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When reviewing questions, it is sometimes apparent that they would be best asked in a different (Mathematics, Biology, Law etc) SE from EL&U. However when I try to flag this I am only offered ELL and this one.

All I can do is leave a comment to that effect.

Is this option above my pay grade or should I flag it for moderator attention and specify what I believe is needed there? I don't want to waste the moderators' time.

It has been suggested that this is a duplicate of another question and indeed it is very similar. However the answer is about migration to one specific beta site. It does not address the option to request migration to any other appropriate SE site rather than a very restricted set of options.

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Migration paths can only be set up by the Community Mod team, and a site is only allowed to have 4. Every site can migrate between the main site and its meta site. The other paths are harder to get set up and require demonstrating that there are many questions getting asked that are migration candidates. For the occasional migration, community members should flag for moderator attention.

Questions usually shouldn’t be migrated unless they are off-topic on this site and on-topic on the site they’re being migrated to. There’s more about migration in this post on Meta. There’s a lot of good information in that post - a relevant excerpt:

  • Don't migrate for the sake of migration. We only migrate questions because they are off-topic on the original site. It is perfectly possible for a question to be on-topic on multiple sites, but that is not a reason to migrate it elsewhere, unless the OP requests migration. As a general rule, if someone asks a question here, and it's on-topic here, it should stay here.
  • Be familiar with the destination site. If you are not familiar with the destination site, read through its about page and help center thoroughly and make sure the question actually belongs there. Don't just look at the name of a site and automatically assume that the question can be asked there. Each site has its own rules, and rules vary greatly across sites.

We don’t try to sort questions so they are asked in the “best” place. Presumably if they are asked here, the author would like the question answered from the perspective of the experts in this community. If the question isn’t getting any suitable answers and the author feels like another site might be able to help them more, they would raise a flag for moderator attention.

Suggesting another site that might be helpful to the question’s author in a comment is usually the best course. Migration is confusing, especially if the author of the question is new to Stack Exchange and doesn’t have an account on the target site.

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  • Yet a question and my answer posted around 6th June on EL&U concerning the correct interpretation of the notation in Bayes' original essay have just got moved to SE Mathematics 8 hours ago.
    – Peter Jennings
    Jul 23, 2019 at 20:30
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    @PeterJennings why do you believe that mathematical notation from the 1700’s is on-topic here? Highly domain specific language and notation isn’t something an expert in English can help with just because the paper it’s in is written in English. Or do I misunderstand your point?
    – ColleenV
    Jul 24, 2019 at 2:23
  • The flow chart here suggests that moving questions with satisfactory answers should be done with extreme caution, I was wondering if it was really necessary, to use your own words "Don't migrate for the sake of migration". Whilst I agree it should have been asked on SE Mathematics in the first place, there are many questions on EL&U that ask about archaic forms.
    – Peter Jennings
    Jul 24, 2019 at 20:15
  • Nevertheless, I think the article you linked to in SE Meta answers my question as to the process of migration. The short answer being "Tag it for moderator attention"
    – Peter Jennings
    Jul 24, 2019 at 20:32
  • Well, mistakes happen. I wasn’t familiar with the question that got migrated. Sometimes the question and it’s answers can be of more use to the community on the other site but it’s definitely a judgment call. Migrations can be reversed, so if you felt strongly about it you could ask for it to be returned if it’s not too old.
    – ColleenV
    Jul 24, 2019 at 21:17
  • No, it's in a better place now. In future, if I answer a similar question, I will tag it for moderator attention as well, provided the OP can still find it!
    – Peter Jennings
    Jul 24, 2019 at 21:58
  • This answer is a reminder that, before recommending migration, one should think carefully whether it is appropriate. With all due respect for the importance of that reminder, it does not quite answer the question why the flagging menu doesn't provide options for recommending migration to other sites (which options should, of course, be used only when appropriate). After all, the menu does provide several other options that are also meant to be used carefully and sparingly.
    – jsw29
    Jul 25, 2019 at 20:30
  • @jsw29 Edited. I had assumed that answer was in the other linked questions, but when I looked around, I realize it wasn’t explained explicitly.
    – ColleenV
    Jul 25, 2019 at 22:37
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    @jsw29 Exactly. That was really the point of my question. When a reviewer thinks a question should be moved to another SE, the flagging menu should offer the option of naming that SE rather than going through the process of flagging it fo moderator attention.
    – Peter Jennings
    Jul 28, 2019 at 12:25
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    @PeterJennings I agree. The process for migration to another site other than meta, or ELL should be simplified. Mods are over-worked, and we are supposed to be self-moderating.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Jul 29, 2019 at 21:25
  • @Cascabel It should actually be quite rare that you find a question that is both off-topic here and on-topic and on-topic on a site other than ELL.
    – ColleenV
    Jul 29, 2019 at 22:26
  • @ColleenV I am sorry...I find your comment a little unclear. Blame it on my taking everything literally. Help me out? What I am suggesting is that there should be a fast-track process other than flagging the mods to migrate to more appropriate sites, other than meta or ELL....Like Literature.SE, or perhaps Writing.SE. It happens a least a couple of times a week. By the time it gets migrated in the usual sytem of flagging, the OP often loses interest.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Jul 29, 2019 at 22:34
  • @Cascabel We don't need it, because the number of questions that legitimately need to be migrated from here to sites other than ELL are so few that the flags are not going to overwhelm the moderators.
    – ColleenV
    Jul 30, 2019 at 2:09

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