33
votes
Explicit close reason: "OP bought undocumented stuff, asks us instead of seller for documentation"
Sorry, but I strongly disagree.
By putting all the cheap stuff found on eBay and Amazon or other "non reputable" sources into the same thrash bin is judgemental and heavily penalizes low-income ...
22
votes
Accepted
Explicit close reason: "OP bought undocumented stuff, asks us instead of seller for documentation"
I completely understand your position but disagree.
I don't see why those of like mind can't simply ignore the question if it's of no interest.
Championing the active prevention of the posting and ...
- 360k
19
votes
Accepted
Adding a community specific close message for homework
YES, please.
DSP.SE has such a close reason:
This question appears to be homework. Complete answers to homework are off-topic, but specific questions about homework are acceptable if they include ...
- 84.9k
16
votes
Explicit close reason: "OP bought undocumented stuff, asks us instead of seller for documentation"
I partially agree with your sentiment, but I disagree on a few points:
As a Q&A site, our goal should be to share our knowledge with 'the internet', so in principle whatever we share could be ...
- 13.4k
15
votes
Accepted
How to deal with "Explain/Fix this Circuit I found somewhere (and don't really understand)" kind of questions?
I think we already have the tools to handle these questions. As with any broad class of questions, there is quite a range from How do I increase the gain of this amplifier:
To What's the purpose of ...
- 309k
11
votes
Closing Homework with no attempt as Off-Topic
Simply put, it's not off-topic. I'll admit this is a bit of semantics, but changing the effort put into the question does not change the topic. Considering that homework questions are explicitly on-...
- 18.1k
11
votes
Why are we 'afraid' to close questions as duplicates?
I agree. I suspect its because answering takes less time than actually finding the appropriate duplicate. Also, it's not crystal clear how to actually provide the link to the dup in the close menu (...
- 28.6k
8
votes
Explicit close reason: "OP bought undocumented stuff, asks us instead of seller for documentation"
Cheap (and often undocummented well) stuff from popular online marketplaces is not neccesseraly crap. More expensive brand name goods are usually just a better probability it's not crap (just have a ...
- 101
7
votes
Possibly clarify the "shopping" OT closure rule
Although there isn't a clear pre-written close reason, requests for off-site info are almost always downvoted and/or closed here, and 'answers' which do little more than direct you to an external URL ...
- 14.2k
7
votes
Why was this question closed (and then deleted)?
"Why was this question deleted and why was it closed?"
The question was closed because three members who have enough reputation to allow them to vote to close questions did so.
(As noted by ...
- 146k
6
votes
Put close reasons on the help page
In the "Don't ask about section" I would put a bullet point along the lines of:
Homework questions unless you post an good faith attempt at a solution, with a specific question of your problem.
...
- 72.6k
6
votes
Proposal for new close reason -- "Low expertise", "Too Basic"
This is a bad idea. It's OK to be ignorant. It's not OK to be stupid. You are confusing the two.
Most ignorant questions we get here are also stupid and usually badly written and exhibiting a poor ...
- 309k
6
votes
Closing Homework with no attempt as Off-Topic
IMO 'serious lack of effort' would be a good addition to the set of reasons why a question should be closed.
Somewhat related is 'asking for a full design'. Now such a question is often closed as '...
- 48.2k
6
votes
Adding a community specific close message for homework
Once upon a time, SO had such a "homework" tag and once explicitly required that someone asking a question had to demonstrate a minimum of knowledge in the topic, such as actually making an ...
- 16.6k
5
votes
How can we justify such disparity in closing/downvoting questions?
The original question (the second one in your list) hit the HNQ and tickled the funnybone of a large number of outside visitors, who proceeded to upvote it and the answers. That does NOT mean that it ...
- 167k
5
votes
What should we do about the bad close vote culture of this site?
I can relate to the behavior you describe, and deem it incorrect behavior in those cases that you describe. I expect the moderation team to suspend users who abuse the power of issuing close-votes. If ...
- 16.9k
5
votes
What should we do about the bad close vote culture of this site?
I think the heart of community moderation is letting the community moderate, but screening for clear abuses like targeting one user for no reason is probably a good practice.
That said, I'm not, and ...
- 28.6k
4
votes
Proposal for new close reason -- "Low expertise", "Too Basic"
If you see a basic question for the first time, answer it. It's not a big deal, and it does bring in new people via search engines.
If a basic question keeps popping up, close it as a dupe. Simple as ...
- 25.3k
4
votes
Closing Homework with no attempt as Off-Topic
This is an ongoing point of discussion/contention/etc. over at Physics SE.
We have an off-topic close reason which reads as follows:
Homework-like questions should ask about a specific physics ...
- 306
4
votes
Accepted
What's our policy regarding safety related issues without engineering context?
My view is that asking about concepts of electrical engineering are on-topic. For example, one could ask how a capacitor functions, with no other context. It should be on-topic as a means to cover ...
- 30.1k
4
votes
Adding a community specific close message for homework
I love the idea, but the message isn't perfect yet. It's not so much that homework questions need an attempt at a solution, but that there needs to be some indication of where the student is lacking ...
- 28.6k
3
votes
Why was the list of closers removed when a question is closed?
It's now only visible to the author, and those that have unlocked the close vote privilege.
- 13.7k
3
votes
Close reason for a calco (like a typo)?
No, the best course of action is to downvote a post if you feel it isn't right (I personally see no reason for a downvote on this question). Close reasons are network wide (most of them) and require a ...
- 72.6k
3
votes
How can we justify such disparity in closing/downvoting questions?
As Dave mentioned, the first question hit the HNQ and received a lot of off-site attention. There's definitely a very real safety aspect about it, and it's not asking a ridiculous scenario. The ...
- 18.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Off topic question on hold, no real answer
but I specifically asked in the question if there might be a better stack where the question might be fit for migration.
Not our problem. Off topic here is off topic here, whether we know of a ...
- 309k
3
votes
Accepted
Why a question on LTspice settings is not "on-topic"?
Closing that question was inappropriate. It may well be that there is nothing one can do from inside LT Spice to use the specific processor more efficiently, but that's what the question was about.
...
- 309k
3
votes
What should we do about the bad close vote culture of this site?
Doing a bit of research on meta, and thinking about our recent change to 3 votes, I have a bit more insight.
It really feels to me like the close mechanisms are well-suited to high-traffic stacks with ...
- 28.6k
2
votes
Closing Homework with no attempt as Off-Topic
If the question is on topic, it should not be closed. If the question is bad, it should be down voted. That's why "Research Effort" was removed as a close reason a year or two ago.
Specifically, the ...
- 72.1k
2
votes
Closing Homework with no attempt as Off-Topic
Good idea.
I just cast the 4th close vote. I'm getting tired of explaining each time why a question needs to be closed. I really don't want to be wasting my time on that, and I don't want to ...
- 309k
2
votes
Proposal for new close reason -- "Low expertise", "Too Basic"
It's possible that this is partially a user education problem... For example, my first post was a bit of a disaster, and I was making a very earnest attempt to understand something difficult.
Not ...
- 6,128
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