38
votes
Accepted
Disallowing Explicit Exclusion of Languages
It depends
I think there are (at least) two very different cases, and the question as posed doesn't distinguish them.
Case 1: banning languages the OP doesn't like
Penalties for using "golfing ...
- 43.1k
35
votes
Proposal to lock the Language Showcase as historically significant
Problems I see with locking the Showcase
We have practically nowhere else to post what we can post on the showcase. You can always put them in the language's readme on GitHub, but I prefer the ...
- 49.9k
22
votes
Proposal to lock the Language Showcase as historically significant
The showcase is part of a unique category of pop-cons that should be on topic.
Before I explain this, consider for a second why we banished code-trolling, underhanded and now are considering ...
- 11.2k
17
votes
How could the default close reasons be improved?
Alternative phrasing for "Unclear":
Please clarify the specification or add additional details to highlight exactly what is required. As currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what qualifies ...
- 43.1k
16
votes
Accepted
Should we close old KoTH challenges as off-topic?
I don't think the intention of the "answers must be competitive" rule ever was to close all questions which can't be improved on, nor does requiring closing follow from noticing a question which has ...
- 20.2k
15
votes
Accepted
New close reason for outside programming challenges
No, it's too narrow
We only get 5 custom close reasons. Let's save them for something better.
The off-topic questions I remember that mention off-site programming challenges are just "help me ...
- 144k
15
votes
Objective computational challenges without "code"
We should allow computational challenges of all sorts
tl;dr: This site is about puzzles based on programming, not puzzles whose solutions are programs. This challenge qualifies.
We currently accept ...
- 41.8k
15
votes
Proposal to lock the Language Showcase as historically significant
Closing this challenge is pointless even if out-of-scope
This challenge is still opened and…
…it still receives interesting answers showcasing new languages. I still receive upvotes semi-often on that ...
- 38.3k
14
votes
Should we disallow non-observable requirements?
Only for code golf
I think disallowing non-observable requirements is good, but should be limited to pure code golf (without restricted-complexity for instance). As Nathan Merrill points out, many ...
- 144k
14
votes
New close reason for outside programming challenges
As someone who isn't a member of PPCG, but is a member of both Stack Overflow & Code Review (with relatively high reputation on both), I'd have to emphatically disagree with the wording of both ...
- 101
14
votes
How could the default close reasons be improved?
Replace "Primarily opinion based" with "Needs objective scoring criterion"
We currently use a custom reason of "Off-topic" as "Needs objective scoring". That ...
- 14.4k
14
votes
Should we close old KoTH challenges as off-topic?
Personally, I don't see any need to close old challenges that have ended, as people can still post (non-competitive) answers to them
The "(non-competitive)" is a red herring.
In a well presented ...
- 43.1k
13
votes
Can we have a different Put On Hold message?
That's a standard message
Certain close messages are standard across all Stack Exchange sites and cannot be changed on a per-site basis. People who vote to close as unclear should specify in comments ...
- 24.6k
13
votes
Should we close old KoTH challenges as off-topic?
Having one of my questions being quickly close-voted for this reason, I think it shouldn't happen. Just because an answer is late to a challenge, I don't think it's bad or invalid. The late answers ...
- 18.5k
11
votes
Proposal to lock the Language Showcase as historically significant
No, don't close it, don't lock it
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Unless there are severe quality issues, don't let bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo get in the way of a challenge that many people are clearly ...
- 89.2k
10
votes
Couldn't there be more specific close reasons?
Unclear what you're asking means just that: it is unclear what you are asking for in your challenge spec. In almost all cases, further details should be left by the close voters as comments.
While ...
- 209k
10
votes
Valid Reasons to Close Questions
As discussed on chat, when we started using custom "Off topic" reasons we lost the default one. But it would actually be useful. So I propose adding a custom off topic reason:
This question is off ...
- 43.1k
10
votes
Accepted
How Can I Make my Question Better?
Welcome to Programming Puzzles & Code Golf! I'm delighted that you've joined our community. Making a challenge is difficult and we have a lot of not-so-obvious guidelines about what makes them ...
- 24.6k
10
votes
Accepted
For cops and robbers, what if the cops' thread is closed / put on hold?
Close the robbers thread.
If a challenge is closed, then no answers can be posted. cops-and-robbers challenges are made of two separate questions. Since we are closing challenges and not questions per ...
- 40.4k
9
votes
How do we close questions without an objective validity criterion?
Too Broad
There are either too many possible answers, or good answers would be too long for this format. Please add details to narrow the answer set or to isolate an issue that can be answered in a ...
- 19.7k
8
votes
Accepted
Kindly explain why it is not impossible to read the minds of users who voted to close a question citing "unclear what you're asking"
It is unclear
I wasn't one of the voters, but given the current question state I would also vote to close as unclear.
I've read the challenge description several times and I still don't know what it'...
- 43.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Why hasn't this question been reopened yet?
Reopening takes time
An unfortunate fact is that this site is not as active as it once was. That means accumulating the required reopen votes can take a while.
What you can do
The things I would ...
Wheat WizardMod
- 95.5k
8
votes
Closing as unclear to give way to another post?
The close reason is simple. You need details and clarity. There is no reason beyond that to close your question.
Here's a few things you can improve, to be specific:
You require a clear description ...
- 26.8k
7
votes
Should we disallow non-observable requirements?
This is a bad idea.
I like the sentiment of challenges being completely observable. I think that we should aim for questions to be as close to observable as possible, but I don't think it would be ...
- 14.4k
7
votes
How could the default close reasons be improved?
Rewording for "Duplicate"
"This challenge has already been posted. It is either an exact duplicate, or the differences are superficial enough that an answer could be copied with minor ...
- 38.3k
6
votes
"Too broad" close reason applied to "restricted source" puzzle
First off, I'm sorry that your first contribution to our site was so poorly received. I hope this doesn't discourage from posting more challenges. Writing good challenges is really hard, especially ...
- 58.8k
6
votes
How could the default close reasons be improved?
Rewording for "Unclear"
"Please clarify the specifications of your challenge. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what a valid answer to your challenge would be. You ...
- 38.3k
6
votes
Objective computational challenges without "code"
[R]ather than try to do some frankenscore of the program size and the compression size with some arcane mixing rule, a la the LZMA question, I just made the scoring all about the JPEG. Maybe if I ...
- 209k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible