I agree that adding some clarification in the wording might help - ***if* you can get new users to read it. Perhaps it's time for SO to provide more guidance to new users?** We tell them "too broad" or "not on topic" without really providing an alternate recommendation. There have been meta discussions on the appropriateness of [tutorials](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/134645/is-stack-overflow-a-central-store-for-tutorials) or [write-ups](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/104473/should-so-host-howto-style-writeups-after-all) on Meta before, and there is [external discussion and frustration](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9869886) about the scope of SO as well (presumably from people who haven't taken time to get past the initial SO learning curve). **I think some more direct user guidance when closing questions would help focus or prevent `too broad` questions as much or more than updating the wording.** Or at least stop them from asking "[Is my question really too broad?](http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/276853/174739)" Possible approaches: >### Putting links to tag wikis in the `closed` banner I've been on SO for years [1] and didn't know they existed until I stumbled on them through a Meta question yesterday (and asked a [separate question on publicizing tag wikis better](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/323800/should-tag-wikis-get-more-exposure) - their general neglect also been [discussed before](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/279450/be-proud-of-tag-wikis)). The first comment was to have a new close reason: `"Answered in tag wiki"`. I realize not all tag wikis populated or well curated, but some of the more common ones (e.g. the [javascript tag wiki](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/javascript/info)) are overflowing with useful *external* links for beginners. > ### Adding some "beginner" links to the Ask Question page And remove them after reaching a rep cap, either overall or in a given topic. Possibly linked to tags wikis as well. [![enter image description here][2]][2] > ### More directly stating "find tutorials somewhere else" Again, perhaps in the close banner, or in the Ask Question page. Yes, we talk about what's appropriate in the [on topic help page](http://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic), which clarifies a lot of things - how many new users who are after a quick solution are really going to read 2 pages of community guidelines before posting though? Not to encourage alienating new users, but sometimes you just have to be blunt to get the point across. [![enter image description here][3]][3] (from the web comic [Basic Instructions](http://basicinstructions.net/)) ---------- [1] SO has the interesting problem of being at the top of search results for most beginner questions that really *are* quite broad, without wanting to provide broad answers. I for one found SO by Googling broad topics, and realizing what a great resource it was, took the effort to learn about the culture and preferred usage - many people do not. I have used SO for years to find *detailed* information, but never realized there was any introductory content for subject beginners. [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/iM6aF.png [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/UDAIg.jpg