As a user of Stack Exchange sites for a while now, I have often been frustrated by the lack or predictability in whether a question will be up-voted, down-voted or closed.

In general, I do not ask questions that I believe to be off-topic. I always try to search for answers first and attempt to solve the problem on my own. But I am not an expert in everything and am not ashamed to admit I often seek the advice of others in areas where I am not knowledgeable.

This past week I've asked two questions on Server Fault. Both were good questions that I could not find a good answer too, and both were, as far as I can tell, a good fit for this site. One question got 6 up votes, the other got 3 down votes and closed. If the later question was inappropriate, that's fine.

But the problem is:

1. Since not a single person who down-voted or voted to close bothered to explain why, and
2. since, as far as I can tell, there isn't anything wrong with the question (or else I wouldn't have posted it in the first place),

How am I supposed to know what not to do in the future?

With great power comes great responsibility, and those with the power to close questions have the responsibility to explain why, especially when the OP has made a reasonable effort to conform to the site standards.

The specific question asks if using an online backup service such as Jungle Disk for our company servers creates any security liabilities for us and what can be done to avoid them.

I would like someone to please explain how a question related to the security of backing up a server is considered "off topic" for a site about server administration.

In general, there needs to be a degree of predictability in what is and isn't acceptable here. Every time I ask a question, I honestly have no idea whether it will be up-voted, down-voted, closed, or ignored.

The close message is:

Questions on Server Fault are expected to generally relate to servers, networking, or desktop infrastructure, within the scope defined in the faq.

I've read the FAQ and I believe this question falls within the defined scope. If it does not, please tell me why, and perhaps the FAQ should be updated accordingly.

As a user of Stack Exchange sites for a while now, I have often been frustrated by the lack or predictability in whether a question will be up-voted, down-voted or closed.

In general, I do not ask questions that I believe to be off-topic. I always try to search for answers first and attempt to solve the problem on my own. But I am not an expert in everything and am not ashamed to admit I often seek the advice of others in areas where I am not knowledgeable.

This past week I've asked two questions on Server Fault. Both were good questions that I could not find a good answer too, and both were, as far as I can tell, a good fit for this site. One question got 6 up votes, the other got 3 down votes and closed. If the later question was inappropriate, that's fine.

But the problem is:

1. Since not a single person who down-voted or voted to close bothered to explain why, and
2. since, as far as I can tell, there isn't anything wrong with the question (or else I wouldn't have posted it in the first place),

How am I supposed to know what not to do in the future?

With great power comes great responsibility, and those with the power to close questions have the responsibility to explain why, especially when the OP has made a reasonable effort to conform to the site standards.

The specific question asks if using an online backup service such as Jungle Disk for our company servers creates any security liabilities for us and what can be done to avoid them.

I would like someone to please explain how a question related to the security of backing up a server is considered "off topic" for a site about server administration.

In general, there needs to be a degree of predictability in what is and isn't acceptable here. Every time I ask a question, I honestly have no idea whether it will be up-voted, down-voted, closed, or ignored.

The close message is:

Questions on Server Fault are expected to generally relate to servers, networking, or desktop infrastructure, within the scope defined in the faq.

I've read the FAQ and I believe this question falls within the defined scope. If it does not, please tell me why, and perhaps the FAQ should be updated accordingly.