Consider a question that
- Is about some Java code
- That fails because it throws a
- That the user wants help debugging
- And the user includes a short excerpt of code that has the problem
- But the user does not include a copy of the stack-trace
- Reading the stack-trace or using a debugger would immediately show the cause of the problem
- There is no indication that the user has bothered examining the stack-trace, or taking some time to interpret it, or attempted to use a debugger.
Are these questions on topic? And if not, what should the close reason be?
Are these questions on topic?
- I note that some do not think so.
- The definitive statement of what is on topic is that Stack Overflow is a question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers. No professional or enthusiast programmer would ask such a question: they would already know how to examine a stack-trace or use a debugger. So I believe they should be off topic.
What should the close reason be?
I, and others, have considered these questions to be off-topic, and used the minimal understanding close-reason:
Questions asking for code must demonstrate a minimal understanding of the problem being solved. Include attempted solutions, why they didn't work, and the expected results.
That is, we have ignored the part about "asking for code" and focused on the "minimal understanding" and "attempted solutions".
It seems that that close reason will be removed and replaced, leaving us with what as a close reason?
- It has been suggested that such questions should anyway be closed as duplicates of a question that explains how to debug them. But this seems wrong to me: they are not on-topic duplicates of a question, that should be kept to help point future visitors towards a high quality answer. Their presence lowers the quality of the site, encourages help vampires and pays rep. whores. They are broken windows. And they will remain, because duplicates are not deleted.