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Creating a 'slush pile' for miscellaneous questions goes squarely against the purpose for which Stack Exchange was created. Our goal is not to create "general sites" for technology or anything else. Instead we create very specific sites for each community's area of expertise.
See About Stack Exchange.
That's why instead of allowing questions on any topic, ...
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There are two parts to this, and neither is as hard as it sounds.
1. Questions About External Morality
As with any subject of Stack Exchange, it is generally assumed that the target community are those who purport to be following (or at least interested in learning about) veganism. So in that context, it is entirely defensible to close any question that ...
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The SE model works well by attracting experts. In short, how do you attract experts on (by definition) the broadest possible topic in the universe?!
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I don't know much at all about the nature of religious authority and decision-making in Islam or its corpus of authoritative literature, so I don't know how much of the following will be useful to you.
At Judaism.SE, we have put much thought and discussion into this sort of issue, because we do not believe that it's the website community's place to render ...
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From experience on Science Fiction & Fantasy: such questions wouldn't work well, because:
they are highly subjective: if there are no strong clues in the work then the answers are purely a product of the answerer's imagination and not particularly relevant for other people;
they are too localized, if they become moot after a future episode/issue ...
answered Jan 27 '12 at 0:10
Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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I think the most appropriate way to ask this question would be
Is there any evidence to support the idea that _
In this manner, it's an entirely answerable question. This makes it very clear that you are not interested in opinion, but are only interested in evidence in the media available, and perhaps public interviews with those involved with the ...
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If they aren't too broad, IMO questions like this about open problems, or what technique to achieve a desired effect, etc. can be answered quite well within the guidelines. For instance, we can summarize the state of the art, compare high-level advantages and drawbacks of different techniques, and give pointers to references for further reading, etc.
If ...
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In my opinion they should be, because the formats are an important aspect of ebook creation and usage.
The only example question that I found was
Aside from being usable on different readers and DRM: Are there differences in the features implemented in epub and mobi?
In addition to the examples you provided here (even though they are a bit speculative) I ...
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That sounds to me like it would be off-topic, but I wouldn't throw a fit if the community overruled my opinion on that one.
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Definitely not, since it is not a question that can have a definite answer, only speculation.
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No, all of our sites work through a system of community self- moderation, where everything is vetted out in the open (default public) rather than hiding activities in a back room where only a few people are making the decisions.
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Be careful about cracking open the text books and seeding the site with questions that been asked on every other site on the subject. This isn't a trial, demonstration, nor a "call for questions" just to shore up your numbers. This is your actual site.
Please ask about problems you actually have.
Asking the First Questions
When users are suddenly put on ...
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Subjective isn't necessarily bad. You'll also notice in there is a criteria that is perfect for cosplay.
Great subjective questions invite sharing experiences over opinions.
This is something that is very easy to do with cosplay while still having good questions. I'm not saying we won't get stinker questions like the 'Does this look good?' but ...
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I think questions about the use of the vocaloid software itself are probably better served on another site (I'm not an active user of Musical Practice and Performance, but they do have a synthesizer tag there).
Certainly anything created by using the software would be considered music, and would be treated as such on the site.
All that being said, as James ...
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I'd disagree with user3169's answer. With specific song lyrics, the only acceptable answer is "Maybe, who knows?" unless there is actual evidence that those specific lyrics have contributed to social change. As a general question it could work, because a good answer would specifically point to revolutionary songs and allow readers to draw their own ...
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Network administration is covered by the long-existing site Server Fault.
Many job- and career-related questions would find a home at The Workplace (currently in commitment).
answered Feb 27 '12 at 22:33
Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
2,1491 gold badge22 silver badges47 bronze badges
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During the definition phase of a proposal, deciding what is on- and off-topic is decided by asking (and voting on) example questions. Now that the proposal is in Commitment (waiting to be launched), it's probably better to have these very specific on-topic and off-topic discussions when the site reaches private (and early public) beta.
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Yes. There are a couple questions about that type of thing in the example questions. If you are getting into technical details you may want to try a few other sites that focus on those details. However, if the topic is squarely within the realm of sustainable living, like you example questions, you'll probably get something.
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I'd say that certification questions should be allowed insofar as they relate to certification exercises, tips or similar items. I wouldn't support questions about where and why you can sit a certification exam, or which institutions require this and this level of certification. Besides, university requirements often change over time, and what was requested ...
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It is something like a grey area.
Don't forget that the site would be populated mainly by people with a purely Buddhist background. In my opinion, if questions about these "partially Buddhist" religions can be answered by relying mainly on Buddhist knowledge, they would fit in.
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I guess my thought here is that some specificity is required.
With your example question:
What impediments could prevent civilizations' technology from ever progressing past a medieval stage?
This could be any myriad of things...the possibilities are...maybe not endless but many and varying.
I think the first question here is:
What technological ...
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I don't think it is generally possible to decide whether a question would be too broad just based on the title. The very same title may be put on a question that is as broad as the title allows, but also on a question that gives lots of specifics which could never be put in the title, and which make the question quite narrow.
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Yeah, I think I agree with you. These questions don't seem like a good fit for a worldbuilding site to me.
I'd say this site needs to be about the worldbuilding process itself, not about doing something with a constructed world or universe afterwards.
Interestingly, the examples you've provided would all have homes (I think) elsewhere on the Stack Exchange ...
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The post was inadvertently removed because it was linked to a similar proposal which was removed by the abandoned proposal process. Thank you for letting me know. I have un-deleted that post.
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I believe that this site should hold itself to the same standards as any SE site. But don't forget that the example questions are merely titles - there is only so much specificity that can fit in a title. Whether the question you mentioned is ultimately a good question still depends a lot on the question.
I have left a comment along those lines on the ...
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Learning constructed languages (“conlangs”) should of course be on topic, unless there was a more specific site. These can be fictional and artificial auxiliary languages, e.g. Klingon and Esperanto respectively. Some of them have more speakers and learners than many natural languages, though hardly any native speakers.
Actually, I believe the proposed ...
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I agree the answers should differ because of context. Webapps may give you a very detailed answer how given moderation tool works from technical point of view. Moderators would advise how and when to use the tool, which kind of conflicts it helps to resolve, what risks it bears and how to apply it efficiently.
This is a bit like Physics vs Electrical ...
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Yes, IMHO they should be allowed.
the questions are not duplicated because they are in the other language and are directed to other audience: they can get better answers from users which are technically good but don't master good English
the questions being bad translations would be closed for bad grammar and being hard to understand, so no place for people ...
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Probably, as the other StackExchange websites, you must show what you have researched so far, and why X or Y software did not work out for you. Otherwise, you will be voted down. This can help on the part of how specific a question must be.
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Absolutely. The point of the beta is to build the site and demonstrate what the 'full version' would be like. If you have a question that could conceivably be asked (whether you know the answer or not) and is applicable to the site, then it should be asked.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
