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I was asking following question on Ask Ubuntu:

Best possible VLC settings to play 1080p mkv and mp4 formats?

But the same time I was getting notification that:

"The question you're asking appears subjective and is likely to be closed"

What is the problem with the question I am asking? How it can be corrected and Why this message is coming?

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2 Answers 2

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We don't usually like subjective questions that ask what the "best" x is, this generally results in lots of people expressing their personal opinion of "I think y!", "well, I think z!", "no, it's q!". The post then rapidly devolves into old, unhelpful opinions that cannot be moderated into a nice, helpful, future proof wiki which is what our goal at Ask Ubuntu is. You can, however, ask these things at out sister sites the ubuntu forums, and ubuntu discourse.

If you don't think your question is subjective try to word it without using words like "best", "fastest", etc. If you need help feel free to pop into chat and ask for help.

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    "fastest" is usually a lot less subjective than "best"
    – thomasrutter
    Commented Sep 10, 2015 at 2:05
  • @thomasrutter yet, most of the time depends on several variables, therefore "too broad" ;)
    – Braiam
    Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 19:00
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That notification is designed to encourage people to improve their questions. In this case it was activated by the word "best".

"Best" is a vague word. Its meaning is entirely open to individual interpretation. To one person, "Best" might mean "most simple"; to another person it might mean "fastest performance", and to another "lowest memory usage". Another person might interpret it to mean "the most elegant way", which itself is still a little vague.

Thus, if you find yourself phrasing a question this way, go back and remove "best", and tell us what your real requirements are. Be specific about what you need.

Questions which rely heavily on individual interpretation of what the question is asking for are too subjective and not a good fit for the site.

Note: this notification is a recommendation, not an order. Your question will not be blocked, or automatically closed by the system. It may well be that you have expressed your needs very specifically, in which case your question probably won't be closed. In most cases, however, the word "best" is an indication that your question isn't specific enough.

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