Is it helpful to apply currency conversions in a question?

Question

In this question the OP quoted a number of domestic finance figures in USD. In the comments it was established that they did this with the intention of being helpful to the majority audience - so 'assuming good faith' is still very much intact - however the effect seems to have been to convince most commenters that the OP is American and operating under United States rules and norms.

I think the core of the question would be equally clear even if the figures were quoted in the OP's domestic currency, as such questions are usually more concerned with ratios rather than the purchasing power of a particular currency that the reader may not be familiar with, and the question would not be misleading as to location.

• Is it constructive to politely - and possibly pre-emptively - ask the OP not to apply 'currency conversion'?

• Is it constructive to proactively edit the question to undo such a conversion?

Answer 1

Currency conversions can help if the number needs to be put in context, but that should be done if the the name of the country has already been made clear.

For example telling us that the amount quoted is 3 times your daily pay is good to know. Telling us it is about X USD or Y Euro can be helpful to put into context.

The problem with this questions is that even after the telling us the conversion was done, we still don't know the name of the country.

I'm actually not situated in USA but in a nordic country. So I'm not too sure that all these nitty gritty details apply here :)

because I guessed that most here would be from the US, so it was just a service so you didn't have to calculate back and forth.

That limits the answers ability to take into account taxes, the availability of retirement options, and even what are typical mortgage rates.

There were clues that it wasn't US based:

I do not yet have "emergency fund", but we have a sort of insurance.

34,500 USD (3.95%)

(the 1% loan - but only the interest is paid the first 10 years)

Identification of the country is key to getting good answers. So asking that the country be identified makes sure that the people providing answers can write useful answers.

With this question I would edit the question to add a tag for the country, or make it clear the country, and the numbers are quoted in USD for simplicity. But we don't know the country.