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I recently posted a question - QFrame with background image and otherwise transparent background, and I have tried a lot of things and could not manage to do it. But while I was waiting for an answer, this guy came outta nowhere and marked it duplicate.

Now firstly, the duplicate question link he provided has an answer which doesn't work for me. Sure, the questions do look similar, but they are not. But there is now way I can communicate this to the guy who did this, because there is no facility for pm. And this screws the chance of anybody providing an answer now.

Is there no way I can prevent these self-proclaimed SE 'guru's to at least have the courtesy of asking the OP in a comment whether the new link actually solves the problem or not, and upon OP confirming it, close it, rather than close it on their own? Sure I understand, they are guys with responsibility more than even Batman, but can't they wield it with a little more caution and understanding?

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    Pinging works for gold-badge closures, even though there is no autocomplete: type @KubaOber in a comment.
    – user259867
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:19
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    -1 for the way of asking this. There are really nicer ways to ask a support Q on meta.SE ya know.
    – M.A.R.
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:22
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    This isn't aimed towards you, but 99.99% of the time new users really just need to sit back and lurk.....a while. Not saying everything on SE is 100% correct 100% of the time, but generally there are reasons things are the way they are. That way we don't have meta questions like this over and over and over (which is ironic in this context).
    – patricksweeney
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:24
  • M.A Ramezani, yes, I know there are nicer ways, but I am tired of this now. The same thing happened to a previous question, another version of this question, and even though I stated in the comment why it didn't solve my problem, there were no reopens. You guys are quick on downvoting, closing questions, etc. - the negative things, because that gives you the feeling that you are really being 'strict' and 'contributing back' to the website you learned so much from. Many times I have given an answer which say contained a minor error, and within seconds it got 10 downvotes.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:39
  • I corrected it within a minute, but it never managed to get a single upvote from any of the downvoters. If you guys were so meticulous about quality control, it wouldn't have happened, right?
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:40
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    @Cupidvogel That has nothing to do with SO's quality control. I don't see where you've answered anything, let alone something with multiple downvotes. You can flag questions for reopening and/or post on meta, which is what you did.
    – Dave Newton
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:06
  • You can't see the answer, because I deleted it. I am fine with an answer not getting an upvote, but trying to help someone and getting downvoted because of a minor error which is not being undone even after rectifying it was not something I could bear. It was way back, over a year ago. I have since stopped giving answers.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:11
  • No qt dev here, but it seems that setAttribute(Qt::WA_TranslucentBackground, true); is probably what you're missing here. Possibly remove the stylesheet stuff and go for the other attribute setters as well. That's from the accepted answer on the other question.
    – user1228
    Jun 22, 2015 at 20:32
  • See my edit to the question. I tried that, it removed my entire QFrame with the image!
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 21:13

1 Answer 1

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Can we prevent them? Sure. Will we? No. We've gone out of our way to improve the ability of users to close duplicate questions as duplicates more effectively.

Is there no way I can prevent these self-proclaimed SE 'guru's to at least have the courtesy of asking the OP in a comment whether the new link actually solves the problem or not, and upon OP confirming it, close it, rather than close it on their own?

No, there is no way for you to prevent people from closing your question as a duplicate without asking you first.

If you're question isn't actually a duplicate, then simply edit the question to make it clearly why it's not a duplicate.

You actually did go in and edit your question, but all you did is state that the question isn't a duplicate. This is meaningless. You stating that it doesn't answer your question in no way makes the questions not duplicates, nor does it explain to anyone else why they're duplicates. You need to explain what you're asking for that isn't covered in the other question, or why the solution(s) from the other question don't work for you.

If you explain why the questions aren't duplicates, and make it clear to anyone reading the question that the duplicate/proposed duplicate doesn't solve your problem, then you'll find the question either not being closed, or getting reopened.

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  • Thanks. This way, 10 people will find 10 questions that sound similar, and close on basis of them each, do I have to give reasons like - First question is a not a duplicate because of this, second is not duplicate because of this, third is not because of that... ? I understand you people have power, power you have earned by giving good quality answer, but you should not use that power to be high-handed.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:36
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    @Cupidvogel If a user is regularly incorrectly closing questions that are clearly not duplicates, that could potentially be looked into by a mod. That you feel there is a single question that was incorrectly closed isn't a reason to do anything but improve the question such that it's clear that it's not a duplicate.
    – Servy
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:39
  • No, not 'a' user. Multiple users. Somehow users have got the idea that doing harsh things like closing questions, deleting questions, answers, downvoting answers make their Stackoverflow CV look good, which they point out during their petitioning for moderators - 'I closed so many questions which were duplicates, I downvoted so many bad answers', etc. I never see anybody mentioning a point like 'I looked into many questions which were marked as duplicate but turned out to be not, so I reopened them and ensured that the OP gets the desired answer'. Being 'tough' is the new cool.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:43
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    @Cupidvogel And do you have evidence to support this assertion that there are lots of people closing questions as duplicates when they know that the duplicate doesn't answer the question? It seems far more likely that the questions either are duplicates, or that the person voting to close honestly feels that the duplicate solves the problem, even if you disagree.
    – Servy
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:45
  • Ultimately it is MY question, I am the one who is getting the answer, so isn't it fair to assume that whether I agree is what which matters? Why does it hurt so much to point it out in the comments, and upon my affirming it, asking me to close it or closing it themselves? Which one is tougher, suggesting a possible duplicate int he comments, or waiting for 4 other people to concur with you so that you can close it? Given that it is very difficult to reopen once closed?
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:47
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    @Cupidvogel No, ultimately it's SE's question, not your question. Everyone in the world is the one getting an answer, not just you. So no, it's not fair to assume that you're the only person who can judge whether or not a question is a duplicate. Why does it hurt, either you could think that a question isn't a duplicate even though it really is; I find it quite common for people to want an answer personalized to just them, or who just don't like the idea of their question being closed, even if merited. Next, the author of the question may simply not be available.
    – Servy
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:51
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    Which one is tougher, suggesting a possible duplicate int he comments, or waiting for 4 other people to concur with you so that you can close it? The current behavior is either can close the question. You can approve another's proposed duplicate, or 4 others can. Given that it is very difficult to reopen once closed? But it's not hard to reopen a closed question if you actually edit it such that it's clear that reopening is merited. You're simply refusing to do that.
    – Servy
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:51
  • No, it is not. This has happened to me multiple times - I gave an answer, there was a minor error, and within 10 seconds, it got like 10 downvotes. I immediately fixed the error. And not a single un-downvote from any of them. If they are so meticulously monitoring the question, would this happen?
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:54
  • As an example, I already edited and explained clearly explained this time what the problem is 25 minutes ago. No response yet. Like I said, the moderators are way too concerned with doing negative things like closing questions, deleting questions, downvoting answers because it looks better on their CVs. And it gives a better illusion of power (the very essence of gaming) than really helping someone.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 18:58
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    @Cupidvogel You edited the question to state that it's not a duplicate. You in no way explained why it's not a duplicate, or how the duplicate question fails to solve your problem. On top of that, you edited the question less than an hour ago; you haven't even provided ample time for the question to be reopened even if it did merit it. You seem to expect instantaneous responses from everyone; that's simply not a realistic expectation.
    – Servy
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:03
  • I expect a fair probability in both. If there is an error in my answer that attracts 10 downvotes in 2 minutes, I expect that on rectifying it, all those 10 downvotes will be undone in the next 4-5 minutes. Forget 4-5 minutes, I have waited for days and it never came below 8, due to which I deleted it.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:06
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    @Cupidvogel People vote on lots of content. I've personally voted on tens of thousands of posts. It's simply impossible for me to go look at every single one of those posts whenever they're edited within 4-5 minutes. (I'd never be able to do anything else for the rest of my life.) It's simply not going to happen. You're going to need to adjust your expectations.
    – Servy
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:10
  • Or may be expect people to adjust the method??? Just suggesting..although it has already fallen to deaf ears. Sigh. Anyway, I edited my answer to explain why my question is not duplicate. If you find the question worthy of being belonging to SO, having met the high standards and content quality and intellectual bar SO expects for every word typed into it, be a darling and vote it for reopen.
    – NedStarkOfWinterfell
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:23
  • Why should we 'adjust the method' - when the method has and does work very well.
    – user289879
    Jun 22, 2015 at 19:41

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