Pleading in the alternative when asking - Encouraged?

Question

Before I came to SE, I haunted a more traditional, less strictly moderated forum in which it was common to plead in the alternative (if I may borrow a legal term) when asking questions. That is, people would start by asking the question they really wanted to ask, and then provided guidance to moderators* on how the question should be adjusted if it were to be determined (in their infinite wisdom) that the question was unacceptable for some reason.

On, SE, a question asked in such a way might look like this:

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

I really want to know about all swallows, but if this question is too broad as such, please instead interpret the question as covering European swallows only rather than downvoting and voting to close as too broad. If questions about uninjured birds are off-topic, assume that the swallow has sustained only a flesh wound. If it is unclear whether I am asking about swallows that have been turned into newts, assume that they haven't or that they have since gotten better. If this question would be a better fit on Shrubberies.SE, please go ahead and migrate it there with my blessings rather than simply commenting "Ni!" and leaving my question to the Roomba.

I have asked one or two questions in this format and can't recall getting a very bad reception, but I wanted to ask about the general consensus. Does asking in this way demonstrate appreciated sensitivity to the rules of proper question asking, or does it instead demonstrate ignorance of them? I.e. is it better to simply post a question and provide alternative guidance for moderating users, or is it better to first post on a per-site Meta or in chat to refine the question prior to posting? My hunch says the second, but it does seem that that would require more effort on the part of the community.

*On that site, decisions on whether a question should be closed and/or deleted were made solely by formally appointed Moderators, not the community.

Answer 1

Does asking in this way demonstrate appreciated sensitivity to the rules of proper question asking, or does it instead demonstrate ignorance of them?

I would typically just downvote a question, which contained everything past the first sentence, because it doesn't belong in the body of a question asking about swallows. If you are not aware if asking about swallows is or isn't witin scope for a specific SE community, you shouldn't be asking the question, you should first determine if a question about swallows is within scope.

is it better to simply post a question and provide alternative guidance for moderating users, or is it better to first post on a per-site Meta or in chat to refine the question prior to posting?

You should read the help center. If the help center does not indicate if, a question about swallows is within scope, or you still cannot determine if they are then ask on the appropriate meta website. Some users will guide a user to the correct community. Others will simple remove the statements from the question body so it can be answered (provided the question is within scope). You should not expect the community, to edit and improve a question, that contains statements that should not be there.

Answer 2

It is sometimes OK to put preemptive declarations about moderation in the question. The most obvious case is when someone might think it is a duplicate of some question, and you want to explain how it isn't a duplicate of that question. It would be good if people didn't need to do this, but it is sometimes important if a question is subtly-but-crucially distinct from an existing one.

But in such a case, the subtle-but-crucial distinction is genuine information that the reader needs to know to answer it. Even if you already mentioned it earlier in the question, highlighting the distinction can help users answer the question correctly and more effectively.

The particular case you cite is very much not this. It's a deliberate attempt to subvert the rules of the site. Your addendum basically boils down to "if you think my question is off-topic/inappropriate, mentally rearrange it into some arbitrary form where it isn't."

Your addendum contains zero informational content. It doesn't help users answer the question. It doesn't clarify your question or explain better what you're looking for. And so on. It exists purely to keep people from moderating your question properly.