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I felt that this question I had was in the grey area between SO and SoftwareEngineering.se and I ended up asking it on SoftwareEngineering.se (clearly), however someone there has said that it would be a better fit for SO. I would like suggestions as to where it should go, either comments, or upvote=leave it on SoftwareEngineering.se, downvote=move it to SO.

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    I don't think it belongs on SO. I could be mistaken, of course.
    – Daniel Fischer
    May 10, 2013 at 19:49
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    This question does have some code, but it's not really asking about the code. It's asking about the documentation more than anything. IMO, Programmers.SE is the proper place for it.
    – Kyle Trauberman
    May 10, 2013 at 19:52
  • I think it might fit better on SO.
    – nhahtdh
    May 10, 2013 at 19:52
  • @KyleTrauberman Yea, I had put the code more so for reference.
    – TronicZomB
    May 10, 2013 at 19:53
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    @TronicZomB For future reference: Programmers Meta would have been the better Meta for this. Even if there's consensus on MSO that the question belongs on SO, I'm not migrating it until the Programmers crowd decides its off topic for us. If it's suitable for both sites, it stays where it was originally asked (unless you - the asker - explicitly asks us to migrate it).
    – yannis
    May 10, 2013 at 21:47
  • @TronicZomB - If you don't pick up any answers on your question over the next few days then ping me on the Whiteboard (chat). I'll put a bounty on your question to kickstart some attention for it.
    – user194162
    May 10, 2013 at 23:31

4 Answers 4

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It belongs on P.SE.

You have essentially asked the following:

I have option X and option Y. They are very similar and provide the same end result.
Option X's doc says [blarg] and Option Y's doc says [blah]
Which should I use for which situations?

That's a conceptual level question and is appropriate to P.SE.

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  • I don't understand the "conceptual" distinction. You can't ask about programming concepts on SO?
    – djechlin
    May 10, 2013 at 21:19
  • @djechlin - no, not what I was trying to say. I cut out the last sentence of my answer as it was confusing. Programmers doesn't handle implementation questions - those are strictly in SO's domain. Conceptual questions are intended for P.SE, but tons get asked on SO as well. It's one of the blurrier areas between the two sites.
    – user194162
    May 10, 2013 at 21:30
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    The question is not off topic on Programmers. It may be on topic on Stack Overflow, but that's irrelevant: A migration starts with an off topic vote. Since it's not off topic on Programmers, it should stay on Programmers. If it doesn't receive good answers in a couple of days and the OP asks us to migrate, we'll migrate, but until that happens I see no reason to migrate it.
    – yannis
    May 10, 2013 at 21:52
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I think you should just look at the FAQ's of both sites. Your questions is tagged with design patterns, which is covered in the FAQ of programmers.se, and doesn't really address a specific programming problem.

programmers.se

a site for professional programmers who are interested in getting expert answers on conceptual questions about software development. If you have a question about...

  • algorithm and data structure concepts
  • design patterns
  • developer testing
  • development methodologies
  • freelancing and business concerns
  • quality assurance
  • software architecture
  • software engineering
  • software licensing

stackoverflow.com

Questions generally cover...

  • a specific programming problem
  • a software algorithm
  • software tools commonly used by programmers
  • practical, answerable problems that are unique to the programming profession
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  • Although it is tagged with "design patterns", I don't think it fits that bill.
    – Craige
    May 10, 2013 at 19:57
  • Thanks, the FAQ is how I decided upon programmers.se actually. Also, I just know how voting works on MSO (up = agree, down = disagree) and figured if people didn't feel like writing they could just vote and that would be how I judge their opinion.
    – TronicZomB
    May 10, 2013 at 19:57
  • @Craige do you think it should be tagged as something different, but still remain on programmers.se?
    – TronicZomB
    May 10, 2013 at 19:58
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    @Craige The OP's question also asks for best practices and the situations where each method can be used. This is out of scope of StackOverflow.
    – Kermit
    May 10, 2013 at 19:59
  • @TronicZomB Voting is sometimes different on meta. In particular, when someone is inherently voicing an opinion or making a proposal. It's mostly for feature requests in which up -> want implemented down -> don't want. For a question such as this voting would unlikely be much different from any other site, at least for many users.
    – Servy
    May 10, 2013 at 20:05
  • @Craige - I agree with you regarding it not needing the tag "design patterns." I have already removed that tag from the question.
    – user194162
    May 10, 2013 at 20:06
  • Thanks @Servy, I will keep that in mind!
    – TronicZomB
    May 10, 2013 at 20:06
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    @TronicZomB - Perhaps that is the best path. It seems the community thinks it belongs on P.SE, and as I originally thought it was a grey area, that's perfectly acceptable to me.
    – Craige
    May 10, 2013 at 20:08
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The answer is StackOverflow, you just need to improve your question first.

The only difference between what is okay on either - or any - SE site is in what is on topic. The same levels of constructiveness - ability to answer specifically, making sure you're solving an actual problem, etc. is enforced. That's the ideal, anyway. If you weren't specific enough for SO, you're not really specific enough for P.SE.

I assume the "actual problem" you are trying to solve is "which API should I use in this situation?" If you are not asking this, then you don't have an actual problem to solve no matter which SE you post to. Once you add the information on what problem you are trying to solve it will be rather clear this problem belongs on SO.

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I'm just going to throw out my reasoning for casting my vote on the question.

This seems to me to be an "implementation question", and a "specific programming problem". While you're not showing where these would be implemented, you're asking the difference in the implementations, and which you should use when.

I could always be wrong, which is why I support this question so we can figure out where it truly belongs.

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    I think the question fits both sites. When that happens, the easier solution is to leave it where it was originally asked, in this case Programmers. Related Meta Programmers discussion.
    – yannis
    May 10, 2013 at 21:55

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