4

https://english.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4204/speaking-english-with-native-speaker , which was asked on meta, has been closed.

The justification given was

"This question does not appear to be about English Language & Usage Stack Exchange or the software that powers the Stack Exchange network within the scope defined in the help center." – waiwai933

The question asked (with minor edits):

Is there any website where I can practice speaking English with native speakers. Actually, I have a TOEFL test soon so it would be better to find an English club online. Please suggest.

As the question is about English language learning, I think it'd be a better match for English Language Learners than here, but that's not the main point.

Are questions about resources best asked on the main site, on meta (which some X Language & Usage sites do), or not at all?

I came across Should not the FAQ have an entry about online resource questions? and the like, but they were from 2 years ago.

1 Answer 1

6

It probably is less important where they are kept and more important that they not be difficult to find.

There is no hard and fast rule about where a given SE community should keep its resource questions; many communities welcome them on their main site.

At the start, EL&U welcomed resource questions on main. The community later preferred to have them on meta. I do not know the reason for the change.

I suppose we could return to having them on main. My personal preference would have been to have them on main only because the purpose of meta is to deal with community policy, culture, and standards, whereas the purpose of the main site is to function as an expert resource about the English language. I think resource questions fit poorly with the purpose of the meta site and well with the purpose of the main site.

But I got here after the decision was made, what's done is done and it wasn't done badly, and I am unaware of a good reason to make an issue of it.

1
  • 2
    I agree with everything except the specific point about preferring that "resource questions" should be on main. Like you, I don't feel that strongly about it, but on balance I think they're better on meta because this is where we discuss things like "What counts as General Reference?" Therefore here is where we should be identifying and promoting those "resources" we collectively endorse (and perhaps justifying why we don't endorse certain others). Commented Oct 6, 2013 at 16:26

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .