On other sites, such as gamedev.se or stackoverflow, questions can be too localized. example. But on a site that is all about history, what could be too localized? Because history is all about detail.
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4 Answers
I think this can be handeld if we create a thoughtful group-tags and tag system and keep with it
- region
- century
- epoche (middle ages, roman empire, baroque...)
- events (ww1, ww2, emigration of nations, crusades...)
- kings, queens, popes
History has a huge well-developed taxonomy system, so lets use it. Try to use really historical tags, not only thematic tags.
Thats a unique selling proposition vs. other knowledge databases like wikipedia & co
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Good point! we should start adding those kinds of tags and retagging questions.– DanielCommented Oct 11, 2011 at 23:19
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I'd suggest that we be careful about tags for heads of state -- there are many name collisions (particularly for names like Henry I). It probably makes sense to disambiguate them by territory... Commented Feb 22, 2012 at 2:35
I think Joel (one of the founders of Stack Exchange) explains it perfectly in this answer:
"Too localized" should be used for very tiny geographic regions or vanishingly small periods of time. It is used when a question cannot possibly be answered because nobody participating in the site is likely to know the answer, and even if it were answered, nobody else would care.
The next part which is a rough guideline:
- Who cares?
- Is it even still there? Go check.
- What are the chances that this question could ever be answered in a way that would benefit anyone else?
- Now is it there?
So if nobody is going to come see the question, nobody is likely to come and answer the question and nobody is going to benefit from the answer then it is too localized.
Naturally, closing something as "It was only relevant back in old history" would be nonsensical here. It's not so much about the scope of time for the question itself, but the scope of the audience for the question.
Questions about a fairly obscure yet impactful historical event, for example, would be fair game for the site. Asking whether people ate eggs for breakfast during said period, however, probably fits into the status of "extraordinarily narrow situation" that the "too localized" close reason was designed for.
When looking at a question that you think might be "too localized", think about whether it would be of interest to other people visiting the site. If someone sees the title of the question, are they likely to investigate even if it is outside their field of knowledge? Does it attract more experts to the site? Or is it just personal curiosity of an individual? If the relevance of the question is minute or nonexistent to the majority of the community, that is the sign of a question that is too localized.
I'd agree that it'd be very hard to become too locaized, youd' have to have questions that were extremely small in scope (such as what happened to mayor x in small town y during time z).
