I find the idea of taking a category of questions and applying a sort of default rule to close them is very disconcerting unless there is data to support a serious problem. The problem is that this sort of behavior creates a community with all sorts of hidden rules known only to the in-crowd.

Both sysadmins and Programmers in general have a need to classify and organize things, sometimes to their own detriment. So when there are "rules" like this people tend to jump too quickly to close a question without taking a more holistic approach to its merit.

In the example you linked to, PowerEdge 2950 hard disk , a better response is to take our experience to educate the user on the question they meant to ask but were not experienced enough to know that is what they should have asked. Such an answer would be something along the lines of:

"There are several factors that effect the maximum storage size for a single server including: The Raid Card, The Current Firmware, limitations in the operating system [list more here]... Vendors can be helpful in many situations so it is good to double check with them, but being aware of all of the above, you make sure your vendor contact is being thorough and checking all of the above for you. If you don't deal with vendors in this educated fashion, it will often end up biting you in the ass".

So what this does is extract a canonical question and answer from what the user was trying to figure out. Canonical answers are helpful, advance the profession, and create content the community can be proud of. Advancing the profession and creating great content will invite more expert system administrators to become part of Server Fault, finding excuses to close questions won't.

I find the idea of taking a category of questions and applying a sort of default rule to close them is very disconcerting unless there is data to support a serious problem. The problem is that this sort of behavior creates a community with all sorts of hidden rules known only to the in-crowd.

Both sysadmins and Programmers in general have a need to classify and organize things, sometimes to their own detriment. So when there are "rules" like this people tend to jump too quickly to close a question without taking a more holistic approach to its merit.

In the example you linked to, PowerEdge 2950 hard disk , a better response is to take our experience to educate the user on the question they meant to ask but were not experienced enough to know that is what they should have asked. Such an answer would be something along the lines of:

"There are several factors that effect the maximum storage size for a single server including: The Raid Card, The Current Firmware, limitations in the operating system [list more here]... Vendors can be helpful in many situations so it is good to double check with them, but being aware of all of the above, you make sure your vendor contact is being thorough and checking all of the above for you. If you don't deal with vendors in this educated fashion, it will often end up biting you in the ass".

So what this does is extract a canonical question and answer from what the user was trying to figure out. Canonical answers are helpful, advance the profession, and create content the community can be proud of. Advancing the profession and creating great content will invite more expert system administrators to become part of Server Fault, finding excuses to close questions won't.