Scope discussion for Sports

I'm OK with all of your points except equipment recommendations and possibly E-sports.

Equipment recommendations

Shopping questions or "which model should I get" are a bad fit for this kind of site. The reasons have been elaborated at length Elsewhere, and also here occasionally.

There are some gray areas that I could see allowing. If the question is more about the type of device versus which model, it could be on topic. For example, "Are there any drawbacks to velcro-tie shoes versus traditional shoelace-tie for running? What about sports where pivoting and changing direction are important, like soccer?" would be on topic, whereas "Which velcro-tie shoe is best for jogging?" would be off topic.

E-sport

I don't know what an E-sport is, so can't say whether it should be on topic. The name suggests something done on a computer, which isn't a "sport" as I think of it.

The difference between a "sport" and a "game" is that the former has a component of physical or athletic actions central to the competition. Clicking a mouse, even with the right timing, isn't the kind of physical actions I mean. For example, soccer is clearly a sport since running, kicking a ball, and other obvious athletic actions are integral to it. Chess is a game. You compete by thinking. The ability to pick up pieces and move them around isn't sufficiently athletic, and the game doesn't really hinge on your physical ability to do that well.

posted 5 months ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

5mo ago

Olin Lathrop‭

28 66 11

There are two obvious ways to set the scope: Physical sports only, or anything competitive.

Physical sports only: This would pretty much exclude all overlaps. You might miss out on some "came to discuss competitive starcraft, stayed for the soccer questions" people. But if creating proposals continues to be easy, and the incubator stays as it is, I think most of these people can simply start their own proposal.

Everything competitive: This would include all overlaps that don't already have their own site. For example, if there was a "Chess" site like SO, chess questions are better sent there. You might miss out on some purists who like to complain that "X is not a real sport". But then again, those purists also complain about things like figure skating, so does it even matter? With this approach, there is also the question of excluding discussion about doing the sports as a hobby without regard to the competitive aspect.

I would say that it comes down to what seed content you (and other early users) are willing to contribute. After you amass say 100 questions, how many will actually be not about physical sports? If less than 5-10 you are better off going the narrow route.

For some specific overlaps:

• Communities can cover organizing sports leagues and clubs
• "Fitness" doesn't exist yet, but it's an obvious overlap. A lot of people exercise for health or fun, without ever caring about competition, even though all the exercises have corresponding sports. Many sportsmen tend to have fitness programs (eg. weightlifting) that supports their competitiveness in the sport.
• "Pets" doesn't exist, but maybe it's better to send all the animal stuff there, since the proposal is trying to exclude animal behavior for example. There's also things like care & feeding, where the "animal" aspect is more relevant than the "sport" aspect.
• Shopping can cover questions about equipment/gear, resources (like books or classes), sports paraphenelia, sports event tickets
• Tabletop Games can cover chess and other "table sports"
• Video Games can cover e-sports, competitive multiplayer, speedrunning

I tried to edit the proposal directly, but realized that I can't change some things without contradicting the scope, and I don't want to edit that. But turns out you can't revert edits (feel free to revert mine if you find a way), and copy pasting the text from the history breaks formatting. 🤷

posted 5 months ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

5mo ago

matthewsnyder‭

141 82 73