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Considering this question :

What is the best ORM for .NET?

In my opinion it is off topic as it is a shopping tool question. On the other hand the best answer answers what should have been the question "What are the criterias for choosing an ORM for.NET?", but that would be too much of a change ? Most answers wouldn't fit anymore with the question...

Should it be edited ? closed ?

Related question (but old and in a somewhat different context of migration and different subject) : Rewording other people's questions

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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As Josh says editing is good.

However, if the question already has answers care is needed to avoid invalidating any existing answers - these were provided in good faith and their owners deserve that respect. This does mean that if edits to salvage the post cause this then the correct course of action is to close the existing question and post a new one.

That does assume that the underlying more general question is worth asking in the first place.

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That's a tricky one.

Your edit, although obviously in good faith, invalidated most answers - I counted 10 out of the total 14. I'm a bit uncomfortable with that. In this instance, I think it would be preferable to rollback your edit, close the question and re-ask your far better version.

Well, let's hope people will refrain from answering obviously off topic / bad questions.

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Editing is encouraged! If the question is off topic but has good answers, editing the question to make it relate better to the good answers is fine.

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  • But in that case, the other answers (which now wouldn't fit anymore with the question) should be deleted or somehow protected from getting too many downvotes, thus damaging the reputation.
    – user281377
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 7:57
  • @ammoQ If an edit occurs you can flag the questions and they can be deleted, returning reputation to the user.
    – Josh K
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 15:52
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Although I like ChrisF's and Yannis Rizos's answers, I'm concerned with reasking questions, unless you actually have the same problem and can provide clarifications or are an expert and can ensure it's sufficiently detailed. If you aren't in a position to respond to comments, to provide more details, or to determine if an answer is at least viable, you probably shouldn't ask the question.

Of course, there's no way to tell in advance, so it's up to the asker to be sure they can provide anything that the people with the knowledge and experiences need to provide a useful answer.

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  • Reasking is fine as long as the original is closed and the new version is sufficiently different to make it on topic/constructive/a real question.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 11:11
  • @ChrisF It's a fine thing to do, I'm just worried that some people might see the idea of reasking closed questions and reask them in a way that's appropriate, but without enough background information to be able to answer clarifying questions or judge the appropriateness of answers (something that someone asking a question should be able to do).
    – Thomas Owens Mod
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 11:14
  • Ah - I see what you're driving at now. Obviously my statement assumes that the underlying question is worth asking in the first place.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 11:18
  • Thomas, the original version of the question is a bit loaded, and quite off topic, whereas Matthieu's version is an excellent question (imho). Ordinarily I wouldn't mind, but invalidating most of the current answers feels like punishing the answerers. I'm suggesting re-asking for this instance, not as policy.
    – yannis
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 11:18
  • @YannisRizos I'm not referring to the question identified here in particular, just the general idea of reasking closed questions. Assuming there were no answers to be invalidated, I could edit the original question to be a good, suitable question. However, it shouldn't be edited since it would invalidate so many answers. Instead, it should be reasked. However, I (personally) could not and should not be encouraged to reask it - I rarely do .NET development and am not in a position to judge the answers or provide additional information to clarify my needs - things an asker must do.
    – Thomas Owens Mod
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 11:24
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    @ThomasOwens Yes I got that from your answer to ChrisF, but I've already written my comment at that point. Still, I was answering to Matthieu when I suggested reasking, because I was confident he was capable of reasking the question. But in general, I share your concerns.
    – yannis
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 11:29
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    I like the idea of reasking when possible. I wonder even if we could migrate the matching answers. It feels like "answers-micro-management", and I don't know if we can / want to go that way. I'll wait a bit for more opinions and hopefully a consensus before doing anything else on the question to avoid bumping it unnecessarily.
    – Matthieu
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 14:07

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