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This question would be much better suited to Writers.StackExchange. However when I clicked to close it as better suited for another site the only option available was meta.

How can we add to this list? I would suggest our most common crossovers are:

  • Writers (how do I write?)
  • English Language (What's the word?)
  • RPG (What game mechanic?)

In this particular case I'd suggest that this question should be closed because it's very broad. There would be little point to send it Writers for them to close it! However that doesn't answer the question of what happens next time.

ETA: The question has gone, for prosperity's sake it was about designing realistic dialogue.

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    $\begingroup$ I think beta sites don't get migration paths, but I agree with your list. $\endgroup$
    – Bobson
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 14:46

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Beta sites don't get to customize this list, but moderators (once we have them) can migrate anywhere. If you think a migration is called for, use a flag to say where and it'll be reviewed.

The question you linked to is now gone so I can't comment on the specific case. In general, we should jealously guard our on-topic questions; if something is on-topic here and somebody asked it here, don't send it elsewhere because it might fit better there. If it doesn't fit here, of course, and is also a suitable question (not too broad, opinion-based, etc -- the SE-wide norms), then we should try to help the asker move it to a site where it does fit.

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  • $\begingroup$ For clarity, the user was asking about how to create realistic dialogs; while a good fit for Writers SE, was clearly outside the scope of this site. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 19:03
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @RobertCartaino. So if it was a good question (but not for here), that's a case where a custom flag to the mods, and the mods asking the Writers mods (or just migrating), would do the trick. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 19:10
  • $\begingroup$ Not to get too off topic, but I'm not a big fan of migrating questions that do not already have significant content (i.e. good answers) just to save a bit of typing. The author may not have an account orphaning it on the destination site, or it may not be asked in the best context for that site. More often than not, I find it better to simply ask them to take their question and re-ask it on the new site. That's just my pet peeve. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 19:12
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks @RobertCartaino. Elsewhere (not sure where, maybe in TL?) I've heard the advice that we shouldn't migrate questions that are already answered (if it found an answer on your site why send all that away?), hence my confusion. I think close + suggest re-asking makes sense in a lot of cases, especially where more work is needed to meet the other site's requirements. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 19:16
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    $\begingroup$ That's mostly crap, @Monica - if the question is good but off-topic, and you can find a site where it would be welcomed, migrate. And if this comes up again in the TL, tell them to stop being so persnickety. $\endgroup$
    – Shog9
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 16:33
  • $\begingroup$ @Shog9 I'm only repeating what I was told; the "crap" is not mine. Migration comes up a lot there, so maybe you should say something there pointing to guidelines (do we have guidelines beyond "don't migrate crap?") and pin it? $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 16:35
  • $\begingroup$ Will-do, @Monica. $\endgroup$
    – Shog9
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 16:38
  • $\begingroup$ Nothing here is inconsistent with anything I've said -- in fact, I use this blog post a lot when talking about overlapping scope -- but in case anybody else is confused about SE guidance on overlapping scope, check out Respect the community - your own, and others'. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 18:14
  • $\begingroup$ To be clear, I wasn't being critical of you @Monica, but rather, the person who gave you that advice in the TL. This sort of bad advice has gotten passed around far too long - please help in squelching it if you see it again. $\endgroup$
    – Shog9
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 18:22
  • $\begingroup$ Will do @Shog9. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 19:18
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Be very careful about suggesting sites where a question won’t be welcome

Questions that don’t fit well here will, very often, not fit very well on other sites either, because regardless of where a topic fits best, there are also other issues with the question. We have to be careful about sending them questions they don’t want: that gives their moderators more work to do, distracts their users, and possibly worst of all, gives the question-asker the most obnoxious and frustrating run-around you could imagine. Unless you’re familiar with the norms of the community you’re suggesting they go to, at the very least also give feedback and critique for preparing a better question on another site.

Really, it’s just about being a good neighbor.

(I base this on my time on RPG SE; we used to send everything that had anything to do with video games over to Arqade, which annoyed them because frequently we were sending over bad questions that they then had to deal with.)

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I generally agree, there are some questions that obviously make sense elsewhere.

At the same time I think it important to say we should avoid moving all the questions that "could" go elsewhere, we knew coming in that there was going to be a lot of overlap. In most cases, unless its clearly evident that the question belongs elsewhere we put the question on hold and have them rewrite, I feel like migration should be used sparingly on this site.

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  • $\begingroup$ The question of whether migration should be used sparingly or not depends on whether questions that better should be migrated appear sparingly or not. What I want to say is: It's not the number of questions that counts, it's the criteria. It's clear that only questions should be migrated which we clearly don't want here, but which clearly would be welcome at the destination site. $\endgroup$
    – celtschk
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 11:44

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