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  1. Hey, this is a nice site. I have a question to ask, but I want to make sure I do it right.
  2. Ahh, the Help Center. I hope it has some useful guidance for asking questions.
  3. "What topics can I ask about here?" —oh no, my question is simple and basic, and is therefore "off-topic" here. But isn't there anywhere I can go for an answer to my question?
  4. "Where can I find answers to simple and basic questions? If your question is simple and can probably be easily answered by looking it up, then you may find common online internet resources to be of some help. View our list of community recommended resources to find some that may be of help to you." Why that sounds like just what I'm looking for. I'll click ri-i-ight about here...
  5. "closed as off topic"

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The question was closed to prevent further answers from being added, and also to discourage similar resource requests, which are essentially list-type questions and therefore off-topic. However, it is a useful resource, so it was kept for reference purposes.

If I have incorrectly assumed your question, please edit your post to ask one.

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    Shouldn't it be locked instead? "Closed as off topic" sends a contradictory message.
    – phenry
    Commented Mar 29, 2014 at 1:53
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    I agree with phenry here. That thread would look much better as “protected to prevent ‘Thanks!’, etc.” (or however the phrasing of protected threads goes). Much less confusing to a new user who might not know exactly what different types of locked/protected/frozen threads appear like.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Mar 29, 2014 at 14:16
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    @phenry But it is off topic. So that's not a contradictory message.
    – Matt E. Эллен
    Commented Mar 29, 2014 at 14:50
  • I agree with Matt. I'm not seeing the contradiction.
    – MrHen
    Commented Mar 29, 2014 at 21:33
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    Would it be off-topic on Meta as well? We could migrate it here, and then protect it; that would (hopefully) make everyone happy. @Matt, I don’t think it’s so much whether the message is really, logically contradictory or not; but more that anyone who is likely to need to see the page, by definition, are also quite likely to perceive it as contradictory or at least confusing. Most users who know the site/system well enough to realise it’s not really contradictory are not very likely to ever need to be pointed to the page at all.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 17:56
  • @Janus We do have other resource lists here on Meta. It could probably be migrated. I'll look into it.
    – Kit Z. Fox Mod
    Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 13:05
  • Migrating it to Meta makes sense to me, certainly more so than closing it as "off-topic."
    – phenry
    Commented Apr 1, 2014 at 18:07

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