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Rev

57

Hi, I have problems catching mice, any advice please? is too broad. There is no way to properly answer this question, short of writing dozens of pages about catching mice. Therefore, it is off-topic for our platform, and all the answering (or commenting) felines should have voted to close the question instead. There was a time when most SO users understood this, but alas, that time has long passed.
– Frédéric Hamidi
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:52
5

@FrédéricHamidi, the point is that’s the title, the description should have code, error, attempt, investigation details, etc to make it unique. If we can come up with AI to judge it then our review queue will be empty I believe :)
– Arun Vinoth_PrecogTechnologies
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:59
6

Let’s not forget for whom we are building this QA site for. This site is for them by them.. :) let’s be more inclusive..
– Arun Vinoth_PrecogTechnologies
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 17:05
6

I see your point, but it should be a better title then. The title is the only thing that is readily available a first glance from the question list page, and it is very important to get it right. As unfair as it may seem, the quality of your title can make or break your question. In this specific example, the title definitely should state the exact problem the asking feline has with catching mice.
– Frédéric Hamidi
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 17:05
4

Also, we have tried being more inclusive, and it has led us here. Not a great success in my book.
– Frédéric Hamidi
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 17:06
2

@FrédéricHamidi, agreed. At the same time - We all will agree that we are cat, Jaguar, tiger, lion at some point of time in that analogy. I feel just empathy is the need of the hour. :)
– Arun Vinoth_PrecogTechnologies
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 17:09
33

Anybody who thinks that replies like that are uniquely characteristic of Stack Overflow has never visited any other place on the internet where random strangers respond to questions. You can and do get the same on reddit, mailing lists, chat, forums... Except on Stack Overflow we are -- were -- empowered to do something about them.
– jscs
Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 20:52
13

Commenters: "What have you tried so far?" OP: _*adds image of live squirrel and link to fishing tutorial* ;-)
– Don't Panic
Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 0:11
1

@Don'tPanic, squirrel fishing?
– Mark
Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 1:18
1

What's the picking on cats anyway?
– GhostCat
Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 8:12
1

@ArunVinoth Actually the site is more 'for everyone, by us'; 'them' has no place in either side of the phrase.
– TylerH
Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 15:04
6

The problem with the comic strip starts at "any advice?" That does not fit into SO. That cat would get better answers if the question was posted on 4Chan (even if it were about programming and not mice). You go to SO, you have to provide a minimal, reproducible example.
– Senior Wrangler
Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 21:30
6

The point of the cartoon, is not whether the cat's title was off-topic to start off with. The point is it was immediately dismissed, and nobody even said "Hello, thank you for your question. In order to receive a good answer, you should tell us what technique you have been using to catch mice so far. And,whether this failure is a recent development or not. Please supply details, until then, the question will probably be closed. See the Help Centre (link) on how to reopen a question. Best of luck!”
– Mari-Lou A Слава Україні
Commented Jun 14, 2020 at 6:19
1

Admittedly that's a really long comment, but smart users know how to copy and paste comments on clipboards. I wish I did...
– Mari-Lou A Слава Україні
Commented Jun 14, 2020 at 6:20
1

@Mari-LouA, thank you so much for stressing that directional guide to take a different perspective.. cheers.
– Arun Vinoth_PrecogTechnologies
Commented Jun 14, 2020 at 12:02

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