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This article is an essay by a Lostpedia administrator. It is not official Lostpedia policy. Rather, it is a recommendation for proper use of the encyclopedia and an explanation for one administrator's edits.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the purpose and proper use of unanswered questions sections on articles. I say this because I'm constantly removing "bad" unanswered questions from these sections. I've also (unfortunately) given a user a temporary ban after the user engaged in edit warring rooted in the user's misunderstanding of the purpose of "unanswered questions".

A better name for unanswered questions might be "unsolved mysteries"—as that's what they're intended to be: mysteries presented by the show that have yet to be resolved. "Unanswered questions" sections are not for speculative theories (which should go on an article's /Theories page), viewer observations (be they interesting connections or of a more pedestrian variety), or probable production errors.

Lost is a fairly unique serial drama in that it is constantly piling on the mysteries, to the delight of some fans and the consternation of others. Every episode raises new, perplexing questions. Often, like the multiplying hydra heads of myth, one mystery will finally be solved, only to have two new mysteries arise from its solution! An integral function of a fan-created databank like Lostpedia is keeping track of all those mysteries that have yet to be solved on the show. Hence the "unanswered questions" sections. To keep them useful, they have to be well-written and pruned of non-qualifying content.

How to write an "unanswered question"

1. Find an unsolved mystery. While watching Lost, did you notice something that made you ask yourself, "But how could that be?" That's a good start. In fact, it's the only good start. "Unanswered questions" motivated by anything other than plot mysteries are usually mere nitpicking.
2. Question the mystery. Start with the first question that comes to your mind. This can be difficult, because Lost fans—particularly those who edit Lostpedia—are thoughtful people used to thinking several steps ahead, which invariably leads to overly specific questions, questions that are in some way multiple choice, closed-ended.
3. Try to make the question more general. Instead of asking, "Does [character X] work for [group Y]?" ask "Who does [character X] work for?" Unless a relationship between [character X] and [group Y] has been explicitly elaborated on the show, asserting a connection between the two constitutes theorizing. Always try to break a question down into its most basic form. If your question begins with "Who", "What", "When", "Where", "Why", or "How", you may be on the right track.

How not to write an "unanswered question"

• Don't try to answer the question. Answering questions comes naturally to Lost fans—but an answer to an unanswered question is not an answer at all, it is a theory. Each article has an associated theory page. Click on the "Theories" tab at the top of the article, phrase your theory as an assertion rather than an interrogative, and post it to the /Theories page. If you leave it in the "unanswered questions" section, it will be removed. If your question begins with a leading phrase like "Is it that..." or "Were they...", rather than one of the six basic question words listed above, it's more likely that you're theorizing.
• Don't try to write the show. "Now that [character A] knows [information B], will she do [action C]?"—when [action C] is something that has never been explicitly mentioned as an option, or when there is no reason to believe [action C] is something that [character A] would do once armed with [information B]. Your creative curiosity may be wondering why a character does or doesn't do something, or if he will or won't, but providing a space for wondering what new directions the show will take isn't the intended purpose of "unanswered questions" sections. Any question that is a variant of "What will happen now...?" deserves removal.
• Don't hunt for unanswered questions. If it's not a puzzlement that came to mind immediately, it's probably unmotivated as an "unanswered question". This doesn't mean that all unanswered questions need be obvious. Certainly, a few of them will require remembering a detail from an episode that aired long ago. The point here is that unanswered questions are intended to be those that have a reasonable expectation of being resolved in future episodes. If you're asking "unanswered questions" about continuity errors or super-arcane, insignificant-to-the-storyline discrepancies, you're putting them in the wrong place. The better place to bring up such matters is on an episode's talk page.
• Don't insist on asking questions that have been answered. If Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof specifically address an issue when responding to fan questions on the Official Lost Podcast, and give indication that the question has no hope of ever being addressed on the show, then it's no longer a valid "unanswered question", regardless of how dissatisfying may have been the response the executive producers gave. Likewise, if an "unanswered question" is addressed on the show in such a way that it may have demanded more than the usual amount of disbelief-suspension from viewers, don't persevere in re-asking the question in other forms just because you weren't completely satisfied with the logic of its explanation. (Lost is fiction, so it's allowed to use its own internal logic that may or may not correspond to scientific realities.)

Conclusion

There's a place for everything on Lostpedia. That place isn't always an "unanswered questions" section. When unanswered questions are removed, it's possible they just need to find a better home, on a /Theories page or on a talk page, for example. The nice thing about wikis is that nothing is ever lost; a deleted edit can always be resurrected from edit histories. If you have the feeling your unanswered question is more of a speculative theory than an unsolved mystery, listen to the whispers in your head. Otherwise, "unanswered questions" sections grow monstrous and decay into ruins.

See also

• Official Lostpedia policy on unanswered questions from the episode manual of style