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Assume that we have a question that is off-topic on cstheory and is getting closed, and it is on-topic on some other SE site.

We have two options, 1. we can migrate the question to the other site, or 2. we can just close it (as off-topic).

When should we close and when should we migrate?

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I'm not a fan of migration. It presumes that we know the site being migrated to pretty well. I can't say that I can do that for even math.SE, and I know I get annoyed when out-of-scope migration lands a question in our laps. The main purpose of migration is to preserve any ongoing discussion, so if the question is relatively new, I'd prefer to close it and have the user restart it on the other site.

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For question which are completely and clearly off-topic and are very unlikely to get reopens or edited in a reasonable way that would make them on-topic on cstheory, (e.g. undergrad homework questions) it is reasonable to migrate.

A main reason that OP asks such a question on cstheory is that he/she does not know where to ask it and asks the question on the wrong one.

Pro:

  1. It will keep the question open, (one question is saved)
  2. May cause less bitterness than just closing the question (since it is probable that it will get answered on the other site)
  3. Usually such questions get negative total vote here, and might eventually get deleted.
  4. ?

Con:

  1. We might make a mistake as in this case (but by being more careful we can reduce the possibility of something similar happening).
  2. ?
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    $\begingroup$ I think homework questions should be downvoted, and migrated. Unless of course it is a repeat offense, in that case the question should be downvoted and closed. Either way, I notice most people don't downvote, if something is off-topic I think we should downvote (on top of migrating/closing) to clean up the top page; especially now that downvoting does not cost the voter anything. $\endgroup$
    – Artem Kaznatcheev Mod
    Commented Aug 21, 2011 at 16:25
  • $\begingroup$ @Kaveh Since CS is open and running, I think we should migrate all the off topic questions there. It is LESS BITTER then closing it. $\endgroup$
    – Tayfun Pay
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 17:09
  • $\begingroup$ @Tayfun, not every off-topic question is on-topic on Computer Science. Btw, there was a newer meta-discussion about migration to Computer Science. $\endgroup$
    – Kaveh
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 20:03

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