Why are examples of writing and critiques off topic again?

Question

I came across an off-topic question where someone had asked for help tightening up a piece of prose. It was flagged as off topic and I found it peculiar. In other exchange sites you might have a software developer show a section of code and ask what is wrong, or have an answer include a string of psuedo code to demonstrate how to do something correctly. This ability to get into the details of code in a transparent, public, and interactive manner is (in my opinion) the key to the success of the StackExchange format. It works really well for code. Why has the writer's exchange decided to ban this sort of thing with prose?

Answer 1

Aric's answer here covers current policy well. And Mark's answer makes a very good point about reusability. As for the history - Writing critiques have been off-topic for quite some time here. Part of the problem is that a critique is something for which there's no "correct" or canonical answer possible. Critiques on writing are also far more subjective than code critiques, so it doesn't fit the format well. The history of critiques here is involved and you can, if you like, feel free to wade through the discussion here on meta (under the critique tag) but be prepared for a bit of reading.

There's a lot to be said for both sides - it's difficult to imagine a writing site without a critique function, something that's pretty integral to the writing experience. We tried critiques here and they didn't work out well.

If you can think of a way to incorporate critiques into this site, we'd certainly welcome the suggestion. Chat? Meta? A related blog? Perhaps a system that combines all these things?

We try and allow questions that use prose to illustrate a problem, but it's a fine line and some of those questions get close-voted. Proposals about how to make this more clear would also be welcome.

Answer 2

Code has a high degree of reusability. If I run into a problem in my code and I ask for a solution to that problem, chances are a number of other people will have the same problem and will benefit from reading the answers to my question. In fact, 98% of the time I have a coding problem, someone else has already had that same coding problem and asked about it and I can take the answers they received and use them to solve my problem. And that is the point of SE: reusable answers that build up a useful knowledge base.

Fiction has a very low degree of reusability. If I run into a problem in my story and ask for help on it, it is vanishingly unlikely that anyone else has had the same problem in their story. If I type my story into Google and press search it is vanishingly unlikely that I will find anyone else has already asked a question about the same text. There are no reusable answers to fiction critique questions.

The issue, then, is not objectivity, but repeatability. The SE model is not set up to solve unique problems but to solve problems that come up repeatedly. Fiction critiques do not fit that mold.

However, in technical writing, there are cases of repeatable texts which can be reused in other instances. Indeed, it is considered good practice to repeat known good forms of expression in technical writing since this consistency helps readers understand the text and act correctly. This cause problems with our on-topic rules in regards to tech comm, as you will see from other meta posts.

Also, while questions and answers on specific pieces of fiction are not repeatable, there are principles, tropes, patterns, etc, that are repeatable. Every writer has to execute them uniquely, so the reusability is not at the text level but at the level of principle. Thus we have many questions about principles and practices which people have illustrated with their own writing. This is on topic because the answers on principles and tropes are repeatable.

Answer 3

According to a meta post on this topic:

https://writers.meta.stackexchange.com/a/879/26057

Critique questions are off-topic, because they will be helpful only to you and the text you post. Questions using your writing to illustrate a question, however, are on-topic.

Answer 4

I think critiques are possible and constructive for the community if do it right. Let's look at how the programming section does it.

A. They have their own site, CodeReview. I don't think we need a separate site but just to avoid confusion between questions posted on SO vs CodeReview

B The reviews are extremely narrow. In our case i think someone posting "can you look at this poem i wrote" should always be off topic. On the other hand "here is a sentence describing an apple, does it successfully convey gloom?" could be on topic. THis would be a lot more useful to the community as it would focus on simple common ideas in writing

C THe goal of these questions would be, how do I express myself better, not "is this good"