Should strictly on-topic cross-posts be put on hold as "off-topic"?

Question

A good question, on topic for two sites

Without having read the FAQ on cross-posting, I cross-posted a question (here and here) that was strictly on topic for both sites. In fact, I actually cross-posted a meta question on the same two sites (here and here), as well as a few others to ask whether or not my question was on topic for either of them.

The communities confirmed that the question was on topic for their site. So I posted it to both, without knowing about the issue with cross-posting.

After reading the talk on cross-posting, I don't totally disagree that one of the cross-posted questions should be closed. Fine. Close one of them if that's how we choose to handle it.

But don't put my question on hold for being off topic when your meta site just finished confirming that it's on topic.

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My issue is that if one of the two questions is closed or put on hold, I don't think that the reason should be "off-topic" (or any current sub reason of off-topic), since that's strictly false. I don't mean to make an issue for the heck of it. I just want things to make sense.

The off-topic sub-reason:

This question does not appear to be about software development within the scope defined in the help center.

Well, that isn't right. At all..

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Tl;dr - The question:

• Should a strictly on-topic cross-post be closed or put on hold as "off-topic"?

• Is there no better alternative?

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The ongoing "Off-Topic" issue

I'm aware, now, of the "off-topic" related posts:

Can we rename the off-topic close reason label on the primary screen?

If we're not going to change the "off-topic" label, how about a slight change to the wording around it?

Shouldn't "off-topic" be only about... off-topic?

I don't suggest any close reason if none exists that suits an on-topic cross-post. If SE wants to enforce the closure of on-topic cross-posts, (I agree that something should be done in many cases), it should add a cross post reason for closure.

Answer 1

Should a strictly on-topic cross-post be closed or put on hold as "off-topic"?

No.

Is there no better alternative?

Cross-posting is sometimes done to get more exposure to a question, essentially throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. It is this kind of cross-posting that we object to, especially with questions that are poorly-written.

Generally, such questions can be closed on their merit, meaning that they are either genuinely off-topic, or are unanswerable for other legitimate reasons.

Answer 2

Note: I feel that this should come to a community vote so I am playing devils advocate here and am going to suggest an alternative to the currently accepted answer. Please downvote if you disagree, and note that I don't necessarily disagree with the accepted answer.

Yes.

There are no better alternatives. It should be the moderator or high-rep users discretion of the target site whether cross-posting should be allowed or not. As the moderator who put your question on hold, I am merely following the pattern set by my peers and people before me that this is the appropriate way for cross-posting to be handled on Programmers.

Cross Posting Tag - It is frowned upon