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We know that books, short stories, graphic novels, TV shows, movies, and computer games are on-topic. What about websites?

Specifically, I was wondering about the history and etymology of chakoteya.net. But this is just an example. Of course, I mean questions about a website itself, not just about the same topic as the website, where the website figures into the question.

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  • For the record, I have an answer to your question about where the name chakoteya came from if you want to ask the question...
    – Valorum
    Nov 10, 2015 at 19:07
  • @Richard, I do, but I can't if it's going to be closed as off topic. Got a suggestion? I'm actually a little disturbed by the arbitrary cutoff. What if I asked where transcripts can be found online? Wouldn't that be on topic? Is the question on topic for meta? Nov 10, 2015 at 20:52
  • Asking about the background of a scifi-fandom site is probably on topic. Asking for a list of sites is almost certainly off-topic.
    – Valorum
    Nov 10, 2015 at 21:02

2 Answers 2

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I think that if the question is about a topic where the answer is likely to come from SFF works' content (e.g. etymology of chakoteya.net) it's ontopic.

If it is totally unrelated to in-universe, it's probably offtopic (e.g. history of that website seems like offtopic to me)

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If you're asking about the site itself, not the site's contents, it's probably off-topic. From the close dialog:

This question does not appear to be about science fiction or fantasy within the scope defined in the help center.

And from that link, we see types of questions that are on-topic:

  • Plot, character, or setting explanations

  • Historical or societal context of a work

  • Behind-the-scenes and fandom information

  • Story identification
  • Franchise/series reading or viewing order

The only thing here that this type of question could fall into is behind-the-scenes and fandom information, but this is more referring to questions surrounding the development of the particular story or world.

I don't know much about your particular example, but unless whatever world that particular site talks about is the main source for the lore of that world, it's probably off-topic. For a slightly more detailed explanation of what constitutes "behind-the-scenes", see here. Even so, such a question would need to be constrained so as to focus on the development of the lore.

TL;DR: If your question deals with solely a website, it's probably off-topic, unless that website was used as a vehicle for the development of the story.

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