Too few questions being migrated to ELL?

Question

A member has already raised a similar question on meta, and makes some pertinent points with which I agree:

Extracts:

(1) When people who are struggling to learn English find a site about English, they see it as a lifeline of sorts. However, depending on who you ask, many resulting questions do not necessarily fall under ELU's intended umbrella. To address this problem, an English Language Learners was proposed in Area 51...

(2)...the creation of ELL hasn't (however) seemed to stem the tide of novice questions pouring onto ELU. Some have recently pointed out that, as things are going now, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two sites.

(3)If the O.P. is actually only interested is knowing which of those seems more grammatical or sounds more natural, then it was probably an ELL question. However, if the O.P. is indeed interested in learning more about limiting modifiers and the proper placement of elements with focus, then ELU was the right place to ask.

(4)Lastly, it matters not to me how this conundrum ultimately resolves itself – we can keep the two sites, or abandon one and keep the other. If we keep them both, though, I would hope there would eventually be considerably fewer ELL questions – and ELL answers – on ELU.

(Many thanks to J.R. who posted this meta question at Roses are red, apples are green)

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that we are not migrating a huge number of questions that appear to meet the criteria for ELL questions (as in simple and basic questions, usually from beginners, pertaining mainly to correct grammar, asked with the intention of clearing confusion and improving the standard of written and communicative English; whose answers are likely to be very obvious to native or experienced users; not concerned with etymology, grammatical theory, language research, literary allusions, the fine shades of difference in meaning between expressions, etc.)

This topic has been discussed a great deal on meta...

Should we have a migration path to ELL?

Closing the loop on migrations to ELL

ELL vs. non-ELL

What should and shouldn't be migrated to ELL?

...but the ELL type of questions remain on ELU.

Of the 50+ questions that I have tried to answer, only 2 were later migrated to ELL...

Example: a question I answered (Most recently migrated)

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/127940/is-it-wrong-for-john-to-say-this-is-john

...but at least 20 questions very similar to the migrated ones have not been migrated.

Can somebody explain why?

A few recent examples of open questions in ELU that could be migrated to ELL:

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/386859/how-to-write-this-sentence-with-correct-manner

"how you go with it" correct use?

"I visited Dan, the Doctor" or "I visited Dan, the doctor"?

None of these are necessarily 'bad questions' but they are definitely elementary. Of course I am a new user but it seems to me that we could migrate so many such basic/beginner's questions to ELL and thereby strengthen the (closely related but distinctly different) goals and purposes of both ELU and ELL.

Please note: having read the meta discussion that ELL is not the trashcan of ELU, I can well understand the sentiment "don't send us your bad questions" which is what I am saying as well: since ELL seems to have been created specifically to solve the beginners' type of basic questions coming to ELU, should we not be consistent in migrating all (rather than some of the) questions that are best suited for the aims of ELL rather than ELU?

NOTE 2: some members have argued in meta that there is a case for merging ELU and ELL without prejudice if the same type of questions are going to be answered at both ELU and ELL.

Proposal to merge ELU and ELL

Should we consider going in the other direction with ELU and ELL?

IN SUMMARY: Did I get the general impression that many experienced ELU users disapprove of badly constructed basic questions from new users (unknowingly off topic as defined here) being posted on ELU, and consider them inappropriate for "a site of serious language enthusiasts and linguists") -- sometimes even closing questions as off topic -- and yet they are unwilling to migrate them to ELL? Does ELL not want questions from beginners referred by ELU? Why are a few questions being migrated sporadically while a huge number of other, similarly eligible questions are being retained here? If I am missing something, please enlighten me.

If users at one or both sites are showing such reluctance towards migrating the appropriate questions then it only seems to strengthen the call by some members to merge ELU and ELL into one mega site ELL&U -- "English Language Learners and Usage"!

Answer 1

I agree with this. The problem as I see it is multi-part:

1. Google or duckduckgo return this site early when you search for "English Language questions," "English Language answers," or other related terms. Therefore, new users are likely to come here first, and have to be directed to ELL.

2. There's more activity on ELU than ELL, so people are possibly motivated to post here because they know they'll get an answer. This is a potential vicious cycle, because if ELL doesn't have enough activity, people are more likely to turn to ELU, and then there's less motivation to watch ELL and wait for new or active questions.

3. A lot of people answer questions that should be on ELL even when they're posted on ELU. I know I've been guilty of this.

In my opinion, the way to solve the problem is to facilitate migrating questions to ELL very fast when they're really appropriate for ELL. It should be easier than migrating questions to and from other sites, because of the unique relationship between ELL and ELU.

Maybe there could be a "migrate to ELL" button that, when clicked by two users, puts the question on a review queue. I think if we migrated the questions quickly, it would help establish ELL's presence on the web (see 1 above), increase activity on ELL (2) and decrease the odds that users who should post on ELL will end up getting their answers here and then going on about their day (3).

Answer 2

While the wider issue of which type of questions need to be migrated from ELU to ELL is open to discussion, I received the following very useful suggestion from a senior member in the above comments:

@EnglishStudent I don't see the problem then with things as they are. If you think that a question is migratable, then vote to migrate. If others are feel like you they might also. – Mitch 1 hour ago

Moreover, another kind senior member sumelic has posted a detailed answer in response to my next question regarding the procedure to initiate a possible migration:

How do I initiate a vote to migrate a question to ELL

(Many thanks to Mitch and Sumelic for the guidance!)

Based on these inputs, I now understand how to migrate a question, and shall try to use it judicuously, but the wider confusion regarding which questions should be migrated and why many questions that apparently meet the criteria are not being migrated is yet to be resolved.

I have seen a huge number of (mostly unresolved) meta questions here regarding such migration, and urge all members to reconsider the current guidelines for migrating a question to ELL.

Answer 3

Generally speaking, there's no clear-cut formula to categorise what questions deserve to be migrated. Both ELU and ELL have a lot of overlapping topics. You will develop a sense of what's better suited here, and what there, over time, and others may or may not agree with your views.

Also, there's a time window, after which, migration is not possible, 60 days, it is.

Read also: What is migration and how does it work?

Also, it would give you a bigger picture of SE network if you go through all posts tagged faq.