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Previously we've discussed whether or not we should allow species-identification questions on this site. (Species identification and the Help Center was raised when we had this question: What is this reptile/lizard?. Originally it was: Should we discourage pet breed / species identification questions?)

How it works on other sites, is a person describes a book they've read, or a game they've played, or occasionally they post a picture of something to be identified.

Why this doesn't work:

• If the person asking doesn't give enough information we're stuck turning it into a discussion while we try to get more information.
• If the person leaves without giving us enough information, we have a question that can't be answered.
• There's a risk of answers that use a lot of guesswork.
• It's not easily indexed by google, making it hard for people to find later.
• They're not really useful to anyone but the person asking the question because they're so specific to that person.

Today I asked this question: My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?

I believe this is different (and on-topic) because it's not a question asking "What animal do I have", rather "how do I tell if the difference between these two breeds". Another example is: How can I describe my cat (color/breed/type)?

Why I think these types of questions will work:

• They don't require a whole lot of information from the user, meaning it won't devolve into a discussion, and the person asking can leave the site without leaving us wanting for more.
• They can be indexed by google, making them useful to people in the future.
• There's no real guesswork involved with answering the questions.

I think we should keep "What animal do I have?" questions as off-topic but we should allow "How can I tell the difference?" questions as on-topic

What do you think? Do we want those kinds of identification questions? Or should we ban-hammer them all? Maybe send them all to Biology.se? Yes/No/I dunno?

Previously we've discussed whether or not we should allow species-identification questions on this site. (Species identification and the Help Center was raised when we had this question: What is this reptile/lizard?. Originally it was: Should we discourage pet breed / species identification questions?)

How it works on other sites, is a person describes a book they've read, or a game they've played, or occasionally they post a picture of something to be identified.

Why this doesn't work:

• If the person asking doesn't give enough information we're stuck turning it into a discussion while we try to get more information.
• If the person leaves without giving us enough information, we have a question that can't be answered.
• There's a risk of answers that use a lot of guesswork.
• It's not easily indexed by google, making it hard for people to find later.
• They're not really useful to anyone but the person asking the question because they're so specific to that person.

Today I asked this question: My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?

I believe this is different (and on-topic) because it's not a question asking "What animal do I have", rather "how do I tell if the difference between these two breeds". Another example is: How can I describe my cat (color/breed/type)?

Why I think these types of questions will work:

• They don't require a whole lot of information from the user, meaning it won't devolve into a discussion, and the person asking can leave the site without leaving us wanting for more.
• They can be indexed by google, making them useful to people in the future.
• There's no real guesswork involved with answering the questions.

I think we should keep "What animal do I have?" questions as off-topic but we should allow "How can I tell the difference?" questions as on-topic

What do you think? Do we want those kinds of identification questions? Or should we ban-hammer them all? Maybe send them all to Biology.se? Yes/No/I dunno?

Previously we've discussed whether or not we should allow species-identification questions on this site. (http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/questions/664/species-identification-and-the-help-center was raised when we had this question: What is this reptile/lizard?. Originally it was: http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/questions/410/should-we-discourage-pet-breed-species-identification-questions)

How it works on other sites, is a person describes a book they've read, or a game they've played, or occasionally they post a picture of something to be identified.

Why this doesn't work:

• If the person asking doesn't give enough information we're stuck turning it into a discussion while we try to get more information.
• If the person leaves without giving us enough information, we have a question that can't be answered.
• There's a risk of answers that use a lot of guesswork.
• It's not easily indexed by google, making it hard for people to find later.
• They're not really useful to anyone but the person asking the question because they're so specific to that person.

Today I asked this question: My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?

I believe this is different (and on-topic) because it's not a question asking "What animal do I have", rather "how do I tell if the difference between these two breeds". Another example is: How can I describe my cat (color/breed/type)?

Why I think these types of questions will work:

• They don't require a whole lot of information from the user, meaning it won't devolve into a discussion, and the person asking can leave the site without leaving us wanting for more.
• They can be indexed by google, making them useful to people in the future.
• There's no real guesswork involved with answering the questions.

I think we should keep "What animal do I have?" questions as off-topic but we should allow "How can I tell the difference?" questions as on-topic

What do you think? Do we want those kinds of identification questions? Or should we ban-hammer them all? Maybe send them all to Biology.se? Yes/No/I dunno?

Previously we've discussed whether or not we should allow species-identification questions on this site. (Species identification and the Help Center was raised when we had this question: What is this reptile/lizard?. Originally it was: Should we discourage pet breed / species identification questions?)

How it works on other sites, is a person describes a book they've read, or a game they've played, or occasionally they post a picture of something to be identified.

Why this doesn't work:

• If the person asking doesn't give enough information we're stuck turning it into a discussion while we try to get more information.
• If the person leaves without giving us enough information, we have a question that can't be answered.
• There's a risk of answers that use a lot of guesswork.
• It's not easily indexed by google, making it hard for people to find later.
• They're not really useful to anyone but the person asking the question because they're so specific to that person.

Today I asked this question: My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?

I believe this is different (and on-topic) because it's not a question asking "What animal do I have", rather "how do I tell if the difference between these two breeds". Another example is: How can I describe my cat (color/breed/type)?

Why I think these types of questions will work:

• They don't require a whole lot of information from the user, meaning it won't devolve into a discussion, and the person asking can leave the site without leaving us wanting for more.
• They can be indexed by google, making them useful to people in the future.
• There's no real guesswork involved with answering the questions.

I think we should keep "What animal do I have?" questions as off-topic but we should allow "How can I tell the difference?" questions as on-topic

What do you think? Do we want those kinds of identification questions? Or should we ban-hammer them all? Maybe send them all to Biology.se? Yes/No/I dunno?

http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/questions/664/species-identification-and-the-help-center was raised when we had this question: What is this reptile/lizard?

Basically, the person had a picture of a monitor and wanted to know what kind it was.

I gave it my best shot, but in trying to answer the question, I found it was extremely non-constructive for this site. It simply didn't work without having a direct link to the person asking the question (aka a discussion). We also decided in meta that people posting images and us telling them what animal they had wasn't searchable, and simply wasn't useful to anyone other than the person asking the question.

Today I asked this question: My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?

I believe is on-topic because it's asking for the defining characteristics between a Rankin's and an Inland bearded dragon. It doesn't require a discussion, and an answer will probably be something defining the differences in the jawlines and the forehead. Diagrams can be used, and there should be references that can be found somewhere else online for it. Really the difference is that there's no real guesswork involved, and no participation from the person asking the question needed. Even better, the question is searchable, and is useful to more people than the one asking the question.

Similarly I think questions could be asked for other animals. Like the differences between types of dogs, type of birds, rabbits, etc. Note: The differences between cats has been asked and answered with success.

If we get a lot of these questions in, I can see how some people might not find them interesting, but I can also see how people might not find snake questions interesting if they don't like snakes.

Do we want those kinds of identification questions? Or should we ban-hammer them all? Maybe send them all to Biology.se?

Previously we've discussed whether or not we should allow species-identification questions on this site. (http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/questions/664/species-identification-and-the-help-center was raised when we had this question: What is this reptile/lizard?. Originally it was: http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/questions/410/should-we-discourage-pet-breed-species-identification-questions)

How it works on other sites, is a person describes a book they've read, or a game they've played, or occasionally they post a picture of something to be identified.

Why this doesn't work:

• If the person asking doesn't give enough information we're stuck turning it into a discussion while we try to get more information.
• If the person leaves without giving us enough information, we have a question that can't be answered.
• There's a risk of answers that use a lot of guesswork.
• It's not easily indexed by google, making it hard for people to find later.
• They're not really useful to anyone but the person asking the question because they're so specific to that person.

Today I asked this question: My bearded dragon has stopped growing, is it possible I got a Rankin's dragon?

I believe this is different (and on-topic) because it's not a question asking "What animal do I have", rather "how do I tell if the difference between these two breeds". Another example is: How can I describe my cat (color/breed/type)?

Why I think these types of questions will work:

• They don't require a whole lot of information from the user, meaning it won't devolve into a discussion, and the person asking can leave the site without leaving us wanting for more.
• They can be indexed by google, making them useful to people in the future.
• There's no real guesswork involved with answering the questions.

I think we should keep "What animal do I have?" questions as off-topic but we should allow "How can I tell the difference?" questions as on-topic

What do you think? Do we want those kinds of identification questions? Or should we ban-hammer them all? Maybe send them all to Biology.se? Yes/No/I dunno?