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Originally intended to be a comment, but I find that it is more of an answer than a comment.
I would suggest modifying the website to force newcomers to read the "Asking a good question" (and possibly making it a bit more detailed than it is now) and a small quiz to verify that they have read the rules. This method will reduce the number of new ...
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When Editing
Consider the age of the post.
Whenever a post is edited, it is bumped to the top of the Active Questions list on the front page. This crowds out other posts which are also deserving of attention. If a question is relatively old and already has several answers, it likely doesn't need the renewed attention—such a post should not be edited ...
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In general, I would avoid asking questions on topics where you are unable to define the basic objects you are asking about, or where you are unfamiliar with the elementary theory. It is not fair to ask answerers to address a question where providing an answer "at your level" would require them to teach you an entirely new topic. Moreover, after ...
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I agree that the First Posts review queue calls upon Reviewers to do more than simply downvote and close. The instructions at the top of that page say:
This is the first question asked by a new user. Help them learn to use the site by reviewing their post.
An anonymous downvote or vote-to-close without feedback is particularly unlikely to "help them ...
3
In my opinion, there certainly needs to be a level of restraint shown to first posts—not to all of them, but most of them. I think many contributors take objection to this idea because it is signposted how people should ask good questions. For example, there is a pop-up menu that explains how to ask such questions:
To me, however, the fact that such ...
3
Math.se has a tag recreational-mathematics. See HERE for the 4,000 questions with that tag. Perhaps looking at those, in particular the ones that were upvoted and answered, will give you some idea about what is acceptable in math.se.
Let me repeat what Peter said; math.se is not a discussion site, and it is not an opinion site.
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a friend set up some web pages for me, mostly intended to hold pdf's rather than more links. My best question was my first on MO.
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/12486/integers-not-represented-by-2-x2-x-y-3-y2-z3-z
I was able to link to various write-ups there and relevant articles, already downloaded there. Very successful. Kevin Buzzard also gave the ...
1
If your intention is to post puzzles for other people to solve, https://puzzling.stackexchange.com is where you should do so.
If you want to know the underlying maths behind a problem then MSE is the place, but you must ask quite a specific question and not just say "Explain this please."
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It is a better criterion to understand the questions you ask, rather than pre-judging how quickly you will be able to understand the answers you get. Both "understandings" are intimately related, so let's try to parse out these aspects.
The mission is to "promote learning mathematics at all levels." Naturally many Questions will be ...
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