1

All the questions in the recent week do not have a clear description and also MWE is missing.

Can we block questions for further process where the description is not clear and MWE is missing?

5
  • 7
    All the questions? This is rather broad statement
    – user31729
    Dec 22, 2017 at 10:02
  • 1
    Related: Review questions for adding a MWE
    – Werner Mod
    Dec 22, 2017 at 23:38
  • 7
    I remember a question that was completely unclear to me and some of the highest rep users on site as well, yet the very same question was perfectly clear for others and very good answers had been added within a few minutes.
    – Johannes_B
    Dec 23, 2017 at 9:37
  • 3
    Describing a probem in a clear and ordered way needs knowledge and thinking. Most people asking a question here are on a deadline, don't have time to overthink stuff and lack the knowledge to provide an MWE. This is the other sad truth.
    – Johannes_B
    Dec 23, 2017 at 9:38
  • 4
    Where is your MWE? ;-)
    – user121799
    Dec 23, 2017 at 17:22

3 Answers 3

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No, but you can if you wish vote to close. We've tended to feel that it's better to ask for a MWE but leave open in the first instance ...

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  • see my comment on @CarLaTeX's answer regarding whether the op has been seen since asking the question. Dec 27, 2017 at 19:37
6

If you don't understand the question leave it to someone else or ask for MWE.

It is already stupid to have questions closed because of 5 people clicking yes and 4 people clicking leave open but the system only counts 5 and doesn't add -4 to it.

6

I think the correct practice is:

  1. leave a comment asking for an MWE (linking this post: minimal working example (MWE) or Professor van Duck's duckboat article: The DuckBoat -- News from TeX.SE: Asking effective questions)

  2. if the question is really badly written, you can eventually downvote it (but we are too good on TeX.SE, even when it's not Xmas time, and rarely downvote)

  3. after a couple of working days, if there is no news from the OP, vote to close.

To remind you where you left your comments, you could go to your user profile -> all actions -> comments. If this is too boring, you could temporarily star the question as your favorite (and unstar it when the OP add the MWE or when you vote to close it). In this case, you can easily find it listed in your user profile -> favorites.

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  • You forgot "1a. add a link in comment to Professor van Ducks duckboat article" Dec 23, 2017 at 14:04
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    @samcarter I'll remedy at once!
    – CarLaTeX
    Dec 23, 2017 at 14:21
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    another suggestion when considering whether to close ... has the op come back to the site since asking the question? if not, and more than a week has past, i'd guess that the op isn't likely to return and thus closure is reasonable. ("last seen" date is shown in the op's profile; you may have to search for it.) Dec 27, 2017 at 19:34

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