I live in a world where I determine the need or “use case”, design the circuit, lay out the PCB, populate it, test it [and then write the firmware for it]. As with many things, all these different skill sets are connected to each other. As such, determining if a post “crosses the line” is hard because in any actual endeavor all the lines are very fuzzy and go everywhere.
In a special way, every new project has a touch of schizophrenic karma to it. You go back and forth between all those skills. I suspect many who post a “mixed skill set” question would not be aware enough to know if they crossed the fuzzy line. They probably would not know to post it in an “Electronics Design Questions” category. This makes determining if a post is appropriate a judgement call. As such, enforcement is always a nightmare. I very much appreciate the moderators, and I very much do not envy their task.
For me, the question to ask is “Does this question involve PCB skills in the mix of skills ?” Much like art, I can’t describe it but I know it when I see it as far as making that judgment call is concerned. I try to point to on-line resource where the person can learn. If someone is not willing to learn, I’m not willing to help. This is also a practical matter as most people posting the questions do not know enough to supply all the relevant information. This is also why such post become very long. And this is where you point the poster to the electronics forums with a “simple to copy-paste” message with links to electronics forums.
I do like the projects category, and if a project I did has the PCB design as an integral part of the project, I enjoy posting that so other can learn.
Not sure if this add clarity to this discussion, just $.02