Questions tagged [off-topic]
This tag is for questions regarding off topic questions (in other words: questions for which a community-specific close reason applies), including whether a question is on topic and what to do with off topic questions. DO NOT use this tag to post questions you know to be off-topic for the site.
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Introduce a rule: When questions are closed as "off-topic", the moderator who closes must not do so without also proposing a better place to ask [duplicate]
Back in 2011 and 2012, SE was different. These days it feels as if more than half my questions get shut down as off topic, and of those, only half are done so politely and helpfully. Here's the latest ...
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How can I close this kind of question for being "off-topic"? [closed]
I want to close a question on French Language that is absolutely not about the French language at all; it's just a random question in French. When I press "Close", the only options I have ...
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Is asking for guidance a "request for materials"? [closed]
Why are questions asking about guidance closed as off-topic requests for materials? Would it not be beneficial to the community to allow the more experienced users to pour their knowledge on the newer ...
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What are the actual guidelines for deleting popular off-topic closed questions?
I recently noticed a relatively popular question (34 upvotes on the question, 42 on the top answer) get deleted on Stack Overflow (https://stackoverflow.com/q/29876518/1108305). This question was ...
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If a question was closed with multiple revamped community-specific (off-topic) reasons, the close notice may not properly describe the reasons
Here's a close notice from a question that was closed with multiple off-topic (community-specific) close reasons, relating to only one specific network site and no longer reproducible:
(For context, ...
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2
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Suggested feature - simplify migration process
I am suggesting to add a new feature that simplifies the question migration process.
Requested feature: Adding a "Migrate" option next to the "Close" option.
The migration ...
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0
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Automatically detect and dynamically build the list for offtopic migration options [duplicate]
Questions on Stack Overflow has only 5 options when closing as off-topic when the question "belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network":
Close ->
A community-specific reason -&...
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1
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Which Stack Exchange site is good for asking advice-based questions? [duplicate]
Recently, I saw many users asking for advice-based questions on Stack Overflow. These questions are getting closed because they are off-topic. Is there any SE site for such users to take advice from ...
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Should/do we discourage edits, by privileged users or not, to off-topic questions that will end up deleted?
This is not a duplicate of Is "don't polish turds" a valid rejection reason"?. We want to prevent those edits from getting into the queue in the first place. That also focuses ...
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Can flagging off-topic MSE questions be made easier?
We see lots of questions posted on MSE that aren't anything to do with the running of the network and I habitually have to click a few times to get to the correct reason for flagging.
Would it be ...
user960635
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Should a question be closed without a discussion? [closed]
I recently posted a couple of questions in two stack communities (this one on physics and this one on skeptics) that have been closed, both deemed off topic.
In one case (skeptics) it has been ...
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Are there times that questions are more or less likely to get closed as off-topic before they can get answers?
I was wondering whether the time that a question is posted has an effect on whether the question is likely to get closed as off-topic. I noticed that some questions that look like they fit the ...
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1
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How should you handle non-closed, non-down-voted questions if you are not a moderator?
I would like to ask about the following, systematically observed, moderation-style of the biology site that I would loosely interpret as planting "answer traps".
Here an example of what I ...
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3
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2
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Question with multiple topics: site recommendation
I want to ask a question that involves several topics: a PHP framework, MySQL database, user experience, page loading performance, server performance. Since the question is complex, I can't find a ...
5
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1
answer
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Do questions about the identification of objects/species have a place in the Stack Exchange Network?
When I made an account for the Earth Science Stack Exchange, I came across this meta post:
I've had enough. Let's ban rock id questions.
In this post, the author addresses the issue that the website ...
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1
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The off topic notice should include option to migrate in the notice, and allow author to do it [duplicate]
I recently googled for a topic, found a very similar question of the same topic in Stack Overflow, and posted my question. After a few days nobody had answered it, but I found the answer on my own and ...
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1
answer
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Is the chatroom to be used for topic related chatting or not? [duplicate]
I found a chat section in Stack Overflow. Is it to be used for simply chatting or a particular topic?
For example, if Android is the name of the chat room, is there only Android-related chat allowed?
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Add intentionally off-topic tags
There are quite a few threads asking about tags that tend to lead to off-topic questions:
Suggestions for Off Topic Tags
Should tag-wiki discourage off-topic posts for mostly-off-topic tags?
What ...
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13
votes
2
answers
211
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How should I deal with a stubborn, annoying user?
Long story short, out of the blue there appeared a user that seems determined in their attempts on derailing discussions I start on SE.
At first they were attempting to start comment wars and being ...
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1
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How does this question "not appear to seek input and discussion from the community"?
Question in question: Is it a good practice to write an answer to respond to another answer, rather than actually answer the question?
It is closed for being off-topic with the reason:
This question ...
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Why are the "off-topic" flag options (including "blatantly off-topic") listed under "needs improvement"?
When I see an off-topic question on a site where I have the "cast close votes" privilege (mainly, SO), I can click on Close, select "A community-specific reason" (AKA/previously, &...
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Has your site blanket-banned a whole class of questions that were originally on-topic, and how did that work out?
I'm brainstorming streamlining close reasons at Chinese.SE where there are few question styles which are problematic (e.g. "what's a good resource for XYZ?"; "what does this say?")....
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Do not show questions with off topic votes in Top Questions on meta
The default view for meta.stackexchange.com is Top Questions. This list very frequently shows off-topic questions that are (mostly) intended for Stack Overflow main. Such questions usually have a ...
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Detect off-topic to suggest sister-site
I have frequently visited stackexchange.com/sites to look for the right site to ask a question. Yet I still make mistakes, that I think can be prevented, and thereby save time for moderators. And ...
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Avoiding misuse of SE/SO for online university tests during COVID-19
A number of science and technology-related sites have traditionally considered homework off-topic. As far as I understand, this is because we aim to create a base of answers which are useful for ...
41
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Please reinstate the words "off-topic" into the closing dialog
Recently, the button for "off-topic" in the closing dialog was changed to "A community-specific reason". To be clear, I agree with the gist of the change, since "off-topic&...
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Missing flag option "Should be closed" resulted in rejected flag "Please familiarise yourself with standard flags"
On meta.stackexchange about an hour or so ago, this happened. Normaly encountering an off-topic post I would flag as "Should be closed" which directs me to a number of options: Blatantly off topic, ...
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Improving my question about the Teachers' Lounge so it can be reopened
I am trying to improve my Meta Stack Exchange question Rename the Teachers' Lounge in order to get it reopened. It was closed in October 2019 for the reason "This question does not appear to be ...
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When can someone show gratitude on this site for things a person has done (not necessarily on this site)?
I have read this question. It doesn't seem like a question to me; it looks more like a comment one can put below questions and answers.
I thought one should avoid comments (assuming this question is ...
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Why is a bug report about Stack Overflow's search functionality considered "off-topic"?
A bug report I posted earlier today (Search fails to find matching issues) was just closed due to being "off-topic".
This is despite the fact that it is a very clear, easy to reproduce bug affecting ...
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Why don't off-topic close notices indicate which specific users voted for specific off-topic canned reasons anymore?
In the old notices, on questions closed as off-topic, the notice would not only indicate all of the close voters who closed the question, but also the specific users who voted for specific canned ...
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Is it valid to edit "how to do off-topic X" questions into "Where to ask how to do X"?
Some day this week I came across a question that a asked about a Microsoft product licence thing.
The question title and body was a clear "Where to ask about ..."
I agreed with one comment that ...
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Should we close old Winter Bash questions?
I see a few questions in the Close Votes review queue here on Meta Stack Exchange for specific questions about the challenges and rewards of Winter Bashes gone by. Some people are voting to close them ...
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How many people re-post their question in the correct place after accidentally posting it here?
As a lurker here on MSE, I regularly see people posting questions that were meant for another site on the network, usually by mistake. These questions invariably receive comments directing them to the ...
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Is an off-topic political message inherently rude or abusive?
A user posts a blatantly off-topic political message on a Stack Exchange site, but expresses it in civilized language. For example, something like this might qualify:
Don't vote for [politician], ...
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Help on viewing a seemingly deleted answer on a marked off-topic post? [closed]
I asked a question in the physics stackexchange about the fastest ramp ending velocity for science project and it got one answer before it was marked off-topic for being too similar to a homework ...
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Upvoting off-topic questions
Someone on Meta has started to upvote many/most off-topic questions. These are questions asked by people who are simply lost, here's a couple of examples:
I want to understand how to interpret ...
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Yet another feature request to prevent off-topic questions be marked as HNQ
Recently one questions on Web Applications (WA) reached the HNQ. This was tagged dns by the OP.
The WA's dns tag excerpt currently says (emphasis mine)
Domain Name System - Usually questons(sic) ...
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Can we have an auto-comment for the Off-topic flag
There are a lot of questions here on MSE that really deserve to be on any other "main" site in the network. They are usually met with a ferocious amount of downvotes, and usually closed (quickly).
...
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Clarification on "what if _ happened?" off-topic questions
Many (all?) Stack Exchange sites include an off-topic question category that reads:
you are asking an open-ended, hypothetical question: “What if ______ happened?”
I read this as referring ...
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How do we make changes to a site's scope?
We are discussing this topic at Earth Science Stack Exchange, because our homepage has many questions asking to identify their rocks based on a picture.
Some of us want to no longer accept such ...
user486893
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Any widget to close questions as off-topic in one click from questions list?
I am moderating a site overflown by off-topic questions sent to us by the wizard.
80% of the questions can be recognized as totally off-topic by just looking at the questions list.
Problem: I still ...
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Has the idea of something like, "Before asking a question, you must read what's on-topic for this website." been explored before?
The problem I see:
A lot of communities on StackExchange have dealt with newbies that join their particular community and quickly ask questions that are considered off-topic. Heck, you can even see it ...
user333436
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Add the "can no longer be reproduced" and "does not seek input and discussion" close reasons to all meta sites
Meta Stack Exchange and Meta Stack Overflow have two very useful off-topic close reasons in the closing dialog. I'm talking specifically about these two:
This question does not appear to seek input ...
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Don’t tell people with no account at every possible point to join Meta
We get a lot of crappy questions on Meta from people who don’t in any way understand it, most of the time thinking they’re on Stack Overflow. If we want to decrease the chance of this, what if we didn’...
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Examples of questions on Meta.SE that would merit a Very Low Quality (VLQ) flag
In this answer responding to a user asking about why their Very Low Quality (VLQ) flag was declined on a blatantly off-topic question here on Meta.SE, Tinkeringbell ♦ mentions,
The VLQ flag IS NOT ...
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Is the VLQ flag appropriate for blatantly off-topic questions here on MSE?
The endless stream of blatantly off-topic questions never ceases to flow into MSE, which is a topic that's been brought up many times. I've written a userscript that automatically casts a close vote, ...
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What REALLY defines on and off topic? [closed]
So I'm getting fed up of my questions - which I consider to be genuine - getting voted as being Off-Topic, for reasons that don't make sense in comparison to other questions.
For example, my latest ...
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When there is a mismatch between the question title and question content - is an answer off-topic?
I am addressing the situation when there is a mismatch between what the question title asks for, and what the question body asks for. Given the mismatch, any answer can address either the title or the ...
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answer
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Feature to detect if a question is about programming and thus off-topic
What if we had some sort of warning that users' questions seem off-topic, especially on MSE? It seems to me that a large majority of the blatantly off-topic questions here should be on Stack Overflow. ...
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