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More than a day ago, my question (How to append text of user input for affiliate marketing URL? ) was put on hold because it was deemed off-topic. I had accidentally included the word "recommend" at the end of my question.

It is true that I used the word "recommend", but that was a mistake; After the question was put on hold, I reworded the question to remove that word. (I assume it's in the review queue again?) I'm a novice at drupal, so please excuse my ability to describe the functionality I need, but I think the use case is common enough and general enough that an answer would help not only me but other people as well.

I appreciate your help. Thanks.

(PS, I'm a top contributor on another SE https://ebooks.stackexchange.com/, so I should know better than to use the word "recommend" in my question. Sorry! )

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To quote the boilerplate language stamped on the closed tag:

Questions asking to recommend or find a book, tool, module, theme, distribution, tutorial, or other off-site resource are off-topic...

The way you've worded the question and introduced your problem, it sounds specifically like you're asking for a pre-existing module to solve your problem.

Drupal Answers is a Q&A knowledge base, not a crowd-sourced recommendation engine. As such, the "is there a module for that?" type of questions (many of which can be answered via Googling) are typically closed on DA.

I'd try to rephrasing the question to focus on what needs to be solved (e.g. "...is it possible...", "...how can I achieve...", etc.) and eliminate the request for a module altogether to get the question unblocked.

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  • Notice that, if the question is asking how to achieve something that only a module can do, the question is still off-topic even without explicitly asking for a module.
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 7:30
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    Let me just say: I have no idea what I want! I have no idea how even to describe the feature that I want! I have tried to describe it as best as I possibly can using layman's language. Simply saying "google it" is not useful advice because I don't know the language to use to describe this functionality! I have no idea whether this feature can be easily achieved via a module or through core functionality.
    – idiotprogrammer
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:01
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    My original question finished with, "Can you suggest some ways to accomplish this? Does a Drupal 8 module already have this functionality (or something similar). Thanks." I tried to leave this question as open-ended as possible, but your refusal to answer the question (and insistence on your right to exclude it) has given me two useful bits of information: 1)this functionality can only be achieved through a module and 2)the Drupal SE is not useful at all for Drupal newbies.
    – idiotprogrammer
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:05
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    If you want to exclude "is there a module for that?" type questions, perhaps you should mention that in your list of exclusions: drupal.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic
    – idiotprogrammer
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 14:40
  • @idiotprogrammer Actually, it is already included in Requests for tutorials and other online resources. In fact, the closing reason says that questions asking the users to provide a link to off-site resources are off-topic: "Questions asking to recommend or find a book, tool, module, theme, distribution, tutorial, or other off-site resource are off-topic for Drupal Answers as they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam. Instead, describe the problem and what has been done so far to solve it."
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 9:12
  • Also, making a question open-ended doesn't mean making it acceptable. Quite the opposite, it could become too broad, as in this case.
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 9:14

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