Questions tagged [close-reasons]
This tag is for instructions and guidance on closing or migrating questions, and the reasons for those closures.
40
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Should we expand the “It’s in the dictionary” close reason to include etymological questions?
Consider the recent question Is cockroach composed of cock and roach? The post’s title says it all. @FumbleFingers and I both left quick—and perhaps overly snarky—comments illustrating how easily the ...
- 5,599
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1
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Can we add a new reason to the "Close" list?
I note that one of our moderators, gotube, has started to remind OPs, who use images of text rather than copy them out, that images cannot be read by screen readers (used by the visually impaired) and ...
- 6,915
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1
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Why are these questions being closed with the proofreading close reason?
As of writing, this question has four votes to close for the community-specific reason that's often referred to as "proofreading". So does this one.
While I haven't been around in a while, I'...
- 25.4k
2
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1
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EL&U.SE vs ELL.SE
I'm a monolinguist but have had a bad experience on English Language & Usage (EL&U).
Might I break any (site-specific) rule for asking questions here instead of EL&U?
Sure I could get ...
- 787
2
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1
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42
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What to do with old questions without context?
Recently, I have seen a lot of questions that seemed to have no context or shown prior research, especially the old questions. Should we close them? Or leave them as-is as they are old? E.g. At this ...
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-5
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1
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Is this question really unclear? [closed]
One of my questions has been closed because "it needs details or clarity." I find the question clear and I think it was closed because some people do not like short questions. But being ...
user60033
2
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0
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58
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Overuse of 'multiple questions' close reason
I don't believe the purpose of the 'multiple questions' close reason is to close any question that strictly includes more than one question mark. Yet that seems to be the way it is often interpreted.
...
- 5,783
4
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1
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105
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Are 'research/detail' close votes being used too liberally?
Back in 2017 M.A.R. highlighted a 'pattern' of close votes because of lack of research, detail or context. He suggested this was being done too often, and in cases where a question wouldn't be ...
- 5,783
5
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0
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Help me out here: How would you improve these questions?
I feel like I am flogging a death horse and the dead horse is telling me to keep doing it. Once again, what I would really like to say has been said here: J.R.'s eloquently argued and sufficiently ...
- 18.8k
12
votes
5
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Explain to me why you are throwing your close votes at this question
The reaction of some people to this question has me scratching my head, going "You kidding me?"
Can we really use lap as an intransitive verb?
So I was among the first people to notice that ...
- 18.8k
11
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6
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Is ELL getting too PC ("Politically Correct")?
The question How should I use least in this sentence? Least vs Less
was deleted by the OP following critical comments about the example presented.
I reproduce the relevant part for the benefit of ...
- 68.6k
2
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1
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111
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Should this question be closed?
I think Which should I choose "to distribute", 'distributed", or "distributing"? should be closed as it is asking for proofreading. I don't have commenting or flagging ...
- 282
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Will this question be put "on hold" as proofreading?
I am going to post this question here:
What is the proper way to describe this sentence?
King ordered Mary to work in Court, but she doesn't like it because
she thinks by this way king will meet her ...
- 121
9
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An emerging pattern of "research" close votes
Recently, and by recently, I mean during the past month or so, we've had an emerging pattern of voting to close questions because they lacked research.
More precisely, questions used to be closed ...
- 7,351
15
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0
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158
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Questions about pronunciation which are NOT entirely answerable with a dictionary
Earlier today, I saw a question about phonetics:
When do I REALLY need to pronounce an s as a z?
Yeah, I know the rule that after a voiced consonant, the plural or 3rd person S should be realized as ...
user230
14
votes
2
answers
214
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Why are there so many apparently erroneous proofreading close votes?
Even though every once in a while it comes up on meta that people are closing questions as proofreading while they're not proofreading I still often see proofreading close votes on questions which are ...
- 7,351
20
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0
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With Lang-8 shutting down, where will we send proofreading questions?
We have a close reason which tells people to use "alternative websites" for proofreading:
Proofreading questions are off-topic unless a specific source of concern in the text is clearly identified. ...
user230
5
votes
1
answer
134
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If there's only two or three possible contexts for a question, don't vote to close it as unclear, too broad, or Details Please
I see a fair number of questions getting close votes, and even sometimes getting closed, because there's more than one possible answer based on different ways to take the question. Sometimes that's ...
- 9,503
8
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2
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104
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Why is this question about "noun for splitting" off-topic?
This question has gotten two close votes, but no one has made any comments regarding it.
I don't object to it being closed, I've already gotten nice answers.
However, when casting close-votes, it's ...
- 1,376
8
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2
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I see in hindsight that a question might have been better for ELU. It has close votes now
This question has now got two close votes.
One user commented:
Where is the value to a new learner of English in this protracted slap fight?
When I posted this I didn't know it was such a nuanced ...
- 1,376
4
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0
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42
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Reminder to use the custom "Needs more detail" close reason
I know that it really sucks that this close reason is listed under "off topic"... There's a proposal on MSE to change the close voting system to allow more custom close reasons outside of the "off ...
- 25.4k
1
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1
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Closing the first question as a duplicate of the second question
There are two questions on "pretty vs quite" as follows:
“Pretty” versus “quite” posted on Feb 6, 2013.
“quite” vs “pretty” posted on Jul 8, 2014.
I have just noticed that the question asked in ...
user24743
3
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0
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Why is my question 'How would the main clause be corrected' on-hold?
My question was kept on hold due to off-topic as it was a proofreading question. Being my first question, I did not know as to what kind of questions to be posted. After going through the rule of off-...
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Should I close a question because the answer is "typo"?
What is the grammar of “the blur the protect the identity”
After the problem has been identified as "typo", I realize that this should be close because, well, typo is not a proper English grammar. ...
- 2,432
11
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2
answers
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Let's be more careful with closing
So I clicked "review". Then, my eyes popped out of a mixed feeling of surprise, shame and anger. There were 11 posts in the close vote queue! (And I had checked the queue a bit earlier)
...
- 7,351
14
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4
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456
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Let's rewrite the "Proofreading" close reason
It's been discussed that the proofreading close reason is overused:
Stop throwing "Proofreading" close reason at questions that are clearly limited to a single point of concern
As part of ...
- 25.4k
19
votes
2
answers
526
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Stop throwing "Proofreading" close reason at questions that are clearly limited to a single point of concern
We have a handy close reason for questions that are basically just "find any problems in this chunk of text". That's fine, because those are terrible questions. They haven't actually gotten to the ...
- 9,503
3
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1
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166
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Can we please stop closing non-basic questions on spelling, meaning, or pronunciation?
I think we have a knee-jerk reaction to close questions that look like they're about a word's definition.
Anytime I see such a question, I attempt to look up the word in dictionaries myself. If I can ...
- 3,286
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How to improve? - Advanced English Grammatical Errors?
Please advise how to better or emend https://ell.stackexchange.com/q/38683/8712 for want of its reopening? I beware of 'requests for resources" but would appreciate help on the names of fr what I ...
user8712
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1
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How to interpret subtleties between sentences on 'faith' and 'theology' - Why was this closed?
I beg for your forgiveness if How to interpret subtleties between sentences on 'faith' and 'theology'? offends, but I'd like to request its reopening. I'm asking only about English (...
user8712
0
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1
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57
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What's the purpose of the first clause of the article? - Why was this closed?
I beg for your forgiveness if https://ell.stackexchange.com/q/33430/8712 offends, but I would like to request its reopening. While it's from my law preparation book, my question concerns English, so ...
user8712
0
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1
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53
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Are these two sentences equal, about history and sources? - Why was this closed?
I beg for your forgiveness if 'to make use of' vs 'to base on', but I would like to request its reopening. While it's from my law preparation book, my question concerns English, so why ...
user8712
0
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2
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89
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Formal = totalitarian?: Why was this closed?
I beg for your forgiveness if Formal = totalitarian? offends, but I would like to request its reopening. While it's from my law preparation book, my question concerns English, why was it 'closed as ...
user8712
2
votes
2
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54
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Replacing the "Off-topic because this question needs more details" close reason
Of the three standard reasons offered for closing a question as off-topic, the third one is:
This question should include more details than have been provided here. Please edit to add the research ...
- 8,113
2
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2
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Should we be closing single word requests?
I've seen a few questions asking explicitly for single words, rather than phrases, which fit a certain description. Today, one popped up in the close queue. I saw this comment:
Single word requests ...
- 7,535
2
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3
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Closing questions because of lack of clarity/broadness/etc
Something has come up frequently, and it's that many questions are closed or put on hold simply because the way it's worded is not clear as to what the question is, or it's too broad in asking for ...
- 641
6
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What should we do when a user asks about nonsensical English?
Today, someone asked what this sentence means:
This first choice of yours is no second best of all.
Without additional context, I think the answer is "nothing". And we were informed that there ...
user230
3
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0
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Should not this question be closed outright for being a writing request?
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/10987/request-letter-to-bank-manager
This question seems to be plainly asking about how to write a particular type of letter. As per our site's FAQ, this one ...
- 6,351
3
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regarding proofreading questions
This question How should I ask a polite question to my manager? is considered on-topic and was answered. It asks "Do you think there is a better way to say that?" There is no reference to any specific ...
user485
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2
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Should we make special excuses for not attempting to search prior asking?
In comments to this question, a somewhat emotional, but still useful discussion has raised.
In my understanding, the OP has not made an effort to search for existing questions. Another user suggested ...
- 8,025