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In theory, "Which non-mathematical subject could I tutor to make the most money?" is on-topic, as our help centre explicitly lists

  • Strategies for earning more money

It doesn't feel like a good use of the site to me. Can we just remove that bullet point?

Does anyone have any examples of good questions that relied on that to be on-topic? Or would anyone like to defend the linked question as being a good fit for the site?

EDIT: Bullet point now removed. As @mhoran_psprep's answer points out the specific question was off-topic anyway, but I haven't seen any positive reasons to keep the item.

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To provide a focus for up/down-votes on my proposed action: I don't think the question is a good fit and I'd like to edit the help centre.

(EDIT: and I also can't think of a good question that the help centre item would enable.)

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  • Absolutely. That's a very broad topic that includes lots of on topic and lots of off topic (in my opinion) potential questions, so it's a poor fit for the help center page.
    – Joe
    Apr 15, 2019 at 20:41
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    @Joe can you mention an on topic example?
    – GS - Apologise to Monica Mod
    Apr 16, 2019 at 16:52
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Given that this just came to our attention, I don't think there have been many of this type of question on this stack. Leading to 2 outcomes -

  • Leave it as is. It hasn't presented itself as a problem, except the one question linked was not off topic.
  • Remove from the on topic list. Members were quick enough to close it down, and would prefer the topic be removed, given their quick reaction.

I'll abstain. And will abide by the majority decision.

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The problem isn't with the help center. Just because a question mentions that they want to determine which subject will earn them the most money, doesn't mean the question is on topic.

If this was asked on the workplace, it would be closed because: "Questions asking for advice on a specific choice, such as what job to take or what skills to learn, are difficult to answer objectively and are rarely useful for anyone else."

Even though we don't have that close reason, I felt that the question was off topic.

The answer to their question should depend on their skill set, and the market in their area. What about teaching tennis, or Golf? They may be more lucrative, and their skill set is unknown.

Yet they asked us to assume they could learn any topic and had the credentials to teach any topic. Which then leaves their question just asking for opinions.

Because there can be valid questions that have that topic we should not edit the on topic list.

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  • It's a good point that this is also "primarily opinion-based". Still, now that this item in the help center has come up, I'd rather just remove it for the future. Do you think we should actually keep it, i.e. might it help justify good questions in future?
    – GS - Apologise to Monica Mod
    Apr 16, 2019 at 12:39
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    +1. The question we are talking about is primarily opinion based and unanswerable objectively. And primarily opinion based is a valid close reason, even with that line in the “on-topic” list.
    – Ben Miller
    Apr 16, 2019 at 15:19

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