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I have been on this site for over two months, and I have noticed that it seems to be more inclined towards the US. Most of the answers I see here are based on US laws. Someone from another country has to specify the country name, or else the question is called locale specific.

Is this correct or just a misconception?

  • 1
    One thing to keep in mind is that Stack Exchange is in English - a lot of non-native English speakers are good enough at writing English that it is not obvious they are from other countries. But this might lead to the assumption that askers are American even if they are not. – enderland Jan 3 '17 at 18:39
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Most of our active users seem to be from the US (judging from questions and answers), but the site welcomes a worldwide audience. We want everybody to be able to get answers to their workplace questions, not just Americans. (And also not just high-tech professionals.)

Not all questions depend on the location in order to answer, but those that do are supposed to be tagged with the location, including those about the US. If you see something like that and it doesn't have that tag, please add it or comment.

And if you see people answering those from the perspective of some other location, where the answer doesn't fit because of the locale, those probably qualify as Not An Answer. Please feel free to comment to point out the location (the answerer might have missed it), downvote, flag, or bring it up in chat or on meta to get more eyes on it.

  • those probably qualify as Not An Answer Thank you I have wondered how to handle those with flags. – IDrinkandIKnowThings Jan 3 '17 at 22:21
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Is The Workplace inclined more towards the US?

Yes, and no. :-) The Workplace is inclined towards whatever the users choose. See also: The Workplace is a worldwide site.

The Workplace seems inclined towards the US, but that only represents the underlying demographics of the users, as majority of the users here, and in particular, the most active users, are Americans. You would naturally expect people to ask questions on issues in their immediate surroundings, and since that happens to be the US for most of the users here, majority of the questions are US-centric.

You would have noticed that most of the questions here are focused on an IT Workplace, also for the same reason. We do not see more questions pertaining to taxi drivers or construction workers, mainly because we don't have too many (any?) users belonging to those professions here.

If the demographics of the site users change, then you could expect the site's inclination to also change accordingly.

Someone from another country has to specify the country name ...

This used to be a problem a couple of years ago, but there has been steady progress on that front. Edits being made to tag questions with are increasing, and users asking such questions are also being asked to specify their location.

Interestingly, the tag with 403 questions is the top country tag, followed by with 271 questions and with 160 questions. (at the moment of this writing)

... or else the question is called locale specific.

If it has happened, it was a mistake. Bring such questions to meta. The custom close reason states:

Questions seeking advice on company-specific regulations, agreements, or policies should be directed to your manager or HR department. Questions that address only a specific company or position are of limited use to future visitors. Questions seeking legal advice should be directed to legal professionals. For more information, click here.

A question can be closed for being a company-specific or a position-specific issue. Going by the reasoning in jmac's meta post, it is an overreach to apply this close reason to issues that apply to an entire country.

  • "Yes, and no. :-)" - I see plenty of yes in your answer, but I don't really see any no. – Joe Strazzere Jan 1 '17 at 12:29
  • @JoeStrazzere Yeah, I guess it does sound like that. My point here is that, as it currently stands, the workplace is US-centric, but that is not by design, it is just how the site has grown up. There is nothing in the site rules that makes it so. For example, if more users from other countries (say India or China) outnumber Americans in future, then it would incline away from the US. That's the "no" which is sort of there. Also, quite contrary to the OP's perception, the country tag most frequently used is US, that's also a sort of "no" (although it is more of a "yes" in some sense). – Masked Man Jan 1 '17 at 12:43
  • I agree - it is US-centric, but not by design. It's also office-worker-centric. And tech-centric. As my favorite (US) football coach often says: "It is what it is." – Joe Strazzere Jan 1 '17 at 13:02
  • In theory no, but as a friend of mine used to like to say "In theory, theory and practice are the same, in practice, they are not. – Richard Says Reinstate Monica Jan 3 '17 at 21:29
  • @JoeStrazzere You mean handegg not football, right? – JohnHC Jan 5 '17 at 15:10
  • @JohnHC - LOL! Well I don't mean flop-ball, that's for sure! – Joe Strazzere Jan 5 '17 at 15:41
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Is workplace more inclined toward US?

Yes.

  • Well explained ;-) – Black Mamba Dec 31 '16 at 21:32
  • It was a simple question. I felt that it deserved a simple answer. I'm not sure why you would care how the site is "inclined" though, since many non-US questions are asked and answered. But you didn't elaborate as to why you would ask this sort of question. That might generate more useful answers... – Joe Strazzere Dec 31 '16 at 21:40
  • I'm not saying anything against that., I like being sarcastic .BTW Happy New Year – Black Mamba Dec 31 '16 at 22:04
  • Whatever. It's more inclined to office workers, too. – Joe Strazzere Dec 31 '16 at 22:05
  • That's what it's meant to be – Black Mamba Dec 31 '16 at 22:19
  • @IshanMahajan ??? Meant to be inclined to office workers? No more so than meant to be inclined toward the US. Or meant to be include to tech folks. It is what it is, but there's nothing that says it is meant to be that way. – Joe Strazzere Jan 1 '17 at 0:07
  • Yep, no need for elaboration – Kilisi Feb 12 '17 at 9:04

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