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On SO, when you flag a question as off topic, you can choose several options to migrate the question to:

enter image description here

We don't have that, except for meta:

enter image description here

I see some questions that I'd like to see migrated instead of just closed. For example, this one: What can I do as a student to be a better candidate for a hardware design job?

So, can we have more migration options? What should these options include? For now, I'm thinking of SuperUser, StackOverflow and DIY. What are your thoughts?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Those are only added if there is a very common migration path. Let me take a look at how many we have. If you think something should be migrated, you have to flag for diamond moderator attention and suggest it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 16:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ See: meta.stackexchange.com/a/86950/151157 \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris Laplante
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 17:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SimpleCoder there are several discussions on Meta Stack Exchange, but there's a difference because Stack Overflow already has multiple possibilities. Still a good and relevant link! \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 17:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk okay, thanks in advance! \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 17:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, there's a difference, but most of the points made at the link I posted still hold. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris Laplante
    Commented Mar 26, 2013 at 17:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ I was actually going to ask this exact question the other day. But after I typed in my title, in the suggested posts, I found this explanation from Kortuk: meta.electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/1247/… \$\endgroup\$
    – embedded.kyle
    Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 21:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ @embedded.kyle useful link, but Kortuk's argument is based on the amount of migrations, while I (and clabacchio♦, according to his feature-request) want to increase that amount. So the argument is invalid, in my opinion. \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 21:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ @CamilStaps Oh, I agree. I want exactly what you want. I think adding migration options to close votes on EE.SE would be very helpful. Which is why I wanted to suggest it myself. I was just referencing Kortuk's reasoning as to why they wouldn't honor our request. \$\endgroup\$
    – embedded.kyle
    Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 18:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk any progress on this one? Do you have some statistics yet? \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 6, 2013 at 18:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ @CamilStaps Thanks for bumping me :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 1:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ Personally, I think your example is on topic \$\endgroup\$
    – Scott Seidman
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 1:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ The example, where would you want it migrated? Moderators can migrate to every site on the network, but unless it looks like a good fit for a site we know offhand you need to put in a flag, "Migration candidate for XYZ.SE." \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 5:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ I missed that you were asking about flagging, I have updated my answer @CamilStaps. You will have to use a custom flag if you want to suggest a site not on the list, just explaining what you would like. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 5:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk thanks for all your work! The example isn't really a good example. There was a note from Nick Alexeev to move it to Careers, but I don't know that site so I'm not sure. \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 7:59

6 Answers 6

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We added Super User as a migration path, but we don't feel there's enough data right now to warrant adding Physics, DIY, et al at this time. If the need arises in the future, just make a meta post and let us know -- just like you did here!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks aarthi, that makes sense to me! \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 18:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ Is the addition of migration paths really difficult? \$\endgroup\$
    – JYelton
    Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 7:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JYelton if it is not a common path to be used then adding it is a migration path will likely cause many incorrect migrations. It is easy to do, but if we are migrating one question a month moderator review makes sense. If we are migrating multiple times a week with high accuracy it makes sense to allow community members to perform a task as they will be informed on the path. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2013 at 18:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk The way I see it, if five people with sufficient privileges agree to a particular migration path, then having a dozen sensible ones to choose from doesn't seem like a big deal. The migration or non-migration of a question is still a community effort. \$\endgroup\$
    – JYelton
    Commented Sep 10, 2013 at 18:11
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I don't know if it's changed or I just have some issue, but I NEVER see anything but the meta group for a migration option, and the meta group is usually not a good option when I think of migrating.

I would suggest a migrate options list that is sensitive to the reputation of the person suggesting the migration ON THE SITE THEY SUGGEST MIGRATING TO. I have certainly seen high-ranked moderators on site A who know nothing of the culture on site B send lousy migrations. Someone, even someone with a rep of 101 on site A, who is a 3K, 5K or 10K rep on site B is going to know that "this question belongs on site B", and should be able to suggest that, easily and sensibly. That should cut WAY down on rejections, and ALSO cut way down on questions that are closed because there is no sensible way to suggest migrating them where they need to go.

"You can submit a custom flag" Well, no, you can't, FROM THE MIGRATION page. You SHOULD be able to make a suggestion on the migration page, but you can't, actually. You have to take 3 steps back and wonder how much you're wasting your time by making a generic "other" flag to suggest a specific thing (migration) for which there is already a (mostly broken, IMHO) work path.

The current number of migrations completely fails to capture the questions that are simply closed without even a migration attempt, when there might have been a good place for them to be answered.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Keep in mind that any question that needs migration means the OP couldn't be bothered to look over the site, read the rules, and find the correct place for the question. Migrating a question only rewards laziness by giving them the desired result. Just close and move on. Therefore, there is no advantage to "cut way down on questions that are closed because there is no sensible way to suggest migrating them". \$\endgroup\$
    – Olin Lathrop
    Commented Feb 29, 2016 at 17:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Ecnerwal Currently, you should see options for migrating to meta.EE.SE and SuperUser. I agree with you that a free-form suggestion box for migrations should also be on that same screen. In fact, that's how it works for moderators. By the way, you are not the first person to bring this up: see here. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev Mod
    Commented Feb 29, 2016 at 17:58
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I find there are a lot of questions for Arduino recently that get migrated to the arduino SE. I think Arduino would be the most important option to add to that list at the current time. It seems that about every third question over the past few days has been an Arduino one...

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Good idea, but I'm not sure if the mods will see it here. Maybe ask as a new question, or in chat? \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 14:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ Mods have already been nudged. Probably won't happen for a while as Arduino is still in beta. \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 14:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ I see, okay, thanks. \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 14:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ Arduino questions could just be forwarded to the bit bucket. Maybe then the arduinees will finally get the message they don't belong here. We seem to have gotten a rash of arduino questions today. It feels like whack-a-mole. You kick one or two in the butt, and another bunch pop their heads up. \$\endgroup\$
    – Olin Lathrop
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 19:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think they're labouring under the misapprehension that they're using electronics... \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 19:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ We migrate about the same amount to Arduino.SE than to all other stacks combined. Very little (4%) bounces back from Arduino.SE . Mod-manually, we migrate 2.5x more to Arduino.SE than to SuperUser. The latter is the 2nd most popular destination, and it's on the Off Topic → Belongs on a different stack list, which is available to all close-voters. Last time I've checked, a stack in beta would not be added to migration list. See also this related answer from earlier this year. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev Mod
    Commented Dec 13, 2014 at 0:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, saw that one earlier. You have to start the ball rolling somewhere, and if we gather momentum now, when Arduino comes out of Beta it can be added almost straight away, along with Pi, etc. Also, while I agree with those points about betas for "general" sites about a broad ranging topic (like ours), I don't think they hold as true for a site that is centred around a specific product, as it doesn't need to discover what the site is going to be about, that has already been dictated by the product. \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Commented Dec 13, 2014 at 0:25
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The flag menu matches the close menu exactly. They change together and there has to be a need for there to be an item added to the list.

Stats of interest for our site:

  • Super User : 14 migrations (21% rejected) (The flags I almost always act on)
  • DIY : 5 migrations (20% rejected) (The flags have mostly been correct)
  • Physics: 4 migrations (The flags have mostly been correct)
  • Math : 4 migrations (25% rejected) (The flags have mostly been correct)
  • SO : 2 migrations

Now, an important point, at least to me, is that these migrations only track those that a diamond moderator saw and approved. That means, and I know this to be the case, there are many many more "rejected" migrations for all of them. Sadly, I can not easily pull statistics on that so I have added a note.

Looking at this, it might make sense to add at least Super User, maybe even DIY/Physics/math. I will contact the SE comm team and see their thoughts.

Here is a screenshot of stats for the last 90 days. Take a look for yourself(for those that are not 10k users yet):

Image with every migration in last 90 days.

Updated migration information as of 2013/8/7.

2013/8/7 stats

Updated migration information as of 2013/9/3.

2013/9/3 stats

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  • \$\begingroup\$ While you are at it, maybe they can put us on their flag->off topic menu? \$\endgroup\$
    – angelatlarge
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 5:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @angelatlarge physics would be the only site I was okay with that for based on those stats. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 5:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Wow! Nice work, thanks! I had expected more migrations, by the way. Thanks for contacting the SE team! \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 7:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ By the way, we had some questions about the unit step function that were migrated to Mathematics, but those questions could have been one question altogether. So that number might be a bit malformed. \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 8:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @CamilStaps generally people flag us for migrations pretty often, those are the number of times that we actually sent the question flying through the intranets. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 14:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ As of today other migration paths do not make sense to me. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 14:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk May be, this is an odd time slice, because it's summer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev
    Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 17:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NickAlexeev I would agree, I can get more information around December and that would be more representative. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 17:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk Can you run the statistics again, please? Here's my ploy. It would be nice to add DIY.SE to migration options. Summer is the most active time for home improvement (at least in the N. hemisphere). If we run the statistics now, it should show the greatest number of migrated questions. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev
    Commented Sep 3, 2013 at 4:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NickAlexeev done. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Sep 3, 2013 at 13:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, @Kortuk . Can you ask the SE community managers to add DIY.SE to our menu of migration options? \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev
    Commented Sep 4, 2013 at 0:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ I am not sure a spike to 7 for one month will make that reasonable, but I will pass it on to them. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Sep 4, 2013 at 0:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk There's been a grand total of 41 "migrate to DIY" flags cast over the lifetime of this site. There's a definite uptick in August, but that might turn out to be just a one-time fluke. I'm inclined to let it be for a while longer. If you see a consistent number of migrations happening every month, make a new meta post so that the path can be properly discussed. I think any new info in this thread is just going to get lost. \$\endgroup\$
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 19:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NickAlexeev See answer above. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 21:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ Any updates on the statistics yet? I feel like I am seeing/flagging a lot of migrations to: diy, cars, arduino, raspi \$\endgroup\$
    – PlasmaHH
    Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 20:58
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Things to consider:

  • There is a raspberry pi board that would be useful.

Places that probably wouldn't work:

  • Server fault: I hear they run a pretty "tight ship" over there, though I'd think for some networking questions they might be better than SU.
  • Programmers/Theoretical CS are probably not relevant enough.
  • This migration path might be useful for posts with thermal issues
  • Unix and Ubuntu we don't have enough issues for, which is sad. There should be more router tinkerers here.
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you have a post you think needs to be migrated it can be migrated, but you have to flag a diamond moderator and we will review if the migration is valid before we migrate. Of all of the stats I have below are our migrations that have occurred from most to least. I can post a picture of every migration done in the last 90 days. If we have only migrated 1 or twice in 90 days there is no way users will access it. If it is happening 5 times it probably wont happen. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 4:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sure. It's just easier to click a button then to have to type whole 5 letters. \$\endgroup\$
    – angelatlarge
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 5:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ you are discussing a seperate issue. If you can click a button then users can migrate it themselves. They will not, under any condition, add a site to that list that we never migrate to. The maximum is 5 sites, meta is always on the list, and there must be evidence that the migration path makes sense. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk Mod
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 5:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ Isn't Server Fault the corporate version of SuperUser? Their FAQ pretty much mentions that Home Networking stuff is SuperUser's domain though, and pretty much the only questions of that type I have seen in the last few months is basic port forward issues, with consumer routers/modems. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 1:12
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It be nicer if there were more options for that, instead of the questions being marked for closed. DIY is a common one I would flag for.

Is there a way to have a open ended option for the Off Topic/Migration close? A box where we can type in where and why, so it will be counted. While we can just flag, it would be better in allowing the mods to keep track of what migration paths are needed.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This has been discussed on Meta Stack Exchange. It was declined, so you'll have to flag it for moderator attention with a custom message. \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 7:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ Here: meta.stackexchange.com/q/79960/205264 \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 8:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ @CamilStaps that only talks about making the off topic/migration show all SEs. I meant simply a comment box, separate from a flag. The problem with using a flag, is that unless the mod who sees it writes it down for the future, it's not counted as a "This question was flagged for migration to a specific site". Right now, all that there would be is n number of questions have been closed as off topic, with a very small amount of migrations successfully completed. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 8:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry, I linked to the wrong question. This one then: meta.stackexchange.com/q/128617/205264 \$\endgroup\$
    – user17592
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 8:34

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