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If a question gets deleted by a moderator, why doesn't the user who submitted question get notified as to why?

I have submitted a question, and it was deleted without warning. Why not at least notify me with an explanation so I could understand what to avoid?

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    That specific question was closed by five users and deleted by three different users. No moderators were involved.
    – sarnold
    Commented Feb 13, 2012 at 23:56
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    It was closed 15 hours before it was deleted, and it was deleted for the same reason it was closed: "closed as not constructive - This question is not a good fit to our Q&A format. We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. See the FAQ." Given that there is generally time between closing and deleting, and the reason is given when closed, there's no particular reason to give another notice when closed, especially since one can ask here if one missed the closing.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Feb 13, 2012 at 23:57
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    I think one mistake new users make when they ask a question is that they don't understand how quickly they'll receive responses. Thus, they drop the question on SO, then wander off, coming back some time later. My advice: Don't ask a question you're not anticipating monitoring regularly for responses/activity.
    – Jared Farrish
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:07
  • @JaredFarrish I agree with you, but this was not the case as i had read most responses from the first 2 hours, then i needed to go came back and question was deleted.
    – james
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:14
  • @sarnold I do not agree with reason, as question was asking for concise steps based on peoples expertise. this isn't an opinion question as there are steps that all take in the way, there might be a few paths but in most questions there are multiple paths to solve issue. i believe it is a good question in the sense that experts with facts at hand can point out based on experience what is needed. Im Sorry you dont see it my way.
    – james
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:16
  • Then you missed nothing -- the last addition to the question was 19 minutes after you asked it. :) (Well, I can't see deleted comments, but those are usually worthless anyhow, just like this one! ;)
    – sarnold
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:27
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    @James: many thanks for being one of the politest users when a question was deleted. :)
    – sarnold
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:37
  • It should be noted that the community voted to close and delete your question, not a moderator.
    – Kev Mod
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 1:37
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    Far as your actual question goes, you may find this helpful.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 5:05
  • Related: meta.stackexchange.com/q/312666/162102
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Sep 23, 2018 at 2:04

1 Answer 1

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Now that I've taken the time to read the question and answers, I'm not surprised the question was closed -- it is very open ended. You could realistically spend three or four semesters in a university setting learning HTML, JavaScript, relational database systems (or non-relational database systems), and servlet or other server-side frameworks. It's huge.

We like our questions and our answers to be relatively concise and best if there's a handful of specific answers that can be compared and contrasted. There's no way that anyone could select a single "best" answer from a question like yours, and that is our main criteria.

If that question would have any life anywhere, it might have had one on Programmers, but note that even though they are more willing to accept subjective questions, it might still be closed as too broad. The Programmers site wouldn't be a better fit; from their FAQ: ... and it is not about ... what language you should learn next, including which technology is better .... While this doesn't exactly describe your question, it comes pretty close.

I've personally looked into Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, Nitrogen, Chicago Boss, and Django web server-side frameworks, and this is a small, minuscule portion of the server-side landscape. Similar stories exist for the client-side landscape: hand-written Javascript, jQuery and its associated plugins, prototype.js and scriptaculous, Flash or Flex, Silverlight, Java applets, etc.

It's just too big for it be handled well here.

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  • Thank you for taking time to review question, i understand your reasoning although i do not completely agree with it, as answer could have been a short list of overview steps with out delving into all the frameworks and such, but then again i am no expert so alas will try and phrase better for next time. thank you.
    – james
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:27
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    If that question would have any life anywhere, it might have had one on [programmers], but note that even though they are more willing to accept subjective questions, it might still be closed as too broad. Can't see the actual question, but as a rule of thumb: If a question was closed on SO as not constructive / not a real question / too localized, please don't suggest P.SE as an alternative. No chance we want it.
    – yannis
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:31
  • @Yannis: thanks for the clarification. :)
    – sarnold
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:33
  • There are rare exceptions, of course, but as a rule of thumb...
    – yannis
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:34
  • @YannisRizos Looking into [Programmers], i noticed the top voted question is pretty much my own question, with a great answer. thanks for the advice ;)
    – james
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:40
  • Wow, the first two answers are excellent. Woot! :)
    – sarnold
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:48
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    @james Glad to hear that. Still, if asked today we would probably close it. What saved it, is probably the community effort that went into the highest voted answer.
    – yannis
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 0:58
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    James, another question (not yet closed...) that you might find helpful: stackoverflow.com/questions/4744906/…
    – sarnold
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 2:29
  • @sarnold thank you, it was very helpful.
    – james
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 22:34

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