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I take https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/16699/what-are-some-of-the-key-changes-to-drupal-code-for-d6-vs-d7-modules as example, but this question is valid for other questions.

The FAQ clearly reports the following text:

Your questions should be reasonably scoped. If you can imagine an entire book that answers your question, you’re asking too much.

While the question doesn't require an entire book to answer it, there are many pages on Drupal documentation that documents the difference between Drupal 6, and Drupal 7.

The question is rather subjective, because it asks the key changes without to specify for who: If a user creates themes, then the keys changes are about themes; if the user creates modules, the key changes are about creating modules. Without to specify exactly which key differences, the answer would be a summary of what reported from Drupal documentation, as the OP didn't say to which key differences he is more interested.

Questions should be more scoped, to avoid answers that would be too generic, which would then be equally valid. If I answer saying the differences for a theme developer, and somebody else answers saying the difference for a module developer who doesn't create modules for new content types, both the answers would be equally valid, as both would report the differences between Drupal 6 and Drupal 7.
Questions were the answers are equally valid should be avoided as for what reported by the FAQ.

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Yeah, I really think this is a good idea. The related problem for scope are posts with multiple questions in them. For example, see Drupal security measures

The post actually has two distinct questions in it. Currently, there are two "correct" answers, one for each of the problems.

I think the real problem, though, is that not enough regular visitors have the "vote to close" privilege and not many people are flagging posts.

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  • Having multiple, non related, questions in a question doesn't help to scope the question; if users were to ask a question about modules that contain enough sub-questions, then the question would be generic enough that a full book answers it. That is another situation that should be avoided. The problem about enough user having enough reputation to vote is caused from the fact the same users don't answer to questions, or get votes for their questions. About users that don't flag enough (which doesn't require a minimum reputation), there is nothing that can be done. [next comment]
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Dec 23, 2011 at 14:34
  • Probably most of the users just come on Drupal Answers to get an answer for their question, or answer to questions, but they don't participate to the site. Community moderators are just human handlers; if there isn't a community around a Stack Exchange site, the site is going to die a slow death. We are still having pro-tempore moderators; if the participation to the meta site is not enough to vote the community moderators, I am not sure what the destiny of DA will be.
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Dec 23, 2011 at 14:38
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I don't think drupal.stackexchange.com should insist on questions of a more narrow scope, that would be hard to implement and perhaps discourage novices from asking in the first place. It is true that some people don't do any research and ask very open ended questions, but I suggest that there could be a button or flag to mark such questions as needing more specifics, freezing the question until the person clarifies it or amends it. Or a question that is very wide in scope could be marked as a discussion instead (a suggestion!).

It's true that in the example you mention, there was already a lot of information on Drupal.org and many many blogs concerning the differences between Drupal 6 and Drupal 7.

I think there is no harm to respond and say the question is too wide and unresearched. Also the marking system for questions could be used a bit more than it is currently.

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  • Saying that is the question is too wide is not an answer. For questions that are too vague, there is a closing reason; if then we would have the "general reference" closing reason, that would be applied for questions like the one I used as example.
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 18:18
  • Well it is an answer, if you are unsure of the exact question. I don't see any harm in asking for clarification.
    – David
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 18:25
  • Asking for clarification is done in comments. In SE sites, an answer is what really answer the question, not any comment written as answer. If you are unsure, then you should ask in a comment. This is not the case for the type of questions I am referring to, as the question is clear, but too broad.
    – avpaderno Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 18:53
  • Either way, you can use the voting mechanism to vote down a question if you feel it is too wide of scope.
    – David
    Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 22:34

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