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I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - if you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users? We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of tutorials or write-ups on Meta before, and there is external discussion and frustration about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve).

I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent too broad questions as much or more than updating the wording. Or at least stop them from asking "Is my question really too broad?"

Possible approaches:

Putting links to tag wikis in the closed banner

I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a separate question on publicizing tag wikis better - their general neglect also been discussed before). The first comment was to have a new close reason: "Answered in tag wiki". I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the javascript tag wiki) are overflowing with useful external links for beginners.

Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page

And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well.

More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else"

Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the on topic help page, which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across.

(from the web comic Basic Instructions)

[1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really are quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find detailed information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners.

I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - if you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users? We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of tutorials or write-ups on Meta before, and there is external discussion and frustration about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve).

I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent too broad questions as much or more than updating the wording. Or at least stop them from asking "Is my question really too broad?"

Possible approaches:

Putting links to tag wikis in the closed banner

I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a separate question on publicizing tag wikis better - their general neglect also been discussed before). The first comment was to have a new close reason: "Answered in tag wiki". I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the javascript tag wiki) are overflowing with useful external links for beginners.

Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page

And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well.

More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else"

Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the on topic help page, which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across.

(from the web comic Basic Instructions)

[1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really are quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find detailed information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners.

I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - if you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users? We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of tutorials or write-ups on Meta before, and there is external discussion and frustration about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve).

I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent too broad questions as much or more than updating the wording. Or at least stop them from asking "Is my question really too broad?"

Possible approaches:

Putting links to tag wikis in the closed banner

I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a separate question on publicizing tag wikis better - their general neglect also been discussed before). The first comment was to have a new close reason: "Answered in tag wiki". I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the javascript tag wiki) are overflowing with useful external links for beginners.

Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page

And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well.

More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else"

Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the on topic help page, which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across.

(from the web comic Basic Instructions)

[1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really are quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find detailed information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners.

I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - if you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users? We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of tutorials or write-ups on Meta before, and there is external discussion and frustration about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve).

I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent too broad questions as much or more than updating the wording. Or at least stop them from asking "Is my question really too broad?"

Possible approaches:

Putting links to tag wikis in the closed banner

I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a separate question on publicizing tag wikis better - their general neglect also been discussed before). The first comment was to have a new close reason: "Answered in tag wiki". I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the javascript tag wiki) are overflowing with useful external links for beginners.

Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page

And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well.

More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else"

Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the on topic help page, which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across.

(from the web comic Basic Instructions)

[1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really are quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find detailed information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners.

I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - if you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users? We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of tutorials or write-ups on Meta before, and there is external discussion and frustration about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve).

I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent too broad questions as much or more than updating the wording. Or at least stop them from asking "Is my question really too broad?"

Possible approaches:

Putting links to tag wikis in the closed banner

I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a separate question on publicizing tag wikis better - their general neglect also been discussed before). The first comment was to have a new close reason: "Answered in tag wiki". I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the javascript tag wiki) are overflowing with useful external links for beginners.

Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page

And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well.

More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else"

Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the on topic help page, which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across.

(from the web comic Basic Instructions)

[1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really are quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find detailed information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners.

I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - if you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users? We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of tutorials or write-ups on Meta before, and there is external discussion and frustration about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve).

I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent too broad questions as much or more than updating the wording. Or at least stop them from asking "Is my question really too broad?"

Possible approaches:

Putting links to tag wikis in the closed banner

I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a separate question on publicizing tag wikis better - their general neglect also been discussed before). The first comment was to have a new close reason: "Answered in tag wiki". I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the javascript tag wiki) are overflowing with useful external links for beginners.

Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page

And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well.

More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else"

Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the on topic help page, which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across.

(from the web comic Basic Instructions)

[1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really are quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find detailed information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners.