Unclear asking VS VLQ flag

Question

I have recently flagged a question as "Very Low Quality". This flag has been declined, then the question has been put on hold as "Unclear what you're asking". The decline message said that I should use a standard flag instead to help prioritize problems.

It is this question: Extracting frames from video in VLC Player [on hold]

To me, the asker does state what they are trying to achieve. Instead, this question shows more a lack of personal effort, and combined with its brevity and poor formatting this makes it (in my opinion) a very bad post.

Thus, I would like information to help me improve my flagging practices in the future:

• What makes this specific question qualify more for Unclear What You're Asking flag than Very Low Quality?
• When should I use the VLQ flag? What kind of elements might qualify or disqualify a question for VLQ?

Answer 1

The comment of the VLQ flag states

This question has severe formatting or content problems. This question is unlikely to be salvageable through editing, and might need to be removed.

While the question is brief, shows a lack of effort and, as you mention, information on what they are trying to achieve it does have a clear question.

How to extract from a video frame by frame pictures using VLC media player?

It has formatting issues sure, but they can be corrected by editing. There is no reason it is not salvageable and while it is not clear why it must be done using VLC there is no real reason why it can't be done at all if the program did support it.

If it transpired that VLC cannot do it, but another program could then an answer stating "you can't do this in VLC because. . . But here's how you do it in . . . " would be acceptable as long as you are trying to solve the underlying problem and explaining why it is not possible with the tool mentioned.

To me there is nothing that makes the question completely unsalvageable, asking why VLC is a requirement or suggesting alternatives via a comment would clear up ambiguity, but VLQ doesn't feel like it applies here.

I'm not addressing why it was closed as unclear. To me the question is clear but potentially misguided.