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Shall we change our default off-topic close reason?

**15 June - Complete **

Our "Off-topic Close Reason" has been updated to match the top-voted answer below.

12 June LAST CALL!

Read, vote, provide input. I'll accept an answer and edit the close reason, probably on Monday.

9 June udpate

Opinions?! Please read this Q!! The message we're talking about here, actually helps the site's new users when they post their first, promptly-put-on-hold question. You don't like how our site feels towards newbies? ...here's a chance to make a change (albeit a slight one.)

Why?

Our site has a particularly good What Topics Can I Ask About Here page which comes from a very thorough discussion in Meta. Plus, we have a really good Meta question describing a "how to ask a question" checklist that Joe New User probably never sees.

The current, default boilerplate is so generic, with a link labeled "help center", that I suspect no user actually clicks-through. ...especially if they are SE users who've see that link, and read other sites' totally-generic On-Topic pages. (Ours on NE is quite unique!)

Current message is...

This question does not appear to be about network engineering within the scope defined in the help center.

Reminder

I'll post my suggested edit, and a "don't change it" answer. You are of course encouraged to post your own alternate edits as answers.

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
5

As an entirely different approach, how about something along these lines:

NE is a site for network professionals to ask and provide answers about professional networks. Your question falls outside the areas our community decided are on topic. Please see What topics can I ask about here? for more details. If you disagree with this closure, please ask on meta.

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  • I like this more than mine.
    – Ryan Foley
    Jun 11, 2015 at 3:17
  • Instead of "Your question falls outside the areas our community decided are on topic", I suggest "Sadly the community voted your question off-topic". This conserves space.
    – Mike Pennington
    Jun 11, 2015 at 8:14
  • @MikePennington, as it stands, it does fit with the character count limitation. I think if you have a variation, it may be best to do the same as what was asked of Ryan and post it. Let the community decide which they prefer. Also, if the meta shortcut thing works (haven't tested), that would reduce the size as well.
    – YLearn
    Jun 11, 2015 at 14:13
  • 1
    let's go with this answer!
    – Craig Constantine
    Jun 11, 2015 at 18:58
  • I know I'm late to the game here.... "professional networks" is not strong enough IMHO as a Linux box handling routing for a doctor's office could be construed as a professional network. I prefer "enterprise or service provider networks."
    – generalnetworkerror
    Jun 27, 2015 at 7:16
  • @generalnetworkerror, I think the general consensus from the early days was that even small business networks would be on topic as long as they were managed by a network professional. Not all network professionals work jobs involving the enterprise or service providers; some consult with customers of all sizes.
    – YLearn
    Jul 3, 2015 at 0:47
1

Change it to read...

This question does not appear to be about network engineering within the scope defined in What Can I Ask Here?. You can also see What Our Community Decided would be On-topic and why. If you still disagree, you can ask a question in Meta Network Engineering and tell us where you feel your question does fit within our On-Topic list.

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  • 2
    I cut/pasted this into the form, and it is too long by 68 characters.
    – YLearn
    Jun 11, 2015 at 2:41
  • ...I can squeeze 68 out of it. The Meta link alone can be made a lot shorter. I'll edit today.
    – Craig Constantine
    Jun 11, 2015 at 10:26
  • I think the the [meta] link will work, but haven't tested. I added another one as a comment on the main question if you don't mind the "What Can I Ask Here" becoming "help center" and work it into the sentence.
    – YLearn
    Jun 11, 2015 at 18:36
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    after some editing attempts... I'm changing my tune and upvoting YLearn's answer. Let's go with that. In my opinion: It does the MOST important thing which is not look totally generic in the hopes that people might read more.
    – Craig Constantine
    Jun 11, 2015 at 18:57
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I'd like to propose some slight modifications to Craig's post.

This question does not appear to be about Network Engineering within the scope defined in: What topics can I ask about here? You can also see why our community decided what would and would not be on-topic. If you disagree, you can always ask a question in Meta Network Engineering and tell us why it belongs on-topic.

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  • I cut/pasted this into the form, and it is too long by 53 characters.
    – YLearn
    Jun 11, 2015 at 2:42
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No

Leave the boilerplate copy exactly as it is now.

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