9

This question is asking where they can buy a specific recording:

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells - John Peel version

Is this on topic? I would think that this information can go out of date pretty easily as sites come on and offline and licensing for the recording changes.

2
  • I created another question for this discussion. Not exactly about where to find it, but asking if it was released.
    – unor
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:34
  • 1
    @unor See this new question in regards to whether or not that kind of question would be on-topic.
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:52

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
15

I think if the question were about the techniques collectors employ to find difficult-to-locate works, then it would be a good fit for this site. But questions like "does anyone know where I can buy {rare album}?" are not likely going to work well here.

10

TL;DR - No, they are off topic.

Being that the primary purpose of Stack Exchange sites is to create a long-term searchable repository of knowledge, and that answer to this kind of question will, of necessity, be ephemeral in nature, I would have to conclude that we should make all such questions off-topic.

0

Don't vote on this answer, see the new question instead

Are "Was this ever released?" questions on-topic?

Related & not enough to split to a new meta question, perhaps.

Were "Mrs." and "Mustard/Parking ticket song" from Buffy ever released?

It's not so much a "Where can I find?" as a "Does it even exist?"

I'd call up/downvotes to this answer sufficient for a quick consensus on whether it belongs here or not, after considering the other answers here.

Personally, I have no firm opinion, I'd quite easily go with the flow.

6
  • 2
    I've spun this into a new question. I think it's an important question, and I don't want the voting and discussion to get lost in this thread.
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:50
  • 1
    Fair enough - I wasn't certain enough to post it as a fresh question, but i like what you've done to make it into one.
    – Tetsujin
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:53
  • It might be wise if I delete this answer in a short while, to prevent voting on it in here rather than your breakout post.
    – Tetsujin
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:54
  • I've put up a few signposts in comment threads to direct people to the new question, so I would agree. People should definitely be voting on the new question, not this answer.
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:55
  • for sure - this one's gone then, now you've read my reply.
    – Tetsujin
    Feb 27, 2015 at 14:57
  • On second thoughts, maybe wiser to just add a redirect to the top of this answer itself, as votes are still allowed on deleted answers.
    – Tetsujin
    Feb 27, 2015 at 15:00
-4

I would like to see general questions, such as

  • "Where can I download uncompressed music online"

  • "Where can I find archives of the 1972 Swedish singles charts by week"

as on-topic.

3
  • 1
    These kinds of questions would present the same problem with companies going in and out of business. Right now, someone could answer that Neil Young's Pono music store would be a good place to download uncompressed music, but is that still going to be around in 2 years?
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Feb 26, 2015 at 19:12
  • There are other on-topic questions on the site whose answers might go out of date - e.g "shortest single" will go out of date if someone releases a shorter one... less likely maybe, but same principle.
    – user16
    Feb 26, 2015 at 22:23
  • I actually don't like those questions either, because I would classify them as "trivia," but I'm not bothering to argue against them, because they will almost certainly be deemed to be on-topic.
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Feb 26, 2015 at 22:50

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .