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The title is simply saying it:

Dullness vs. going overboard: Should I be calling people 'enfants terribles' in an academic paper?

This OP is just asking about what the community thinks about it. So why this is on topic? While the answers clearly aim for why it is a no go, the op asks for opinions. so why asking for opinions isnt an opinion based post?

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    I think we need a general FAQ about good and bad subjective questions.
    – StrongBad Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 13:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Your flag caused the question to be put in the review queue. Three high rep users then reviwed the question and decided it should stay open. The community user bot then declined the flag.

Had you flagged it for moderator attention, I would have declined the flag for "flags should only be used for things that need moderator attention". Moderator flags basically are a way of asking a moderator to act unilaterally. They are great for clear cut cases. In a case like this, as a mod even if I agree and think the question is a bad fit, with 15 upvotes, 1 down vote, and an answer with 55 up votes, I am not going to act unilaterally.

It is worth noting that after you left your comment, someone voted to close, and it went through the review queue again. Three users (at least one new one) reviewed it without recommending to close the question. It seems the community likes the question.

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  • But isn't this how stack exchange pages shouldn't work? I mean why placing rules if they may be altered just in relation to itnerests?
    – Zaibis
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 11:31
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    @Zaibis: because sometimes there are questions that, though they look opinion-based at a superficial look, are actually not-so opinion based because of academic tradition, academic culture of certain country, style guides etc. In any case, a bit of open-mindedness doesn't hurt, especially in an academic context.
    – Massimo Ortolano
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 11:52
  • @MassimoOrtolano: But then you m8 should think about changing in the academic stack exchange just taking it out as off topic. because you can say what you want but asking for opinions WILL lead to opinion based answers as far you answer what was asked for. and if this is most time just not offtopic at all, it shouldn't be handled as those on this site.
    – Zaibis
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:05
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    This isn't accurate. For a person who doesn't have rep to vote to close, flag for closure (with one of the predefined reasons) pushes the question into close question review queue, not moderator queue. It's the correct action for a user to take in this scenario.
    – ff524 Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:19
  • @Zaibis: you know, also grammar and orthography have their rules, from which you have voluntarily diverted in the comment above. Should we delete your comment just for this? Context matters ;-)
    – Massimo Ortolano
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:26
  • @ff524: Don't know what you mean, can you explain it to me?
    – Zaibis
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:29
  • @MassimoOrtolano: Yes you should, if there is a note about such comments are not welcome here.
    – Zaibis
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:30
  • @Zaibis I was disagreeing with the statement "Flags basically are a way of asking a moderator to act unilaterally." Some kinds of flags make posts appear in the moderator queue for review, and should only be used for things the normal high rep users of the site can't take care of themselves, as StrongBad says. Other kinds of flags push posts into community review queues, as a way of asking the other community users to "look at this post, see if it should be closed/deleted." Your flag was the latter type.
    – ff524 Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:33
  • thanks for claryfication
    – Zaibis
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 12:38
  • @ff524 that makes sense. Sometimes people flag for moderator attention saying something should be closed. The community bot must have closed it after the review. I will edit to clarify.
    – StrongBad Mod
    Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 13:15

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