This query came about following a comment on Did Basic D&D invent and popularise the abbreviation XP for experience points?
I am particularly interested in how such a question meets the "practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face" requirement. My initial reaction is no, they don't, but there are other similar questions with enormous numbers of votes that suggest otherwise, e.g. Who created the idea of Experience Points?
The line "practical answerable questions based on actual problems that you face" is quite outmoded and while it was suitable for the trilogy sites, has been and should be largely abandoned by SE 2.0 sites (though it's still a part of the FAQ it's wording is up for revisions).
That said, it's a good criteria for most questions. The problem is when you have a general interest question that is otherwise quite good. "Did D&D invent the usage of XP for experience points?" is a good on-topic question (provided the author does a bit of prior research and informs the audience of such).
The question is mostly answerable. It's actually quite easy to validate the null hypothesis Moldvay Basic is the primary source of the term XP.
All one has to do is show that either Moldvay wasn't the most widespread early source, or that a similarly widespread source was earlier. In point of fact, both of which are true. (AD&D's DMG uses XP, is earlier, in print longer, sold more copies, and in general, was better known prior to the rise of the OSR.)
History of Gaming, especially history of specific terms, is of use in later game design, as well as specific non-gaming uses (to wit, authors of fiction set in period).
Which said, this particular question isn't really off topic. Further, it's actually answerable with a relatively high degree of certainty - far more than, say, Encouraging players to not cheat the item purchase system?.
Plus, such questions are exactly the kind of thing best handled by crowdsourcing answers... which is exactly the purpose of SE sites.
In general, trivia should be off topic because it does not meet the bar of "practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face" - which, far from being outmoded, is what separates SEs from the animals.
I think there should be limited exceptions with a high bar for items that might fit the category of scholarship/real information. "Wikipedia article worthy" stuff.
In my opinion, Who created the idea of Experience Points? - who invented experience points, barely clears that bar, but Who popularised the abbreviation of XP for experience points? Was it Basic D&D? - strictly about the abbreviation - does not.
