What's not constructive about this?

Question

I asked https://stackoverflow.com/q/16984187/1544337 yesterday or so and today I noticed it was closed as not constructive. Earlier, I already saw an NC vote, and also a too localized one. Now, there is an off topic vote and I don't see that at all!

I don't see how any of these close reasons apply on this question.

For not constructive:

• Answers can be supported by facts, references and expertise
• I don't see how this is polling or could create debate or discussion

For too localized:

• This is not specific for a specific moment or geographic area
• Also not specific to any other thing, like my code or so, because it was a general question

For off topic:

• Well, it's about a specific programming problem, and
• software tools commonly used by programmers

I would really appreciate it if anyone can explain to me why this was closed as not constructive.

Answer 1

This is one of the problems with having so many questions on Stack Overflow, you attempt to pummel the vision into people and some take it too far when something that sits on the edge comes along.

This does sit on the edge, I had a serious think about moving it to DBA.SE, but I don't think it merits it. Branko has answered the question to your satisfaction and that should be the end to it.

The first two users to vote to close are new to their powers and I can't blame them for voting this way. People do try their absolute best to keep the site clean and sometimes something slips through the net.

As for the close reasons, Not Constructive I really don't see. Off Topic, as I've said this could be migrated to DBA but then maybe it's a bit simple so just off-topic it is (though it is about programming), which brings us onto Too Localized. It might be this, if all that was required to answer the question was to read the documentation then maybe it is a little localized, and if that's all the answer was I'd probably be voting to close again. Then again maybe not, a good explanation has been given and everyone's happy.

What I'd like to emphasise is that this is not "over moderation". It was closed by the community and can be re-opened by the community (this has happened). Even if it had been closed by a moderator it could still be re-opened by the community...

Answer 2

Given that I was one of the users who voted to close your question I thought I'd upgrade my comment to an answer in view of other comments and viewpoints.

In this case, my reasons for closure were several-fold:

• Your base question was indeed answerable with a 'yes' or 'no' (there were other more complex questions included in your post, but that didn't address your initial and posted question).
• The question was (and remains) easily discoverable by performing a number of searches both on Google and SO that prove some basic level of research - something that most (ok, some) users understand as prerequisites to asking any question on SO.
• By asking myself: "Will this question benefit others in it's context and content".
• Most people working with MySQL and PDO are usually aware of the MySQL query cache (that gets invalidated under various conditions as new answers have mentioned).

With hindsight, closure on the basis of Not Constructive was perhaps incorrect (although you made no references to any research). However, there isn't an option for me or anyone else to close on the basis of "You haven't done any basic research which would have answered your primary question" or a custom reason; Reasons that sometimes fall outside the categories that we're forced to choose from - as others have outlined as potential edge-cases.

Ironically, after your question was re-opened, you accepted an answer from a high-rep user (higher-rep usually instills a higher level of trust) that was basically copy-and-pasted from the MySQL website; A page that is the top result if you had googled for: mysql query caching (or other similarly worded searches) and which was, really, the underlying point of my vote to close.

Whilst I didn't see prerequisite research in the initial question, given your post here on MSO, I do see a wish to learn and expand your knowledge (like all of us) - nothing but a great thing from my perspective and perhaps your questions from here will benefit from this process :)

As echoed by other comments and answers, sometimes, closure is subjective and why MSO should be used where that subjectivity needs to be called into question.

Answer 3

It may be another case of over moderation, however it's pretty much a yes or no answer. I think people reviewing questions are more inclined to close questions of that nature without really thinking too much in to them.