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The question "choosing a platform for a file hosting" was closed today by me and other four users; I specified, as a closing reason, the question being off-topic, and yielding to possibile subjective opinions. Also, not really close-related to programming.

I was maybe overzealous when I casted my close vote, since poster is a big high-rep user and should know perfectly well the rules and regulations of this site; better than me for sure. But I was followed by four other people, so I guess I wasn't so totally wrong with this.

On one of my comment on another question by another user (question here), poster asked me the reason of my close vote:

hi, could you comment why you voted to close this one

I don't know if discussing this kind of problem in a totally unrelated context is allowed to do or not on SO (I doubt it, though), so I decided to bring the matter under the trial of meta.

I'm just here to ask if my decision is really wrong, or if the question was actually a true Off-Topic question, and what do I need to do in the event of a user following someone else asking for clarifications.

Edit/Update:

Looks like something strange is happening to the poor guy. I don't know if he just got mad for this question (I doubt it), or someone hacked into his account, if he comes around please give an explanation, or some MOD could have a look into his account? I'm pretty sure he was more than 19K this afternoon, and now he has -2K, and many of his posts are being vandalized and deleted. It's too long for a steaming moment, something's wrong here.

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    I would say this would be better suited to ServerFault BUT it depends if the user wanted to build it or just host it.
    – tombull89
    Oct 6, 2011 at 11:17
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    ...since poster is a big high-rep user and should know perfectly well the rules and regulations of this site. I totally agree, but that question is off-topic and subjective.
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Oct 6, 2011 at 11:37
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    Isn't hosting "too localised" as well? It changes day by day and varies depending on where in the world you want it.
    – Flexo
    Oct 6, 2011 at 12:10
  • Now seems like the user vandalized his own question. Now it only states hello i am new bee in php can you say what is best host for php
    – Nifle
    Oct 6, 2011 at 13:42
  • What was the contents of the question? hello i am new bee in php can you say what is best host for php gives me a feeling that he forgot his account opened on his laptop and left and someone did the job...
    – M. Suleiman
    Oct 6, 2011 at 13:49
  • *I would say this would be better suited to ServerFault * I see what you're trying to say but I suspect it would also get closed so fast it left scorch marks on SF too.
    – Rob Moir
    Oct 6, 2011 at 13:49
  • @Nifle He posted a nice reply here, but eventually deleted it no matter what. He might still be a bit upset and steaming, I had thought the matter was already over instead, but doesn't look the case...
    – Damien Pirsy
    Oct 6, 2011 at 13:50
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    This member "stereofrog" was giving me some really good help on one of my questions. I was impressed enough to look at some of his other answers and found a treasure trove of hundreds of brilliant answers that he selflessly gave to serve the SO community over the last two years. Today I noticed his username changed to "user187291" and was curious enough to investigate. Looks like he quit SO? The cold treatment that I saw given him today makes me literally sick to my stomach. He did so much good and then got crapped on by the community he loved to serve. SO has a problem and needs to fix this.
    – FriendlyDev
    Oct 6, 2011 at 17:33
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    The user who vandalized his own question has some very interesting activity. See here, here, here, and here. Could someone be acking into this guy's account?
    – Chris Frederick
    Oct 6, 2011 at 19:26
  • WTF is happening? Is it all my fault? :O Did he just lose 2K points today?? I can't believe he just got mad for this thread!! Please some MOD have a look into his account
    – Damien Pirsy
    Oct 6, 2011 at 20:02
  • @DamienPirsy user187291 just offered three 500-point bounties an hour ago. That explains the sudden drop in rep.
    – Chris Frederick
    Oct 6, 2011 at 20:17
  • He offered 3 500 rep bounties. He could be mad and destroying his account, which I know no one here intended, or someone hacked it. At least two of his edits today appear to be vandalism, some appear to be reasonable / constructive? I don't think it's hacking, if it is , the other person is someone familiar with SO.
    – agf
    Oct 6, 2011 at 20:17
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    @FriendlyDev For what it's worth, the user formerly known as stereofrog appears to be systematically removing all references to his old name in other answers. It seems a bit dramatic, but I do agree that these edits are helpful in removing a lot of unnecessary noise.
    – Chris Frederick
    Oct 7, 2011 at 6:19
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    stereofrog appears to have also taken down his website and Google Code projects. If this is in reaction to a closed question, it's the most extreme I've seen to date. I honestly hope the guy's not sick or hacked... I've done what I can to restore his posts, but can't do much beyond that.
    – Shog9
    Oct 7, 2011 at 18:35
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    Again, it was clear from his activity that the strange behavior started over a day before the post that got closed on him. So it's not an overreaction from a deleted post, though the bulk of the activity did start soon after. Probably the greatest mystery I've encountered in a while.
    – FriendlyDev
    Oct 8, 2011 at 5:10

2 Answers 2

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The question is not about programming, and it also starts with, "I'm curious what you folks would recommend as a platform for a http based file hosting." The FAQ has the following example of questions that should not be asked:

there is no actual problem to be solved: "I'm curious if other people feel like I do."

As you said, the right place for asking that would have eventually been Meta Stack Overflow; I would see as acceptable a comment left under the question, even though I would not expect the users who closed the question reply to that.
Commenting on an answer left from one of the users who closed the question to ask the reason of closing is not something I would have done. The single user didn't close the question himself, but the question was closed from five different users; I think that doing the same for all the users who closed the question is not fair. I would guess the answer could be "because the question is off-topic on Stack Overflow."

To notice that, between the users who have voted to close, there is also a 100k user; therefore, the question has not been closed from users with low reputation. I don't think it makes a difference, but at least the OP cannot complain the question has been closed from users who don't understand how SE sites work.

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For me that question is cast-iron, no questions asked, off topic for SO. There is no code in the question - there would be no code in any answer.

I would think it perhaps on-topic for Programmers, but I have a very poor intuition of what that site's commnuity thinks, so please don't quote me. Webmasters maybe?

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    More like Server Fault.
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Oct 6, 2011 at 11:34
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    Definitely NOT Programmers. It's not about software development and it's the very epitome of not constructive.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Oct 6, 2011 at 12:02
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    "More like Server Fault" - absolutely not especially as written. Bad questions are bad questions, and all the SE sites should remember that the other SE sites are not your dumping ground.
    – Rob Moir
    Oct 6, 2011 at 13:52
  • @RobertMoir: Of course not! I just countered the point that it might be on-topic at Programmers. I think we can all agree that the question is below good and needs serious rewording before we can think about migrating it anywhere.
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Oct 6, 2011 at 14:42
  • Fair enough, I see what you mean @Padded Cell
    – Rob Moir
    Oct 6, 2011 at 17:58

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