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The question regarding how they created the hole in Robert Downey Jr's chest was recently migrated to the Movies stack exchange. I agree that it is probably a better fit there, but as of last night, I saw that it had received 4 close votes for being "off-topic".

As Xantec pointed out the FAQ notes that questions regarding

Behind-the-scenes and fandom information

are on-topic.

Clara Onager mentioned that it was off-topic because

This should be a movies and tv question as it primarily relates to a special effect technique and only secondarily to scifi.

But the same could be argued about a lot of questions.

Take these questions, for example:

I don't actually think that any of the above questions are off-topic. They may skirt that same line that the Iron Man question did, but they all fall into "behind the scenes and fandom information" regarding a sci-fi/fantasy work.

So, what sort of guidelines should we adhere to for defining what is, or is not "on-topic" in regards to "behind the scenes" questions?

1 Answer 1

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I think that question is squarely on topic for us here at Scifi.se.

I am not certain why it was migrated; if the OP was consulted, and agreed to the migration, then I see no problem with it being migrated. It is equally on topic on both sites, imo.

However, if the question was migrated due to the close votes, I disagree with the migration (given that the OP does not appear to have a movies.se account, this seems more likely), and the closure.

With all due respect to Clara Onager, her comment appears to be strictly based upon opinion, without having participated in any of the relevant meta discussions. Her comment is contradicted by many examples, including the ones you cited.

I believe our previous meta discussion on "behind the scenes questions" is quite clear that these are perfectly acceptable here.

The question should not have been migrated unless the OP specifically requested it.

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    There was this more recent discussion on special effects questions.
    – user1027
    May 14, 2013 at 14:51
  • 1
    @Keen Thanks for linking that. I missed that discussion. Given the lack of consensus there, I think the current FAQ position still stands.
    – Beofett
    May 14, 2013 at 14:58

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