Recently we had another instance of an anti-pattern that I call, "Good question, wrong forum" "Is there more modern history book with the same scope as Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? [closed]. This is an interesting question, and the original poster was very cooperative in editing it to try to get within H:SE guidelines. Several of us discussed ways that we might alter the question to avoid closure and/or to provide a useful answer.
I'd summarize the question with two themes - first that the question is too broad, and second that the question is fundamentally bad subjective. The question is good; I wouldn't mind knowing the answer myself. But H:SE isn't the right place to ask that question. There is probably another forum where the question is more likely to get a useful answer.
Not every question is appropriate for H:SE; that doesn't mean they are bad questions, just that they aren't appropriate for the venue. I'm hesitant about offering an analogy, but there are some conversations I'd have in a noisy nightclub, other conversations that belong over an intimate dinner table, and still others that can be carried out in a sacred space. Starting the right conversation in the wrong space will be suboptimal.
I want to compliment the several people who offered constructive suggestions in comments. I am not fond of comments, but I have grown to like our custom of offering constructive answers in comments in response to questions with challenges. I like the notion that we can be helpful even when we're unable to be fully responsive.
I'm going to mark this community wiki, and hope that we can use it as a reference. It is difficult to explain "good question wrong venue" in the limited space available in a comment. I suggest that we edit this question use it as a link target in the comment so that we can offer a friendlier response.
