I 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
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.
@FranzLemmermeyer, "a joke, as is hsm" Are you saying that the History of Science and Mathematics Stack Exchange site is a joke? — Joel Reyes NocheAug 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 KatzAug 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 ChoiAug 9 '16 at 15:53
Now 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.
