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So recently I have noticed an influx of questions (Primarily around Game of Thrones) that simply cannot be answered.

For example we are now ahead of the books, so anything that happens on the show is literally completely unknown outside of the writers and cast.

So how can we possibly answer any question that pops up asking:

"What will happen now that X just happened on the show?"

These questions are not constructive. They cannot possibly follow the direct Q and A format because any answer at the time of asking is entirely speculative. Furthermore the titles of said questions and generally spoiler-filled.

Would it be plausible to remove said questions until they can be legitimately answered?

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  • Do you have some actual examples of what you're talking about exactly?
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    May 23, 2016 at 10:30
  • I'd just skip such questions, if found. Nothing more to do there.
    – NVZ
    May 23, 2016 at 10:46
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    For comparison, the SFF Stack Exchange has a policy that questions about "future works" should be closed (e.g. as primarily opinion-based) until they're answerable.
    – Rand al'Thor
    May 23, 2016 at 10:59
  • Titles being supposedly spoiler-filled seems to be entirely orthogonal to this problem here and only confuses matters. In fact this site has an enforced no-spoilers-in-titles policy that makes this largely a non-issue anyway.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    May 23, 2016 at 13:21
  • I respectfully disagree, the Top Questions page right now has spoiler titles. movies.stackexchange.com/questions/53368/… - This is an example of a title that asks a clear question without revealing any plot elements what so ever. movies.stackexchange.com/questions/53366/… - This is a direct spoiler. During prior episodes there has been no interaction between Bran and the White walkers. No evidence that this would happen soon. So considering how long the episode has been out its directly spoiling plot points
    – BigTallJosh
    May 23, 2016 at 13:32
  • @BigTallJosh I don't see how this spoils any plot points at all. perhaps not adhering to a spoiler culture that understands the mere existence of a character as an important plot point would be a healthier solution for the matter. But anyway, that aside, the point it that this seems entirely orthognal to the actual problem adressed in this question. If this however is the actual point you want to make, then putting this matter into its own meta discussion that concentrates on that issue might be more fruitful.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    May 23, 2016 at 13:55
  • @NapoleonWilson We clearly have very different opinions on the matter. You're the mod so I'm just going to let it go, feel free to close up this post. I think the easiest solution is to just avoid the site on a Monday.
    – BigTallJosh
    May 23, 2016 at 13:57
  • @BigTallJosh "feel free to close up this post" - Why? As said, the spoiler-problem has absolutely no bearing on the problem that this question asks about. And as said, if you feel it is a serious problem then feel free to adress it in its own meta question. But loading it onto this meta discussion about a totally unrelated issue seems only to complicate and dillute matters and unlikely to solve it. It's not like more answerable questions can't have spoilery titles either, or unanswerable questions are bound to have spoiling titles.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    May 23, 2016 at 13:58
  • @NapoleonWilson I accept what you're saying; it's two separate points. But there is a direct correlation between the two. Every week since the show has been back right away the site has a good handful of spoiler filled questions added mere hours after the US airtime. These questions most of the time can't even be answered for an entire week until the explanation comes out in the next episode. (Even then it might still not be explained yet). They don't serve as constructive or even reasonable questions, because we simply cannot answer. They're just promoting spoilers albeit unintentionally.
    – BigTallJosh
    May 23, 2016 at 14:03
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    @BigTallJosh It's just that "promoting spoilers" (especially when unintentional) is not a reason why a question is non-constructive. If you think they're unanswerable and thus add no value to the site, this is a valid opinion and an interesting discussion to have. But it seems a large part of that opinion is fueled by the unrelated feeling of having the show spoiled for you (as also unequivocally expressed in some now deleted comments), which is a valid feeling, too, but complicates matters when it is imposed on an entirely different issue.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    May 23, 2016 at 14:05

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M&TV does not and should not ban questions just because you or some random handful of people don't think they can be answered. Some question can be answered via source material, interviews, or reasonable analysis of the scene in question. Sometimes the information is just obscure to find. Just because you can't answer them does not make them off topic or closure worthy. Sff be damned.

It's obvious your only concern is not having Game of Thrones spoiled for you. We have an active policy of de-spoiling titles as they happen. But it's obviously a matter of opinion of what's a spoiler. Some people think the mere mention of a character is a spoiler. Some would consider things shown in the teaser for next week a spoiler. I hate spoilers for GOT too, but none of the questions I've seen (titles only) today seem spoilery.

If your issue is that you see the supposed spoilers off site, maybe you should request a way to opt out of Hot Network Questions, just like you can ignore tagged questions on site. That would be done on Meta.SE.

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  • I can see your view and for the most part that is in line with how I see the whole SE network. And of course I wouldn't deem a question needs to be closed just because I can't answer it. That is ludicrous. I wasn't drawn to the site initially out of some ego driven narcissistic need to share my endless knowledge, I came here for answers. Yes. I was bothered about GoT Spoilers because looking at the Top Questions page yesterday literally revealed the entire episode in 3 or 4 questions titles. Let alone those didn't seem answerable without simply waiting for the next episode.
    – BigTallJosh
    May 24, 2016 at 8:06
  • And after watching, the questions seem so simple a sceptic could argue they were there intentionally to entice this exact reaction. So well done me for taking bait. However I can accept that may not even be the case. As I said in the comments of the question, this has been met with the general consensus that I am overreacting, fair enough. The easiest course of action is to simply not browse M&TV On a Monday. Where you decided to pull this "If your issue is that you see the supposed spoilers off site" from I am not sure. Nowhere have I complained about spoilers off site. That would be insane.
    – BigTallJosh
    May 24, 2016 at 8:10
  • @BigTallJosh "a sceptic could argue they were there intentionally to entice this exact reaction. So well done me for taking bait." - And exactly that deduction we should heavily eschew from, in line with a general attitude of assuming good intentions that SE advocates.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    May 24, 2016 at 8:27
  • @NapoleonWilson You're not wrong. That's my own issue. Not the sites.
    – BigTallJosh
    May 24, 2016 at 8:29

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