In Programmers most of the questions are correctly related to design, patterns, metodologies and architectures. Now, my question is: when does a question classify as "Opinion based"? And even more important: when it doesn't? Of course, for instance when asking a question for help in a better undestanding of a particular pattern or a particular metodology, it's supposed that the answer will be strictly connected to an official reference. But in many other case, the question can look something like that:

I have this entity {...} I have these business rules {...}. Given this context, which creational pattern fits best for creating my entity?

A question like this, could be closed as "Opinion based", but I do not agree, I repeat exactly what I say as a comment in this question:

as a matter of facts, when it comes to design and patterns you are not dealing with an "exact science". Many times you have to understand advantages and disadvantages of each decision you can make... at this point choosing the right one it's not a Math formula, it is just a matter of intelligence and experience

That means that a well posed question that asks for advantages or disadvantages of a particular pattern, solution, methodology.. whatever, given a particular context, in my opinion is a question that has to stay open, even if it may seems "Opinion based" because understanding advantages and disadvantages of a particular decision helps the Original Poster to choose the better one... in that particular context.

In conclusion, when does a question on Programmers cross over from a understanding advantages and drawbacks to a real opinion based - not constructive - question?

In my opinion that happens when the original poster give no context around the question, for instance, in the 1st example I made, if the question were:

In order to instance my entity object, what is better: a Builder pattern or a factory method pattern?

Naturally a question like this one should be closed because there is no context that makes sense in any answer that will follow.

In Software Engineering.SE (formerly known as "Programmers.SE") most of the questions are correctly related to design, patterns, metodologies and architectures. Now, my question is: when does a question classify as "Opinion based"? And even more important: when it doesn't? Of course, for instance when asking a question for help in a better undestanding of a particular pattern or a particular metodology, it's supposed that the answer will be strictly connected to an official reference. But in many other case, the question can look something like that:

I have this entity {...} I have these business rules {...}. Given this context, which creational pattern fits best for creating my entity?

A question like this, could be closed as "Opinion based", but I do not agree, I repeat exactly what I say as a comment in this question:

as a matter of facts, when it comes to design and patterns you are not dealing with an "exact science". Many times you have to understand advantages and disadvantages of each decision you can make... at this point choosing the right one it's not a Math formula, it is just a matter of intelligence and experience

That means that a well posed question that asks for advantages or disadvantages of a particular pattern, solution, methodology.. whatever, given a particular context, in my opinion is a question that has to stay open, even if it may seems "Opinion based" because understanding advantages and disadvantages of a particular decision helps the Original Poster to choose the better one... in that particular context.

In conclusion, when does a question on Software Engineering cross over from a understanding advantages and drawbacks to a real opinion based - not constructive - question?

In my opinion that happens when the original poster give no context around the question, for instance, in the 1st example I made, if the question were:

In order to instance my entity object, what is better: a Builder pattern or a factory method pattern?

Naturally a question like this one should be closed because there is no context that makes sense in any answer that will follow.

In Programmers most of the questions are correctly related to design, patterns, metodologies and architectures. Now, my question is: when does a question classify as "Opinion based"? And even more important: when it doesn't? Of course, for instance when asking a question for help in a better undestanding of a particular pattern or a particular metodology, it's supposed that the answer will be strictly connected to an official reference. But in many other case, the question can look something like that:

I have this entity {...} I have these business rules {...}. Given this context, which creational pattern fits best for creating my entity?

A question like this, could be closed as "Opinion based", but I do not agree, I repeat exactly what I say as a comment in this question:

as a matter of facts, when it comes to design and patterns you are not dealing with an "exact science". Many times you have to understand advantages and disadvantages of each decision you can make... at this point choosing the right one it's not a Math formula, it is just a matter of intelligence and experience

That means that a well posed question that asks for advantages or disadvantages of a particular pattern, solution, methodology.. whatever, given a particular context, in my opinion is a question that has to stay open, even if it may seems "Opinion based" because understanding advantages and disadvantages of a particular decision helps the Original Poster to choose the better one... in that particular context.

In conclusion, when does a question on Programmers cross over from a understanding advantages and drawbacks to a real opinion based - not constructive - question?

In my opinion that happens when the original poster give no context around the question, for instance, in the 1st example I made, if the question were:

In order to instance my entity object, what is better: a Builder pattern or a factory method pattern?

Naturally a question like this one should be closed because there is no context that makes sense in any answer that will follow.

In Programmers most of the questions are correctly related to design, patterns, metodologies and architectures. Now, my question is: when does a question classify as "Opinion based"? And even more important: when it doesn't? Of course, for instance when asking a question for help in a better undestanding of a particular pattern or a particular metodology, it's supposed that the answer will be strictly connected to an official reference. But in many other case, the question can look something like that:

I have this entity {...} I have these business rules {...}. Given this context, which creational pattern fits best for creating my entity?

A question like this, could be closed as "Opinion based", but I do not agree, I repeat exactly what I say as a comment in this question:

as a matter of facts, when it comes to design and patterns you are not dealing with an "exact science". Many times you have to understand advantages and disadvantages of each decision you can make... at this point choosing the right one it's not a Math formula, it is just a matter of intelligence and experience

That means that a well posed question that asks for advantages or disadvantages of a particular pattern, solution, methodology.. whatever, given a particular context, in my opinion is a question that has to stay open, even if it may seems "Opinion based" because understanding advantages and disadvantages of a particular decision helps the Original Poster to choose the better one... in that particular context.

In conclusion, when does a question on Programmers cross over from a understanding advantages and drawbacks to a real opinion based - not constructive - question?

In my opinion that happens when the original poster give no context around the question, for instance, in the 1st example I made, if the question were:

In order to instance my entity object, what is better: a Builder pattern or a factory method pattern?

Naturally a question like this one should be closed because there is no context that makes sense in any answer that will follow.