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Let’s say the person asking the question provided all of that information and we were able to provide the perfect, ideal shopping recommendation to them. Even if that was the case, technology moves so rapidly that the best shopping recommendations can quickly become obsolete, even in the sysadmin world. Plus, the recommendation is often based on the information the OP gave at the time. If someone else asked a question that was 90% the same but the budget differed by $10k, the answers would differ drastically between the two questions. What’s the point of a bunch of labor intensive questions that provide only temporary benefit to a limited (some might say Too Localized) audience? There isn’t any. That’s what we concluded, and we explicitly disallowed shopping questions in the ServerFault Help.

Let’s say the person asking the question provided all of that information and we were able to provide the perfect, ideal shopping recommendation to them. Even if that was the case, technology moves so rapidly that the best shopping recommendations can quickly become obsolete, even in the sysadmin world. Plus, the recommendation is often based on the information the OP gave at the time. If someone else asked a question that was 90% the same but the budget differed by $10k, the answers would differ drastically between the two questions. What’s the point of a bunch of labor intensive questions that provide only temporary benefit to a limited (some might say Too Localized) audience? There isn’t any. That’s what we concluded, and we explicitly disallowed shopping questions in the ServerFault Help.

Below is my recommendation for a new Shopping URL link in the close reason specific for ServerFault. Take and wordsmith it, add cool fonts, markup, etc. if you want.

HOW SERVERFAULT DEALS WITH SHOPPING QUESTIONS

Should I deploy Windows Server or RHEL?
What’s the best hardware firewall on the market?
Which monitoring solution should I deploy?
What cabling should I go with?
Which hosting provider is the cheapest for my VMs?

HOW SERVERFAULT DEALS WITH SHOPPING QUESTIONS

Should I deploy Windows Server or RHEL?
What’s the best hardware firewall on the market?
Which monitoring solution should I deploy?
What cabling should I go with?
Which CLI tool is best for this?
Which hosting provider is the cheapest for my VMs?

These questions may seem tolerable at first glance. Isn’t it our mandate to help our fellow users? But consider the voluminous amount of information you need to even begin properly answering a shopping question:

Q: What firewall do you recommend for a small business?

Q: What should someone responsible for a small network with under 50 employees look for in a firewall?  Are there specific features that are universally appealing?  Are there existing requirements that have to be met on a network before implementing a firewall?

These questions may seem tolerable at first glance. Isn't it our mandate to help our fellow users? Consider the voluminous amount of information you need to even begin properly answering a shopping question:

Q: What firewall do you recommend for a small business?

Q: What should someone responsible for a small network with under 50 employees look for in a firewall? Are there specific features that are universally appealing? Are there existing requirements that have to be met on a network before implementing a firewall?