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Suppose for some period of time I'm working on a very specific subject. Naturally questions will arise along the way, one the one hand I'd feel uncomfortable with "flooding" MSE with questions all related to one thing, on the other I can't know beforehand what I'll have to ask about. So what is better, starting a single "Erik's questions about X" 'thread', or asking questions separately, flooding?

(I have no idea how to tag this question, sorry.)

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  • $\begingroup$ You wrote: I have no idea how to tag this question, sorry. I've added (best-practices) tag; maybe someone will come up with a better idea how to tag this question. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Jul 7 '13 at 7:59
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    $\begingroup$ Neither. Ask one question, wait until you get a good answer and thoroughly understand it before you ask the next question. Repeat. You may find that one good answer actually answers several of the questions you were intending to ask. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Jul 7 '13 at 9:40
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    $\begingroup$ What Gerry said. One question at a time. $\endgroup$
    – GEdgar
    Jul 7 '13 at 13:43
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    $\begingroup$ I would like to add a caveat to the "one question at a time" idea--if you are studying two disparate topics (e.g. Calculus and Abstract Algebra), asking one question at a time for each topic is reasonable. $\endgroup$
    – apnorton
    Jul 7 '13 at 13:49
  • $\begingroup$ @anorton: I'd be hard pressed to think of a pair of related questions one of which arising from calculus and the other from abstract algebra... $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong
    Jul 8 '13 at 7:26
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe one could show that the method of "partial fractions" works as a problem in abstract algebra. $\endgroup$
    – GEdgar
    Jul 8 '13 at 13:14
  • $\begingroup$ @WillieWong Umm... I think I probably wasn't clear. I'm saying that: 1) In general, asking a question and waiting for an answer is a good approach, but 2) don't wait for your question about Calculus to be answered before asking one on abstract algebra--they're different enough that it wouldn't be perceived as posting questions too quickly. $\endgroup$
    – apnorton
    Jul 8 '13 at 15:40
  • $\begingroup$ @anorton: my point is that the OP specified (a) in the question title that he is thinking about "related questions" and (b) in the first sentence of his post "I'm working on a very specific subject." Your advice is good and all in general but hardly relevant given what the OP has written. $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong
    Jul 8 '13 at 15:50
  • $\begingroup$ @WillieWong Ah! I somehow missed that. :) $\endgroup$
    – apnorton
    Jul 8 '13 at 20:21
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak. 5 years ago you seemed to think this fit the bill for "best practices." I am sure you have the type of mind to remember exactly what made you think this a half decade ago. It would be interesting to know what made you think that when trying to answer this question: math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/28717/…. We want to know: What precisely were you thinking when you made this decision and what color socks were you wearing? $\endgroup$
    – Mason
    Jul 18 '18 at 17:53
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    $\begingroup$ @Mason Isn't the name of tag kind of self-explanatory? This question is about best way to ask several related questions. AFAICT, historically the tag has been used this way. In any case, these comments are completely unrelated to this question, so if there is some more discussion needed we should continue it elsewhere - either under the new question or in chat. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Jul 18 '18 at 18:01
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This is the main distinction between the Stack Exchange format and forum sites. In a forum, it can be typical to have a thread "anorton's questions on Abstract Algebra," in which is contained a bunch of questions.

However, on Stack Exchange, we like each "question"/thread to be just one, standalone question or perhaps 2 questions if they're very related (e.g. "Given $f$, how do I find a) $f'$ and b) $f''$?).

With regards to the "flooding" problem: You will certainly come across questions as you do your own studies. But, often in my own experience, many questions can arise from only one root misunderstanding or confusion. So, when you ask a question, wait until you get a good answer--the answer to that one question may answer the rest of your other questions as well.

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