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This question, originally posed as this one turns out to be based on an incorrect assumption, which, I argue, is not easy to recognize, even might be considered a part of layman public opinion.

Should we close/delete, or keep questions which are tackling such urban legends?

In favour of keeping such questions that answers fixing them might be useful to debunk the corresponding myths. Of course, against keeping them speaks the fact that the question is based on incorrect facts and thus non-sense in its core. Keeping such would only spoil the Q&A site.

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If the question is indeed asking about an urban legend, there's an entire SE dedicated to that sort of thing. I would suggest that any question touching on what may or may not even be true be reformulated to first address whether the assumptions are true, and after the reformulation, the question should be migrated to Skeptics. If the assumption turns out to be true, the question could then be reposted with a link to the Skeptics post as a basis for the assumption.

Note that this is pretty abstract, and the more likely scenario is that each question would have to be judged on an independent basis.

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    I would avoid having too long a list of subjects that we consider verboten. Even urban legends can have their role on this board, if it's asked correctly. I'd rather let the community judge what is or is not appropriate for this board by voting accordingly. – aeismail Jan 27 '13 at 15:40
  • @aeismail - FWIW, I completely agree. – eykanal♦ Jan 27 '13 at 15:41
  • So at least we have something like a process in place for stuff like this. So much for a futile, but certainly entertaining and in a way also educative effort to save two quirky questions :-). – walkmanyi Jan 27 '13 at 22:23

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