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I was reading this post Reliably identify the local color of a subject in non-white light? and I saw the term "local colour". I didn't actually know what that meant. Thankfully the OP added in a wiki link to save any perceived ambiguity or confusion.

A simple question that would stem from the one above is "What is local colour" and it could have and . Terminology being a context tag.

I am not suggested with start becoming a dictionary but as someone new to painting, for instance, hearing that term might not know what it means. Directing them here would be a good start.

I could argue for both sides of this. Would like to see what others think. For the most part we want to keep users in the site as much as possible but there is a limit of course.

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  • Some of this depends on which types of users we want to attract. Some things are found with a quick Google search, but do we want them anyway?
    – user24
    Apr 29 '16 at 18:40
  • Not sure where to draw the line. I feel if it takes more than a simple sentence its worth considering. Are you wondering if they are too simple for A&C? Perhaps there are better examples that I could be using.
    – Matt
    Apr 29 '16 at 18:42
  • I guess it depends on what type of answer we're expecting. A definition isn't helpful. But an answer describing what it is, relevant to color theory, and how it differs from other color terms, could be much more helpful. Something with insight.
    – user24
    Apr 29 '16 at 18:45
  • That is more what I am thinking. I cannot say for sure as that is a foreign topic to me. But I think it would be a good question. I lack the backround to give the question any depth beyond "Hey guys ... whats this local colour I keep hearing about"
    – Matt
    Apr 29 '16 at 18:46
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As someone who had this exact same question ("what is 'local color'?"), I think these questions should be on-topic.

The fact that it is easily googleable (if that's not a real word, it should be!) has been shown on other sites (such as scifi.se) to be a poor test (scifi.se had a long-standing "General Reference" close reason which was ultimately abandoned).

Simple questions that are easily searchable are frequently posted by new users (although I've had my share as an established user where I just used the wrong search terms), and telling them the question is "too simple" can be discouraging.

If they're truly a bad question, then downvoting should be sufficient; but the "local color" example happens to be a question that I think is good.

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    "Simple questions that are easily searchable" can be a positive thing -- our site becomes more easily discovered in the easy search!
    – Erica Mod
    Apr 29 '16 at 20:15
  • Well, when it comes to color, there are "wheel standards" but I work every day with "subjective colors". Dyeing yarns, unless you have "commercial size pots" colors are NEVER the same. My other medium is Angora Rabbit Wool. The National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club have a "manual" for raising Angora Rabbits, it includes a section on color. The ARBA "American Rabbit Breeders Association" also has its "Standards of Perfection" Listing acceptable colors for every one of the ~44 Sanctioned Breeds. We also get into Color Genetics, the foremost book on that is "Color Genetics of the Netherland
    – Joel Huebner
    May 1 '16 at 22:11
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Can there be 'too simple' or 'way to easily googleable'. But in general I think have basic questions with GOOD answers can only help draw more people to the site. The Question can still be downvoted as a 'poor' question but if someone takes the time to write up a nice comprehensive answer and the question is tagged appropriately I don't see a problem. If answers are extremely simple 'Yes, you use a drill to make the hole' then it should be closed.

On Woodworking we allow a lot of simple questions, and part of the reason is a surprising number of people really don't know these answers. When they come to a Q&A site with questions finding answers already here will encourage them to come back.

If we have very good answers to basic questions, we can easily mark the questions dups (which isn't nearly as 'traumatic' as 'we don't want this easy question') And as a dup, the user gets immediate help and we don't need to spend time answering the questions or trying to explain why the question shouldn't be asked here (and often causing ruffled feathers).

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