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Problem: I calculated that about the half of Superuser's questions are about "Best Hardware" or "Best Laptop for Children" or "Any use sound card these days".

Suggestion for an improvement

Change this

We prefer questions that can be answered, not just discussed.

to

We prefer questions that can be answered. Questions like "Best Laptop?" or "You use sound-card?" will be removed.

My sample data shows that some people do not understand the main point in the statement. Most of the questions are hyperbolic which should be minimized.

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  • 1
    Do you mean hypothetical?
    – Justin 'jjnguy' Nelson
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 21:50
  • Why is this tagged as a bug?
    – TM
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 21:53
  • I changed the title, since it was old. I mean to change the description to give an example about the type of questions which is allowed.
    – Masi
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 22:06
  • It is a bug in the description, since it does not give a signal to users that "Best-hardware" -questions are not allowed.
    – Masi
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 22:10
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    I think he means parabolic.
    – Nosredna
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 22:45
  • The sound card one just had a bad title, the question other wise had some merit.
    – Brad Gilbert
    Commented Jul 21, 2009 at 0:03
  • I thought the convention was now "Must have"?
    – Lucas Jones
    Commented Aug 1, 2009 at 12:31
  • Just because the answer is complicated doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
    – user1232
    Commented Apr 19, 2011 at 18:28

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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I'm not surprised that early on their are a lot of "best of" questions. However, as time goes on I would hope and expect this to mostly resolve itself. Perhaps improving the description of what types of questions are desired would be helpful, but you have to be careful with the wording.

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    +1: I agree with you. We need to measure what is the description which minimizes "the best" like questions.
    – Masi
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 22:09
  • will be solved alone, most people were so enthusiast of SU that does many of these type of questions the first week. Now the situation is already getting better.
    – marco.ragogna
    Commented Aug 1, 2009 at 10:27
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I don't think that the solution to poor question topics is to forbid hardware discussion in general.

I think there are a lot of great "real questions" that can come up related to hardware, whether it be related to troubleshooting, compatibility, installation, or a number of other factors.

Additionally, I don't see any lack of "best ___" threads for software.

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  • @TM: I fixed the title. --- It was an old title which is not about my suggestion for an improvement.
    – Masi
    Commented Jul 20, 2009 at 22:07
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I completely disagree with you on this... SuperUser was advertised as the almost anything goes site so long as its computer related... Questions like Must Haves or Best ofs should remain on the site, but subjective questions should be Community Wiki. As the site matures and mods are created, that will only get better.

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What about questions like "I am planning to buy Laptop Lenovo G350, is it best for database and graphic design project?", recently closed on SO. Would this be an appropriate question for SU?

Among other things, SU users could ask where the OP is getting a SQL Server 2000 license for a new laptop.

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  • If you have MSDN subscription you can get a license for almost any Microsoft software, excluded the most recent. I can get SQL2000 license too :) - and sometimes you don't even have to pay for MSDN. Some universities and companies have partnerships with MS
    – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ
    Commented Jan 22, 2013 at 8:04
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For better or worse, it is in our nature to rank and categorize.

"Best-of" anything is what many people search for (who doesn't want the best?).

These kinds of posts will likely get several thousands of views each.

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