US Law questions?

Question

What should we do about questions like this?

United States Beer Shipping Laws

It's clearly something people want to know about: Can I ship my homebrew to my brother on the east coast? Is beer trading legal? Can I join a "Beer of the Month" club? It seems like that's the sort of question one would go to a beer stackexchange site to answer.

However, as people have pointed out in that question's comments, the answer may depend quite a bit on the state, and we don't want 50 copies of the same question: "Can I ship beer to Idaho", "Can I ship beer to Washington", etc etc.

So, what should we do about questions regarding US law that may vary by state?

Answer 1

For questions to be good here, they have to be of sufficiently limited scope. We should not expect people to provide as single answer for all 50 states, or even for the dozens of counties in each state that might have a different set of laws.

More importantly, we're here to help people solve their problems. A general answer for all of the US, or even their state, might not solve their problem.

We can, and really, must, deal in specific questions with specific answers.

So if I want to ship some beer to a friend, I should ask about the laws that are relevant to my case, and no more

Answer 2

If each question will be different, then it should not be discouraged. That there may be an issue with having "too many questions" is really not something that should be prevented.

Moreover, are these types of questions really bogging down the exchange? I don't see any evidence of that. Until it actually becomes a problem that is recognizable then there is no point in preventing it. At that point, look to how Stack Overflow deals with it now since they deal in large volume. But before that point, do not use the current Stack Overflow as an example because it would be out of context. Look to how Stack Overflow started, and garnish ideas from their outlook back then (in 2008).

Preventing content will only harm this new exchange. So, what should be done about these questions? Answer them if you can, or move on if you don't feel like answering it.