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Is this question acceptable?: academic advice

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    • CommentAuthorroy smith
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2010 edited
     
    When a student asks a question like "what books should i study to become a complex analyst?", it seems to be simultaneously popular with students following this site, yet unacceptable to mathematicians monitoring the site. (It was closed, quite appropriately.)

    I agree with the desire to keep MO on higher level, and I suggest when closing a question, perhaps simultaneously referring the questioner to the faq list of substitute sites that may be more appropriate for the question.

    Since I did not find any sites there dealing with academic advice, I suggest possibly adding to that list the site: http://www.physicsforums.com/ which has a specific section on academic advice, as well as an orientation toward elementary questions, both in math and physics.

    I regret suggesting something that involves work for others, but it might help discourage elementary questions to refer them explicitly to a more appropriate place. (Some questioners may not know the faq addresses this point.)

    If this seems a waste of time, I gladly withdraw it.

    (Edit by Anton: fixed spacing)
  2.  

    If this seems a waste of time, I gladly withdraw it.

    You don't have to do that as long as you fix the row spacing in your comment!

    • CommentAuthorWill Jagy
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2010
     
    That's not bad. I wanted to have a response or two that i could just paste in, without having to explain in detail to each new user the precise reason why this question was inappropriate. I got burned enough times on the explanation part (angry reactions, unbelievable sense of entitlement from these anonymous users) that I really just want to point to alternatives if I put any response at all. So right now it would be a comment, saved in a text file for easy copying and pasting, with quadruple dollar signs as line breaks,

    Please Read the FAQ: Your question might be appropriate at one of: $$ $$ http://math.stackexchange.com/ $$ $$ http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/index.php $$ $$ http://stackoverflow.com/ $$ $$
    http://www.physicsforums.com/
    $$ $$
  4.  

    I couldn't find the question you're referring to (I didn't search for very long), but I actually think academic advice should often be fair game on MO. However, there are two basic reasons I can think of (right now) that an academic advice question should be closed:

    1. It's not sufficiently focused. If the question is "what books should I read to become a complex analyst?" the answer is "books on complex analysis". To find the best ones, search amazon. In this case, the asker is not providing enough information about what background they have or what they want to accomplish. The best answer is to point the person towards google, but plenty of people will spend a lot of time speculating about the background and goals of the asker and providing answers to the person they have imagined.
    2. It's really something that should be discussed with ones academic adviser, not with people on the internet.

    (btw, I've added a link to Physics Forums to the faq: http://mathoverflow.net/faq#homework)

  5.  

    +1 Anton.

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