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I think the below question warrants some discussion about it's fit within Bioacoustics Stack Exchange. There is the start of some discussion in the comments but I thought it might be better to ask it here for future reference (Thanks for starting that discussion @Amandine)

Is there any bioacoustics research team(s) in New York City (USA)?

I'm a science journalist in New York City (USA) interested in reporting on bioacoustics research. Does anyone know of (or do!) any bioacoustic research in or near New York City (~3-hr drive)?

This question is what I might categorize as an ‘networking’ type of question (why I added the 'outreach' tag…but see edit below, going to remove it) and it's purpose seems more to make connections with particular people for a very specific purpose, rather than a Q/A that would be useful to a broader audience in the future. Because of this I would lean towards it being off-topic for BSE.

However, it received some good answers, that have received some upvotes. So maybe it is something the community sees a need for.

My questions are:

(1) Should this type of question be allowed?

(2a) if YES - is the tag 'outreach' good or should we come up with some other way of identifying these questions as different from maybe more technical questions that have a clear specific answer. Should these types of questions immediately become community wikis (maybe tied to this discussion) or no because answers may change over time and the info may be "old news" years in the future.

(2b) if NO - how should we respectfully, and kindly, respond. Should we point the asker to other resources or have some text that we can use when closing the question that does not discourage future participation on BSE but fully explains why their question was closed.

EDIT:

I removed the text referring to this as an ‘outreach’ question because that is more broad of a category than I wanted to cover in this question. Instead I called it a 'networking' type question.

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    $\begingroup$ answers can be updated over time as well to address slight modifications-- but if a question is really subject to what is going on at one point in time-- that doesn't fit as well into this Q&A type standard. $\endgroup$
    – Shannon
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 21:23
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    $\begingroup$ I think the good answers are more reflective of how our community works (we like to help!), rather than the appropriateness of question for the stack exchange platform. $\endgroup$
    – Shannon
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 14:07

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For specific networking questions, I would recommend that these be considered 'Off Topic', and we can create a 'standard' response that would guide them to another platform for that search.

For example:

Thank you for your interest in Bioacoustics. Your question is considered 'off topic' for this Stack Exchange and will be closed. Consider wildlabs.net for this type of inquiry (For More info, see: How should we handle 'networking’ type questions - are they on or off topic?)

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  • $\begingroup$ I’ll update the question to follow how you clarified because yes…outreach could mean a lot of things! There are already some other questions on here about k12 resources etc. $\endgroup$
    – selene
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 15:22
  • $\begingroup$ Is networking a better category label? $\endgroup$
    – selene
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 15:25
  • $\begingroup$ Yes! Networking is more specific-- and I think it is helpful to focus on specific types of questions. If you edit yours, I'll edit mine to reflect that change $\endgroup$
    – Shannon
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 16:33
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I posted this as a comment on the actual post itself, but this would be a good post for WILDLABS! A good example of the kind of thing that would lend itself more to a WILDLABS post than BSE :)

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    $\begingroup$ I agree! And like how Shannon added it I her suggested text above! $\endgroup$
    – selene
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 15:21
  • $\begingroup$ Wow I totally missed that Shannon had already written that into the language (face palm) lol. Thanks for pointing out! $\endgroup$
    – Carly Batist
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 15:25
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    $\begingroup$ Haha I’m glad we are just all thinking alike :)! $\endgroup$
    – selene
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 15:26
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We could redirect these kinds of questions to a wiki (to be created) which would be a directory of bioacoustics teams per country/city.

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  • $\begingroup$ The WILDLABS member directory is a good place to start for that sort of thing $\endgroup$
    – Carly Batist
    Commented Sep 8, 2022 at 14:59
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I posted the question! Thanks for this discussion, and I totally agree. In my original post I actually asked for it to be removed if it was outside the scope of the SE (I believe that was removed in another person’s edits). What is the best way to “close” the post? I could delete it or edit the body or whatever people think is best!

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    $\begingroup$ Zoe-- I think we will delete your post-- but it is also temporarily serving as an example for us to decide how to approach questions like this. We are new to this, so these 'case studies' help us figure things out! We will delete soon (in the interim, you can take the answers you have, or reach out to wildlabs.net for more contacts). Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Shannon
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 22:10
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, Shannon! I’ve made note of the answers. Delete away! $\endgroup$
    – Zoe Grueskin
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 23:15
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    $\begingroup$ @ZoeGrueskin seconding Shannon's thoughts here. I did initially see your bit about deleting before it was edited but do think it is a useful example and really appreciate you joining! $\endgroup$
    – selene
    Commented Sep 8, 2022 at 2:31
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance (including on how to close and/or delete posts, and when users should do so). :) $\endgroup$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 10, 2022 at 5:38
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Yes sorry I did not see this post before. I suggested to close this question but I agree that a redirection is better!

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