Questions tagged [allowed-questions]
This tag should be used when a meta-question is debating whether a question is on-topic or not
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Questions about teaching biology: Off-limits?
Are questions about how to teach/explain biology (so called soft questions) on topic here. I've noticed that some sites allow it. As an example I've noticed that Math SE allow question like, how to ...
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New questions based on trying to anwser old questions
I was working on a more mathematical answer to this question and realized my reasoning was wrong, and something more subtle was going on. Reading the answers didn't seem to explain my faulty reasoning ...
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Is "Stackoverflow modding itself out of existence"?
The title belongs to a blog post is trending today on Hacker News. Thousands of people are looking at it as I write this.
I often feel that biology.se is destined to be a minor player compared to ...
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Could a question regarding species restoration be on-topic?
If a user would be working on a non-artistic restoration of an extinct species, and at the end (or even in the process) of the work would like to get sure, whether he did everything scientifically ...
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Not all questions featuring something biological are biology questions
Something I think we need to clear up in terms of what is and is not on-topic, are questions where the user asks something that is not a biological question and then attempting to justify it being ...
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What to do with Bioinformatics programming questions
This recent question on Bioinformatics is an example of pretty hardcore programming questions. An excerpt is given below. Apparently 'Owl' is used for gene sequencing, but I had to google it up with ...
AliceDMod
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Medical advice or not medical advice?
How do you feel about this question: What can cause a lump in the middle of the neck??
The question is clearly not "personal" medical advice, but it can clearly be used as such. I feel that answers ...
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Strange thoughts!
The interesting part is that people can't have weird queries and if they have and post it most of the time the answer comes containing words "I am voting to close it because it's too trivial /too ...
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Can you ask questions about equipment recommendations?
This is pretty simple. I heard through the grapevine about a feature on a common piece of lab equipment (in this case a liquid N2 freezer). There are so many vendors so I want to simply ask if anyone ...
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Voting to close a question as off-topic because it is based on a faulty presupposition
Over the last maybe 6 months or so (I haven't really been keeping track), I've noticed a number of questions either nominated for closure or actually closed with some variant of this custom close ...
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Self help question
The question "What exactly is neuroplasticity, and can it be demonstrated with a simple experiment?" was closed because of off-topicness due to self-help. The only reference to a do-it-yourself was ...
AliceDMod
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Are questions that can potentially inspire a change in someone lifestyle considered "health advice" questions?
Help center clearly says no health advice allowed.
But can I ask questions with the intent of understand the processes in my body better? So armed with knowledge I understand signs my body sends to ...
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How much research is generally required for it to stop being closed for homework?
This question was closed for being unresearched homework.
I am not sure why this is the case. According to the Biology FAQ:
What should I do before I ask the question?
Research it yourself - ...
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Is there a similar Se site that allows for general health questions?
I know that Biology.SE site is more about the science of biology and not about personal or general health, however, I was wondering if there was a site that you all tend to defer questioner's to if ...
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Should something be done about the biostatistics, bioinformatics, and data tags?
A recent member VassiaAlk has posted numerous questions related to statistically analysis and software under these tags. Presently, their questions are on par with the tags but their questions aren't ...
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Is it right to close "easy to look up" questions as homework?
A lot of times we get questions like - what is a bacteria etc.
Typically "homework" questions that we get are mostly MCQs (because in contemporary schools nobody asks a homework question like - ...
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species identification - re-animated
There appear more and more species identification questions. There have been meta-posts before on this issue and the the general opinion seems to be these sort of questions should not be in Biology SE....
AliceDMod
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Is my flow cytometry software question on-topic?
I'd like to pose a question to the biological community here about data analysis tools for flow cytometry. Initially, I was thinking of posting something like this:
Alternatives to commercially ...
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Can this question about zombie virus be on topic on Biology StackExchange?
Engineered Zombie Virus possible?
I asked this question at Skeptics StackExchange but it was put on hold. I asked for further explanation as references and specific expertise.
They said that "...
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Movie References? Question about Lucy
Is it alright to ask a question about the movie reference of a drug, only because the producer claims it to be real?
Question in Question:
Does CPH4 exists?
https://biology.stackexchange.com/...
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Is a basic question about entropy off-topic here?
There are 4 votes to close this question. It's a basic question about entropy and molecule size. Because macromolecules play a big role in biochemical pathways I would have thought the question well ...
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Clarifying our scope with regards to medical questions
There is a rather large amount of overlap between biology and medicine, and as we get more questions that are rather far on the medical site it is time to revisit the issue and clarify where exactly ...
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Policy on health questions
We already declared personal medical advice as off-topic, I'm wondering if we should do the same for all health questions.
By health questions I mean all questions of the type "Is eating X healthy?", ...
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Wild stab in the dark questions
After looking at this and the further misinformation it led to here, I really feel like the first question should have been closed.
I don't feel it's the same as help me ID this species and here are ...
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Is a question of opium and appendectomy on-site here?
I have this question, which is related to a friend of mine. Is it on-site for me to ask it here? I can't find any related site in Stack Exchange suite of sites:
Appendectomy means to cut appendix, ...
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Would it be Appropriate for Me to Ask Here Why Some Medications are Approved Only in Japan?
If this isn't an appropriate question (my guess is due to the fact there that I suspect the answer will involve a fair bit about the differences in laws and policies across the countries when it comes ...
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Grantsmanship about Biology/NIH/NSF on Topic?
Would questions about grantsmanship pertaining to biology be appropriate here, or would Academia be the only location that was appropriate?
Strict grant questions certainly go over there, but how ...
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How much should we enforce background research?
The first point under "How do I ask a good question?" in Help states that:
Search, and research
Have you thoroughly searched for an answer before asking your question? Sharing your research ...
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Are questions about birth control/sex/contraception OK here?
Questions about sex, birth control and contraception differs from biology I think. Are those appropriate here? or any other SO site?
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Are questions about specific animals on-topic here?
I recently created an area 51 topic titled Animals, which I intended to be used for asking questions about specific animals and their habitats, life expediencies, behavior patterns etc.
Are such ...
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Where does this question belong?
This question just came up
Is Webmedcentral a reputable scientific publisher?
We certainly have the expertise to answer this question but it seems to be more appropriate for academia.stackexchange. ...
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Edible species identification
Recently there was a few questions asking for identification of potentially edible species:
What is the species of these mushrooms?
What kind of fruit is this?
I think that there is a similar ...
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Is it within the realm of this SE to ask for a "critique" of a paper?
This is a certainly a real problem for biologists. One reads a paper but they aren't sure how to fully understand or interpret a paper or a series of papers. Good question along these lines would be: ...
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Where do questions about optical illusions belong?
We have two questions about optical illusions:
Why does this illusion work?
How does this illusion work?
It has been suggested that they be migrated to Cognitive Sciences. I can see the reasoning ...
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Homework Policy for FAQ
The answer to this question explains how to ask your homework question here on Biology and have it well received by the community.
Related:
What is the policy regarding homework questions? (Old)
Are ...
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What's our stance on asking for articles that google won't find?
What's our stance on asking questions of the form "I looked for an overview of X for a while on google, and couldn't find it, anyone else have any luck?" or "I saw this article once about X, but now I ...
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White vs Brown adipose tissue
I have been looking for a reference that compares and contrasts brown and white adipose tissue (in humans) in a concise (preferably tabular, but that's not completely necessary) manner. I haven't ...
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can we have "where is my smell-o-phone" type questions?
I occasionally get asked some interesting questions, e.g.:
why do stars go away when you look at them,
why do men have nipples,
why can't we make a smell-o-phone,
etc.
They seem silly and (...
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Vet. Medicine Questions
I'd like to draw attention to this question. I can't help but feel that this is more asking for medical advice (admittedly not for humans) rather than for medical explanations of physiology/pathology....
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Would all questions from the Cell Culture Area 51 proposal be on topic here?
The proposal for Cell Culture was created a couple of days ago. From their description
Proposed Q&A site for anyone involved in the use or research of plant, animal and microbial cell culture ...
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Should cognitive science questions be asked here?
I'm looking mainly at Human perception of time depending on age. It's a very cog sci question that doesn't really related to the underlying biology but the explanations may involve it. Does it belong?
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Species Identification Questions
Similarly to the discussion of plant identification questions, we now have examples of identify this animal type questions. What should the position be as to whether such discussions are on topic?
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What is Biology anyway?
I've seen a few questions removed recently because some people feel that the site was not getting questions about Biology in a pure enough sense and that these people should go somewhere else.
E.g. ...
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Thought experiments and hypothetical questions
We have a few of question on the site that are purely hypothetical, more like thought experiments. I don't want to pick on anyone specifically, but I'll add some examples to make clear what kind of ...
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Are bioethics questions on-topic?
I have a question that relates to bioethics and I'm wondering if it's on topic for this site. This particular question could potentially be asked in the "Intellectual Property Law" or "Laws and Legal ...
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How far should the site foray into laboratory equipment problems?
Within the proposed FAQ, there is an entry:
questions about techniques in a biological or biochemical laboratory
I think this is spot on. Certainly, if people have problems with a host of ...
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Plant Identification Questions
Regarding this question: Help identifying the following plants, it seems like we should set a meta precedent for dealing with such posts should they arise in the future.
Update
The question was moved ...
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Why are medical questions inherently off topic here?
I did a search of the meta posts and I couldn't find anything on this. In fact, what I found suggests that questions about things related to medicine or medical procedures are ok, as long as they ask ...
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Are questions about creationism or intelligent design on-topic here?
Our first creationism/intelligent design question https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/649/is-cell-division-irreducibly-complex#question has received a lot of downvotes, some close votes and a ...
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Creationist "canard" refutation type questions?
Let's just say that proponents of creationism and "intelligent design" have a ready stable of canards and distortions out there. Would it be appropriate to post such canards here as questions, and ...
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