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Recently I have removed one question related with Topology and physics. This is the link, but is removed, I do not know if it could be seen by the administrators (here):

It was regarding a question in between Topology and Physics. Basically the question was: why there is a limit in the dimensions defined in the Superstring theory (11) when in the other hand in the Topology theory if we have a n-manifold then it implies (basically) the existence of a n+1-boundary, and that implies the existence of a n+1-manifold, so in theory if a 11-manifold is possible then a 12-boundary is possible, and a 12-manifold is possible. The part of the question related with Topology seemed to be accepted (as long as I can see in the comments) but today it was flagged to be closed as offtopic due to the part of the question related with Physics. I decided to close it myself before it was closed.

I am the first one interested in keeping my questions on topic, and if there is a tag named mathematical-physics if the question shows some effort and elaboration I do not know why it should be closed.

This is a collective so I see this as an opportunity to learn what is on topic and what is not. Is just that in this case I really wanted to know more about then question and though it would be legit to ask about it.

I would like to know how can I enhance that question or why is a bad example of mathematical-physics tag question.

p.s. this has happened to me only in this occasion! :) just would like to know what can be changed to make it on topic. Thank you!

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  • $\begingroup$ I was in the process of replying to you when you deleted the question. Closing a Question is not the end of the process, not in relation to deleting the Question yourself. $\endgroup$ – hardmath Aug 4 '15 at 19:41
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    $\begingroup$ @hardmath thank you for the comment, I always try to keep my questions clean, so I prefer removing it by myself than waiting for it to be closed. Sometimes when a flag is raised it runs as a snowball going downhill and it is difficult to make any changes before it gets closed. :) $\endgroup$ – iadvd Aug 4 '15 at 23:43
  • $\begingroup$ @hardmath I rewrote it and simplified it, hope now to be more focused, thanks for the comments and keeping an eye on the questions! :) math.stackexchange.com/questions/1382555/… $\endgroup$ – iadvd Aug 4 '15 at 23:56
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There are a couple of points that need to be made:

  1. There were three votes to close your question; two because it was "unclear what you are asking" and one with the custom reason:

    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because the second part ("how can String theory state...") is not about mathematics. If the OP wants to ask about manifolds and manifolds-with-boundaries, this would be on-topic (provided a good question was asked).

  2. It wasn't actually closed as off-topic. In general, even if a user comments saying "this is off-topic," there's no reason to actually believe them. We have a more-or-less democratic quality enforcement system; it takes five people agreeing to close your question. This is the appropriate method for determining on-topicness.

  3. The tag has had a somewhat bumpy existence; to some, the questions are obviously mathematical, while others view them as more physics related (hence a somewhat high closure rate).

As to your particular question, it is my opinion that 1) what you are asking is somewhat unclear and 2) you needn't have self-deleted. I agree 100% with Mark S when he commented:

Your ultimate question is hard for me to figure out. If you're asking "what are the theoretical physics restrictions that lead to "11"?" then maybe physics stackexchange would be better. But when you say "the difference between theory and reality reconciled" it makes it sound like all the physics and topology is incidental to a misunderstanding you might have about formal logic or the philosophy of mathematics, but with all the details of physics and such, I can't guess the precise nature of your confusion, and would suggest trying to ask it independently of the physics, if you can.

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    $\begingroup$ While I agree that if someone, or even several, people tell you that something is off topic, or bad, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is off topic or bad. But this advice shouldn't be applied categorically. We've seen what happens when people decide not to listen when they are being told they misuse the site and they replied "That's like... your opinion, man" (only in a far less Dude-istic manner). $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Aug 4 '15 at 16:03
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    $\begingroup$ @apnorton thanks for the explanation and the time you took for it! my questions usually are about mathematics only, this one was the first one a little bit more weird. I will rewrite it to keep only the mathematical side of the question and will remove the references to Physics (and will retag). I think that this will keep it focused. Thanks! $\endgroup$ – iadvd Aug 4 '15 at 23:47

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