A couple of days ago I asked a question that happened to attract the attention of hundreds of users (roughly 3.0 k to be specific). Then yesterday I was notified that it's migrated/sent to the writers forum. Why is that? Are I going to be notified of what's happening to it over there in writers (I'm not registered in writers)? It seems unjust because It wasn't with my consent; Isn't it? Who has decided this and I'm not going to receive any inbox messages concerning my question; right?
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1 Answer
Your question concerned how writers refrain from referring to themselves as “I” when writing (say) an academic paper.
The question was brought to the attention of moderators as being off-topic on ELU and more on-topic on Writers. The moderators of both sites agreed, and it was migrated.
ELU’s on-topic subjects include
- Word choice and usage
- Grammar
- Etymology (history of words’ development)
- Dialect differences
- Pronunciation (phonetics and phonology, dialectology)
- Spelling and punctuation
Writers’ on-topic subjects include
- Non-fiction, technical, or scholarly writing
- Writing fiction, poetry, song lyrics
- General copywriting
- Professional-level blogging
- The publishing and editing process itself
- A writing critique, properly scoped and framed
In the case of your question, it falls more into the “How do I write like this” than “Why is this written like this” category and thus it’s a better fit on Writers. Questions should always appear on the site where they best fit, as they are supposed not only to answer an issue the asker has come across, but also help others in the future who have a similar issue.
It’s perhaps unfortunate that it took as long as it did to come to moderators’ attention, but questions can be migrated at any point in their life-cycle (even after they have been closed, if necessary).
I don't know if you will receive inbox notifications on that question following its migration. There is nothing stopping you opening an account on Writers. Once one of your accounts reaches 200 rep, all the others will get a +100 association bonus.
answered Jul 28, 2014 at 7:02
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Your answer is convincing enough but I think the fine lines between different forums are not far from blurry. I mean there are plenty of questions in ELU which are literally being answered without getting passed on to other sites (aside from some questions, though). IS the decision as to transferring off-topic questions, taken only when they have certainly grown (from the moderators' viewpoint) into (relatively) epidemic proportions, Andrew?– ItsmeJul 28, 2014 at 14:29