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The intended use case for stackoverflow is that you have a problem, you google for it, you find a stackoverflow question that covers your problem and click it t

The intended use case for stackoverflow is that you have a problem, you google for it, you find a stackoverflow question that covers your problem and click it to find out how to solve it because you know that stackoverflow search results are usually useful for that sort of thing. If they allow other kinds of content, interesting as it may be, it will dilute that and turn stackoverflow into a discussion site or a place where people just post funny anecdotes or assorted programming trivia. That's not inherently bad but it makes it harder to use the site for its intended purpose. (Disclaimer: I have like five karma on stackoverflow and don't necessarily know what I'm talking about.)

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Recently I asked a question on SO that was closed for not being specific enough. I couldn't recreate the problem for others, I think was the issue, and I was hoping to get some general "try this" answers just to steer me in the right direction. But it seems they don't want that, they want specific questions with exactly 1 correct answer.
- phwd 15y ago
  Maybe you could not have recreated the problem but you could have indeed described the symptoms and the problem statement. It's not written anywhere in the FAQ but SO places the subliminal message to write better, communicate better and research better. The more you do this, the more you understand your own problem and you will be able to reach your solution. See: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-write-without-writing.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-write-withou... Did some digging and found this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8449696/project-doesnt-recognize-reference http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8449696/project-doesnt-re... This doesn't look like something to point someone in the right direction. Yes, you are working with proprietary code but you could think of ways to describe what is happening without disclosing information otherwise you are making users play the 20 questions game with your question (as noted by a moderator). A high rep and top contributor to the site (Jon Skeet) was trying to help you but you didn't seem to want to reciprocate with more information. As I said earlier, clear communication is key in SO, don't make users point in the dark. You are wasting their time and yours with the back and forth clarifications.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

Recently I asked a question on SO that was closed for not being specific enough. I couldn't recreate the problem for others, I think was the issue, and I was hoping to get some general "try this" answers just to steer me in the right direction. But it seems they don't want that, they want specific questions with exactly 1 correct answer.

phwd 15y ago
Maybe you could not have recreated the problem but you could have indeed described the symptoms and the problem statement. It's not written anywhere in the FAQ but SO places the subliminal message to write better, communicate better and research better. The more you do this, the more you understand your own problem and you will be able to reach your solution. See: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-write-without-writing.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-write-withou... Did some digging and found this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8449696/project-doesnt-recognize-reference http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8449696/project-doesnt-re... This doesn't look like something to point someone in the right direction. Yes, you are working with proprietary code but you could think of ways to describe what is happening without disclosing information otherwise you are making users play the 20 questions game with your question (as noted by a moderator). A high rep and top contributor to the site (Jon Skeet) was trying to help you but you didn't seem to want to reciprocate with more information. As I said earlier, clear communication is key in SO, don't make users point in the dark. You are wasting their time and yours with the back and forth clarifications.