TBH, I think it depends. For example, this question by me was helpful to ask again - I wanted to get clarity on a policy, and the policy was updated. In contrast, this question it wouldn't be helpful to have dupes of, if there is a new argument, yes, re-asking is fine. But for support questions questions, for example, it isn't helpful.

@andrew.46 Slightly off topic: I didn't know about those differences, but is the moderator cheat sheet public? I'm curious about it... is this it?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

I'm afraid I have to go now, but feel free to ping me in chat, and I can respond in the morning. A few last thoughts... spammers are bad. They have to go. But the idea isn't that high-rep users are jerks. It is that they have to maintain quality for the site to not go down. If the hostilty is worth that is debatable. Also, see meta.stackoverflow.com/q/251758/16886597 (both of the top two answers are worth a read, even if you disagree). But feel free to ping me in chat to discuss more!

Uh... here on SE? AFAIK, it hasn't been. Other sites operate more like that (Quora for one). But I don't think it has ever been tried on Stack Exchange. Feel free to suggest that on Meta SE, though, if you think it would be beneficial/good, although note that people vote more on Meta, so questions tend to be either highly downvoted or highly upvoted. So note that Meta is more extreme. But, if you think it would be benifical, then suggest it!

@alchemy I respectfully disagree. I think that would cause too many issues. Regardless, that is just my opionion. If you disagree, which you may, then go to Meta Stack Exchange (the site for discussing things about the entire SE network), and make that request. Warning: some people may disagree with you, and I strongly urge you to read this question first. But, feel free to suggest that there if you think it will work better. Also, voting is special on Meta.

@alchemy This isn't obvious, and I can't find the Meta post for it at the moment. But... Stack Exchange isn't a forum. Nor is it a personal helpdesk. It is a large database of collective knowledge, and that is grouped into various sites. That is the core philosophy - a useful Q&A site, as a database of knowledge. If we could ignore what was on topic, it would fall into total chaos. SE isn't about getting your question answered, or about finding you a solution quickly - it is about creating a large database of helpful information. And if there were no rules, that wouldn't work.

@alchemy It isn't a concern of server resources. It is a concern if they are on-topic (and/or useful). But while I have an opinion, the comments here aren't the best place for that discussion. Instead, I suggest you make a Meta Ask Ubuntu question regarding if "rationale" questions are acceptable, so we can get a definative answer.

@alchemy In a perfect world, you wouldn't have to fight. But... I do agree that people are too quick to close questions. Even when the version or even distro is fully irrelevant, the question of "what version of Ubuntu do you have" is asked, as if they just wanted it closed. I don't know why - flags don't add to rep (badges maybe?). "rationale"/"why" questions tend to be closed. IMO, we should have a Meta post about if they are OK. The policy about questions where the version is off-topic, but also irrelevant, is unclear to many users, which causes confusion

What do you mean "never received any response"? Typically, you don't get a response - your flag is marked "helpful", because they took care of it. It's pretty rare to get a custom response to a flag. If all of your flags age away, then that's a different story. If the community votes to keep it closed, then they feel that it is off-topic. Honestly, I'm not sure what the rules/guidelines are for a general question about an unspecified release. That said, people can simply downvote because they think it isn't a useful question.

Related: meta.askubuntu.com/a/19944/1438484 - if you're sure that your question isn't specific to that version and is applicable to an on-topic version of Ubuntu (IMO your question is applicable to on-topic versions), then edit your original question removing mentions of the version, and check the box that says it should be placed in the queue of questions to be reviewed for re-opening

@ThomasWard I believe you, but where does it say that? I don't see it in the Code of Conduct or in Expected Behaviour

To clarify, when you say " Editing to fix stuff ...", do you mean you support mass-editing to remove terms like 'slave/master'? Or that they should be edited when we come across the post naturally? Or only when we're editing it for something else? I fear a mass-editing campaign would flood the front page. At the same time, I believe that AU should be as inclusive as we can.

I think I agree mostly. Personally, I think we should use more inclusive language in the future. But I do NOT think we should go editing existing ones. If you're already editing one for something else, sure. But because there are over 2,000 posts that contain the word 'slave' alone, I'm against mass-editing them (to be clear, I do think we should use more inclusive language - but at the same time, pushing over 2,000 posts to the front page isn't practical)

Related: What is Stack Exchange's official stance on words such as "black list", "white list", "master", "slave", and so on?