While it's a small sample size, I tried a little experiment today.
Question 1: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1576/how-do-i-keep-pots-of-water-from-boiling-over
- No comments.
- No votes.
- Never voted to close.
- 3 answers.
- 1 with 2 votes (1 was from me), others with no votes.
Note: This question was actually borrowed from the front page of the cooking site.
Question 2: How can I efficiently plant seeds in my garden without placing them by hand?
- Immediately told to go to gardening.se (spawned a total of 9 comments).
- 2 upvotes, no downvotes.
- Closed by Phlume, Shevliaskovic, Jon, nicael, and Sunshine.
- 2 answers.
- 6 and 1 upvotes respectively.
- Reopened.
Question 3: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1584/how-can-i-make-a-positive-impression-during-an-interview
- Immediately told to go to workplace.se (spawned a total of 7 comments, people were starting to catch on).
- 5 downvotes (Oddly enough, it seemed hated more than a question about snuggies).
- Closed by Origin, QuNguyen2013, Shevliaskovic, J. Musser, and Matt Giltaji (Received feedback from J. Musser that he considered it a psychological lifehack).
- No answers.
- 2 votes to reopen (none by me).
Question 4: Is there a way I can take a macro picture without a macro lens?
- Immediately suggested to look at photography.se.
- 3 upvotes.
- 1 answer from myself (4 upvotes).
- No close votes.
Question 5: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1593/whats-the-fastest-way-to-ferment-juice
- 5 comments, 2 asking why there were close votes, 1 suggesting a "common-sense" answer, 1 asking for more information, and my response.
- 3 upvotes.
- 1 answer with no votes.
- Closed by Jon, Phlume, King Shimkus, QuyNguyen2013, and michaelpri.
- Reopened.
Note: This question was a copy of: Fastest way to boil water? which has been readily accepted.
Question 6: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/1611/is-there-a-better-way-of-doing-multiplication
- 1 comment giving close reason.
- 3 upvotes.
- 2 downvotes.
- 3 answers.
- 2 have 2 upvotes (1 from me each), the other none.
- 2 close votes for being a psychological hack.
It really seems to me like we're all working as individuals, trying to collect only questions that interest us. It's a joke when the only reason given for closing questions is that they're off-topic, but we haven't even defined what questions are off-topic or not.
It becomes really clear when you look at questions like:
How to eat barbecue ribs without getting covered in barbecue sauce?
- Closed by Angelo Fuchs, iliveunderawesomerock, Jon, Shevliaskovic, and Adi Bradfield.
- 3 upvotes.
- 1 downvote.
- 4 answers.
- 5 upvotes, 4 upvotes and 2 downvotes, 3 upvotes and 1 downvote, 2 upvotes and 1 downvote.
- (1 of each downvote was from me for being too short of answers to be good quality)
Compared to these questions:
How do I eat a mango without getting sticky?
- Closed as a duplicate of the apple question by Sunshine, Tim, user1306322, Door Handle, and QuyNguyen2013.
- How do I eat an orange without getting sticky?
- 2 close votes.
- How can I eat an apple without getting sticky fingers?
- Closed by Matt S., Jon, Shokhet, Door Handle, and QuyNguyen2013 (Yes I'm guilty of this too I voted to reopen).
- https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/466/how-can-i-prevent-hamburger-juice-from-getting-all-over-my-hands
- Close as unclear by James Jenkins, J. Musser, iliveunderawesomerock, QuyNguyen2013, and King Shimkus.
Note that both the mango and the apple question now have 3 close votes after the barbecue sauce question was reopened. The orange question still has no close votes.
As of the following morning after originally posting this, we've apparently decided to close the first three questions as duplicates of each other.
TL;DR
- I asked a question that was copied from cooking. It was accepted with no opposition.
- I asked a question that could also fit on gardening. It was closed as being off-topic, then reopened for not being off-topic.
- I asked a question that could maybe fit on the workplace (I doubt they'd actually want it), it was closed as off-topic.
- I asked a question I'd seen on photography before. It was accepted with no opposition.
- I asked a question similar to another question on this site. It was closed after I made this post, then reopened for not being off-topic.
- Someone asked a question about how to eat ribs without getting sticky fingers. It was closed while three other questions appear without opposition. They were closed as duplicates of each other after I made this post.
We can't pick and choose questions like this, that isn't how this works. Either a topic is in our scope or it isn't. It makes us seem like we just want to be an extension of the cooking and possibly photography site.
First: We need to stop closing questions for arbitrary reasons and wasting votes on reopening them because they can't be defined as off-topic. It's a waste of time and votes (you can only vote once), and it just makes it clear that we have no clue what we're doing.
Second, if we are going to choose certain topics to allow on this site, we need to choose now and make it clear that these are the topics that are allowed. Luckily We have an entire list to choose from.
So, are we limiting our scope to certain subjects, and if so, what subjects are we limiting it to?