When creating sample questions during the definition phase, we are being told:

Discussing whether questions are on-topic or off-topic helps figure out what the site is about, and, more importantly, what it's not about.

I was under the impression that this means that we as the community get to define which questions are on-topic and which are not. And that the beta phase is for working this out in detail.

If programming questions dominate we will fold Emacs.SE into Stack Overflow.

In the Area51 FAQ only one reason is mentioned why a site might be deleted: if it isn't used. If you are concerned that the Emacs community would draw the on-/off-topic distinction in a way incompatible with the corporate vision, then you should not even let it enter the beta phase. I don't want to waste my time on something that might be shut down without the community having a say.

By phrasing the above in such an ultimate way you basically leave use two options (a) programming questions are off-topic, and will be closed/migrated (b) programming questions are off-topic, but will be tolerated. And rule out (c) certain programming questions are indistinguishable from usage questions.

The reason why I think that Emacs.SE would make sense is exactly because the distinction between "usage" and "programming" questions make little sense with Emacs. While it is not necessary to write Elisp to use Emacs, all "expert users" do, and your FAQ state that you want "expert questions" being asked and want to attract "expert users". If you are not occasionally writing some Elisp then you are not an expert. By declaring "Elisp" questions to be off-topic-but-barely-acceptable you are shutting out the experts. All we are allowed to do is help beginners, but getting help ourselves from other experts is frowned upon.

Furthermore, by only allowing us to draw the on-/off-topic distinction in the Stack Exchange approved, standard (but here inappropriate) way, you are wasting a unique opportunity to have a social system draw this distinction itself, and learn from it. What is a meaningful distinction has to be worked out in the beta phase. Please don't try to influence this process before it has even began.

If programming questions (and so it seems even programming-related questions (see below)) ought to be considered off-topic then I see no reason why Emacs.SO should be created. Using Emacs is so different from using other applications (with the exception of vi and maybe some others) that moderators who have no first hand experience with Emacs (or an equally liberating system) simply cannot judge what is on-topic.

I for one wasn't particularly exited about this proposal because the Emacs community has the same "problem" as Stack Exchange, it is spread across many places. That (in the case of a community) isn't necessarily a bad thing, but something to be aware of. One major benefit is that everyone can use the medium she prefers. So emacs-devel, help-gnu-emacs, #emacs, r/emacs, planet.emacs, emacswiki, "the various places on stack exchange", and even g+/114815898697665598016 have their raison d'être.

The only platform that is causing problems is Stack Exchange and the reason for that is that it was split into several sites along lines which do not make sense for Emacs. That split is not only causing problems for Stack Exchange, it is also causing problems for various communities, and the Emacs community, due to its special nature, suffers more than most.

I hesitated but then committed to Emacs.SO because I hope its creation would allow us to address the "Emacs questions are considered off-topic on all sites" and "people who know nothing about Emacs get to make the call" issues. If you don't allow our definition of "on-topic" to be broader than on other sites, then there is no reason to create Emacs.SO. It would be just another Stack Exchange site where "Emacs questions are welcome, except for the considerable portion which is not".

Since you already provide some examples off what you consider suitable questions, let me touch on one here: How is "How to get intelligent auto-completion in C++ [in Emacs]" even a "programming" question? Emacs is (among other things) used to do programming, and so you will naturally get questions about how to use it to do just that. This is a tool question, just like "How do I complete partially written English words in Microsoft Word" is. Just because the language is C++ and not English and the "word processor" is Emacs and not MS Word, doesn't make this a programming question. If I asked that question I would hope for an answer along the line "Install package X and set option Y to Z", not instructions on how to implement auto-completion for C++ using Elisp.