How to ask a multidisciplinary question on Bioacoustics Stack Exchange?

Question

Bioacoustics, at its core, is a highly multidisciplinary field and many questions relevant to researchers in our field could readily be asked on any number of other SE sites, including (but not limited to) Biology, Signal Processing, Electrical Engineering, Hardware, Open Science, Physics, Cross Validated, etc. While there has been interest & discussion in creating a way to cross-post (see post), Cross-posting is not acceptable behavior (see post).

Cross-discipline questions that are related to (or applied to) the field of Bioacoustics have been found to be ‘important’ to our community, as expressed by question upvotes (as of this writing, this Q is the 4th highest upvotes, showing importance to our community, but could arguably be asked on other sites). Other similar types of questions have been closed (or are in discussion of being closed) for not being directly related to Bioacoustics. Our community needs to identify guidelines so that we can ask cross-discipline questions that are relevant to the bioacoustics community while ensuring that this site is expressly useful for questions related to bioacoustics.

How should I (we) ask multidisciplinary questions here on Bioacoustics Stack Exchange so that they can be considered ‘on topic’??

Answer 1

Cross-discipline questions can be welcome on the Bioacoustics Stack Exchange as long as they are ‘on-topic’ and of value to the Bioacoustics Community. While these types of questions could be asked on Bioacoustics Stack Exchange OR another site, cross-posting of questions is not acceptable.

The following guidelines are provided to ensure a cross-discipline question is appropriate and on-topic for the Bioacoustics Stack Exchange site. Questions that fail to adequately apply these guidelines may result in closure of their question (see this post on how the community will respond).

Context How does this question related to Bioacoustics? Provide background to your question including how it specifically relates to Bioacoustics. Why is it important and how does it relate to Bioacoustics? This is your opportunity to justify why this question should be asked here, and not on another site. As part of your due diligence to show your research, we recommend that you search other sites for answers.

Define Question What exactly is your question as it relates to Bioacoustics? Make sure your question has reasonable scope and is identifiable as related to the field of Bioacoustics.

Refine Question If there is any question about the appropriateness of your question for the Bioacoustics Stack Exchange site, then community members/moderators may comment on your post & request that you improve your question. You are expected to consider these requests either by addressing them directly (editing your post!) or by explaining in comments why you do not think those requests will improve your post. Please try to not take these requests personally—we are trying to keep our site useful and healthy! If you do not refine/improve your post, it may ultimately be closed.

If all else fails, ask on another Stack Exchange Site! If there is enough community agreement that a post is not appropriate for the Bioacoustics Stack Exchange, it may be closed. You can then take your site to one of the other Stack Exchange sites, taking care that your question is written such that it is on-topic for that site.

[Notes, this approach is currently a drafty draft, and I encourage suggestions to improve, or alternative approaches]