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This isn't stackoverflow. The moment we moved away from software development a lot of these topics in area51 are very subjective. By limiting to only non subjective questions we are just reduplicating all the content on on wikipedia and gamefaqs. IE. a useless site.

Look at my question that got closed: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/3737/what-is-the-best-pair-of-dual-boxing-names-youve-seen

I felt while yes it is subjective, this is the best place on the Internet to ask such a question because there is where the experts are.

I think we need to define what is "too subjective" and what is "subjective but answerable"

My question would add content not noise.

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4 Answers 4

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We are not the best place to host gaming discussions. Yes, we have experts. But we also have a policy that questions should not be subjective. That very rule explicitly excludes us from being able to be the best place on the Internet for gaming discussions.

We are not just a site of gaming experts; We are a site where gaming experts can provide solutions. Any question can be "answered" in the sense that people give a response, but only some questions can actually be "solved". Posts that are subjective do not have an objective conclusion, so they do not make strong questions.

With regards to your specific question, under what judgment would you call the "best" or "most epic" pair of names? Everyone will have their own opinion. And we aren't a model designed around casting opinions.

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    so how are you better than gamefaqs? you are just nothing but content duplication. Jul 28, 2010 at 18:50
  • @Pyro, did you take a look at the FAQ?
    – juan
    Jul 28, 2010 at 18:52
  • @Pyrolistical, we are "nothing but content duplication"? True, occasionally answers will contain links or information from other websites (I tend to do this quite a lot), but there are many more answers that are much more informative without using the information from another external website.
    – Kevin Yap
    Jul 28, 2010 at 18:55
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    @Pyro We're an alternative. Different engine, different community, different solutions. That's all there really is to it.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jul 28, 2010 at 18:58
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    A lot of times it's much faster to ask someone who's knowledgeable already what his research has found than to do your own research. That's how I view this and all stack exchange sites. Even if this site is only "content duplication", it is a compendium of content from many sources and also from the experience of many contributors, and is still a valuable resource. Jul 28, 2010 at 19:00
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    @Pyrolistical if you really feel we are no better, you are free to ignore us. We feel our reputation system, our strict guidelines for questions and our self moderation really set us on a higher level.
    – tzenes
    Jul 28, 2010 at 20:34
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    @Pyrolistical, here's how we are different.
    – badp
    Jul 29, 2010 at 18:11
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I, personally, do not outright reject all questions that can be considered subjective to some degree. I just think we need to draw the line somewhere. Many other questions here discuss that - see Grace Note's comment - so I wouldn't go into that here.

However, regarding your specific question - and I am one of those that voted to close - it feels like asking "what's the best name for my character in game X". This is not a problem that needs to be solved, this is not a question that requires a knowledge in any specific game or even genre... this is asking for a very subjective opinion about naming. I would even go and say that this is not only extremely subjective but might also be off-topic; the exact same answers could be given to "is there any cool way to name my pair of dogs" question.

Now, this is just my personal opinion, and I understand if you disagree; but the speed in which 4 others also casted a close vote - less than 15 minutes - is indicative of this being a common opinion in the community.

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    Just because group think occurs quickly does not mean it is good for long term growth of the community Jul 28, 2010 at 20:25
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We do not aim to be the end-all be-all best definitive ultimate complete reference on everything gaming to ever exist.

We do not aim to cover everything that is to be said about every game ever.

We are not a site for answers looking for a question.

We are a site for questions looking for an answer.

And if I have to compare how other sites like GameFAQs do question lists and question pages and how we do question lists and question pages, I think our Q&A foundation is stronger than other sites.

Because, you know, that's all we do.

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It's not a million miles away from some of the more "fun" ServerFault questions, like The Coolest Server Names.

In my opinion, some fun, subjective questions could be allowed, kept as CW and policed to make the original question general enough stop there being a million variations, eg

What are the best WoW character names you've seen. - BAD, too specific will start a clone thread for every game

What are the best MMO character names you've seen. - BETTER, should be able to contain character name-type comments all in one thread.

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    Please, let's not use server fault (or any other SE site) for justification of what can be allowed here.
    – juan
    Jul 28, 2010 at 19:52
  • @Juan Meh, forget the other sites. THat's something I would like Jul 28, 2010 at 21:14
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    @Juan Manuel♦: comics anyone? :p Seriously, we also shouldn't use other SOFU-sites as justification of what shall be forbidden here...
    – Zommuter
    Jul 29, 2010 at 11:19

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