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In the past, there were strong reasons for the choices that had to be made while formatting a new drive, and the system administrators sometimes had damn good reasons for particular choices. Two decades ago I did a lot of system administration, so I know very well that what I'm talking about.

However, now, my post setting up external 1TB SSD is now closed as "opinion-based", although it handles the same question in modern times.

Why?

In my understanding, though some answers in the comments are opinion-based, other answers are argument-based. Moreover, whether the answers are opinion-based or not changes nothing on whether the question is opinion-based or not. There is a difference between opinion-based answers and opinion-based questions. Some users gave valid technical, argument-based (rather than opinion-based) reasons in comments (which are gone now, unfortunately) why particular choices make a difference today, whereas others, on the contrary, gave technical reasons why any choice would do. Saying "you can format your drive as you wish in case ... because of technical reason ..." and "you are advised to setup the file system XYZ in case ... because of technical reason ..." would provide a reader with valid answers.

In fact, the question is technical to the best of my experience. I know very well which answer I would accept, if there would be proper answers based on the comments, and for which technical reasons (rather than for which opinions).

Therefore, I kindly ask to vote for reopening the question.

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    @MdAyq6, I personally do not understand why you went to these lengths. Why didn't you just edit the question to be on-topic instead of going through mental gymnastics trying to convince people that it was. (The community also moderates closures here, and we also vote on re-opening questions after they have been edited.) Also from what I have generally seen, the community reacts negatively to poor attitudes, whether the question is on-topic or not... remember, in the end It's a volunteer community, and no one has any obligation at all, whatsoever to even answer your question. May 18, 2020 at 21:46
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    @Tim_Stewart - The reason the author went to the lengths is they were not interested in fixing the problems with their question, they just wanted an answer to their question, and did not care about if the community thought the question meet our standards. This is evident by the fact the author has shared they are angry with the community.
    – Ramhound
    May 21, 2020 at 13:50

2 Answers 2

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You wrote, "the best file system to use”. That's not what I wrote. In fact, I intentionally avoided saying "the best system to use". I said, "important/relevant for the stated purposes". There's a difference. I looked up and have not seen me ever stating "best".

I paraphrased one of your questions, in my paraphrase I used the word “best”, but “better” and “best” mean basically the same thing in the English language in my opinion. I have now specified the fact, I paraphrased one of your many questions, later in my answer.

Your answer is inconsistent. After you tried to insult my intelligence by saying that better and best are the same in English and wished me a good day, I don't have to continue this discussion

I respectfully disagree that my answer is inconsistent. It certainly wasn't my intention to insult your intelligence, when I indicated that a question that uses the word "better" or "best", are virtually identical in my opinion. While it's understandable you are upset about the closure of your question, it seems based on the tone of your most recent comments, you are not assuming I have the best intentions. I am not the first person within the community you have become noticeable upset with.

Therefore, I kindly ask to vote for reopening the question.

I respectfully decline to issue a reopen vote on your current question. If the scope of the question was reduced to a couple of questions, and those questions were no longer seeking our opinion, my stance and reopening the question might change.

In fact, the question is technical to the best of my experience. I know very well which answer I would accept if the comments were converted into answers, and for which technical reasons (rather than for which opinions).

Honestly, the commentary that was posted, would make horrible answers to your question. Your question even in its current form cannot be answered in a couple of sentences. In fact, the one answer you did receive, is actually extremely low quality in my opinion.

There is a difference between opinion-based answers and opinion-based questions.

A question is closed when it’s asking for the community's opinion. That is indeed the case when a question asks for, and I paraphrase, “... what is the best file system to use”.

In my understanding, though some answers in the comments are opinion-based, other answers are argument-based.

Commentary is not an answer to a question. Commentary attempting to answer your question should actually be flagged for deletion.

Why was my question closed as "opinion-based", although it handles the same question, in modern times.

Your question was closed due to your multiple questions within your question body. The answers to each of these questions would be highly opinionated.

In fact, the best evidence of this fact is the answer you already received. Ironically, by having so many questions that attempted to clarify your question, it became an extremely broad question that asked 6 different questions.

At the end of the day, Windows uses NTFS by default. Modern versions of Windows can only be installed on NTFS. Windows also doesn’t support any other file system that supports journaling natively.

I would like to point out there hasn’t been an actual new file system released in more than a decade. Even if one has been released it isn’t natively supported by Windows.

Here are those 6 questions from your current question.

  1. Which partition-table type would serve my purposes better: MBR or GPT?

  2. Which cluster size do I choose?

  3. Which file system would serve my purposes better: exFAT or NTFS?

  4. Do I leave it at "standard", whatever this might mean, or is something else more appropriate?

  5. How important are the above tradeoffs for the stated purposes?

  6. Are there more points that are relevant for the stated purposes?

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A question cannot be opinion-based.

A question is a request for information: it does not state either facts or opinions, but, rather, it asks the responder to provide those. The o/p is seeking information, not providing it.

You might debate the issue of whether a question ought to be allowed here if it implies the existence of some fact which is incorrect. But it is in the nature of a question that the user asking it does not know the correct answer. Therefore a question might well imply some facts which are not correct. It is illogical to deny an answer, merely on the grounds that the o/p does not know the correct answer!

An answer might contain facts, or it might contain opinions. If it cites a published authority, it can usually be said to present facts. If no authority is specified, the reply is merely an opinion.

But a question is not an opinion: the o/p does not know enough to give an opinion (i.e. as to whether or not the facts are correct), because he isn't stating facts.

It may be otherwise if the o/p is both asking and answering his own question. But if he is only asking for information, it is up to the user who replies whether to cite any published authority for the reply given; and if such authority is accurately cited in the reply, it is a factual answer.

A question might be off-topic; but if it is not, then a questioner should not be snubbed merely because he asks a question to which he doesn't know the answer. And if he doesn't know, he is only giving an opinion if he also gives an (incorrect) answer -- but that is not a good reason for denying him the correct answer by closing his question.

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    I disagree with this answer. "This question is likely to be answered with opinions rather than facts and citations. It should be updated so it will lead to fact-based answers." is one of the default close reasons that exist on every single Stack Exchange community website. A question that is seeking the community opinion, or will be answered by an opinion, should be closed by choosing the appropriate close reason. For instance "Which partition-table type would serve my purposes better: MBR or GPT?", can only be answered by somebody's opinion, in my opinion.
    – Ramhound
    May 22, 2020 at 16:02
  • If you that strongly about the author’s question you should vote to reopen it. I won’t be doing that personally, since I believe the author’s question, requires a great deal of work before even being eligible for that privilege.
    – Ramhound
    Jun 2, 2020 at 11:36

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