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As a new user to anime.stackexchange (and StackExchange in general) here is some feedback.

  • I can't tag one of my most recent questions as "07-ghost" because I don't have 150 reputation...

  • I can't comment on questions because I don't have 50 reputation...

  • I found a question I was pretty sure I could answer (Anime about boy who can accelerate objects; also meets girl with wooden katana) but I can't answer it because you guys voted it "closed"

  • My attempts to edit it all get rejected because "This edit was intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer." (Fair enough, but editing the answer in is literally my only option.)
  • I don't even know if the above issues are because of StackExchange or this specific community...

I understand you probably want to avoid an Eternal September with the community but seriously, I feel like an unwelcome observer, not a participant. :\

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    tl;dr for anyone who read this question. It's mostly due to the model of StackExchange (and the restrictions are there for a good reason). The other case is due to policy specific to Anime.SE to reduce bad id-req questions.
    – nhahtdh
    Apr 15, 2015 at 13:23

4 Answers 4

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First off, welcome to Anime & Manga SE. Most of these issues you have raised are not specific to this site, and are rather general to Stack Exchange. I'll address these in turn.

I can't tag one of my most recent questions as "07-ghost" because I don't have 150 reputation...

This is a built-in limit which we have no control over here. Personally, I'd like to see it removed, or at least for new users to be able to suggest tags on their posts. But this is a rather small site on the Stack Exchange network, and the problem is relatively uncommon on most sites, so we have to deal with it.

For now, our suggested solution is to use the tag and specify in your question the intended series. A high-rep user will edit the correct tag in. I wish this were more intuitive, but there's really not much we can do about it.

I can't comment on questions because I don't have 50 reputation...

You can comment on your own questions and answers to those, but you're right that you can't comment elsewhere. That again is Stack Exchange-wide, not specific to this site.

The reason for this is that, unlike new questions and answers, new comments aren't likely to be seen, so it's difficult to identify spam comments. I don't claim that you're a spammer, but the system doesn't quite trust you yet. In any case, the core of the site is questions and answers, and comments are mostly temporary and not worth any rep, so you honestly aren't missing much.

I found a question I was pretty sure I could answer (Help in remembering an anime!) but I can't answer it because you guys voted it "closed"

Here, you've stumbled upon an unfortunate case. is somewhat controversial among members of this site. Almost everyone agrees that good identification questions should be allowed. But also, most people agree that a lot of incoming identification questions are low quality and don't stand any realistic chances of being answered.

Because of the volume of incoming questions, we can no longer afford to treat each one individually, so we have some minimum standards for new identification questions. It's worth noting that these guidelines are somewhat controversial, but for now they're the accepted policy. If the question doesn't meet those, we put it on hold until the poster improves it to meet those. In some cases, the question might be answerable even when it doesn't meet the criteria there, but to keep things consistent the rule is still enforced. So, with that in mind, you unfortunately won't be able to answer closed ID questions like that unless the asker comes back and improves it, or you manage to convince other users that it shouldn't have been closed.

In this case a moderator reopened the question you pointed out, so you should be able to answer it now.

My attempts to edit it all get rejected because "This edit was intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer." (Fair enough, but editing the answer in is literally my only option.)

I'll assume you are unable to post an answer yourself because the question you're looking at is closed or on-hold. That's the only reason a user like you with more than 10 reputation wouldn't be able to post an answer on an undeleted question. In that case, the users here have decided that it violates one or more of our policies, which you can read in the help center. Usually there will be one or more comments on the question saying what is wrong, and a banner.

In some cases, the question can be improved to be reopened. If it's an identification question, that improvement usually has to come from the asker, but for anything else, you can suggest edits yourself. If your suggestions don't change too much and fix the problem, they'll probably be accepted, and the question will be put in a queue to be judged for reopening. Once it is reopened, you can add your own answer

Alternatively, if you think nothing is wrong, you can flag the question for reopening immediately, or you can come here on meta and ask why the question was closed. Compared to other SE sites, we're actually pretty lax in terms of closing questions, and we'll usually reopen a question if a good argument is made for it.

The one thing that doesn't really make sense to do is to edit existing answers on the question, especially if you're trying to add a bunch of your own thoughts. If the question is closed, that means we've identified that it has problems. If nothing is done about those, we'll probably unfortunately eventually have to delete it. Rather than trying to edit your own answer into another one, you should try to fix the problems of the question first and foremost, and then once that's fixed, post your own answer. That probably sounds like a lot of work for just one question, and it won't happen in a matter of minutes, but questions here are intended to stick around for a long time and in the grand scheme of things our approach eventually gets things right.

I don't even know if the above issues are because of StackExchange or this specific community...

This is probably because you're still a new user and unfamiliar with the system used here. Try checking out our tour page to get a general idea of what the site is for, and the help center for more details. If you still have questions, this is the place to ask.


I realize this system is rather unfamiliar to new users, especially those who are used to the more lax policies on fora and social networks. We do judge the quality of posts somewhat strictly, and at the low end a lot of things are restricted to prevent spammers from having their way with the site. I think you've confused that unfamiliarity with us being unwelcoming, but that definitely isn't intended. The low-end limits aren't intended to stick around for very long. You've only been on the site for 2 days, and once you're a bit more familiar with the system and the site and you've earned a bit more rep, those will disappear.

If you're looking for ways to get reputation quickly, I'd suggest checking out the unanswered questions. There's a lot of them, and you can probably find a couple that you can answer. You'll probably have more success if you spend a lot of time writing a few well-researched answers to good questions rather than just trying to get an answer on every question you can. Our users here value quality a lot, and are much more likely to upvote an answer which goes above and beyond.

It's also worth noting that if you know a lot about a series that people haven't already asked about, you're allowed (even encouraged) to answer your own question, which can be a great way to gain a lot of reputation if you do a good job. Finally, while there aren't any right now, you should keep an eye out for bountied questions. If you can answer one of these well, it's an easy way to gain a lot of reputation.

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  • Thanks for the comprehensive answer! So far StackExchange as a whole has been fairly alien to me. I'm much more used to Reddit / BBC style communities where the mechanics are little more open... I'd upvote your answer on top of accepting it... but 15 reputation. >_>
    – mfoy_
    Apr 9, 2015 at 2:56
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    @mfoy_: Ask a good question about a series that you have recently watched/read. Even things that you have read from elsewhere, which you realize that you couldn't figure it out yourself when you watch/read the anime/manga.
    – nhahtdh
    Apr 9, 2015 at 6:23
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    @mfoy_ Might I suggest another option here. If you or any other reader, by chance, happens to have a passion in areas where other SE websites operates (SuperUser, Android Enthusiasts, Apple SE, or more), you might get a relatively higher chance to get rid of these restrictions since SE awards assoc bonus of 100 reputation on all of its websites once you reach enough reputation on one site. I got the bonus on 200 reputation through Android Enthusiasts and enjoyed it here.
    – Firelord
    Apr 18, 2015 at 17:29
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Let me address each of your concerns in turn:

  • That is a known issue. But like most other limitations, it's there to prevent abuse. If any use would just be able to create any tag they wish, you'd have , , , , , and so on. If you have a tag you want to create, tag it with and mention it at the end of the question. Someone with higher privileges will come and edit it for you.
  • Again, this is there to prevent abuse. We don't want spam in comments (especially because comments are currently hard to moderate). 50 reputation is pretty easy to achieve, you can probably make it within the day if you take it easy.
  • Flag it! Flags let us diamond moderators know that something is wrong. Just flag it with a custom flag, explain that you have an answer but you can't because it's closed, and a moderator is likely to reopen it for you. (I've done it for you now, go ahead and answer it!)
  • See point above. Flagging is the right course of action for you here.
  • All of these privileges are Stack Exchange Network level. 50 reputation points are required to comment on all sites, and 150 (sometimes more) is required to create new tags. However, as you reach 200 points on any site, you'll get a +100 bonus on every other account you make on the site (so the basic privileges like vote up, comment everywhere, etc, are unlocked for you in advance).

I hope you don't find the site too unwelcoming, we're always happy to accept new users. We're a bit more quality oriented than most forums out there though, that's why we're a bit stiffer.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask here on meta, or comment on my answer (you can, since you opened the question).

Happy browsing!

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  • Thanks! I appreciate the reply. I understand the reasons for a lot of these design decisions (on SE's part) but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. :S
    – mfoy_
    Apr 9, 2015 at 3:07
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Let's do this point by point:

I can't tag one of my most recent questions as "07-ghost" because I don't have 150 reputation...

This is an SE feature so that no one spams tags. You can request tags, just so you know. Tag it as 'retag' and someone will tag it appropriately.

I can't comment on questions because I don't have 50 reputation...

I'm not sure about this, but I'm pretty sure you can comment on your own questions. The key here is that it has to be your own posts. Not others'.

Again, this is an SE feature. This is not A&M's fault.

I found a question I was pretty sure I could answer (Help in remembering an anime!) but I can't answer it because you guys voted it "closed"

Yes, it was closed because it does not meet our guidelines for Id-requests. I don't see how this is unwelcoming. The question lacks unique details. All it had are generic details that could fulfill hundreds of other anime. Not to mention that the asker may had misremembered the details themselves. Your answer has a high percentage of being wrong since the description is extremely vague.

My attempts to edit it all get rejected because "This edit was intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer." (Fair enough, but editing the answer in is literally my only option.)

Again, you can only post comments on your own posts. Which sucks, I understand, but this how SE works and there's nothing A&M users can do about that, as far as I know.

I know it's painful to start out as a new user. All I can say is that you should not take anything personally. When someone closes your question or rejects your edit, it's not because we do it out of spite. We do it to keep the site quality up and for you to hopefully learn what is acceptable and what's not. When it comes to our main SE site, we have to keep a rigid system in order for Senpai to notice us us to graduate.

Sorry if we seem unwelcoming, but to make up for it, Welcome to A&M SE!

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You can start feeling as a participant after acquiring enough reputation to do all these things, including reopen votes for closed questions. Most new users don't know how SE sites operate and make mistakes that cost other users some time to fix and could harm the sites' quality. You're welcome to prove that you are a great user by posting answers to open questions, even if they already have answers, but make sure you add something that has not yet been addressed in an answer. Your answers will be upvoted and you can quickly start doing the good work afterwards. Best regards, and welcome to StackExchange.

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