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There are quite a few new questions tagged Mathematica on StackOverflow. I see us as potentially missing out on some new users.

How should we decide which questions should be flagged to be migrated?

This question is separate from this question, which was mainly about old questions.

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I'd say all questions not directly and explicitly about programming in Mathematica. I would migrate question that discuss

  • The Frontend
  • Using menu items
  • Settings and options
  • Graphics
  • Import and Export
  • Installation issues (Fonts, Files, Printing etc.)
  • Compatibility between versions
  • Packages
  • Integration, Differentiation, Special functions, and other mathematical stuff
  • Image processing
  • External interfacing
  • The workbench

and a few others.

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    In addition, even if it was explicitly about programming, consider suggesting this site to them so that future questions are asked here. – rm -rf♦ Mar 31 '12 at 21:39
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If the user is active on StackOverflow outside of the tag he may not wish to have to visit a second site. Therefore I suggest not migrating borderline questions from such users.

On the other hand, when a user is asking mostly or especially only questions on StackOverflow, I think migrating those questions here would be a helpful way to direct them to the correct venue.

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    I guess the whole point is to eventually not have two sites to support from an answerer's point of view... If an asker — who needs a solution to his problem — can't even be bothered to visit a dedicated site to get their answer, then they're probably not too enthusiastic about it. I would suggest leaving the weak/uninteresting/poor questions on SO and migrate only the newer good ones here (or suggest, whatever) – rm -rf♦ Apr 1 '12 at 6:50
  • @R.M let me put it this way: I asked a question here about generating random data. Arguably it may be more "on topic" for Cryptography but this is my community and I would find it really quite annoying if it was migrated without my consent. I'm trying to follow "do unto others..." here. – Mr.Wizard♦ Apr 1 '12 at 14:25
  • StackExchange is not only concerned with the interests of the questioner but also with the interests of other people having the same problem on the internet at large. They are served better if questions off-topic on SO/mathematica are moved to mathematica.SE if they would be on-topic there. Closing and deleting questions is also not in the interest of the questioner and still we do it on a daily basis. – Sjoerd C. de Vries Apr 1 '12 at 21:03
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    @Mr.W Questions should always be asked to the community that's an expert in it. If it's too broad that it overlaps with two sites, then it should be broken down to parts, asked at each and then finally stitched together by updating the questions everywhere once you've solved it. Insisting on asking something on one community just because they're familiar with the folks there doesn't seem like a good use of the community. I don't think any site requests the user's consent before migrating, because it's always done with the community's interests at heart. Users will always object due to inertia. – rm -rf♦ Apr 1 '12 at 22:17
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    To give you a counterexample to your random data, take Szabolcs's adaptive 2D sampling question — he first posted it here and when he realized it might be a bit more involved than setting a few parameters, he asked a question on the algorithm part of it on Computational Science. With what he learned there and on his own and help from others, he answered his own question and updated it. Not saying that everyone should answer their own Q, but making use of cross-site expertise is good for all. – rm -rf♦ Apr 1 '12 at 22:21

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