0
$\begingroup$

This question has been migrated to Mathematics SE (MSE) a few minutes ago. I find it embarrassing since the question is clearly ill-posed both from the mathematical point of view (how the relation between $x, v$, and $a$ follows from the definition of velocity and acceleration?) and from the physical point of view (dimensional inconsistency). I voted for closing because the question needs clarification. However, my closing vote was the second. Before me, it was selected migration to MSE.

I do not think the reputation of our community in MSE will increase after such a migration. Even worse, I do not see a trace of my closing vote being different from the migration solution.

I would suggest that people in a hurry for closing questions at least would spend a few minutes to understand the content of the question instead of sticking to the title only.

$\endgroup$
14
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ "I do not think the reputation of our community in MSE will increase after such a migration." Who cares? $\endgroup$
    – hft
    Nov 23, 2022 at 20:40
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @hft Ok, you do not care about it. I care about the reputation of this site. I think that whatever our personal opinion about that, in any case, sloppy practice in closing questions should not be encouraged. $\endgroup$
    – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90
    Nov 23, 2022 at 21:32
  • $\begingroup$ I think the question was appropriate to migrate. OP uses the symbols $x$, $v$, and $a$ as $x$, $\dot x$, and $\ddot x$, respectively, but I don't see why this means it should not be migrated to math. There's not much "physical content," as far as I can tell, and the differential equation posed by OP ($x^2 + (\dot x)^2= (\ddot x)^2$) is not relevant to any physics I know off the top of my head. So, what is the big deal? $\endgroup$
    – hft
    Nov 23, 2022 at 21:51
  • $\begingroup$ Also, as you point out, if $x$ is supposed to be position and "dot" ($\dot{}$) is supposed to be differentiation wrt time, then the equation is dimensionally incorrect. $\endgroup$
    – hft
    Nov 23, 2022 at 21:53
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @hft Therefore, following your argument, also a post asking why 2+3=10 should be migrated. I'm afraid I have to disagree. If the question is wrong or unclear, it should not be migrated. Anyway, I would like to see other opinions. If the consensus is that migration was a reasonable choice, I'll take note in the future. $\endgroup$
    – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90
    Nov 23, 2022 at 22:19
  • $\begingroup$ A question asking why 2+3=10 should be closed and deleted. $\endgroup$
    – hft
    Nov 24, 2022 at 3:23
  • $\begingroup$ @hft I agree. That's the point. I do not see any difference between the question I mentioned and why 2+3=10. $\endgroup$
    – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90
    Nov 24, 2022 at 8:02
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Once again, I would ask you to consider that alternative viewpoints may have valid reasons instead of dismissing the people who voted differently from you from the start as "in a hurry" and not understanding the question. Starting an argument by assuming bad faith on the part of people who don't already agree with you isn't exactly conducive to constructive discussion. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Nov 24, 2022 at 11:37
  • $\begingroup$ @ACuriousMind I tried to consider alternative viewpoints. If I wrote here is because I could not find valid reasons. Moreover, saying that people read the question quickly before voting is not equivalent to assuming bad faith. $\endgroup$
    – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90
    Nov 24, 2022 at 13:57
  • $\begingroup$ Interestingly, I think the migrated question not only makes perfect mathematical sense, but is actually somewhat interesting. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Nov 25, 2022 at 12:17
  • $\begingroup$ @KyleKanos Provided the question is interpreted as "given the usual definition of velocity and acceleration," the equation $x^2+v^2=a^2$ is solvable or not? (but the formulation of the question leaves the possibility of interpreting the equation as a part of the premise) I would agree that the question could be interesting. But in that case, i) it should have been closed for not being clear enough, and ii) I think it would be more interesting for the Physics community than the mathematical one. Therefore, I remain with the impression that migration was a hasty decision. $\endgroup$
    – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90
    Nov 25, 2022 at 13:48
  • $\begingroup$ The question is neither unclear nor strictly physics only, it's pretty much "what is the solution to this DE, if it exists". And, generically speaking, such questions largely devoid of the physics concerns are more suited to math sites than physics sites, so it's really not at all a big deal that you're making it out to be. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Nov 25, 2022 at 14:41
  • $\begingroup$ I mean physically it doesn't make sense since the units don't work. As a mathematical question it could be interesting though. It's definitely not the worst thing that could be transferred. $\endgroup$
    – BioPhysicist
    Nov 25, 2022 at 14:59
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Also, I'm amazed at the fixation of units on the problem. Has no one thought of nondimensionalized equations (which, again, points more towards math than physics)? Or choosing units systems s.t. time and length have the same unit? Or even answering it by inserting applicable coefficients that handle the units? $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Nov 25, 2022 at 17:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

I have exactly zero concern about this “embarrassing” question.

The culture at Mathematics is a little different from over here. They are a bigger community, and they frequently answer questions that I would close if they appeared on Physics. If they don’t want this question, they’ll just close it, and the stub here will change from “migrated” to “migration rejected.” If we started sending them lots of low-quality questions, they would talk to us about it. Just one isn’t a big deal.

Your close reason is recorded in the question’s timeline. I don’t know whether seeing that information is a moderator superpower or not. Mostly no one cares about that, either.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ Probably you see the information about individual close reasons as moderator. I was not able to find it. Anyway, please do not put too much emphasis on the second paragraph of my post. My main concern (and embarrassment) is migrating instead of closing and deleting an ill-posed question. I know that all of us are humans and mistakes are possible. However, this is not the first time I have seen closing/migration reasons utterly unrelated to the content of the question. As a signal of too-fast judgments, I find it cause for reflection. $\endgroup$
    – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90
    Nov 24, 2022 at 8:25
  • $\begingroup$ Also remember that we recently made it easier to close and reopen questions, by reducing the number of community voters from five to three. We made this change with the explicit understanding that it would increase "too-fast judgements" which would need to be reversed. Overall, that change has been a net positive for the community, even at the cost of occasional hiccups like this one. Furthermore, remember that downvoted and closed questions do eventually get deleted by the Community bot, after some amount of time. $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Nov 24, 2022 at 9:52
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ @GiorgioP Yes, the individual close vote details are moderator-only information. And yes, we shouldn't migrate bad questions. However, I think your claim this migration is "utterly unrelated to the content of the question" is just wrong: While from a physical perspective I indeed find this question utterly mystifying, it is a mathematically well-defined question to ask whether the differential equation f + f' = f'' has solutions. It's not the best math question I've ever seen, but given what other questions stay open on math.SE, I don't think it is clear this shouldn't have been migrated. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Nov 24, 2022 at 11:30

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .