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Why not make a "Catch-All" or "Other" Stack Exchange site (there are probably better name ideas) for questions for which there is no specific site for them already, or for questions where users are not sure where they belong?

The format of these Stack Exchange sites might be the best of the Q&A's I've ever seen, so why not create a General one?

What do you think?

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Stack Exchange is the best Q&A on the Internet, and I see you've picked up on that:

The format of these Stack Exchange sites might be the best of the Q&A's I've ever seen, so why not create a General one?

Now, the question is, why? Why is Stack Exchange the best Q&A on the Internet? To answer this, one might look at Yahoo Answers, which lets people ask whatever they want about any topic, and people can answer any way they want, up to and including posting low quality content that doesn't even begin to answer the question. This is why whenever we Google anything of importance, Yahoo Answers isn't at the top of the list.

Stack Exchange wins because it focuses on experts, and like AsheeshR mentions, you can't have experts without focus on a very specific topic and attracting a core base of users that will serve as defenders of the site's overall mission and quality.

A general, catch-all site would be impossible to maintain, and such a site would tarnish Stack Exchange's reputation.

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  • I guess I just feel like the reputation and badges and character limits and the community of stackexchange users at large, which we already have, could help keep the quality higher. People would know that the quality of the catch-all site wouldn't be as high, but there would also be a mechanism to forward a question to another stackexchange site if there were a specific site more applicable to the question that perhaps the asker didn't realize existed. ---The goal would be to create good questions to feed new Q&A's, and to answer orphan questions. Aug 5, 2013 at 2:47
  • While it sounds like a good idea, Eric, even the existing sites struggle everyday to maintain quality. Naturally, people want to come in and change the core focus, and it would be near impossible to do so without a group of experts to help maintain the community. Having spent a considerable amount of time on Stack Exchange, I don't see this working. Hope this helps! :)
    – jmort253
    Aug 5, 2013 at 23:40
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    Thanks. I appreciate the input, jmort253. Aug 7, 2013 at 0:54
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You are missing out a very important part of Q&A and thats the A.

On a catch all site, who will form the experts? Who is going to answer? Why would subject experts even participate?

So, until the world gets its experts of everything, I dont think this is a good idea.

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