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A question using the latex tag was recently posted, which received a number of down votes and comments which directed to post on tex.stackexchange.com.

MO predates tex.stackexchange.com and so at that earlier point the MO community set up a latex tag in order to have some place to get latex help. My question is there any way to post a relevant question under the latex tag now?

I don't see how this is possible given the tag info:

https://mathoverflow.net/tags/latex/info

Please note that there is a Q&A-site dedicated to this subject http://tex.stackexchange.com [.] Most questions involving LaTeX are a better fit there, and if asked here, might still be migrated to the other site. Most of the existing questions with this tag predate the existence of the other site, they are not a good indicator for which questions now would remain on this site.

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    $\begingroup$ That particular question was quite terrible irrespective of the issue if TeX questions are on-topic on MO. I don't think it would fare much better at tex.stackexchange.com . $\endgroup$
    – Emil Jeřábek
    Commented Apr 10, 2017 at 20:41
  • $\begingroup$ What @Emil said. It shouldn't have been migrated under the rule "don't migrate crap". I expected it to bounce back, and get removed by the Roomba services. (In fact, it is already deleted from TeX - LaTeX.) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 6:01

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I think a question along the lines of "this is a novel concept I am trying to introduce in a paper, does anyone have recommendations about how to succinctly describe it formulaically" might be on topic. In contrast to the other answer, it can be done in such a way as to have a non-void mathematical content, and it is about LaTeX (somewhat) and so might be appropriate to tag there.

In general, I expect the occurrence of such questions to be negligible.

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Technically yes. The best example that comes to mind is to retrieve or recreate a missing environment in which a series of documents was created for which the latex sources were lost. The TeX forum might handle specific questions about reconstructing a page element, but not a whole document worth of examples. Similarly it would be a useful resource if the style files involved were made into a public resource. However my (extremely hypothetical) example is like looking for Grothendieck's personal TeX macros used for slides for courses based on SGA or EGA. An algebraic geometer here on MathOverflow might be able to answer the question more readily, and its similarity to a reference request in my mind makes it appropriate for this forum.

Gerhard "It Is A Bit Stretchy" Paseman, 2017.04.10.

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    $\begingroup$ I think that questions like you described would be completely off-topic here. $\endgroup$
    – Andy Putman
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 14:30
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    $\begingroup$ @Andy , Is it that much unlike a reference request? Gerhard "Or Are Reference Requests Unwelcome?" Paseman, 2017.04.11. $\endgroup$
    – Gerhard Paseman
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 14:37
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    $\begingroup$ Reference requests are fine, but they have to involve actual mathematics. $\endgroup$
    – Andy Putman
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 14:48
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    $\begingroup$ OK. I think the example above can and does involve actual mathematics. Gerhard "Thank You For Your Opinion" Paseman, 2017.04.11. $\endgroup$
    – Gerhard Paseman
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 14:51

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