Can someone explain the general section guidelines to me?

I think the issue with the answers you got is that people have very different meanings of a miracle (and not everyone reads details so they may not have seen the “rationally unexplainable” part). People felt they were answering your question with what they viewed as a miracle. As for the debate, that happens sometimes.

Since your question was about miracles, I could see a discussion about what miracles actually are as being on topic, but if you specifically only wanted to hear personal stories, then it was off-topic of what you were looking for. If you feel the answers are off-topic or unhelpful, you can flag them as such. In the mean time, I would recommend trying to redirect everyone to what you were looking for.

I understand your point. The General Section is great for topics that may offer opinions, but are helpful in solving a problem.

Yes, we Jellies often get caught up in the discussion and forget that it is in the General section. That is why we see many more answers removed in this section vs. Social. If you want a quicker removal for an answer by the moderators, flag it.

Another thought: The question asked about miracles is not black and white. It completely relies on the perception of the person responding. I liked @Austinlad ‘s answer about sunrises. It made me think of my sister who fought a battle with cancer for 5 years despite it being diagnosed in stage 4 of 5. She would get up to run every morning that she wasn’t crippled by the chemotherapy, and appreciated seeing another sunrise. Or the fact that the sun hadn’t exploded yet, and that Earth hadn’t stopped spinning. There was at least one response by someone who didn’t think your example was a miracle.

Sometimes, questions are just not meant to be in the section we want them to be in. Sometimes, they just need to be reworded to properly fit. And some of us could do a better job of paying attention to the section the question is in before answering…including me.

@Pied_Pfeffer & @Seaofclouds : Thank you, both. That honestly helps a lot.

think @Pied_Pfeffer and @Seaofclouds nailed it. i never go there!

@BoBo1946 I steer clear of that section also, unless I can make a factual statement without humor or digression. I also hit the “stop following” button so as not to get drawn into discussion and get modded for being off topic.