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Being a web developer just starting out with this awesome stack exchange site I wanted to ask if there is a way/feature to organize multiple questions regarding the same "parent topic".

To keep things easy I would like to introduce you to a project concept I work on in my spare time:

I'm planning to create a browser game and would like to make use of the creative minds wobbling around this place. As this will get rather complex because of multiple topics that need to be cleared (economic systems, cultural differences between races, planet/solar system related stuff etc. etc.) I would like to know if it is possible to somehow group up questions. This would not only make it easier for me to organize my work but also (in my opinion) would make more fun for people answering as they see the project in its whole evolve.

If this is possible or could be implemented I would love to share everything I have so far to make the non-programming related part of this project fully community inspired.

I'm not talking about Tags or something like that but more like a full blown feature to (e.g.) have an overview of all questions in a specific group/project and things like that.

Edit:

Linking questions to maintain context is not what I'm talking about either.

What I would find logically and visually appealing would be some back end feature in a users profile showing his "projects" where the user can add questions to. If this could be visible to everyone going to the users profile there would be a wonderful overview of what is still open do finish a project. Simply linking questions is not enough IMO.

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  • $\begingroup$ Keeping a list of the questions you asked isn't enough? $\endgroup$
    – PatJ
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:09
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    $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of Series of questions $\endgroup$
    – PatJ
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:13
  • $\begingroup$ @PatJ for me, of course, that would work but IMHO getting people to really beeing part of a whole project (and feel like beeing) requires a more visibly appealing and sharable feature than a list of my questions. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:13
  • $\begingroup$ @PatJ I read the article but am not sure if this is really a duplicate of it. Linking questions don't really solve what I'm talking about. If there is no such feature, is it possible to develop it and include it in ths stack exchange site or is there no way of contributing to a specific SE site? $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:18
  • $\begingroup$ Frankly, I believe this is the best in-site feature you'll get. If you have your own website though, you can link all the questions to a personal page referencing everything the way you want. $\endgroup$
    – PatJ
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:20
  • $\begingroup$ @PatJ too bad. I thought there would at least be a way to extend a specific SE site with features. This specific feature is not needed in every SE site but IMO definately on this one. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:23
  • $\begingroup$ You can also put an answer to this question where you reference everything you've done. But I have to admit that it's not very visible. $\endgroup$
    – PatJ
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:25
  • $\begingroup$ @PatJ thanks for that meta post. I guess it's the best I can get but to be honest it's not even close to what I was thinking of. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:28
  • $\begingroup$ Frankly, I think your idea is good and adapted to WB. Not sure it will be implemented though. $\endgroup$
    – PatJ
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:37
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    $\begingroup$ @PatJ be sure to upvote if you think this is a good idea.. maybe one day, you never know, this question will get in the hands of some SE employee interested in this feature ;) $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 14:46
  • $\begingroup$ Can you go into more depth on how this feature would be a substantial upgrade over something like this: meta.worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/2594/… which is the same thing achieved with existing tools. $\endgroup$
    – Tim B Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 15:01
  • $\begingroup$ @TimB Thanks for the meta post. From my background (as I said I'm a webdeveloper) I would go with alot of "subfeatures" like statistics like "how much % of the project is done", "contributing to a project by suggesting questions/ aspects that may have been forgotten", maybe even something like "most participating answerer/coworker" of a project etc. It would make for a nice user profile part. This way a project still follows the SE structure but is not only "done" by one person and answered by others but more like a project multiple people work on with the asking user beeing the initiator. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 15:41
  • $\begingroup$ But if there is a good way of achieving the core idea of this which is already available i would be happy too. ;) The thing is, noone knows whats going on or that they are part of something bigger if they only answer one question of a series of questions they might be interested in aswell. Beeing a StackOverflow user for years I know from myself that rarely anyone really digs into a profile of another user and rechecks it only to see if that user has more interesting questions/ideas. Beeing notified because you e.g. subscribe to a project would fix this and IMO would be a nice feature. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 15:46
  • $\begingroup$ This would be nice to have. Sounds sort of like a cross between the SO Teams feature, which unfortunately they withdrew, and a Trello board, maybe. It would be worth thinking about what the minimum viable requirements would be; if we can propose a way to fit it within the existing framework, we can pitch it to SE. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 15:57
  • $\begingroup$ The pedant in me is bugged by your repetitive misspelling of the word 'being' (to the point that I actually misspelled it here...). I mean, unless you want everyone to be a bee, which would cause quite a buzz. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 20:00

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If, as you state, nobody really makes the effort to look at a profile - how would listing arbitrary 'projects' on a profile that is not visited be of any use?

Introducing some new feature that allows you to categorize question would mean that there needs to be a whole lot more thought and planning than you might realize at first. To just list a few things & questions:

  • Who creates categories/projects?
  • Who can modify them?
  • Who can use them?
  • A field to enter a category would add clutter to the question-mask
  • Is this field free-form or a dropdown?
  • How does a category/project differ from, e.g. a custom tag?
  • What if you never intend to finish that project?
  • Who will be able to access these 'statistics' you mention?
  • How will 'contributing to the project' work? E.g. again, who can create questions and who would be the author of a suggested question?
  • and many more...

The idea in itself is not bad, but as already mentioned, the gist of the idea can be achieved in at least two very straight-forward ways:

  1. Have a part in your question (e.g. I tend to use the first paragraph for that) where you link to other questions in your series/project. You can update that part whenever you write a new question and it'll just be adding a new link.

  2. Create a question here on meta that serves as a staging area where you explain the project/series and have an answer (or even many answers, one per question) in which you link to the questions of it. The questions itself can contain a one-liner linking to the meta question.

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  • $\begingroup$ To the first part: thats why I mentioned a notification functionality whenever a project you subscribed to is updated. When it comes to required functionalities and planning I know that it is alot of work and there are several things that need to be clearified. I would implement the feature myself if I had access as I have alot of ideas for it. Thanks for ur post and the workflow u provide in the last part. As long as there is no feature I discribed, I will use something close to what u mentioned. The accepted workflow here on WB is much different than on SO so i still need to get used to it. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Moe
    Commented Feb 2, 2017 at 8:20

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