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I'm sort of enjoying, e.g., Tom Au's recent spate of questions about Bridge: but I'm definitely starting to get the impression that he's just throwing out every possible question about the theory and practice of the game he can think of. Which is good for one's long-term reputation, I suppose: if you can cover most of the bases of a major game like Bridge, then a lot of questions in the future will have to be closed as duplicates, and the sweet, sweet reputation will all fall to you!

I have no idea if there's anything here to be offended by, though. Is asking questions that I don't urgently need to know the answer to, just because they're there, a desirable practice? It certainly keeps the site lively, which is better than the tumbleweeds that were blowing through this place a month or two back...

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  • +1 for the imagery of tumbleweeds, and because I had the very similar thoughts on the rash of A&A questions. I can't say it's stopped me from answering a bunch though. – Adam Wuerl Jun 7 '11 at 1:04
  • I'm asking questions at a great rate because I will have little time here past my vacation. I want to learn as much bridge and (Allies and Axis) as possible in a limited period of time. Which means "asking every possible question he can think of." Because I do want answers, and I want them NOW. – Tom Au Jun 9 '11 at 16:50
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    @Tom: That's definitely fair enough. As I say I think you've given the site a bit of a shot in the arm, it's much more lively now! It's just this is a sufficiently "new" way for the site to operate that I thought it was worth asking if it was a good thing. On balance I reckon it probably is. – thesunneversets Jun 9 '11 at 16:54
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This is covered directly in our FAQ.

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

If you feel that the questions are not valid per the FAQ, please vote to close. Borderline cases can be commented on with an intent to improve and tighten the question.

My opinion is that a lot of them could be good tight questions, but need work. However, I am no expert in Bridge (novice) or Axis & Allies(never played) so I haven't been confident enough to judge the questions by myself.

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  • I will take a more active and critical look at the quality of the A&A questions. Perhaps @Scott Mitchell would be willing to do so as well, as he seems very knowledgeable about A&A. A few of them have been a shotgunny, and perhaps on their face it's not likely all of these issues have been coming up in actual games. However, many of the issues raise are questions I've asked myself when trying to brainstorm alternative strategies and thus seem like legitimate strategical questions. – Adam Wuerl Jun 7 '11 at 1:08
  • I agree -- the bridge and A&A questions all seem to be a bit chatty and open-ended, but I rather let the experts voice their opinion. – LittleBobbyTables - Au Revoir Jun 8 '11 at 1:11
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    I sort of worry that people stumbling on this site will just see 200 questions about Bridge and Axis & Allies and think "huh, not for me really". But I guess you can't enforce what questions people ask! And we are getting some good answers and discussions... I kind of hope some fans of different games will feel liking chiming in at some point, though! – thesunneversets Jun 8 '11 at 22:29
  • @the That is a good point. Perhaps this is a good time for the long time members to revisit older questions and improve them or their answers. It would help to show more variety. this goes double for folks like me who don't play either of those two games :-) – Pat Ludwig♦ Jun 8 '11 at 23:47
  • Wow, I just checked and Tom has asked almost 150% the number of questions in 2 weeks of being here than I have in seven months. Maybe I'm just jealous of him being so prolific! – thesunneversets Jun 9 '11 at 16:29
  • I believe that most of my questions are either "tight" (or more important), have the makings of "tight" ones. I have benefited in a number of individual cases from suggestions, or even comments that the question can be tightened. – Tom Au Jun 9 '11 at 16:57

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