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A lot of you are probably already aware of our meta site, but I wanted to take the time to remind you that it only requires 5 reputation points to participate--and this is a critical part of our site. Meta is where we decide what kinds of questions we like in the community, it is where we pick our topic of the week, it is where we can deal with different issues of site growth. Did you know that we can suggest revisions to the help center? These are the types of things that meta allows us to discuss. In fact, this post would be best suited on meta because it is not about the field of astronomy, but about this site. I have posted it here so that you (especially new users) can see it. Maintaining activity on our meta site is important to the long term health of our site. If we don't have activity there, we could wither and ultimately get shut down. I appreciate the recent surge of questions, but I hope that many of you will stick around and participate in making this site work!

For more on Meta, read this blog post. Though, note that the link to meta is now located under the Stack Exchange dropdown on the black top bar.

Also check out this blog post on the important questions to ask on Meta.

Thanks for your continued contribution to Astronomy Stack Exchange!

called2voyage
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    Seems rather not like an astronomical question … – chirlu Aug 31 '17 at 21:59
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    This is not a question, period. – pacoverflow Sep 01 '17 at 15:05
  • OK. - with fill – Wayfaring Stranger Sep 01 '17 at 15:08
  • So moderators can put any unrelated question anywhere (and put fake tags) without being downvoted? – Matthieu Charbonnier Sep 01 '17 at 15:18
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    @MatthieuCharbonnier The system does not have an announcement feature that is visible to the front page, aside from the "Featured on Meta" which has not been viewed historically on this site. When this post's usefulness has been expended, it will be locked as "of historical significance". – called2voyage Sep 01 '17 at 15:44
  • @MatthieuCharbonnier Meta has had more views since this post has been up than it is has had the whole year. – called2voyage Sep 01 '17 at 15:46
  • @MatthieuCharbonnier The majority of this site's users come from outside of SE, so they are not familiar enough with our system to be aware of the criticality of meta or to know to look for featured posts on the side bar. – called2voyage Sep 01 '17 at 15:48
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    I think misusing questions in this way sets a bad example, especially for people who “come from outside of SE”. – chirlu Sep 01 '17 at 16:53
  • @chirlu In theory, I agree with you, but short of SE staff adding a moderator announcement system (not going to happen), there is no other way to direct the new users to meta. I would just give it time, but meta participation has been mostly low for three years--and it has been particularly bad this year. – called2voyage Sep 01 '17 at 17:00
  • @chirlu And again, the "historical significance" lock is going on this shortly, but the post will not be visible once the lock is on. – called2voyage Sep 01 '17 at 17:01

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