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I don't think "where was this picture taken?" questions are generally helpful to the community.[1] There are places out there that do "view from my window" type contests where players use informat...
Answer
#2: Post edited
by
Monica Cellio
·
2021-11-07T22:54:17Z (about 3 years ago)
Added a note based on comment discussion.
I don't think "where was this picture taken?" questions are helpful to the community. There are places out there that do "view from my window" type contests where players use information in the photo to try to nail down where it is, but those are *challenges posted by someone who knows the answer*. They're games, not conventional Q&A. If Outdoors wanted to have a "challenges" or "games" category, it could host those kinds of puzzles if people are interested.- A couple of the questions are instead "is this picture from such-and-such location?". Those seem like they could be a better fit, though it's unfortunate when lots of these show up at once and push down other questions.
- It seems, from voting on these questions and here on meta, that the small community here isn't too interested in "location-identification" questions. The problem is compounded by the volume; visitors to the community see a front page full of downvoted photo-ID questions and probably don't realize the scope here is much broader.
- Most of these questions are unanswered, but a couple have answers. Maybe that means most people don't find them interesting but a few people do.
- I propose that we do one of three things with at least the first type I described ("where is this picture taken?"):
- 1. Decide they are off-topic and close the ones we have.
- 2. Decide that they are interesting challenges to some people here and give them their own space (a different category).
- 3. Decide they are ok *in limited numbers* and have a rule that any given person can have one such *unanswered* question at a time. This might encourage askers to either improve the existing question in hopes of getting an answer or delete it to make room for another. (We don't have any tooling for this, but on a community Somewhere Else we had voluntary rules about posting frequency for one category of questions, and the community largely followed it and enforced it when necessary.)
- I don't think "where was this picture taken?" questions are generally helpful to the community.[^1] There are places out there that do "view from my window" type contests where players use information in the photo to try to nail down where it is, but those are *challenges posted by someone who knows the answer*. They're games, not conventional Q&A. If Outdoors wanted to have a "challenges" or "games" category, it could host those kinds of puzzles if people are interested.
- A couple of the questions are instead "is this picture from such-and-such location?". Those seem like they could be a better fit, though it's unfortunate when lots of these show up at once and push down other questions.
- It seems, from voting on these questions and here on meta, that the small community here isn't too interested in "location-identification" questions. The problem is compounded by the volume; visitors to the community see a front page full of downvoted photo-ID questions and probably don't realize the scope here is much broader.
- Most of these questions are unanswered, but a couple have answers. Maybe that means most people don't find them interesting but a few people do.
- I propose that we do one of three things with at least the first type I described ("where is this picture taken?"):
- 1. Decide they are off-topic and close the ones we have.
- 2. Decide that they are interesting challenges to some people here and give them their own space (a different category).
- 3. Decide they are ok *in limited numbers* and have a rule that any given person can have one such *unanswered* question at a time. This might encourage askers to either improve the existing question in hopes of getting an answer or delete it to make room for another. (We don't have any tooling for this, but on a community Somewhere Else we had voluntary rules about posting frequency for one category of questions, and the community largely followed it and enforced it when necessary.)
- [^1]: A possible exception, noted in a comment, is a picture that you have a connection to and at least some context for. Example: a picture you (or someone you know) took from a tour bus but you don't remember details (but you know where you were touring in general and maybe even know locations of pictures before and after this one on your camera, so you can narrow it down). Questions about pictures you have some personal connection to, and have shared information about, feel different from "I found this picture; where is it?".
#1: Initial revision
by
Monica Cellio
·
2021-11-07T22:22:47Z (about 3 years ago)
I don't think "where was this picture taken?" questions are helpful to the community. There are places out there that do "view from my window" type contests where players use information in the photo to try to nail down where it is, but those are *challenges posted by someone who knows the answer*. They're games, not conventional Q&A. If Outdoors wanted to have a "challenges" or "games" category, it could host those kinds of puzzles if people are interested.
A couple of the questions are instead "is this picture from such-and-such location?". Those seem like they could be a better fit, though it's unfortunate when lots of these show up at once and push down other questions.
It seems, from voting on these questions and here on meta, that the small community here isn't too interested in "location-identification" questions. The problem is compounded by the volume; visitors to the community see a front page full of downvoted photo-ID questions and probably don't realize the scope here is much broader.
Most of these questions are unanswered, but a couple have answers. Maybe that means most people don't find them interesting but a few people do.
I propose that we do one of three things with at least the first type I described ("where is this picture taken?"):
1. Decide they are off-topic and close the ones we have.
2. Decide that they are interesting challenges to some people here and give them their own space (a different category).
3. Decide they are ok *in limited numbers* and have a rule that any given person can have one such *unanswered* question at a time. This might encourage askers to either improve the existing question in hopes of getting an answer or delete it to make room for another. (We don't have any tooling for this, but on a community Somewhere Else we had voluntary rules about posting frequency for one category of questions, and the community largely followed it and enforced it when necessary.)