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I have just signed up to this site in order to ask a specific programming question I thought would be unsuitable to ask on Stackoverlflow.

My question was quickly closed down, here is a link to my question My closed question

Why can't this site also be about the more philosophical aspects of programming also? I understand now that my question breaks the simple Q&A system, as it is quite subjective, but philosophical questions always are.

Where can these types of programming questions be asked?? Not here, not on Stackoverflow (understandably) and not really on a philosophy Q&A site (because a good understanding of programming is needed to really give a good constructive answer).

If I went on a philosophy QA site I'm sure my question would not be closed, but it would also not be answered.

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Questions such as you describe are typically closed as Not Constructive as they are either based in opinions, or will solicit debate and extended discussions. StackExchange has a different mission in mind.

This is the biggest confusion that most new users have at first, we are foremost a Question and Answer site, not a discussion forum. Questions should be about a real problem that somebody is facing and should have an explicit question that is answerable with facts or expertise. The goal is to have a knowledge base of questions and answers that can benefit everybody. Furthermore we take quality of questions and answers very seriously to reduce noise and distractions.

This is what sets us apart from your discussion forum or from Reddit.

If you would like to engage in a philosophical debate about software development in general then I invite you to join the chat room in the Whiteboard room. Discussions and debates belong in chat.

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  • Can you migrate the question to CS.SE? Gilles is willing to take responsibility for it.
    – Robert Harvey
    Commented Feb 8, 2013 at 0:41
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    @RobertHarvey I am waiting for an official go ahead from him. I asked him myself because it sounded like he felt it had a home there.
    – maple_shaft Mod
    Commented Feb 8, 2013 at 0:48
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Perhaps Quora would be a better forum for open-ended questions than Stack Exchange. It's full of smart people who love to share their ideas and discuss things.

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  • In my experiences, only a few "people" are "smart" there. I left the place after only answering only a few questions because of the bullshitty participation there by some others. But you're right that it would be a more appropriate place for such a question based on scope of purpose alone.
    – Joe Z.
    Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 13:48

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