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The title is a pun on "No taxation without representation!" a famous slogan referring to an authoritative imperial power.

I'm curious - for someone who is active here, why not just ask me if I'd like to have the question migrated before suddenly and anonymously doing it to me while I'm asleep? That would give me time to rewrite the language of question to make it suitable for another stackexchange.

I have a lot of first hand experience - each stackexchange seems to have a substantially different collective personality and attitude. I've found I have to really tailor the language to each one if I want to get a good response.

Next time, why not ask first please?

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  • $\begingroup$ @sandwich OK thanks - that's good! Is it after one year you can no longer "see" the question in your own list of deleted questions? There's something that happens after one year. (like Rooney Mara's character in The Social Network says, the internet is written in ink. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 1:32
  • $\begingroup$ It seems that really old low quality stuff may in fact be removed from the site. Don't know how that factors in to anything, but... $\endgroup$
    – PearsonArtPhoto Mod
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 2:05
  • $\begingroup$ @uhoh For what it's worth, I intentionally avoided migrating it myself. I don't think migration is generally a disservice. I do agree there are situations where migration is uncomfortable for the OP. I was not happy when a question that I answered on History got migrated to Sports (where I don't care to contribute to the community), but I understood it was part of the process. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 13:53
  • $\begingroup$ @called2voyage it's no problem, migration is a very good thing - the idea is always to get the question to a place where it has a better chance of getting an answer. I chose a humorous title to keep the mood light. A lot of times new users need this done for them because they are not very familiar with the SE ecosystem. I guess I'm at that awkward stage where I feel like saying "I can do it myself", weather I actually can or not. It is a possible improvement to SE - an option to invite the user to have their question migrated, but it adds complexity. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 14:09
  • $\begingroup$ @uhoh Suggest it on meta.stackexchange.com. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 14:11
  • $\begingroup$ @called2voyage I'm too shy - being at that awkward stage and all... $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 14:33
  • $\begingroup$ @uhoh I think you're familiar enough with the community you could do well. It would be good for you to start to branch out to addressing meta issues with SE. I feel like you really have something to say here. You'll probably get a number of upvotes, and even if no changes come from it you'll probably learn from the discussion. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 14:37
  • $\begingroup$ @called2voyage I did try once in stackoverflow and lived to tell the tale... added this answer $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 14:42
  • $\begingroup$ Personally, I think migration, if done correctly, is a good thing. Adding a why not ask first hoop through which the moderators have to jump before migrating a question would mean there would be no migration. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 1:22
  • $\begingroup$ @DavidHammen again you misrepresent what I said. I'm musing about the possibility of adding the option to invite to migrate for people like me who have "been around the block" a few times. Or even just plain asking them. I did not mention anything about removing the current options, which are generally used with great care and positive outcome! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 3:10

2 Answers 2

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Asking whether Mercury's orbit will be stable for the next five billion years is a bad question (an incredibly bad question!) for this site because of the huge time frame. On the other hand, it is a good question that is on-topic at astronomy SE. Migrating that question there was a service to the stackexchange community and to you. You should not have deleted it.

I act as a moderator at another web site. I am paid 1000 times what the moderators at this site are paid. Curiously, the moderators of this site are also paid 1000 times what I am paid. In other words, our pay is zero, zip, nada, null.

Closing or deleting a question is much easier than is migrating it. Closing takes but one click. Deletion takes but a few clicks. Migration requires thinking (it's not good to migrate what would still be a bad question to some other site), typing, and then some clicks. Add a "Do you want this question migrated?" delay and the moderators will choose "close" or "delete", but never "migrate."

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    $\begingroup$ Answer completely rewritten. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented May 23, 2016 at 1:03
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I've just had an even more irritating episode, the space exploration stack was suggested to me as a possibly better venue for question and I said I'd look at reposting a version of the question, not intending to use the question as originally written, here after it had been up on Worldbuilding for at least 24 hours only to have it migrated by someone else after just 15. The question as written is an even worse fit here than it was originally and has no value to this stack and no place in it. I have had some useful input out of it but overall it has been extremely frustrating.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for your post! I would feel similarly about the question. Would you have preferred to have been given an option? If the option were for it to be migrated or immediately closed as off-topic for example (it has to be something!) would you have felt better, or worse? I'm not at all sure how I would feel about that myself. I'm wondering if the anonymous, sudden migration is less painful than being forced to choose between two painful alternatives. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 16:40
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    $\begingroup$ @uhoh According to the revision history it was closed before it was migrated which makes it even more aggravating since it's clearly more off-topic here in it's existing form than it was on Worldbuilding. Closing the question was fine but leave me to ask elsewhere once I've done some due diligence. $\endgroup$
    – Ash
    Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 16:43
  • $\begingroup$ I see, well see what other comments come here, and if you are interested, consider bringing it up there as well in meta. Best read the related meta questions first, there may be some insight there that would change the nature of your question if you decide to post one. Good luck! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 16:48
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    $\begingroup$ @Ash For what it's worth, if I was the mod responsible, I wouldn't have migrated that post, as I would have identified it as not being a good fit for the target site. I did this recently for a post here that someone flagged for migration to Worldbuilding. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented Oct 31, 2018 at 20:07

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