Which questions from the definition phase of this proposal that were highly-rated as on-topic are now considered off-topic/non-constructive?
I'll post the ones I suspect are going to get up-votes below; anything
clearly on-topic I'm just porting straight into Main.
Remember: An up-vote stands for "off-topic for this site" or
"non-constructive." (You may wish to indicate which in the comments.)
- Alan Thomas II
Comments
- Alan Thomas II: Okay, there's a big drop-off below the #8 example question (14 votes
for #8 to a five-way tie for #9 at 8 votes, no further non-tied
questions except for the one question to get 2 votes.) I find it rather
depressing that 3–5 of the top 8 example questions during Definition,
which were all outstanding vote-getters, are probably not appropriate
for this site.
- Robert Cartaino: That's one of the big problems of Area 51 -- When users are suddenly put
on the spot to "come up with questions", they typically post the
conspicuously-boring "definition questions" that no one would actually
"ask the experts." We've long given up on forcing Area 51 users to ask
*actual* questions they would post on the site. That acquiescence is
the primary driving force behind our next-generation Area 51
process already in
the works. I really wouldn't devote too much energy to highlighting the
least useful of those "example questions."
- Alan Thomas II: I'm glad to hear you're working on getting the kinks out of the system
for those who come after us, but if our example questions on Area 51
aren't good examples, we've got to work these things out for ourselves
some other way, and I'm doing it. This question has already inspired one
person to salvage a decent question out of a seemingly-bad one and
produced a spin-off question about whether we're going to allow a
certain class of questions here, so I'd say that this discussion is
producing valuable results, regardless of how stupid the opening prompt
was in and of itself.
- Alan Thomas II: By this point, all questions posted below have been deemed
non-constructive or asked in modified form. However, there are enough
cross-references between this and other questions that I'm not
comfortable just deleting it.
Answer by M. Alan Thomas II
What [teen,pre-teen,adult] programs do you run at your library? (and are
they well attended?)
Number 2 question with 23 votes. Survey, no correct answer.
Comments
- Ashley Nunn: This will just be a list. Not-constructive.
Answer by M. Alan Thomas II
Can you name a book that portrays step-families in a positive light
rather than the typical "wicked stepmother" and/or "abusive stepfather"
tropes?
Number 3 question with 22 votes. Slightly subjective. This falls into
the "no single correct answer, but it asks a question of the
professional community that can produce a useful answer list for future
reference via community wiki and other methods." Might need re-wording,
of course.
N.B.: A question about this type of question has been posted at Are
list-answerable questions
constructive?
Comments
- jonsca: The "name a book" makes it sound like a list question, but with a mod
message of `We're looking for long answers that provide some
explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer: please
explain why you're recommending it as a solution. Answers that don't
explain anything will be deleted. See Good Subjective, Bad Subjective
for more information.` like on this
question
it might be okay.
- Alan Thomas II: Ah, I see! When I've asked questions like this, I've had to push people
in the comments to edit their answers into something useful. Good to
know that there's a reference point for that.
- jonsca: Yes, just flag the post for a moderator.
- Alan Thomas II: Thanks, I'll do so when the personal push doesn't work. (We all need to
moderate our own posts, not just push all the work to the mods.)
- jonsca: `not just push all the work to the mods` Yes and no. It helps to do as
much as you can, but having an official "stamp" on it helps people abide
by it better, I think, and on a nascent site, the mods won't be *that*
busy.
- Anna Lear: @M.AlanThomasII We can't move comments between posts. Your best bet is
to just incorporate the best/most useful comments into the answer
yourself. Feel free to flag this post again if you want us to clean up
the comments here after.
- Alan Thomas II: Discussion elsewhere has resulted in a community determination that this
question is non-constructive.
Answer by M. Alan Thomas II
How do you deal with parents leaving their children in the libraries as
alternate free daycare?
Number 6 question (tied) with 16 votes. No known answer. (Seriously.)
Comments
- KatieR: Call the police. It's abandonment. (Seriously, this is the last step in
our rather extensive policy for kids under 10 left alone in the library.
I wish we could act on it more so parents might actually learn
something.)
- Alan Thomas II: Yes, but do you think that this is a constructive question for the main
site? (This falls under the "best practices" category. See also
http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/)
If so, please suggest a re-wording here in the comments or simply post
the re-worded question in Main and we'll deal with it there. (Include a
link here if you do that, though, so people can find it.)
- KatieR: Just as I mentioned with the aggressive patrons&homeless, I think this
can also be worded asking about successful policies or partnerships used
in solving this problem.
- Alan Thomas II: Asked in edited form here: http://libraries.stackexchange.com/q/631/345
Answer by M. Alan Thomas II
Do you have a policy for using library facilities after hours? If so,
what works or doesn't work, and/or what would you change about your
policy?
Number 6 question (tied) with 16 votes. Survey, no correct answer.
Comments
- jonsca: Salvageable if it's given more than a "what would you do" spin to it.
- Alan Thomas II: Care to try? Either comment here or go ahead and post it out in Main if
you think it will fly. (I have no claim over questions I didn't write in
the first place!)
- jonsca: http://libraries.stackexchange.com/questions/572/would-having-a-self-service-kiosk-or-vending-machine-apparatus-be-an-effective
see what you think.
- jonsca: As you can see, the difficulty is still that people want to share
stories rather than evaluate the efficacy of it. Reformulating these
questions in just the right way is difficult, hehe.
- Alan Thomas II: Well, I've added my answer with as much data as I've got short of going
out and begging for statistics. (Anyone who likes the idea and was
thinking about implementing it at their library would have to do some
research to get up-to-date numbers anyway.) I've left one proto-answer
as a comment because I don't have enough data to say if it's a good idea
or not.
Answer by M. Alan Thomas II
Aggressive patrons: how do you deal with them?
Number 8 question with 14 votes. Survey. Possibly salvageable if
re-worded.
Comments
- KatieR: This one isn't much different from the homeless question asked a few
weeks ago. Something like "what successful policies have been put in
place to deal with aggressive patrons?"
- Alan Thomas II: Good point. A couple of these could probably be salvaged as "best
practices" questions with the proper re-wording and guidance for
answerers.
- Fisher: I think that aggressive patrons could be significantly different from
homeless patrons and that this question could have some good,
constructive answers.
- Alan Thomas II: Asked (in edited form) here:
http://libraries.stackexchange.com/q/630/345