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From these vast lot discussions (Scope differences between biology and (biological) anthropology , What is the most appropriate forum for Biochemistry questions? , Is this site open to questions that are essentially requests for help classifying individual organisms? , Biology.SE and professional biologists? , Is it on-topic to ask for the identification of any living organism? , Plant Identification Questions , Species Identification Questions ) it seems to me, there is a problem of information sorting. (Though I've yet not any problem because I visit all-sorts of questions) but the problem with information sorting is very normal because biology is a very vast field with so-many branches. So peoples want to focus only a particular field (not following a tag... rather follow a stream, may be biochemistry or genetics or botany or zoology or palaeontology etc. etc.) would get their posts shielded with others' .

So, since peoples of all sub-fields of biology, have their right to take part in question-answer, yet that shields content of some-other streams; so I think the best solution is to make some new (beta) branches of Stackexchange, and biology.se , the original site, could be kept as more general questions and highly interdisciplinary questions.

As well, I've seen much deficit of proper tags for specific field, with respect to most other SE branches. For say, yet here (biology.se) there is yet no tags for some broad groups for plants like bryophyte, pteridophyte, gymnosperms, etc. The tag phycology (algae) I've created (though I don't knew then that, new-tag creation is yet not recommended for me!). So quite more specific branches in SE could resolve these.

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  • $\begingroup$ I don't think it would work, because it'd require too many websites, 3-4 moderators for each site, newcomers will have to find out where they should ask their questions, etc, etc. Yet, its still just my opinion. Why don't you try that? Thats what Area 51 is for. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:46
  • $\begingroup$ @another'Homosapien' that problem already exist. so-many times my-question (in other communities), moved to some-other community. Rather the whole stackexchange site on their main page could arrange subjects according to their relations. Some gross arrangement. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:47
  • $\begingroup$ I agree with that (its happened with me too), but implying what you say would only increase the problem. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:50
  • $\begingroup$ Why I'm increasing the problem when so-many people doing objection that their-question getting shielded in bulk of questions they don't want? $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:51
  • $\begingroup$ You mean Is there a shortage of moderators? Nothing to do but biology is broad subject and every field inside it have their right to take part in Q/A $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:53
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    $\begingroup$ Well there are ways they can hide them. Go to tag preferences and select to hide out ignored tags. Newcomers should see all questions before they set preferences. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:55
  • $\begingroup$ Not now, but there would be a shortage if we have >100 biology sites, requiring a total of >300-400 dedicated moderators. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:56
  • $\begingroup$ I told "some broad branches", like botany, zoology, mycology, etc. There would not be more than 10 or 12. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:57
  • $\begingroup$ Let us continue this discussion in chat. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:57
  • $\begingroup$ I've already sent conversation to chat. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2016 at 15:59

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I don't understand what the underlying problem is. Biology is a relatively low-traffic site, especially when compared to the original trio of Stack Overflow, Super User, and Server Fault. Even on a busy day at work, I can generally still find time to read every single question posted on this site, yet on Stack Overflow I can maybe read 2 or 3% of the questions tagged python (more on the weekends, when the flow is slower and I have more free time).

If you are interested in only certain types of questions, it's incredibly easy to set up filters based on tags. You can add as many tags to a filter as you want, so you don't need to worry about missing a genetics question if it's only tagged : just add both to your filter.

Based on the traffic, we absolutely do not need any more specialized biology-related sites. Our subject base is quite broad, and many different types of questions from many different fields are welcome here (obviously, assuming they meet our criteria of topicality and scope).

I am against creating new tags unless (as a general rule of thumb) you can tag at least 10-15 existing questions with it, if not more. Just because your question is about a specific sub-field does not mean it needs an incredibly specific tag - is just fine, we don't need , , , , , etc. etc. Likewise, we don't need a specific tag for each and every type of plant, animal, bacterium, archaeon, etc. Tags are for classifying questions and assisting in search, but Stack Exchange's search engines also include full-text keyword searching, so if you want to find all existing questions on gymnosperms, just search.

If you truly feel like a new tag should be created, please post a question here about it and let the community weigh in. Link to all the previous questions you can find where the tag would be relevant and valuable. Explain how the new tag would add value to the site. If there's a good response, someone will create it. If not, or if there's no response, it's probably not a good idea.

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  • $\begingroup$ Additionally there was a proposal on Area51 to set up a community for neurobiology. This was canceled as this would clearly overlap with biology and also because there is not very much neurobio traffic here at biology. Stackexchange wants to avoid establishing empty (or dead) communities. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Mod
    Sep 18, 2016 at 19:47
  • $\begingroup$ @MattDMo No, I have no problem with all-sorts of questions (even I mentioned it in OP). It seemed to me from several (quoted) discussions that many other users might having some problem. But for me, all sorts of questions on this site is perfectly ok. I do-not filter any type. $\endgroup$ Sep 19, 2016 at 10:25
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    $\begingroup$ @AlwaysConfused I don't think anyone has a problem. Questions from a certain branch of biology are not specifically ignored. We have participation from people with different backgrounds (and we hope that it will grow); so many topics do get covered. If you think this site is too broad then just visit quora once. You'll realize that this is heaven. $\endgroup$
    – WYSIWYG
    Oct 3, 2016 at 5:19
  • $\begingroup$ @WYSIWYG I've no problem here, I'm saying again. I've wrote on the beginning of my question that it seemed to me from many-others' discussions. If that 'seeming' is wrong; then plz feel free to mention that as an answer. I too love this site. Otherwise I would not participate here on nearly-regular basis (In only very little-other sites I can spend valuable time). ((however on most of that time, I only read the questions and answers)). $\endgroup$ Oct 3, 2016 at 9:19

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