Although I'm sure off-topic questions have been discussed many times previously, this discussion has its most recent origins from AliceD's Question on flicker-fusion put on hold Meta question. I've opened this question for a broader discussion outside the context of that one post.
Topic: pseudo-mostly-off-topic questions (PMOTQ's)
- Questions that lay on the fringe of what would be considered on-topic on Bio.SE
- (i.e., questions that are seemingly off-topic but could be argued otherwise).
Main Question: how to determine if PMOTQ's are on topic (or relevant) enough to not be closed?
Overall, does biological relevance have to be implicit or explicit??
Should a seemingly off-topic question (as voted by 4 other users) be closed even if it receives a very good and useful answer? (assuming some argument can be made for biological relevance).
Conversely, If a reputable Bio.SE user answers the question and acknowledges biological relevance, should it be left open?
Should that answerer be responsible for editing the question to make it seem more biologically relevant?
Should that answerer also be responsible for trying to explicitly mention the biological relevance of the topic and/or their answer in their answer if the question does not explicitly do so?
