So my identification request was "put on hold" or "closed"
What did I do to deserve that?
identification-requests questions (id-reqs) often see this happen. Many new users are left to wonder why. These questions require little effort to ask, but sometimes involve a lot of effort to find the answer.
In order to help with the influx of low quality questions of this variety, we've established some minimum guidelines. While we can't force you to abide by them, we can decline to accept or answer them. Why, you ask? It's a matter of how much effort you put into it. Why would someone make an effort to help answer when the one asking doesn't even make the effort to provide relevant details?
Often times, information on the tip of the asker's tongue lacks distinctive details, or that which is helpful is jumbled together with other memories or details, making them hard to answer.
Think of it this way - if you were to ask about the brand/kind of marker someone uses to write with, you need to first distinguish it from a pen, pencil, brush, or other writing/drawing implement, before mentioning the finer details.
"What's that thing you used draw/write those straight and curvy lines over there on that other day"
How would you know what kind of tool they used if you're not clear what you even used it for?
Instead try to give more distinctive details of what the person did with it.
"What kind of pen did you use to sketch out those black and white logo designs for the concept meeting last month?"
This question gives the listener the details of what they did with the implement and when they were seen using it. Even though the listener is mistaken in thinking it was a pen, the other details are distinct enough to rectify this mistake.
We're not asking you to recall things to be correct 100% of the time. We're asking you to provide sufficient enough details for other people to use to help you find what you are looking for. If you are unable to recall the details clearly, add more points as per the guidelines. They are there to help you, not restrict you.
Well my question was "put on hold" or "closed," now what?
While your question was "put on hold" or "closed," this is not the end of the line. Simply edit your question to provide more points of detail if it was indicated that there was "too little detail." Other users will be more than happy to review your question and reopen it if they feel that there is enough information to go on for someone to go about answering it.
My question fulfills the minimum guidelines why was it "put on hold" or "closed"
Chances are that the details you provided were not enough to differentiate it from other similar media. This can be for a number of reasons. Some common ones are:
Details are too commonplace
- "A boy with black hair that pilots a mech to save the world" a very common trope in anime and manga
Details are vague to anyone save the asker, especially questions related to time w/o a specific reference, such as:
- "When I was little" or "when I was {{insert age}}"
- "A while back" or "a long time ago"
When asking for direction, you need to be specific on what you want to find or where you need to go. It's more or less the same with id-reqs -- if you give vague instructions, it makes it harder for a user to figure out what you want, because they need to now guess your intentions as well.
The intent of all this is to show other users that you actually want your question answered by making by taking the time to detail your your question with sufficient detail. Just fulfilling the bare minimum is rarely enough to get by.
Well, what about identification requests involving images, sound, or video?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, while this maybe true, it's reflective of the subject of that media, not necessarily of its source.
So you found a piece of media on the web, specifically an image. It may be a photo, scan, or graphic made by you or someone else and you want it identified. Just posting the image and pleading for help gets you nowhere. Regardless of how obvious it may be.
It's common courtesy to least provide some relevant details if you're gonna ask for help. If you can't at least follow the guidelines for this type of question, at least give us a bit of background as to where you found it and why you want it identified.
An example of a good question would be something like this:
Title:
Who is this hooded girl with giant mechanical arms?
Body:
A friend gifted me this hooded figure with light gray hair and giant mechanical arms before they moved away. I was wondering who this character is and what series she came from. Unfortunately, I don't have the original box it came with, but there's the words "Max Factory" and "2014" branded on the figure. Image
While the description and image are a bit redundant, the note about the brand can will narrow it down to the manufacturer, limiting the possibilities. The approximate copyright on the figure can tell us when it came out, narrowing down the pool of possible results further. In this case, a reverse image search will reveal the identity, but it won't always work out this way, especially if it's one they took themselves.
Just posting an image or piece of media and asking "What's this?" or "Where's this from?!!" makes a bad question and shows low effort. If you don't make an active effort to add details go on, why should we be bothered to find them for you? You wouldn't do someone's homework for them if they were too lazy to do it themselves, would you?
Why is my "identification-request" not getting any attention?
If it was not "put on hold" or "closed," this can be due to a variety of reasons, common ones are:
Your title is too generic
- Having "what is this anime" as a title will lower the visibility of it compared something like "who is the tall blond guy wearing a red trench coat, tinted sunglasses, and carries two guns?"
- Try adding some detail from your body to your title
- People are more willing to click on an image if a title gives them a synopsis of what's to come
Lack of effort in formatting, and/or a combination of poor spelling/capitalization/punctuation
- If you don't take the time to properly format your question, it can end up being a hard to read mess.
- If your question hard to read or understand, it will be even harder to answer
- While this is an English-language site, you don't need perfect grammar to use it, nor do you need to apologize for not being fluent in it. At least try to show that you at least made an effort
- People don't typically enjoy reading a wall of text
- Break things up into paragraphs
WTF! Why are there so many restrictions?!
As mentioned by SE's Director of Community Development, Robert Cartaino, with any recreational Stack Exchange site, id-reqs are like a rite of passage. They are low effort with an even lower return, they maybe seem simple and easy at first, but users will gradually tire of them as they start to pile up.
It is in my belief that expending any further effort on these questions is a bad use of time. New rules need people to back and enforce them. Why bother spending effort here if you could be putting that effort in asking other types of question?
Currently these questions are tolerated at best - you can ask one if you'd like, but know that these questions will come under scrutiny due having a history of accumulating low-quality posts. As a user, not only would we like you to stay and ask more question and answers, we'd also prefer for you to contribute question and answers that can help people besides yourself. Ever wondered where a gag you saw in an anime came from? Chances are someone else has too has wonder the same thing. So why not go ask it?
