Right now, the help center states:
"With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about philosophy."
Is that really what we are doing?
Should we change the description of the site?
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This is a good question for meta +1.– virmaiorCommented Jul 1, 2015 at 8:13
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@virmaior maybe until a description edit is made, questions that deal with philosophy should be reopened. To be closed with answers by the community.– hellyaleCommented Jul 1, 2015 at 8:14
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@virmaior I am sure you know boat loads, probably more than I will ever know, but that question asking for names of philosophies could have been closed with an answer that contained the names of those philosophies, and say links to plato.stanford.edu articles and what not...– hellyaleCommented Jul 1, 2015 at 8:16
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yes, but they are off-topic by design. That's why we have a close rule for definitions.– virmaiorCommented Jul 1, 2015 at 8:16
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@virmaior I just feel like this site has so much more potential.– hellyaleCommented Jul 1, 2015 at 8:19
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2 Answers
We have to be careful not to turn the help center into some kind of law book where every possible way for something to be off topic is described, and anything that doesn't fall in those categories is not allowed to be closed.
Sure, the help center is a very handy resource, but in the end the best way to get to know the site is by using it. Once you have gained more experience, you recognise the types of questions that cannot be answered very well in the SE format. This is why users with some level experience have the possibility to close questions. Why these questions are unanswerable can often be told, however, it is difficult to make up general rules. The help center does that to some extent, but don't forget that there will always be some room for interpretation.
Perhaps the help center is wrong in that it seems to imply that any question about philosophy is on topic. We could remove the 'every' part:
With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to questions about philosophy.
However, users should also note that there are important differences between 'questions about philosophy' and 'philosophical questions', although there is some overlap.
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2If there aren't any more answers or comments, I will go ahead and make this change in a couple days.– virmaiorCommented Jul 6, 2015 at 1:49
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1@hellyale - for meta, it's not quite so simple as who accepts the answer. I was waiting to see what other opinions there are in the community...– virmaiorCommented Jul 7, 2015 at 4:30
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@virmaior ah ok. I think the removal of the word every and the pluralization of the word question is a decent solution though. At least in so far as it helps to communicate the mission statement a bit better.– hellyaleCommented Jul 7, 2015 at 5:11
I say leave it as is and meet the challenge. Only by taking on, editing, and refining the Q&A inbox can we build a stack that contains great questions and answers.
Like the original site that we are a child of, Our top rated questions should get people excited about philosophy, and expand their knowledge simultaneously.
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What original site are we a child of?– user2953Commented Jul 1, 2015 at 9:59