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Another SuperUser user voted to have my question closed as off-topic due to asking for recommendations. I asked whether 4K TVs with DisplayPort exist. That's not directly asking for recommendations, although providing examples of said items is ideal.

Assuming this does qualify as a recommendation question: A question on the Meta site mentions hardware questions and that recommendations aren't allowed. Denying recommendations on StackExchange seems like a strange policy since there's a SE site dedicated just to software recommendations and a similar one for hardware recommendations (beta).

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  • Asking for list of things is off-topic on SU. Smart TVs are off-topic. Try Hardware Recommendations. but please first read What is required for a question to be 'high quality'?".
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 19:54
  • That TVs can be used with computers makes them only tangentially related to computers. They are not specifically computer hardware in my book. Whether they get DisplayPort is up to the manufacturers.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 19:56
  • One of the reasons why product recommendation questions are off-topic is because the value of the information has a limited timeframe. Asking whether something exists has that problem. Today it might not, tomorrow it might. It wouldn't have that issue if you ask a technical question, like "Is there a technical issue that precludes making ABC hardware that does X?" assuming the hardware is on-topic.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 7:39

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My take (as a user, not as a moderator) is that questions relating to hardware devices and how they connect to a computer would be on topic. Asking if a certain part exists feels very borderline.

Reasons to say it is off topic would include the fact that MANY questions asking this are poorly written, and are not received well by the community. Those that do ask good questions with the details we need to form a proper answer will usually involve turning it into a hardware recommendation (which is off topic).

My reason to say it is on topic is if it is being used strictly from a computer. In this case, it may also come down to an XY Problem, and would need to be edited anyways.

In your particular case, with the 4K TVs with DisplayPort input, I'd probably re-write it to ask about what to look for to get 4K resolution through a DisplayPort cable, or something similar. If that happens to show off products that can do it, then the answers are hopefully helpful enough for the next person to understand that yes, something exists, or no, something does not exist.

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  • I don't think my question qualifies as an XY problem. I am not looking for just any way to get a 4K signal to a TV or to a non-large DisplayPort display, and I am not interested in using a converter. I am considering having my question migrated to Hardware Recs SE.
    – Aaron Franke
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 20:29
  • @AaronFranke Yours isn't, but Meta is also about the general question population as well, not just yours.
    – Canadian Luke
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 20:55
  • There's also the problem of these questions becoming irrelevant very quickly, which raises the background noise level for others searching the site for answers.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 3:25

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