Shall we continue to agree that good SETI and extraterrestrial questions are on-topic? What about METI?

Question

We currently have 19 questions tagged with seti One was recently closed and one has two close votes, and extra-terrestrial has 35 questions.

Going through these it seems that some good SETI and extraterrestrial questions have always been on-topic here.

I also think that SETI is a valid subfield of Astronomy and there have always been real astronomers participating in this field.

proximal question

Should we re-open the closed question and keep the one with two close votes open as well?

larger question

What are some effective and actionable guidelines for judging when a good SETI question is on-topic and should be kept open, and which should not be considered on-topic?

What about good METI questions? (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

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• How to communicate Fine Structure Constant to aliens? (2 close votes with "probably more suited to" close reason)
• What are the prime challenges in search for extraterrestrial intelligence? (well received, great answer, closed, voting to reopen)

Answer 1

I think that I am quite OK with having SETI and METI questions, having already asked a question related to SETI (with 2 upvotes ).

While to some it may seem that SETI questions are usually not well-received in Astronomy SE (it did to me when I joined), if one takes a average of all the votes the seti tag has received quite average vote count of ~2.21 (yay! my question is quite average!).

Many astronomers were part of, and participated in SETI and I think SETI should be, and is, well-received in the Community. Though METI seems relatively new a concept, it is very nearly related to SETI, and all in all, it has also received some recognition in some the questions mentioned above by @uhoh. But still posting them here.

• Is the pulsar map on the Pioneer/Voyager probes only meaningful for earthlings?
• Who or what will the Arecibo message reach?
• Is broadcasting the location of Earth to potential extraterrestial civilization regulated?
• How to communicate Fine Structure Constant to aliens?
• What are the prime challenges in search for extraterrestrial intelligence?

Answer 2

You have two questions here, and I have opposing answers to them:

I agree with you that good SETI questions should be on topic - but the definition of Good here is key.

METI on the other hand - so far I haven't seen any good (from a site perspective) METI questions here. Those two you highlight, I would firmly class in "not good questions" despite the second one having a good answer.

Which I assume is why some are pointed to worldbuilding - METI is irrelevant until SETI is successful (pretty much) and unlike the search, messaging is philosophical and hypothetical, and until aliens are found, no possibility of a definitive answer.