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Together HowTo: Closing questions

asked 2014-07-12 05:21:33 +0300

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updated 2014-07-12 06:10:02 +0300

simo gravatar image

How to close a question correctly, for any reason?

See also: Featured tags -> Guidelines (visible also in the front page)

Question can be closed for the following reasons:

  • duplicate question (already asked before) SEE THE ANSWER
  • question is off-topic or not relevant (issues outside together, Sailfish OS, Jolla, Shop, Store, Harbour...)
  • too subjective and argumentative
  • not a real question (excluding bug reports and wikis)
  • the question is answered, and answer was accepted (This is our common goal!)
  • question contains offensive or malicious remarks (including the comments section)
  • spam or advertising
  • too localized
  • released in a software update (This is our common goal too!)
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answered 2014-07-12 06:09:22 +0300

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updated 2014-07-12 06:41:21 +0300

simo gravatar image

DUPLICATE QUESTION

  • Most common reason for closing, please avoid these in your own questions with using search (words + tags).

Duplicates can be closed by anyone with enough karma, but please:

  • It's IMPORTANT to read both the questions carefully to decide. For example THIS and THIS are NOT duplicates. If you're unsure, don't close! Instead, leave a comment to the later question with a link to the older question and ask what other people think about it. Give a couple of weeks for people to comment back. Quite often the one who asked the question closes it himself in the meanwhile, if that's the case.

And if you really find a duplicate (a lot have been found):

  • Add a link of the OLDER question to the NEWER question which is about to be closed. Do it with edit/comment/answer so that it's clearly visible (I prefer editing it to the beginning of the question). Older question can be recognized comparing the number in the URL link. Smaller = Older
  • If the question has some answers and possibly important information:
    • Retag the question adding duplicate-detection or duplicate-prevention
    • Ask people involved to move the important content under the older question
    • Don't close the question right away - give them a week or two to react
    • Example (detected July 12, might close a lot later)
  • If the question is new, and clearly a duplicate, it can be closed right away:
    • Retag the question adding duplicate. Other tags can be removed if needed (but it's not necessary) as they are not important in duplicates.
    • Select "close" from the options below the question and pick up duplicate question from the drop down menu
    • Select "OK to close"
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Comments

Oh, and anyone can also reopen a question closed too quickly. We all make mistakes ;) Hunting duplicates is, however, very useful contributing to the community, so let's be open minded and forgive any mistakes made - we're here to learn from each other. Go and find a duplicate!

simo ( 2014-07-12 06:27:44 +0300 )edit
1

Thank you, I always thought better rules (intended as best practices) where needed.

magullo ( 2014-07-13 09:05:53 +0300 )edit
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answered 2015-09-13 19:42:16 +0300

this post is marked as community wiki

This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.

updated 2015-09-13 19:42:16 +0300

simo gravatar image

The Guideline project:

Content here seems ok to me, only layout to be fixed. Agreed?

The guideline project discusses on these old guideline posts until September 20th, updating and gathering information from here to a new post The Guideline. You're welcome to join the project, for example by editing and commenting this answer.

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Asked: 2014-07-12 05:21:33 +0300

Seen: 1,321 times

Last updated: Sep 13 '15