Do we limit the scope of woodworking questions?

Question

Consider this question:

What type of thin or light wood is suitable for making box joints?

As an avid member of the Woodworking.SE I can say that this question is more than suitable for that StackExchange website. So there are several questions that can stem from this

1. Do we want these questions here or...
2. Is this something we would want to consider migrating? Can we even migrate in private beta?
3. There have been a couple of questions closed over at WW that would have been good for here. How would we define the scope or cut off? Possibly it is too early to tell.

I feel like there will be more of these so I want users to get an understanding now and we don't have to worry about older questions that were grandfathered in?

Answer 1

1. Woodworking is definitely a craft, so it's certainly on-topic here. There's no reason to ban the questions simply because we overlap with another site... Admittedly, I question why someone who is active on WW would choose to ask those questions here... because it seems detrimental to WW but I don't think we should ban them.
2. If the questions are on topic here, there is no reason to migrate them unless the person who asks the question requests that it be migrated. This is a really important point that a lot of people on different sites with overlapping scopes often don't understand. If a topic is within scope on two sites, it is up to the asker, not the site, where that question lives.

I do not know if it's possible to migrate from a private beta... even if it is possible (which I'd guess it is), it is something that only a CM can do (since we do not have mods at this point). Even open betas do not get migration paths and graduated sites can not have migration paths to beta sites. But, as stated in point 2, if the question is on topic, there is no reason to migrate it.

There is the added issue of "don't migrate crap". You are clearly comfortable with WW but many users here are not, so even if we did ban woodworking questions from our scope, it would be bad form to automatically migrate all such questions to them because they may not be in scope and they may not be of good quality. With what will likely be a close relationship in the future, it's best to not start out on a bad footing.

3. If questions are posed on WW that aren't actually about woodworking and are better suited here because they are within our scope, I don't see why they can't migrate them our way (if it's possible), assuming the "don't migrate crap" rule is followed.

Answer 2

I have a similar experience with GIS programming questions. When I run into a problem with a specialized GIS library that I use, I can (in theory) post on StackOverflow since I'm trying to resolve a programming question. However, I almost always choose to post on the GIS StackExchange because I know I'll get the answers from more focused experts, more quickly. And even though I provide answers to GIS questions that I find on StackOverflow, I'll often also include a suggestion that the OP consider using the more focused GIS.SE site for future problems -- I know that it's a responsive, active site, whereas StackOverflow doesn't have nearly as many GIS professionals answering questions.

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I think that this is an issue that can be monitored long-term. Ideally, we have a segment of users who are able to answer woodworking questions reliably and promptly, in which case it would be fine to keep such Questions on site. It is a type of craft, after all.

We'll need to consider factors like:

• How many answers do such questions get? (One? Two? Five?)
• How quickly does an answer come? (Hours? Days? Months?)
• Are answers thorough and detailed, or speculative and brief?

If A&C isn't providing thorough and (reasonably) prompt answers, then it isn't an ideal community for woodworking enthusiasts and they might be better served elsewhere. Migration isn't necessary, but commenting to let them know of the alternative resource seems appropriate. (Not really necessary in the private beta, since our woodworkers all seem quite aware of their options, but something to consider as we grow and develop.)