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Every day I see a post on MSO that belongs on SO. When I try to flag it, I don't see the option "off-topic-->StackOverflow". As a result, these questions tend to get closed instead of migrated after I flag them.

All sites have a "offtopic-->meta" option, why not the other way around?

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    I've seen moderators mention a "policy" of leaving off-topic questions on MSO to die, always. Probably because it's often the first place people run to if they've been question-banned somewhere else, most notably Stack Overflow. – a cat Mar 30 '12 at 11:56
  • While every site on stackexchange has meta (excluding Area 51) it would be nice to see it as a general system: Meta -> Main site. – om-nom-nom Mar 30 '12 at 11:56
  • +1 for asking, -1 for the [feature-request]. – Time Traveling Bobby Mar 30 '12 at 11:59
  • @Bobby well, you have to tag it with feature req/bug/support/discussion, otherwise it won't let you post. Featurereq seemed most appropriate hete :/ – Manishearth Mar 30 '12 at 12:08
  • Only use [feature-request] if you want to request a feature. If you have a question about functionality, use [support] or [discussion]. – Time Traveling Bobby Mar 30 '12 at 12:28
  • @Bobby: Well, this seems to be a tiny feature. But I see your point, will keep that in mind. Thanks! – Manishearth Mar 30 '12 at 12:28
  • in the light of an excellent accepted answer ("We don't want to encourage them..."), downvotes piled on this question remind me of infamous “I Get It” Reputation Problem – gnat Feb 14 '13 at 8:56
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    @gnat: true... But yeah, I don't really mind the downvotes (now that I've gotten 20k on MSO, I've been bountying away my reps anyway). Also, I have a net positive rep gain from this :P – Manishearth Feb 14 '13 at 9:02
  • @Manishearth bountying away... I see. 9 offered for 1450 rep, pretty generous :) – gnat Feb 14 '13 at 9:15
  • @gnat: the top 4 are the recent ones (after I got 20k), the rest are me being miserly but wanting a feature :P – Manishearth Feb 14 '13 at 9:22
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Those questions are overwhelmingly crap, users that miss all the obvious signs that they are in the completely wrong place also tend to ask bad questions.

We don't want to encourage them by moving the questions to the right place. If they aren't able to figure that very simple part out by themselves, there is really no hope for them to become productive members of Stack Overflow.

Many of those users are also likely question-banned on SO, so the migration would fail anyway in those cases.

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    This is exactly what I wanted to write... – ChrisF♦ Mar 30 '12 at 12:00
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    Blunt... but, yeah. – Bill the Lizard Mar 30 '12 at 12:11
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I am not sure it is a good idea, for two reasons:

  • Users who are banned from asking questions on the main site (Stack Overflow) would ask the questions on the meta site, hoping they are migrated.
  • If you keep migrating the questions from the meta site on the main site, low reputation users would probably keep asking the questions on the meta site, as they are migrated, and they will not understand they need to ask them on the main site. As it is now, they will stop asking questions on the meta site, after the first time, because their question are not answered but closed instead.
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  • Migration is prevented if the user is question-banned on the target site exactly to stop this kind of evasion of the ban. – Disappointed in SE Mar 30 '12 at 12:18
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    @Fabian: That does still not stop people from trying. – Time Traveling Bobby Mar 30 '12 at 12:29
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You can always add your own comment to a flag explaining what needs to be done.

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    3k users can't migrate questions from here to anywhere. – BoltClock's a Unicorn Mar 30 '12 at 11:58
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    By my experience, every time I've added such flag to the offtopic question on Stack Overflow that should be migrated to site not in the offtopic-shortlist it was just closed, not migrated. Latest examples are this, this and this – om-nom-nom Mar 30 '12 at 12:01
  • You are right, I had an off by 180 degrees. – Toon Krijthe Mar 30 '12 at 12:01

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