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For example:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1995113/strangest-language-feature

is an open question. Yes it was eventually closed, but my question is - what for and when should we make questions into community wikis, rather than closing? I have some ideas for questions along these lines, but want some official guidance on stackexchange policies for this. Support? :)

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  • 1
    It's difficult. There are a lot of similar questions as you linked above that were not only closed but deleted. (You can see them nevertheless if your +10k user)
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 21, 2011 at 21:36
  • see here for a good overview: meta.stackexchange.com/q/73455/147248
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 21, 2011 at 21:42
  • Man, there are some awesome questions in there. However none of the links work...even for me with > 10k...
    – Mark Mayo
    Nov 21, 2011 at 21:45
  • not all of them work, but there are some cool ones that work
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 21, 2011 at 21:48
  • Mark you have to be a 10k user on the site the question is located. Most of them are on SO and there you're not a 10k user
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 21, 2011 at 21:49
  • Ah, blast... :) Well that's just annoying.
    – Mark Mayo
    Nov 21, 2011 at 21:49
  • 2
    Another reason to increase the SO rep ;)
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 21, 2011 at 22:00
  • 2
    Sadly, Mark Mayo is not the Jon Skeet of StackOverflow (-;
    – hippietrail
    Nov 22, 2011 at 13:02
  • Why not? I think he is!
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 22, 2011 at 17:00
  • ah now i understand :D should read more carefully.
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 22, 2011 at 20:03

1 Answer 1

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I wrote a blog article that discusses Community Wiki.

You should never make a question Community Wiki just as a means to avoid closure. Community Wikis purpose is enhanced editing, not an enabler. If you want to avoid closing a question, fix what problems it has. The ideal question to keep is one where you don't have to even think about considering Community Wiki.

If it's valuable enough to stay, it should be a part of the site like a normal question. If it isn't valuable enough to stay, it shouldn't be on the site. There are times where it may work to have a community wiki question - these are few and far between, and are exceptional circumstances. And, moreover, what makes them acceptable won't be the Community Wiki status.

Essentially, if you're thinking about whether a question belongs, don't put Community Wiki in the equation. Community Wiki matters for collaboration - it should be used expressly for that purpose. And honestly, that happens generally only in answers, not in questions.

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