23 votes

Are questions about the Ideal Gas Law chemistry?

Yes, they should be on topic. (This is my personal point of view; if you agree, please up-vote it to make it consensus.) Obviously questions about gas laws are also on topic on physics, but that has ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
15 votes

Let's decide on what we should close as homework

The Problem As I See It I would argue that the underlying reason for the dynamics on the site leading to this question, as well as more than one other recent meta question (here and here too), is: ...
hBy2Py's user avatar
  • 17.3k
15 votes

Why is my question is not accepted on this site?

I don't think the question is a good enough duplicate to be closed, but I also don't think it's a very good question either. The case is pretty clear: hybridisation is wrong, therefore any ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
14 votes
Accepted

Is this forum the right place to ask basic physical chemistry questions?

Basic questions are completely allowed here (so long as they're in keeping with the homework policy), and indeed there are many really great examples of basic questions that have provided great ...
NotEvans.'s user avatar
  • 17.1k
13 votes
Accepted

Do we need a close reason for stuff that's obviously less than prudent?

This issue has likely been raised before, either on meta or in chat, but I'm on a bus now so am lazy to look for it. Our stance on this is that, it is much better to have a clear answer saying DO NOT ...
orthocresol's user avatar
12 votes

Should we allow data questions?

In my imagination, there are only a few reasons why one would think of asking that type of question: It is a homework assignment, so basic homework rules should apply; It is part of a person’s ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 68k
12 votes

Let's decide on what we should close as homework

My stand on those raised points: These are questions we should decide the ultimate fate of: Easily Google-able questions Why does oil float in water? Questions of this kind ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
12 votes

Policy on AMIRITE questions

I might as well get things started, to prove that others care too, you know... My opinion can be summed up with a single image. This is not going to be a well-reasoned or well-organized argument, but ...
pentavalentcarbon's user avatar
10 votes

Should we completely ban all homework questions?

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" springs to mind. Most homework questions I see fall into one of two categories: the first category is questions like the photo in your ...
NotEvans.'s user avatar
  • 17.1k
9 votes

Policy on AMIRITE questions

TL;DR Close under HW policy So, my stance is in the comment section. My first thought is: close the question, but in the spirit of friendliness, we can still leave a comment saying "yes, you're ...
orthocresol's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Should I ask short questions in chat or on main site?

The good thing about asking in chat is that there is no closing questions in chat. So if you can chat (i.e. have gained 20 reputation on at least one site in the network), and if you are not sure ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 68k
9 votes

Should we allow data questions?

These days, Google tends to provide at the least a starting point for most 'what is the value' questions. For example, Googling 'specific heat capacity of liquid iron' returns first of all the ...
Jon Custer's user avatar
  • 8,484
9 votes
Accepted

If I want to buy compound/element X …

Should we or should we not allow (and answer questions) that ask how to acquire a certain chemical? No, we should neither allow, nor answer questions about how to acquire a specific chemical.* But ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Guidelines for closing as off-topic, belong on a different SE

I'm going to set aside the issues with the linked question and explain, very briefly, the modus operandi we generally adhere to. We should only decide whether a question is on topic or not. Just ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
9 votes

What is the best site to ask computational questions?

From my understanding of the current guidelines here: If the question you are asking is directly related to the chemical/physical theory behind a calculation, it is perfectly fine to ask here. ...
Tyberius's user avatar
  • 11.7k
8 votes

Policy on AMIRITE questions

Turn them into canonical questions, close as duplicates. I personally am not a big fan of these kinds of questions, as they basically already violate our homework policy, which clearly states that a ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

Can I post a question about where to find data for skeletal 2D chemical structures?

Especially in the context of cheminformatics we have had questions about databases before, which were considered on topic. (Data mining questions using databases are not on topic.) See for some ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
8 votes

Are questions related to teaching chemistry on-topic?

Writing meta answers can be a bit tough, because sometimes I speak as a moderator and sometimes I speak as a user, and it's not always clear which is which. So let me be extra clear here... As a ...
orthocresol's user avatar
7 votes

If I want to buy compound/element X …

Should we or should we not allow (and answer questions) that ask how to acquire a certain chemical? Ignoring the legal/safety issue for a moment, it seems to me that this kind of question is a ...
NotEvans.'s user avatar
  • 17.1k
7 votes
Accepted

What to do about rudimentary questions?

Re-write the question to be more general (or at the least answer as if it was). In your example question, it's somewhat clear the general realm where the underlying sticking point is - the questioner ...
R.M.'s user avatar
  • 4,885
7 votes

Is this forum the right place to ask basic physical chemistry questions?

In principle, there is nothing wrong with basic questions. They should not be classifiable as homework as per the current homework policy, and there have been some reservations against amirite (am I ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 68k
7 votes
Accepted

Policy on picture questions

No. Low quality is not a close reason. If it is low quality, find a real reason to close it. This might be according to our homework policy, too broad, unclear, or another custom reason. It is best ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
7 votes

Are we a bit overzealous with closing questions as homework?

I think part of the issue is that the "Homework" close is being double-dipped as a "this question is too basic" close reason. (For the rest of this discussion, I exclude the obvious copy-and-pasted-...
R.M.'s user avatar
  • 4,885
7 votes

Is there a daily pattern in closing questions?

I ran this script to return the number of questions closed per hour. I'm in Greenwich Mean Time so I assume these results are too. ...
Jacob's user avatar
  • 874
7 votes

Regarding coronavirus questions

I partly disagree. There is nothing mysterious about what needs to be done. Wash your hands regularly and properly. Detergents denature viruses. No mystery in this physicochemical process. Other ...
Buck Thorn's user avatar
  • 21.6k
7 votes

Would it be a good idea to ask here why uric acid is not 1,3,7,9-tetrahydropurine-2,6,8-trione but rather is 7,9-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6,8(3H)-trione?

Generally, nomenclature questions are on topic. Nevertheless, the usual restrictions apply and we really don’t like it if it looks like we are doing your homework for you. Since nomenclature questions ...
Loong's user avatar
  • 4,814
6 votes

About posting questions of high school level

I'd argue that as long a question requires some thought to answer and the user shows some effort in attempting to determine that thought process, there really isn't such a thing as too low level of a ...
Tyberius's user avatar
  • 11.7k
6 votes

Should we allow data questions?

I think there is one more use-case when data-question may occur: the person simply doesn't have access to the data. Personally, I faced two situations when I actually needed to ask for the data in ...
andselisk's user avatar
  • 37.6k
6 votes

Policy on questions in basic mediums

These sorts of questions touch on the fundamental identity of the community. What do we want to be on- and off-topic here? Do we want to be a resource that extends to educating raw beginners? Do we ...
hBy2Py's user avatar
  • 17.3k
6 votes

Are questions related to teaching chemistry on-topic?

I mostly agree with orthocresol, but I need to go on the record here. Should questions like these be on-topic for this site? No. (From all points of view I can think of.) There have been well-...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible