24
I too have noticed an increase in low quality questions as the ranks of our site's users rapidly swell.
There has been Meta SE discussion on LMGTFY, and I don't think using that site is a good strategy.
I think a simpler deterrent to posting of unresearched questions is downvoting (as that button tip encourages - see below), preferably but not ...
18
A code snippet that is included in a question here should not be just a copy/paste from a larger script that you are working on, and it should not be that larger script in its entirety. It should be something concise that a potential answerer can copy/paste and be ready (or at least near ready) to run a test on.
Here are some suggestions about what a code ...
17
The upvote guidance on questions is:
This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear
It does not suggest that an upvote should, in any way, be related to whether the question receives any answers i.e. it is purely about how the question presents itself.
I am one of the most frequent upvoters on this site, and I am about 1.25 times as likely ...
16
I believe most users do not care about statements of urgency. We are all volunteers here, hence, we are free to follow our own schedule.
If the question is very new it is ok to remove the urgency statement. However, if it is an old thread, I'd say that the edit should be more substantial.
Time sensitive questions is a Meta SE Q&A which supports your ...
13
I added my re-open vote to the others that were already on your question so it is now ready for you to self-answer.
I agreed with its original closure as too broad, but I am almost always happy to re-open a question when someone says that they have an answer ready.
10
An item of highly recommended viewing that may help to answer this Question is a one hour Google+ Hangout video for Agile India entitled Good Stack Overflow Citizen by Jeff Atwood where he talks mostly about what makes a great Question.
A quick list by Agile India of Jeff's points, which go beyond just what makes a great Question, and apply to Stack ...
10
Is flagging the question with "in need of moderator intervention" the right course of action in theses cases?
Before flagging please consider other community options available to you. Use the Down-vote, Comment, and/or Vote to close options to raise the problem to the attention of the community, that way if the community agrees then further votes will ...
9
The best way to obtain quick and comprehensive answers here is by making your question as clear and easy to understand as you can. You have an edit button beneath it which you can use to keep improving your question as potential answerers ask you for clarifications via comments. Be aware that comments do not form part of your question so if you say ...
9
Jon Skeet has posted an excellent checklist on the main meta site, which is worth reading. Let me quote the relevant points from the checklist here:
Have you done some research before asking the question?
Have you explained what you've already tried to solve your problem?
Have you specified which language and platform you're using, including version number ...
9
It depends. A question does not necessarily have to be about one specific software to be considered not broad, as long as it is specific enough in details to avoid five users casting a close vote as 'too broad' (or even 'unclear'). So that is, questions about software can also be closed as 'too broad', or 'unclear'.
Asking about means of accomplishing a ...
9
This is part of the Stack Exchange mechanism for posting
"Drafts are stored in redis for 7 days, with each site having storage
for one draft question and one draft answer per user."
for a clearer answer
Allow questions to be saved as drafts prior to posting
8
In my case, upvoting a question is also because of how the system is presenting the upvote. If you look at the question upvote, it says :
the question 1) shows research effort, 2) it is clear and 3) it is
useful
now if you look at answers, it says :
the answer is useful
So there are 3 conditions to upvote a question, and only one to upvote an ...
8
The Tour is now updated
https://gis.stackexchange.com/tour
Thanks for the feedback and improving the GIS-SE site content
8
What I would do is the following (consider the context of an edit war between OP and another user):
Edit Q in good faith trying to improve the post, like you did.
If OP rolls it back (and it bothers you), try leaving a comment explaining why you think the edit is valid (it may happen OP rolled it back because he/she did not agree with something about the ...
7
A couple of points:
Some people really aren't that great at googling. They don't think of the right synonym, or aren't specific enough, or just can't even think of what it is they need to know specifically. In those cases, it might be reasonable to just answer, "googling your search terms gave this link: ...".
Even if the answer is readily answerable by ...
7
If we don't flag them then the next person who asks a software question points to it as precedent. I closed a similar java question yesterday - just because your file is a shapefile doesn't make it geographic.
7
I suspect that the reviewer (not me) on this one must have hit the wrong button because to me it looks like your flag falls well within what Robert Harvey says in his answer to Not An Answer Flag Declined - Don't See Why:
For "Not an Answer" flags, we're looking for questions posted as
answers, comments posted as answers, "thanks," things like that.
...
7
I think that what you have done is exactly what is best for the site, and for future visitors to either of those questions.
Imagine a future visitor coming to look for the answer to just one of those questions. They can now find the question more easily because each is titled differently, and once found they have the answer "instant-like" without having to ...
7
Succinct questions are encouraged at Stack Exchange. I appreciate how you point out that Stack Exchange can be seen as a repository for questions for the benefit of future users. With this said, all questions are expected to follow site guidelines. Our help center has a page on that topic:
How do I ask a good question?
We’d love to help you. To ...
6
I am not able to say whether this "subject [is] considered as a proper topic or it is borderline or totally discouraged" because it will depend on the Questions asked.
Furthermore, your Meta Question does not include any examples that I can use to form and provide an opinion on.
I recommend that you post a Question or two over on Main and the community ...
6
Please do not re-ask the question: that goes against one of the principal aims of the site, which is to have a well-organized canonical set of answers. Re-asking creates a duplicate. Duplication more than doubles the efforts of those who search the site for answers (including your moderators and many active community members who conduct these searches as a ...
6
I am not sure where you took your screenshot from but to see the Newest questions on our Main site I use https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions?sort=newest:
Finding questions with the newest answers is harder, but for that I use https://gis.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=is%3aanswer:
Getting the latter is harder than what I would like so I made ...
6
One technique I use (frequently) is to copy the entire contents of a draft and paste it into a local text document.
If you want more capabilities than that, you can preview, save, and manage your drafts on the StackEdit site at https://stackedit.io/app# .
5
For most questions on GIS.SE I would say that naming the software is important/critical but the version is not.
In almost any case where a question is 'how do I...', the answer will vary (depending on how explicit you are) with software being used. SE strives for specific questions and answers. Any question that doesn't name software can only elicit general ...
5
I agree that when a question involves software, it is critical that the version numbers of said software are included. As with any technical support procedure, this is among the first and most important pieces of information needed to accurately answer such questions, which is why I suggested including it in my response the aforementioned 'How to frame...' ...
5
Flagged questions are automatically brought to the community's attention: little icons in the top strip (usually to the left of the "review" link) will light up and link to lists of flagged posts.
The system already has a mechanism to identify questions on hold, although it might not be too well known: use the advanced search option closed:yes and sort by ...
5
Option (#) 1 is out of the table, because it would be an "attempt to reply" (custom reason for rejecting edit-suggestions from <2k users) and could also be considered a "conflict with the author's intention" (another custom reason).
This leaves #2 and #3. A nuance from the way the question is written, I'd suggest you going with number #2, but #3 is also ...
4
I think you did the right thing by creating another post. Just so you know, we support asking and answering your own questions. Especially if it isn't relevant for the first post.
4
Self-answering is quite acceptable here, and encouraged. There is even an option to Answer your own question while posting a Question
An answer should not be given in the body of the question, rather it should be formatted as a question and then the solution given in an answer.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible