Q:

Odd question, may just not belong on the cooking site

I have a question for cooks about cooking mentally, building up foods around an idea and i would like to turn it out to other cooks. however i am just wondering if it an apprpriate question for the board. it would go something like this:
"typically i get a taste in the back of my head for an ingredient or two, and then i'll get a taste for a dish (and then start thinking of how to put them all together). normally, once i start assembling the ingredients, i get an idea of a theme, and maybe a name and then i hold to that as my tasting benchmark. what ways of thinking of recipes do you find most productive that keep you on task and deliver solid results?"
so, just curious, is this fair game for cook.se or is it off-topic?

A:

It's not off-topic, but it sounds very vague and discussiony, and doesn't really fit the "Q&A" format very well.  Seems like the type of thing that would (or should) be closed as Not A Real Question.
The criteria for a good Community Wiki question is not whether or not it has a definitive answer - it's understood that these questions are subjective - but whether or not there is some way to actually evaluate the quality of an answer and vote objectively.  I don't think there is here.  Any answer is a valid answer.  The question is essentially a GTKY (Getting To Know You) question.
On an aside, in my experience, these kinds of abstract questions tend not to even do that well on discussion forums.  It's not that they're not good questions, it's just that they attract a lot of crap answers because anyone can answer regardless of skill level.
Rule of thumb: If you find it awkward or even impossible to phrase a question without using the word "you", then it's probably a discussion or GTKY poll, not a real question.
Note: It's not that we hate subjectivity or discussions or fun.  It's not that I, personally, don't like your specific question.  It's just that the software really wasn't designed to handle that kind of thing effectively.  From the FAQ: Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion. This is not a discussion board, this is a place for questions that can be answered!

