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A moderator closed my question for being subjective, when I think is was not. About the differences between doc and HTML.

Does he get reputation points for closing questions?

I find it extremely annoying that the sites are so heavily moderated, and it is the biggest downfall of SO and SU.

Sorry, this bit was not about Random. and the question was iphone related but then in the comments II asked about whether it was suitable to discuss the ipad on SU, because if it was then the iphone would also be suitable. For example I can't ask a question about the ipad on SU, as when I did it got closed, so I asked why and he said the device did not run a full OS so it couldn't be asked. But when I then asked what defines a full OS, as you can almost do anything on an iPad that you can do on a laptop, he conveniently didn't reply.

Some personal messaging system would be great.

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  • 1
    @Jon I think the iPad thing has been discussed here, covering all points and arguments. Do you have a link for your question?
    – Pekka
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:32
  • Related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/36202/…
    – Pekka
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:33
  • Can't remember really debating about the iPad. Which question was it?
    – random
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 8:18
  • @random - the related one from Pekka.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 8:22
  • 2
    @random: the user asked an iphone question which got closed; perhaps that's the "ipad" question he's thinking of.
    – quack quixote
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 8:29
  • 6
    If you have a disagreement with a moderator, it's good to keep it in the open.
    – random
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 8:46
  • sorry for the confusion, I have edited my question.
    – Jon
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 10:12
  • Can i delete this question and start again?
    – Jon
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 10:13
  • Comment replies: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/43019/…
    – random
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 10:41
  • random, you get rep for closing questions??? I KNEW it.
    – hyperslug
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 18:51

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You are in the right place to discuss the question. Thanks for following up, I wish more users did that!

As for your question, I think random was correct to close it as "subjective and argumentative". It's not really answerable:

Why does Microsoft office and other office suites have their own formats, why don't all processors use HTML? It extremely universal.

You can replace the word "HTML" here with anything. Plain text. PDF. XML. Whatever. These are also "extremely universal".

The second part is also problematic:

What advantages are they to saving a document as doc/docx over html?

This is an invitation to a (rather opinion based) "list of X" question. It's not an actual problem you're having, it's just a discussion of people's opinions about why this might be better in some theoretical way .. just because.

Bottom line, you should come with specific questions about specific situations you have at hand -- those are answerable questions.

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    Well, these are the exact same kind of thoughts that ran through before closing.
    – random
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 8:21
  • I was asking about the tehcnical differences more, like for example, and answer could have been "HTML documents can have bold text, doc's can't, this is why HTMl is better" (obviously its not true)
    – Jon
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 10:15
  • 3
    @Jon: you may have intended to ask about technical differences between HTML and .DOC, but that's not what you wrote. keep in mind closing isn't permanent -- you can edit the question to be more acceptable, or to clarify your intentions, and it's possible for it to be reopened.
    – quack quixote
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 12:35
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I find it extremely annoying that the sites are so heavily moderated, and it is the biggest downfall of SO and SU.

Moderating is necessary to avoid falling to the "anything goes" scheme, which in the end helps nobody. There are rules to keep things clean, and people with moderating powers to apply them.

Also, don't take it on a particular moderator. Users with 3000+ reputation can vote to close your question as well, and in my case, I would have (as well as others), for the reasons explained in Jeff's answer.

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  1. Moderators don't get reputation for closing questions.
  2. You'll need to post links to the questions you're referencing to get any useful answers here. (EDIT: link added)
  3. Personal messaging systems have been discussed, and declined, here before.
  4. This "question" above sounds more like a rant.
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  • It probably is a rant, but I'm not sure whether it should have been closed.
    – Pekka
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:37
  • @Pekka: debatable, sure, but Jon's question above is unfocused and unhelpfully phrased.
    – Michael Petrotta
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:40
  • @Michael yes, but it would deserve a chance to be improved IMO, as the question itself is valuable - why are there proprietary formats? On the other hand, thinking of the answers likely to come up, I can see why somebody would close it as subjective. Hmmm.
    – Pekka
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:42
  • @Pekka - I'm commenting on Jon's rant here on MSO, not his original question on SU. I can see the confusion. The SU question, that's debatable, and I doubt I would have voted to close.
    – Michael Petrotta
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:45
  • @Michael ah, I see, misunderstood.
    – Pekka
    Commented Apr 25, 2010 at 7:51

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