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Removing the requirement to be a professional means telling these users “your question isn’t appropriate as it stands, improve it by...” instead of telling them “you don’t belong here because you aren’t what I consider to be a professional sysadmin.

But as I understand it, the requirement has never been to be a professional; the requirement has always been to be professional. There's a really big difference between those two.

We've all seen questions about home systems that were nonetheless very good questions, and usually someone friendly edits out the home bit before it can attract too many drive-by VTCs, and that's a good thing. We've also all seen questions by some poor sod on whom the devops hat had just landed at work, which boiled down to "help, how do I do this incredibly basic task". The former isn't by a professional, and the latter is; nevertheless, the former question is a professional one, and the latter isn't.

But that incredibly basic task is definitely "about managing information technology systems", so by your new definition, it's on-topic.

I strenuously object to this change. I have no interest whatsoever in helping yet another person who's done no research on their own outside the site, who can't be bothered even to search SF thoroughly before posting, and who when given copious pointers to the issue nevertheless wants to be spoon-fed a step-by-step guide tailored to them. Since the site itself refers to them as help vampires, I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to help them.

At the moment, the non-professional close reason is the only one left that definitely rules out questions like that. I think after the mod elections we're all well aware that the SE powers-that-be want to effect a sea change in what SF is for, and how it accomplishes it, but I have no interest in being part of that change.

I want to help fellow sysadmins. That's why I'm here. I don't care whether they're getting paid to do the task that's currently causing them problems. I do care whether they approach that task with a professional mindset and skillset. If you take away my sole remaining tool for weeding out the myriad questions that don't meet that criterion, I will no longer be able to do that.

This said, if there were to be general agreement about the nature of the professionalism we're looking for, I'd be open to an improvement in the language we use, to clarify (rather than remove) that distinction.

Removing the requirement to be a professional means telling these users “your question isn’t appropriate as it stands, improve it by...” instead of telling them “you don’t belong here because you aren’t what I consider to be a professional sysadmin.

But as I understand it, the requirement has never been to be a professional; the requirement has always been to be professional. There's a really big difference between those two.

We've all seen questions about home systems that were nonetheless very good questions, and usually someone friendly edits out the home bit before it can attract too many drive-by VTCs, and that's a good thing. We've also all seen questions by some poor sod on whom the devops hat had just landed at work, which boiled down to "help, how do I do this incredibly basic task". The former isn't by a professional, and the latter is; nevertheless, the former question is a professional one, and the latter isn't.

But that incredibly basic task is definitely "about managing information technology systems", so by your new definition, it's on-topic.

I strenuously object to this change. I have no interest whatsoever in helping yet another person who's done no research on their own outside the site, who can't be bothered even to search SF thoroughly before posting, and who when given copious pointers to the issue nevertheless wants to be spoon-fed a step-by-step guide tailored to them. Since the site itself refers to them as help vampires, I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to help them.

At the moment, the non-professional close reason is the only one left that definitely rules out questions like that. I think after the mod elections we're all well aware that the SE powers-that-be want to effect a sea change in what SF is for, and how it accomplishes it, but I have no interest in being part of that change.

I want to help fellow sysadmins. That's why I'm here. I don't care whether they're getting paid to do the task that's currently causing them problems. I do care whether they approach that task with a professional mindset and skillset. If you take away my sole remaining tool for weeding out the myriad questions that don't meet that criterion, I will no longer be able to do that.

This said, if there were to be general agreement about the nature of the professionalism we're looking for, I'd be open to an improvement in the language we use, to clarify (rather than remove) that distinction.

Removing the requirement to be a professional means telling these users “your question isn’t appropriate as it stands, improve it by...” instead of telling them “you don’t belong here because you aren’t what I consider to be a professional sysadmin.

But as I understand it, the requirement has never been to be a professional; the requirement has always been to be professional. There's a really big difference between those two.

We've all seen questions about home systems that were nonetheless very good questions, and usually someone friendly edits out the home bit before it can attract too many drive-by VTCs, and that's a good thing. We've also all seen questions by some poor sod on whom the devops hat had just landed at work, which boiled down to "help, how do I do this incredibly basic task". The former isn't by a professional, and the latter is; nevertheless, the former question is a professional one, and the latter isn't.

But that incredibly basic task is definitely "about managing information technology systems", so by your new definition, it's on-topic.

I strenuously object to this change. I have no interest whatsoever in helping yet another person who's done no research on their own outside the site, who can't be bothered even to search SF thoroughly before posting, and who when given copious pointers to the issue nevertheless wants to be spoon-fed a step-by-step guide tailored to them. Since the site itself refers to them as help vampires, I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to help them.

At the moment, the non-professional close reason is the only one left that definitely rules out questions like that. I think after the mod elections we're all well aware that the SE powers-that-be want to effect a sea change in what SF is for, and how it accomplishes it, but I have no interest in being part of that change.

I want to help fellow sysadmins. That's why I'm here. I don't care whether they're getting paid to do the task that's currently causing them problems. I do care whether they approach that task with a professional mindset and skillset. If you take away my sole remaining tool for weeding out the myriad questions that don't meet that criterion, I will no longer be able to do that.

This said, if there were to be general agreement about the nature of the professionalism we're looking for, I'd be open to an improvement in the language we use, to clarify (rather than remove) that distinction.

Removing the requirement to be a professional means telling these users “your question isn’t appropriate as it stands, improve it by...” instead of telling them “you don’t belong here because you aren’t what I consider to be a professional sysadmin.

But as I understand it, the requirement has never been to be a professional; the requirement has always been to be professional. There's a really big difference between those two.

We've all seen questions about home systems that were nonetheless very good questions, and usually someone friendly edits out the home bit before it can attract too many drive-by VTCs, and that's a good thing. We've also all seen questions by some poor sod on whom the devops hat had just landed at work, which boiled down to "help, how do I do this incredibly basic task". The former isn't by a professional, and the latter is; nevertheless, the former question is a professional one, and the latter isn't.

But that incredibly basic task is definitely "about managing information technology systems", so by your new definition, it's on-topic.

I strenuously object to this change. I have no interest whatsoever in helping yet another person who's done no research on their own outside the site, who can't be bothered even to search SF thoroughly before posting, and who when given copious pointers to the issue nevertheless wants to be spoon-fed a step-by-step guide tailored to them. Since the site itself refers to them as help vampires, I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to help them.

At the moment, the non-professional close reason is the only one left that definitely rules out questions like that. I think after the mod elections we're all well aware that the SE powers-that-be want to effect a sea change in what SF is for, and how it accomplishes it, but I have no interest in being part of that change.

I want to help fellow sysadmins. That's why I'm here. I don't care whether they're getting paid to do the task that's currently causing them problems. I do care whether they approach that task with a professional mindset and skillset. If you take away my sole remaining tool for weeding out the myriad questions that don't meet that criterion, I will no longer be able to do that.

This said, if there were to be general agreement about the nature of the professionalism we're looking for, I'd be open to an improvement in the language we use, to clarify (rather than remove) that distinction.

Removing the requirement to be a professional means telling these users “your question isn’t appropriate as it stands, improve it by...” instead of telling them “you don’t belong here because you aren’t what I consider to be a professional sysadmin.

But as I understand it, the requirement has never been to be a professional; the requirement has always been to be professional. There's a really big difference between those two.

We've all seen questions about home systems that were nonetheless very good questions, and usually someone friendly edits out the home bit before it can attract too many drive-by VTCs, and that's a good thing. We've also all seen questions by some poor sod on whom the devops hat had just landed at work, which boiled down to "help, how do I do this incredibly basic task". The former isn't by a professional, and the latter is; nevertheless, the former question is a professional one, and the latter isn't.

But that incredibly basic task is definitely "about managing information technology systems", so by your new definition, it's on-topic.

I strenuously object to this change. I have no interest whatsoever in helping yet another person who's done no research on their own outside the site, who can't be bothered even to search SF thoroughly before posting, and who when given copious pointers to the issue nevertheless wants to be spoon-fed a step-by-step guide tailored to them. Since the site itself refers to them as help vampires, I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to help them.

At the moment, the non-professional close reason is the only one left that definitely rules out questions like that. I think after the mod elections we're all well aware that the SE powers-that-be want to effect a sea change in what SF is for, and how it accomplishes it, but I have no interest in being part of that change.

I want to help fellow sysadmins. That's why I'm here. I don't care whether they're getting paid to do the task that's currently causing them problems. I do care whether they approach that task with a professional mindset and skillset. If you take away my sole remaining tool for weeding out the myriad questions that don't meet that criterion, I will no longer be able to do that.

Removing the requirement to be a professional means telling these users “your question isn’t appropriate as it stands, improve it by...” instead of telling them “you don’t belong here because you aren’t what I consider to be a professional sysadmin.

But as I understand it, the requirement has never been to be a professional; the requirement has always been to be professional. There's a really big difference between those two.

We've all seen questions about home systems that were nonetheless very good questions, and usually someone friendly edits out the home bit before it can attract too many drive-by VTCs, and that's a good thing. We've also all seen questions by some poor sod on whom the devops hat had just landed at work, which boiled down to "help, how do I do this incredibly basic task". The former isn't by a professional, and the latter is; nevertheless, the former question is a professional one, and the latter isn't.

But that incredibly basic task is definitely "about managing information technology systems", so by your new definition, it's on-topic.

I strenuously object to this change. I have no interest whatsoever in helping yet another person who's done no research on their own outside the site, who can't be bothered even to search SF thoroughly before posting, and who when given copious pointers to the issue nevertheless wants to be spoon-fed a step-by-step guide tailored to them. Since the site itself refers to them as help vampires, I don't think I'm alone in not wanting to help them.

At the moment, the non-professional close reason is the only one left that definitely rules out questions like that. I think after the mod elections we're all well aware that the SE powers-that-be want to effect a sea change in what SF is for, and how it accomplishes it, but I have no interest in being part of that change.

I want to help fellow sysadmins. That's why I'm here. I don't care whether they're getting paid to do the task that's currently causing them problems. I do care whether they approach that task with a professional mindset and skillset. If you take away my sole remaining tool for weeding out the myriad questions that don't meet that criterion, I will no longer be able to do that.

This said, if there were to be general agreement about the nature of the professionalism we're looking for, I'd be open to an improvement in the language we use, to clarify (rather than remove) that distinction.