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All too often I find myself in the situation where a question is lacking some fundamental information and requests to address that are answered with comments e.g.:

OP answers request with a comment

Even when, as with the above example, it's requested explicitly to edit the question and not write a comment.

It's a step forward to get some feedback from on OP, but sadly this is typically the start of a comment conversation (which may eventually lead to info in comments being copied to the question, and comments deleted/flagged as obsolete) instead of just writing an answer. I find this process rather tiresome.

What's the best way to get the OP to actually edit the question?

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  • 21
    You are limited to comments..so just remind them again. You have the option of editing their code into the question but I tend NOT to do that as I cannot be certain it's complete. If they still don't get it after a couple of reminders and use of the edit shortlink, I assume they are uncoachable and move on. MY time is better spent on other things.
    – Paulie_D
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 9:31
  • 12
    You just can't. SO users routinely omit vital information from their question to stop it from getting closed as a duplicate. They are looking for a forum style interaction, a mentor that they can consult at their beckoning. They prefer the anonymity of SO over having to talk to a more experienced team member. It is help vampire behavior, you have to avoid getting bitten. Just DV to minimize the blood letting.
    – Hans Passant
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 10:30
  • 31
    SO users routinely omit vital information from their question to stop it from getting closed as a duplicate I very much doubt most authors are sufficiently savvy to think to do that, and yet not be aware of the absolute basics of how SO works.
    – AD7six
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 10:51
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    You think comments are bad, it happens too that additional information gets posted as an answer. Double sigh. In case of a comment I don't do anything, in case of an answer I edit it into the question myself, flag the answer and comment not to do that. There is no preventing people making mistakes when they make the mistake even under very specific instructions.
    – Gimby
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 11:10
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    It helps when your comment specifies the edit aspect using the magic link [edit]. Unfortunately, as the internets have proven, you can't fix stupid. (edit: like you said in your answer below :| you might want to include the magic link in your answer, tho)
    – user1228
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:25
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    I think SO itself should do more in the way of strongly encouraging new OP's to provide reproducible examples where appropriate. At minimum, some helpful messages on screen when they're writing their posts, but something more threatening like having them sign agreements that they have to pay $50 fines for not doing it would be better. The same for capitalizing the word "I".
    – Hack-R
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 0:31
  • You can lead a horse to water...
    – J...
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:22
  • Editing it in yourself seems like the simplest solution
    – Ben Aaronson
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 15:27
  • @BenAaronson that is only possible if you can read the comment. Often the code snippet is too big to just copy and paste and means you end up fixing the whitespace etc. Also does not do anything to fix the unwanted behavior.
    – AD7six
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 16:16
  • 2
    close the question ...
    – user177800
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 18:55

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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There are some things that can be done to optimize the effectiveness of "the message"

Lead the author to the edit button

Instead of simply requesting something:

What is x?

Directly link to editing the question in the comment:

Please [edit] the question to show what x is.

Which will render as:

Please edit the question to show what x is.

Note also that being polite, even with repeated requests, will likely be more effective than getting annoyed.

Give some breathing time

If you reply immediately to comments from the author - you're reinforcing the suggestion that their actions "work".

Simply leaving the question alone for a while after the author has contradicted instructions and written a comment (providing or not the requested information) may be sufficient for the OP to realize that their actions are ineffective.

Cut your losses

If it's apparent that the OP simply won't follow instructions, or worse won't provide the requested information ("Why do you need that? The problem is foo.") close/down vote if you feel it's appropriate, move on, and look for a better question.

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    Definitely, do this! It seems to help out the cases I've been involved in.
    – gravity
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 19:48
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    Manually adding an edit link is so much trouble! Much easier to just type [edit], which is a "magic link". BTW you can edit your answer to mention this.
    – anatolyg
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 20:17
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    Unfortunately, [edit your post](edit) still doesn't work.
    – Bergi
    Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 20:27
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    @Bergi [edit] your post do work...
    – Braiam
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 0:25
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    The magic link is great, however, when the OP mentions new requirements in the comments to an answer provided, the edit link in comments there will link to edit the answer and not the question, as can be seen in @anatolyg 's comment. this is often undesired.
    – null
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 15:19
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Vote to close as "unclear what you are asking". If the question is closed, the asker can not get an answer. They want an answer, so they will be motivated to improve their question.

If you can be bothered, add a comment asking for the missing information. But you are not obliged to do so, because ultimately it is the asker's job to provide a complete and clear question, not a potential answerer's.

Closure of a question is not its death sentence; it is put on hold, not deleted. The asker still has plenty of opportunity to improve the question. If the question is closed, and then the asker edits the question, the question is automatically placed in the reopen queue. That queue us very short, so the question will be reopened very quickly, if it deserves to be reopened.

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    Your first action when a question is missing info is to VTC and not ask for clarification?
    – AD7six
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 8:36
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    Yes, @AD7. Voting to close should always be the first action for an unclear or underspecified question. No exceptions. If you also want to leave an explanatory comment hinting at what additional information should be provided and/or how to provide it, you may do so. But under no circumstances should comments be used instead of close votes.
    – Cody Gray - on strike Mod
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 12:44
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    @CodyGray: close votes can always be retracted – but they cannot be cast again! So if an unclear question was clarified to, say, a tool recommendation, I can retract my Close-as-unclear vote but not vote again to close as Tool Rec.
    – Jongware
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 13:00
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    That is a chance you simply have to take. Worst case, the question remains closed for the wrong reason. Bothers my OCD a bit, too, but I've learned to live with it.
    – Cody Gray - on strike Mod
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 13:03
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    @RadLexus remember that the question is still closed and cannot get answers, that's what closing is for, the reason is just us trying to be brutally nice. BTW, the reason is selected by a simple majority vote, so if you VTC as unclear and the question gets edited, others can VTC for another reason, yet your vote helped to close the question faster.
    – Braiam
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 15:09
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    don't forget to downvote.
    – Kevin B
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:08
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    There is the possibility that if the question is closed, the user will just post a new question instead of editing the original one, or if they're especially sensitive, might go to somewhere else to look for help.
    – Justin Time - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:11
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    This might be the right response for a poorly written post, but the original question may also cover situations where you have a well-written post about an important issue that would benefit from extra detail. In those cases closure would not be merited; it'd be like handing out capital punishment for a traffic infraction. We already have a problem with too many good threads being closed for inconsistent or nitpicking reasons and there's no reason to add that. Of course this remedy would indeed be appropriate where information is missing from a post that's unclear or otherwise just plan bad.
    – SQLServerSteve
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:47
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    I think VTC as the first action is wrong. A good question will include all the necessary information but strip out irrelevancies. If a questioner doesn't understand the problem (and if they did, they probably wouldn't be asking here), they may accidentally strip out something that is actually relevant. A comment asking for clarification, and then VTC if they don't update.
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 6:37
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    Two problems, @Martin. (1) How long do you sit on your hands waiting to see if they'll update? (2) It takes 5 users to close a question, which is rather a lot. If you abstain from voting because you've left a comment, and several other people similarly abstain from voting because they see your comment and want to give the person some time to edit, that's the majority of eyeballs that a question is ever going to get. It doesn't take long for new questions to get pushed from the home page, where no one ever sees them anymore. How do the questions that never get updated actually get closed?
    – Cody Gray - on strike Mod
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 15:42
  • @CodyGray Perhaps a new utility feature could be added to the site, "Request Additional Information". When a user clicks the request button, they specify what information should be added, and the questioner sees a message in their inbox labeled "Please supply the following information for {question}: {requested info}. Thank you." Other users can see information requests in a box beneath the question, similarly to "protected" and "closed" boxes; they can also vote to rescind the request, if they feel it isn't necessary, to prevent the feature from being abused.
    – Justin Time - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 21:45
  • If the information isn't supplied within a business week, and the request isn't rescinded, the question is closed as unclear, or possibly for a new, similar reason, something like: "Unanswerable due to lack of required, and requested, information."
    – Justin Time - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 21:47
  • @justin I would not support that feature request. It adds complexity for no reason. Lots of people seem to think that Stack Overflow is some kind of hand-holding service, where you post an incomplete question and then the community interacts with you via comments to help you figure out what to do next, what additional information to include, and how to get to the bottom of your issue. That is not how it works. Perhaps you are confusing this site with a traditional web forum? If a question is incomplete for any reason, it should be closed until such time as it is edited and reopened.
    – Cody Gray - on strike Mod
    Commented Jul 21, 2016 at 11:18
  • @CodyGray Some users might not realise that they need to add more information if not prompted, and might just reask the same question again. My proposed feature is basically a combination of both of the ideas I've seen here: Ask for clarification first, in a clear, impossible-to-misunderstand way, then automatically vote to close if clarification isn't provided within a set period of time. It's friendlier than just closing it immediately because they forgot a tiny bit of data, but prevents the question from being forgotten and left open.
    – Justin Time - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 21, 2016 at 16:27
  • I just don't want the site to come off as being full of elitists that'll refuse to help you unless your question meets their standards, and feel that immediately closing a question that's missing information would do exactly that. Therefore, I figured the best solution is something friendlier that won't turn people away, but'll still close the question if the requested information isn't provided.
    – Justin Time - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 21, 2016 at 16:38

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