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12:29 PM
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Q: Is there a consensus on whether history of mathematics questions are acceptable on MO?

Timothy ChowI recently stumbled across an old meta discussion in which some people suggested that history of mathematics questions were off-topic for MO. This took me by surprise and I would like to ask for clarification about what kinds of "history" questions are unwelcome (by some). After all, "Has this ...

The question was recently bumped by Federico Poloni's answer mentioning HSM. The answer currently has score 3 with 7 upvotes and 3 downvotes: meta.mathoverflow.net/posts/4256/timeline
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A: Is there a consensus on whether history of mathematics questions are acceptable on MO?

Federico PoloniNow that there is a Stack Exchange site dedicated to History of Science and Mathematics, I would suggest asking them there rather than here on MO.

+1. Many of the mathematicians who frequent this site, also regularly go to hsm.stackexchange.com and can answer questions there. — Gerald Edgar Jun 6 at 13:36
How many is “many”? I also know some who no longer do. — Francois Ziegler yesterday
@FrancoisZiegler Then I guess that means they are not interested in history questions anymore? — Federico Poloni yesterday
Those I have in mind, still are. — Francois Ziegler yesterday
There was some criticism towards HSM in the discussion MO in the past. Both those past comments and the comments posted below the recent answer might be a possible explanation for the downvotes.
The idea that questions on history belong to hsm is a joke, as is hsm. — Franz Lemmermeyer Aug 8 '16 at 22:53
@FranzLemmermeyer, "a joke, as is hsm" Are you saying that the History of Science and Mathematics Stack Exchange site is a joke? — Joel Reyes Noche Aug 9 '16 at 3:28
@JoelReyesNoche, I think what Franz is trying to say, and I agree with him, is that the HSM site is pretty moribund. I would not describe it as a failure but at any rate there is very little traffic and few sustained users. — Mikhail Katz Aug 9 '16 at 11:52
@FranzLemmermeyer Sorry to hear that. I wish questions on history of maths and science had a good home, with the emphasis on history (methodology, context, source evaluation) — Yemon Choi Aug 9 '16 at 15:53

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