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My question here has been marked a dupe of this one. I don't think that it is a dupe because the latter is really focussing on a replacement for Exchange that allows things like calendaring, resource booking, and Outlook compatibility (which is probably why Citadel was not mentioned in its answers) - I don't have all those requirements and so mine is a different question which could attract a wider range of suggestions.

EDIT: I reworked the question based on this post to remove the product recommendation aspect. Can it now be reopened?

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  • It still reads like a shopping question to me even after your edit: How can I tell what would make a good choice for a solution that will fit the following criteria? {list of requirements} still reads a lot like asking for product suggestions.
    – Rob Moir
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:22

2 Answers 2

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I closed it as a dupe because your question as written was going to get OT-closed within 30 minutes of posting. The reason for the close would be for two reasons:

  1. It smelled a lot like a product-recommendation question, which is specifically off-topic in the FAQ.
  2. It asked for experiences working with the various products, which is significantly subjective.

This is not a question that could result in a single One True Answer, it would be a technical resource for people to consider when having the same problem; which is different from Problem/Resolution like we have here.

Because the question actually was well asked, I decided to close it as a dupe of that other closely related question instead of letting it fall victim to an OT/Not-Constructive close.

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  • Why is my one a product-recommendation question and subjective, whereas the one it was "a dupe of" was not?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:26
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    @Jez Thanks for the catch, I'd missed that fact.
    – sysadmin1138 Mod
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:28
  • Are you serious or being sarcastic?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:29
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    @Jez You'll notice the question you were referring to is now "Historically Locked" -- This question exists because it has historical significance, but it is not considered a good, on-topic question for this site, so please do not use it as evidence that you can ask similar questions here. This question and its answers are frozen and cannot be changed. More info: FAQ. - If after researching your options you have "How can I do X with software Y" type questions we can answer those to help you narrow down a final choice, but the initial recommendation is something we're not equipped for.
    – voretaq7 Mod
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:37
  • That question was at +71, and had at least 10 decent quality answers. Frankly, I think there's a good case to be made that such questions should be allowed on this site. How can I go about requesting that this rule be changed?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:39
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    @jez Write a good question on Meta with a very good justification for changing back.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:50
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    @jez, just because a question is popular does not mean it's on topic. there was a lot of crap posted in the past that will not be accepted now. There have been a number of discussions relating to why these questions should not be allowed. Before arguing the case please take some time to go through previous meta posts, which will give you a much better idea of why we do what we do.
    – John Gardeniers
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:55
  • Shouldn't people who posted that "crap" have their karma for asking it revoked?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 22:58
  • @sysadmin1138 As for the "significantly subjective", surely most answers on this site are highly subjective? As a random example, how about this? Surely one person may think one approach would be "middle ground between being secure and complicated to set-up", and someone else would think another approach would. Why is that acceptable and not asking about pros and cons of products that people have directly worked with? Don't you think you're taking the "subjective" thing a bit too far?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:05
  • @sysadmin1138 I reworked the question based on this post to remove the product recommendation aspect. Can it now be reopened?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:16
  • @Jez The question you linked to is somewhat old; the topicality of Server Fault has changed quite a bit since its inception. That question is borderline now. As long as answers accomplish the technical task at hand and can be supported by configuration, documentation, etc they're generally not considered "subjective". I do recognize the humor/Hippocratic in the fact that this is a subjective definition of subjective content.
    – Chris S Mod
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:17
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Personally, whenever I see questions that start like this:

Recommendations for good

I'm pretty quick to go mark the question as "Not Constructive" because your subject, regardless of question content, is sure to invite a swarm of potential responses, many of which are simply suggestions that may or may not fully meet your business requirements.

In these situations it's really up to the system administrator to gather feature lists, pros/cons, pricing, etc. and perform a competitive analysis and feasibility study to see what product is going to serve your organization over the long term. The only person that knows your business is you.

We can make suggestions all day (see: Comms Room chat) but we will never be able to take all of your requirements into account before making a recommendation.

For this reason, we tend to close these types of questions.

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  • I noticed you updated your question, however it still reads as a product recommendation question. You are going to have to evaluate each product you are considering.
    – Brent Pabst
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:20
  • How? I'm not specifically asking for recommendations, I'm following Jeff's guidelines in asking how to evaluate stuff.
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:21
  • Because you are providing a set of criteria and then asking the community to help you pick a product that will help you, that's the definition of requesting a recommendation.
    – Brent Pabst
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:24
  • Where am I asking them to pick a product that will help me?
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:27
  • This and the following list: How can I tell what would make a good choice for a solution that will fit the following criteria?
    – Brent Pabst
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:28
  • That's not asking for a product recommendation, it's asking for help with evaluation.
    – Jez
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:31
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    @Jez That's a recommendation request, sorry.
    – Brent Pabst
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 23:31

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