't however pull you directly to your destination.
On recommendations and identification topics
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Recommendations are off-topic because many of us have different tastes. What works for you might not be my cup of tea. Recommendations tend to spiral into back and forth discussions, ill-suited for the Q&A format of our site, which is why we invite users to ask for them in our [main chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-).
Identification questions by themselves aren't that much of a problem. The users that ask them are the problem that vexes us. You see, your memories degrade after time (for most people at least). Files of memories get shuffled around from time to time, memories sometime merge with unrelated ones. It's not always a reliable source to draw from. It's easy for someone to ask about something they thing they remember, but you have to consider what a person attempting to answer your question would be doing. They need to cross reference your descriptions with things they know. It's fine if all the information needed is there, but often times this is not true. But rarely do users provide sufficient information despite our pleas.
While many have claimed that there are benefits to identification questions. [Statistical](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2467/can-we-get-some-more-definitive-numbers-on-identification-request-stats) and anecdotal evidence indicate the disadvantages in keeping the questions severely outweigh any advantages. The ecosystem of identification questions were unsustainable (someone needs to keep watch over them). More identification questions were being asked than answered. Many lacked crucial details or were vaguely worded. Many identification questions askers never bothered coming back after posting, essentially abandoning them if we didn't answer promptly enough. It took more time and resources to regulate questions and answers from one tag than all the other tags combined. We're tried many time to find solution, but the result was just more of the hemorrhaging of identification questions.
If you are not aware, as part of our [previous cleanup](https://anime.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3839/identification-request-cleanup-phase-3-final-delete-lock) efforts, we only kept a portion of the better identification questions for historical value. A very large portion of what you don't see are vaguely worded questions that were otherwise abandoned by their owners. Time and time again we've tried to appeal to these users to little avail. Doing so gets tedious after a few years. We've tried guidelines, and even simple checklists for details these identification questions should have, but few new users bother to heed them. These low quality post eventually became regarded as shitposts and the tag eventually became ignored by much of the core community. Seeing so many low quality identification questions on the front page of the site really discourages you from using the site. Sooner or later the site will be overrun by them. At that time there might be no one left to bother answering them. This was not something the community wanted. So a decision was made to clean house and blacklist the tag.
As a side note, old, non-negative questions that have answers with low views and no accepted answers get bumped by the [Community](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/-1/community?tab=profile) bot user, usually starting 30 days after the question was posted. So older questions with no accepted answers don't get neglected.
Audience and scope
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More people is not always better. Even if you have an large audience base, if you don't engage them and get them to contribute, they are as good as ghost members of a club. We won't force anyone that does not wish to participate to do so. The door is always open in our [main chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/maid-cafe-) for those that wish to participate but are unsure of where to start. We're a small community with users from various parts of the world. We might not all be as willing or available to answer your questions, but don't get discouraged if we can't help you initially feel free try again at another time. Someone else might be there to better assist you or at least point you in the right direction.
Not all questions are a good fit for our site. We try to answer them as best we can when possible without rumors or speculations. Sometime we succeed while other times we fail (miserably).
We try to draw a line at a point where we can provide you with the best and most accurate information, but know that many of us aren't professionals on the topic (i.e. content creators, copyright/licensing lawyers). We're not privy to a lot of things. One being an English language site we miss out on press releases and interview from within the industry. Two being we're not professionals so we can only give you our perspective as fan, especially on the gray areas of legality, or creating anime and manga content.
We're just enthusiastic fans (like you) looking to help other fans. Sometimes we get a little trigger happy with post and comment. We all human (most of us at least) we are not always perfect and make mistakes. It's alright to call us out on it if we do make them, so we can correct ourselves.
Afterword
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We don't expect you to conform to the Stack Exchange way of thinking if you don't want to. Nor do we expect you to read through the mountains of text in our help center or videos about Stack Exchange/Stack Overflow's founding principles (who has the time for that?). Not all the philosophies apply to us. We're not Stack Overflow, we're not Arqade, we're not Movies and TV, we're not Science Fiction & Fantasy. We are us and they are them. What works for them might not work for us.
As a user all we'd like for you to do is enjoy using the site and have fun where you can. Unlike other Stack Exchanges, we tend to me more lenient on the rules. If you make a mistake, we usually try to inform you on what you did wrong and how to rectify it than admonish you. If you have any further questions or concerns, you may use meta or chat to reach out to the community for help. Don't worry (most of us) won't bite. We'll be here for you when you feel that you are ready.
Upvotes: 4 |