4
$\begingroup$

If I have question in Computational Physics, I sometimes feel more comfortable putting up this question in compsci.SE, but nevertheless the response at that site is extremely slow and poor (since its a beta version and there are few users). Therefore, sometimes I am compelled to post the same question on Physics.SE, is this a problem?

PS : I would suggest that it will be nice, if there can be a option to put up a question in more than one SE sites (with may be one as primary), such that certain questions lie in the intersection of more than one domains.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It's also worth thinking about whether a computational physics question is on-topic here. You might want to read through these questions on meta about it. It's actually possible that a "similar" question would be on topic and acceptable both places because we require a different focus than they do. $\endgroup$
    – tpg2114
    Sep 29, 2015 at 19:59

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

Yes, it is a problem: the same question shouldn't be posted to multiple SE sites because it tends to result in duplication of effort and different answerers missing each others' contributions. If we find that a question has been cross-posted, we'll consolidate it on one of the sites where it is on topic.

If you have a question that is on topic on more than one site, there are a couple things you can do:

  • Split it into two questions; ask the computational part on the computational science site and the physics part on this site. Most questions that you think fit on multiple sites actually don't, because they're too broad and should be split up this way. The communities of related sites usually coordinate to make sure their scope are split in this way, i.e. so that there's very little overlap. (Usually; not always.)
  • If the question really is on topic on both of the sites, choose one or the other to post it on. Make sure to adapt the question to the audience of that site - for example, if you're asking a computational physics question here, make sure it reads like a physics question.

The facilities for handling questions that cross multiple sites' scopes are not the best. People have raised this issue often on Meta SE, so I'd suggest checking there if you want to support better cross-posting or multi-posting features.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

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