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Questions tagged [question-closure]

Use this tag to dispute or discuss questions that have been closed.

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7 votes
0 answers
153 views

On average when is it a good idea to reopen a question?

in average? on average? Does the community think it a good idea to reopen a ten-year-old question for the following reasons? It has been viewed 152k times which tells us the dilemma of choosing ...
Mari-Lou A's user avatar
  • 92.3k
9 votes
1 answer
241 views

What's off-topic about the question regarding the history of a slur?

The question When did Western newspapers stop using the term “Japs” in their publications? was asked yesterday and has really been riding the closure-rollercoaster: Expanded details: The first time, ...
Heartspring's user avatar
  • 8,638
2 votes
1 answer
59 views

Why is my question about the etymology of "foundation" off-topic?

This question of mine got closed as off-topic, in spite of receiving way more upvotes than downvotes and also receiving a detailed answer. Why did it get closed?
FlatAssembler's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
87 views

Question was closed as duplicate but is a different question

The question Why did English take the "mix pronunciations and spellings" route instead of one rule route like French, or separate languages/dialects like Spanish? was closed as a duplicate ...
user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
78 views

The singular of "the peoples" is "the people". Like in "the essence of a people". Was the question closed after a misunderstanding?

This is about German Singular "Volk" in English: "Das Volk ist mir zum Kotzen" = "The people make me sick" or "The people makes me sick"?. It was closed, and ...
ETathome's user avatar
  • 111
2 votes
0 answers
81 views

When are list-questions on topic?

Perhaps this is a bit too broad a question, but we'll see. Here goes. Right now, the consensus seems to be that list-question SWRs are opinion-based or too broad (and thus off-topic). List-question ...
Heartspring's user avatar
  • 8,638
1 vote
1 answer
190 views

Why was my question (which exists on academia with lots of upvotes) migrated to ELL?

I have asked a question about a word (so in my understanding a single-word request but I probably tagged it wrongly as word-choice) for the "text" that often appears in the body of ...
Sebastian E's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
69 views

How can word choice questions be closed for being opinion-based?

I asked a word choice question recently, and it was closed within minutes for being "opinion-based". Fine, I suppose it is. But there are over 11000 questions tagged for word choice, not ...
user avatar
-6 votes
2 answers
112 views

Can we get this unlinked?

Word that describes a stand in or a frontman? was referred to another question, Word for Powerless Position?, which apparently did not answer the question, as the questioner selected my response as ...
GArthurBrown's user avatar
  • 2,532
5 votes
0 answers
84 views

Question closed as duplicate but it wasn't

I asked a question about comma usage: Comma in "If in addition" The question was closed as a duplicate. The question that my question is a supposedly a duplicate of is about parentheses and ...
giorgi nguyen's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
51 views

Reopen question about how to format footnote references?

The question about Formatting two adjacent footnote indicators in the body of the footnoted text saved my day back in January this year, and I am disappointed it's still closed. It has had a massive ...
stevec's user avatar
  • 524
-7 votes
1 answer
90 views

How does my question need to be "more focused"?

How does Why are service or maintenance contracts called 'warranties', when they aren't Legal Warranties? "needs to be more focused"? I asked two questions. Do you want me to ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
119 views

Why is a question about pronunciation "opinion-based"?

A while ago, I asked this question: Is the diphthong /aʊ/ generally realized as [ɑʊ] in British English? [closed] (now closed). I did not receive any answer which is fine but I don't see why this is ...
user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
156 views

Single-word-request rule clarification needed

My question Alternative to trumped was recently closed for being opinion-based. However, the tag single-word-requests has 300+ pages of questions similar to mine. Why is there the tag single-word-...
user11111111111's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
125 views

Why is the question off-topic?

I can see that users are voting to close the question Where does Martian meaning inhabitant of Mars come from? as off-topic. What’s the problem with the above question? or is it just a question of ...
Gio's user avatar
  • 4,917
4 votes
1 answer
38 views

How does one appeal a closed question, duplicate?

I understand there is a need to close duplicate answers, but shouldn't there be some clear instructions about what one can do to appeal? I'm not talking about the option to edit (which is clearly ...
SC for reinstatement of Monica's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
148 views

Why was a question about the origin and meaning of a phrase closed because the origin is known?

Note: The question in question has been reopened. The question 'What’s the origin/meaning of “from belt buckle to shoe sole”?' was closed because Mr Biden consistently gives the origin - his uncle. ...
JEL's user avatar
  • 32.9k
3 votes
0 answers
72 views

Was the question "etc. etc. usage" closed correctly?

This question was closed as being "opinion-based". But I thought that usage questions were on-topic for this site. After all, the asker says "Is there any rule…", not "How do ...
Kodiologist's user avatar
  • 1,940
2 votes
1 answer
77 views

Why was my Groucho Marx question closed?

Why was https://english.stackexchange.com/q/516777/334589 closed? I would've accepted this comment if posted as answer. The usual Groucho Marx quote is "I don’t want to belong to any club that ...
user avatar
-4 votes
2 answers
264 views

Please reopen the question about the meaning of 'wong'

I think the following question recently posted by a new user should be reopened: Why is "wong" a bad word? The meaning the OP is looking for is not present in any available online ...
user 66974's user avatar
  • 67.7k
22 votes
9 answers
1k views

Please vote on this proposal to ban from question titles certain words whose posts we usually end up closing and deleting

In reaction to high failure rates of questions with titles containing the word "problem", the Stack Overflow community long ago forbade these. You couldn't ask a new question with the word "problem" ...
tchrist's user avatar
  • 136k
-3 votes
1 answer
110 views

Close reason. Unclear

My meta-question is about this question Please pardon me for any mistake and kindly correct me. I believe Unclear is synonymous with Vague. I do not understand how is my question vague. Am I not ...
George Ntoulos's user avatar
-5 votes
1 answer
176 views

How to improve "How did 'despite' semantically shift to signify 'without being affected by something'?"?

I'm uncertain why it was voted to close after my edits. How can I clarify or improve How did 'despite' semantically shift to signify 'without being affected by something'??
user avatar
9 votes
7 answers
507 views

What can be done to bring up site quality?

We are now at the point that most questions on ELU get closed. Our 90-day closure rate (10k only) is sitting at around two in every three. Some days it’s worse than that, some days it’s better, but in ...
tchrist's user avatar
  • 136k
24 votes
3 answers
717 views

I didn't know the yellow ax question had been locked. Did you?

Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? Apparently, the question no longer deserves to be open and was locked on January 9, 2018. Is this a surprise for anyone? ...
Mari-Lou A's user avatar
  • 92.3k
14 votes
0 answers
358 views

By "gosh", the etymological hydra's immortal head unburied

Revisiting the "Request to reopen “Literal Meaning of 'Gosh'", I observe that a few minutes of dedicated research for that question ("Literal Meaning of 'Gosh'") antedated the earliest OED attestation ...
JEL's user avatar
  • 32.9k
2 votes
2 answers
194 views

Advanced users of English should be more welcome here

I have been speaking English as a first language for 23 years, I use a dictionary to expand my vocabulary every week, I read a lot, every day, and I actively criticize grammar when I hear it. Because ...
ahorn's user avatar
  • 743
4 votes
0 answers
323 views

Can we reopen this question please? [Now re-CLOSED]

Edit note 2: The patient and long-suffering OP has now re-asked aspects of this question in three separate posts. So, there's now probably no harm in leaving this one closed. This useful question on ...
Araucaria - Him's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
122 views

Can "More formal word for know-it-all" be reopened?

More formal word for "know-it-all" was closed as duplicate of Know-it-alls--a synonym, which is duplicate of Is there word for this, other than know-it-all?, which is duplicate of One word ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
117 views

Are 'symbols' and their etymology/usage on-topic?

Recently, this question of mine was closed as off-topic: Where does the @ symbol come from? As far as I know (and some commenters have agreed) the use of symbols in English if on-topic. My argument ...
BladorthinTheGrey's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
268 views

Why is "Did noted 17th century poet Katherine Philips make a grammatical error?" on hold?

Why is Did noted 17th century poet Katherine Philips make a grammatical error? on hold? The question is clearly about the history of grammatical development in English, specifically about the ...
JEL's user avatar
  • 32.9k
2 votes
1 answer
91 views

How does the current version of the "cyan" pronunciation question not show research?

How is "cyan" pronounced and where is the stress? Note that the question covers both the pronunciation of the vowel and the position of the stress. I edited this post to quote dictionaries, ...
herisson's user avatar
  • 83.8k
1 vote
0 answers
208 views

Notes to Reviewers [Trial, version 2.1]

English Language & Usage (ELU) is a community for etymologists, linguists, and English enthusiasts. As a Stack Exchange community, ELU shares Stack Exchange's goal to build libraries of high-...
Lawrence's user avatar
  • 38.9k
5 votes
2 answers
153 views

When a question is interesting but too 'loose', is it better to edit it even if you need to guess, or to vote to close it?

Consider the following question on the main site representative of the questions of interest here: Is the verb "cast" in acting, metalworking and programming the same verb? In essence, I ...
Lawrence's user avatar
  • 38.9k
-1 votes
1 answer
279 views

Notes to Reviewers [Trial Version 2. Deprecated] [duplicate]

Please see version 2.1 of this trial. On Stack Exchange, closing a question and putting it on hold is an invitation to improve the question. When you do, your question is automatically queued for ...
Lawrence's user avatar
  • 38.9k
29 votes
3 answers
886 views

Why was there such a negative reaction to this question: "Word for a person from another race?"

Is there a word for "a person from another race"? This question has three down-votes and was closed because "Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic"...
herisson's user avatar
  • 83.8k
-1 votes
1 answer
235 views

Shall we make a list of Low-Quality-Questions regularly on Meta?

As Mari-Lou A pinpointed in Extraordinary spike in low-quality questions by 1 rep users, we have been swamped with Low-Quality-questions (LQQs) recently and it has been overwhelmingly difficult to ...
user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
262 views

Discussion on reopening a specific question: "Do tenses in a time clause never back-shift in reported speech?"

The question Do tenses in a time clause never back-shift in reported speech? (which I'll call The Backshift Question or TBQ for convenience) has an answer that could be considered canonical for back-...
Lawrence's user avatar
  • 38.9k
2 votes
1 answer
64 views

Should this question closed as "not constructive" be re-opened?

Why are “put” and “but” different in their pronunciation? [closed] I was editing my answer to a very similar question here: Why there is difference in pronunciation of words PUT and CUT? In fact, I ...
herisson's user avatar
  • 83.8k
6 votes
1 answer
360 views

Can a question ask for an objective explanation of a subjective topic?

"When can a celebrity be referred to by their surname only?" has been placed on hold for being primarily opinion-based and thus attracting opinion-based answers rather than facts, references, or ...
candied_orange's user avatar
15 votes
0 answers
259 views

Why is my question about the stress of "uroboros" a duplicate of the one about the stress of "stigmata"?

Sorry to make a post about "why my question was closed," but I'm having a hard time understanding it. The question about "uroboros" asks about two things: descriptive information about the history ...
herisson's user avatar
  • 83.8k
15 votes
1 answer
228 views

Are questions about the use of italics in English off-topic?

Recently, this question was put on hold: Why is "their" italicized? I'm wondering, why it is considered out of scope? If it's considered to be too close to "analysis of literature," that ...
herisson's user avatar
  • 83.8k
2 votes
0 answers
95 views

Closure of question that cited Etymonline, OED, & a logic textbook?

Why was this closed, in view of claims to 'please include the research you've done...'? As stated in my OP, I consulted Etymonline, OED, and a logic textbook. Update on 2015 May 6: I thank the five ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
226 views

Is it a bad thing to have your question marked as a duplicate?

This morning I had my question closed and, upon browsing through the answers to the proposed duplicate, I did find half of an answer to my question. This leads me to wonder about some things: Is it ...
Dog Lover's user avatar
  • 6,475
84 votes
4 answers
1k views

Nobody cares how YOU pronounce it

I'll come right out and admit it: I'm a pretty self-absorbed person, and I sometimes have a hard time remembering that not everything is always about me. To this day I believe deep in the core of my ...
phenry's user avatar
  • 18.3k
1 vote
1 answer
56 views

Can we have a vote-to-reopen tag here on meta ELU?

We have a vote-to-close tag, but it would be nice to have a vote-to-reopen tag also, for those of us who believe our questions were wrongfully closed.
brokethebuildagain's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
280 views

My question was incorrectly marked as a duplicate. Can this be reviewed again?

I believe there is a clear difference between my question and the question marked as a duplicate. I have edited the post to emphasize how it is different, now I'm posting here to see if someone can ...
brokethebuildagain's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
195 views

Why has this post been put 'on hold'?

My question Why is 'weird' given a sexual connotation nowadays?, has been put on hold as 'off topic', for the reason that 'it is not about the English language'. Since it queries the current ...
WS2's user avatar
  • 64.9k
28 votes
8 answers
907 views

Is reopening of one's own closed question a misuse of moderator privileges?

Two hours after a recent question was closed by five users (four high-rep), the OP (also a moderator) voted to reopen his own question, which is, of course, an instantaneous and binding vote. This ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
-11 votes
2 answers
636 views

Moderators' policy on bullying

I would like to know the moderators' policy on bullying. It seems easy to bully a user. For it takes only 5 users who have sufficient reps to close a question.
ivanhoescott's user avatar
  • 1,511