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I posted this question earlier today about the name/brand of specific stack exchange sites, and was asking if it is confusing to new users to have a name/brand based on the target audience instead of the actual content of the site.

I thought this would be the perfect place to ask, since you guys are experts on user experience, and thought most users here have the added benefit of not being closely tied with the sites in question, so would be able to provide objective opinions on the matter. I even checked in chat before posting the question, and was told it would be on-topic here.

The question was closed as too localized, but I am having trouble rephrasing the question in such a way that isn't too localized, but still would get me the answers I am looking for. Many of the site users think this is a problem, and many others do not, so I was hoping for some objective opinions on the matter so I could figure out if this really is a problem worth trying to fix or not.

Would someone be able to help me rephrase the question in such a way I could get answers, without losing the context of the question?

The site specifics which I think affect the answer are:

  • the site is run by users, so new users are important for the site to continue growing
  • the site is strictly about specific content, and this content is not the target audience (although it is very closely related)

I have already made a few attempts at editing it, however nobody is giving me any kind of feedback as to if this is enough to get the question reopened or not, so I am guessing the answer so far is it's not good enough.

Edit

I made another attempt at editing the question to make it refer to a broad category of sites rather than specific sites. There is still a reference to the stack exchange sites because I feel they provide a great example of the sort of relationship between topic/audience I am referring to, however if you feel that is stopping the question from getting re-opened, please feel free to remove it.

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    I don't see how a passive aggressive question about your issues with programmer's scope/name can really be turned into a useful question about UX.
    – wax eagle
    Commented Apr 7, 2012 at 4:03
  • @waxeagle This was honestly just an attempt to get expert opinions about something I see as being a user-experience problem for a site I liked. I don't care if the answers I get back me up, or contradict me, but I wanted an answer from user-experience experts to the question. I believe it is a useful, on-topic question for the site, and I'm fairly sure the 4 downvotes it got were all from SE moderators who misunderstood my question (as shown by the now-deleted comment thread)
    – Rachel
    Commented Apr 20, 2012 at 13:11

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Disregarding any issues at Programmers of which I'm not aware, here's the problem with the question: there's no way to know the answer.

It's one of those questions we get here sometimes where the only way to determine the answer is to test it. There's no point asking a bunch of UX designers who have nothing to do with the community or product in question what to do, because there's nothing we can say that would be informed, useful or based on some kind of objective expertise that would solve your problem.

So in that sense it should be closed. Not because you've already made up your mind, or because you want to prove a point, but because it's just not a very useful question.

Note that I never saw the question in its original form, just the current edited one.

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  • Thanks Rahul. I'm a bit sad that everyone here seems to think I've made up my mind, or want to prove a point. Judging by the amount of SE moderator attention the question got shortly after I posted it, someone posted the question in TL along with their own opinion of it. I was trying to be objective and get opinions from a community whose expertise is user experience, and I wanted to know if this was actually a problem or if it was just something I only perceive as a problem. I asked in chat before posting and was told such a thing would be on-topic here, so thought I was in the right place.
    – Rachel
    Commented Apr 7, 2012 at 13:26
  • Some context might be appropriate.
    – wax eagle
    Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 2:26
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I submitted a complete rewrite of the question; I don't have unilateral edit powers, so it will need to be approved, but I think it may change the question into an acceptable one that may still answer the original request. I have never attempted an edit this drastic, so please let me know if it works or not.

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  • I saw your edit last night, but didn't have time to review it at the time. I went back to it this morning and it's gone, so I am guessing someone denied it. If you can post the changes here I could edit the question myself, although honestly, I don't know if a moderator will be willing to reopen that question (see here). Thank you for the attempt though, and I appreciate it.
    – Rachel
    Commented Apr 20, 2012 at 12:40
  • I was gonig to reject that edit and ask you to post a separate question honestly, but I see you've already done so, good work :)
    – Zelda Mod
    Commented Apr 20, 2012 at 14:16

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