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Community: 'What is ...?' questions

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    The meaning of tags is sometimes subtle and not completely intuitive. There have been some efforts to make tags names clearer and/or more self-explanatory, but there is only so much one can do with just-a-few-words. I've been thinking that it might be worth adding a few "What is ...?" questions as reference points. What is the community opinion? Would this duplicate an easily available resource that I don't know of?

    I plan on posting one such community wiki question as a one-time trial and create a 'what-is' tag. Any suggestions or tips on the best way to ask?

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    My first reaction is negative. The only use I can imagine for a [what-is] tag is for people to add it to their ignored list, but I don't really see why anybody would do that. It wouldn't make sense for anybody to follow the tag. If you have another use in mind, what is it? What does having a [what-is] tag do that isn't already done by having a title of the form "What is ...?"?

    One other vague objection I have is that I don't think people should make assumptions about the "level" of their questions. A [what-is] tag doesn't quite do this, but it's a move in that direction. One of the awesome things about MO is that people from all points in their careers, and I worry that a [what-is] tag might start people on the path of binning questions as "below me" or "above me" before even reading them. Part of the point of MO is to bring together people who think they have hard questions and other people who think those questions are easy.

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    @Anton: Good point. The tag wasn't important anyway, I only wanted to set the question apart, but the title is enough.

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    Anton touches another point that I've been struggling with, namely the level issue. The field I want to ask about is one that I know very little about (which is why I'm interested in the answers). Ideally, the question would be answered by our experts in the field, but none of the early drafts I wrote looked attractive enough for experts. So far, all my question drafts fell into two types -- "write a short essay about ..." and "give a list of things the tag xx.xx-xx applies to" -- both of which are unlikely to work as intended.

    • CommentAuthorgrp
    • CommentTimeMar 24th 2010
     
    In my world, it would be lovely to have the definitions set down, concepts clearly labeled, things explained the way I understood them, so that people would understand how lovely a place it could be, and come live in it, and think as I think, and be happy.

    Then they would be just like me, and there would go a significant amount of creativity. For communication and organization purposes, it is nice to try to put everyone on the same footing. For creating, imagining, and changing things, i.e. for growing, this turns into an impediment.

    If you want to, make a page that answers "what-is" for you, so that people who need to can understand how to communicate to you in your world, or at least understand what you are trying to communicate to them. I think part of the fun comes from figuring out, or even misunderstanding, what is being said, and trying to resolve/change such blips.

    Gerhard "Ask Me About System Design" Paseman, 2010.03.24
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    I've been unable to write a question that I'd be willing to answer if the tag was lo.logic. I don't think "What is ...?" questions are a bad idea but they are tricky to write. Since working on it more would make the efforts exceed the projected benefits, I'm dropping my earlier plan. Feel free to tackle the idea if you want.

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    I would actually be more likely to look at these questions since they are closer to the level that i am at in most areas, or rather i may have just finished understanding ___ and might be able to help a fellow student.

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