6
$\begingroup$

Does anyone know what exactly is the point of having questions that have been migrated remain on the main site page?

P.S.: and while we are here, and as I try to massage this into something that The Engine will accept... is there a description anywhere of what exactly are the quality standards that this question does not meet?

$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ I have added the tag [migration] as it seems oh so fitting. $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 1:07
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ I would have said that this is for the OP's convenience. Say you ask your first question here, do something else come back and ... your question is gone?! Can't find it. Say you cleared your browser cookies somewhere on the way and hadn't registered... $\endgroup$ – t.b. Jul 26 '11 at 1:26
  • $\begingroup$ Regarding the low-quality filtering algorithm see meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/2633/… $\endgroup$ – Bill Dubuque Jul 26 '11 at 1:31
  • $\begingroup$ @Theo: I believe that question regards the main page, the migrated link will still appear on the userpage. $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 3:47
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Asaf: The link on the user page will only help if you find your user page. Theo was addressing the case that you can't. $\endgroup$ – Hendrik Vogt Jul 26 '11 at 8:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Hendrik: While I agree that this is indeed a problem, thinking about how one cannot find his user page I keep getting back at the idea of someone forgetting how to sit down. :-) $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 8:18
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Asaf: I'm not sure what you're saying here, if it is a real problem or not. But try to find the user page of the unregistered user Eli who has 16 rep at the moment. I assure you, the page exists! $\endgroup$ – Hendrik Vogt Jul 26 '11 at 8:26
  • $\begingroup$ @Hendrik: Of course it exists, I once posted on some other SE site without registering and had no actual problem finding the user page. You could argue that I was familiar with the SE interface and you will be correct. I am not saying there is no problem, just that it is less minor than may have been considered by Theo and perhaps you as well. Removing the [migrated] left overs from the main page is a good thing. The question can still be found by accessing the direct question identifier, searching for it or the user page. If a user has none of these at hand... it is just as well his fault. $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 8:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Asaf: Oh, did you manage to find the page? Then I'd like to know how you did it! Maybe I'm just being stupid. $\endgroup$ – Hendrik Vogt Jul 26 '11 at 8:39
  • $\begingroup$ @Hendrik: If you know what was the question you can just locate it (by tags/by id/by saving it in your favorites for a while/by using the search page/by locating it on the Questions page) and go to the user's page from there. If I recall correctly the system sets some cookies on your computer as well to identify you as the same user, and you can use that to relocate the question and/or your user page directly. $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 8:50
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Asaf: actually, Hendrik has a point. Do you know how to find it raw? I certainly can't. Typing 'Eli' into the user search box does not return such a user, because of his unregistered status. $\endgroup$ – Willie Wong Jul 26 '11 at 9:38
  • $\begingroup$ @Willie: Finding it raw? No idea. Given a hint or a clue regarding a question this user has asked? I firmly believe that I can find it. $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 9:40
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Hendrik: Just ask google... :) $\endgroup$ – t.b. Jul 26 '11 at 11:28
  • $\begingroup$ @Theo: Ah, well if you're ready to use dirty tricks ... :-) Not bad at all! $\endgroup$ – Hendrik Vogt Jul 26 '11 at 11:29
  • $\begingroup$ @Theo: I. am. impressed. $\endgroup$ – Willie Wong Jul 26 '11 at 13:42
7
$\begingroup$

I suspect that one of the reasons is why we also have the closed questions appear on the main page: checks and balances.

When a subset of the 3K+ users decides to close as offtopic and migrate a question, a different user may disagree and could come here to complain.

And then there's also Theo's argument: if a newb comes here and asks an off-topic question, and sees that it disappears from the front page completely. Which of the following do you think he would do?

  1. Come ask in Meta about "Why my question disappeared"?
  2. Look up his User Page to double check where the question is?
  3. Assume there is a software glitch or that he did something wrong the first time and re-ask the question again so it would show up?

In a generation brought up with interactive adventure games, I don't think 3 will be uncommon.

$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ Double negations for the win. Took me a moment to understand your last sentence :-) $\endgroup$ – Asaf Karagila♦ Jul 26 '11 at 10:03
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ I thought the correct spelling was noob (or n00b) so I typed newb into Google and not only found that newb was perfectly correct but I found an Irish website, "NEWB : The National Education Welfare Board : Welcome to newb.ie" Yes, utterly off-topic, my apologies. $\endgroup$ – Gerry Myerson Jul 26 '11 at 13:34

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .