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The following question starts out being about Ubuntu but ends with a solution about Debian.

USB sticks not accessible & system hangs at shut-down: related to older hardware?

My gut reaction is off-topic as unlikely to help future users. Thoughts?

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The title and content of your question is misleading, so I'm guessing at what you actually mean. However, I've attached my thoughts on general kinds of things related to distributions/etc. with regards to questions and answers.


With Regard To Questions:

If the question is about Ubuntu, then the question should be left alone. If it eventually is a case of someone saying "I'm actually on Debian" then close off-topic.

My gut feeling on the linked question (which matches a case of "Was about Ubuntu, isn't anymore") is that it should be offtopic, since the second update says "I switched to Debian" and they are no longer working with Ubuntu.


With Regard to Solutions:

If a solution is from Debian, Arch, etc. but has been tested and solves the problem on Ubuntu, then the issue is rather what the question was about, not the solution. It wouldn't hurt, in my opinion, to put a comment to the non-Ubuntu answer saying that "This is not a solution tested on Ubuntu, and you should be careful with such solutions as they may not work on Ubuntu."

If the solution posted is, rather, "Just install Debian" or "Just use a different distribution" or similar, that answer should be "Not An Answer" (in my opinion) because there's no logical reason for switching distributions just because a problem showed up.

If the original poster makes a solution saying "I've switched to $other_distro", we should probably close it (in my opinion) as offtopic and not helpful to users in the future (either Offtopic or No-Repo).


DISCLAIMER: Do not take my opinion/post here as law - it is merely one potential interpretation.

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  • My apologies if the question seems misleading. I tried to make it as clear as possible. I was hoping to drive some eyes to the question in the hopes of never seeing it again. ;-)
    – Elder Geek
    Mar 16, 2015 at 21:43

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