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Questions tagged [off-topic]

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This tag is for questions regarding off topic questions, 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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14
votes
1answer
223 views

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 ...
7
votes
0answers
70 views

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 ...
6
votes
1answer
101 views

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 ...
2
votes
3answers
179 views

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 ...
23
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3answers
299 views

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 ...
21
votes
2answers
708 views

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], ...
-8
votes
1answer
68 views

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 ...
11
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5answers
468 views

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 ...
6
votes
1answer
164 views

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) ...
4
votes
1answer
32 views

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). ...
3
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0answers
46 views

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 ...
1
vote
0answers
63 views

What StackExchange site is the right one for API/Library questions?

I recently had some beef with other users on Stack Overflow. And why I'm getting the feeling that giving context is not a desired thing on Stack Overflow, I'm hopeful it might be here, so I'll give a ...
0
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0answers
17 views

Should we be able to flag a question as belonging to any other Stack Exchange site? [duplicate]

I've recently come across this question on the Poker Stack Exchange site. I flagged it as off-topic as it's really a code question rather than a poker one (the OP already understands every poker-...
10
votes
2answers
177 views

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 ...
3
votes
1answer
58 views

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 ...
4
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1answer
48 views

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 ...
6
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0answers
42 views

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 ...
9
votes
0answers
69 views

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’...
11
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3answers
143 views

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 ...
6
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2answers
216 views

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, ...
-24
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1answer
215 views

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 ...
-5
votes
2answers
111 views

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 ...
-10
votes
1answer
82 views

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. ...
-5
votes
1answer
103 views

What is the point of “primarily opinion based” for networks that do not deal with exact science?

I am asking this my self for some time and I cannot figure it out: Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be ...
4
votes
0answers
40 views

Guide new users away from Meta [duplicate]

There are a lot of blatantly off-topic posts put here on Meta. These are apparently people who somehow got to this site without realizing their questions about things like programming aren't supposed ...
-5
votes
1answer
70 views

MSE should handle questions about a single SE site when they're asking for external input

A fairly old question about how we do things on Ask Ubuntu just got closed with the site-specific off-topic close reason that you have on MSE: This question's topic is only applicable to one ...
3
votes
0answers
61 views

How were the off-topic close reasons previously displayed? [duplicate]

I just came across this question on English.SE. The banner says it was closed by a moderator as "general reference", which is not one of the 5 standard close reasons (duplicate, off-topic, too broad, ...
-5
votes
2answers
158 views

My questions keep getting closed; how do I improve? [duplicate]

Often when I ask a question it gets closed, but I don't understand what makes it too broad or off-topic and people aren't explaining it in comments. I'm getting frustrated; I want to contribute ...
8
votes
0answers
186 views

What's with the uptick in blatantly off-topic posts lately?

Generally, we tend to get around a few blatantly off-topic questions here on this site because...reasons. However, yesterday and today (UTC), I noticed that the number of off-topic questions had ...
10
votes
1answer
207 views

Are “unofficial” fun or swag questions allowed?

A recent question about possibly applying a historical lock to old swag/fun posts led me to think about how on-topicness is defined for swag/fun questions. Right now, all or virtually all of our fun ...
-13
votes
1answer
216 views

META Participation & some site-crossover thoughts (Recycled: Migrating Comments to Chat Off Topic)

Update May 2 2019 I noticed this question received more down-votes recently even though it has been inactive for some time now. I'm not really sure I understand the point of this? I have tried to ...
10
votes
1answer
124 views

Where to ask about Stack Overflow for teams

When should questions about Stack Overflow for teams be asked here on Meta Stack Exchange and when on Meta Stack Overflow? The tag wiki excerpt is not really useful, as it doesn't specify when a ...
5
votes
1answer
52 views

When should I vote to close as “off-topic -> does not appear to seek input and discussion from the community” vs “unclear what you're asking”?

Two of the close reasons here on meta, "Off-topic -> This questions does not appear to seek input and discussion from the community" and "Unclear what you're asking", seem to mean essentially the same ...
3
votes
1answer
89 views

Is sharing ideas fine on meta sites? [duplicate]

In my experience, sharing ideas (which are opinion-based and not really questions by nature) is fine in meta sites. The posts can be: Announcement posts. For example, in Net Neutrality and Stack ...
10
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0answers
51 views

Move the question/answer ban meta to per-site help

This relates to People get lost and crash into meta - maybe we need roadblocks for their safety and the issue it's dealing with: people ask off-topic questions on here all the time. I think it's ...
3
votes
2answers
43 views

Which flag to use for questions that are not minimal? [closed]

It is quite common to enconter a question such as this, which is not a bad question; it has a description of the problem, some code, and the desired outcome, but is simply not minimal. My question is,...
9
votes
3answers
121 views

How should I flag blatantly off-topic questions on Meta.SE: Close or VLQ?

Historically, when encountering blatantly off-topic questions (usually programming questions) here on Meta.SE, I would raise a Close flag (usually off-topic: This question does not appear to be about ...
5
votes
1answer
123 views

Wait, so what kind of discussion of hats is and isn't on topic here?

This question of mine: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/319993/i-especially-like-the-hats-this-year?noredirect=1#comment1048036_319993 Received -11 votes and was deleted as 'this kind of ...
3
votes
2answers
71 views

Remove one of the off-topic close reasons [duplicate]

Here on MSE, there are two close reasons within "off-topic" that mean exactly the same thing. This: This question does not appear to be about the software that powers the Stack Exchange network, ...
1
vote
0answers
28 views

Where should I ask a question about a programming interface for a game? [duplicate]

I wanted to ask about the documentation for the programming interface of the game Vavio since I can't find it anywhere. I first was about to ask on Gaming.SE, where I found similar questions that were ...
44
votes
1answer
473 views

What is the cause of the recent increase in blatantly off-topic posts on Meta?

Since a few days, I have the feeling that there are a lot more blatantly off-topic questions ('lost souls') on Meta Stack Exchange. OK, that could be just a feeling, so I've created a short script (...
5
votes
2answers
97 views

What should I do if I cannot find the right community for my question?

I asked my question here: 1st post Then I got feedback that my question was off-topic (unrelated to the community), with 2-closing votes, without any suggestion about which is the right community for ...
14
votes
1answer
162 views

Does the new unified design theme result in more off-topic questions where lost users asked on the wrong site?

This is partially a request for opinion, and partially a request for statistics. For a very long time, Meta Stack Exchange has suffered from a problem where a lot of users ask blatantly off-topic ...
9
votes
2answers
128 views

Tour - Pull in On/Off Topic Guidelines?

Over the years, I have joined a number of Stack Exchange communities to varying degrees of participation. Unfortunately, it has often been at least six months between joining communities - just long ...
12
votes
2answers
211 views

How should we steer lost users?

Here is a thing I see fairly often here on Meta.SE: The question isn't remotely on-topic and was rightly, and quickly, put on hold. Somebody left a comment (not shown) pointing out what Meta.SE is ...
-9
votes
1answer
74 views

Can there be a feature that redirects an off-topic question to the appropriate Stack Exchange site? [duplicate]

Background I was on Stack Exchange today, asking a regular ol' question, the gist of which was: What library do you use to make GUI-based apps in Java? I asked it based on how apps that have used ...
-3
votes
2answers
120 views

Should the “can no longer be reproduced” off-topic close reason on meta be changed?

Here on Meta Stack Exchange as well as on Meta Stack Overflow, we have an off-topic close reason that says: The problem described here can no longer be reproduced. Changes to the system or to the ...
3
votes
1answer
60 views

Can't see the specific off-topic reason in the Reopen queue

When I am doing the Reopen Review queue, I like to see why the question was closed. If the question is closed due to it being "off-topic" however, I can't see the specific off-topic reason: It just ...
-2
votes
1answer
62 views

Should I downvote questions posted on the wrong SE site? [duplicate]

If a question is not directly "bad", but placed on the wrong SE network (e.g., posted on stackoverflow.com when it should have been posted on superuser.com), in addition to close-voting, should I also ...
2
votes
1answer
78 views

Dealing with obviously false answers

I would like to ask what to do if you receive an answer which is: offtopic containing false information I'd like to ask for some guidance about what I did wrong. I asked a question, someone ...

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