7 out of the top 15 questions have been closed

Question

Just out of curiosity, I clicked to order the questions by vote count, and was surprised that 7 out of the top 15 questions were closed as not-constructive, duplicate, etc. While I wouldn't argue that these questions shouldn't have been closed under the contemporary definition(s) of what is (was) on-topic here, I would argue that philosophically all questions are answerable, and the replies to even so-called "unanswerable" questions are often incredibly useful. There isn't one type of answerable question, nor do answers necessarily come in prescribable forms.

The questions at P.SE are inherently unlike questions on StackOverflow because there isn't necessarily a particular coding problem to solve which either works or doesn't. To me, P.SE is the BA version of SO (vs. the BS). One is more pragmatic (even dogmatic), the other philosophical, well-rounded and open-minded.

I would argue that consensus is the true "right" answer and 500+ votes for an answer among 300 other answers is more valuable to me than a 5 vote answer out of 7 that is arbitrarily chosen by a stranger who often isn't competent enough to know the difference before asking. To me, the very act of asking a question eliminates the potential for authority sufficient to recommend a proper answer. I care more about the community answer (i.e. the vote count), which from time to time veers obliquely from the chosen answer.

When a question is answerable in the SO-style pragmatic sense, that system works wonderfully. However, I feel that for the 7 top-voted questions mentioned above that have been closed, the answer comes in a different, but no less useful, form. Perhaps more useful. To my mind, so-called open-ended or chatty questions are answerable, but not choosable, and maybe that's a good thing, and should be allowed, especially since almost half of the top 15 questions more or less fit this description.

Also, I'm not absolutely sure what a community wiki status is, how it comes about, etc. and I can't easily find any documentation on it.

The magnificent seven

Links to the 7 closed questions out of the current top 15

1. I'm graduating with a Computer Science degree but I don't feel like I know how to program
   closed as Not Constructive
2. What is the single most effective thing you did to improve your programming skills?
   closed as Not Constructive
3. Is 4-5 years the “Midlife Crisis” for a programming career?
   closed as Too Localized
4. Perks for new programmers
   closed as Not Constructive
5. What should every programmer know?
   closed as Exact Duplicate
6. Will high reputation in Stack Overflow help to get a good job?
   closed as Not Constructive
7. https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/91629/best-java-book-you-have-read-so-far
   closed as Not Constructive

Answer 1

Most of the closed questions have 200+ answers and are questions like "What should every programmer know?"

Some of these questions were closed as duplicates but most simply don't fit the format of a Q&A site very well. Q&A sites like programmers.SE are good for questions that have one or two finite answers or at least where one answer is considered "more correct" than any other. These questions, for the most part, were too open-ended and encouraged too much discussion.

Questions like these are great for the rep of those involved, but it is false rep, given for popularity rather than correctness or meaningful participation.

Answer 2

Of that list:

1. I'd consider to vote to reopen if it was worded differently. It's potentially a common issue, especially in a theory-heavy CS curriculum. Tips on things to do to hone practical skills would be valid, but the way it's worded and the generated answers are very list-like. Changing the question would probably invalidate most of the answers at this point.
2. This is asking for a list. There is no single right answer in this instance and everyone would come up with something different. There needs to be enough detail to provide very specific, isolated tips. "How to become a better programmer" is pretty generic. "How do I become a better X programmer" where X is "embedded systems" or "web" or "user interface" programmer might be better. Asking about how to learn specific technique Y is much better.
3. I agree with the too localized - it's very specific to a single individual.
4. Unanswerable. Too many variables. It's also not specific to programmers. Replace programmers with "mechanical engineer" or "secretary" and the answers don't change that much.
5. Another list.
6. I'd vote to reopen
7. Another list.