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So this question started on ServerFault and got moved to SuperUser,

https://superuser.com/questions/426308/tunneling-ftp-connection

and this one is on ServerFault and doesn't yet show signs of anyone deciding it's off-topic,

How to set vim filetype when editing nginx config files

The 2nd question to me looks like a Developer asking about personal workstation configuration, a perfect candidate for SuperUser or the Unix StackExchange site, while the former appears to be someone trying to connect to Work resources from home, which is something a sysadmin might need to do as part of their job.

Shouldn't the first one be back on ServerFault and the 2nd on SuperUser?

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    Why does the first belong on severfault? What part of that question makes you think 'professional system administration'? The fact that it about ftp and not ssh or something else screams developer to me. FTP is almost never the answer for any sysadmin task anymore.
    – Zoredache
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 11:24
  • I disagree with you but if you're right, why isn't the second post also a candidate? Where's the consistency? I appreciate that consistency is hard to achieve, but I don't understand why one post is moved and not the other, additionally, as one commenter said, why does a post about VPN access to work not get moved when a post asking how to SSH into work does?
    – EightBitTony
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 11:37
  • @EightBitTony: You would need to review several hundred closed questions to see the consistency (I'm not suggesting either of these are candidates) Occasionally some do slip through. It's also interesting to note that you chose not to cast a vote on the latter before posting here too.
    – user9517 Mod
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 16:27
  • I didn't vote, because I'm more confused about what is and isn't applicable than I have been in the past.
    – EightBitTony
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 19:21
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    Just vote or not as you see fit.
    – user9517 Mod
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 20:12
  • Could people voting this question down post comments on why?
    – EightBitTony
    Commented May 21, 2012 at 7:26
  • Voting on is a bit different from the main site, a down vote here could be translated as "I don't agree with your opinion/view on the matter at hand".
    – Bart De Vos
    Commented May 21, 2012 at 22:56
  • Okay, thanks for the response.
    – EightBitTony
    Commented May 21, 2012 at 23:04

2 Answers 2

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For the second question it didn't get moved for a few reasons:

  • It was a well asked question.
  • It had a pretty easy answer, so the answer arrived very quickly.
  • The poster thought well enough of it to mark it as accepted very quckly.
  • Because of the speed, our usual close-voters missed it since they tend to ignore accepted questions unless there is something in the subject to warrant suspicion.

In short, the combination of speed and weekend won it a reprieve. Had it arrived at UTC 1400 Tuesday it may not have. It's a simple fact of how StackExchange sites work that topicality can change depending on what part of the week it is and who is awake at the time.

As for your question, 5 voters (for the most part, close-vote regulars) thought it was migration-worthy so it moved. Not everyone is aware of (or agrees with) the work-vpn-in-the-home thing.

These are two gray-area questions. One got moved, the other one didn't. It happens. This is why we have reopen voting. Now that there is a meta question about both of these, things may change. In fact, as I was writing this the second question earned a close vote.

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    +1 for "Because of the speed, our usual close-voters missed it since they tend to ignore accepted questions unless there is something in the subject to warrant suspicion."
    – Chris S Mod
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 13:09
  • The original question was answered pretty quickly as well. I don't say this just to be argumentative, but to try and understand. Anyway, thanks for the responses.
    – EightBitTony
    Commented May 20, 2012 at 19:23
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    +1 It really does depend on who sees the question. e.g. I'm usually pretty quick on the voting button but the vim question is a topic I know noting about, so would never even view it. The subject doesn't attract my attention as possibly off topic because syntax highlighting is important to me, both as an admin and as a code cutter.
    – John Gardeniers
    Commented May 21, 2012 at 11:08
  • On a purely personal level after having spent a while reading through a lot of questions, I think there is a lot of inconsistency in the way the FAQ is applied by voters. I appreciate there's not much that can be done, because people are people, but it irks me (I like consistency, and I like things to make sense). Lots of posts with 'interesting' questions that don't look like professional queries seem to survive, but boring border-line ones get voted off.
    – EightBitTony
    Commented May 21, 2012 at 22:14
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In an ideal world we would all vote consistently and for for the same reasons. In the real world voting on SF, or any other Stack Exchange site, tends to be somewhat personal and we each have our own ideas, as well as pet loves and hates. That's why some of us will vote something up, while others will vote it down.

Close votes are a bit like that too, where some may vote to migrate, while others might vote just to close a question for one reason or another. I've even been the last voter on a question which had 4 different close votes, so it was my vote that decided its final fate.

Remember, it only takes five of us to kill a question and it makes absolutely no difference how many others may think there's no reason to cast a close vote at all. It follows therefore that a question can get closed or migrated simply because of a very few over zealous members, who really may not fairly represent the majority of SFers (and that group might well include myself).

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