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As a programmer I am looking for input from other programmers. The question meets every requirement in the Stack Overflow FAQ and yet it was immediately closed anyway. I would like someone to please review this and unlock my question if possible.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2762825/what-programming-techy-name-should-i-give-my-new-pup (deleted)

Edit: To clarify, this was a question from a programmer to programmers with industry knowledge. While this topic certainly isn't common, nor is there a need for it to be since asking once is sufficient it is a programming related question. Lighten up!

How disappointing, further down-voted and nothing but negative comments. Sorry I wasted your time, I promise you won't see me on a stack site again.

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    There's a difference between "negative comments" and "comments that aren't what you wanted to hear". Re down-rated; on "meta" that is mainly just a "I don't agree" - it isn't meant as a personal judgement. – Marc Gravell♦ May 4 '10 at 5:24
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    Wow, I thought this was joke when I first read it. Naming your dog is programming related? – Lance Roberts May 4 '10 at 5:35
  • I support the closing of this question because a) the question is off-topic and b) considering to name your dog after something programming related is an awful, awful idea. – Pekka May 4 '10 at 7:16
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    @Pekka - that depends; does he byte? – Marc Gravell♦ May 4 '10 at 7:31
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    @Marc yeah, and is he CAPISTRAted or is there some danger of him getting some BITch PREG.... Okay enough with the lame jokes :) – Pekka May 4 '10 at 7:44
  • This whole thing remind me of the "what do you eat in front on your computer", on Super User, for which the author was arguing that yes, it had to do with a computer. – Gnoupi May 4 '10 at 13:00
  • @Marc: Did the old question about dog names get deleted? I wanted to link it (both here and in another recent question whose name escapes me), but I can't find it anymore. – mmyers May 4 '10 at 14:32
  • @mmyers - you mean the cat one? no idea, sorry. – Marc Gravell♦ May 4 '10 at 15:47
  • @mmyers - yes, deleted: stackoverflow.com/questions/2722832/… – Marc Gravell♦ May 4 '10 at 15:49
  • see meta.stackexchange.com/questions/26014/… meta.stackexchange.com/questions/45048/… meta.stackexchange.com/questions/39536/… meta.stackexchange.com/questions/23631/… meta.stackexchange.com/questions/14763/… meta.stackexchange.com/questions/45400/… – Ether May 4 '10 at 16:05
  • @Marc: That's the one where I wanted to post the link to the old dog question. The only thing I remember about the dog question is that someone suggested calling it "NULL" -- so I'm pretty sure it wasn't just my imagination. I know you can see deleted questions in profiles, but can you search for a deleted question? – mmyers May 4 '10 at 16:21
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This is a topic of constant friction. It simply isn't programming, Such questions have a long history of causing problems, with heated opinions on both sides; open/close wars; angry comments; flags; angst; unicorns on the warpath. This makes them actively harmful / destructive.

Yes - there are examples of other questions that have lived much longer. I happened to spot this one very early and aborted it. I make no apology for closing it, but I genuinely do hope you continue to use stackoverflow as intended; as a programming Q&A resource.

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    It's a good thing you locked it too, otherwise it would have been driven into the ground. – alex May 4 '10 at 5:17
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    I support this action and the reason behind it. Troggy approved. – Troggy May 4 '10 at 5:18
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    This message brought to you by the "Friends of @Troggy" association for on-topic questions. – perbert May 4 '10 at 15:16
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Programming questions, of course! As long as your question is:

• detailed and specific
• written clearly
• and simply of interest to other programmers

It is detailed and specific.
It is written very clearly.
And it might be of interest to other programmers.

But it misses the most important requirement: It is not a programming question.

For example, if I was in the Medical business, I could ask the exact same question replacing certain IT words with those relevant to my profession, and it would still make sense. This is the standard criteria applied to the relevance of questions here at SOFU, and I'm afraid your question fails on that count.

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  • Yes, but at least he tagged it properly – Antony May 4 '10 at 4:43
  • It is a programming question. Not all questions are about the actual implementation of code. Take for example stackoverflow.com/questions/2747427/…. This question is not about programming but training and documentation. – Nate May 4 '10 at 4:43
  • @Antony I do not deny that. It was tagged correctly, and I commend him for that. (Although a usage of a dog tag might have also been appropriate) – waiwai933 May 4 '10 at 4:44
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    @Nate: Training and documentation != puppy names. – mmyers May 4 '10 at 4:44
  • @Nate That question you have linked is very relevant to programming as a profession. That is, almost everyone who programs for a company will eventually ask that question. But there is no given correlation between a dog and programming, so it's not a programming question – waiwai933 May 4 '10 at 4:45
  • Training and documentation != programming question – Nate May 4 '10 at 4:45
  • @waiwai933 It was a question from a programmer to programmers that requires programmers knowledge. Where else would I ask it? – Nate May 4 '10 at 4:47
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    @Nate I am not sure where else you can ask it. But just because you do not know where to post this question does not make it appropriate for SOFU. For example, another question from a programmer to programmers that require knowledge of programming would be 'How do programmers wash their clothes when they're in a programming marathon?'. Yet quite clearly, that question is not relevant to SOFU. – waiwai933 May 4 '10 at 4:48
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    Left Stack Overflow in anger because wasn't allowed to ask a question about how to name his dog. Ah well..... – Pekka May 4 '10 at 9:31
  • It would have been a great question on reddit.com/r/programming. There are often some really good discussions there. – Ether May 4 '10 at 14:52
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Did your question have anything to do with software development? Can you include your dog in a software project?

There is nothing software related about your dog; you should know better than that.

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  • Yes it has to do with software development, it is a question for software developers. – Nate May 4 '10 at 4:45
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    @Nate are you even listening to yourself? You're arguing that a dog's name is software related. Really? Will that dog ever be part of a software project? Will it ever aid anyone in development of a software project? No! – alex May 4 '10 at 4:52
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    Now if it were a cat, it would have been quite another thing entirely. – Ether May 4 '10 at 4:57
  • @Ether of course! Everyone knows the iPad, for instance, had its software written by cats for cats. That's why they're so good at using one. – alex May 4 '10 at 4:58
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    well, dogs have fleas, fleas are a type of bug, and all software haz bugs. – Antony May 4 '10 at 5:08
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    @Antony we could try and debug the dogs, but it might take a while. – alex May 4 '10 at 5:09

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