How is it in the best interest of TGO to migrate bycycle questions to other sites?

Question

I Posted a question about bicycles at TGO and it was closed and migrated to another site.

Bikes are in scope at both bicycles.stackexchange.com and TGO

How does it benefit TGO to migrate inscope questions to other sites?

Answer 1

That question is just really not on topic here. Or if it is, only marginally.

It is fully on topic on Bicycles, and is likely to get the best answer there, as that sure has many cyclists, at all levels from amateurs to professional, and many skilled bicycle mechanics.

It is in the best interest of the poster (likely to give the best answer) and in the best interests of SE (move it to where it will get the best qualified answerers)

Answer 2

It helps both you and TGO.

While I disagree with Rory that your bicycle question was not on topic here, I agree with everything else Rory says.

• It is better suited to bicycles.SE.
• It will get better answers there. (I was in the middle of making an answer to it when I got the "you can no longer answer this question because it closed" prompt while typing, and I haven't checked it since but the answers you get will likely be more qualified than mine was)
• It helps you more.

Thanks Rory for helping me understand this better: So, bicycles are considered off topic on TGO (according to the bicycle discussion linked on the "big list of on-topic", though it has little discussion: feel free to join in there), but not for any lack of TGO leanings. It appears bicycles were decided to be off-topic specifically because of the existence of bicycle.SE. If it were not for the existence of bicycle.SE, then your question would have been considered on topic. So it's not off topic in the spirit of TGO, but it is virtually off topic by pure fiat (of no one person by themselves).

Now, here's the part that you will be more interested in...

It helps TGO because the question is still here. The question is in our queue, and it just happens to link to its place on bicycles.SE. So it is helping both sides, and TGO benefits from having its TGO members seeing bicycles.SE expertise even while clicking questions here on TGO.

Now that does beg other questions about how the site mechanics treat the question since it was migrated. Will it show up in the "hot" section for activity gathered elsewhere? Don't know, but I guess probably not. Will it show up in searches here? In the appropriate lists of questions for those tags? Etc.. (Those last two I could easily figure out once I'm done typing this and submit, but the point is that, yes, there are issues to consider).

These other questions/issues, however, are more an issue with how SE is implemented. So if migrating it from a site where people would find it useful to one where people are more focused on that topic causes problems for the people of the first site, that is more an issue that we should bring up in the main SE meta and try to make feature requests to improve SE in general. That is, assuming you believe the issue is important enough to warrant a feature request. In the case of "hot" questions, for example, you might still see it in the "hot network questions" listing on the right side of every SE page.

Answer 3

The question (post has automatically been locked & deleted by Community♦):

Title: Adjusting derailleur with bike upside down, is it ok?

I need to adjust the derailleur on my bike, I don't have a bike stand. I have three options for pedaling while adjusting the the derailleur.

• Turn the bike upside down, balancing on the handlebars and seat.

• Tip it up on the kick stand

• Lay it completely on its side (if no kickstand)

Upside down is easiest, but it seems like that might not be the best choice. Is it ok to adjust the derailleur when the bike is upside down? Is one method clearly better then the others?

Assuming bicycles on topic on TGO at all, this is clearly a bicycle only question. It has no relation to the outdoors or even a specific type of outdoor cycling, rather it is about the "mechanics" of optimally working on your bicycle. As @Kevin said, this is like asking about fixing cars on TGO, even if my SUV is an outdoor piece of equipment or used outdoors.

That being said, it's been pointed out that Bicycles are off topic because we have an awesome Bicycles Stack Exchange, so why not encourage our high-quality resource goals by populating Bicycles.SE with this helpful (seriously) question?

I have to say, I'm disappointed in the controversy created, especially by a high-reputation member. Mods are responsible to the community and I appreciate the opportunity to review my actions, but this could have been avoided by a better understanding of our scope. Indeed, we've all learned a little bit more by this discussion.

Answer 4

There have been several claims that the original question was off topic. But on examination none of them appear to be supported by community consensus.

In the end Rory has argued, that a moderator who has not visited TGO META for 5 months has made a decision, so....

Where we are now, one mod migrated it after a couple of flags. I agree with that migration 100%.

It is obvious to me that studiohack made the wrong choice in migrating this question as out of scope, and I have no ill will about that. We all make mistakes but we also have the opportunity to correct and adjust for them.