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I'd like to see more discussion on the scope of topics for Android.SE. We have established that the site is for "enthusiasts, power users, and regular people too using the Android operating system" and not for "programming questions," but I think we could use a little more discussion about where those particular boundaries actually are. We should also continue to discuss the topic of "Subjective" questions, CWs and "Lists."

I know for some people this is all black and white but just watching the habits of the active users it is clear that there is a lot different opinions out there. Even among the mods there seems to be a variety of views on this. I think that some more discussion will help us tease out the sweet spot of "scope" that helps us balance the needs/wants of the community with the necessary restraints needed to keep this an organized and focused Q&A site.

Questions/discussions of this nature should be tagged with the tag Scope.

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  • I don't know if I have any clear answers, but I think this is needed discussion.
    – ale
    Nov 30, 2010 at 21:16
  • is the faq tag appropriate for this one? I think the tag is reserved for questions that are asked often in meta.
    – Louis Rhys
    Dec 21, 2010 at 2:57
  • @Louis: There have been at least 11 questions concerning the "scope" of the site so far. Wouldn't you consider that a frequently asked type question?
    – Matt
    Dec 23, 2010 at 16:30

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I happen to like list questions, but it does seem to fall outside of the scope of how the SO sites are defined, and I do understand that.

We do NOT want the site devolving into weird list-questions -- that pulls it away from the core focus: using the lazy-web to find the best answer.

What would be a nice is an adjunct discussion board, like the chatrooms. Banish discussions and whatnot off the main pages -- but not off the site entirely. Harness those energies....

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    I'd suggest making a blog (I know the Wordpress folks are trying to set up one for all SE-sites), where you simply posts these lists. How to create them is perhaps a different discussion. In my view, I always thought Meta was a good place for these kind of topics as the rep is gone and it's off the normal site too.
    – Ivo Flipse
    Dec 7, 2010 at 8:00
  • I like the list-blog idea!
    – Matthew Read
    Dec 17, 2010 at 0:27
  • My only conflict with this idea is that the Stackexchange format with the voting of answers is so perfect for lists. It allows for such an elegant way for the cream to rise to the top. I can see how rampant lists can distract from the core mission of the site but I'd rather see a separate silo for lists that follows the same format instead one that follows traditional wordpress or tumblr blog style). So maybe there could be android.stackexchange.com, meta.android.stackexchange.com and LISTS.android.stackexchange.com.
    – Matt
    Dec 23, 2010 at 16:37
  • I know we can't create a new sub-domain for every splintered take on the core but users propensity to posts lists is very prevelant in several of the SE sites: android, iphone, webapps, wordpress, superuser... Every time I see them posted I see a TON of user interest and involvement but also considerable resistance from mods and powerusers. I think it's a logical extension, particularly for the sites like Android that focus largely on definable things (apps) as opposed to concepts and code.
    – Matt
    Dec 23, 2010 at 16:41

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