<p>By and large, I agree with the practice of closing questions which refer to specific datasets (<strong>Matt Parker</strong> very nicely summarizes the issue in his answer <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/486/suitable-venue-to-help-find-specific-statistical-data">here</a>). </p>

<p>Nevertheless, it's undeniable that some datasets hold a unique place in the realm of Data Analysis, transcending their particular (specialized) domain (e.g. Fisher's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_flower_data_set" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Irises</a>, Old Faithful data). Shouldn't these be treated differently?</p>

<p>I realize that it's hard to draw a line between these exceptional cases--perhaps an easy rule-of-thumb would be: "If it's built into <strong>R</strong> then it's ok."</p>

<p>Anyway, this is just something I was thinking about earlier and wanted to hear what you guys thought about it--as I think about it more I'll update this post accordingly.  </p>

<p>[Note: I also think that <strong>Cross Validated</strong> could benefit overall if it even outright <em>encouraged</em> the use of these types of built-in datasets in the questions themselves. But that may be a whole different meta-post entirely...]</p>
