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I just asked my first question on Super User, and found it to be the most appropriate category among the Stack Exchange sites.

However, it was immediately migrated to "Web Applications", an unrelated and not really popular Stack Exchange partner site. There is apparently no way to comment upon its transfer, or question to the moderators.

Assuming this is going to happen again if I embark upon a forums career here at Super User, so:

Is there a way I can appeal to the moderators to have a question untransferred?

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    Forum? A Q&A site is not a discussion forum...! Also, note that Super User likes a space in its name!
    – Arjan
    Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 11:10
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    Forum? Well, actually, from the Super User "About page" description: " ...[what super user does] is synthesize aspects of Wikis, Blogs, Forums, and Digg/Reddit in a way that we think is original." So, you're right, it's not "just a forum", and it's also not just a Q&A site - this is a hybrid of several genres. Nitpicking, please.
    – emf
    Commented Oct 17, 2010 at 4:27

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If you are referring to this question, it was migrated because it does not meet the requirements for Super User, as described in the FAQ. It is related to a website, albeit the SE network itself.

Furthermore, I don't really consider that a question, since you answered it yourself, and it was more a tip, since you don't need to create the search yourself in Chrome as it is automatically added to the search list the first time you visit the site with Chrome, as are all the other sites in the SE network. Why not just create a blog post about?

It was either going to be migrated to Web Apps, or it could as a long shot belongs on MSO if anywhere on the SE network, however it would most likely have been closed on the latter.

an unrelated and not really popular stack exchange partner site

Actually, Web Apps is a just launched official Stack Exchange site, and it's purpose is to take exactly the type of questions you asked. It's the first site to ever leave Beta and should by no means be underestimated.

Before posting questions on Super User please read the FAQ. Once done spend some time learning how the site works. The first and most important thing to understand is Super User is not a forum. It is a Q&A site and has a very strict closing and moderation policy, which encourages high quality questions and answers.

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    The question you cite is formulated as a question about the web browser Chrome. Granted, it has had a web application answer (use the SE all-sites search), but that answer only handles the specific example and not the general case. e.m.fields's own answer leverages both the local application Chrome and the web application Google. An even more general answer might combine results from different search engines, which is intrisically local. So I don't see how summarily moving the question to WA.SE is justified.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 22:12
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    @Gilles You are 100% entitled to your opinion and I respect that. However I am not convinced that the question should have stayed. It was more a tip then an actual question, and I was not alone in thinking so.
    – BinaryMisfit Mod
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 22:19
  • Hi Diago and Gilles, Diago: Thank you for the response. I'm not really horribly put out about my question being moved, it's mostly that I didn't think it fell outside of the Superuser "range" as described in the About section nor the FAQ. I have read both the FAQ and the About section, and I believe the descriptions what is appropriate or not for each of these Stack exchange sites leaves some room for improvement. In the question in case, I considered the question (or tip, granted!) to be about how to do something with Google Chrome, which does not qualify as being "about a website" IMO
    – emf
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 22:57
  • I would also add: this was not about "stack exchange sites", though these were cited as an example, but rather "how to make search in google chrome limit itself to a predefined set of websites". While respecting the moderator's authority here, and really not trying to whine about a trivial issue, it's something of an issue for importance of clarifying what is category-appropriate for each of these Stack exchange sites, which is really not very well highlighted. I've heard numerous other remarks on this subject, so think I'm not alone here. respectfully,
    – emf
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 23:02
  • @gilles - thank you for the backup, felt the same way. No big deal, but worth saying something about.
    – emf
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 23:05
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    Final response on the subject, @Diago: re. "Why not just create a blog post about it?" Why would you discourage me from posting about it here? To quote from the Superuser FAQ: "Super User is collaboratively built and maintained by your fellow users. [...] you'll be able to edit anything, much like Wikipedia. With your help, we can build good answers to every question a power user might have." This certainly seems to imply that you welcome the input of information relevant to "computer power users". This was the purpose of my post, trying to contribute to the community. Thank you.
    – emf
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 23:10
  • @e.m.fields There is definitely is a grey area of when to post the answer and when to write it on your blog and post a link to it. I do the later generally when the answer is going to be a very long one and contain lots of media (i.e. pictures of what's happening). Finally, questions are moved based off of moderation and in some cases is based of the opinion of the moderators. They are however moderating with the best in mind for the users and SuperUser community. There will always be differing opinions, but I can assure you that moderators do not abuse their powers.
    – James Mertz
    Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 17:36
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    Furthermore, I don't really consider that a question, since you answered it yourself => This goes against official policy that states there is absolutely nothing wrong with answering your own question; it doesn't make it any less of a question in any way.
    – Andreas Bonini
    Commented Nov 28, 2010 at 21:16
  • @Andreas. I do not object to users answering their own questions. However, in this particular case, it made no sense. The real issue is whether it really was a question or not.
    – BinaryMisfit Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2010 at 10:17
  • not to discuss where this little belongs to, but it pretty looks like a question to me.
    – DarkWingDuck
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 14:03
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This question sort of falls between two worlds.

On one hand it is about the Google Chrome web browser (kind of) and that is on-topic for SU.

On the other hand it's about doing a Google search, which is on-topic for Webapps.

Bit of a borderline case. I would argue the question is more about the cleverness of constructing a google search that does what you want instead of the browser itself, though.

So I support the closing but I don't feel strongly about it.

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    nods, appreciated.
    – emf
    Commented Oct 17, 2010 at 4:22
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If you feel your question has been unjustly migrated, you can ask another question, putting things in a different light that avoid the reason for the migration. For example, since part of the Super User community strongly rejects web application questions, SU questions that tangentially relate to web applications need to be formulated in a way that makes it clear that you want a local solution.

For example, in the specific question you allude to, if you care about an answer that doesn't depend on a web application, you could replace the Stack Exchange example by an example involving an intranet or Google Desktop as part of the search locations to combine.

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