I've given this a some thought lately, because while this topic presents a lot of challenges for our model, I think this could be a very useful site, if we can limit the scope enough to make it appealing to a core community and as helpful as it can be.
My thinking below doesn't deviate much fro...
@Sterno "Should we close if there are no lifehack answers?" - that's pretty much what Jaydies is talking about. I agree it should be a separate question
I think lifehacks.stackexchange.com/q/2394/78 is low quality but I'm trying to think of why. Perhaps because it's "not a real problem"? Meaning the answer is "make sure something is in front of the sensor"?
I've seen this idea of basing questions based on the answers tossed around a few times, so a meta to get the community talking specifically about that's a good idea.
@MattS. why does it matter? Either the question is on topic or it's not. We can't wait for answers to determine that. Same thing happens in other communities
I've given this a some thought lately, because while this topic presents a lot of challenges for our model, I think this could be a very useful site, if we can limit the scope enough to make it appealing to a core community and as helpful as it can be.
My thinking below doesn't deviate much fro...
@Shokhet Yes. To be honest, I don't disagree with him that, but I just see that as a major problem this site has. Since a Lifehack is an answer, not a question, it makes it really tough to judge the on-topicness of a question without an answer.
@Wipqozn That's kind of what we tried to do with the "what have you tried?" requirement for questions -- a need to bring up at least one conventional answer, as well as why it didn't work.
Although that requirement brought some argument with it (though I think it's workable)
@Shokhet It requires the asker to already have a possible answer to their problem, which askers won't always have. I might have no idea at all how to solve my problem. With this "what ahve you tried? requirement I can't ask my question. That's not right. Also, people will just wind up adding made up fluff to questions so they get by the radar.
@Wipqozn I need to think about that. You raise some good points, there.
@Wipqozn One at a time: [1] if you have no idea how to solve your problem, you're not looking for a lifehack -- you're looking for a solution. We can't have that, because then we'll be the dreaded "catch-all site."
@Shokhet haha, yeah. This is something of a joke. I used to have a Turtle avatar, and then I changed it. People got upset, so I agreed to change my avatar to a Turtle again, and so I changed it to this. I'm a tricky one.
Two questions showed up recently that asked for DIY solutions to their problem.
Is there a way to fix the broken stand for an apple cinema 23" acrylic display
Closed for being off-topic, though really it was just unclear (which is what I voted for).
How to repair broken Dymo D1 tape roll
Cl...
@Jon Being on-topic on another exchange does not mean that it's off-topic here. That said, I'm not sure where this question would get a better answer -- for now, the question's here; let's see what happens. I don't see anything in the current version of this question that would make it off-topic here. — Shokhet36 secs ago
On ""specialist product" answers" -- makes sense. Care to open a new Meta question on the topic so that this can be made clearer to everyone? — Shokhet7 mins ago
"For a lot of questions, It will NOT be possible to evaluate whether they are on-topic without seeing the answers." -- what makes you say that? Your "two core criteria" are the definition of answers, not questions. On questions, we can judge the likelihood of having "lifehack" answers by the first of your "assorted thoughts": "There probably has to be an obvious approach" — Shokhet23 secs ago
@Wipqozn @J.Musser You around? ....the above comments are basically my thoughts on Jaydles' answer.
@ZachSaucier He doesn't think that "creative" is a good requirement for our site; the votes on the linked Meta answer (mine) shows that the community agrees with him on that point.
@Wipqozn "creative" was a requirement for answers? I didn't realize that
@ZachSaucier IOW, I don't agree with his last point. I believe that point came about because he was using the definition of "lifehack" to judge questions -- I'm arguing that that definition is only relevant to answers. To judge the on-topicness of questions, you need to figure out if there is an "obvious approach"
On your last point: I disagree. Your definition of "lifehack" defines answers, not questions. The criteria for deciding the on-topicness of questions should be what you wrote about in another part of your answer, that "There probably has to be an obvious approach" — Shokhet10 secs ago
@ZachSaucier That's true, but I agree with the reasoning he presented in the relevant bullet point. Should he turn that into a new question, you can take it up with him there as an answer. (or here, as a comment, whichever you prefer)
The requirement of "creative" comes with the clarification of "meaning they use materials that are on hand for uses besides their intended use" to restrict answers from posting the commonly known DIY solution. Therefore it's not subjective - it either is the intended use or it's not — Zach Saucier5 secs ago
the emphasis is on the clarification, not the word creative itself
if you can find a better word for it I'll be happy to change it
Two questions showed up recently that asked for DIY solutions to their problem.
Is there a way to fix the broken stand for an apple cinema 23" acrylic display
Closed for being off-topic, though really it was just unclear (which is what I voted for).
How to repair broken Dymo D1 tape roll
Cl...
The Junk Drawer
The Junk Drawer