How do I write a good question on Sports SE?

Question

This is a Canonical Question / FAQ Candidate to help our users ask better questions

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Consider these scenarios:

• A question you asked was recently closed.
• The community is misunderstanding what you're asking and how to help you.

How can I get my question answered?

• The answer to that question is almost always, Write a Good Question.

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How do I write a good question on Sports SE?

Answer 1

Almost always, a good answer is the result of a good question. A good question on Sports Stack Exchange is almost always well-written and informative. Consider the following while asking your question:

• How did I stumble upon the question at hand? What is the background?
• What assumptions/findings are relevant to the question? Which sources have I researched? This could save time for others who might be looking for an answer to the same/similar question.
• Am I looking to participate in discussion? If so, these questions are discouraged. However, they are welcome in Sports Stack Exchange's chatroom, The Clubhouse.

• How is it relevant to the community?

  Questions that are "too localized" are not encouraged on Stack Exchange sites. Avoid personal recommendations.

  Make it clear how your question is relevant to more people than just you. Adding information on the relevance of the question will ultimately help avoid any implicit reasoning behind asking the question.

  Relevance may depend on how you phrase your question. Be considerate with asking questions pertaining to a specific geographical area.

  Example 1:

  Instead of: "I want to do [sport] in [area]. How do I go about it?"

  Consider: "I am enthusiastic about my training in [sport], and want to take the next step. What are common ways to get in touch with local clubs/sponsors? (Note: I live in [area], in case someone lives nearby)."

  Example 2:

  Instead of: "I live in [area] and would like to do [sport] outdoors, where can I do it?"

  Consider: "I live in [area] and not sure where I can train for [sport]. What are common ways to find local outdoor fields/training facilities/etc...?"

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Original Response/Brainstorm

Disclaimer: I will be brainstorming a bit so bear with me if I am a bit incoherent. :)

In mind opinion a good question has a couple of properties:

1. It's well-written: as it's commonly uttered on SE sites, good answers are given to good questions. So in order to get an informative answer, the question needs to be well formulated, and well-posed. Obviously this is a very vague definition, but keep in mind that if people are not psychics, if they cannot understand what you mean from the way you write your question then chances are that they will not be able to answer it properly.

2. It's informative: a good question should include all relevant information to what's being asked. In other words, people should not need to browse around to get information to fully grasp what's being asked. I have a mental checklist I try to follow when I ask a question on SE sites.

   • What's the background? How did I stumble upon the question at hand?
   • What assumptions/findings are relevant to the question? Which sources did I check in order to find an answer to the question? Keep in mind that this could save quite a bit of time for all others who might be looking for an answer to the same, or a similar, question.
   • How is it relevant to general public? As we all (should) know, too localized questions are not welcome at SE sites, so adding information on the relevance of the question will ultimately help avoid any implicit reasoning behind asking the question.
   • Wrap the question up, by rephrasing/restating the core question.

3. It's interesting: truth of the matter is people are more likely to "look up" or "dig" information if they are interested in the answer themselves. Asking relatively boring facts, might cause the question to go unnoticed.

That's what I have so far... Would be interesting what others have to say about the matter.