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A while ago, I asked this question. The answers seemed to suggest that if the question is about emacs rather than about lisp coding or whatever, then it should go on superuser. So I had a question that I assumed was about emacs. So I asked it on SU, but within seconds it had been migrated to SO. Someone on SO voted to close the question.

So I think there needs to be a better policy on where these kinds of questions belong, and it needs to be consistently applied.

asked Nov 25, 2010 at 14:29
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  • Well, that's...interesting. Site selection in cases like this is a matter of judgment and obviously not everyone agrees. Commented Nov 25, 2010 at 14:38
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    I voted to migrate to SU when I replied to the question on SO. I consider general Emacs questions to be off-topic on SO since they have nothing to do with programming. I agree that a better policy would be nice (if people could be convinced to apply it!) — my impression is that currently many questions are closed on SU just because one of the ♦ moderators (usually Diago) thinks they might get a better response elsewhere (even when they are unambiguously on-topic on SU). Commented Nov 26, 2010 at 0:42
  • @Gilles: I think whether a question related to emacs belongs on SO or not depends on the question. For example, I think these pretty clearly do: 1. Programming questions about elisp, 2. Use of emacs as a programming tool. Both of these are clearly on-topic according to the FAQ. Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 16:09
  • @Chris I fully agree. That's what I meant by "general Emacs questions": questions that apply to any Emacs user, not just to programmers. Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 16:28

1 Answer 1

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There will always be inconsistency for this sort of thing. What you need to remember is that questions aren't closed/migrated by just a few people who can convene, decide on definite policy and stick to it consistently... these actions are taken by people within a vast community, who will have different interpretations of whatever policy is recommended.

answered Nov 25, 2010 at 14:40
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    Still it makes sense to strive for consistency. Commented Jan 6, 2012 at 11:01

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