0

I'm sure this is by no means a new issue, but recently a number of new users have emerged with a barrage of low-quality, if not blatantly off-topic questions. Most of them quote a phrase and ask "is this idiomatic?", which surely falls under "asking for someone to find and correct errors". New questions have been created which are simply questions about other answers they have already received but don't comprehend. I'm concerned that this will make searching for past questions and answers more difficult, as dozens of questions now have titles like "it this idiomatic?" with no reference to the actual content of the question.

I'm using my close votes more than ever, and some have been closed, but still the same couple of users continue to spam the site. What would be the best way to address this issue with an individual? Is there a way to flag a 'pattern of behaviour' to moderators rather than just flagging an individual post or user as being an issue? To be clear, I don't want to flag the user as requiring a ban but have moderators offer some advice on posts, or limit their posts if necessary.

3
  • 2
    "Is this idiomatic?" is a valid question for learners, and isn't necessarily proofreading-in-disguise. Many English sentences might be grammatically sound, but they would sound dreadfully antiquated, out-of-place, or perhaps even offensive if used in everyday conversation. That said, I'd hope that people asking such questions would do more than post a single sentence or short passage along with a yes-or-no query, like, "Is this idiomatic?" – ideally, the questions should include context and findings from prior research.
    – J.R. Mod
    Mar 10 '20 at 20:31
  • 2
    @J.R.Agreed, but I think the definition of "idiomatic" is being stretched to include any formed sentence that they want sense-checking. So you think the best approach would be to flag the question on quality grounds, ie no research?
    – Astralbee
    Mar 11 '20 at 10:26
  • There's no need to ask the mods to step in and wag fingers. Just downvote posts from new users that don't enhance the site. They'll get the message soon enough, and either leave ELL, or start to improve the quality of their posts.
    – FumbleFingers
    Apr 10 '20 at 17:14

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .