I've seen several questions asked from an 'enthusiastic passenger' perspective. Examples:
- How can passengers help in the cockpit in an in-flight aviational crisis?
- What things can a passenger look out for, to indicate an emergency?
- Passenger Question: How does the navigation work?
The response to these has been mixed but mostly negative and the third one is currently on hold (although I think the first answer given was very good and phrased appropriately for the question). Typically the comments say the questions are too vague or can't be clearly answered.
I think these questions are on-topic for this site but the issue of vagueness is real. By definition the questioners are not experts and therefore can't phrase their questions precisely.
If we consider the extreme positions we could take on this, we can either reject these questions completely and focus on becoming an 'experts only' site; or we can try to provide general answers and pointers to further reading. The first option alienates people who have genuine curiosity but little technical knowledge about aviation; the second risks discussions, follow-up questions and answers that other community members reject as vague or incomplete ("you forgot to mention the case where...").
On the whole I would prefer to try to answer passenger questions wherever possible, but actually doing that in a way that balances the two extremes may not be easy.
What do others think?