What JavaScript framework is best? Can anyone recommend books that are best? Etc...
Obviously these questions involve a lot of opinion but well-informed opinions from a large body of developers are still valuable.
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Why am I getting bazooka-voted-down for asking a simple question?– Erik ReppenCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 18:45
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See: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/44188/…– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 19:34
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Additionally, note that downvotes are a bit different on Meta than they are on the main site. The FAQ contains more details.– Cody GrayCommented Aug 19, 2011 at 4:57
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4 Answers
Obviously these questions involve a lot of opinion but well-informed opinions from a large body of developers are still valuable.
Neither question has that though. They're broad, ill-defined, and duplicate topics already on the site - badly. Neither one has more than a single answer, and neither answer looks exceptionally well-informed - the ExtJS answer explicitly states that the question is poor!
I really can't imagine why you are shocked to see them closed, but if you think there's value in the topics you would do well to edit them into shape before asking for them to be re-opened.
answered Aug 18, 2011 at 17:52
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They aren't my questions. I just don't see anything in the FAQs that indicates these types of comparison Qs should be crushed. Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 18:41
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The guy wants a book recommendation. What's wrong with that? Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 18:52
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4@Erik: after taking another look at that question, I think the problems with it were probably superficial - while I question the need for such a question (the official Ext JS website provides quite a lot of documentation...) I've edited to correct the style and re-opened. Like it or not, appearance does matter: if you see a question closed that you feel should not have been, editing it for clarity is your best first option when it comes to getting that overturned.– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 19:04
Those get closed because as per the FAQ, they don't belong on the site.
Closing just means that no new answers can be posted, the question is still on the site for all to see and read. Where people go over the line is when they start deleting those questions, which shouldn't happen for programming related ones, though they might get migrated to other sites if relevant.
Questions that are useful but don't have the potential for more really useful answers to be added, should be locked.
For questions that have potential for more useful answers, they can also be protected which only disallows drive-by posts by those little rep.
answered Aug 18, 2011 at 16:43
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1"Where people go over the line is when they start deleting those questions" -- that's not how it's supposed to work at all. Closing is supposed to be the precursor to deletion; there are no questions that should be closed but not deleted other than really old questions that we leave out of pity and exact duplicates that we leave for search purposes Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 16:49
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3@michael, NO, that's not the purpose of deletion, though it's abused that way. See this post by Jeff, and all the related links for the conversation that we had on this. Closing in NOT an supposed to be an automatic precursor for deletion, it has it's own purpose. Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:01
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8If the questions were still bad enough to be closed, they should then be deleted. Jeff is talking about merging the answers into a better question if one exists; that doesn't mean the bad question should then be left around. From the blog: "When you vote to close a question, you are really voting for that question to be eventually deleted." Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:11
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2@Lance: you mean the post that leads off with, "closed questions which are not useful in either content or as a search term variety duplicate, absolutely should be deleted." all in bold just like that? And then goes on to talk about the exceptions where merging is preferable? Because that post doesn't support your argument at all...– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:26
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1@Michael, questions don't always get closed because they're
bad. Bad questions should be deleted. There are plenty of questions that should be closed, but aren't bad. Here's a great reason from Jeff, questions with good answers should not be deleted. Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:26 -
@shog9, I remember all the conversation well on the topic. See the link I just posted in the last comment. The quote is "I wish people wouldn't delete questions with good answers. You're destroying the useful contributions of your peers!" Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:27
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@Lance: the one that contains huge bold header-text stating, "Flag these for moderator attention instead and suggest a merge!"? You seem to be digging up arguments against deleting duplicates, which are completely valid and extremely important exceptions to the rule Mrozek cites, but... also completely irrelevant for the discussion at hand.– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:30
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@shog9, to reference your 'non-support' argument, my argument is that
usefulposts shouldn't be deleted, even if they're closed. And yes as we all know,usefulposts get closed all the time. The quote from Jeff on that one, "Questions which contain useful content contributed by your peers should generally be merged, not deleted." Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:31 -
@Shog9, I have no idea why you think they're irrelevant. The relevant point is that questions can be closed without thought of deletion. They are two separate (though functionally related) processes. Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:34
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1The relevant point is that if you see a useful question closed and you don't think it should be deleted, then you need to vote to re-open it. Not sit around complacently because you think the question is "finished" and closing simply prevents other, lesser, answers from being posted... Closing == CALL TO ACTION - whether that is editing, re-opening, merging, or deletion...– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:37
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@Shog9, NO, that's my point. I should be able to let questions be closed, without fear of them being deleted. That's actually why I vote to close fewer questions now, since so many people want to delete the
usefulcontent that was requested not to be deleted. It has ruined the functionality of closure. Closing is not always a call to action, it's also an end result, a place questions withusefulinformation can go that we want to preserve, but also need to stop the answer flow. Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:40 -
@Shog9, I've posted an answer on the post you linked to. It looks like Michael has changed his mind since his answer there. Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:44
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2@Lance: you're arguing for a feature that has never existed: closing as a farm up-state where old questions go to live out their lives in peace... That's a myth, a story misguided folk tell to children who've become too attached to beloved but rabid pets. The purpose of closing is to provide a limbo where the question and/or answers can be improved, debated, etc. prior to outright deletion - the number of cases where we want some "mark of Cain" for questions is minuscule, and better handled by locking in any case.– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:47
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@Shog9, I'm not averse to
locking, though it's hard to imagine a question I'dlockand notclose. In fact, I'd say most of theclosedquestions that shouldn't bedeletedshould belocked(maybe all, but that would take a lot of research to determine if that was the case). Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:50 -
1@Lance: if you happen upon a rare question that shouldn't be re-opened and isn't a duplicate, then feel free to flag a moderator down and ask them to lock it. Make a good case for the value of that specific Q&A though... If it's been closed for a while, a safe assumption might well be that no one really cares to see it live.– Shog9 ModCommented Aug 18, 2011 at 17:54
They are getting closed because they are rather subjective, as what the best framework is depends from what you need it for.
The other problem I see with those questions is that, when a new framework comes out, a new answer should be added; this means that the question would be interesting for the future users if it is kept updated.
answered Aug 18, 2011 at 16:43
This is not terribly different from Shark vs. Gorilla.
At best, it's simply rephrasing to "which animal is best?"* and nothing good can come of that. Anything that does is 100% accidental.
(I sometimes see the argument made that you will occasionally get good answers to such questions, which isn't untrue … but that's like assuming everyone who visits our site is a genius programmer with a penchant for writing. Yes, in that mythical land, any question, no matter how crazy, bad, or off-topic, will get a friggin' amazing answer. But back here in reality...)
* Humans, obviously.
answered Aug 21, 2011 at 4:38
