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May not be the best place to ask this, but my ask is mostly linked to the original trilogy. I haven't found duplicates as well.

From what I understood, the Stack Exchange 2.0 sites will be hosted by the team, just like the trilogy. Will there be easy "bridges" between the trilogy and these new sites?

Ideally, it would be great if questions could be migrated from a trilogy site, to one of these (or opposite). Typically, a question about web application on Super User would be migrated to the SE equivalent.

Or will we have to close as off-topic, and add a "ask on this Stack Exchange site" comment?

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    I can't think of how big close dialog will be. :D
    – YOU
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 12:54
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    @S.Mark - actually, I was thinking about only one more option ("migrate to a Stack Exchange site") with a dropdown list.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 12:56
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    That just changes it from a huge close dialog to a huge drop down. Not that there is any much more usable option (plain text entry requires foreknowledge). Usability aside, though, since we're making it all hosted as part of the same "extended family", it would make sense to be able to migrate in some fashion.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 13:15
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    @ccomet, if people are voting to close as belongs-on-another-site, the foreknowledge is there. Even if one mod doesn't have it, surely one of the 10k-ers or at least one of the commenters will.
    – Pops
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 14:42
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    What about one of those input-suggestion fields instead of a dropdown? Close to {Start Typing Math } -> MathOverflow?
    – Jesse Dorsey
    Commented Jun 14, 2010 at 18:11

4 Answers 4

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+50

Yes, this will be possible.

The trick here is that we'll only "unlock" question migration paths between sites that have an some kind of rational relationship, so the odds of that off-topic (but on-topic for the other network site) question being asked has some actual chance of occuring in the real world.

e.g.

"what if someone asks a gardening question on Stack Overflow?"

... is incredibly unlikely to happen.

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    I guess SuperUser is likely to be able to migrate to all (web apps, gaming, pro webmasters, electronic gadgets)... SuperUser will be greatly benefited by those
    – juan
    Commented Jun 21, 2010 at 22:13
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    "How do I program my computer-controlled sprinkler system to water my tomatoes at the optimal time of the day?"
    – Jon Seigel
    Commented Jun 21, 2010 at 22:27
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    @Jon: You should totally use jQuery.
    – uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐN
    Commented Jun 21, 2010 at 22:32
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    @Jeff stackoverflow.com/questions/2963868/…
    – Ami
    Commented Jun 21, 2010 at 22:41
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    @George Edison you should totally drop that and use JQuery. ;)
    – Arlen Beiler
    Commented Jul 1, 2010 at 15:50
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    Stack Overflow? I thought it said Stalk Overflow! gdr...
    – Pops
    Commented Jul 1, 2010 at 17:10
  • How long is this likely to take? There are questions that should be moved now. E.g. stackoverflow.com/questions/3222585/…
    – Richard
    Commented Jul 11, 2010 at 9:52
  • @Richard - even though it would be great to already have such system, I doubt it will be implemented on beta sites, since these sites can potentially be discontinued.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jul 11, 2010 at 11:00
  • @Gnoupi: Beta status could be used to filter the list of sides available when voting to close; but there is no ability at all at the moment (other than commenting and closing as off topic -- which loses any value added to the question that could be carried across).
    – Richard
    Commented Jul 11, 2010 at 11:44
  • I swear I'm not chasing you... the previous question where I commented and this one were returned as top results when doing a search related to GenAI private beta that might be launched the next week... "... is incredibly unlikely to happen." I wonder if, after 13 years, there is still a single seasoned SO user thinking this way.
    – Rubén
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 16:13
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I think we should start closing questions as Off-topic and leave comments suggesting where they might be more appropriate instead of migrating them. It's been hard to prevent ServerFault and SuperUser from being dumping grounds for questions that don't belong on Stack Overflow. If you look through the [math] questions on SO you'll also see a lot of comments suggesting that elementary math questions that aren't programming related should be moved to MathOverflow, where they are also not wanted. As SE topics get even further afield from programming, it will be harder and harder to accurately make the determination about what questions go where.

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  • On SU, questions are already closed as off-topic, with most of times a suggestion to an existing SE 1.0 site. So this is the current process already. The question is mostly "will we be able to have something smoother".
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 14:28
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    @Gnoupi: Maybe only a partial list of closely related SE sites should be included in the migration list? SU might be more likely to get questions that are more suited to other SE sites, so its list could be longer.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 14:39
  • Nothing prevents someone from asking any type of question on SO. A system which would show some of the most occurring sites for migration, ok. But it should still allow to select others, or it will lead to situations like "let's migrate on SU, then on this other site" (or simple "close as off-topic", of course).
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 14:57
  • @Gnoupi: I wouldn't say nothing prevents someone from asking any type of question on SO. That's what closing/deleting helps prevent. A simple "close as off-topic" is what I'd prefer in most cases. People just don't know what kinds of questions are appropriate on the sites they don't frequent.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 15:09
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    @Bill - that's a good point. I see quite a stream of questions migrated from SO to SU which are actually off-topic on SU too, even by 5k+ users. So indeed it's not obvious to people where they should migrate or not, I guess. And at least there is a description of the sites, currently. Adding a "migrate to" for all SE sites, without an actual summary of their topic could generate indeed a lot of "mistakes" like that.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jun 3, 2010 at 12:44
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    @Gnoupi - Maybe this means that to migrate a question there needs to be a minimum rep on the destination site as well?
    – KeithB
    Commented Jul 5, 2010 at 7:29
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If the new sites are to be part of the Trilogy, then this doesn't have to be any different from moving the FAQ questions from Stack Overflow to Meta Stack Overflow way back.

I do agree with Bill that the Vote to close interface would have to be tweaked and only include closely related sites. I´m sure the team can think up ways to have moderators move questions to other sites, if this is wanted.

If it turns out that this would be abused by ignorant users, then perhaps the question should be closed and 'request' posting on the new site. That way the receiving site has a say in whether the question belongs there.

Shog9's suggestion from here:

If the SO community says it doesn't belong on SO, then it would be a bit rude for you to override that: you're not a SO moderator.

However, I would be in favor of a feature that let you delete the question from your site and simultaneously change the close reason to "not programming-related" on SO (in the process unlocking the original but leaving it closed). That would accomplish three helpful things:

  • It would get the question off of your site.
  • It would allow the question to be re-opened on SO, if the people so desired.
  • It would allow the question to be deleted on SO, if the people so desired.
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They will be part of the Trilogy. Looks like we will have to think up a new name.

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    It's not like if we had only 3 at the moment.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 14:36
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    If meta is the Holiday Special, what is area51?
    – C. Ross
    Commented Jun 14, 2010 at 15:19
  • @C. Ross - There is no Area 51.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Jun 14, 2010 at 18:10
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    @Gnoupi: Anthology Overflow
    – alexanderpas
    Commented Jun 21, 2010 at 23:43

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