3

What is our final decision on questions like these?

Our FAQ is quite clear on the subject:

  • What kind of questions should I not ask here? ...

    ...

    You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face

    ...avoid asking [questions where]...

    • every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite ______?”

So, let us set some guidelines. Should we close or lock all of them? Should we add a notice to the old ones like Stack Overflow do?

4 Answers 4

2

There is a variation of this which is allowed, namely "Hidden Features of..."

Should 'hidden features of X' be removed/closed/locked?

The difference as I see it, is these aren't just mindless lists of stuff, but pro-tips where experts share specific details about how they do things.

A simple "what is available" or "let's list all things of type X" does not fit this criteria at all.

2

I don't think Ask Ubuntu is the place for them.

Close and lock them all and add a notice to the old ones (like they did on Stack Overflow).

1

Thinking about this, one of the problems is that these questions often start as valid requests, like this one where someone asks for an alternative to a program that only runs in Windows.

Knowing where to draw the line is quite tricky.

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  • 1
    An excellent point. We should definitely not close specific, reasonable requests for software recommendations. I suppose you'll often be able to distinguish them by thinking about whether it is a "questions based on actual problems that you face". For example: "I desperately need an alternative to x" is reasonable, "I just want to try some different x" is not. In short: You've got to have a problem. Jun 17, 2011 at 8:40
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We should allows posts that have a limited scope like "What Platformers are available?" but close or lock the posts with unlimited scope like "What Native Games are available?" .

1
  • "What Platformers are available?" still doesn't conform with the FAQ: "every answer is equally valid". Jun 14, 2011 at 15:43

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