This question of mine was closed on SO by two users for "being off-topic".

According to the FAQ on closing questions it takes five people to do so, not merely two. Furthermore, I have flagged the question and asked for an explanation, but have not received any.

I did research similar questions, e.g. here: Accessing iOS filesystem for Mac and ipad - can I write plist to external storage? and iPad Camera Connection kit?

None of these other questions have been closed although they are similar in scope -- the first one and second one are almost a duplicate, the third one offers an interesting response. All of these questions are "how-to" questions and are hardware-related. Hardware questions are typically not considered off-topic, otherwise there wouldn't be thousands of them, see e.g. this search result.

Question: How is it possible that the question was closed by only two people? Was this decision justified?

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When moderators vote to close a post, their vote is binding and no further votes are needed... You can see the diamond next to the user name - that its where their untold power resides... –  Lix Oct 15 '12 at 6:35
You can tell he's a moderator by the diamond (♦) next to his name. –  hammar Oct 15 '12 at 6:36
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2 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Moderators (Users with ♦) can close and open post without 5 votes. Follow this quetion to know who they are and what they can do.

Who are the diamond moderators, and what is their role?

Quoting an answer there

Their votes are binding. Any place we have voting — close, open, delete, undelete, offensive, migration, etc — that vote will reach the threshold and take effect immediately if a single diamond moderator casts a vote.

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Specifically, I am looking for a way to transfer files from an iPad in "Airplane Mode" (such that neither Bluetooth, nor WLAN nor GSM are available) to a laptop that can be connected with a wire.

I know that there exist file browsers for jailbroken phones, but other than jailbreaking, is there any viable alternative to iTunes for such a functionality? I would even consider "bizarre" solutions that go through the camera adapter.

I don't see anything about programming in that question whatsoever. So from my perspective, it was closed correctly.

You might try for such a question, fellow iDevice users might have ideas for you.

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Should I explicitly and verbosely write something like "Are there private APIs or libraries for accessing the USB or the camera kit adapter on an iPad"? I thought it is obvious that I am looking to access hardware from inside a program (just like the other related questions did). I don't think the Apple SE site is a place for API/programming questions. Apart from that I found a hardware/software-solution (which provides such a library) to the problem, although it is a little clumsy. –  user8472 Oct 15 '12 at 6:59
the only possible answer to that is "why don't you research those APIs and come back to Stack Overflow when you have questions about the specific APIs and perhaps some code?" –  Jeff Atwood Oct 15 '12 at 7:01
I did my research and found a solution that provides APIs to do so. That's how I answered my own question. If I knew the APIs before I have asked that question, I wouldn't have asked to begin with. Besides, the other questions I have quoted did exactly the same thing as I did (wonder if such a solution exists) -- and they have not been closed, either. –  user8472 Oct 15 '12 at 7:22
Uh, if you're looking for APIs, then yes, you would need to state that. As it stood (and to some extent, still stands) your question appears to be asking for an alternative to a piece of end-user software (iTunes) not an API. When in doubt, take a sentence or two to introduce what you're trying to do - there is so much confusion that can be avoided with just a little bit of effort. –  Shog9 Oct 15 '12 at 15:40
@Shog9 Yes, I see your point. The question was indeed not sufficiently clear. I have revised it and other people (including you) also improved it and I believe that it is now better than before. The only thing I am wondering is if it is not a good fit for the "Community Wiki" format as it already took many edits from other people to make it clearer ... –  user8472 Oct 16 '12 at 17:00
@user8472, Just because a lot of users helped to fix your question, does not make your question qualified as community wiki. –  Starx Oct 17 '12 at 3:56
@user8472, Here is a link to further clarify what comminity-wiki should be about. –  Starx Oct 17 '12 at 4:58
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