31
votes
How do I explain ${something} to ${someone}?
This is one of those cases where people phrase a question in a way that disguises their true intent. They are not asking for a tutorial on persuasive speaking. They are seeking a deeper ...
- 145k
30
votes
Great Expectations... or, at least, user expectations
Frankly, I think that you are off base. Or at least your "change enforcement" is too thinly scoped.
No amount of name changing or scope massaging or helpful blurbs will fix the community.
As it ...
- 107k
10
votes
Accepted
Should I answer a question which belongs on Stack Overflow?
Ultimately, the goal is to get off-topic questions off the front page as quickly as possible, so that they don't provide encouragement for other people to ask their off-topic questions. Migration is ...
- 196k
10
votes
Question marked as opinion-based—I'm seeking facts and references
There are several reasons why this question is not a good fit.
First, we do not accept research or resource request questions. We are not a search engine. We are not librarians. We, as a community, ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 76k
8
votes
Accepted
Popular software recommendation question - acceptable?
No you are not wrong to vote to close.
If you look at the dates when the moderators last interacted with the question you'll see that it was quite a while ago now - certainly before the "software ...
ChrisFMod
- 38.7k
6
votes
Why are we getting so many off topic 'debug this for me' questions? what can we do about it?
I am only barely a programmer, by the definitions summarized on this site. I possess a lot of experience in linear programming and process management but object-oriented programming is not yet within ...
- 23
6
votes
Why are we getting so many off topic 'debug this for me' questions? what can we do about it?
I think the problem is ill-defined. A single misconception underlies most of the issues raised.
The overarching question is not Why can they not understand who we are? but How?
After having been ...
- 167
6
votes
How do I explain ${something} to ${someone}?
These types of questions would likely be on topic for the newly created Computer Science Educators SE.
Computer Science Educators Stack Exchange is a question and answer
site for those involved ...
- 1,184
6
votes
Why are there so many closed, on hold, and down voted questions here?
The biggest problem of this site is, in my opinion, that the scope of this site is subjective questions, but the line between subjective and opinion-based is very thin, and the latter has very little ...
- 369
6
votes
Accepted
How to get at least a couple of examples of a topic on which "whole books have been written"?
Questions here are best formulated in the context of a particular problem or issue. It's simply not possible to generate a list of methodologies that work. Most organizations have at least one ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 76k
6
votes
Can I ask whether coding patterns are good or bad? If so, how should I ask?
It is really difficult to ask a good question about best practices,
as also discussed on MSE: Why is asking a question on "best practice" a bad thing?
In a nutshell, asking about best ...
- 124k
5
votes
On discussions and why they don't make good questions
I like the answer entitled "Why We're not a Forum". Having said that, I want to call attention to a particular kind of question that is somewhere between objective and subjective. I'm referring to ...
- 796
5
votes
Great Expectations... or, at least, user expectations
It's the unfortunate fate of software which interfaces with different facets of the collective human behavior. These reactions from the users are inevitable; but can be managed.
A tagline (or ...
- 136
5
votes
Accepted
Is this question opinion based?
Personally, I'd close it as too broad. But I think that primarily opinion based works just as well. You're conducting a poll. We expect that questions meet our guidelines, and many of those guidelines ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 76k
5
votes
Accepted
Why is this question considered opinion based?
All it took was a few minor edits to make the question into something that could be reopened.
First, I changed the yes/no to an explicit how/why question. It may not seem like it's important, but it ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 76k
5
votes
How is asking, "Is there formal terminology for storage of key value pairs?" an opinion based question?
Unfortunately, there is often no universally, or even widely accepted, term for many concepts in software engineering. Even with projects like the IEEE Computer Society and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC7 (the ISO'...
Thomas OwensMod
- 76k
4
votes
Accepted
Help Center tuning: "help/on-topic/and it is not about..." += references to meta guidance
Programmers Stack Exchange is a Q&A site for professionals and students in software development and related fields who are interested in getting expert answers on conceptual questions about ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible