It seems odd to me that this question (Windows XP procedurally drop packets) is currently flagged for issues on being "professional."

When did this site become so judgmental and only accept questions that it wants to answer?

For all we know the OP in this question is asking a professional question here. There could be many reasons that he is constrained to a specific (legacy) OS, and perhaps he is unable to elaborate on what those constraints are. Some people do have Non-Disclosure Agreements or other corporate policies that limit what they are allowed to say "outside the walls."

Flagging this question for professionalism seems completely inappropriate to me.

EDIT:

I wanted to clarify my perspective on this subject.

I think that when we close a question for not being professional when there are possible unknown extenuating circumstances, I feel that it defeats the purpose of the site.

For example, we say this question is not professional because the OP is using the wrong tool for the job.

The OP has a problem, and is asking for help. We (the community) have a few choices. We can say "this is not professional," or we could answer the OP's question, or we could guide the OP a little.

Perhaps a comment stating:

"It really is not a good idea to do this this way. Normally, you would want to configure this on your router. If you need help on how to do that, update your question and someone can answer it accordingly. If there are extenuating circumstances, call them out so people understand and can help you accordingly"

Or, we can choose to answer the OP's question, similarly to how Jim G did. While some people in the community might view this as a help vampire, those people are not obligated to help. There may be people who decide to take their time to help the OP.

If, however, we label the question as not being professional, I think that we leave an OP confused. They now need to ask themselves a lot of questions. At a minimum they would likely ask themselves "What about my question was unprofessional? How do I reword it to get an answer to my problem without sounding unprofessional?" And sometimes, trying to answer these questions yourself can be very difficult.

I think that part of being a professional is to be helpful.

If for example, someone at your office came to your desk and asked you how to solve this question, would you send them away telling them "Your question is not professional, come back when it is" or would you take a minute to give them that simple comment example I wrote above? I would hope that as a professional, you wouldn't simply turn people away like this at your place of business.

It seems odd to me that this question (Windows XP procedurally drop packets) is currently flagged for issues on being "professional."

When did this site become so judgmental and only accept questions that it wants to answer?

For all we know the OP in this question is asking a professional question here. There could be many reasons that he is constrained to a specific (legacy) OS, and perhaps he is unable to elaborate on what those constraints are. Some people do have Non-Disclosure Agreements or other corporate policies that limit what they are allowed to say "outside the walls."

Flagging this question for professionalism seems completely inappropriate to me.

EDIT:

I wanted to clarify my perspective on this subject.

I think that when we close a question for not being professional when there are possible unknown extenuating circumstances, I feel that it defeats the purpose of the site.

For example, we say this question is not professional because the OP is using the wrong tool for the job.

The OP has a problem, and is asking for help. We (the community) have a few choices. We can say "this is not professional," or we could answer the OP's question, or we could guide the OP a little.

Perhaps a comment stating:

"It really is not a good idea to do this this way. Normally, you would want to configure this on your router. If you need help on how to do that, update your question and someone can answer it accordingly. If there are extenuating circumstances, call them out so people understand and can help you accordingly"

Or, we can choose to answer the OP's question, similarly to how Jim G did. While some people in the community might view this as a help vampire, those people are not obligated to help. There may be people who decide to take their time to help the OP.

If, however, we label the question as not being professional, I think that we leave an OP confused. They now need to ask themselves a lot of questions. At a minimum they would likely ask themselves "What about my question was unprofessional? How do I reword it to get an answer to my problem without sounding unprofessional?" And sometimes, trying to answer these questions yourself can be very difficult.

I think that part of being a professional is to be helpful.

If for example, someone at your office came to your desk and asked you how to solve this question, would you send them away telling them "Your question is not professional, come back when it is" or would you take a minute to give them that simple comment example I wrote above? I would hope that as a professional, you wouldn't simply turn people away like this at your place of business.

It seems odd to me that this question (Windows XP procedurally drop packets) is currently flagged for issues on being "professional."

When did this site become so judgmental and only accept questions that it wants to answer?

For all we know the OP in this question is asking a professional question here. There could be many reasons that he is constrained to a specific (legacy) OS, and perhaps he is unable to elaborate on what those constraints are. Some people do have Non-Disclosure Agreements or other corporate policies that limit what they are allowed to say "outside the walls."

Flagging this question for professionalism seems completely inappropriate to me.

It seems odd to me that this question (Windows XP procedurally drop packets) is currently flagged for issues on being "professional."

When did this site become so judgmental and only accept questions that it wants to answer?

For all we know the OP in this question is asking a professional question here. There could be many reasons that he is constrained to a specific (legacy) OS, and perhaps he is unable to elaborate on what those constraints are. Some people do have Non-Disclosure Agreements or other corporate policies that limit what they are allowed to say "outside the walls."

Flagging this question for professionalism seems completely inappropriate to me.

EDIT:

I wanted to clarify my perspective on this subject.

I think that when we close a question for not being professional when there are possible unknown extenuating circumstances, I feel that it defeats the purpose of the site.

For example, we say this question is not professional because the OP is using the wrong tool for the job.

The OP has a problem, and is asking for help. We (the community) have a few choices. We can say "this is not professional," or we could answer the OP's question, or we could guide the OP a little.

Perhaps a comment stating:

"It really is not a good idea to do this this way. Normally, you would want to configure this on your router. If you need help on how to do that, update your question and someone can answer it accordingly. If there are extenuating circumstances, call them out so people understand and can help you accordingly"

Or, we can choose to answer the OP's question, similarly to how Jim G did. While some people in the community might view this as a help vampire, those people are not obligated to help. There may be people who decide to take their time to help the OP.

If, however, we label the question as not being professional, I think that we leave an OP confused. They now need to ask themselves a lot of questions. At a minimum they would likely ask themselves "What about my question was unprofessional? How do I reword it to get an answer to my problem without sounding unprofessional?" And sometimes, trying to answer these questions yourself can be very difficult.

I think that part of being a professional is to be helpful.

If for example, someone at your office came to your desk and asked you how to solve this question, would you send them away telling them "Your question is not professional, come back when it is" or would you take a minute to give them that simple comment example I wrote above? I would hope that as a professional, you wouldn't simply turn people away like this at your place of business.