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I'm referring to my question here: Java optimizations

I don't completely understand why it was closed. It does not violate any of the reasons stated. I am looking for concrete facts, not opinion. I don't think this question would start a large debate/argument.

The only possible reason I can find was stated in a comment by Goran Jovic:

Anyway, your problem was most likely closed because there is no finite answer to it. It would probably spawn dozens of answers each containing a single optimization. This is usually not considered constructive because it is very easy for initial Q&A format to degrade to a poll.

Perhaps this may be true, but is it necessarily bad? I believe the answers to this question are legitimate and would be extremely helpful/constructive. This is evident in the comments again as two people learned something very useful without even a single direct answer.

I can sort of see why it was closed, but was it really necessary? I was honestly looking forward to the answers and thought others would enjoy learning something too.

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The close reason explains why it was closed:

This question is not a good fit to our Q&A format. We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion.

To make Stack Overflow more of a question and answer site, and less like a forum, we choose to accept questions that can be answered specifically and definitively. This greatly increases our overall signal-to-noise ratio. https://stackoverflow.com/faq describes these rules in greater detail.

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  • Yes I read that and addressed it in my question.
    – tskuzzy
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 17:13
  • 4
    @tsk: The Q&A format is one of the fundamental principles of Stack Overflow, and is unlikely to change. If you need a more "forum-like" format, there are many places on the Internet where that is available. We've tried to build something better here; this requires us to be somewhat selective about the questions we can accept.
    – user102937
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 17:16
  • Ok that makes more sense. Thanks.
    – tskuzzy
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 17:23
  • Annoyingly, the FAQ doesn't clearly address whether questions should have definitive answers or whether there are any (even rough) guidelines about questions with multiple or many answers.
    – Kenny Evitt
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 14:54
  • @KennyEvitt: Questions that seek to build a list of things or questions that require a book chapter to answer are considered Too Broad. See stackoverflow.com/help/dont-ask
    – user102937
    Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 15:00

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