I am new to codegolf, but not new to the Stack Exchange Network, so I am puzzled (pun intended).
I recently joined this community and immediately searched for tips about how to post good php answers and "golf" my snippets to the maximum (or is it minimum?).
When conducting such research, it is only logical to search the content within a community's Meta because that's where people post about site behaviors and occurrences.
I was surprised when I came upon PHP golfing tips: Reading/writing files and the CLI in the Main community -- it's definitely NOT A PUZZLE -- it is asking advice about how to best post on the Main site.
It was ultimately helpful to me, but seems like a perfect candidate for migration to Meta.
My flag:
This is not a code golf puzzle; it is asking about how to improve answer quality. This page should be migrated to codegolf.meta.stackexchange.com – mickmackusa 2 days ago
Outcome:
declined - a moderator reviewed your flag, but found no evidence to support it
Please explain this decision because it makes no sense to me at all.
After writing the above, I read the suggested pages in the similar questions box and chased the links with in. Including:
- Re-evaluating [tips] and tip-like questions
- Let's decide what kind of non-challenge questions we want once and for all
- Not quite main, not quite meta questions
...and more.
I find myself mostly aligning with Rainbolt, Howard, and Mego in most cases, but regardless of which side of the fence you are on, popularity isn't how this debate should swiftly end.
Let me say, that I don't endorse the diluting of the Main scope as a tactic to pad posting count or entice more registrations.
I get it, we all want our own communities to thrive. I am a new moderator at Joomla Stack Exchange -- a community that is not on track to mature beyond Beta. JSE has loosened their scope to be more inclusive of support for Joomla extensions and issues encountered while conducting Joomla development because limiting the scope to strictly the core CMS would see Joomla users rerouted back to Stackoverflow/elsewhere (and our community would never gain traction). This is a reasonable justification that does not break the expectations of Stack Exchange. When SE users cross-pollinate/drift into our community, they know where to find what they are looking for and they know where to post.
Meta is the best place to park tips questions because:
- They seek support and/or discussion (edit: from the community on how to post).
- They are NOT puzzles. (edit: ...nor "challenges" nor "competitions". They are unexpected anomalies in a vast and predictably-formatted pool of puzzles/challenges/competitions.)
- They attract answers that improve the quality of legitimate posts on Main.
- This community is no longer in Beta, so there is no need to scope-stretch to win the site graduation game.
- "Staying the course" because "that's how we've always done it" (edit: or "that is what is currently engraved on our Meta stone") is a tragic philosophy.
- Getting increased traffic on Meta is part of a healthy community too!
If you've already posted your opinion on other Meta pages and don't have any new arguments, that's fine, I've probably already read them. I hope that this post stimulates the current moderation team to consider reining in the on-topic question scope. I think the time is right.