Request question reopen (and/or explanation for closevotes)

Question

The question Which is correct? do they? or don't they? or have they or haven't they? was summarily closed for reasons that aren't clear to me.

Personally, I don't think it's necessarily obvious that the "polarity" of an assertion is "reversed" by adverbial elements such as hardly, rarely, seldom, and to my mind that's what the question is effectively asking about.

It's true the question as presented could also be seen as asking whether the tag question after They hardly have X should be have they? or do they? But there are no comments asking the OP to clarify whether that might have been his main concern (vanishingly unlikely, imho), so I doubt that was a relevant factor in the closevotes.

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I think the question should be reopened. (Well - having answered it myself, I would, wouldn't I? :) But if there aren't another 4 users who agree with me, perhaps someone could at least present a convincing argument as to why it was simply dismissed as "Proofreading" or "Lacking in detail". At time of writing this request, I'm baffled by the closevoters rationale[s].

Answer 1

I think the question should be reopened as soon as the author edits it to include the necessary detail. For example, they could answer questions like:

• What do you already know?
• Which answer do you think is most likely the correct one?
• Are there any choices that you feel aren't correct? Why?

The goal here should be to teach someone how to write their question in a way that will be well-received so their next question doesn't get closed. Leaving poorly-formed questions open just leads to more of the same type of questions, which frustrates the people who are getting their questions closed, the people who are trying to curate the site by closing questions that don't meet ELL's quality standards, and the people interested in answering those questions.

If the author just wants their homework done without needing to put in any effort themselves, the question should stay closed. If it's an interesting topic, then someone who would like to write an answer on that topic should ask a well-formed question and self-answer. That helps learners two ways; it answers a question they might have and it demonstrates what a good question looks like.

Answer 2

The question was closed for two reasons by five votes from regular users, (none from mods).

First reason:

This question should include more details than have been provided here. Please edit to add the research you have done in your efforts to answer the question, or provide more context. See: Details, Please.

The question is an unadorned homework question. No effort has been made to find an answer or say what the OP already understands. In terms of context, is this question from a reputable standardized test or something their fly-by-night teacher cooked up?

Second reason:

Questions asking for someone to find and correct errors or improve the phrasing are considered requests for proofreading and are off-topic. Please edit your question to focus on something in particular that you are unsure about; if that's not possible, see websites for proofreading instead.

While the question is clearly about tag questions, the user doesn't say what issue they're having. Do they not understand tag questions at all? Do they not understand how the rules apply to this particularly difficult question? Did their answer disagree with the official answer?

Personally, I think the homework question is a great one for open discussion here so I'd love to see it reopened, but the quality of how it's been asked is unacceptable for our site.

Answer 3

UPDATE

I edited what I consider is a useful question for the community. Hopefully, it now clarifies where the problem lies and why learners might feel confused about question tags. I invite users to cast their reopen votes. So far it has attracted one good answer but I feel there is room for others.

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We're on ELL. The requisites Colleen asks for would be great but in 70% of the questions posted–and I'm being generous here–they are always missing.

I'd definitely vote to close this if it had appeared on EL&U, it does lack effort and research but who cares if it's a homework question from an exercise book? As long as it's not a list of 20 questions just demanding answers, I say leave it be.

I'd give the OP a day to improve their question and explain their confusion but it's a perfectly valid and on-topic question. And Fumble Fingers' answer, which I upvoted because it mentions "hardly" having a negative meaning, doesn't encapsulate everything.

Answer 4

I understand ColleenV's views. The question does indeed seem to be a HW question, with no additional emphasis, stated concern, or explanation. Still, my inclination would be to reopen and allow additional responses. Two days ago I would probably have voted to reopen, but I am unwilling to make a unilateral decision here, and I can't just turn off my mod diamond. So unless several others vote to reopen first, I won't. On a case I felt more strongly about, I might act otherwise.

Answer 5

There seem to be two possibilities here.

The OP has this as their homework. I will not go over the issues of whether we should do their homework for them as it has been discussed at length elsewhere with no clear resolution.

The OP made this up do illustrate the problem they have (or think they have). My problem with the question if that is the case is that I struggle to see that any of the tag questions fits the sentence so without more information about why the OP made up that example we do not know what they have a problem with. This leads to a danger of providing a long answer to a question they did not have. I am reminded of the cautionary tale told by Alan Bennett of when his god-daughter asked him what vice meant. He swallowed hard and gave her an explanation of some of the seamy side of life. He then asked her why she had asked. "It is just because I have been made vice-captain of hockey."

Full disclosure: I am one of the original close voters.