Timeline for answer to Rule proposal: Duplicate closure to roll-up questions is no longer allowed by HolyBlackCat
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 29, 2023 at 7:26 | comment | added | HolyBlackCat | @KarlKnechtel Agreed. This is more or less what I wanted to express with the last bullet. | |
| Dec 29, 2023 at 6:43 | comment | added | Karl Knechtel | As too broad, yes. At least as things currently stand. | |
| Dec 29, 2023 at 6:39 | comment | added | HolyBlackCat | @KarlKnechtel So what's the correct response to those? Close as too broad/lacking details? Closing as a dupe of regex reference is probably not good? | |
| Dec 29, 2023 at 6:02 | comment | added | Karl Knechtel | "For example, if a user asks "what does ^ do in regex"" - the problem is, questions like this are rare. The common case is "how do I write a regex to do XYZ" (far too broad, just as it would be for any other programming language; but people don't properly treat embedded DSLs as programming languages in their own right) or else "what's wrong with my regex" (often without even trying to explain the desired spec). | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 9:17 | comment | added | HolyBlackCat | @KarlKnechtel The only downside is that we have to find the specific duplicates ourselves. But I think I agree now, if this is the price of preventing dupehammer abuse, this is ok. | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:57 | comment | added | Karl Knechtel | "We don't want them to come back and ask about *, {}, [], and every other symbol they see next (for us to find duplicates for them); we want them to go read the manual, be it our manual-like dupe target or something else." - They might do it anyway, even though they were already shown the guide; and if they are downvoted and pointed at specific canonicals each time, then that is quick, clear action that complies with policy in every imaginable way and also gets a problematic user swiftly Q-banned. I see no downsides. | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:53 | comment | added | Abdul Aziz Barkat | As I mentioned before you can link the reference to them in a comment, something like "You might also find Reference - What does this regex mean? useful for understanding a specific piece of regex syntax. Please refer to it and search for any existing duplicates before asking a new question" | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:50 | comment | added | HolyBlackCat | @AbdulAzizBarkat Because, again, if you give them a reference to check for the future related issues (such as a list of regex features with explanations), they will just use that the next time instead of asking you. But if you instead give them a specific duplicate (e.g. about a single regex feature), they won't know how to find Q&As about other related topics, and will come back to you again for you to find the dupes for them. | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:47 | comment | added | Abdul Aziz Barkat | Then why do you assume the closure you speak of will get the message that you intend to across to them? Downvote their question if it lacks research (It is there in the tooltip), eventually they'll get a question ban and that will stop them. | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:35 | comment | added | HolyBlackCat | @AbdulAzizBarkat "simplest way to get that across is to state the very thing" This doesn't work with human beings, sadly. If you see a homework question, tell them to not ask such questions again, but also give the solution, the message you got across is "yes, you can ask this stuff here". | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:18 | comment | added | Abdul Aziz Barkat | If you are looking to imply any message the simplest way to get that across is to state the very thing. You might assume that closing as a duplicate of that kind of question sends across the message you are looking to send but that is not necessarily the case. If you are looking to send any message other than "this question is already asked and answer here" by closing as duplicate IMO you are attributing a wrong purpose to the duplicate closures. | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:07 | comment | added | HolyBlackCat | @AbdulAzizBarkat Why does it matter in this case if we close as a dupe of the "roll-up" question or a more specific question? It's trivial to find the latter from the former. Arguably the former sends a better message (that SO is not a substitute for doing minimal prior research). | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 8:03 | comment | added | Abdul Aziz Barkat | I don't really agree with the first point, if you really want to point them to a manual you can post a separate comment for that. If something is on-topic and not a duplicate of another specific question I don't see why we should close it as a duplicate of a "roll-up" question. In this case the example you give does have a specific duplicate target: stackoverflow.com/questions/6908725/… | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 7:28 | history | answered | HolyBlackCat | CC BY-SA 4.0 |