5
\$\begingroup\$

This answer got deleted as I was crafting a "Welcome to RPG.SE" comment and asking for some clarification. At the bottom of the answer "I am an actual Necromancer" got me to ask "in game or IRL?" to which I realized, as this is a very new user, I ought to add a welcome in the usual style. At the time of my review (I was cued to it as being in the review queue) the response was five minutes old.

Do we have a corporate knowledge on the matter of RL necromancy not fitting in well on this site? As I read the comments, I do agree that the answer didn't seem to fit the 5e FR question, but other "not so great" answers have previously been improved by the interaction comments elicit.

Why the quick ban?

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • \$\begingroup\$ Is it the deletion per se or the speed of that deletion that caught your notice? \$\endgroup\$
    – nitsua60 Mod
    Aug 22, 2016 at 21:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @nitsua60 speed \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 22, 2016 at 21:22

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
11
\$\begingroup\$

The answer was removed for being off topic:

The question is about the status/nature of necromantic magic in a particular fictional setting. The status/nature of necromancy in the real world is not relevant or topical; as such, this post has been removed. If you have information to provide about necromancy in the Forgotten Realms (which adds something not already covered in other answers, or which covers the same ground in a valuably novel way), you can still [edit] this post and then flag it afterwards for mod attention and undeletion. Thanks! – SevenSidedDie♦ 27 mins ago

We get real-world adherents of religions, practices, and beliefs on occasion. The answer was describing real-world necromancy beliefs/practices, likely one of or based on one of the varieties of Vodou, and defending it as not-evil. Since that's off topic for a question about the moral/alignment status of necromantic magic in the Forgotten Realms or D&D 5e in general, it was removed.

(The beginning of the answer was at least minimally relevant to RPGs, but was off topic for the question itself: it shared that, because necromancy in D&D is unrealistic, they like to give players the option of playing a more realistic homebrew class. That's not topical to the alignment status of necromancy in the Forgotten Realms.)

The speed of the deletion was just a combination of seeing it shortly after it was posted, and familiarity with this sort of post making for easy recognition and diagnosis.

\$\endgroup\$
11
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ I get the "not a good answer" down vote reasons, it's just that the speed of the ban surprised me somewhat. On the other hand, I don't have the length of exposure some of you all do so my instincts are not that well honed. If it matters to the answerer, they can edit it and such, and if not I suppose it's just as well binned. \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 22, 2016 at 20:48
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ If something is bad, why on earth would we wait to act on it? \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Aug 22, 2016 at 22:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also, this is one of a good number of off topic answers on that question that have had to be deleted - some questions just attract them. Time spent investment says we stop handholding each one, just burn 'em and tell people to flag for reopen if they really care to answer the question asked and not soapbox. \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Aug 23, 2016 at 2:22
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ @mxyzplk OK, fine, a diamond mod was on watch, hence the fast delete. To refer to helping new askers To Improve Their Questions as "hand holding" is part of the latent hostility this site holds and is a crap attitude. The reason I asked this question here in meta is that I don't have diamond mod visibilty, nor track history dots back to 2011, to know if there is some special issue with RL (or claimed RL) necromancy. \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 23, 2016 at 3:58
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @KorvinStarmast I think there's been a misunderstanding. New answerers posting off-topic posts don't really need handholding beyond clear instructions on how they can (if they want to) revise their post to be on-topic—which has been given in this case. New askers and helping improve their answers isn't anything anyone mentioned. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Aug 23, 2016 at 6:00
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie New user, the same point applies. I don't disagree with providing feedback to improve the answer/try to get someone back on topic. The reference to Ars Negro might have been yet another 3e splat book for all I knew. As I edited my comment to ask the user to focus on 5e, the answer was deleted. Because there was so much I didn't understand I asked why the close rather than the usual greeting by downvote. The answer appears to be: because a diamond mod showed up and can, rather than the rest of us who contribute to modding in our more limited fashion. \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 23, 2016 at 10:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have accepted your answer because it clears up what was unclear. \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 23, 2016 at 11:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KorvinStarmast To delete it, a diamondless user could have flagged Not an Answer and three more agreed. Re new users recruitment: you have to realise that there is a lot that you don't see, and a major aspect of the mods' job is janitorial; we delete a lot of stuff. The vast majority of new users with positive reception for their first post don't stick around; courting new users—going beyond basic greetings and clarifications and into recruitment—is in general not effective use of time. Rather, the site is already designed so that new users self-select into the “stay” and “leave” groups. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Aug 23, 2016 at 14:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ a diamondless user could have flagged Not an Answer and three more agreed. And that takes time. I am aware of the janitorial feature. I do cast delete votes during some reviews. I guess what made this one different is that I was not sure where the answerer was coming from. No kidding, I wasn't sure if Ars Negro was a splat bo0k, a reference to another game system ... and what the heck he meant by I am a real Necromancer. This is an RPG based-site - we deal with RPG players. Some strongly identify with their characters. Thus, I asked for clarification, as we do in comments. \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 23, 2016 at 14:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KorvinStarmast Yeah, and that's fine, and you did nothing wrong. This is why the site puts multiple eyes on things—so that there's always a good chance that both tools and knowledge can combine to handle each thing in the best way. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Aug 23, 2016 at 14:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mxyzplk If something is bad, why on earth would we wait to act on it? Your "something is bad" instinct is built on a far longer participation / leadership on this site than mine, which informs why my question asked about potential issues I've not seen. "It's bad" offers no clarity. Your follow on comment-please pardon my abrupt response - is understood. Your point on some questions attracting crappy answers-yeah. Alignment questions are one of them, as I have learned here, so too apparently necromancy. (the giantitp forums necromancy threads have a similar problem). \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Aug 23, 2016 at 15:03

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .