Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
344
questions
21
votes
5answers
340 views
Why aren't people answering using their own words?
Look, I can "Google search" for an answer to a question just as easily as you can, but the number of answers here on Pets that are blatant text dumps from other sites, several without references back ...
19
votes
3answers
474 views
Should we discourage pet breed / species identification questions?
The topic has come up in chat, so a meta discussion seems to be in order.
Should we actively disallow questions asking for identification of a specific breed, or even species?
Presumably users ...
19
votes
8answers
242 views
Should we clean up “pooping” and “droppings”?
We have tags for pooping and droppings. These seem to be the same bucket of questions; should there be a synonym here? If so in which direction? I'm not sure how I feel about "poop" as a tag name.
...
18
votes
19answers
495 views
What should our chat room name be?
Right now, our chat room's name is just Pets. I think we can do better than that, what sort of clever and appropriate name could we use instead?
17
votes
1answer
103 views
Should our pet tags be plural or singular?
So far, there are more questions tagged as plural than singular. However, there is already a duplicate:
cat and cats
One should be made a synonym of the other. Additionally, we've got rabbit which ...
17
votes
3answers
141 views
Are questions about horses and/or farm pets on topic?
Are questions about horses, or in some cases farm animals, such as pigs, sheep, and cows (which, believe is or not I have known individual cases where they have been kept as pets, rather than ...
16
votes
6answers
319 views
Are questions about semi-domesticated wild animals on topic?
I routinely feed a group of wild magpies near my work and am able to hand feed some of them to the point that my workmates joke about them as my "work pets".
Similarly there are people who will feed ...
16
votes
5answers
139 views
Should we have tags for breeds?
It make sense to have a tag for "dogs", but what about individual breeds of dogs. For example there might questions specific to pugs, terriers, or poodles.
Such questions could include both a "dogs" ...
16
votes
1answer
376 views
Moderator Pro Tem Announcement
Throughout the beta, we need members from the site whose focus is to engage the community, both in community-building issues and site management. That's why we select a few members from each community ...
14
votes
1answer
120 views
I'm stepping down as moderator
I recently stepped down as Moderator on Pets with some sadness, but overall knowing it was the right decision.
Being part of Pets when it first launched and putting many hours of contributions into ...
13
votes
4answers
233 views
Consider carefully if story-sharing anecdotes are REALLY acceptable answers
This hasn't been a huge problem, but now that I've seen it a few times, I wanted to get this out there as more of cautionary tale than a dire warning.
With a subject as popular as pets, there is ...
13
votes
1answer
118 views
Please welcome your new moderator, Zaralynda!
While I'm sad to report the venerable Ashley Nunn stepping down as one of your moderators due to time and life constraints, it brings me great pleasure to announce that Zaralynda has volunteered to ...
13
votes
2answers
204 views
Should we be editing other users' posts for style?
This issue has come up a couple of times, and does not seem to have been resolved, so a meta discussion seems to be in order.
I have noticed since private beta that there are a very large number of ...
13
votes
0answers
98 views
A few reminders: Voting, Flagging, Closing, Reviewing
Part of what makes the Stack Exchange format so great is the built in ability to vote for the quality of content and flag, close and review content that needs more attention.
With this in mind, we ...
12
votes
1answer
109 views
Please welcome your new moderator, James Jenkins!
I'm pleased to announce a new addition to the Pets SE moderator team:
James is joining the ranks of the team since Baarn doesn't seem able to continue. I've tried to contact him several times without ...
12
votes
4answers
117 views
Go see a Veterinarians as a close reason?
I have seen several comments where someone is voting to close a question as off topic because the close voter feels that the OP should take their animal to a vet.
If this is listed as out of scope ...
11
votes
6answers
786 views
Who do we want as moderators?
As one of The 7 Essential Meta Questions of Every Beta, I figured I post it out here.
Please feel free to post nominations.
11
votes
7answers
161 views
How do we promote our site?
The biggest struggle for new sites is growing and maintaining a consistent and supportive user base. As many new sites are springing up on the internet, how can we encourage people to come to our site?...
11
votes
4answers
145 views
We're coming up on our anniversary, how should we mark the auspicious event?
@JamesJenkins raised this up in chat, so credit his forward thinking here, but given that we're coming up on our very fist anniversary it feels like we should do something to mark it, and not in the ...
11
votes
3answers
130 views
Why should I back up my answer with references?
I have quite a bit of experience and education and I feel that I am qualified to make statements of fact.
So why should I or any of the other experts on the site back up my answers with references? ...
11
votes
2answers
170 views
Species identification and the Help Center
See Should we discourage pet breed / species identification questions? for the genesis of this.
Given that this recently popped up with What is this Reptile/Lizard? and we had a similar, though not ...
11
votes
3answers
105 views
Is consult a vet an appropriate answer?
I am seeing several answers that boil down to I do not know your answer you should consult a vet. The goal of this SE is to help answer questions about pets. If the question truly requires a vet ...
11
votes
5answers
179 views
Should we allow “shopping” or product/species recommendation questions?
This is a common issue for most stackexchange sites, and it is already rearing its head here.
Should we allow questions that ask for recommendations, such as "what breed of dog is good for x?" or "...
11
votes
2answers
79 views
Proposal to rename [desexing] tag to [neutering]
For UK/US users desexing is not a tag most would think to look for when refering to spay, neuter, castration, etc. In fact "desexing" is a term that I (a vet) have never heard used by any veterinary ...
11
votes
4answers
147 views
Please refrain from using comments to answer
This is kind of a public service announcement, but I've seen a recent spike in people using comments, rather than answers, to actually answer questions. Please refrain from that activity and, if I ...
10
votes
2answers
394 views
Will you help moderate this site? Nominations needed
Update:
We have accepted Rebecca RVT and Henders' nomination as a pro tem Moderators. Congratulations! Their access should be enabled shortly.
We recently posted a nomination thread to appoint ...
10
votes
10answers
238 views
Why is my answer being down-voted or ignored?
Most of us have been here before. We've had an answer that hasn't been getting any
up-votes (or maybe even getting nothing but down-votes). So what can a person do to get the internet points they ...
10
votes
3answers
161 views
What can be done about misinformation in answers?
Being a peer-reviewed question and answer site sounds really good on paper (and works fantastic on Stack Overflow, where I am a major contributor). Unlike SO, where answers can be verified in a ...
10
votes
3answers
74 views
Is a children/ child tag relevant?
There are two questions:
https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/132/which-dog-breeds-are-the-most-suitable-for-families-with-small-children
How do I introduce our dog to a brand new baby
I ...
10
votes
2answers
106 views
Dealing with questions that we find offensive - some thoughts
This discussion was triggered by the comment below, but actually it's something I've wanted to talk about for a while, so I'm not picking on (established member of the community).
Many people ...
10
votes
2answers
48 views
How should we tag allergy-related questions?
There are two kinds of allergy-related questions: human allergies to pets, and pets' allergies. I asked a question about the former and tagged it allergies, but that doesn't leave room for separately ...
9
votes
2answers
93 views
Should questions about history/descent of pets be on topic?
I wonder if these types of questions are good for this site. They don't directly have to do with pet care, or anything necessary to know in order to properly care for your pet. Will this type of ...
9
votes
4answers
227 views
Is there a distinction between questions on pets, and questions about professional/amateur breeding of pet animals for show or sale?
A related meta discussion was started over concerns about questions where euthanization of a healthy animal might be a possible outcome for issues relating to professional or amateur breeding.
Up ...
9
votes
4answers
354 views
We need another volunteer Moderator♦
We need a 3rd moderator for this site.
Ideally, Moderators are elected by the community, but until this site reaches a critical mass to hold an election, we need to appoint another provisional ...
9
votes
3answers
59 views
Are questions relating to vermin offtopic?
I recently asked this question regarding keeping pets out of my chicken pen. I was told that it wasn't acceptable because it's based on rats.
My point is this: it's not based on rats, it's based on ...
9
votes
2answers
122 views
What kind of answers are we looking for?
Since I have received the beta invitation, I have tried my best at answering 2 questions, but I am far from being an expert. I rely on my recent experiences with my puppy and try to help out the ...
9
votes
10answers
264 views
Pets: Biweekly Topic Challenge
It seems to me like we're okay to start biweekly topic challenges here at Pets. The idea for these challenges can be found in this meta post, and the process has been nicely written out over at the ...
9
votes
5answers
87 views
Treat and Treatment tags
I noticed these two tags treat and treatment. A glance at this tags, one would think that they are talking about the same thing, Treatment. After looking at the questions in the tags, I realized they ...
9
votes
2answers
130 views
How should we tag aquarium-related questions?
Currently we have a single aquarium tag. However, there is a significant difference between freshwater aquariums, and saltwater aquariums.
The care, maintenance, denizens, and level of expertise ...
9
votes
0answers
109 views
Announcing a Pro Tempore Moderator election
Summary: Pets Stack Exchange will begin the nomination stage for a special election on August 5 to bring in one more moderator.
For full details of the process, see the announcement on Meta Stack ...
9
votes
0answers
91 views
Stepping down as moderator
I have a lot of exciting things happening in my life right now (building a new house!) and have found that I am spending less time on the computer. I've decided to step away as moderator of Pets.SE to ...
8
votes
4answers
163 views
Should a cats/dogs tag always be added to kittens/puppies questions?
I was surprised that this question What is an acceptable flea treatment for kittens? was not displayed in blue despite the 'cats' tag being in my favorites list. So I quickly added a 'cats' tag to the ...
8
votes
1answer
450 views
Moderator Position Open — Nominees Needed
Update:
We have accepted Yvette's nomination as a pro tem Moderator. Congratulations! Access should be enabled shortly.
We last had a pro tem nomination thread in late 2015, so it's time again to ...
8
votes
2answers
67 views
What about image copyright?
We have talked a lot on meta about copyright in answers, but so far it has seemed to only cover copyright of words and text, not of images.
How do we make sure we are citing things appropriately? Do ...
8
votes
2answers
61 views
2019 Community Moderator Election Results
Pets's first moderator election has come to a close, the votes have been tallied and the new moderator is:
They'll be joining the existing crew shortly—please thank them for volunteering, ...
8
votes
1answer
49 views
General question about different ways to entertain dogs
I would like to create a general question about different ways to entertain dogs following the example of this question about vet treatment options. Ideally, each answer should contain the instruction ...
8
votes
0answers
57 views
What are the criteria for our site to get out of beta?
Our site has been in beta for many years now. What are the criteria for a site to get out of beta?
We have 16,000 visitors daily.
We have a solid number of users 10,000+.
Answered questions are above ...
7
votes
3answers
134 views
Are we missing anything to end the Private Beta?
We are about a week into Private Beta, and seem to be doing great. Is there anything in particular we need to focus on addressing to get ready for public Beta?
7
votes
2answers
69 views
Plagiarism on tags
fish WP: Fish
snakes WP: Snake
It always happens that user populate a tag with content plagiarized from Wikipedia.
What should we do about this or any other plagiarism?
7
votes
2answers
224 views
Do we need to add another Moderator Pro Tem?
Early on we gained 3 Moderator Pro Tem's Two are doing a great job, but one has been missing for a while.
The site is very active and we have been getting our share of inappropriate posts. Should ...
