32
votes
Accepted
Am I being selfish by asking on-topic, yet very specific questions?
The questions which are most welcome here are those which come from real software projects, related to real problems which arise inside the project. It does not matter if it is a commercial project, ...
- 203k
23
votes
Am I being selfish by asking on-topic, yet very specific questions?
Of your 9 non-deleted questions, all of them have a net positive score and none of them are closed. Two of them are also marked as a favorite question by at least 1 person, with one being marked as a ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 80.4k
15
votes
Accepted
Should we edit "recommend a design pattern" questions so they don't use the phrase "design pattern"?
I would appreciate it if everyone, before over-hastily voting to close any question with the buzzword "design pattern" in it as being a dupe of Choosing the right design pattern, would first
take a ...
- 203k
11
votes
Open letter to students with homework problems
This letter is missing something.
Software engineers enjoy solving problems and building things with computers. If a typical homework problem seems like a boring drudge, or 'too hard' for you, you'...
- 542
10
votes
Accepted
How bad are "Shopping for Patterns"-type questions?
What's the best screw driver to use on a nail?
A hammer.
Some of the best answers on this site reject the premise of the question.
I completely agree that "give me the pattern" questions can be ...
- 105k
9
votes
Should we discourage questions that are overly abstracted, with unrealistic examples?
IMHO it depends. Someone once told me, there is nothing so bad it cannot serve as a bad example, at least.
Take, for example, the question you were referring to in yours. I agree very much too you ...
- 203k
8
votes
Should we discourage questions that are overly abstracted, with unrealistic examples?
If you think the question is unclear then vote or flag to close with the "unclear what you are asking" reason.
If you think the question can be salvaged, then leave a comment pointing out the ...
ChrisFMod
- 38.9k
7
votes
Unclear question is clarified in comment, later comment is deleted and contradictory clarification added to question
Before editing the question, I would probably edit the answer, and explain why it answers a slightly different question than the one which was asked (refering to the deleted comment and the edit). It ...
- 203k
6
votes
Why have I reached question limit? My questions were not downvoted
You can't ask because you have a number of deleted, down-voted questions which are also taken into account when the system calculates whether you can post or not.
If you go to your profile and click ...
ChrisFMod
- 38.9k
6
votes
Negatively scored questions should be more aggressively hidden from the homepage
Thomas, I think you are barking the wrong tree. We have a problem on our site, and that problem lies clearly in our community:
It has become almost impossible to ask a question without getting one or ...
- 203k
5
votes
Is a question about git wrapping scripting adequate in this forum?
No, this question would most likely be downvoted, closed, and deleted here on this site.
I can spot four "real" questions in that post (the last four bullet points). These questions are, ...
- 203k
5
votes
Unclear question is clarified in comment, later comment is deleted and contradictory clarification added to question
This is a tough one.
One option would be to edit the question after getting the clarification in a comment. You can even use the edit description to note that the clarification edits were derived from ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 80.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Is this a question with answers or should I look elsewhere
This question would not be permitted. It would likely be closed as off-topic as it relates to your career and workplace or as opinion-based as we cannot tell you why you need access to GitHub in order ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 80.4k
5
votes
Is this the correct community to ask questions on style and procedure, rather than specific questions begging as specific answer?
We have the same rules as Stack Overflow as to the types of questions that we don't allow here - no chatty, open-ended questions; no questions that require a book to answer; no discussions; no poll ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 80.4k
4
votes
Why can't I ask customer service-related questions here?
Some questions about specific products or services, especially about how to use them, should be directed toward the appropriate support channels for that product or service simply because we don't ...
4
votes
Where can I ask for word suggestions?
Chat is probably a good place.
You will find a ton of opinions and perspectives there and perhaps quickly see why they are not great fits for the main site :)
- 12.1k
4
votes
My question was simultaneously answered, put on hold, and finally deleted. Why, and how can I improve my question?
First, let me say Robert did not really answer your question (and I don't mean the fact he only used the comment sections):
The comment to your first bullet point gives just a starter for an idea of ...
- 203k
3
votes
Accepted
Are questions about the architecture of well-known software products within the scope of the site?
Such questions would probably not be accepted.
For closed-source applications, the question would either be generally unanswerable because it would require someone to have actually worked on the ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 80.4k
3
votes
Is this the right place for a question about hosting e-commerce improvement
No, it is not the right place, because
recommending 3rd party services is off-topic for this site.
recommending specific software products or hardware is off-topic as well.
The only place in the SE ...
- 203k
3
votes
What are the guidelines for "How would you... ?" questions here?
You can ask questions that lend themselves to answers based on subjective experiences: subjectivity does not necessarily mean opinion-based or discussion-based.
Most types of questions on Programmers ...
- 1,265
2
votes
Open letter to students with homework problems
A minor addendum, but I think worth adding separately: the thoughts outlined in the question are correct, but here:
So, you've exhausted the resources. You've tried asking your instructor.
The ...
- 567
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible