Math/Chem formatting when asking a question

Question

I see that many questions are poorly received when the formatting is awful (pKa, OH-, etc.). I agree this is terrible, so I came up with the following idea that I would like to share.

More often that not, the user will not be aware of MathJax. The trick would be that after he/she hits "Review Your Question", the system recognizes that the user is employing math/chemical notation. A window is popped and it should be as simple to say:

• We really appreciate when users format mathematical and chemical symbols!!!.
• You have MnO4-? Just write $\ce{MnO4-}$ giving you $\ce{MnO4-}$.
• You wrote the number 3? Just write $3$.
• With double dollar signs $$ [...] $$ the equations are centered!
• You wrote an expression such as pKa = 3? Just write $\mathrm{p}K_\mathrm{a} = 3$ giving you $\mathrm{p}K_\mathrm{a} = 3$.

Of course this doesn't cover the universe of Mathjax, but the idea would be to contain the most used ones (e.g., \ce{} would be mandatory).

Personally, my main idea is to avoid the user to exit the site forever, by getting a closed question in matter of minutes. I think that this approach could eliminate unreadable questions which will be automatically sent to oblivion.

Answer 1

These are just a few random things, why I would prefer not having this or why I think it is not necessary.

1. I don't think that questions without good formatting automatically get the down- and/or close-vote. There is usually a lot more "wrong" with the question than just the application of MathJax.
2. A "bad" question with "good" formatting is still a bad question. In the end I think there is much more to it then just making nice formula. I personally think that 'HO- + H3O+ -> 2 H2O' is understandable (and not terrible). And there are a few active users that apply such markup regularly. For the new user there is more learned from this experience.
3. Users, who care, care. Users, who don't care, don't care. There are ways to direct users to help and then they still need to accept this. You can see that many of the users who ask ill-received questions never even bothered to take the tour. All the information is there and it is quite compressed, too.
4. MathJax is hard. There are quite a few veterans on this site that use it not in the way it should be used or that it is optimal. And I personally think that is absolutely fine. I am of the opinion, that the entry bar to asking a question should be as low as possible. I know that with this territory come question we'd rather not have. It's fine to try to engage, but most times nothing much will happen. If the entry bar is high enough to shy away a good question just because of some markup, then the site looses. I'm totally fine with sorting out ten bad questions when I get a good one eventually.
5. It seems even more elitist than our site usually comes across.

Let's get to the technical aspects.

6. Implementation will be hard. Currently the autodetection systems can't even filter much of the standard stuff like hello and thanks and so on. The chance of false positives is enormous.
7. I would need to be implemented on the client side, otherwise these checks will produce a lot of stress on the site. MathJax by itself is heavy enough already. I have nothing against a static message directing users to the help pages though.
8. It would need to be implemented with the base code of Stack Exchange, but the minority of pages use MathJax to start with.
9. There are plenty of unforeseeable side effects. I think the standard implementation still hasn't fixed how you can enter MathJax mode.

In the end, I'd rather have no MathJax use, than wrong MathJax use. I'm a lot more triggered by $CH_3OH + OH^- \rightarrow CH_3O^- + H_2O$ than by CH3OH + OH- -> CH3O- + H2O.

Answer 2

There are a couple of things in place already. When asking their first question, users are shown a document, saying:

Welcome to Chemistry Stack Exchange! To get you the best answer, we provide this guidance for first-time askers.

Before you post, search the site to make sure your question hasn’t been answered.

Follow our policies when asking homework-like questions (questions about problem sets, exam items, etc.). Carefully write your question, using clear language, technical terms and formatting as best as you can. Give sufficient context (what you understand and where you need help). It helps us and helps you. [...]

The help center starts with

For help with formatting chemistry or math, see this post on the chemistry meta site.

Many first-time posters don't pay attention to these messages, not realizing that a well-formatted question makes it more understandable, and will have a better chance of being answered.

If you see a new post that has promising content but awful formatting, consider fixing it and leaving a comment linking to this post on the chemistry meta site, i.e. FAQ: How can I format math/chemistry expressions on Chemistry Stack Exchange?. For me, the formatting by example is the easiest to use (I wrote it ...), and you can find it here: https://chemistry.meta.stackexchange.com/a/4718

The rationale I wrote for the "first-time asker modal" also applies to improving questions after they are posted by new users, so I am pasting it here:

About 40% of questions asks are first-time questions. In the last 90 days (as of 9/17/2022), 609 questions were closed, about half of all questions asked during that time. Better guidance could result in higher quality questions posted, and low-quality questions not posted (because the potential OP realizes that the question would be a duplicate or is off-topic or blatant homework). This might have a slight positive impact on the site (less work closing questions, more time for answering good questions or editing questions to turn them into good questions).

The bigger potential impact is on what happens to users after they ask their first question. If the OP's question gets closed, voted down or receives unflattering comments, this might be the last question the OP asks here. This is fine for OPs that have little or nothing to offer to the community, and are not interested in learning about how the site works. However, there might be one or two first-timers who would mature into valuable high-impact members of the community if their first question is of higher quality and gets received better (good answers, helpful comments, up-votes).

We do have control over some of the help pages (including the one linked to above), so suggestions for making those more relevant would be appreciated. In the end, not every first-time poster will pay attention, so everyone is invited to help out after the fact if it seems worthwhile to you. The change you are suggesting would require StackExchange to approve it and implement it, which is more difficult than working with the tools already in place.