I want to post a question that will start a discussion, and many will find opinion based. What should I do?

Question

I'm interested to ask questions that will definitely be marked as opinion-base. Most likely it'll start a discussion (or possible feud) between those who give different answers. Here are some examples:

• Who is the best Soccer player ever?
• Who is the best Football players not to be inducted to the Hall of fame?

Naturally a question like these will have multiple answers, based on user preferences. But at the same time I think it would promote the site, cause many people will have questions like that. It also helps to narrow down such general questions to only a few players, teams, seasons, or etc.

Maybe the Google+ page would've been a place to post these, but the g+ page is practically inactive. Although I don't think posting it on the g+ page wouldn't promote the site anyway. So is there already a policy regarding the topic which I'm not aware of? If not, should we consider these questions to be allowed on our site?

Answer 1

So is there already a policy regarding the topic which I'm not aware of?

Yes. This is explicitly discouraged in our on-topic page (dating back to 2013 when said page was revised):

Sports Stack Exchange is NOT a forum. Some kinds of questions should NOT be asked here:

• Who is the better [team/athlete/etc.]?

---

If not, should we consider these questions to be allowed on our site?

No. Quality is the MO of SE. We aim to promote a high-quality Q&A site, not a glorified forum...and such is said in our meta post for new users.

If this type of discussion is to take place, The Clubhouse is the perfect place for that. It may bring sustained discussion into the chatroom.

Answer 2

As you said these questions are not allowed because answers will be opinion based and too broad. They will attract mainly one-line low quality answers.

Stack Exchange is not about discussions and opinions, it is about facts.

You should ask questions with strict criteria and bounds about what you considered to be the best. In this way, it won't be considered opinion based and too broad.

Criteria could be, for example, best scores, best assist rate, best longevity in high ranked leagues etc...

Bounds could be, year range, countries etc...

Answer 3

You should not at all post these questions. They're not new. They've been asked, and bombed, and closed, and deleted.

They are explicitly off-topic. They are the opposite of everyhing that Stack Exvhange is about. They will not reflect the intent and the content of Sports SE.

If you post them, they will be downvoted. They will be closed. They will weigh against you when it comes to any meta decision.

Just. Don't.