Questions tagged [close-reasons]

This tag is for instructions and guidance on closing or migrating questions, and the reasons for those closures.

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10 votes
4 answers
411 views

Why did a moderator close this 12-year-old Google Search question yesterday as off-topic when it’s not a web app recommendation?

The question, “Is there a way to search in Google using regular expressions (regex)?”, was posted more than 12 years ago. This question has attracted ~149,000 views, received a positive score of 82, ...
galacticninja's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
275 views

Why was our site's 13-year-old, very first question closed by a moderator 4 days ago as "needs details or clarity" without a clear explanation?

Web Applications Stack Exchange's very first question "How do I delete my Facebook account?" was posted more than 13 years ago: I don't trust Facebook's new privacy settings and have ...
galacticninja's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
318 views

Question closed for "needs details or clarity" but it's so simple I don't know what more detail to add

My question How do I download all my videos from Google Photos? was closed with the following reason: This question needs details or clarity. It is not currently accepting answers. Add details and ...
LCIII's user avatar
  • 149
2 votes
4 answers
94 views

Late answers about Web Apps that no longer exist

Interested in feedback regarding my review of a late answer to this 8-year-old question, How I can get Hangouts notifications on my phone even if I have it open in my PC For google chat, if you ...
Blindspots's user avatar
  • 3,380
6 votes
1 answer
202 views

When do moderators plan to clearly state whether showing research is a requirement when posting a question on WebApps.SE?

On Why do the moderators refuse to clearly state whether showing research is a requirement when posting a question on WebApps.SE?, I was told by a moderator to be patient. However I have already ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
108 views

Should questions asking about the existence of a feature on a website that turns out not to exist be systemically closed or left open?

I asked How can I upload a file to a specific folder when adding files to an existing archive in the Wayback Machine via the web interface?. The answer seems to be no, it's not possible. One ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
379 views

Is “needs details or clarity” connected to the help center article on questions that are automatically blocked for not meeting quality standards?

Recently, dozens (!) of old questions have been unilaterally closed in Web Apps SE as “needs details or clarity”, or closed as duplicates of questions also closed as “needs details or clarity”. (Some ...
galacticninja's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
269 views

What part of the question "Can I permanently hide the YouTube chat window?" needs details or clarity?

I noticed this question from November 2018: Can I permanently hide the YouTube chat window? which received a lot of positive feedback (+31 votes, 52k views), was unilaterally closed by a moderator on ...
galacticninja's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
168 views

Do we need a close reason for questions asking about proprietary/non-public information or policies?

We get a fair number of questions that are similar to Email Taken and also not found on Instagram (not picking on any one user in particular, the question just happened to be at my fingertips). I'm ...
jonsca's user avatar
  • 1,722
2 votes
1 answer
157 views

Is my question aboug Google Launcher off-topic?

Is https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/122479/is-possible-to-reach-google-launcher-discover-news-or-saved-pages-on-pc, is it off topic? Let me ask a different question as an example: Question: ...
user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
86 views

Suggestions off-topic?

For this question, How do I download a YouTube video? How is it not closed? Essentially it amounts to, What software can I use to download a YouTube video? Every answer is for a different piece ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
  • 1,402
6 votes
1 answer
45 views

What flag should be used for customer service questions?

I have just seen this question which looks to me immediately off topic because it is a customer service question, which is off-topic according to this. But when I look at the off-topic flag list: I ...
Jake Symons's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
269 views

Why we're not customer support for [your favorite company]

Why can't I ask customer service-related questions here, like: The service is down. Fixed it! When will [some new feature] be released? Can I ask questions about using their app? How is that ...
Rubén's user avatar
  • 44.6k
-1 votes
1 answer
44 views

Old notable question closed as "Off topic" in December 2017

This question I asked in 2012 has more than 282,000 views and it was still getting upvoted till early December: Is there any service that provides accurate driving directions to a location at a ...
squashbuff's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
187 views

Overzealous app recommendation closing/deleting

So, here's a question that was closed for being an app recommendation request, and then later deleted. Since only 10k users can see it, I'll quote it here: Is there a way (an app maybe) to find like-...
ale's user avatar
  • 52.3k
5 votes
3 answers
61 views

Should questions which have a non-reproducible error be closed?

There are a lot of questions where people have encountered an "error" while trying to use certain features of a web-app and it hasn't worked for them. But if the error is not reproducible by potential ...
SleepingGod's user avatar
  • 1,588
7 votes
1 answer
90 views

Please update the "recommendation" custom off-topic reason to include guidance to Software Recs

Among our current custom off-topic Close reasons is one for questions asking for recommendations. It currently reads: Application/website recommendations are off-topic and out of scope. It is better ...
ale's user avatar
  • 52.3k
6 votes
1 answer
113 views

Please reinstate the default off-topic reason: not about Web Applications

Some questions are blatantly off-topic, to the point that no explanation is needed beyond stating this fact. I'm not using a real example, but the situation is not hypothetical. One of my front ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
47 views

Is this question really opinion based?

For my question, I noticed that it was getting no attention when I realised that it had been closed because of being primarily opinion based. This does not appear correct to me (or Rainbolt, the PPCG ...
Beta Decay's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
45 views

Let's expand the "dead app" close reason

One of the custom off-topic close reasons here is Questions on applications that no longer exist are off-topic for Web Applications as no one will ever be able to make use of the answers again. ...
ale's user avatar
  • 52.3k
3 votes
1 answer
99 views

Should off topic specifically include multiple questions in a single post?

I would expect this to have been mentioned already but I have not seen where. This question seems to be in many parts and, though there is a theme to these for the OP, the topics seem reasonably ...
pnuts's user avatar
  • 17.4k
5 votes
0 answers
56 views

New custom close reason here on meta

I've proposed the following new custom close reason for here on Meta.Webapps: The problem described here can no longer be reproduced. Changes to the system or to the circumstances affecting the ...
ChrisF's user avatar
  • 8,959
10 votes
4 answers
228 views

Make all recommendation questions out of scope and off topic, regardless of research

Maybe it's time to be final and state that any and all recommendation questions are just off topic and out of scope with the site. The current close reason listed reads: Questions seeking ...
Eight Days of Malaise's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
104 views

Closing all questions regarding Google Reader

Given that Google Reader has been shutdown, I’d say that all questions regarding it should be closed. What say you? (This should also apply to any and all “dead” web apps, since there can’t be any ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 22.6k
9 votes
1 answer
63 views

Re-phrase "web development" close reason

The current custom close reason for application development question reads: Questions about web application development are off-topic here, but can be asked on Stack Overflow. We're doing our ...
ale's user avatar
  • 52.3k
7 votes
1 answer
123 views

New close reasons: unclear, too broad, opinion-based, and custom sub-reasons off-topic

There will be changes in close reasons in the next few days: “not constructive” and “not a real question” are replaced by “unclear what you're asking” “too broad” “primarily opinion-based” “off-...
ChrisF's user avatar
  • 8,959
5 votes
3 answers
121 views

Are questions regarding website policies on-topic?

I voted to close this question as it seemed to me to be too localised as site policies change over time. However, the owner disagrees, as when policies change the answers can just be edited. Thoughts?...
Gelatin's user avatar
  • 5,128