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FYI, the moderators don't close questions. Reviewers do that. All moderators are reviewers, 99% of reviewers aren't moderators. Moderators' tasks are e.g. to de

by Arnt 7y ago

FYI, the moderators don't close questions. Reviewers do that. All moderators are reviewers, 99% of reviewers aren't moderators. Moderators' tasks are e.g. to determine whether a comment or answer is an insult or contains a password, and what should be done. What would be the advantage of not closing a question? I voted to close one this week that read, basically, that something unspecfied was "similar to" something correct, and asked why the unspecified thing was a syntax error. It can't be answered, why should it be left around for answerers or search engines to see?

bjourne 7y ago
Closed questions are still visible to search engines. Question closing is for those who have an obsessive need to categorize things and/or like to wield power. I have never seen a SO question, or have my own question closed, and thought "Wow, that really improves the site!"
- Arnt 7y ago
  What do you mean by visible to search engines? Where are the links to closed questions? Can the search engines see any/many links to closed questions? https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/imap+ruby https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/imap+ruby doesn't link to any closed questions about using IMAP in Ruby, for example, and I do think that page would be worse if it included closed questions. https://stackoverflow.com/q/57358883 https://stackoverflow.com/q/57358883 (the most recent question tagged imap+ruby) links to about a dozen "related questions", and the list excludes closed questions. Again, I think that list would be worse if it included closed questions. Your opinion?
  - CathedralBorrow 7y ago
    I googled "Javascript code help stackoverflow" and three out of the first four results I clicked were closed questions.
    - Arnt 7y ago
      So I did the same, and followed some links. FWIW here's what I got: http://arnt.gulbrandsen.priv.no/tmp/arnt-google-results.png http://arnt.gulbrandsen.priv.no/tmp/arnt-google-results.png The first linke to a question (when I searched) is to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2687566 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2687566, which "is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion". I can see how answers to that question will tend to be opinionated rather than factual, so... do you (any HNer, really) think SO's topic rules should have included such questions? Or do you think the such questions should be off-topic, but off-topic questions should be left alone? Genuinely curious here. I've read so many disapproving comments about closed questions on SO, and I don't understand the substance behind them.
      - rgoulter 7y ago
        > "What are good resources for learning JavaScript in a weekend?" isn't a good fit for StackOverflow I can see that it's not a question which has a 'terminal' set of answers. But it's not a bad question. I also think it's less flamebait-y compared to ... say, "why do people use Emacs when vim exists" or "what's the best language". From the perspective of coming across questions like this from searching for e.g. "learn JavaScript in a weekend": it's seeing a negative signal when looking for a positive one. If people are asking and answering things which I (and Google search) think are useful, then "Closed, don't want this" seems a bit of an obstacle. > Why are people disapproving of closed questions? My main interaction with StackOverflow is visiting it from the search engine result page. The most common kind of closed question I see (from memory) is "closed as duplicate". The answers to the question I came across aren't the same as the question it duplicates. I think I'd notice this less if the answers were just merged. -- But, I'd also be concerned about if it's falsely marked as duplicate, that'd be frustrating.
        Arnt 7y ago
        You basically think more things should be on-topic, right? (FYI, duplicate isn't the top close reason. The fuzzy trio unclear/overbroad/unreproducible accounts for very roughly 50% and duplicate 20%.)

by Arnt 7y ago

bjourne 7y ago

Closed questions are still visible to search engines. Question closing is for those who have an obsessive need to categorize things and/or like to wield power. I have never seen a SO question, or have my own question closed, and thought "Wow, that really improves the site!"

Arnt 7y ago
What do you mean by visible to search engines? Where are the links to closed questions? Can the search engines see any/many links to closed questions? https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/imap+ruby https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/imap+ruby doesn't link to any closed questions about using IMAP in Ruby, for example, and I do think that page would be worse if it included closed questions. https://stackoverflow.com/q/57358883 https://stackoverflow.com/q/57358883 (the most recent question tagged imap+ruby) links to about a dozen "related questions", and the list excludes closed questions. Again, I think that list would be worse if it included closed questions. Your opinion?
- CathedralBorrow 7y ago
  I googled "Javascript code help stackoverflow" and three out of the first four results I clicked were closed questions.
  - Arnt 7y ago
    So I did the same, and followed some links. FWIW here's what I got: http://arnt.gulbrandsen.priv.no/tmp/arnt-google-results.png http://arnt.gulbrandsen.priv.no/tmp/arnt-google-results.png The first linke to a question (when I searched) is to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2687566 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2687566, which "is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion". I can see how answers to that question will tend to be opinionated rather than factual, so... do you (any HNer, really) think SO's topic rules should have included such questions? Or do you think the such questions should be off-topic, but off-topic questions should be left alone? Genuinely curious here. I've read so many disapproving comments about closed questions on SO, and I don't understand the substance behind them.
    - rgoulter 7y ago
      > "What are good resources for learning JavaScript in a weekend?" isn't a good fit for StackOverflow I can see that it's not a question which has a 'terminal' set of answers. But it's not a bad question. I also think it's less flamebait-y compared to ... say, "why do people use Emacs when vim exists" or "what's the best language". From the perspective of coming across questions like this from searching for e.g. "learn JavaScript in a weekend": it's seeing a negative signal when looking for a positive one. If people are asking and answering things which I (and Google search) think are useful, then "Closed, don't want this" seems a bit of an obstacle. > Why are people disapproving of closed questions? My main interaction with StackOverflow is visiting it from the search engine result page. The most common kind of closed question I see (from memory) is "closed as duplicate". The answers to the question I came across aren't the same as the question it duplicates. I think I'd notice this less if the answers were just merged. -- But, I'd also be concerned about if it's falsely marked as duplicate, that'd be frustrating.
      - Arnt 7y ago
        You basically think more things should be on-topic, right? (FYI, duplicate isn't the top close reason. The fuzzy trio unclear/overbroad/unreproducible accounts for very roughly 50% and duplicate 20%.)