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Our ten year anniversary is coming up. There are rumors that SE corporate is going to give us an anniversary gift. While I'll be happy to celebrate our collective achievement, I wonder how we should describe our site? What do we want to tell people we do (well)? What examples of questions would you provide that are examples of what we do best?

Highly rated SE questions that have highly rated answers1,2

I'm going to post the question and then remain silent for 48 hours, invite you to provide answers below that include:

  • Alternative searches that you think serve as better questions from which to draw
  • Examples of questions or answers that you're proud of
  • One sentence elevator speeches that clearly communicate what we're proud of

1 I've removed Hitler questions from that search, because no matter how good the question or the answer, I'm reluctant to brag about those questions.

s The 150 score there is just an arbitrary number to give me a page of results. Please feel free to substitute any other search/search technique. The goal is to find examples of questions where people feel that H:SE did a good job.

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    Of all the text blurbs I see there, the skeptics one really stands out: "We live in a world of superstition, urban legend, and “fake news”. Skeptics Stack Exchange is dedicated to taking widely-believed claims and subjecting them to scientific skepticism to see what the evidence supports. The scope of the questions is broad – from the serious to the common-place to the bizarre​​. What the answers have in common is we work to push past politics and opinion to get to the empirical facts."
    – T.E.D. Mod
    Oct 28, 2021 at 13:57
  • Most of the rest are roughly of the form "A question and answer site for ... "
    – T.E.D. Mod
    Oct 28, 2021 at 13:58
  • Site slogan: Discerning between the Hitler of history, and the Adolph of faith.
    – Lucian
    Oct 29, 2021 at 16:07
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    How much say do we have about the blurb & examples used by SE? Or is this about how we migt 'celebrate', here? // (AH would include just 4 Qs more? Although: yup, let's avoid that, & any 'war Qs' please.) The search: must be gold? 150 is quite high and always skewed result from HNQ: only speedy, populist, and older As in it, which may include excellent posts, but I don't trust that mech-algo. How about a curated list of 'very good' posts? Subject to added scrutiny here, as well as a better text blurb than what help center currently offers?
    – LаngLаngС
    Oct 31, 2021 at 11:43
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    I'd love to see a curated list of "very good" - if we posted that curated list on Meta, we could reference it in the anniversary celebration, and as an example to new users....
    – MCW Mod
    Nov 8, 2021 at 14:00
  • Actually, such a list (example, but: note the diff on total votes, there, on their main, and on the blurb quoted) might be useful in general: eg countering, a bit the dreadful HNQ effect, the inescapable age effect, etc? Seems in my imagination also to complement and/or conflict the bounty system—thus I don't know how to best implement that: limited numbers on display, exchanging entries, regularly updated, … what else? (How to replicate at least advantages of regular voting in its (sometimes: un-)fairness, with ideally more fairness?
    – LаngLаngС
    Nov 8, 2021 at 23:47
  • Alas, even after solving most probs just mentioned, I expect such a list to be in need of constant updates, or to be merely representative of 'one point in History' for this site. The site's changing/evolving. Users are. Tastes are. Perhaps an intentional dating would be one way forward for such lists and circumvent the 'constant updates'? In any case, some kind of amp from Meta-H:SE for "very good" posts is something I'd support. Homepage and esp HNQ should perhaps be compensated somehow?
    – LаngLаngС
    Nov 8, 2021 at 23:56

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First, I agree with @T.E.D; looking over the prior examples, the one that stands out for me is:

Of all the text blurbs I see there, the skeptics one really stands out: "We live in a world of superstition, urban legend, and “fake news”. Skeptics Stack Exchange is dedicated to taking widely-believed claims and subjecting them to scientific skepticism to see what the evidence supports. The scope of the questions is broad – from the serious to the common-place to the bizarre​​. What the answers have in common is we work to push past politics and opinion to get to the empirical facts."

At least to me, that communicates an enthusiastic community with a purpose, and I'd like to see us craft something like that.

I think that H:SE is more than a Q&A site - I think we're a distinctive historical research tool. I think we're a place where you can get help on history and historiography, a place where volunteers are willing to research topics that are difficult or impossible to research through traditional methods.

  • I believe we're very good at image search questions.

  • I think we're particularly good at "bad question, good answer". (and please feel free to remind me of this the next time I throw shade at a bad question; while the question may be very bad, it is an opportunity for an answer that demonstrates research, and ultimately educates.

  • I think we're good at foundational historiographic questions - the how to of historical studies that are essential to understanding how history is known.

  • We're good at debunking and contextualizing

What should we include in our anniversary message? How do we invite others who share an interest in history as a science/research area, and who will enjoy participation? What examples of excellent questions would you cite?

Cherrypicked from the list of highest rated questions with highest rated answers.

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