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What do people think of the question quality so far on the website?

My two cents: I fear it is quite low and it may just be the reason this becomes just another forum where Muslims hang out and hash out the same old topics, rather than attracting experts on Islam (Muslim and non-Muslim) and becoming a top-quality Q&A website. A lot of the questions so far are just encyclopedic questions. For example, I don't think a question like "What is Sunnah?" is the best fit for this website - I'd rather see something like "How does group X define the sunnah and what are the repercussions on their beliefs and practices". Same with "What is shirk?" - I'd rather see something like "What kinds of things do people today associate as partners with Allah?" or something like that. Same with questions on age-old fiqh matters with no situation-specific twist to them that makes them appropriate for this website.

We want questions that require research, knowledge, and expertise (this is not the same as saying that everybody is a scholar and every opinion is equally valid).

I think (more than) a few people on here still seem to view this as an encyclopedia website that needs to start ground up with "basic questions" first, or "what questions might a non-Muslim have." This is just not the way Stackexchange sites work - stackoverflow doesn't start off with questions defining what a pointer is.

Rant over. Since this needs to be a question, my question is this: How do we steer the website in the stackexchange expert direction and prevent it from becoming yet another site on Islam?

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  • Good point, but I don't like the way you asked it. "I don't like to see blahblahblah1, I'd rather see blahblahblah2", gives the impression that you're the king of the world or something! I think it's OK that you disliked some questions.
    – Gigili
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 20:27
  • @Gigili Point taken, language edited.
    – Ansari
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 20:29
  • Good, thank you.
    – Gigili
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 20:38
  • Disagree. SE sites are all about strong opposing views. I'm happy to see "I don't like to see X" "well I do!"
    – ashes999
    Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 0:17

1 Answer 1

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We write quality questions, and help others do the same.

I'll admit. I'm guilty of all charges. I was the one who made the "What is Sunnah?" question. I do have something to back-up my choice though: Encyclopedia Stack Exchange.

There is, of course, something that goes against my decision: Are some questions too simple?. In my opinion, yes some are too simple, but we want this site to be encyclopaedic. We want this to be the location for Islam. If we want that to happen, we have to have these questions.

So, in conclusion, we should allow these general, easy to answer questions, but as a community, we have to make encyclopaedic answers that basically sum everything up.

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    However, we shouldn't seed the site with 'easy' content all at once. We should wait for someone who doesn't know to ask it.
    – Mateen Ulhaq
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 21:02
  • @muntoo Of course.
    – Dynamic
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 21:19
  • I don't see why we should allow easy questions at all. They should be closed as "too easy." This is an expert Q&A forum.
    – ashes999
    Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 0:18
  • @ashes999 SO has some. But of course, this is just my opinion.
    – Dynamic
    Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 0:49

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