Update our FAQ to improve the on-topic definition [closed]

Question

There are two proposals here:

The original proposal was to change the FAQ and site scope to more accurately reflect the site's name. It was created because of the votes and responses received on this question, however since posting this I've learned of the history behind the site scope change, and am not sure if this is something SE would allow.

The second alternative proposal is for adding a section to the FAQ to help clarify what makes a good question for Programmers.SE. It was added based on an answer below

If you post an answer supporting either proposal, be sure to specify which one.

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First proposal: Change site scope and on-topic definition in the FAQ

Can we change the way we define what is on/off topic of the FAQ?

This section currently has a list of what is on-topic, and what is not.

If you have a question about…

• algorithm and data structure concepts
• design patterns
• developer testing
• development methodologies
• freelancing and business concerns
• quality assurance
• software architecture
• software engineering
• software licensing

and it is not about…

• career advice, including general workplace issues
• personal lifestyle, including relationships, office politics, and non-programming activities
• what language you should learn next,including which technology is better
• salary or compensation
• résumé help
• what project you should do next
• programming tools (ask on Stack Overflow instead)

…then you're in the right place to ask your question!

I feel this is a bad way of doing this because "Programmers" is an extremely broad topic that covers a type of person, not a specific item or activity, so questions on our site are best defined as on-topic by the type of answer they need, not by the subject of their question.

For example, many freelancing or business concerns are off-topic here even though they're listed as on-topic in the FAQ, and some career-development questions are actually on-topic despite being in the off-topic list. The deciding factor is the type of answer the question requires.

I see this causing a lot of confusion about what is actually considered on/off topic for our site, so I think it would be better to define what is on topic by the type of answer needed, instead of the subject of the question.

So what about changing the list of on/off topic items to something like this:

What kind of questions can I ask here?

Programmers.SE is a site for programmers to ask questions and get answers from other programmers about non-code issues that are related to their career choice, or self-identity, as a programmer.

We welcome questions about conceptual topics in software development, such as software architecture and design concepts, algorithms and data structure design, the software development lifecycle, testing and QA, and freelancing & business concerns

Questions should:

• Require an answer from a programmer specifically. They should not be ones that are better answered by another profession, or by yourself
  _{A good example would be career-related questions. We are not career guidance counselors, nor are we an HR department, so most career and workplace questions will be closed as off-topic unless the question can be best answered by a programmer, such as asking if it's detrimental to your programming career to stay in one job too long.}

• Be asking for an answer, not opinions
  _{We are a Q&A site, not a discussion board. Don't ask questions about What language/technology should I learn next? or Is A better than B? because we do not want questions that lead to chatty, open-ended discussions. Instead, visit our chat for open-ended discussions with other programmers}

• Be relevant to a programmer's to professional growth, not their personal amusement
  _{Questions should relate to a programmer's professional life, not their personal life. Questions on programmer lifestyle are off-topic unless they relate to their professional life, such as asking I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?. We want a site that we can continuously learn and grow from, not one that simply amuses us when we're bored at work.}

• Be asking for a single answer, not a list of answers
  _{Asking any form of What kind of [X] is best for a programmer? is off-topic and will likely be closed. The end result is almost always a huge list of everyone's favorite [X], and that list will get outdated as time and technology progresses. Instead, consider how you can rephrase your question so it is seeking a single answer that can only be answered by a programmer.}

• Not be a coding problem
  _{Programmers was created to be a site about non-code issues programmers face, while its sister site, Stack Overflow, is for coding questions. To put it another way, Programmers is for when you're in front of a whiteboard working through higher-level conceptual programming issues, while Stack Overflow is for when you're in front of a compiler or editor working through code issues.}

• Be written in such a way that the question is useful by more than just you
  _{Please don't give us your life story with your question. Simply tell us the relevant facts, and state your question. We work hard to build and maintain a library of questions which can be referenced by any programmer, not just you, so help us maintain our site.}

Each of those bullet points should be a link that points to a meta-faq post containing more details on the subject.

Hopefully this will stop some of the confusion I see about our site scope, and reduce the number of upset users who asked a question which was in the "on-topic" list of the FAQ, but the question still got closed as off-topic. The scope of this site is really defined by the type of answers required, not the subject of the questions.

This was a site created for programmers to get answers from other programmers about issues related to their career choice (or self identity) as a programmer. The scope was changed due to the deteriorating quality of questions being asked, however I think it has changed far beyond the original proposal, and the site has gone downhill since then. I believe we can still be the site this was meant to be, while maintaining SE quality guidelines.

SE works best with communities, and I think a community called Programmers should be one about Programmers, not be only about one part of what Programmers do

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Second proposal: Add a new section to the FAQ to try and clarify what makes a good question

jcmeloni's answer below made the suggestion to make this a new section in the Programmers.SE FAQ instead of replacing the existing section.

This section would be like the UX.SE's FAQ section titled What makes a good question?

I like this proposal as well, so instead of changing the existing bullet-point list defining what is an on-topic question, what about simply adding a new section titled "What makes a good question"

What makes a good question?

Questions should elicit definitive answers or solutions rather than prolonged discussions. Remember, this a Q&A site, not a discussion board. To participate in open-ended discussions on programming-related topics, please visit our chat instead.

Questions should:

• Require an answer from a programmer specifically. They should not be ones that are better answered by another profession, or by yourself
  _{A good example would be career-related questions. We are not career guidance counselors, nor are we an HR department, so most career and workplace questions will be closed as off-topic unless the question can be best answered by a programmer, such as asking if it's detrimental to your programming career to stay in one job too long.}

• Be asking for a single answer, not a list of answers
  _{Asking any form of What kind of [X] is best for a programmer? is off-topic and will likely be closed. The end result is almost always a huge list of everyone's favorite [X], and that list will get outdated as time and technology progresses. Instead, consider how you can rephrase your question so it is seeking a single answer that can only be answered by a programmer.}

• Be relevant to a programmer's to professional growth, not their personal amusement
  _{Questions should relate to a programmer's professional life, not their personal life. Questions on programmer lifestyle are off-topic unless they relate to their professional life, such as asking I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?. We want a site that we can continuously learn and grow from, not one that simply amuses us when we're bored at work.}

• Be asking for an answer, not opinions
  _{We are a Q&A site, not a discussion board. Don't ask questions about What language/technology should I learn next? or Is A better than B? because we do not want questions that lead to chatty, open-ended discussions. Instead, visit our chat for open-ended discussions with other programmers}

• Not be a coding problem
  _{Programmers was created to be a site about non-code issues programmers face, while its sister site, Stack Overflow, is for coding questions. To put it another way, Programmers is for when you're in front of a whiteboard working through higher-level conceptual programming issues, while Stack Overflow is for when you're in front of a compiler or editor working through code issues.}

• Be written in such a way that the question is useful by more than just you
  _{Please don't give us your life story with your question. Simply tell us the relevant facts, and state your question. We work hard to build and maintain a library of questions which can be referenced by any programmer, not just you, so help us maintain our site.}

Answer 1

I think it's getting better, but I'm not sold yet.

I think that this should replace the "what kinds of questions can I ask here". In order to facilitate that, the first bullet point after "Question should:" should be something along the lines of "Be about a conceptual topic in software development". The subscript test would include A short paragraph saying that questions about the design of data structures and algorithms, software architecture and design, requirements, developer testing, configuration management and version control, managing software projects, development processes and methodologies, and software licensing are on topic.

Together with the other bullet points, this should include everything we allow and exclude everything that's currently off-topic.

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Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps they shouldn't be. They are two separate questions.

"What is on topic?" and "What is a good on-topic question?" are two different things that should be answered sequentially in the FAQ. So now I'm not too sure.

Answer 2

note: answer based on first proposal; I'm upvoting the second proposal

I see and understand the argument, but I wouldn't remove the bullet list because if that is the only thing a user reads in the FAQ (and it probably is, being a) first and b) a quick list) then they are getting more of an indicator what to do/not do than seeing a "wall of text" that is more likely to be ignored.

However. That wall of text really isn't that big of a wall, and can be refined somewhat, and to my mind adds a great deal of value for those who keep on reading OR for those who would be pointed to something more specific than currently exists in the FAQ about why their question was closed.

So I'd like to counter my downvote for the idea with a compromise: create an entry in the FAQ like exists in some other SE FAQs (UX comes to mind, although ironically that FAQ needs its own help) called "What makes a good question?" It could replace the current "What kind of questions should I not ask here?" entry and include that content (massaged, of course) while also pointing out the positive (good question) versus the negative (what not to do).

Answer 3

This is a great idea, the edited proposal based on jcmeloi's idea is a better refinement of the original, much better than the current somewhat hidden/vague idea that everything must be uniquely related to programmers, which is a poor idea to begin with. Requiring that questions be best answered by programmers makes a lot more sense, and would allow more room for community moderation, and seems to fit better with most of the questions that get asked.