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In case you're wondering what a king of the hill question is: https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/tags/king-of-the-hill/info

The question: If you see an old interesting question, that you think would be even more interesting as a king-of-the-hill would it be off topic to repost it?

A specific example: Play Connect 4! I think this would be really interesting as king of the hill.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The usual rule is generally "could answers from the previous question be reposted in your new one?" If you could copy/paste answers from the previous one (with minimal modifications) into your new one, it's probably a duplicate. \$\endgroup\$
    – Doorknob
    Jun 3, 2014 at 15:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Doorknob well in the case of king-of-the-hill many answers can be valid, while not good. The posted connect 4 question had very specific criterion for the program, but specifically does not ask for optimal play \$\endgroup\$
    – Cruncher
    Jun 3, 2014 at 15:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Will you make the board larger? 6x7 Connect Four is solved for first-player win. A 12x14 or larger board would lessen the likelihood of a brute-force win. \$\endgroup\$
    – Geobits
    Jun 3, 2014 at 15:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Geobits Ah, I forgot that connect four was solved. I could see making it bigger. Adding some time restrictions per move of course \$\endgroup\$
    – Cruncher
    Jun 3, 2014 at 15:40

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The answers to your question is "It depends."

It depends on your new scoring mechanism.

The scoring mechanism for King of the Hill challenges is not implied.

If you convert a challenge to a challenge where the winner is the submission with the shortest code, then you have not only misunderstood the purpose of the King of the Hill tag, but you have not changed the challenge at all. I would vote to close it.

If you convert a challenge to a challenge where the winner is the submission with the most wins after some series of random or round-robin pairings or free-for-alls, then you have completely transformed the type of answers you are likely to get. I would not vote to close it.

It depends on who you ask.

The answer is subjective. Doorknob quoted a commonly accepted rule that attempts to remove some of the subjectivity:

Could answers from the previous question be reposted in your new one?

You pass that test. But I don't like trying to hammer subjectivity out of a community vote that is based entirely on subjective reasons. Here's my rule:

Does the question add value to the site?

In the specific case of a Connect 4 KotH challenge, I feel that challenging users to build bots that aim for optimal play rather than shortest code adds significant value to the site, and so I would not vote to close.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you for your input. That's what I figured. To be clear, I did intend the second kind of conversion you mentioned \$\endgroup\$
    – Cruncher
    Jun 3, 2014 at 17:01
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    \$\begingroup\$ Also, "Does the question add value to the site?" is a good rule in general, no matter what kind of question you're asking (or what site you're asking on, for that matter). \$\endgroup\$
    – Doorknob
    Jun 3, 2014 at 17:54

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