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I asked this question about an issue I am experiencing with software (Microsoft Outlook). The question was mod-closed under the assumption/reason that I should report the issue to Microsoft or more specifically Bing Maps. Whether or not this is the case, the question was about how I can get the issue resolved, which may or may not include completing a form, utilising an endpoint on the Bing Maps Locations API, or some other means.

If contacting Microsoft or Bing Maps (and the method to do so) is the definitive answer, then this would be a valid answer, and would not in itself retroactively make the question invalid for SU.

Please could I get an opinion on this in the hope that the question can be reopened as I do not believe this question falls into the realms of being off-topic judging from here? It states that SU is for questions relating to computer software. Microsoft Outlook is computer software, and I have a question about it which relates to behaviour that I am having an issue with.

My question does not fall under any of the bullet points that questions should not be about.

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    I've reluctantly reopened it, I hope you get an answer ...
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 16:51
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    people are too trigger happy about close votes. A question's closability should be based on how many views the question has and how old it is. Unless it's a dupe (or spam/incomprehensible, in which case it should probably be deleted), a question with less than 100 (or some other reasonable number of ) views should not be closable. How will anybody get answers if there haven't even been enough eyeballs on their question?
    – user13267
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 19:24
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    @user13267 One week ago, here: We have bad question closing habits
    – bertieb
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 20:22
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    Interesting that the mod involved in closing my question commented on that topic a week ago, so was aware of the sentiment, yet still was trigger happy on closing.
    – Neo
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 17:03
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    To be honest, nothing's quite as frustrating, as finding all these "contact the vendor" answers to a question I have myself, instead of finding actual answers here. There are things that are done via proprietary backends and there's not much a customer can do about it, but for some things there are viable options for self-help and I wish those would be documented here, instead of just spamming "contact the vendor" without even considering this might be one of those self remedied things.
    – Ari 'APz' Sovijärvi
    Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 12:32

1 Answer 1

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Based on what's been presented, I agree with you, and you've taken the right approach by escalating to Meta.

There's nothing in the rules that I can see that says that issues that can only be resolved by a vendor are off-topic, nor should there be. To "know" that that's no other workaround available would require a level of omniscience that isn't (in my non-omniscient opinion), a mod power on the site 😉.

While I do think it's unlikely that you will get an answer, it appears to me to be a reasonable question and one that should (under the site rules as I understand them) be reopened.

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    Thank you for your considered answer. Appreciated, not least because you agreed with me. 😉 But I also think I may not get an answer anytime soon. My hope is that Google will do its job for other people having the same issue so that they will upvote this in future with a view to eventually someone having an answer be it in 1 month, 1 year, or 1 decade!
    – Neo
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 17:38
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    @Neo: "1 decade" -> SE also has a bad habit of deleting questions: meta.stackexchange.com/q/355097/178179
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Aug 10, 2022 at 5:46

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