Text for 'off-topic' closure

Question

Currently, closing as off-topic adds a notice reading

This question does not appear to be about TeX, LaTeX or related typesetting systems, within the scope defined in the help center.

below the question. The 'new' approach to closing means that 'off-topic' is intended to be used for cases we don't cover 'by convention' as well as those not related to TeX. As such, the text may need to be altered to reflect this.

What I'm looking for is suggestions to improve this line to let people know that 'off-topic' can cover not just 'not about TeX at all' but also 'not within our scope'. (For example, typos in code could fall within this category.)

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Having looked at the mod tool which allows a change to the text, I find that we can have separate texts for 'not about TeX' and 'outside of our scope for answering' texts. The current situation is: so we could for example have a custom close reason which covers all of the 'OT by convention' things, and leave the 'not about TeX' one alone (if we wish).

Answer 1

Off topic subreasons currently are:

• Questions on a problem encountered while writing code must include a Minimal Working Example. For help in doing so, see: I've just been asked to write a minimal working example, what is that?

• Questions must clearly state a specific problem and include only the code necessary to reproduce it. Large amounts of irrelevant code makes questions harder to answer and less likely to help others. See: I've just been asked to write a minimal working example, what is that?

• This question belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network

• Other (add a comment explaining what is wrong)

But we also have the option of closing because a question is

• unclear what you're asking Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

It seems that the "unclear" option covers the first two cases under "off topic", and should therefore be removed from "off topic".

Now that we can split the reasons, this is not so bad provided these cases get the appropriate custom text.

For the default text for the off topic closure I now suggest

This question does not fall within the scope of TeX-LaTeX Stack Exchange as defined in the help center. These reasons may include

• use of out of date packages/distributions
• bug reports
• simple typing errors

The comments on the question should describe the main reason.

Answer 2

Here's a revised version of what I posted earlier:

In order to be considered "On Topic" for the site, questions need to be potentially helpful other users as well. Questions that are likely to be helpful only to you are too narrow to be considered on topic. These reasons may include:

• out of date packages/distribution
• typos in code

Feel free to suggest other text for the bullets.