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I was wondering if humorous questions are possible. Is it forbidden by site policy or anything else?

I would also like to know if the least bit if sense of humor would be good to header the question.

Here's an example:

Original

MacBook Air 2012 USB Port change or repair

Humorous

MacBook Air 2012 USB Port make happy and delighted

Please, note that I did everything I could to make this question as neutral as it was possible.

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    Be aware that in the example you gave particularly, a lot of the question content was sacrificed to humor. Humor is great, but the main focus of the site takes precedence.
    – intcreator
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 4:57
  • For instance, this question itself is poorly worded. Reading the title, I thought you were about to create purely humorous questions, while reading your actual examples, it's clear you mean to ask actual questions, using an humorous language. Obviously they are two completely different things.
    – o0'.
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 15:04
  • @Lohoris, these are just different degrees of one things. My example is an instance of the light version of humorous question with a neutral pun.
    – theoden8
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 18:55
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    I have seen humorous titles before - it's okay as long as it's a small pun. The example of my favorite title was in a different community (Unix & Linux), but demonstrates the quality of having humor in a title. The person asking wanted to terminate the cat command before it finished because he frequently used it on on long files on accident. He titled the question "How to kill a runaway cat?" . (unix.stackexchange.com/questions/176917/…)
    – 智障的人
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 23:02
  • "... make happy and delighted" sounds like it was literally translated from another language in a wrong way.
    – adib
    Commented Aug 13, 2015 at 14:18
  • @adib, it's not.
    – theoden8
    Commented Aug 13, 2015 at 14:23

1 Answer 1

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If you are here to joke, that won't go over well.

However if you have a real problem to solve, please enjoy puns every once in a while if you wish. Language can have wonderful shades of meaning and expression, but the site also requires you to be open to:

a) someone perhaps editing it (and we can help resolve things if there's an honest disagreement on what belongs and what doesn't)

b) making sure the intent and details are still clear

I think you have no worries on either case based on the example you provided. Feel free to ask your question on the main site and link here / comment if anything comes up or someone doesn't get the humor. Also, don't be too attached to the humor part in case it gets edited out to make the question more useful or clear if needed.

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  • That makes me feel more free. What about intended humorous questions like How do I install Windows updates through MacPorts?, which are not about anything serious but are just a piece of fun in the Sunday afternoon? I don't mean humiliating or something like that, just a question that itself is a little joke?
    – theoden8
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 1:24
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    The overall rule of having questions relate to solveable real-world problems still applies. So asking how to apply Windows upgrades through MacPorts or how to interface your Mac with a Flux Converter probably won't get you very far.
    – nohillside Mod
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 8:11
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    Also - I should have mentioned, when you are the butt of the joke, it's often the best. Making someone else the butt of a joke requires more social trust than an open internet forum can usually apply. Humor doesn't often translate well across social groups and can actively make the site hard to use for people that don't speak english natively or are in on your argot.
    – bmike Mod
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 11:58
  • Sorry, I thought I'd be notified in case someone replies. Thanks for the answer, it fully covered all questions I had in mind!
    – theoden8
    Commented Aug 3, 2015 at 12:46
  • @theoden I messed up - you won't get notified unless I mention you as I did in this comment and neglected to do in the other comment.
    – bmike Mod
    Commented Aug 3, 2015 at 15:55
  • @patrix Installing Windows updates through MacPorts can be useful for updating some Wine/CrossOver installations (e.g. .NET runtime, ODBC drivers, and the like).
    – adib
    Commented Aug 13, 2015 at 14:21

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