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Sometimes I come across questions that are on-topic but cross-posted on multiple sites. According to Meta Stack Exchange, cross-posting is highly discouraged.

Unix and Linux has a closing option for this, but Ask Ubuntu doesn't.

close reason on U&L "posted n multiple sites"

Should this be implemented here on Ask Ubuntu or is it planned or not required at all (why?)?

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  • Note, there's a general policy about this meta.stackexchange.com/questions/64068
    – Braiam
    Commented Apr 29, 2019 at 16:17
  • Hey @Braiam!!! I'm already aware about that and have already included its link in my post :)
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 29, 2019 at 16:42

3 Answers 3

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Each site can have 4 custom close reasons, as Thomas explained, and on Unix & Linux, we have added a reason for cross posting. So the strange thing isn't that AU doesn't have the reason, but that U&L does.

For reasons that have never been clear to me, the U&L community is particularly sensitive to cross posts. So much so, that we implemented a dedicated reason for that! Personally, I think that isn't a useful close reason, and I say this as a mod of U&L. I have never understood why we have that reason over there and I kinda wish we didn't.

So, yes, it is theoretically possible to add it here too, but that would require removing one of the reasons we already have. And it really wouldn't be worth it, it my opinion. If you see crossposted questions, just flag for mod attention. That way, we can coordinate with the other site and make sure one of the two remains open (if they are worth keeping). I really don't see the benefit in a dedicated reason for this.

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  • Ok, so I got across your meta post about getting rid of it.
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 16:54
  • 1
    @Kulfy yeah, I personally don't think it's useful. But that's just my own opinion. The rest of the community seems to like it though, so it's staying. Same goes for here, by the way. This is just my personal opinion. If the AU community feels it's worth having such a dedicated reason, we could remove one of the existing ones to make room for it. Although I don't really know which one we could remove.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 17:15
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    @Kulfy by the way, if you do think that such a reason would be useful, please post an answer here explaining why so people can vote on it.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 17:16
  • As of now, I don't have a reason that would weigh over your opinions. Yes, I do agree with your thoughts. Having said that, can I ask you since you are a mod on U&L too, how frequently do you/community use(s) such vote to close a question?
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 22:27
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    @Kulfy you can see the stats here. The cross-posted close reason accounts for only 4.35% of all closures in the past 90 days.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Apr 29, 2019 at 14:29
  • I appreciate this answer as I didn't know we should be flagging for mod attention in this scenario. What I've been doing is checking out both questions myself to see whether we should close or leave open here...
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Apr 30, 2019 at 2:33
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We can only have 4 custom close reasons, and to my knowledge, crossposting doesn't come up enough to make it worthy of a close reason for itself.

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  • By 5 custom close reasons, do you mean: duplicate, off-topic, unclear, too broad and opinion based? If yes, U&L lists closing for such a reason under off-topic category.
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 15:16
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    @Kulfy no, it's the reasons you see under close->off topic. We currently have "This is not about Ubuntu", "Bug reports", "End of life" and "Non-reproducible". One of those would have to be removed to make room for a new one.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 17:17
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    @terdon Oh!!! All of them plays very important role IMO and are used much frequently.
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 22:25
  • @Kulfy yep, I agree with that statement, but because of that statement I"m going to assume you don't want to drop the existing reasons to make that much room. :P
    – Thomas Ward Mod
    Commented Apr 27, 2019 at 2:41
  • @ThomasWard Yeah. I don't think that removing an important "reason" for a not so important "reason" is a good choice. Moreover, SO has 5 custom close reasons, blatantly off-topic and belongs to other site. But according to terdon's edit only 4 are possible. Is it just because SO is very big?
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 27, 2019 at 17:46
  • Nevermind. Adam's answer on Oli's question is well-explanatory.
    – Kulfy
    Commented Apr 28, 2019 at 19:22
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    @Kulfy you can see the stats here. The corss-posted close reason accounts for only 4.35% of all closures in the past 90 days.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Apr 29, 2019 at 10:01
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I think this is related to the reason that you can't also close something for belonging to a different site on the stack* network - Ask Ubuntu is treated as if it's a separately run and governed community that just happens to use the stack* platform, rather than a regular member of the stack* community. So as a result, I don't think Ask Ubuntu is particularly worried about whether something duplicates something on another stack* site, since they regard it as sort of like a separate site.

Nowadays the design is become more and more similar to a stack* site design. It used to look and feel quite distinct despite running on the same platform.

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