We'll start with our (meaning J.Musser, MattS. and I's) definition of lifehack: http://meta.lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/8/what-is-a-lifehack/1159#1159
@ZachSaucier Your answer there of defining "What is a lifehack?". I say that is spot on. But I don't see anyway of changing that to provide a more narrow set of questions that can be asked. But I guess we could do that with off-topic reason suggestions?
Well, if the community ends up accepting a definition of Lifehack like how I have defined it, then we determine if a question is on topic by the following:
The question is about a real, physical problem.
The user shows that they have put thought and effort into the question before posting.
The ...
here's what we're thinking, would love to hear feedback
is there anything we're missing? Something you have doubts about?
@Sompuperoo With the post Matt is working on, we can go from that with the customizeable sections of the help center and our three customizeable close reasons.
If I ever smell bad because of physical activity or just in general, and I have no deodorant available, what could I do to reduce or perhaps even eliminate the smell?
I know people most likely want a "what I've tried" list, but I can't seem to think of anything I could possibly do in this situat...
I think that carrying a small stick of deodorant is not "not desirable" , since it's a fairly tiny burden to carry one around in your car/person/purse.
Have you tried applying more deodorant before hand? How about switching brands to a longer lasting one? Carrying a stick of deodorant with you? — Zach Saucier2 mins ago
one is "This question does not provide reasoning for why the standard way of solving the problem (for their area) is unavailable or undesirable." or something similar for sure
maybe there should be a OT close reason for "there is already a very easy, very affordable solution to this issue, thus any life hacks at resolving this issue would provide a very minimal benefit if any"
@ZachSaucier ^^ There's a pastebin of what I have written up so far. I'm going to bed now. I'll post it tomorrow after I get feedback and think up how to end it.
He doesn't know me well enough to hate me. :-)
Aside from the personal attacks, he is now doing cut and paste challenges of most of my posts. He also now has the second highest reputation in the group. This the guy you guys want as a moderator? No worries on my part, I'm headed off anyways.
I'd like to turn off the inbox messages for comments on my lifehacks SE posts as the red flag is distracting when I'm on other SE sites and it looks like my posts will be getting a lot of comments for awhile. Thanks!
@MattS. I'll just comment instead of making changes so you can weigh in and keep the voice consistent. The link for 26 is wrong, not sure what you want there. I think it's be handy to have something like "After much deliberation, here is the scope of Lifehacks:" before the definition. I might add a section about what this defined scope adds, meaning a brief description of what it lets us do like close questions without answers, prevents much overlap, require higher quality questions
and answers, and how to handle "standard/conventional answers"
In case you missed it, we talked about the last point some and have a new requirement:
but I think we need to push that if there is a product like that, a life hacky alternative is required
you can read the surrounding posts, but essentially this is because the "standard/conventional answer" is unavailable for the quick solution - that's covered in our definition of lifehack
@MattS. We need some title in a heading to distinguish where the links stop and definition starts. To be honest not many people will look at the links. Aren't "Questions asking to verify if a lifehack works" yes or no questions? Perhaps combine those paragraphs. I think we need to include the requirement that questions be applicable to a wide range of people. As for a closing, we should emphasize that these need to be carried out across the board, but I'm not sure how else to finish it off
Besides that it looks pretty good. A few small English corrections to make but I really think it's a good scope and that people will be alright with the outcome
(looking back at my blocks of text I probably should have broken them up more, sorry :P )
the definition of lifehack should read as follows:
> A lifehack is a technique that can be implemented quickly which is used to make one's physical life more efficient when a more standard approach (as defined by that area's experts) is unavailable or not desirable. Lifehacks are creative, meaning they use materials that are generally not used for this purpose and may be on hand, and are applicable to a wide range of people.
there were a couple little mistakes in it ^^ before @MattS.
@SabreTooth we'll do our best to make people do so like every other community. If enough understand it (my guess is it'd get featured) they'll close questions which in turn should get others interested enough to read through it
> it is necessary for us to know exactly what solution the person asking the question was looking to use in order to solve the problem, and the reason why they couldn't use that method.
Pulling from Bobo's answer, MattS.'s answer, all of these meta posts, and a long discussion in the chatroom, here's my definition:
A lifehack is a technique that can be implemented quickly which is used to make one's physical life more efficient when a more standard approach (as defined by th...
you can read the surrounding posts, but essentially this is because the "standard/conventional answer" is unavailable for the quick solution - that's covered in our definition of lifehack
and by "lifehacky alternative" I mean a lifehacky way of creating something similar to the product
@ZachSaucier Yes, I think it's a good idea to leave out personal medical questions, they may bring up answers that are poor practice/harmful, and it's better to go without these.
Well, if the community ends up accepting a definition of Lifehack like how I have defined it, then we determine if a question is on topic by the following:
The question is about a real, physical problem.
The user shows that they have put thought and effort into the question before posting.
The ...
He doesn't know me well enough to hate me. :-)
Aside from the personal attacks, he is now doing cut and paste challenges of most of my posts. He also now has the second highest reputation in the group. This the guy you guys want as a moderator? No worries on my part, I'm headed off anyways.
The Junk Drawer
The Junk Drawer