Occasionally I'm confused why a question gets closed. I was just browsing around and came across this one.
I'm just curios what qualified this one as "Off Topic" ?
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Had it not been closed as off-topic it could just as easily have been closed as subjective.– John GardeniersCommented Feb 14, 2011 at 20:38
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Subjective I wouldn't have questioned, shopping questions should be closed.– ErnieTheGeekCommented Feb 14, 2011 at 20:55
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2 Answers
I didn't vote on that, but I would have voted it as off-topic. It would not have been because of the home-office point. If you look back at some of my other posts on meta, I tend to one of the few that argues for keeping small business and small office questions here.
I would have voted to close because it is asking for a shopping recommendation.
Shopping recommendations are a very poor fit for this site. The are almost always extremely specific to a single person. These questions usually have no lasting value to the community or the site. A question a person asks to today about the best cheap server today, will be worthless in a couple weeks.
http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/
I will not vote to close a question if you can ignore the 'home office' and the question seems like a good fit for the site. I don't care to much about the actual environment, if it is good on-topic question aside from mentioning a small office. If the question is badly asked, or lacks details then I will vote to close.
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@Zor - I'm all for small office, but home office is a different story, IMO.– MDMarraCommented Feb 14, 2011 at 20:15
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2@MarkM, if the question is really good or bad, aside from that distinction, does it matter? If you can edit out the '(home|small) office' from the question and the question is on-topic, I like to leave it. Although I admin good questions that are on-topic and mention a home-office setting are pretty rare. Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 20:20
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@Zor - Thanks, thats pretty much what I was looking for. I totally agree with you and MarkM on the shopping angle, I was just curious if it was the home/office angle. Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 20:32
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1@Ernie - you have to remember its a matter of opinion. Some people will vote to close when others will not. It's just a matter of where the 'trigger' point is for someone.– Rob MoirCommented Feb 14, 2011 at 20:57
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@Zor - That's true, I guess the feeling I get is that there aren't a ton of relevant question from a home user, since they don't face many of the same problems that an administrator at a real business would. I suppose that I probably wouldn't vote to close a relevant question about a home server that's well worded and useful. The problem is that those questions seem to be few and far between.– MDMarraCommented Feb 14, 2011 at 21:23
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@Robert - I get that, I'm just curious if more questions like this could get edited and possibly turned into real questions as opposed to just getting them closed. Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 21:24
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2I never come on meta to be honest but I closed this purely because it was shopping and someone else thought so too.– Chopper3 ModCommented Feb 15, 2011 at 18:52
Question:
It's going to be in my home / office
FAQ:
and it is not about …
* Networking outside the professional workplace
* Running servers at home for personal use
* General personal computer troubleshooting
Not to mention that shopping questions generally get closed as well, since it's highly subjective.
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If he had said home office, would it have still qualified as off topic? Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 19:35
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@Ernie - I still would have voted to close it. Unless you run an entire corporation out of your home office and have an IT staff. :)– MDMarraCommented Feb 14, 2011 at 19:37