Are questions asking which product to buy off or on topic?
For example,(first 2 open, rest closed)
Any questions that ask which specific X they should buy are off topic,
To quote Kevin,
The reasons that shopping recommendations (note, recommendations, not everything to do with shopping) were barred on the Trilogy in the first place boil down to the following
- They are open-ended
- They invite spam
- They will be "utterly obsolete within a year."
and to quote Kate Gregory
The key to a shopping question is that it asks others "please make a subjective decision for me and explain it" or "please list all my possibilities with their strengths and weaknesses".
What we should do with these questions is to either
Edit them to ask which features are important,
Suggest that they ask in Chat, which is perfectly fine.
If not edited, close them.
I don't see why #3 was closed as asking for price assistance. Price was not mentioned in the Q. The OP wanted a multi-purpose thingy and the Q might have been better phrased, for example setting priorities in what he wanted, but closing it as unclear would have made more sense than closing it as asking for price assistance.
I am concluding from reading all these that we are too fond of closing for "price assistance" and closing for "opinion-based". I'd like to see more custom-close reasons, which demonstrate thought and can be helpful rather than boilerplate that doesn't really apply and is astonishingly dismissive and unhelpful.
As for advice becoming obsolete quickly, I know that this is the word of the Great Poohbah of the Site, but maybe it is time for the Reformation? If one cannot get advice because it will be obsolete in a year, one would just sit and do nothing forever.
