The Origami Forum

Although the programmers among us may already be aware, there is a great technical question and answer site called stackoverflow.com. In an effort to expand the user moderated question and answer (Q&A) site concept to other subjects, the creators of stackoverflow.com eventually created a site called stackexchange.com where users can suggest topics about which a Q&A site and then community participation determines how the site will be defined and if the site will continue on to the next phase of creation.

In the middle of last year, a proposal was created for an origami stackexchange site, but the proposal is currently stalled waiting for enough people to commit to using the site. Until it reaches that critical mass, the site will not be created.

If you are interested in having this type of Q&A resource available for origami, please consider signing up for the proposal so we can try to get it moved to the next stage. All that is required at this point is that more people indicate interest and, perhaps, voting for which example questions that have been created so far are on-topic or off-topic for the site. Until we get past this stage, actual questions and answers can not be submitted.

http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/6654/origami

thanks,
malachi

It appears that we almost made it into the next phase, but then a Moderator axed most of the questions. So, we still need another follower and some more questions to get this into the next phase of development.

Yeah, I noticed that yesterday and I find it very discouraging. We actually had 60 followers and were only lacking 2 questions before. The moderator's actions indicate, to me, that StackExchange is unwilling to host communities in which questions will be asked that do not have an absolute answer. I believe most arts and crafts will have similar issues, as there is often not one provable correct answer, even if there may be a best answer.

Until there is a cultural shift on the part of the SE admins, I suspect that an origami community there will be all uphill work.

As someone pointed out on one of the mailing lists, there is an alternative site that is more free form in what it considers acceptable. http://quora.com/origami There are at least a few people who monitor and answer questions there, but there is currently very little activity.

It looks like we've made it past the first stage, and now need people to commit to using it to prepare for a beta.