I know there's plenty of hardcore users here who despise open-ended questions more than anything else on the planet, but aren't we going a little too far sometimes? There are times when asking the community for advice could be a very powerful thing. Indeed, by not allowing at least some open-ended questions we're shutting off a potentially very potent resource... our group knowledge.

We entrust "open-ended" questions to decide who moderates the Stack sites, so why not allow certain open ended questions?

• Which IDE is best for coding in PHP?
• Which books are recommended for learning C++ basics?
• Which graphics application is recommended for web sites?

Yes, there may be no definitive answers to these questions, but the collective community knowledge, and the reputation of those who answer, can help shine a light and point people in the right direction... Provided there is only one question (no duplicates) and that the question is periodically re-asked, so that new developments get integrated fairly.

I understand the problems with "open-ended" questions, but couldn't we, as a community, somehow overcome them?

I know there's plenty of hardcore users here who despise open-ended questions more than anything else on the planet, but aren't we going a little too far sometimes? There are times when asking the community for advice could be a very powerful thing. Indeed, by not allowing at least some open-ended questions we're shutting off a potentially very potent resource... our group knowledge.

We entrust "open-ended" questions to decide who moderates the Stack sites, so why not allow certain open ended questions?

Consider the following questions:

• Which IDE is best for coding in PHP?
• Which books are recommended for learning C++ basics?
• Which graphics application is recommended for web sites?

Yes, there may be no definitive answers to these questions, but the collective community knowledge, and the reputation of those who answer, can help shine a light and point people in the right direction... Provided there is only one question (no duplicates) and that the question is periodically re-asked, so that new developments get integrated fairly.

I understand the problems with "open-ended" questions, but couldn't we, as a community, be able to find a way to overcome them?