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I just found Wikis with VCS backends? , and I must say I found it very useful; however, it was closed as "Off topic". Now, it hasn't generated all that many page views, but I would have loved it if it was open, in case something new came up in the past year it was closed.

The "Off topic" specification doesn't exactly explain what the problem is with the question; I see the point for Stack Overflow, given there is no actual coding problem discussed - but a user in that post points out:

(That aside, prepare for your question to be closed, it's a bit too close to "please provide me a list of", which isn't muchly appreciated)

Now, the thing is, a lot of times I actually would appreciate greatly a "provide me a list of" question, like in this case - however, I can see the point in this posting in particular not being on-topic for Stack Overflow.

My question then is - is there a place where such "listing" questions about computer software in general can be asked? I don't think it would fit in programmers.SE, and one may think superuser.com would be appropriate - but then again, its purpose could be understood as specific questions about how to do more advanced stuff with existing software, thereby excluding again listing questions.

If that is so, then where do such question belong? If Super User on the other hand is appropriate, wouldn't the referred post be better off moved to Super User, and opened for contributions there - instead of sitting on Stack Overflow closed?

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  • 5
    To the best of my knowledge such questions are not appropriate anywhere within the network.
    – Bart
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 13:39
  • 2
    Let me phrase it this way. What would be a possible 'correct' answer to that question? (Meaning an answer that explicitly solves the problem stated in the question?)
    – JonW
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 13:48
  • Lists are for Wikis, not questions, basically
    – Zelda
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 13:57
  • 3
    Try slant.co
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 14:06
  • Even if it were open, would you really expect that new things that came up in the past year would be continually added? I doubt it. Once a question has attracted answers and aged off the front page (and/or out of the hot questions list), most traffic it gets is from people with a question looking for an answer, not people with an answer looking for a question.
    – yoozer8
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 15:11
  • @BenBrocka What's the point of "community wiki" mode then?
    – Calmarius
    Commented Apr 20, 2013 at 11:16
  • @Calmarius almost nothing, these days: blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/08/the-future-of-community-wiki there's a reason askers can no longer mark questions community wiki.
    – Zelda
    Commented Apr 20, 2013 at 14:32

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I suppose you could find the appropriate chat room, and discuss it there, but these types of questions aren't appropriate anywhere on the Stack Exchange network.

List questions really belong on either a message board or a blog, neither of which are what the Stack Exchange network is.

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