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Regarding the following question: https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/1778/how-can-one-join-car-racings-officially-in-india

The OP made this comment about her question being off topic:

I dont know about that off-topic.. here I saw faq, it was mentioned that sports related questions are allowed.. anyways thanks for the link..

posdef has made a set of guidelines (which is open to anyone to add/edit) on How do I write a good question on Sports SE? but the above proves that our current set of guidelines are not fully understood. To this user's credit, she did check the FAQ.

I would like to incorporate the community's guidelines (thanks, posdef, for the initial set) and have them available for users on our FAQ.

To avoid a rehash of previous questions (see below), how do we, the community, approach users regarding off topic, non-constructive, ambiguous, or localized questions while encouraging quality and their contributions?

How do I write a good question on Sports SE?

Interpretation of the FAQ: on/off-topic and more

Reflect our actual scope in the FAQ

Determining our scope

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Hm. Good point. Isn't there a general StackExchange approach in dealing with moderator<->user communication?

In this particular case I'd probably have voiced my doubts about relevance in a comment, suggested some rephrasing. After a waiting time of a couple of days without follow-up action, I'd only then act with a close-vote.

To me it is always important to look for ways of improvement, and encouragement to users. Especially for those new to the site or the network. Granted, lots of communication work is moot because "1-point users" often don't care or leave early. But the prevailing attitude should be a positive one. And users may leave because of a bad first contact - even though they would have been willing and capable of contributing.

However, I have no insight in any of the moderation tools and have no idea what is a practical and feasible approach and what is not.

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  • We, as a community, can help. I'm part of the community just as much as you are. Can't say I disagree with how you would handle it. However, sometimes, when a user gets an answer to his/her question, to SE standards or not, they got what they wanted, and have no further interest.
    – user527
    Commented Nov 2, 2012 at 14:41
  • Now, if this were Stack Overflow, some of these users would be getting slammed for some of the questions/answers they post. Just ask me...
    – user527
    Commented Nov 2, 2012 at 14:44
  • Even though that may be true, that should not be the prevailing motivation for actions. I know caring for low-rep users must be most of the work, with apparently the least benefit. But if 50 leave, but 1 stays and contributes back that's worth the effort - and true for any kind of "build-up" work. Comparable to motivating young folks to stay with a sport club ;-)
    – cfi
    Commented Nov 2, 2012 at 14:45
  • Absolutely. However, I prefer quality. If low-quality effort is consistently displayed by a user, it will get brought out. If it's a first time user, I try to come across as helpful (and have failed more often than not) to help construct their question.
    – user527
    Commented Nov 2, 2012 at 14:49
  • Also, if you have anything to contribute to help the community, please do so. meta.sports.stackexchange.com/questions/256/…
    – user527
    Commented Nov 2, 2012 at 14:54

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