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There was 5 or 6 days left on the bounty for a question of mine, and when I logged back in I noticed I had be awarded the reputation back. In the question, it no longer says a bounty is available. Under my user page it says the bounty was awarded to me, even though according to the documentation this is never supposed to happen.

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I had told the only person who provided a partial answer to my question, rather than question me as to my intentions as everyone else did, that I would award him the bounty if no one else could provide a more complete answer to my question (https://serverfault.com/questions/591560/raid-check-parity-on-read-verify-on-write).

I can only assume a vindictive moderator did this. And if this is the case it seems rather unprofessional to remove bounties for no reason other than they dont like what someone wants to do with their storage.

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    I have purged entirely too many abusive comments from this post. Comments are now locked for 24 hours. If I have to purge more comments when the lock expires suspensions will be issued, so I suggest EVERYONE keep it civil.
    – voretaq7 Mod
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 23:03

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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The question is a shopping question because it asks, and I quote:

Does anyone know of any RAID cards which can be configured to check the parity of a redundant array every time data is read, and verify all writes with a read to ensure that the data on a single disk didnt become corrupt?

As well as:

I am specifically looking for a controller which can verify on write and check pairty on read.

There is a history of not allowing subjective shopping questions on StackExchange (a rule more faithfully followed on some StackExchange sites than others). Yes, there can be a method of asking a shopping-style question that is acceptable. To quote that blog post:

However, there is a way to ask these questions that avoids the inherent problems with shopping recommendations. For example, let’s say you wanted — as I did — to buy a point-and-shoot camera that takes good low light photos. [...]

Q: What’s the best low light point-and-shoot camera?

[...]

Q: How do I tell which point-and-shoot cameras take good low light photos?

[...]

The former question provides the path of least resistance: a laundry list of products I can buy without thinking about it too much. But that answer will only be valid for a year at best. The latter question may take some thinking, but its answer will be valid forever … or at least until camera technology somehow shifts beyond lenses and sensors as we know them today.

However, the proper way to ask a shopping question is to not ask it like an explicit shopping question, but rather as a question seeking to understand how you determine what you need.

Your question is not seeking to answer something along the lines of "How can I determine the necessary features in a storage card when my goals are thus-and-such?" Your question was explicitly seeking specific RAID cards, not methods to discover the proper technology to solve your problems.

EDIT:

The blog post says the former is unacceptable because it "provides the path of least resistance: a laundry list of products I can buy without thinking about it too much". The features I listed are very obscure and were could not qualify has having a laundry list of answers. The very fact that no one was able of offering single RAID controller which had those features further proves my point.

No matter how exacting and obscure the list of requirements is and even if there is only one single possible product that could fit the bill in the entire world, it's still shopping and off topic. A laundry list is still a laundry list even if only one shirt got starched.

If the most natural answer to a question is "Oh yeah, you need Wingding 4000 in 3D!" it's a bad question and off topic. If the most natural answer is "Here's how you evaluate this technology to narrow your eventual list down" then it's on topic.

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  • The blog post says the former is unacceptable because it "provides the path of least resistance: a laundry list of products I can buy without thinking about it too much". The features I listed are very obscure and were could not qualify has having a laundry list of answers. The very fact that no one was able of offering single RAID controller which had those features further proves my point.
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:25
  • @mattburnett Irrelevant. I amended my answer.
    – Wesley
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:36
  • @mattburnett if we allow you admittedly pretty unanswerable shopping question someone will use it as a reason to allow their shopping question - Broken Windows
    – user9517
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:40
  • @Iain, it was not unanswerable, in fact one person provided a answer to half of my question. My bounty was not removed until I had said that I would award it to him. Presumably as a vindictive act.
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:45
  • @Wesley, to address your edit the blog post explicitly states that shopping lists are acceptable in certain circumstances. It says they are not acceptable when they could provide a laundry list, but are when I "ask us what you need to learn to tell what you should buy." Since these features are generally not advertised such as Seagate's Verify On Write setting, asking which few vendors do support them does certainly qualify as being acceptable according to the blog entry.
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:50
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    @mattburnett Nope. You're still not getting it. Your question can only be answered with a product recommendation. It doesn't matter how obscure something is, if the features are not advertised, or if only a smattering of vendors offer it. "asking which few vendors do support them does certainly qualify as being acceptable according to the blog entry" No, no it doesn't, and the blog post clearly explains that.
    – Wesley
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:52
  • You clearly did not read the blog article. It says they are not recommended when they can provide a "laundry list" of results or when they are only valid for a very specific point in time. Considering that Seagate disks have supported this feature for a very long time would not qualify as either a laundry list or a very specific point in time. Please explain specifically how it the blog post says it is not allowed.
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:58
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    As I am known not be a fan of your question, I hesitate to get involved in this discussion. But I think it fair to say that I'm pretty sure that Wesley has indeed read that blog article, and I'll bet more than once. The way SF is set up, you have a perfect right to make the argument you are doing (and I'm pleased to see you doing so, because it helps clarify whether things done with privilege were also done with broader community support) - but please try to avoid ad hominem attacks while doing so.
    – MadHatter
    Commented May 4, 2014 at 6:05
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Your question was flagged as bounty abuse by at least two non-moderator users, after your edit made it clear the question was explicitly off-topic.

Now that it is not bountied, it can be closed as the off topic question it is.

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  • How is asking about features of storage sub-systems off topic or abusive?
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:06
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    It's off topic for two reasons, in my opinion. First, as @Iain commented, it's shopping. Second, the only true answer in the context of professional systems administration is that you shouldn't do what you're trying to do. There may be a more accurate answer without that context, but that's the context for serverfault.
    – Basil
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:14
  • @Basil The blog about shopping post says the former question is unacceptable because it "provides the path of least resistance: a laundry list of products I can buy without thinking about it too much". The features I listed a very obscure and were incapable of providing a laundry list. The very fact that no one was able of offering single RAID controller which did further proves my point.
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:25
  • You could ask a question on meta reopening the debate- either get the policy changed or at least better explained...
    – Basil
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:34
  • The policy was explained in the blog post. It says they aren't allowed because it could cause a "laundry list" of answer. As it was proven by myself and other commentators in the question, this was a very obscure feature that few if any vendors would support, and as such was inherently incapable of qualifying as being off topic for that reason.
    – Matt
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 22:44

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