Let's get critical: May 2013 Site Self-Evaluation

Question

We all love Chemistry Stack Exchange, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.

The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter. Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.

Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Answer 1

Here are my thoughts/votes on each Q&A that came up. If you haven't done the eval yet, I strongly suggest you go through the queue first before reading this:

I've kept my standards a bit higher than last time.

• Predicting molecular geometry from a formula Satisfactory: Homework-y question, with a nice answer.
• Is At a non metal or a metalloid? Satisfactory: Not much research into question.
• Tetrahedral or Square Planar Excellent: Interesting question, with an answer covering most(all?) the bases.
• How do you change the cis-trans isomerism of compounds? Satisfactory: Slightly broad question, with a suitable answer (a great answer would have given infinite examples, but that would be a lot of work and I don't expect that)
• Molecular orbital theory & predicting the stability of a molecule? Excellent: Basic MOT, but quite common. Good answer with pictures.
• Strength of intramolecular vs intermolecular hydrogen bonds Satisfactory: Question contains wrong assumption, good answer.
• Mol file of Morphine Needs improvement: Answer could be more elaborate.
• Can we process waste just by decomposing it to homogenous mass and extracting the elements from it? Excellent Interesting (if a bit naïve) question, good answer.
• If magnesium oxide is 2Mg + O2 → MgO then why is aluminium sulphate 2Al^(3+) + 3SO4^(2-) → Al2(SO4)3? Needs improvement: Homeworky with little to no work shown in the question.
• Smallest nearest neighbor distance among elements Satisfactory: Good answer, however the question didn't elicit much emotion from me.

Answer 2

Final Results

• Is At a non metal or a metalloid?

  Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 6, Needs Improvement: 1)

• Strength of intramolecular vs intermolecular hydrogen bonds

  Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 2)

• Molecular orbital theory & predicting the stability of a molecule?

  Net Score: 7 (Excellent: 7, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

• Can we process waste just by decomposing it to homogenous mass and extracting the elements from it?

  Net Score: 8 (Excellent: 8, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

• If magnesium oxide is 2Mg + O2 → MgO then why is aluminium sulphate 2Al^(3+) + 3SO4^(2-) → Al2(SO4)3?

  Net Score: -2 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 3)

• Smallest nearest neighbor distance among elements

  Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 7, Needs Improvement: 0)

• Tetrahedral or Square Planar

  Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 1)

• Predicting molecular geometry from a formula

  Net Score: -2 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 7, Needs Improvement: 2)

• Mol file of Morphine

  Net Score: -6 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 6)

• How do you change the cis-trans isomerism of compounds?

  Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 1)