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[-] timhh@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

By that measure basically every StackOverflow question asking how to do something is opinion based - the very nature of the site is questions asking for the best solutions. The "opinion based" rules is NOT meant to prevent questions like this. This is the kind of useless pedantry that killed StackOverflow.

I think it comes from a fundamental disconnect. You have something like:

  1. People ask questions like "which programming language is best" or "what's the best game engine" or "should I use tabs or spaces"?
  2. Someone decided they didn't want StackOverflow being used to debate these things, so they made a rule against opinion-based questions.
  3. People later come along and blindly apply the rule to ban anything that is worded as if it is an opinion, even if it's a perfectly suitable question.

not sure why that wasn’t enough for you

I never said it wasn't; just that it shouldn't have been closed.

Just because it’s closed doesn’t mean the answers already provided are bad.

Again, I never said otherwise. The point is it shouldn't have been closed.

this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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