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I've been made aware that it's possible to lower the reputation threshold required to ask or answer questions on a per-site meta.

A very common complaint about the sandbox is that new users, who are the ones who typically need it most, don't have access to it, due to the minimum 5 reputation requirement.

Do we want to set the reputation requirement for answering on meta to 1, so that everybody can use the sandbox?

(While we're at it, what's everyone's opinion on changing the question threshold, too?)

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    \$\begingroup\$ I would kind of like this as a gating mechanism ("no writing challenges until you've earned rep on an answer to make sure you understand what we're about") but it's not like the kind of user that would apply to is going to be put off by the inability to access the sandbox anyway, so I support this. \$\endgroup\$
    – undergroundmonorail
    Commented Oct 1, 2015 at 0:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ When will this change from discussion to feature-request? \$\endgroup\$
    – PhiNotPi
    Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 15:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ @PhiNotPi Probably not necessary at this point since the status is now completed. \$\endgroup\$
    – Alex A. Mod
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 18:05
  • \$\begingroup\$ @undergroundmonorail for the record: Calvin's Hobbies' (the undeniably best number 1 challenge writer on PPCG) first post was a challenge. He wrote the American Gothic in the palette of Mona Lisa before he had posted any answers. Requiring an answer before you can post challenges is in my opinion a bad idea. \$\endgroup\$
    – Stewie Griffin
    Commented May 9, 2019 at 7:17

2 Answers 2

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Remove both question and answer requirements

Meta is a great way for new users to ask questions about the site, so there shouldn't be a rep restriction keeping them from doing so.

New users should be able to use the Sandbox, so we should remove the answer requirement as well.

Questions

Rep requirements for meta participation make sense on other SE sites. Need help with something? Ask a question. Want to help somebody? Answer a question. There's not much else to it.

Things are a little more difficult here. Writing a good challenge or submitting a high-quality entry requires abiding a lot of rules. Meta PPCG is supposed to be the place for questions, and brand new users are far more likely to need support than users that already earned some rep. Rather than having new users crash and burn on main, I'd prefer giving them the option of asking a meta question first.

Are there any downsides to removing the rep requirement? Probably. For example, before there was a Meta Stack Exchange, Meta Stack Overflow didn't have a rep requirement. 1 rep users that posted on Meta Stack Overflow quite often were question-banned on Stack Overflow itself and either wanted help with removing the ban or tried to circumvent it by simply posting their question elsewhere.

However, I don't think this will be an issue for our meta site. Question bans rarely happen on PPCG, and if they do, it's unlikely somebody would try to post his challenge on Meta PPCG instead. Also, not counting the Sandbox, Meta PPCG doesn't have a lot of activity, and moderators are immediately notified of new meta questions. Low-quality meta questions will get dealt with pretty quickly.

Answers

Posting answers on a meta site without having earned any rep wouldn't make sense on any other SE site. But we have a Sandbox, which is likely the most useful part of Meta PPCG for brand new users, and the very reason why we're even discussing the removal of the rep limit.

Are there downsides? Probably, but if it means granting first-time challenge writers access to the Sandbox, the advantages should outweigh the disadvantages.

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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 from me (can't vote for my own post, as much as I'd like to be able to) \$\endgroup\$
    – Alex A. Mod
    Commented Sep 30, 2015 at 20:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 This has been an issue for so long, I am surprised that a solution this simple exists. \$\endgroup\$
    – PhiNotPi
    Commented Sep 30, 2015 at 23:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ I agree with this, since I think if new users take some time to observe existing questions and answers, they shouldn't have such a bad question that they get a ban. \$\endgroup\$
    – mbomb007
    Commented Oct 1, 2015 at 16:18
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Yes

Set the answer requirement to 1. I see no reason to change the question requirement.

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