Questions that *say they are not about Ubuntu*, by saying they are about how to do something on a non-Ubuntu OS, or in any other way, are closed as off-topic.

Lots of information that's off-topic for this site is potentially useful to Ubuntu users. Information about hardware repair is potentially useful to Ubuntu users. Information about general programming skills is potentially useful to Ubuntu users. Information about cooking is potentially useful to Ubuntu users. It's helpful to set a reasonably clear delineating line where we consider something off-topic, which we have done. When something is about how to use an unofficial Ubuntu derivative, it is considered off-topic for this site.

(The exception is when it is *also* about Ubuntu. For example, if you had a question about how to burn an Ubuntu installation CD in Linux Mint, I think that would probably be considered on-topic, just as questions about how to do that on Windows and Mac OS X are considered on-topic.)

You're saying this policy is applied inconsistently. That may be so (and if it is, that should perhaps be fixed, though doing so wouldn't necessarily mean closing *fewer* questions). But as far as I can tell, you have not identified any way in which the policy is applied inconsistently. Questions aren't closed *because* they're potentially useful to users of non-Ubuntu OSes. They're closed when they're *not about Ubuntu*. Your question is potentially useful to users of Ubuntu and of other OSes, but it is not about Ubuntu. Other questions that are equally useful to users of other OSes, but which *are about Ubuntu*, are not closed.

Like other users of the Internet, Ubuntu users can search the web for information we need. We are not limited to this site. You shouldn't feel that you are limited to this site either. If you post this question on the Linux Mint forums, Unix.SE, or elsewhere, Ubuntu users should still be able to find and benefit from it.