8
$\begingroup$

There is already one related question regarding military use of aircraft, flight systems, avionics, etc. on Area 51 since this site's definition and commitment phase: Will missiles and missiles technology be a part of this Aviation and aerospace? Problem is, that the top rated answers there discuss that question from the perspective of the proposal's initial title: "Aviation and Aerospace".

I agree with later renaming of the proposal to Aviation alone, but that does leave us a bit in the dark with questions regarding scope that were discussed before that happened. Striking off "Aerospace" from the title of our new site does change basic idea of the site quite a bit, so I'd like to know what the community here thinks of combat flight, military aircraft and military flight technology? Should they be within the scope of our website, or not? Can we provide satisfactory answers for such questions, or do we cater mostly to civil aviators, flight engineers, and alike?

$\endgroup$
6
  • $\begingroup$ Shouldn't your last 2 paragraphs be in an answer since they're answering the question? You can make it a community wiki too. $\endgroup$
    – kyryx
    Dec 17, 2013 at 23:09
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @kyryx Hmmm no, the last two paragraphs are the question, that preface is there just to welcome new Stack Exchange members to our peculiarities LOL $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Dec 17, 2013 at 23:17
  • $\begingroup$ @BretCopeland While I agree with the edit, I don't agree with your reason for it. There is nothing in my initial post that I "copied" off anywhere. I wrote it. And this is not mentioned in help center either. If it is anywhere, then it would be perhaps in one of Stack Exchange blogs or other sites' metas. Since I expect many of our members being new to Stack Exchange, I've noticed such questions being questioned before on young beta sites, and is one of the first questions of this nature here, I thought it couldn't hurt and some might find helpful. Just thought to explain that. $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Dec 18, 2013 at 2:43
  • $\begingroup$ @TildalWave I have nothing against your intent, just make a separate question/community wiki if you feel it's important. It just didn't belong in this question. $\endgroup$
    – Bret Copeland
    Dec 18, 2013 at 2:47
  • $\begingroup$ @BretCopeland That is the part that I agree with, yes. But you implied that I copied it from help center. Please, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but some might find such finger-pointing and accusation of plagiarism offensive. I have pretty strong opinion on plagiarism myself, but I can understand that you perhaps thought I copied it because some of it followed similar style to one used elsewhere on Stack Exchange. $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Dec 18, 2013 at 2:52
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, I shouldn't have used the word "copied." I meant copied in the sense that it's just repeating various things from various help sections. "Duplicating" would have been more appropriate. $\endgroup$
    – Bret Copeland
    Dec 18, 2013 at 2:53

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
9
$\begingroup$

I would lean towards "let's see what happens." So far, I don't think there's an indication we will get many of those questions, but when it does happen, whether they are on-topic or off-topic will become very obvious based on the answers. We would be in a much better position to make this decision at that time.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Good advice, wait until you actually have a few real cases of a problem to think about how it should be solved ;) $\endgroup$
    – Tim Post
    Dec 18, 2013 at 5:52
2
$\begingroup$

I think those types of questions are fine, if they are asked in the same way as a question about any other question is asked. In other words if the question is about training, procedures, equipment, etc, I don't see the problem.

There are a lot of pilots who cross over between military, airliners, and GA over time and I think those questions would be interesting to a majority of the people interested in aviation in general.

$\endgroup$
0
$\begingroup$

If the question is about Aviation in an F-22, it's fine.

If it's about "Which fighter is best" or "How effective is an AIM-9 at 10km range against a Tu-95" then it's not really about aviation anymore.

I think we need to be careful not to choose our niches too specifically: if combat and military aviation are out, what about gliding and ballooning? Does a microlight count? Helicopters? Do we want to limit it to general aviation and commercial pilots? Do we include simulations? Can people ask about things relating to commercial aviation which aren't related to avionics? Do aircraft maintenance questions belong here, or are they related to mechanics?

It's very easy to either allow scope-creep (everything is included) or niche limitation (nothing is allowed apart from these specific things) - personally I think limiting it too much is more likely to kill the sub-site, as people lose interest in the same 5 questions about Cessna fuel systems. At the end of the day this is a fairly quiet SE sub-site, I think we can afford an extra handful of questions which are slightly off-centre.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

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