-2
$\begingroup$

More often than not, there are a lot of questions especially on the chemistry exchange telling "my textbook says so and so, but this makes no sense" like this one in particular . And for some reason, Chemists always look at contempt at these high school level questions. Yes the same question gives you answer on the internet but all of those are loosely based on what was given in the textbook, which was factually incorrect as pointed out by the users.

My reason for suggesting this is because a lot of users always ask for it, (like "oh you read somewhere? or do you mean from your textbook") and there are quite a lot of times where OP takes a few days to get back like the linked example. But as always it's up for the community to decide

$\endgroup$
0

1 Answer 1

8
$\begingroup$

I think already fulfills this purpose. From the tag info:

For questions that deal with possible errors in a specific statement of a specified book, article, website, etc. These questions should always include a complete reference.

$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ As a beginner, including myself, I don't many people know that. I think we might have to do something about that $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2021 at 12:30
  • $\begingroup$ link just saw this... doesn't it make more sense to call it "Textbook-erratum" $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2021 at 12:33
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @AdilMohammed I would disagree. Numerous generations of textbooks typically have a dedicated Errata section with a collection of corrections from the previous editions. It's a well-established term and every book reader should be familiar with it. I don't see a point in creating textbook-erratum, article-erratum, report-erratum, patent-erratum, quora-erratum etc. The way I see it, erratum should be used in exceptional cases only, not to fix numerous erroneous problems from a poorly written textbook (which, honestly, shouldn't even be opened). $\endgroup$
    – andselisk Mod
    Commented Mar 12, 2021 at 12:45
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @AdilMohammed The erratum is a synonym of textbook-erratum. It doesn't change things. The main problems with 'My textbook says' is that they often do not mention a citation, so it is absolutely unclear where the error is and that makes it quite useless. It is not so much contempt with the questions, but simply a matter of reproducibility. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2021 at 19:17
  • $\begingroup$ @Martin-マーチン I think i can see what you are coming to $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 9:49

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .