4:30 AM
Since
the last time almost immediately after I posted a similar comment you have deleted the question, I will point out explicitly that the above link goes to Meta Stack Exchange not this this local meta (Mathematics Meta). And even if it were on the same meta, sometimes
duplicates can be useful. —
Martin Sleziak 10 hours ago
@MartinSleziak sorry I didn't mean to be rude by deleting the question, just thought it would save some time for everyone. Thanks for your useful comments! —
Arnaud Mortier 9 hours ago
I did not intend to imply that the deletion was in some way impolite. I just wasn't sure whether you noticed that the link was to a different meta, so this time I specifically pointed this out. It is always a judgement call whether to keep the question if the issue has been discussed before or elsewhere. But for example in this specific case even if the question about keyboard shortcuts does not generate much discussion, at least the user who think that it is a good idea might notice the link given in the first comment and upvote the feature request on the main meta. —
Martin Sleziak 9 hours ago
@MartinSleziak I had not noticed the first time, thanks. So I guess this implies that such questions would be more appropriate on the "main" meta in any case. —
Arnaud Mortier 7 hours ago
Since the last few comments are not really related to your question and are more about "Where to ask questions like this?" I would suggest to continue it elsewhere. I am not sure whether this issue is important enough to create a new question on meta (and I did not search whether there already is one) - I will leave a few comments
here in chat. —
Martin Sleziak 29 secs ago
Maybe after posting this here also other users notices this exchange and add their comments.
If the feature request influences all sites in the network, it should definitely be discussed on the main meta. But having discussion also on local meta might still be useful.
There are several reasons why I think discussing feature requests on local meta makes sense.
Some users do not know about existence of Meta Stack Exchange. And even if they know, they do not visit it often. Local discussion can direct them to discussion on the main meta - where they can upvote the proposal if they agree.
Also result of the local discussion can serve as supporting evidence for the feature request on Meta SE.
In the case of keyboard shortcuts you can notice that similar feature request on TeX.SE was mentioned in the comments:
Another thing is that people probably feel more comfortable on their "home" site rather than on Meta.SE, especially if they do not visit the latter too often.
And if the feature request is reaction to some problems which were discussed lately on the local meta or some problems which are specific for a particular site or were experienced on the site recently, then it is more likely that the feature request gets more feedback on local meta.
As an example, you can look at several Michael Hardy's posts here on meta, where the repeated topic is notification of close-voters. Here on this meta people know this user (and since he posts answer and does tremendous amount of editing, he has status as an important user here).
So even if his suggested are rejected here, people view him differently and are more willing to engage with him. A related suggestion by him on main meta was quite heavily downvoted and it is now deleted.
This meta had several tag-related discussions shortly before that - which is why I thought it was relevant here on this site.
I wanted to "test the waters" before going to big meta. (And also people on this meta know me much better than people on meta.SE.)
So I think it makes sense to have a local version of
feature-request. But there are even more reason why this is useful for
support.
It might happen that somebody comes here to Mathematics Meta and asks something which is already answered on Meta Stack Exchange.
I think that in many cases it might be useful to have a local copy of such question. (Even if the answer consists basically of only a little more than linking to the main meta.)
Especially in topics where it is likely that later somebody else asks basically the same thing.
Many users do not know about existence of meta.SE. And even if they know, if feels more natural for them to search on meta.math.SE - since math.SE is where they spend most of their time.
So it is good if there is a local copy of a frequent question - if another user comes later with the same inquiry, they can find the older discussion. (And even if they do not find it, they might be directed to the older question by other users.)
One last thing worth mentioning - there are certainly issues that are site specific and are worth discussing on local meta. (For example, some features are relevant only for sites where MathJax is used.)
26
I'm mostly active on IT Security and we have a separate meta. Most of my questions on IT Security meta have answers with links here. So my question is, where am I supposed to post what i.e. feature request, bug report, behavior questions?
7
It is my understanding if my question is about math.SE and can't be generalized to other SEs, here is better. If my question is about site functionality then über meta is better. Is this understanding correct?
If so how should we handle questions about site functionality that are posted on here...
I am glad to see that in both cases the top-voted answer is in similar spirit as my remarks above.
I'll wait a bit whether somebody responds here or whether somebody find other instances where this was discussed. But probably at least link to the question on our local meta should be added to our exchange in comments.
(Despite the fact that the comments digressed from your original question to the discussion whether it is better to post such questions here or on the main meta.)
I hope that the next time when this comes up I will remember that I can link both to the previous question on our meta and also to this chat.
