Some questions post an image and ask: How can I make this effect. Is this considered an opinion based question? There will always be many answers, many right answers, and really there is no right and wrong as an answer for this kind of questions, which makes them opinion based. Yet, they are quite informative, you get to see how different people approach different ways to make a model, rig, create shaders..etc. My question is, should these be reported? And if not, doesn't that create a bias, and make the whole thing depend on luck?
I've seen this happening (not to me, this question is not personal) and it's not fair, some questions were reported and removed immediately, others were lucky enough to get the interested person before the flag person, and got many answers and votes, which kept them open. Considering that the target of BSE is the good of all, shouldn't we be more tolerable?
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$\begingroup$ Related: meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/476/… $\endgroup$– PGmathJun 8, 2016 at 22:20
3 Answers
ok, take two :)
(if you want to read about "How do I do X" type of questions see my first answer.)
Lets start with the close reason:
primarily opinion-based
Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise.
As stated on the main meta it partially exists just so there are standard close reason across the SE network.
As you alluded to, that does not fit blender and our hugely diverse workflows very well.
A question that is asking, for example how to model something, absolutely don't close it as primarily opinion based just because there are several different ways to do it. (1, 2, 3, 4)
I would use that reason any time the question is more of a open ended discussion then a real answerable question. Or it is something along the lines of "What is the best ____?". However just because best is in the title does not mean it should be closed.
Here are all examples of questions that have been closed as primarily opinion based, and rightly so.
Switch from Mac to PC?
What are the benefits of the different cylinder caps?
Do I need to even use blueprints?
Is Blender right for me? - A photographer creating 3d renderings (this one here is of particular interest, it is, in your words a "well presented question" yet how can we answer whether or not it is the right choice for him?)
In short, CV as primarily opinion based when there can be no definitive answer, anyone who answers will just be sharing his idea or "opinion."
First I do not consider "How do I do X" type of questions primarily opinion based. If we are going to say that for example this is primarily opinion based, then nearly every question that is not asking what a specific button does would be closed as such. (You could make the argument that it is too broad, but more on that later.)
I too have seen some ambiguity in how these "How do I do X" questions are handled.
We have many that are well received, and get good, helpful answers - great!
I assume you want to talk about the others that get closed.
I think the difference comes in what are they asking.
- Does the OP know what they are looking for? (example 10k link)
- How "big" of a topic is this? (Is the question asking how to make a cycles shader, or how to make a movie?) Question have to be targeted, a huge open ended questions off topic, and will be closed as "too broad."
- Is this topical for our site? (Is the question asking how to import a fbx made in blender into ogre?) Hint: answer for this example is no, CV it.
So if you think it is or could be a good question maybe after an edit, then UV it. If already closed cast a reopen vote, (you need 3000 rep for that privilege).
Yes, there are some cases where I really have no idea why a question got closed, we should welcome them to BSE, not insta-close their question.
However there are many cases where we are very, very nice to new users, with questions that are so unclear, or show no effort yet expect not only to show exactly "how to do X," but a blend file too (who needs to read the answer when you can get somebody to just do it for you.); that I can not possibly say at this point that we should be more tolerant.
Yes, lets try to get rid of this ambiguity and treat all the "How do I do X" questions, that really are of the same quality the same.
Here are some examples:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/40069/2217 That is a bad question on many levels. Link only, no effort, and unclear. It rightly should of been closed.
How to achieve this effect (screen tearing glitch) in Blender, and what is this effect called? This question, may appear similar to the example above, is substantially different. While the OP does no know what to call what he is trying to make, he make a good effort to describe it, not just simply a link or a picture. Also it is targeted, we know this is limited to post production.
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$\begingroup$ I agree with everything you said, you still haven't answered my question though, what is considered opinion based? Why is this category an option, my point was that, this reason is too vague, it could be largely misinterpreted. Check this question for example: blender.stackexchange.com/questions/52521/… $\endgroup$ Jun 7, 2016 at 22:47
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1$\begingroup$ ok, (I'm actually editing my answer now) I some how missed that you were asking about the CV reason, I thought you were asking about "How do I do X" type of questions. (I do have this problem of missing the title sometimes.) $\endgroup$– DavidJun 7, 2016 at 22:49
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$\begingroup$ I agree again, but you still haven't answered my question, let me put it this way: A user just joined BSE, he read carefully the rules, one of them is "Don't ask opinion based questions" flag them, what he would understand of this? I'm not questioning people's behavior, I'm questioning this category, since it's not understood, the difference between the examples you added, is the difference between a well explained question, and a lazy link based youtube question, the link to the question I have in my previous comment, is obviously opinion based, I won't vote to close it, others might. $\endgroup$ Jun 7, 2016 at 22:58
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$\begingroup$ I understood from your first comment, and am writing another answer. Just I had started that first answer, may as well finish it. (still not sure how I missed your whole point, Oh well :) ) $\endgroup$– DavidJun 7, 2016 at 23:01
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$\begingroup$ Thank you for taking the effort @David my point is that, I don't think that opinion base "well presented questions" should be removed, on the other hand all "bad presented questions" should be requested to be edited, or removed. $\endgroup$ Jun 7, 2016 at 23:04
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$\begingroup$ it's either that, or I don't understand what "opinion based" means, so I asked the question :) $\endgroup$ Jun 7, 2016 at 23:05
I was about to ask another question when I saw this one. My question was "when is it justified to give an answer that suggest another approach for the problem ?"
This kind of answer is subjective surely.
As an example, I have seen several questions about boolean modifier which may later leads to "hey... now..." "I cannot use subsurf or edge loop" or "I have a bad rendering due to ngons"...
So... is this needs to be another question or is it part of the opinion based subject ?
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$\begingroup$ Why you think it wouldn't be justified to provide another approach to solve the same problem? anyways I guess you should start a new question in the meta, since you just posted a question as an answer ;) $\endgroup$ Jun 20, 2016 at 19:16
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$\begingroup$ @Georges you are right, but two points : concerning the subjective answer which can be "I dont answer directly but I give another way to do it" : how to know if the question is not simplified and hide a more complex problem ?... for the aspect to ask another question... yes... I will do it even if I think this is nearly the same subject. ; ) $\endgroup$– lemonJun 20, 2016 at 19:19
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$\begingroup$ This is why I usually ask the OP to provide more details before I post an answer, unless the problem is obvious, this is why you see many answers that are not related to the question, usually the question is edited after the answer is provided to give more details. Anyways, almost every process in Blender has many ways to do it, some ways are better than others, some are just different, with no preference, so why wouldn't it be justified to have many answers to the same question, when they are providing different approaches? $\endgroup$ Jun 20, 2016 at 19:30
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$\begingroup$ even answers that seem to be the wrong answer, can be the right answer to people reading the question later $\endgroup$ Jun 20, 2016 at 19:31
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$\begingroup$ @Georges, I have posted this meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1119/… $\endgroup$– lemonJun 20, 2016 at 19:36