Why did https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/1920/what-are-the-must-have-development-tools-for-linux get closed?

To me, it looks like someone just read

Fails 1, 2, 4, and 5? Maybe 6?

— Roger Pate, Oct 20 '10 at 21:57

and didn't check out the rules or help to improve the post instead of using the 'mighty close hammer.

However, my question finely holds with all of the rules and none of them seem to really fail:

Does not fail 1, it inspires "why they are good" and "how they are more productive". Does not fail 2, when you answer these questions you will have long enough answers, take an example of what Anto has answered. Does not fail 4, as using software gives you experience and I'm asking why people have a good experience with them. Rule 5 should be part of the FAQ, it's a bit silly to ask for this in every single question and conflicts with Rule 4 as I'm mostly asking for experience. I don't see how this is mindless social fun, programmers use tools and should thus be able to discuss tools...

— TomWij, Apr 27 '11 at 18:28

So, why did my question get closed?

Related questions:

| |

None of the answers, including the one added today, meet the criteria for identifying a constructive question. The answers are one-liners (or lists of one-liners) of the answerers favorite tools: they don't explain how or why, and they don't provide facts or references.

It's not surprising, since the question doesn't invite any of those things or ask for help solving a problem that someone's actually facing: there's no context, no qualifiers (must have developers' tools for whom? Do I care about gcc if I'm a web developer?), nor a description of the problem you're actually facing.

To that point, the question was an artifact of the pre-disciplining period, so it was left untouched. However, the bump today, after 6 months of inactivity, warranted review.

The question hasn't received a single answer that is in line with current Programmers.SE standards, and it's been open for 7 months. If you have a specific problem you need help with, feel free to ask a new pointed question.

| |
  • Well said! – jmort253 Apr 28 '11 at 6:28
  • Thanks for reminding me of the solving-a-problem rule. :) – Tamara Wijsman May 5 '11 at 6:55

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .