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I asked a similar question on Meta.SO, just over a year ago.

What should we do about potentially unanswerable questions?

In the comments to the question's single answer, Yawus states:

[Q]uestions with content issues can generally be closed as "Not constructive" or with a custom mod flag.

This was the best answer that I could get at that time, but after a bit of thought on the issue, my general take-away has been that not all "impossible" questions are impossible.

For instance, consider a question that I posted in August 2011 regarding a feature of an old C compiler.

LCC— How to stop debugger from breaking at the start of the application?

When I initially asked this question I assumed there was a setting buried somewhere that could cut this behavior off. However, after a bit of comment discussion I learned that this was impossible from a practical sense. Eventually, though, a less than conventional solution was found!

User ruslan provided a not-too-simple answer that involved decompiling and patching the binary! I had assumed my question would never be answered with a real response but I was wrong.

The bottom line is, impossible doesn't always mean "impossible". Sometimes legitimate hacks and tricks can provide a solution to seemingly unanswerable problems. Also, impossible questions regarding software can become answerable, in the future, if the software is updated by the developers to provide the discussed functionality. This can be especially true if you are working with pseudo-beta software that some companies like to release into production (cough anythingmadebygoogle cough.)

If an update to the software occurs that addresses the questioner's issue, it's completely legitimate to post an answer that mentions the software update that solved the problem. If a software patch is ever a likely scenario, I personally think it's worth letting the question "dangle" as unanswered until a solution is found.

I've had this happen in many cases. I've been surprised with some of the legitimate, albeit unconventional, answers that I've received.

I asked a similar question on Meta.SO, just over a year ago.

What should we do about potentially unanswerable questions?

In the comments to the question's single answer, Yawus states:

[Q]uestions with content issues can generally be closed as "Not constructive" or with a custom mod flag.

This was the best answer that I could get at that time, but after a bit of thought on the issue, my general take-away has been that not all "impossible" questions are impossible.

For instance, consider a question that I posted in August 2011 regarding a feature of an old C compiler.

LCC— How to stop debugger from breaking at the start of the application?

When I initially asked this question I assumed there was a setting buried somewhere that could cut this behavior off. However, after a bit of comment discussion I learned that this was impossible from a practical sense. Eventually, though, a less than conventional solution was found!

User ruslan provided a not-too-simple answer that involved decompiling and patching the binary! I had assumed my question would never be answered with a real response but I was wrong.

The bottom line is, impossible doesn't always mean "impossible". Sometimes legitimate hacks and tricks can provide a solution to seemingly unanswerable problems. Also, impossible questions regarding software can become answerable, in the future, if the software is updated by the developers to provide the discussed functionality. This can be especially true if you are working with pseudo-beta software that some companies like to release into production (cough anythingmadebygoogle cough.)

If an update to the software occurs that addresses the questioner's issue, it's completely legitimate to post an answer that mentions the software update that solved the problem. If a software patch is ever a likely scenario, I personally think it's worth letting the question "dangle" as unanswered until a solution is found.

I've had this happen in many cases. I've been surprised with some of the legitimate, albeit unconventional, answers that I've received.

I asked a similar question on Meta.SO, just over a year ago.

What should we do about potentially unanswerable questions?

In the comments to the question's single answer, Yawus states:

[Q]uestions with content issues can generally be closed as "Not constructive" or with a custom mod flag.

This was the best answer that I could get at that time, but after a bit of thought on the issue, my general take-away has been that not all "impossible" questions are impossible.

For instance, consider a question that I posted in August 2011 regarding a feature of an old C compiler.

LCC— How to stop debugger from breaking at the start of the application?

When I initially asked this question I assumed there was a setting buried somewhere that could cut this behavior off. However, after a bit of comment discussion I learned that this was impossible from a practical sense. Eventually, though, a less than conventional solution was found!

User ruslan provided a not-too-simple answer that involved decompiling and patching the binary! I had assumed my question would never be answered with a real response but I was wrong.

The bottom line is, impossible doesn't always mean "impossible". Sometimes legitimate hacks and tricks can provide a solution to seemingly unanswerable problems. Also, impossible questions regarding software can become answerable, in the future, if the software is updated by the developers to provide the discussed functionality. This can be especially true if you are working with pseudo-beta software that some companies like to release into production (cough anythingmadebygoogle cough.)

If an update to the software occurs that addresses the questioner's issue, it's completely legitimate to post an answer that mentions the software update that solved the problem. If a software patch is ever a likely scenario, I personally think it's worth letting the question "dangle" as unanswered until a solution is found.

I've had this happen in many cases. I've been surprised with some of the legitimate, albeit unconventional, answers that I've received.

I asked a similar question on Meta.SO, just over a year ago.

What should we do about potentially unanswerable questions?

In the comments to the question's single answer, Yawus states:

[Q]uestions with content issues can generally be closed as "Not constructive" or with a custom mod flag.

This was the best answer that I could get at that time, but after a bit of thought on the issue, my general take-away has been that not all "impossible" questions are impossible.

For instance, consider a question that I posted in August 2011 regarding a feature of an old C compiler.

LCC— How to stop debugger from breaking at the start of the application?

When I initially asked this question I assumed there was a setting buried somewhere that could cut this behavior off. However, after a bit of comment discussion I learned that this was impossible from a practical sense. Eventually, though, a less than conventional solution was found!

User ruslan provided a not-too-simple answer that involved decompiling and patching the binary! I had assumed my question would never be answered with a real response but I was wrong.

The bottom line is, impossible doesn't always mean "impossible". Sometimes legitimate hacks and tricks can provide a solution to seemingly unanswerable problems. Also, impossible questions regarding software can become answerable, in the future, if the software is updated by the developers to provide the discussed functionality. This can be especially true if you are working with pseudo-beta software that some companies like to release into production (cough anythingmadebygoogle cough.)

If an update to the software occurs that addresses the questioner's issue, it's completely legitimate to post an answer that mentions the software update that solved the problem. If a software patch is ever a likely scenario, I personally think it's worth letting the question "dangle" as unanswered until a solution is found.

I've had this happen in many cases. I've been surprised with some of the legitimate, albeit unconventional, answers that I've received.

I asked a similar question on Meta.SO, just over a year ago.

What should we do about potentially unanswerable questions?

In the comments to the question's single answer, Yawus states:

 

[Q]uestions with content issues can generally be closed as "Not constructive" or with a custom mod flag.

This was the best answer that I could get at that time, but after a bit of thought on the issue, my general take-away has been that not all "impossible" questions are impossible.

For instance, consider a question that I posted in August 2011 regarding a feature of an old C compiler.

LCC— How to stop debugger from breaking at the start of the application?

When I initially asked this question I assumed there was a setting buried somewhere that could cut this behavior off. However, after a bit of comment discussion I learned that this was impossible from a practical sense. Eventually, though, a less than conventional solution was found!

User ruslan provided a not-too-simple answer that involved decompiling and patching the binary! I had assumed my question would never be answered with a real response but I was wrong.

The bottom line is, impossible doesn't always mean "impossible". Sometimes legitimate hacks and tricks can provide a solution to seemingly unanswerable problems. Also, impossible questions regarding software can become answerable, in the future, if the software is updated by the developers to provide the discussed functionality. This can be especially true if you are working with pseudo-beta software that some companies like to release into production (cough anythingmadebygoogle cough.)

If an update to the software occurs that addresses the questioner's issue, it's completely legitimate to post an answer that mentions the software update that solved the problem. If a software patch is ever a likely scenario, I personally think it's worth letting the question "dangle" as unanswered until a solution is found.  

I've had this happen in many cases. I've been surprised with some of the legitimate, albeit unconventional, answers that I've received.

I asked a similar question on Meta.SO, just over a year ago.

What should we do about potentially unanswerable questions?

In the comments to the question's single answer, Yawus states:

 

[Q]uestions with content issues can generally be closed as "Not constructive" or with a custom mod flag.

This was the best answer that I could get at that time, but after a bit of thought on the issue, my general take-away has been that not all "impossible" questions are impossible.

For instance, consider a question that I posted in August 2011 regarding a feature of an old C compiler.

LCC— How to stop debugger from breaking at the start of the application?

When I initially asked this question I assumed there was a setting buried somewhere that could cut this behavior off. However, after a bit of comment discussion I learned that this was impossible from a practical sense. Eventually, though, a less than conventional solution was found!

User ruslan provided a not-too-simple answer that involved decompiling and patching the binary! I had assumed my question would never be answered with a real response but I was wrong.

The bottom line is, impossible doesn't always mean "impossible". Sometimes legitimate hacks and tricks can provide a solution to seemingly unanswerable problems. Also, impossible questions regarding software can become answerable, in the future, if the software is updated by the developers to provide the discussed functionality. This can be especially true if you are working with pseudo-beta software that some companies like to release into production (cough anythingmadebygoogle cough.)

If an update to the software occurs that addresses the questioner's issue, it's completely legitimate to post an answer that mentions the software update that solved the problem. If a software patch is ever a likely scenario, I personally think it's worth letting the question "dangle" as unanswered until a solution is found.

I've had this happen in many cases. I've been surprised with some of the legitimate, albeit unconventional, answers that I've received.