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Should we allow questions that are intended for trivia?

e.g:

  • Who played _ in __ movie / tv ?
  • How many seasons did _ have?
  • Who produced __ show?
  • What was that movie that had __ (person) in it?
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    3 of these questions can be quickly answered using IMDB, and the 'how many seasons' would probably be answered on Wikipedia if not on IMDB. We should not attempt to be a poor duplicate of these sites.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Feb 27, 2012 at 5:35
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    @iandotkelly 'Can' != 'Are'. Most extras are uncredited and won't appear on IMDb.
    – Crow T Robot
    Sep 2, 2014 at 17:21
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    @CrowTRobot - and where do I state otherwise? "Who played _ in _ movie/tv show" indicates a named character.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 2, 2014 at 17:30
  • @iandotkelly 3 of these questions can be quickly answered using IMDB, and the blank doesn't indicate you were only talking about named characters. Regardless of what the intention of this question was, it's being used incorrectly: movies.stackexchange.com/questions/24344/…
    – Crow T Robot
    Sep 2, 2014 at 17:34
  • @CrowTRobot - oh I see, I didn't know you were referring to a specific question, I just got alerted to your comment here.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 2, 2014 at 17:35
  • Does this question count as "trivia"? It certainly doesn't seem to fit the mold of your example questions, and I don't think it can be answered by IMDB, but at least one person has marked it as "trivia."
    – Kyle Strand
    Dec 3, 2015 at 18:53
  • Trivia questions are no longer considered off-topic by the community, according to a more recent (more than 10 years later) community consensus expressed in this Oct. 2022 meta post: Which trivia questions are on-topic and which are off-topic?
    – galacticninja
    Jan 3 at 23:57
  • Possible duplicate of Which trivia questions are on-topic and which are off-topic? and We're retiring the "trivia" close-reason (The most recent community consensus and policy on the same topic.)
    – galacticninja
    Jan 7 at 5:19
  • 1
    Does this answer your question? We're retiring the "trivia" close-reason
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jan 8 at 13:42

3 Answers 3

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It is stated in the FAQ that:

Banal trivia that does not add to the understanding or appreciation of the title.

Is considered off-topic.

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The examples given were "trivial" enough to be closed.

I tried to edit this question by asking for the significance of the song. The answer was a very good one, because it not only identified the song, but gave the underlying context, about the courtship of a peddler and a girl. I added a comment that perhaps the metaphor could be extended further, to the "courtship" of the Russian and American presidents.

Songs are (usually) put into movies for a reason, and if the question asks for the context/meaning of the song (within the movie) as opposed to "identify" this song, it might be a very good question. Other, non-trivial questions that might "add to the understanding of the title" might be, who played in/produced movie X, followed by "What other movies (or types of movies) did this person play in/produce?"

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I think the examples given do not relate so much to the question. The examples could all be googled, most of the time quickly and effectively - it's more of a case of lmgtfy than of being off-topic.

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