Why was this non-opinion question closed as opinion-based?

Question

When this question was first written, it was missing some key details. Thus, one or two people voted it as opinion-based. This made sense, as without those key details, the question could certainly be interpreted as opinion-based.

The comments on the post made me aware of the missing information (special thanks to Journeyman Geek), so I added a whole bunch of key information.

Yet after I spent my time adding all this key information, it appears that moderator DavidPostill came around and voted to close the question as opinion-based, even though it was clearly not asking for an opinion. Unfortunately, Stack Exchange gives moderators too much power in this regard (I'm a moderator on another Stack Exchange site, so I'm certainly not mod-bashing), and this resulting in my post being immediately closed. If I'm misinterpreting what happened, please accept my apology, as I'm trying in good faith to be accurate with what transpired given the data presented to me by Stack Exchange.

Why was this question closed after the needed edits were made? This question is very simple: it asks how much free space Windows 11 needs to operate to perform its basic functions. If that's opinion-based, then all questions on Super User can be considered opinion-based.

Please note that in the question's comments, one helpful community member (thank you Frank Thomas!) has already provided a factual data point that helps pinpoint the answer to this question. It's a singular data point, so can't suffice as an answer, but is indicative that this is not an opinion-based question, but a question that can be answered with facts.

Answer 1

I voted to reopen your question, then I began pondering your question while writing a comment, and then I retracted my vote.

A few factors to consider:

• The closing category options are narrow and often a question fits several, and we just pick the one we feel fits best.
• You not thinking it is opinion-based is, well, your opinion. (Please take that in a jocular way; it is meant humorously, but not as a joke.)
• A question being closed here does not mean it is a bad question. LOADS of very good questions simply don't fit the Question and Answer format of the SE sites. Yes, if your question is closed, it is a good idea to consider how better the question may be asked, but if the question already clearly conveys the situation, includes all relevant details, etc, it may be a case of this site not being the right place for that question.

In considering your question I began to recognize several more factors you had not yet considered that would impact the space a given install would require, and the more I think about this the more I think the answer you already got of 10-20 GB is probably a safe bet to begin with, and as firm and singular an answer as you could reasonably get, but it won't cover every case and situation, and more importantly, in order to suss out those specific details and give each and all of them the attention they need this question needs open discussion like it would find on a forum and not a Q/A site like this. Your efforts to narrow and focus the impacting factors is laudable, but with the several more factors I was able to consider (hibernation via hiberfil.sys, the amount of RAM on your system impacting the size of pagefile are two of them), once we get everything narrowed down, you're too far into theoretical territory, and this is the primary reason I can think of why your question was closed rightly and should remain closed:

Your question is too theoretical to be answered effectively in our format, and your question would be better suited and better served on a forum where open and ongoing discussion are the format and goal.