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I have recently seen two identification question

Does anyone know the name of this Hindu deity?

Is this a Hindu Goddess? If yes which one and what do they represent?

This is always a hot topic over other SE site, few hate any kind of identity question because they only help single user. But whats our stake on this?

For the example, I think first one is pretty much answerable but second one seems too vague to get an answer.

And if they are allowed, is not better them to tag them properly like or like other SEs.

There is a good blog from Jeff on this :-

Let's Play The Guessing Game

Showing all the negative point off view on it, so are we in for the guessing games?

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  • sure we must.. have those tags
    – Mr_Green
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 10:15
  • Good point, I feel like this question would be not allowed in another stack exchange site. Because this question is too specific, but since we're in Beta, maybe we should relax the terms a bit and allow them, as they may create an awareness of the site, and encourage users to participate more. For example, that first question had three answers, which means more users felt encouraged to answer the question. All the best
    – Sai
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 14:57
  • I think god identification questions are fine; I've even asked one myself: hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/7363/36 identification questions can help people know the appearances of Hindu gods. It's different in other sites, where only one or two people would care about the details of a particular video game. But here, the question of who the gods are and what they look like is of more general interest. I'm not sure if we need a tag, since very few questions like this have been asked so far.
    – Keshav Srinivasan Mod
    Commented Aug 19, 2015 at 15:09
  • @KeshavSrinivasan we have 3 question like that and if we dig we might get few more (maybe), so if we allow them we should tag them appropriately too.
    – Ankit Sharma
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 7:15
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Many questions (more than 20 a wild guess) are not tagged properly. Some unpopular tags and unrelated tags are used but not the ID tag.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Oct 2, 2017 at 11:25
  • @AnkitSharma Welcome you provide your feedback (voting/comment/answer) on hinduism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1198/277 ?
    – Pandya Mod
    Commented Nov 17, 2018 at 3:21
  • 1
    @Pandya One mod asks to give feedback and other mod moves that feedback silently to chat rooms which freezes after some hours or a day if that is negative. Are the mods only looking for favorable decision? What is this inconsistency?
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 9:50

1 Answer 1

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Yes, why not? Questions like those are allowed on this site. The tag is named as . The tag excerpt is:

Use this tag for questions regarding story identification, verse identification from scriptures and image identification of Hindu God, goddesses and characters from Hindu mythology.

This tag should be used carefully like any other tag. Apparently, this is misused on many questions and misunderstood by the users. This differs from , , and other as these are very broad tags. If we add the aforementioned tags, this contradicts the purpose of tagging i.e., accurate tagging and effective tagging. We should not tag a question with popular tags just to get more attention.

For story identification: This tag should be used when we know stories but we we do not know the source of the story. If you are looking for the source of the story in Hindu texts, then this should be used. This is not the same as Mythology. We are using that tag when the question is about a story. When we use this tag, mythology need not to be used. Using other specific tags is recommended.

For verse location : This works well. Finding source is not the same as asking about scriptures itself. For example, I am asking about the source of the shloka "Janma na Jayate Sudrah". It means you are unsure where it comes from. It can be from Puranas, smritis, some commentary on those texts or it can be a random subhashita written by a philosopher or a poet. If this is tagged with or any other tag like , is an assumption that it is present in those texts. But when comes to shlokas and stories, we are not sure about the source. So, adding scripture, Vedas or other tag gives a wrong guidance because the question is not about Vedas or a scripture. Scripture is about question which asks or discuss about scriptures only.

For image identification : Very appropriate. When you have a picture and don't know who it is, upload the picture, add what you have found and the source of the image (where you have found). Lack of details can cause it close as 'Unclear what you are asking'.

Tag is only limited to above scenarios. Not to be used for list questions,scriptural reference about a practice (like Sati, marriage etc.,), belief or some famous custom and traditions (shaving beard on different days or holding fasts and performing poojas on festivals). Use specific tags instead.

This is what our site has been doing till date.

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  • "For image identification : Very appropriate." This means not working well for verse identification and story identification.
    – Pandya Mod
    Commented Nov 17, 2018 at 7:46
  • Really Pandya? "For verse location : This works well." What about this? Very apt means no further explanation needed as it is very very clear already. I added explanation because people were not clicking on wiki and not reading the wiki.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Nov 17, 2018 at 9:57
  • @ Sarvabhouma ok
    – Pandya Mod
    Commented Nov 17, 2018 at 10:00

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