1

Apologies if this is a duplicate, I searched on meta but could not find this question. I recently flagged a question as Needs detail or clarity which was essentially a paragraph and an image with 0 code. I flagged it as I thought that questions that include an image and a little text needed more detail i.e. a MWE or even a code fragment.

My flag got declined:

t

but then the question was closed (later on I presume) for the reason I flagged it:

t

I have some questions:

  1. Should questions of low quality that do not feature MWE/code be flagged as Needs detail or clarity at all?
  2. So I can learn from it, but what was the issue with my flag in this particular case, should I not have flagged it as there was enough information for someone to build an MWE if they were so inclined (and I think somebody did indeed do that in an answer)?
  3. From the TeX.SE flag posts page, the Needs detail or clarity is not described and I could not see if it was linked to another page (like spam or very low quality). What is the threshold for Needs detail or quality here on TeX.SE, is having no MWE and no description of packages/class used enough?

I would appreciate any advice so I can contribute to the site more effectively even if this flag declined was an error or automated by the community bot, if the question had not been closed for the very same reason I flagged it I would have just assumed that the question barely contained enough information but now I am unsure.

6
  • 2
    The outcome of review queues is random. This particular question was in review two times: first time it got 3 leave open votes, second time it got 4 close and 1 leave open vote -- two of the close votes by users who voted to leave open in the first round. Commented Oct 13, 2022 at 19:17
  • 2
    Generally speaking I agree that the review outcomes can be a bit hit and miss sometimes, but I wouldn't necessarily say that the fact that the same questions ends up in the queue twice with different outcomes means something is truly wrong. In this example the question was sent to the review queue for the first time only a few hours after it was posted. In situations like this I think it is a good idea to give the benefit of the doubt and vote to leave open (even if one thinks that the question is close-worthy in the current state): ...
    – moewe
    Commented Oct 14, 2022 at 5:31
  • 2
    ... The OP might still want to improve the question and respond to early feedback. I have the feeling that people generally don't feel great about having the questions closed, so letting them edit an open question instead of having them go through the whole close-edit-reopen thing does not seem like a bad idea. But if after a sufficiently long time the question has not improved I can definitely see the point in voting to close if the question comes up for review a second time.
    – moewe
    Commented Oct 14, 2022 at 5:34
  • 3
    The absence or presence of an MWE should not be the only factor when it comes to deciding if a question is unclear. While almost all questions benefit from an MWE (if only to give a quick way to test the solution), there is a certain class of questions that does not need an MWE to be understood. I think this question is borderline understandable without an MWE (but then I might have misunderstood), but some things might be a bit vague.
    – moewe
    Commented Oct 14, 2022 at 5:43
  • @samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz righttt, I get it. So essentially my flag was rejected as the first time it was decided to be left open by users with open/close votes but later on it was closed. That makes sense, thank you!
    – piJT
    Commented Oct 14, 2022 at 15:13
  • @moewe that's a fair point " I have the feeling that people generally don't feel great about having the questions closed", I didn't consider that as I have never been in that situation, that must be deflating. I will take your words on-board and flag questions that there is no doubt need it
    – piJT
    Commented Oct 14, 2022 at 15:15

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .