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I'd like to start a discussion around the sorts of questions that really can inspire excellent answers on this site. Not just what is on topic or what is a good fit, but what can really make this site and make it an interesting and valuable resource across the martial arts community.

For instance, it has been mentioned before that one great niche that we can fill is with respect toward questioning what you have been told in class is true, or perhaps the degree to which it is true ("all models are wrong, but some are useful"). I think this is a great area for questions, particularly for those questions where someone who is experienced could give a good answer.

What are some of the other areas where we can encourage questions that might distinguish this site from other online resources?

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    I like your one on pressure points, I think that's one of the best fit questions so far going by normal stack exchange rules.
    – Keith Nicholas
    Mar 7, 2012 at 8:43
  • I don't think the point of encouraging questions should be to "compete" with other sites. I'd rather see a focus on providing high-quality content and growing this site over creating different content.
    – user15
    Mar 15, 2012 at 19:13

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One of the problems I see in the questions so far is none (or very few) of the questions seem like questions people really really need an answer for. Many of the questions are just esoteric or oddball. Or we see questions that are related to training that are indirectly related to martial arts. In fact I think many of the questions people will actually want answers to will be indirect questions related to training.

Most of the technique related questions don't work well, ie "How do I deal with situation X" either because there is too many variables, too many options, or a textual description just doesn't cut it.

History based stuff is easy to ask, but reality is, most of that can be googled.

In fact, most advice about training can be googled also, competition rules, how to train for competitions, kata, techniques, etc. YouTube is a fantastic resource.

So, I'm not quite sure what niche a Q&A format serves for the martial arts community. Myth busting what you are told in class? That happens on various martial arts forums and tends to turn into massive arguments :)

So, I think the problem is, until we have people who actually have questions they really really need answers to we aren't going to have "good questions".

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  • +1 for the word oddball.
    – Bob Cross
    Mar 8, 2012 at 12:19
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    This makes it quite bizarre that "what art should I choose?" questions are considered off topic, while that's likely one of the most common actual problems that someone is likely to face with regards to martial arts
    – Robin Ashe
    Aug 27, 2012 at 5:15

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