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EL&U gets numerous questions along the lines of this one, asking how to deal with a communication "situation" between two parties.

Sometimes the communication is face-to-face, sometimes via email, sometimes via formal letter, but the basic fact remains that there is little in the discussions which have to do with the specifics of the English language itself, but rather the questions are about how to manage human-to-human interactions, be it (as in this case) how to broach a sensitive question without creating further animus, or (as in other cases) the appropriate greeting and salutation to use in an email.

Should there be a separate place for such questions, or, failing that, should they be closed as "off topic"?

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2 Answers 2

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Maybe there should be a place for such questions, but there won't be anytime soon.

Some such questions should be on https://workplace.stackexchange.com/ As for questions not suitable for The Workplace, as in your example, close them as off-topic, and by the time they are actually closed, the OP will have received some good guidance.

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    In addition to Workplace.SE, some questions are appropriate for Academia.SE. There is a proposal for an Etiquette stack; however, a number of such proposals have come and go over the years, and never seem to make it past the definition stage.
    – choster
    Feb 26, 2016 at 15:57
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There is one proposal in Area 51 for Interpersonal Skills and I believe it is related with the example questions in your post.

If you agree with the proposal, you can follow it. If enough users follow it and commit in the next stage, Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange Beta will be created in the same way Latin Language Beta has just been created. Then, we can migrate those questions or ask the posters to visit it.

Until then, I think it is better to close them as Primarily Opinion Based or Too Broad.

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    There is also an Etiquette proposal, with a slightly different scope from Interpersonal Skills, but closer to commitment phase for what that's worth.
    – choster
    Feb 26, 2016 at 16:01
  • @choster Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks.
    – user140086
    Feb 26, 2016 at 16:36

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