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>even if that means telling someone that their question is stupid – which means breaking a rule that is essentially the cornerstone of any other Q&A setting. A

>even if that means telling someone that their question is stupid – which means breaking a rule that is essentially the cornerstone of any other Q&A setting. Although I'm sure that happens, the site is explicitly designed to be a pseudo-wiki (Jeff counted Wikipedia as one of its inspirations), so if you ask a question that's too specific to your use case (i.e. that other users will not be able to put into practice) or a matter of opinion, then there's a legitimate reason to close it as not an appropriate question for Stack Overflow. Most other Q&A settings, such as Quora, are not trying to be pseudo-wikis, so these questions make more sense for those contexts. For example, if you asked, "Should I use MySQL or SQLite", that's not a great question for Stack Overflow. You might instead ask, "What are the key differences between MySQL and SQLite" which can then provide the insight to answer your original question as well as help other users.

eitland 7y ago
> You might instead ask, "What are the key differences between MySQL and SQLite" which can then provide the insight to answer your original question as well as help other users. I'm pretty sure if you ask that exact question, an even if nobody has asked it before so it isn't a duplicate, someone will find some reason to shoot it down.
- Gracana 7y ago
  It's "too broad".
- xigency 7y ago
  Even worse, it was obliterated: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3630/sqlite-vs-mysql https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3630/sqlite-vs-mysql And the reason: closed as not constructive by Kev Feb 28 '13 at 13:12
  - eitland 7y ago
    I cannot even see it :-/
    - shagie 7y ago
      You can find it in the Wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20140327041948/https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3630/sqlite-vs-mysql http://web.archive.org/web/20140327041948/https://stackoverf... Note that as time went on, it became one liners and anecdotes... and everyone has their own anecdote of what the differences are and how important those differences are to that person... and that leads to discussions and page finding the answer you're looking for on page 40 of the answers somewhere deep in the comments of an answer. That wasn't the goal of Stack Overflow.
- olooney 7y ago
  Every new question is, paradoxically, very low quality, unclear, AND off-topic, yet somehow at the same time an exact duplicate of an on-topic question with 653 upvotes. :)
airstrike 7y ago
> For example, if you asked, "Should I use MySQL or SQLite", that's not a great question for Stack Overflow. You might instead ask, "What are the key differences between MySQL and SQLite" That's just really the same question rephrased. If you think the latter shouldn't be closed, then just edit the former to read like it and leave it open.

eitland 7y ago

> You might instead ask, "What are the key differences between MySQL and SQLite" which can then provide the insight to answer your original question as well as help other users. I'm pretty sure if you ask that exact question, an even if nobody has asked it before so it isn't a duplicate, someone will find some reason to shoot it down.

Gracana 7y ago
It's "too broad".
xigency 7y ago
Even worse, it was obliterated: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3630/sqlite-vs-mysql https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3630/sqlite-vs-mysql And the reason: closed as not constructive by Kev Feb 28 '13 at 13:12
- eitland 7y ago
  I cannot even see it :-/
  - shagie 7y ago
    You can find it in the Wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20140327041948/https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3630/sqlite-vs-mysql http://web.archive.org/web/20140327041948/https://stackoverf... Note that as time went on, it became one liners and anecdotes... and everyone has their own anecdote of what the differences are and how important those differences are to that person... and that leads to discussions and page finding the answer you're looking for on page 40 of the answers somewhere deep in the comments of an answer. That wasn't the goal of Stack Overflow.
olooney 7y ago
Every new question is, paradoxically, very low quality, unclear, AND off-topic, yet somehow at the same time an exact duplicate of an on-topic question with 653 upvotes. :)

airstrike 7y ago

> For example, if you asked, "Should I use MySQL or SQLite", that's not a great question for Stack Overflow. You might instead ask, "What are the key differences between MySQL and SQLite" That's just really the same question rephrased. If you think the latter shouldn't be closed, then just edit the former to read like it and leave it open.