26
votes
Very Naive Questions
Topicality
The basic problem is that thee is a conflict between what we say this site is:
Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of ...
21
votes
Accepted
How can "torus shape" planet be "non-mainstream" physics?
Demanding that questions only deal with situations that unequivocally can occur in the real world rules out objects on infinite planes, point masses, Einsteinian trains, Maxwell's demon, supersymmetry,...
- 33.1k
18
votes
Flagging low quality answers: an experiment
I heartily support Emilio's proposal, but to explain why I support it will require a bit of rambling. So please bear with me and I'll try not to make this too painful.
The Physics Stack Exchange has ...
- 359k
17
votes
Accepted
Are the implications of magic on-topic?
No, questions involving magical situations are not generally on topic here. Our help center lists "questions about fictional physics" as one of the off-topic categories. The reason is basically what ...
- 76.9k
14
votes
Crackpots and links to crackpot articles in their profile
Is this OK with you, having reputable physicists (like Cosmas Zachos and Valter Moretti or Urs Schreiber to name a few) alongside crackpots?
That's the wrong question. Let's suppose I'm not "OK" with ...
ACuriousMindMod
- 127k
13
votes
Accepted
Reserving the use of the 'non-mainstream' close reason
General comments:
When it comes to non-mainstream topics, such as, e.g., faster-than-light travel, tachyons, time travel, warp-drive, wormholes, antigravity, multiverses, parallel universes, pre-big-...
QmechanicMod
- 208k
12
votes
Why is the 'Physics' Stack Exchange site closing some interesting questions?
Well... to put it delicately, these are not anywhere near the mainstream. To put it less delicately, these are nutty questions.
This site is not the place to entertain this kind of unfounded ...
- 46.8k
11
votes
Crackpots and links to crackpot articles in their profile
Users are allowed to put what they want in their user profiles, within reason.
Generally speaking, users are allowed to put whatever the heck they want in their user profile. This includes links, ...
- 103
11
votes
How is this question about a black hole passing through the solar system non-mainstream?
I for one think the question is unclear or too broad.
“Inhabitable” is not really defined, and actually hard to define. One can imagine the surface of the Earth is cold but that doesn’t make it ...
- 46.8k
11
votes
Why has my answer to whether the fine structure constant been deleted?
That was me. Out of concern that I might be prejudiced, I did some research before I removed your answer.
Our policy about mainstream physics says, in part,
What defines mainstream physics?
...
robMod
- 91.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Is new physics a bad fit for Stack Exchange?
Technically, this site is not a forum; it's a Q&A site. It's not for generating conversation at all, it's for questions and answers to those questions. So based on that alone, this sounds like the ...
- 76.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was this question down voted and closed as non-mainstream?
It's all about phrasing:
"How are accelerated frames treated in special relativity?" is a perfectly fine question.
"Special relativity cannot work with accelerated frames! Prove me (or &...
ACuriousMindMod
- 127k
9
votes
Reserving the use of the 'non-mainstream' close reason
I think you may be right. I'm not sure the scope of the close reason is meant to be quite as narrow as (it sounds like) you're proposing here, but it is good to be careful not to overuse it.
We have ...
- 76.9k
9
votes
What is "mainstream physics"?
"Closed seconds after I wrote them" is a mischaracterization - your question was closed 6 minutes after it was posted. (While this might seem like a petty complaint, I want to make it clear ...
ACuriousMindMod
- 127k
9
votes
Banned because 1 question was considered not mainstream?
I closed your question as non-mainstream because the core of your question is about this:
Thus, the expansion of space is a mechanism for the creation of quantum information that encodes the flow of ...
ACuriousMindMod
- 127k
8
votes
Accepted
Is this question really non-mainstream?
Based on some of the comments (now deleted), it looks like the first user who voted to close did so because they were focusing on how the OP was trying to apply scaling space to Newton's second law. ...
- 58.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Suggesting a tag: "crackpot_theory" (you get the idea)
As spelled out in Is non-mainstream physics appropriate for this site? we accept only questions about mainstream physics, where mainstream physics is defined as:
Mainstream physics is physics which ...
- 359k
8
votes
Where should I put this question?
The problem is:
But if we managed to generate anti-gravity with some machine and manipulate it ...
This is firmly in non-mainstream territory since there is no such thing as anti-gravity in ...
- 359k
7
votes
Reserving the use of the 'non-mainstream' close reason
I'd like to address your second example (here for 10k+; screenshot) and questions along that vein. In a nutshell, that question follows the broad strokes of a rather common class of questions that get ...
- 135k
7
votes
Flagging non-mainstream comments in questions and answers
I'm glad you brought this up.
There are users who definitely abuse comments, possibly as they realize these cannot be downvoted (hence no reputational cost). It seems in fact some users have been ...
- 46.8k
6
votes
Are negative mass questions on/off topic?
General comments (not addressing OP's specific question):
Questions on negative effective mass are on-topic.
Questions on particles with imaginary mass (tachyons) and/or negative mass are non-...
QmechanicMod
- 208k
6
votes
Flagging non-mainstream comments in questions and answers
The It's no longer needed flag option is described as:
This comment is outdated, conversational, or not relevant to this post.
and I suppose the not relevant to this post would apply to non-...
- 359k
6
votes
Flagging non-mainstream comments in questions and answers
It seems to me that the problem with many of these comments is that not that they are out of the mainstream, but that they are nothing more than announcements of the commenter's preferred way of ...
- 16.2k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the definition of fringe science/was someone like Bruno Augenstein a fringe scientist?
A single article on a topic does not make the topic mainstream. Moreover, one can do perfectly good mainstream science yet still dabble in fringe stuff.
Many (if not all) truly novel ideas will ...
- 46.8k
5
votes
Is this question really non-mainstream?
I am the OP in question and I feel like I should post some clarifications, since some people seem to be jumping to even further conclusions than I did in the post. I don't think there is anything non-...
- 811
5
votes
Should this really be put on hold?
I would personally have used the "too broad" close reason rather than "non-mainstream" to close your off-topic question. The experimental evidence supporting conservation of energy is a central part ...
robMod
- 91.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Why would someone think this question NOT mainstream physics?
I just cast the 4th vote to close, so you're one away now. I'll tell you why I voted to close:
Assuming that you could have made this "mainstream", then it would still fall under "...
- 5,117
5
votes
How is my question off topic when I'm asking what would be the outcome of a particular experiment and what would the results mean?
Your question posits the possibility of faster-than-light communication. That typically means a question is not concerning with mainstream physics. I say "typically" here, because there is ...
BuzzMod
- 16.5k
4
votes
Very Naive Questions
I have read through the responses and am one of those individuals who did not understand the actual purpose of this site was for the active researcher, the academic and for students with an eye toward ...
- 53
4
votes
How does one know if his question is non-mainstream?
This is any many ways a "we'll know it when we see it" thing, but there are some reliable indicators that you will be able to defend the question from accusations of non-mainstream-ness.
Material ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible