I am a graduate student nearing the end of my dissertation. I'm hoping to see (and ask/answer) the following types of questions here, organized by whom I would talk with "in real life:"

• Questions that I might ask my adviser: "is X a good direction, why or why not -- what are key points in the literature -- what are important technical considerations -- what are potential empirical strategies -- what are some theoretical papers to read if I am trying to prove X."

• Questions I might ask other researchers -- specific aspects of their research about which I am unfamiliar, or simply bouncing ideas off another researcher.

Essentially, I'm hoping to find something like the wonderful "grad cafe" environment of the lunchtable during my PhD: other advanced researchers with whom I can "spitball," bounce ideas off of, and dig into technical questions (analytical issues for proofs, computational issues for simulations, statistical/data issues for empirical estimation).