# What types of questions should I avoid asking on StackExchange?

**URL:** <https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/what-types-of-questions-should-i-avoid-asking-on-stackexchange/227>\
**Category:** Meta Discussion\
**Created:** [June 3, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/what-types-of-questions-should-i-avoid-asking-on-stackexchange/227 "2018-06-03T15:22:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aculich](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/user_avatar/ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/aculich/32/79_2.png) [@aculich](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/u/aculich)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/what-types-of-questions-should-i-avoid-asking-on-stackexchange/227/1 "2018-06-03T15:22:41Z")

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What types of questions should I avoid asking? Are there questions that are not appropriate for StackExchange?

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**Author:** ![aculich](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/user_avatar/ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/aculich/32/79_2.png) [@aculich](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/u/aculich)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/what-types-of-questions-should-i-avoid-asking-on-stackexchange/227/2 "2018-06-03T16:06:20Z")

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First, make sure that your question is [on-topic for this Research Computing Q&A site](https://researchcomputing.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/what-topics-can-i-ask-about-on-our-research-computing-q-a-site/228).

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of StackExchange and push other questions off the front page.

Your questions should be reasonably scoped. If you can imagine an entire book that answers your question, you’re asking too much.

If your motivation for asking the question is “I would like to participate in a discussion about \_\_\_\_\_\_”, then you should not be asking here. However, if your motivation is “I would like others to explain \_\_\_\_\_\_ to me”, then you are probably OK. (Discussions are of course welcome in our real time web chat.)

**To prevent your question from being flagged [and possibly removed](https://math.stackexchange.com/help/deleted-questions), avoid asking subjective questions where …**

- every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite \_\_\_\_\_\_ ?”
- your answer is provided along with the question, and you expect more answers: “I use \_\_\_\_\_\_ for \_\_\_\_\_\_ , what do you use?”
- there is no actual problem to be solved: “I’m curious if other people feel like I do.”
- you are asking an open-ended, hypothetical question: “What if \_\_\_\_\_\_ happened?”
- your question is just a rant in disguise: “\_\_\_\_\_\_ sucks, am I right?”

(The above section was adapted from [MetaFilter’s FAQ](http://faq.metafilter.com/tags/chatfilter).)

**Some subjective questions are allowed, but “subjective” does not mean “anything goes”. All subjective questions are expected to be constructive.** What does that mean? Constructive subjective questions:

- inspire answers that explain “why” and “how”
- tend to have long, not short, answers
- have a constructive, fair, and impartial tone
- invite sharing experiences over opinions
- insist that opinion be backed up with facts and references
- are more than just mindless social fun

For more detail, read about our [guidelines for great subjective questions](https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/09/29/good-subjective-bad-subjective/) and blog post about how [real questions have answers[([https://stackoverflow.blog/2011/01/17/real-questions-have-answers/](https://stackoverflow.blog/2011/01/17/real-questions-have-answers/)).