1

Why was this question ("Historically, when (and why) did Ganga become a holy river? Is it after Sarasvati dried up?") migrated to History.SE? For those who can't see the deleted/migrated post, check the same question on History SE.

It was asked in 2014 and remained on-topic for 4 years before being migrated. How did it suddenly become off-topic in May, 2018? I don't remember seeing any discussion on meta regarding this. Did one of the mods of this site unilaterally decide to migrate it with no input from the community?

There were several close reviews and all of them ended with leaving the question open.

The last comment under the question was this:

Are you looking from story from Purana / Hinduism point of view or historical? – Pandya♦ May 8 '18 at 7:21

From the timeline and current status of the question:

This question was migrated to History Stack Exchange because it can be answered by historians and history buffs. Migrated 2 years ago by JNat♦.

Post Migrated Away to history.stackexchange.com by JNat♦ occurred May 14 '18 at 9:37

Post Closed as "Not suitable for this site" by JNat♦ occurred May 14 '18 at 9:37

We have several other questions of this type which were accepted here (see examples below) and not migrated to History SE so why was only this question migrated? Was the question making some users uncomfortable due to its historical nature and is that the main reason it was migrated?

Are there any strong evidence that Hinduism religion is an ancient one?

How has Lord Vishnu's understanding developed and what was his role initially?

Aryan Migration theory—evidence for and against it in the Vedas

Is there a scriptural basis for Out-of-India hypothesis?

Were Aryans the forefathers of Hindus?

11
  • 2
    Your statement - It was asked in 2014 and remained on-topic for 4 years before being migrated. How did it suddenly become off-topic in May, 2018?, made me laugh. Have you remembered your own statement - Old or New doesn't matter., under your own meta post? :-) @sv.
    – Srimannarayana K V
    Apr 15, 2020 at 3:23
  • 1
    Yes, I do remember and I certainly did not mean posts should be closed/migrated without rhyme and reason. I suggest reading the full post instead of cherry-picking a few lines... @srimannarayanakv
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 15, 2020 at 3:38
  • 1
    What I had felt important, did not appear to you important and you opted for closing my post. Similarly, the moderator, who migrated the post you are interested in, might have felt off-topic that post. Nothing cherry-picking here @sv.
    – Srimannarayana K V
    Apr 15, 2020 at 3:40
  • 1
    You still haven't posted an answer to the other post on why the post should not be closed. Please remember there were 4 other close-voters. I asked you to write an answer but you didn't bother. Your replied: "Why should I? Do it for yourself :-)" As a challenge, you accepted an answer which wasn't quoting anything from Hindu scripture thereby making a mockery of SE and the site rules. @srimannarayanakv
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 15, 2020 at 3:49
  • We are not discussing the other post now. We are discussing the post you are interested in. :-) . Anyways, good luck. @sv.
    – Srimannarayana K V
    Apr 15, 2020 at 3:52
  • 1
    @srimannarayanakv And yet you linked a comment made under the other post and said how the two are related.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 15, 2020 at 3:57
  • 1
    Yes, I linked the comments only. It was you who asked me to post a answer under a meta post, which was posted by you and supported by 4 others. I am neither interested in that Post nor in the fate of the Post you are interested in @sv.
    – Srimannarayana K V
    Apr 15, 2020 at 4:01
  • Thanks for listing all these posts. I think that question belongs to History.SE and also the ones you mentioned below. The actual post title should be something like - "Let's move these questions to History.SE" or something in similar lines.
    – Mr_Green
    Apr 15, 2020 at 9:57
  • 1
    @Mr_Green I was going to ask a separate question about what kind of history-related questions are allowed here. But this was specifically about handling of a single post.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 15, 2020 at 20:54
  • @Mr_Green Multiple of those questions specifically ask for the scriptural basis for a common belief. Such questions will get laughed into deletion on History SE.
    – Rubellite Yakṣī
    Jul 3, 2022 at 21:22
  • It seems to me that moving such things to History SE is some peoples' method for sweeping a problem under the proverbial rug. It seems to be "more acceptable" to give away problematic questions than to get a consensus on deleting them here. Hopefully I'm shown to be wrong on this.
    – Rubellite Yakṣī
    Jul 3, 2022 at 21:25

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

It was asked in 2014 and remained on-topic for 4 years before being migrated. How did it suddenly become off-topic in May, 2018? I don't remember seeing any discussion on meta regarding this. Did one of the mods of this site unilaterally decide to migrate it with no input from the community?

No, it didn't happen on its own. Here is how it happened:

21 Jun 2014: Former moderator senshin suggested that migration would be better:

@Null It is possible that you would get better answers to this question at History. If you would like your question to be migrated there, please flag your post, select "other", and in the text box, state that you would like your post migrated to History.SE. If not, feel free to leave it here and see what answers you get. – senshin Jun 21 '14 at 9:35

14 Feb. 2018: You edited the title to clarify that question is looking answer from historical point of view.

14 Feb. 2018: You flagged NAA to this & this answers. - Flags were disputed.

7 May 2018: You again flagged both answers - Flag was marked helpful.

8 May to 12 May we, moderators discussed on this issue, we also consulted History Stack Exchange moderator to make sure whether the question fits on History Stack Exchange or not.

Meanwhile you also discussed it on chat-room:

sv. on 11 May 2018: @TheDestroyer What if the majority opinion is wrong? If those mythology-based answers are allowed we will now have two questions which are not dup. and yet the answers are same. This doesn't make sense. Not good for the site. If you decide to keep those answers, I'd recommend closing the question itself or migrate it to History.SE. Accepting the question and then allowing mythology-based answers is unfair.

On 12th May 2018, we asked CM to migrate and the post was migrated to History Stack Exchange.

Now, let's discuss why we migrated the question:

Reading the body of question, it is clear that OP wanted to know the historical/archeological point of view as he is talking about Indus valley and Aryan theory. This type of questions can not be answered by scriptures and from Hinduism point of view. Since this is dealing more with history (not Puranas or Itihasas scriptures of Hiduism) than Hinduism, it can be answered well on History Stack Exchange or Mythology Stack Exchange. That's why probably couple of answers failed to answer the question properly on this site.

Though we have "Historical questions about the evolution of Hinduism" as one of the on-topic subject at help center, we should make sure it is properly answerable on Hinduism Stack Exchange. If we allow questions to be answered from historical/archeological point of view then it may contradict with answers posted from Hinduism/religious point of view.

Among the other posts you have mentioned, two questions are asking for a scriptural support, this sounds a cultural question, Were Aryans the forefathers of Hindus? would be more suitable on History Stack Exchange. These type of questions needs to be handled considering the scope and answer-ability.

5
  • 1
    '8 May to 12 May: We, moderators discussed on this issue, we also consulted History Stack Exchange moderator to make sure whether the question fits on History Stack Exchange or not.' - don't you think the conclusion should've been communicated to the community? At least the question be closed as off-topic first, that way users would know what was going to happen? Also, before migration, the two answers should've been deleted because now they are not a good fit for History SE.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 15, 2020 at 20:50
  • 1
    'he is talking about Indus valley and Aryan theory....If we allow questions to be answered from historical/archaeological point of view' - Why are this and this not migrated? They are not even closed as off-topic.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 18, 2020 at 2:49
  • 1
    This answer has a heading called DNA Research - are these kind of references allowed? Or are they allowed when the majority of users are in favor?
    – Say No To Censorship
    Apr 18, 2020 at 2:52
  • @sv. well, actually answers has been written according to the perspective of question asked and so it makes difficult to moderate answers when there is issue with the nature of question.
    – Pandya Mod
    Apr 30, 2020 at 3:50
  • 1
    Quoting from your own answer: "when you see part of the answer engaged in scientific points, comment or edit to fix it"...
    – Say No To Censorship
    May 4, 2020 at 17:45

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .