A lot depends on the question and the kinds of responses you hope to get. I don’t think it’s necessarily about polish and cites of previous work, but you do need enough specificity and clarity to show what you already know and what specific part of the topics you mention you’re asking about.
High-quality answers come from high-quality questions. There are things you can ask on facebook which don’t work well here, if you’re not putting much effort into preparation. And there are things you can ask in shortform that you can’t easily ask in a top-level question post (without getting downvoted). You’re correct that you get less traction in those places, but the expectations are also lower. Also, shortform (and facebook) has more expectation of refinement and discussion via comments, where capital-Q Question posts are generally (but not always) expected to elicit answers.
All that said, you’ve been here long enough to get 500+ karma—I’d recommend just trying stuff out. The only way to spend that karma is to make risky posts, so get good value out of it by experimenting! I strongly expect that some questions will catch peoples’ attention even if you’re not greatly prepared in the post, and some questions won’t get useful responses no matter how perfect your form is.
A lot depends on the question and the kinds of responses you hope to get. I don’t think it’s necessarily about polish and cites of previous work, but you do need enough specificity and clarity to show what you already know and what specific part of the topics you mention you’re asking about.
High-quality answers come from high-quality questions. There are things you can ask on facebook which don’t work well here, if you’re not putting much effort into preparation. And there are things you can ask in shortform that you can’t easily ask in a top-level question post (without getting downvoted). You’re correct that you get less traction in those places, but the expectations are also lower. Also, shortform (and facebook) has more expectation of refinement and discussion via comments, where capital-Q Question posts are generally (but not always) expected to elicit answers.
All that said, you’ve been here long enough to get 500+ karma—I’d recommend just trying stuff out. The only way to spend that karma is to make risky posts, so get good value out of it by experimenting! I strongly expect that some questions will catch peoples’ attention even if you’re not greatly prepared in the post, and some questions won’t get useful responses no matter how perfect your form is.