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I posted this question, which got put on hold by an admin with the statement

At the moment this reads as "DMT is cool, what do Buddhists think?" which is not enough to pass as a valid question.

I dont see a problem with this kind of question, because it has the intend to be inspiring. Effectively, the admin is blocking the introduction of a new topic into this community (not just DMT). Since I cannot find anything about DMT on this site, I have to start with a post like that, introducing the reader to it.

  • Did you ever consider why DMT isn’t mentioned here a lot? – Erik Sep 21 '19 at 14:08
  • It isnt mentioned at all, which i found very strange – dba Sep 21 '19 at 15:09
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Briefly,

  • This is a question-and-answer site -- a site for asking questions (about Buddhism)

  • You wrote, "Thats why I wanted to start a discussion about this here" -- but the Tour says,

    This site is all about getting answers. It's not a discussion forum. There's no chit-chat.

  • This particular site has policies against posting question in order to promote your own views, e.g.:

     
    IOW the site is for "asking a question" -- it's not for advertising (e.g. "DMT exists!") and it's not for pushing a view (e.g. "DMT is interesting!")

  • The fact that DMT is illegal makes it a dubious topic.

  • This site's Moderation policies for Questions is unusually/relatively permissive -- but one of the few types of "question" that's considered "not a question" is "polling questions" -- e.g. questions like "what's your experience with X?" or "what's your favourite Y?"

  • Good answers are usually based on something -- based on references or on personal experience. A good question is a question which can theoretically be answered well.

    But this wasn't a question at all -- there was no question-mark.

  • Asking "What do Buddhists think about X?" isn't enough to make "X" on-topic -- e.g. "What do Buddhists think about this spinach pie recipe?" wouldn't be on-topic.

    The site is I think mostly/only for questions about Buddhist doctrine, and Buddhist practice, and the application of doctrine and practice to daily life (there are also a few questions about Buddhist art and history).

  • A question like "Is there Buddhist doctrine about X?" might be more on-topic.

    I'm not sure what Buddhist doctrine about DMT there might exist -- so far as I know it wasn't endemic to Asia, and was therefore unknown to classic Buddhist societies -- questions on the site are mostly (not exclusively) about classic Buddhist doctrine, pre-20th-century.

    The Buddhist "fifth precept" is anti-alcohol -- many contemporary interpretations of that forbid hallucinogens too.

Why did you imagine it's relevant to Buddhism -- or what school of Buddhism, what Buddhist doctrine or practice, were you thinking of when you posted?

  • "Why did you imagine it's relevant to Buddhism [...]?" Because its users suddenly believe in rebirth. Because the entities the volunteers describe might fit some desciption of beings in higher realms. – dba Sep 21 '19 at 15:29
  • 1
    To answer the question I guess I'd have to a) know about DMT b) know about rebirth according to Buddhism c) compare the two. This site sometimes allows "comparative religion" questions (e.g. "how is 'faith' in Christianity like or unlike 'faith' in Buddhism?"). I think our policy is that comparative questions are allowed if it's more about Buddhism than it is about the other religion. But from the wording, this (non-)question was more about DMT than it is asking about Buddhism. – ChrisW♦ Sep 21 '19 at 15:37
  • The sentence "Maybe a reader of this text might recognize other things in these reports stated in the Dhamma" can be phrased as a question: "do you see any parallels between what is written in the suttas and the things reported here?". Any question is an affordance to the reader to be answered. Why does this affordance have to end with a question mark? – dba Sep 21 '19 at 15:37
  • Because this is a question and answer site, where answers are expected to answer the question -- "The best answers deal directly and solely with the question(s) specifically asked in the first place" If I read the text and don't understand what the question was, then I search it for a question mark. – ChrisW♦ Sep 21 '19 at 15:41
  • What should I do now? – dba Sep 21 '19 at 15:46
  • One of the first things I did on this site was ask a question about 'rebirth'. That was a start, it took me longer than that however to get a better understanding of the topic. I've heard of Jordan Peterson before (in other contexts) -- when I Googled, today's news is of his entering rehab for addiction. Theoretically SE is for expert Q&A -- this might be a useful site if you want to learn/ask more about classic/mainstream Buddhism -- especially non-Western. Only, not necessarily about drug use/abuse/experiences. – ChrisW♦ Sep 21 '19 at 16:09
  • You could try to post a new, more-on-topic question. Or read existing questions to see what kinds of questions are on-topic. Or edit the existing question. Or leave it as-is to see whether the community will vote to reopen it (which they could, I doubt they will though). Or delete the question -- or do nothing (then the question (if it isn't reopened) will be auto-deleted after about a week). – ChrisW♦ Sep 21 '19 at 16:12
  • Like mostly the "policy" is merely a weapon use excuse, given that "what do Buddhist think..." gives next to 2000 founds... no judgement in regard of in and of itself here, the object, tried to be killed by such means. – Samana Johann Sep 30 '19 at 16:52
  • There are no questions with that phrasing on the site -- buddhism.stackexchange.com/… – ChrisW♦ Sep 30 '19 at 17:08

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