Buried wheelie bins versus writing on churches. Clearly defined criteria?

Question

"Why are wheelie bins half-buried in parts of Luxembourg?" has four close-votes now and will likely be closed as off-topic soon.

I was about to cast the fifth vote, but then I thought about it a little bit.

I thought it was a very interesting question. However, it's certainly not very much related to travel. Well, OP saw it during traveling. But that would also mean that people could also ask about almost anything curious they see, anywhere in the world? That is very broad. That would mean this could almost turn into "ask us anything" Yahoo Answers. That may be an exaggeration, but you know what I'm saying. (No offense to Yahoo Answers.)

So while I didn't vote to close, I don't feel bad if it's closed either. IMO it might be better if OP asks this at Home Improvement SE.

However, Jonathan Reez pointed out in the comments that if we're gonna close that one, we should also close the popular question "Why is this bathroom symbol in Germany “00”?" One may argue that this question about a toilet in a brewery is more travel related because tourists are more likely to visit breweries and toilets than they are to get involved with underground [sic] trash cans. I guess that's fair enough. And the "00" question is also quite interesting.

Next, I myself commented that by this standard, the popular question "What does “K+M+B 2016” mean in when written on a church wall?" might also have to be closed. Another quite interesting question. Also, one could argue that it's far more common for travelers to visit churches than to be concerned with trash cans. Religious buildings are, after all, a chief tourist attraction in a vast number of places. However, this is also a matter of taste. When I travel, I like to just stroll around the city/town and look at what life is like there. I would have also probably noticed the trash cans myself and become curious about them. Thus, both can be said to be similarly travel related. And where the trash can question could have been asked at Home Improvement, the church question could have been asked at Christianity SE. (Not that that matters much, though. But personally, I would have asked both questions at those respective sites.)

What the church question has going for it is that it can help you understand the culture of the country. The toilet question, much less, but still to some small degree, I suppose? As for the trash can, I'm not sure. Seems miniscule, and not very much related to culture.

In either case, how can we be consistent here? Is the trash can question really that different from the other two?

IMO we need some clearly defined criteria. Do we have them? Otherwise, how can we be fair when deciding to close or leave open?

Answer 1

"Local customs" questions are about understanding how things are done in your destination - those things locals "just know" but visitors aren't in a position to figure out on their own.

It's not (as suggested in some comments) literally anything you see while travelling, but things where something is done differently, where not understanding such differences or misidentifying a local custom can be the root of "dumb tourist mistakes". (this assumes it really is widespread in Luxembourg and nowhere else; if not, comment like "Actually this is common in [West/Central Europe], the people at DIY.SE are better able to explain it" then migrate).

Are they relevant to the visitor's trip? We don't know for sure until we know the answer. It seems intuitively likely that a visitor to Luxembourg might well not need to know why wheelie bins are half buried, but that does also depend on why wheelie bins are half buried. If the answer was, say:

• "Because aggressive urban foxes knock over wheelie bins to get at the food, and sometimes carry rabies. Beware when in suburbs at night!"
• "Because of an unusual municipal law, [x]. Travellers staying in short-let apartments and AirBnB have been fined for allowing bins to be in a condition that doesn't comply with this law."
• "Because the design of wheelie bins used in Luxemborg is top heavy and can topple over. There have been cases of small children or pets being injured this way."

...then yes, that's relevant to a visitor, and are the sorts of things where lacking this local savvy could cause an awkward situation or a problem. It's likely these aren't the answer, but you shouldn't have to know the answer to you judge if you can ask.

Trying to understand how things around you work differently to what you're used to is a good general practice for any traveller, and helps avoid "dumb tourist" mistakes. I don't see why our site policies should discourage good practice or make assumptions. Local knowledge and know-how is useful in unexpected ways: so it makes more sense to treat local customs as travel related unless proved otherwise (and allow "actually, this might look like a local custom, but it isn't, it's [x]" as an answer).

For example, I've recently been to a country where bar staff always give tissues with drinks, but only for glass bottles and cans, not for cold drinks served in glasses or (not normally) plastic screw cap bottles. If I asked why here, someone with no specific knowledge might think "Pah, trivial, travellers don't need to know why!" and close it - but apparently it's a prevention measure for lassa fever, a hemorrhagic fever related to ebola endemic in the region, spread by rat urine which can come into contact with bottles and cans while in cellars, trucks, shipping containers etc. The tissue is (apparently) so you can wipe clean the part of the bottle or can that you pour from. Lassa fever outbreaks are uncommon, but the incubation period is long, so you could be infected before anyone knew there was an outbreak. Definitely something a traveller should know.

Closing an "understanding how things are done at your destination" question based on such a presumption is like answering it with "The answer is something we think travellers don't need to know about. We're not going to tell you what that is" - except unlike a normal answer, you can't be outvoted by a better answer if there is one, you can't be corrected with a comment if you're wrong, and no-one learns anything.

It's better if the person who believes there's no relevant reason just downvotes the question and posts their reasoning as to why there's probably no relevant reason as an answer, which can naturally sink to the bottom if there's a better answer.

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Of course this is only for things in the broad category of "understanding how things are done in your destination", catching up with what's common knowledge for locals. Not literally everything seen while travelling, for example:

• Wildlife identification belongs on biology
• Language related questions belong on the appropriate language site
• "X thing is stupidly designed here, why?" belongs on UX... e.g. door knobs, UK style taps
• Local history questions belong on history, local politics questions belong on politics...
• Questions about food preparation belong on cooking
• etc

Answer 2

I think the odds of finding an answer to this question are greater at this site than at a Home Improvement site. All the regulars here have an interest in other countries, and their customs, increasing the likelihood that even if there is no one from Luxembourg (a rather small place) someone will know. At a DIY site, you are basically hoping to hit one of the half-million residents, unless the same practice is common elsewhere, which I don't think it is.

I would not vote to close.

Answer 3

Well, there is a tag "identify-this" which I believe has over a hundred questions.

I posted such a question a few months ago which got an almost immediate close vote, but dozens of up-votes since. So (obviously) people think differently.

If one of the reasons people travel is to learn about other places and cultures, then some such questions should be encouraged. On the other hand, I don't think it's "chaos" to close any which are obviously not travel-related. If it takes five votes to actually close, I don't think any good questions will suffer.

However, I might suggest in some cases instead of voting to close, flag for a moderator to move the question to a more appropriate site.

Answer 4

I wanted to jump in with an answer here also...

The question was put to the DIY SO over here. The process of composing the question took about 10 minutes.

8 hours later it attracted an informed answer from a Luxembourg resident. A happy ending all the way around the table. TSE could not have outperformed DIY in this case and it was right to ask over there.

As I see it, the wheelie bin question is the only concrete example of what prompted this META thread. Given that we have a plausible answer, I am not sure all the various proposals make sense any more. Yes, if there is a trend where somebody can point to 20 or 30 questions that are affected, then it's time to rethink how we do business. But a single question about wheelie bins (even with two or three supporting examples) doesn't warrant it.