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When you type "We are no longer accepting questions" into the title of a new question on MSO, you get, roughly, 7,435,654,757,034 possible duplicates.

Is there no way that, when this phrase is typed, you can pop up a box that states something along the lines of, "It is very possible you're asking why your account is no longer able to post questions. Please read the following page in its entirety before asking this question."? And then you can provide the user with a link to a wiki page that answers this question. Below that, you can provide a button that states something like, "If you feel your question is unanswered by the above link, press here to post it on Meta."

The reason I say "It is very possible..." is because there may be a legitimate reason to ask it, so you don't want it insta-banned.

I'm just thinking that this is probably the most common question I've seen on MSO, and it gets heavily downvoted (as it should). It's possible that it's the only thing that prevents World Peace, in fact.

I can include a mock-up complete with a unicorn and a waffle if you need a visual interpretation.

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  • +1 for the suggestion, -1 for no mention of freehand circles in the mockup. Aside from that, remember that this sort of feature request has to get past the "people WILL NOT read" barrier.
    – Jonathan Garber
    Dec 27, 2013 at 17:00
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    people in general don't read instructions. And people who've been question banned sure don't.
    – Kate Gregory
    Dec 27, 2013 at 17:00
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    Yeah. They obviously aren't reading the gazillion suggested duplicates links, but a pop-up just might give them pause.
    – Johnny Bones
    Dec 27, 2013 at 17:01
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    You might get more questions about "Why do I have this popup" rather than what the popup was intended for - to reduce questions about question bans.
    – Makoto
    Dec 27, 2013 at 17:02
  • good suggestion, but perhaps if we just downvote, put on hold and a reminder to read the link as we have always done.
    – user234239
    Dec 27, 2013 at 18:32
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    Very much related: Automatically redirect or block Meta questions regarding question bans
    – psubsee2003
    Dec 27, 2013 at 18:35
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    Not entirely. I wasn't looking for any kind of automated redirect or block. Like I said, there may be circumstances where it's valid to have that phrase in the title.
    – Johnny Bones
    Dec 27, 2013 at 18:45
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    I'm not sure if your estimate of dupes is correct. In all likelihood, this post should be counted as a possible duplicate. It doesn't seem like you accounted for that. Make it 7,435,654,757,035?
    – Andrew Barber
    Dec 27, 2013 at 18:52
  • Well, I helped a little by closing the first suggestion as a dupe. All roads now lead to the original.
    – user102937
    Dec 27, 2013 at 19:42

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