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This question.

The reason why the question was closed is "This question needs details or clarity". Let's follow the link.

Needs details or clarity - Sometimes we need more information in order to help solve your problem.

Edit your post to be more specific about what you're looking for, and be sure to address any concerns that other users brought up in the comments.

Did other users raise any concerns in the comments? Not really. Comments don't suggest how this question should be improved in any way. And it's is already answered.

It could use slight touch-up, but I don't see how closing it helps. Will it get improved quicker when closed? Quite the opposite, and it won't be reachable from search engines.

I think the main "problem" with this question is that it's quite niche: it's about converting a Chromebook into a PC and most users aren't familiar with this. This doesn't mean that the question is unclear, only that users may lack the knowledge about this issue (which is okay, and not a reason to close).

3 Answers 3

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Okay, I did see you post this earlier, but Apologies - I only read it closely after you mentioned it in relation to my other Meta question here on the "Needs clarity or details" topic.

I had scanned @Mokubai's response, and it looked reasonable to me. On that basis, I did not at that time, read the original question. I do tend to agree with @Mokubai's reasoning far more often than not, so I glossed over it.

In retrospect and after reading the original question closely, I felt (note the past-tense) the question shouldn't have been closed (or stayed close).

@Mokubai said: I was on the fence with this one.

I was on the fence as well, and ultimately (after further research) I agree that it should remain closed, but it seems like for different reasons (detailed below).

Why the question might should be reopened (or not closed in the first place)

Taking the original question on its own merits:

I have HP x360 2022 Chromebook where is the write protection screw placed on MB in this model.can I install windows 10 mrchromebox

I rewrote this as:

I have an HP x360 2022 Chromebook. Where is the write protection screw placed on the motherboard in this model? I'd like to install Windows 10 with MrChromebox.

I have to wonder if the question would have been closed if it had used proper grammar and (practically any) punctuation in the first place. It definitely wasn't "clear" given the broken English and lack of punctuation, but if it was understandable enough for another community member to either (a) edit it, and/or (b) answer it, then it's probably not "unclear" enough to VTC.

Mokubai's reasoning for leaving it closed:

It is almost entirely focused on a problem (the write protect screw) that may not actually exist.

So? While I hate to do it, a negative answer (e.g. "it's not possible or "it doesn't exist") is perfectly acceptable here, and I've had to do it before. A user doesn't know in advance whether or what they are asking is possible or not. I don't see that as a valid reason for the question to be (or remain) closed.

That said, the focus of the problem was wrong (see below).

installing Windows does not appear to be an intended feature on a Chromebook

As you (gronostaj) mentioned in the comments, I don't think this is a good reason to close or keep closed either. I get a boatload of questions on (my favored tag) that are outside the bounds of its "normally intended use". That can make answering them even more fun! ;-) But they aren't off-topic or "unclear" as a result.

there is almost no real actionable detail in the question such as what they tried, where they were stuck, or why they think it should be possible.

Apologies, but it seems pretty obvious that they had read somewhere that the write protect screw was an important part of being able to accomplish the task (installing Windows on the device).

What had they tried? Probably to find where the screw was, which would be a bit difficult since it apparently doesn't exist on that model!

Where were they stuck? Finding the nonexistent screw!

Why did they think it was possible? Clearly some instructions that they were (erroneously) trying to follow for another, older device. Would it have made a difference if they had included a link to those instructions? It doesn't seem like having those instructions as a reference point was going to change the answer.

From the comments on the question, the OP asks how they proceed from there, with the response being:

@Burgi: You need to go into details on what you have tried or this question is going to keep getting closed.

IMHO, the proper response is that they need to post a new question on that. The original question was answered. An edit to focus on the new (X instead of Y) question would be inappropriate.

Why the question might should remain closed

Focusing purely on the question itself, my main complaint (other than the fixable grammar and punctuation) is that it seems to me to be a clear XY Problem. The real question is how to install Windows 10 on the device. That should have been the focus of the question, rather than the write-protect screw.

However, for me personally there's a deeper reason why I would prefer to leave this question closed. I'm not sure whether it's acceptable to say it or not, but after reading some of the user's other posts, there seems to me to be a pattern of "problematic" posts, both here on other SE sites, for many years. This includes:

  • Severe lack of proper punctuation and capitalization, along with continuing poor grammar. While I'm very supportive of those in our community who have trouble communicating in English, it is by policy the language that Super User posts must use. If a user continues to post with very broken English with no improvement over a span of years (and many, many posts), then I'm less inclined to give their posts the benefit-of-the-doubt in the future.

  • A high percentage of closed questions (and those are just the ones that I can see that haven't been Roomba'd).

  • Sometimes inappropriate (sometimes complete garbage) edits to both their posts and others' posts.

  • And sorry, to say, rule violations that I'll flag for moderators elsewhere

I really don't want to encourage this pattern to continue. I'd like for this user's posts to improve to the point where there's no question or debate that they are good posts.

I certainly have no way of knowing for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if I'm not the first to notice this pattern, and others may not be giving the benefit-of-the-doubt on "borderline" unclear questions for the same reasons.

As one final example, less than two weeks after having this particular question closed (and downvoted), this question from the same user pops up (reposting here since it will be Roomba'd). And it's much, much worse ...

Lenovo core i3 slim lapt6

It's a general question about the device company has given a shutter lock on device camera? What is the use any app if uses camera than light turns on they believe in their OS or not can be turned off on via console and what about Android smartphones front camera many apps uses and Android also emerged from Linux almost all smartphones company uses their own distro layer over Android 12

I don't think there's any debate that this was a proper "Needs details or clarity" close. It looks to me like a pure "Google Translate" question (e.g. "device company" instead of "manufacturer" or OEM). And what the heck does the title have to do with the question?

Anyway, at this point, I think the proper action is to:

  • Leave both of these questions closed.
  • Perhaps a mod could reach out directly to the user to suggest improving the post quality? This, of course, may have already happened.
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I was on the fence with this one.

My main problem is that there is almost no real actionable detail in the question such as what they tried, where they were stuck, or why they think it should be possible.

It is almost entirely focused on a problem (the write protect screw) that may not actually exist.

I'm also edging towards classifying Chromebooks as off topic in the same way as Android phones and tablets are. Even in this day and age installing Windows does not appear to be an intended feature on a Chromebook. It appears that there is a lot of non-standard hardware without Windows or other operating system drivers.

You wrote a nice succinct answer, but that does not really change the low quality nature of the question.

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  • I don't think we should classify it as off-topic just because it's not the intended way of using this hardware. It's hacky and everyone trying it should be aware of it, but we've probably been answering many questions with hacky answers. I've quickly looked through the Hackintosh meta questions and I think being hacky wasn't even mentioned as an argument for banning them, quite the opposite actually. This may apply to converted Chromebooks too.
    – gronostaj
    Aug 11, 2022 at 10:34
  • My main problem isn't that it isn't intended, it's that the question is so content-free that it is literally a guessing game as to where they are stuck or why. That it is unintended is more of an aside that is just more ammunition against it.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Aug 11, 2022 at 10:37
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it won't be reachable from search engines.

Separate topic, so a separate answer. Besides, my other answer is (as usual) way too long.

Closed questions are indexed. I don't they think should be, for a number of reasons (see this Meta SE question).

It's fairly easy to confirm this by inspecting the page source for the closed question -- You will not find a noindex directive. On the other hand, you will find that all of the social networking index tools are still present in closed questions.

For the question being discussed, it's already indexed and found via, for example Google (or if you prefer StartPage).

I really hate that SE still allows indexing of closed questions. It's really one of my biggest issues with the site(s).

My main reasons are:

  • The closed question may have outdated answers which are now (due to changes since the original question) sub-optimal or even flat-out-wrong. Because it is closed, it's impossible to provide a new, updated answer.

  • Questions that are closed as off-topic may have better answers on a more appropriate site. For instance, a webapps question here may have several answers, but be (correctly) closed. It's entirely possible that there are in-topic, current questions and answers on WebApps (.stackexchange.com).

    However, because Super user is more popular than WebApps, the search engines will place the closed question on Super User higher (often much higher) than the better one on WebApps.

  • It's for this reason that I typically won't VTC a question that has an answer, especially if I think there's a chance someone will post a better answer. I hate to leave the off-topic question open, but it's still going to be indexed anyway. Better to leave it open (ugh) and allow new answers than to close it and "lock in" the bad (or eventually outdated) answers.

  • To prevent "bad answers" from being locked in, I have to hope that off-topic or otherwise "bad" questions are closed quickly (or not at all), when I'd rather give the user the chance to correct the problems first. So I'm torn between being lenient (for "friendliness" on the site) or quick-to-close (to prevent the site from locking in bad answers). Ugh again!

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