1

My latest personal experience of this is: Send all local mail to a single external e-mail

I listened and took the time to try out the proposed solution carefully, but it did not work. The "moderators" didn't leave me any time to do this. When I was done and explained why the proposed solution did not work, and that it wasn't a duplicate, it was already closed.

I see lots of thoughtful questions closed by people who haven't got the knowledge to help out. I guess the site rewards closing too much, and that is the bug I want to raise.

  • 2
    unix.stackexchange.com/questions/89440/… – random Sep 4 '13 at 21:14
  • 1
    @random Thanks. Damn auto-redirects. – Servy Sep 4 '13 at 21:15
  • 13
    Top tip: big bold text shouting "It is not a duplicate! I tried the solution it was supposed to be a duplicate of right above this very text and it DIT NOT WORK." will usually not convince anyone to reopen your question. Constructively addressing it and providing actual information regarding the non-dupe nature might help. – Bart Sep 4 '13 at 21:19
  • Sorry you got hosed on that one. It is a huge problem with our sites. I don't have the rep on Unix to cast a re-open vote, so I could only give you an upvote. When I'm closing as a dupe on other sites, I always look for comments left by the OP or others as to why it might not be a dupe. Good Luck. – Lance Roberts Sep 4 '13 at 21:24
  • 7
    I guess the site rewards closing too much hmm actually there's no reward for closing questions. – Some Helpful Commenter Sep 4 '13 at 21:26
  • 2
    see meta.stackexchange.com/questions/194476/… (I will refrain from voting to close this as dupe because the irony of it tends to upset people) – Kate Gregory Sep 4 '13 at 21:26
  • 1
    Stack overflow is aggressively moderated by its users to prevent it being yahoo answers – Richard Tingle Sep 4 '13 at 21:26
  • 4
    @LanceRoberts Closing low quality questions and duplicates is a problem?! – Doorknob Sep 4 '13 at 21:27
  • Also; on hold isnt permanent. It can be reopened as easily as it was put on hold – Richard Tingle Sep 4 '13 at 21:29
  • @Doorknob, closing questions as dupes when they aren't is a huge problem. I see many of them in the close and the reopen queue. – Lance Roberts Sep 4 '13 at 21:36
  • 6
    @LanceRoberts I see that you didn't bother to read the question in question either: you had the same knee-jerk reaction that you accuse the close voters of having. Technically, the proposed duplicate did ask the same question as Deleted's, but every answerer had focused on a part of the question that doesn't help Deleted but that the previous asker was satisfied with. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Sep 4 '13 at 21:48
  • 1
    -1 Although the topic of closing legitimate questions is a good one for discussion, this post does not properly set the foundation for a meaningful discussion. It shows little effort in the body of the question, and the title is purely sensationalism. – Travis J Sep 4 '13 at 22:07
17

The question was not closed by any moderators, it was simply closed by 5 users of the site with sufficient reputation who felt that your question should have been closed.

This is not permanent. If 5 users (or 1 mod) determine that the question should be reopened, it can be. As such, if a question of yours is closed as a duplicate and it doesn't help you then you should edit your question to include why the proposed duplicate isn't a question. Differentiate yours from theirs. Something like, "I have seen this solution and it's related, but they are dealing with the case of X, and I have Y, so the solution proposed there doesn't work in my case." Make it clear that you looked at the answers, made an effort to apply it to your case, and that it didn't solve your problem. Don't just say that it didn't work (as with any other problem you ever ask about) explain why it doesn't work. Does it error out in your case, is the output different, are your requirements different from the other question's (if so, again, why and how are they different).

8

Stack exchange has gone from useful site to a site where people try to close questions as fast as possible

This is definitely not true of the sites I frequent, including Unix & Linux.

People try to close duplicates as fast as possible because a duplicate gives you an answer immediately. It's more efficient for everyone, including the asker, than waiting for someone to answer the new, identical question.

I listened and took the time to try out the proposed solution carefully, but it did not work.

You didn't try out the solution proposed in the duplicate thread. It's understandable, because the proposed duplicate doesn't apply to your case. You tried out a solution proposed in a comment.

The constructive thing to do would be to point out how the proposed duplicate doesn't apply to your question. Namely, you're trying to redirect all local email, whereas person who asked the previous question was content to redirect one account and all the answers focused on that part.

Mistakes happen. When they happen, don't shout at people. Engage them constructively. Point out what the problem with. You did well to post exactly what you had done and the relevant logs. You seem to be good at dealing with machines. Try to also put a little effort in dealing with humans. Machines don't mind your tone, humans do.

I've edited the proposed duplicate and your question, and voted to reopen. As a relatively new used you might not want to take the responsibility of editing the older question, that's fine. What you should definitely have done is comment to the person who suggested that solution that it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the previous thread (which never mentioned wildcards). And of course to point out that your question is not a duplicate, you should make it clearer what the differences are, not write ITS NOT A DUPLICATE in the biggest font you could find.

You must log in to answer this question.