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I've been thinking about the sites I use, particularly Cooking, and I find that they have some great basic FAQ questions on the main site that help users answer more specific questions without asking them individually.

An example for knitting/crochet would be something like:

What is the equivalent in mm to a US size G hook.

Instead of having dozens of different questions for each hook size, we could create a single FAQ that has the equivalencies for all hook sizes in mm, US size and UK sizes (and if there are others, them, too).

Then, individual questions can be closed as a dupe of this question to help keep the info in one place and a bit neater.

Would we consider these questions "too basic" or should they be included in the site's first questions?

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What is the equivalent in mm to a US size G hook.

I know that you are using this as an example but I would think that someone asking this question would actually be asking the broader one of

What is the equivalent in mm to a US hook sizes.

For the most part I would give people the benefit of doubt and use Voting and flags to determine questions worth. That could be considered a poor example as well as one could argue that it is asking for external resources but likely I would allow it.

FAQ type questions are great. I wouldn't really label them as such and just consider high quality content if it is indeed that.

I would go farther to improve this idea. Longer term once we get better questions and answers I would propose that we link those higher quality questions to their associated tags. So in the case of the hook one you asked we might consider adding that as a footnote in the tag wiki for

That way we can direct newer users to that as a starting point to some of the more common questions associated to those topics.

TLDR

I am in support of this idea in general. I would hope that the subject matter experts would so their own Q & A's to help make this site better.

I also think the tag wikis would be a good place for linking to these.

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  • Except that no one reads tag wikis. I'm lucky if I can get them to read excerpts. – Catija♦ Apr 27 '16 at 3:53
  • @Catija I was expecting this comment. Who is to guarantee that anyone would read an FAQ? As long as the more experienced users know where the content is it should not matter. FAQ could easily get cluttered and it could be hard to get to the right content (They can be done right and I won't argue that). Tag wikis are designed for this specific purpose of explaining tags and content context. – Matt Apr 27 '16 at 3:55
  • A FAQ gives a searchable question that will be returned whenever someone looks for the topic. It also gives a dupe closure target. Neither of these benefits are gained with tag wikis. – Catija♦ Apr 27 '16 at 4:01
  • The tag wiki is just a sign post for those questions. I am not proposing the content be in the wiki. They will still be available as dupe targets. We need questions in the main site for rep while we are getting started. – Matt Apr 27 '16 at 4:02
  • There is no reason to allow 10 nearly identical questions just so that people can earn rep. That leads to an extremely messy beta. Additionally, singles wouldn't really make good questions as they are answered on every site out there, so the question wouldn't show any effort on the asker's behalf. – Catija♦ Apr 27 '16 at 4:04
  • I just reread the question and I apologize. I thought you were proposing Meta question FAQ's. I am totally in support of these. If there are good ones they should be linked to in tag wikis is all i mean and use that to direct users that are getting started out..... so sorry. I will update my answer. I am proposing links in the wikis to these faq questions. – Matt Apr 27 '16 at 4:08
  • @Catija I just updated the answer. I am in support of your idea. – Matt Apr 27 '16 at 4:13
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Personally, I'm not considered for something to be "too basic."

If something is high-quality, and is an example of this, then by all means it should be allowed. As long as the answer and the question show effort and detail, then this is what we want in a beta.

Go on! :)

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  • You have to first look at uses of crafts, and arts. In my "industry" there are those that make fiber crafts, and those who are Fiber Artists. Those 2 shall never cross. There are those that do woodworking as a craft, and those that do woodworking arts/art. There are actually 3 for wood, not counting skills in construction Framing & Finishing 2 separate things if not, don't buy that house, they used calk to finish out your house... aka cracks. (uggg) Things too complex to make simple... – Joel Huebner May 2 '16 at 0:48

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