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Recently I asked my first question on Stack Overflow.
It was "closed as not constructive. As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.". I checked the FAQ but it seems to me my question actually is constructive and has 2 of the 4 characteristics of a constructive question.

  • (no) a specific programming problem
  • (no) a software algorithm
  • (yes) software tools commonly used by programmers
  • (yes) practical, answerable problems that are unique to the programming profession

Also, I believe it has a clear description of the problem and a single question that can be answered without debate.

Please help me understand.

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  • This seems very unclear, you're not even specifying which platform / device you're talking about. Can you make it more specific? For example: "is there a way to get hold of cellular data usage in a HTML5 app on iOS 5+?" (no idea whether that makes sense specifically, but you get the idea) – Pekka supports GoFundMonica Feb 5 '13 at 13:19
  • @Pekka웃 It is tagged Android ... – Tim Post♦ Feb 5 '13 at 13:20
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    @TimPost: Android and iPhone. – Joachim Sauer Feb 5 '13 at 13:21
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    Yep, I think my brain just failed a unit test on that one. Sorry about that :) For some reason I only noticed the sponsored tag. Wow, guess those things do work. – Tim Post♦ Feb 5 '13 at 13:22
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    For future reference, do not post the contents of your question here on meta. You've linked to the question, that's more than enough. Everyone will be able to see it (and if it's deleted, there are more than enough participants on meta who can see the post still). – casperOne Feb 5 '13 at 13:32
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    @casperOne The link was editted in by someone else. I did not do that. – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:42
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    OIC, sorry about that. – casperOne Feb 5 '13 at 16:24
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It was probably considered "polling" since you were asking for a framework to do something, and the details about that framework weren't clearly pointed out (many people don't think to read the tags for important info about the question).

Most polling questions that simply ask for a framework or a library end up as a big list of links pointing to everyone's favorite framework/library, which is typically why those questions get closed as "not constructive".

I looked through the revision history of your question, and it looks like you've been looking into how to monitor network traffic on iPhones/Androids using the HTML5 app framework for a few hours, so I've made an edit to your question to reflect that.

The main things to clarify were:

  • You've already done some research into the problem already, and haven't been about to find any solutions

  • The specific details about exactly what kind of framework you're looking for. In your case, something that exposes the network data usage from Androids and iPhone to an HTML 5 app.

  • That the problem you are trying to solve is figuring out how to monitor network traffic of these devices in HTML5, and that the library/framework would be nice but not necessary.

It's been reopened, so good luck with it :)

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  • Thank you. This answer made sense to me. And thank you for the edits. – Tim Feb 6 '13 at 8:57
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Here are some things I noticed right away:

  1. It's just a "Find me a framework" question.
  2. If there is none (which is quite possible) then the answer would just be "No."
  3. It's hard to understand. What mobile device?
  4. It can be subjective ("which one is the best?")

And some things I just find annoying:

  1. The first paragraph is useless noise.
  2. The "Regards, Tim" is useless noise.

I did vote to reopen though. It's not really a bad question.

Also, see this question.

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  • 1. What is wrong with "Find me a framework"? I have not been able to find a specific function in all of the documentation of the frameworks I reviewed. – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:25
  • 2. That would be a totally acceptable answer right? – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:25
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    @Tim 1. Because that's not a programming question. 2. No. If the question can be answered with "No" then it should probably be closed. – Doorknob Feb 5 '13 at 13:26
  • @Tim meta.stackexchange.com/questions/158809/… – JJJ Feb 5 '13 at 13:26
  • 3. The question was tagged iPhone and Android. – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:26
  • @Tim Then say that in the question perhaps? – Doorknob Feb 5 '13 at 13:27
  • 4. It could be. But the question was not subjective. – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:27
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    @Doornob 1. It actually is. It's a question about "software tools commonly used by programmers". That's from the FAQ's. 2. That is just silly. If I negate the question (Is it not possible...) then the answer would be yes. And that would make the question tolerable? – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:37
  • @Doornob 3. I could have done that. But I would consider that noise as tags are designed specifically for this. – Tim Feb 5 '13 at 13:38
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    I disagree with your statement that an answer that is simply "no" means that the question should be closed. A negative answer is perfectly acceptable. No answer has to be just "no" it can be "no, because..." – ben is uǝq backwards Feb 5 '13 at 13:38

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