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More precisely "Code Review" is only for working code.

A lot of questions are getting suggestions to move to "Code Review" for simple fixes.

The OP will then repeat the question on "Code Review" only to be shutdown as off-topic and told to take it back to SO (which is often followed by the complaint of "I was told to bring it here from "SO").

Can we come up with a simple technique for educating users on when a move is appropriate.

Would it be possible to auto-link to a sites FAQ when it is suggested in comments.

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  • I've been careful not to link to another .se without saying a "check the FAQ to make sure it's a good question there." So I think you have the right idea as solution.
    – djechlin
    Mar 18, 2013 at 3:18
  • 6
    @djechlin Telling the OP to check the FAQ first isn't good enough, mainly because there's a good chance that they won't bother. You should check the FAQ for the site in question before you suggest it. I think that's the heart of the problem, really -- users suggest other sites like CR or Programmers without really knowing what's on topic there: "Well, it's code, and the site name is Code Review... sounds good to me!"
    – Caleb
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:49
  • Related: Is there something we can do against “Ask this on xyz.SE” comments?
    – slhck
    Mar 23, 2013 at 17:14
  • Sounds like a bad question in general. Downvote, vote to close, help clean up SO!
    – user7116
    Mar 23, 2013 at 17:25

1 Answer 1

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This is why the migration process exists in the first place.

People should never recommend that an OP repeat a question on any other SE site. They should instead flag the question for possible migration so that the moderators can prevent exactly the kind of trouble you're talking about. Perhaps that is the message that needs to be conveyed more strongly?

Comments that give the OP the idea that they should repost a question should be flagged or responded to with a corrective comment so that the commenter gets the message.

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  • 3
    This is the answer. They should vote to migrate or flag to migrate a post to Code Review.
    – George Stocker
    Mar 18, 2013 at 3:59
  • The problem is the OP can be impatient and may not wait for the migration process
    – psubsee2003
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:03
  • No. Code has also been moved incorrectly by moderators. There is also a question and answer on meta that firmly rejects this concept: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/123253/…
    – Martin York
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:04
  • @LokiAstari That question asks whether CR should be on the list of possible destinations when a question is off topic on SO, and I'd guess the correct answer is still 'no' for the same reason that Programmers isn't on the list -- too many users have the wrong idea about what's acceptable. But moderators ought to know better, and it seems to me that having moderators (for both sites) involved is better than not having them. At any rate, the group of moderators is so much smaller than the set of users generally that it'll be easier to get the message out to them about what's OK on CR.
    – Caleb
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:10
  • @Caleb: It may work as long as moderators on the source validate with a moderator on the suggested destination site.
    – Martin York
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:15
  • @LokiAstari Isn't that what's supposed to happen already? I'm not a mod, but my understanding was that there's a chat room where mods for various sites check with each other about this sort of thing.
    – Caleb
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:17
  • @Caleb: If so great (I had no idea).
    – Martin York
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:17
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    @LokiAstari If the question very clearly belongs on CR, we'll migrate it without asking, if it's in question, we'll ask one of their moderators first. It's infeasible to ask for every single migration, plus if it's a bad migration they can always send it back.
    – George Stocker
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:22
  • @GeorgeStocker: Does that not suggest there should be an automated processes (because it is unfeasible to ask for every migration). A move suggestions can be manually processed by users on the destination site (like an edit).
    – Martin York
    Mar 18, 2013 at 4:27
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    @LokiAstari Maybe you should make that a feature request. Personally, I don't think it's worth worrying about because all it takes is 1 moderator or 5 voters on a target site to reject a migration. The answer here is for the community to be more active, not to have yet another queue that moderators should check.
    – George Stocker
    Mar 18, 2013 at 5:11
  • @GeorgeStocker: That's part of the problem. Our alternative are people commenting to move or asking Mods to move stuff. There are no real good opinions here. Especially when most of the time the mods are moving stuff on a whim and not asking/checking (because it is overwhelming). Theoretically communities can reject the move and that works for large communities lake SO but small communities like Code Review that does not work so well. Resulting in churn that takes a long time.
    – Martin York
    Mar 18, 2013 at 5:36
  • @LokiAstari This isn't a new issue; see here and here for examples. You're definitely not the first to suggest that users or mods at the destination vote to accept.
    – Caleb
    Mar 18, 2013 at 5:57
  • @Caleb: This is just something that came up in comments as a suggestion. I would prefer to provoke a bigger discussion beyond this answer (as per the comment with George above I obviously think it is flawed option (as moderators are obviously not reliable enough for moving stuff (as they are overwhelmed) and thus cause small sites slow churn)).
    – Martin York
    Mar 18, 2013 at 6:01

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