Relevant test question on Main:
The roll-over text for the Worldbuilding-Process tag reads:
For questions about the process of creating a new world or changing and developing an existing one, as opposed to questions about some element of the world being created or changed. NOTE that this is NOT a generic, catch-all tag; this tag should be used to address process, meaning HOW you world build not what you are building. Don't use it if the question isn't about worldbuilding process. See also the extended tag information for when to use this tag.
The Wiki for this tag is breathtaking and one of the best introductions to the process of worldbuilding and ostensibly to asking questions about worldbuilding on this Stack that I've ever read. Unfortunately, IMO it's also absolutely worthless when it comes to explaining what the nature of of a question about the process of worldbuilding should look like. But it was created seven years ago, long before the current standards of rules and policies came about.
I sincerely believe that questions about the process of worldbuilding should be allowed on a site dedicated to worldbuilding. Unfortunately, while not definitively proven by my test question, the simple fact is, asking "how should I go about X?" (and "how should I" and "advice for" are synonymous in my book) will, at this time, always be closed as too broad, too opinion-based, likely to lead to answers of equal value, being open-ended, and brainstorming.
In other words, it looks like between Stack Exchange and our own best efforts to get people to stop asking low-quality, unprepared, one-off questions, we've boxed ourselves into a corner where we can no longer answer a question about how to build worlds in the first place. We're delighted to answer the question, "how should I achieve X in my world given the following details specific to my world?" But we can no longer answer the question "How should I approach achieving X in a way that isn't specific to just one world?"
Personally, I think that's unacceptable to a staggering degree.
The issue is embodied in a statement from the Help Center:
Questions must be specific as well as answerable. If you are looking for ... an overall process rather than specific questions and answers, the Worldbuilding Stack Exchange might not be a good place for your question.
You'll notice I left out "discussion" and "brainstorming"
I completely agree that a question should lead to a definitive response (not a discussion). I could debate whether or not my test question did so, but let's set that aside.
I also completely agree that brainstorming is bad, but I have always understood brainstorming to mean, "I'm trying to overcome writer's block. I need ideas! Could you throw some ideas at me so I can choose one?" I most certainly do not believe that my test question was brainstorming. Brainstorming about one's world violates the "no Q should lead to answers of equal value" rule because while it's theoretically possible that aspects of more than one answer may be valuable to the OP, it's most likely that we're just throwing spaghetti against the proverbial wall and hoping something sticks.
But seeking advice about the process of worldbuilding is, IMO, not brainstorming because each and every answer is likely to prove valuable to the OP and used by the OP. In fact, all the answers could reasonably be bound into a single canonical answer that can apply to every worldbuilder regardless their experience level. (This could not be done with a "writer's block" question.)
Brainstorming is what happens when a querent is intentionally NOT seeking a definitive answer because the querent doesn't know what they want.
An education is what happens when a querent is asking for experienced guidance because the querent doesn't know how to proceed. There won't be one astonishingly comprehensive "there will never be a better answer than this one!" answer to a Worldbuilding-Process question (unless any of us believes their godlike worldbuilding abilities are just that good). The whole point is getting as much education as you can. Complaining that this is brainstorming is like complaining about buying multiple textbooks while seeking a college degree or complaining that any one textbook has multiple chapters. Frankly, it's silly.
But that doesn't fully discharge the problems with the future use of the tag
The simple truth is, I don't believe a Worldbuilding-Process question can be authoritatively asked within today's rules and policies.
Option #1: It would require a very large, very complex, and very involved change to our existing rules that would also require a change to the Help Center pages to bring the Worldbuilding-Process tag back into conformance. Considering that no effort to change the Help Center pages has succeeded in years, I don't think this is a realistic option.
Option #2: Somebody writes an answer to this post that says, "I think the Worldbuilding-Process tag should be an exception to the rules with the following advice about how to ask a process question added to the wiki" (or some such) that then gets some serious up votes (20+). At that point the tag Wiki can be updated to point back to that answer so that when somebody complains that a Worldbuilding-Process question is too broad, too opinion-based, brainstorming, or otherwise in violation of the Stack's rules and policies, people can point to this and say, "it's an exception."
So, officially...
Question: Should the Worldbuilding-Process tag be discontinued?