I have asked Is remaining single helpful in mathematical career? today and it was put on hold as off-topic. While How hard should a mathematician work? is acceptable with many positive votes and favourites. I am not complaining about anything but just wondering what kinds of soft questions are considered suitable for math.stackexchange?
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7$\begingroup$ I just closed that other one as primarily opinion-based. I hope this clears things up. $\endgroup$– user642796 ModCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 5:40
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2$\begingroup$ @ArthurFischer, but I thought all soft questions are to some extent opinion-based by definition of the tag. But the tag "soft questions" itself is allowed. $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 5:42
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7$\begingroup$ "To some extent" opinion-based doesn't include "totally and exclusively" opinion-based. (And using the (soft-question) tag shouldn't be a license to ask crappy questions.) $\endgroup$– user642796 ModCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 5:52
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$\begingroup$ @ArthurFischer, I am still a bit confused... This question math.stackexchange.com/questions/874269/… not only remains open, but with many positive votes. I thought it is also heavily opinion-based. $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:08
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2$\begingroup$ As I mentioned in my very first comment, I closed that other question as "primarily opinion-base" (actually look at it instead of repeating the link). And question-score often has a very poor correlation to the usefulness of a question to the site because the reputation threshold to upvoting is very low and most users who have attained this threshold have little care about the site itself. $\endgroup$– user642796 ModCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:24
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$\begingroup$ Thanks @ArthurFischer, if that question is closed as well, it would clarify my doubt greatly. Your comments and efforts are very helpful. $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:27
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1$\begingroup$ @Zuriel I wonder if your question would be better at Academia.SE. I am married with 2 kids, and have just finished my PhD (I started early!). This makes looking for Postdocs... interesting. However, this is an academia question - my family does not affect my maths. Much. So if you do ask your question I would be interested to see what others have to say. So maybe post the link here if you asks it elsewhere? $\endgroup$– user1729Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 9:06
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$\begingroup$ I've added (soft-question) since I understand this tag on meta as the tag for discussions about soft questions. Discussing use of this meta-tag is not relevant to the OP, so should there be some discussion about this, it would be better to discuss this in chat. (Or a separate post on meta, but I don't think that this issue is important enough to deserve a question on meta.) $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 6:56
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$\begingroup$ You might be interested in Off-topic tags. $\endgroup$– Najib IdrissiCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 14:54
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$\begingroup$ Thanks @NajibIdrissi, it is very useful! $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 15:06
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$\begingroup$ @user1729, I have thought about posting on academia.stackexchange.com but I am not sure if they will welcome this question. They closed two questions from me recently anyway. But you are interested please post there. I do not mind at all if you copy-paste my question. $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Dec 2, 2014 at 8:44
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1 Answer
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On-topicness
Whether a question is on topic does not depend on its tags. If it is primarily opinion-based, it should be closed on that basis; tags are irrelevant.
In every tag there are off-topic and on-topic questions: the fact that a question matches a tag description does not qualify it as on-topic.
Tag soft-question
The tag soft-question, as some others, was carried from MathOverflow because the first users of Math.SE came from MO. It predates Academia, Math Educators, and History of Math sites. Many of the good career-related questions within this tag are actually Academia questions (and should be asked there now). Many others are questions about teaching and learning mathematics, and belong on ME.SE. Some are about the history of mathematics. And others don't need this tag at all; adding it was sometimes a gesture on the part of the author similar to "excuse me for asking something so trivial".
What I'm getting at: soft-question is a tag that outlived its purpose. It should be removed.
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$\begingroup$ Thanks for the clarification! Then why this question math.stackexchange.com/questions/874269/… is suitable for Math.SE? Or maybe you do not consider it as proper here but more suitable at Academia? $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:23
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$\begingroup$ It is not suitable, in my opinion. I downvoted the question. I would closevote it too, but it's already closed. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:24
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$\begingroup$ Sorry but just noticed that that question was put on hold as well, quite recently. $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:24
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$\begingroup$ So all those types of questions should be asked at Academia? $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:25
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5$\begingroup$ Only the questions that are on topic at Academia should be asked at Academia. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:25
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$\begingroup$ Thank you very much for your answer! Now it is very clear to me. $\endgroup$– ZurielCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:30
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2$\begingroup$ Removal of this tag was discussed as early as 2010. If removal of this tag also means that this type of questions what be banned completely, I definitely disagree - there are many questions in this tag that I like a lot. And I think that the tag is useful - it can help when searching, it distinguishes different type of question. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 6:45
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2$\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak I did not propose banning questions formerly asked with the tag. I think there are more targeted tags here (as well as more targeted sites elsewhere), such as (career-development) or (education). I don't like that (soft-question), especially with that vague tag excerpt, appears to be a pass to ask whatever. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 7:50
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1$\begingroup$ @Michael: My guess is using [closed] and then tag it with delete votes (I mean, that's what Thursday here would have done). $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModCommented Nov 29, 2014 at 17:36
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1$\begingroup$ @MichaelGreinecker Both (education) and (intuition) would fit parts of the question. But yes, Asaf is right: I would vote to close and delete. If that question was asked on MO only today by an anonymous 101 rep user, it would be closed and deleted, too. But people like to bask in reflected glory of a famous mathematician, so it stays open. Luckily, with all the problems that Math.SE has, class-conscious thinking is not one. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 18:29
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1$\begingroup$ @Zuriel In this answer another user gives example of what he considers on-topic and off-topic soft question. I would also point you to the most upvoted soft questions, most of them are still open. (If a question has many upvotes, it does not necessarily mean it is on topic, but it shows that it has support from the community.) $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 30, 2014 at 6:27
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1$\begingroup$ @Raff: Not to take anything away from postmodernism, but I doubt that the Fountain would have passed if Duchamp was an anonymous artist. After you've worked hard, your words carry different weight. That is true in art, in mathematics, and in asking soft questions on MO (and probably MSE too). $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 7:43
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1$\begingroup$ +1 for on-topic analysis, -1 for the conclusion that soft-question should be removed. (so net $0$) A "soft-question" tag is helpful for looking up things that aren't math problems, but are math-related questions. (Generally speaking.) $\endgroup$– apnortonCommented Dec 1, 2014 at 23:31
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1$\begingroup$ @anorton Doesn't that sound way too broad? Related to math... by way of educational technology... or study habits... career development... classroom activities... philosophical issues... intuitive explanations... Why should all of this be in one tag? Given this list, I want to put the tag in ignored and favorite at the same time. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 23:36
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1$\begingroup$ @Raff I suppose so; I just re-checked the number of questions tagged soft-question, and found it was about 100 times larger than I thought. (I only notice the really awesome soft-questions, so my internal counter was a bit off.) With this in mind, I think that soft-question should be eliminated, but not without replacement by some "smaller" tags. $\endgroup$– apnortonCommented Dec 1, 2014 at 23:41