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I'm a PhD student with 7 years of experience in programming. I have worked on large systems in different platforms.

When I ask a question related to Computer Science, there were times that the question was closed or the approach was "Not programming related question". I don't like the fact that SO only accepts questions related to programming and excludes questions regarding computer science, especially theoretical computer science.

Just a reminder to those there wouldn't be any programming if there weren't any theory behind it.

Will this change anytime soon?

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    Can you give us examples?
    – Tom Ritter
    Dec 5, 2009 at 23:48
  • if you are an admin, you would know.
    – DarthVader
    Dec 5, 2009 at 23:52
  • isnt that the case? if you were an admin wouldnt you do that?
    – DarthVader
    Dec 5, 2009 at 23:52
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    Yeah, most CS questions remain open. We need specific examples.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Dec 5, 2009 at 23:53
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    Are you possibly referring to this? stackoverflow.com/questions/1853409/…
    – Greg Hewgill
    Dec 6, 2009 at 0:01
  • To join in with everybody else, I want to see examples. Before I suggest doing anything about a problem, I really do want to know there's a problem.
    – David Thornley
    Dec 6, 2009 at 19:07

4 Answers 4

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There are currently 378 questions tagged computer-science on SO, out of which aprox. 46 are closed. Some are closed because they're duplicates of earlier questions, others because they're questions that aren't really appropriate for the SO Q&A format.

Can you cite any specific examples of CS questions closed simply for being CS questions?

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There is now a dedicated Stack Exchange site for Computer Science, for students, researchers and practitioners of computer science at all levels.

Furthermore, there is a separate Theoretical Computer Science which is restricted to research-level questions in TCS.

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As soon as your knowlege increases beyond a certain level, many people with the ability to close your question can't recognize how a very mathematical question with very little explanation relates to computer science. In other words, without any additional details they look at it, think "ak maths" and vote to close it. As this site is community run, all you need is 5 people to vote to close.

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    I view this as a failure of communication on the part of the asker. If your answer is "the audience is too dumb!" then with all due respect, you're doing it wrong.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Dec 6, 2009 at 4:32
  • Agreed. Clarity is key.
    – Kaji
    Dec 6, 2009 at 12:53
  • @Jeff Edited my post to reflect what I wanted to express now I am on the right(?) side of sober.
    – HAL 9000
    Dec 6, 2009 at 13:38
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Ideally, no well written and well tagged theoretical computer science question should be closed on the grounds of being "not programming related." That said though, I can understand why a question might get closed for not appear to be programming related, more so the closer you get to the very theoretical topics. At that point you might just have to flag one of the moderators to have them review and reopen the question if need be.

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