Please consider the following question: Good GUI for R suitable for a beginner wanting to learn programming in R?. I just voted to close it as off-topic. Besides being off-topic it is also outdated since much has have changed since most of the questions were answered and/or updated. Do we really need such questions and answers? I'd say the questions like this have no value at all and should rather be closed and deleted than kept for "historical" reasons.
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2$\begingroup$ Just flag them for moderator attention. They can be "locked" for "historical significance." $\endgroup$– whuber ModMay 5, 2017 at 23:04
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3$\begingroup$ We have several related questions on this kind of topic here already (including the 7th under Related in the sidebar), but yes, as whuber suggests, you can flag them. They can then be locked so that they can't be answered any more and a notice appears that explains the situation. It does have one disadvantage in that old questions whose answers change can no longer be updated (such as "hey there's a new GUI just out that does exactly what you want"), but since these questions are explicitly not on topic any more it's perhaps not such a problem. $\endgroup$– Glen_bMay 6, 2017 at 0:30
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3$\begingroup$ This issue (having posts that were borderline okay long ago but are no longer seen as on-topic) occurs across the SE network as communities more clearly define their boundaries and adjust them to the existence of other sites (whose boundaries also refine themselves over time). It's a fairly natural progression as sites grow and develop. Many sites - especially ones that have been around a long while - have a number of locked older posts as a result. $\endgroup$– Glen_bMay 6, 2017 at 0:33
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1$\begingroup$ This post (which I mentioned earlier) has some people advocating to keep some particular old threads open rather than locked even though they're no longer on topic. $\endgroup$– Glen_bMay 6, 2017 at 0:37
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2$\begingroup$ @Glen_b After the question is "locked" (as I see it is now), it's impossible to edit answers. Isn't it a big disadvantage, compared to closing as off-topic? I don't quite understand why our policy is to prefer to lock in such cases. Also, so far nobody responded to Tim's suggestion of deleting such posts (instead of locking -- see OP's last sentence). $\endgroup$– amoebaMay 6, 2017 at 8:05
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2$\begingroup$ @Amoeba Those are good points. Locking has helped us respond to users who complain (sometimes very aggressively) that their off-topic questions should be left open because they are just like such-and-such a question from years ago. This shows that people do do their research when posting. Having a prominent statement attached to old off-topic posts (which is one thing locking does) will help such people understand what is currently on topic. $\endgroup$– whuber ModMay 6, 2017 at 14:47
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$\begingroup$ @whuber This came up again elsewhere, so I'd like to get back to this conversation. I don't think I fully understand the reasoning in your last comment: I do understand that we want to clearly mark old off-topic questions as off-topic, but why would locking work better for this purpose than closing as off-topic? Closing as off-topic does attach "a prominent statement", as you wrote. $\endgroup$– amoebaMay 18, 2017 at 17:41
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$\begingroup$ @Amoeba That's a good question. Locking is a little more severe than closing: it prevents editing the question and voting on it, too. I believe it would take a moderator to unlock a locked question, too, whereas a vote of high-rep community members will reopen a closed question. None of those necessarily imply that locking is the better solution. $\endgroup$– whuber ModMay 18, 2017 at 18:03
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$\begingroup$ @whuber Hmm. I posted this a separate Meta question: stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4827. $\endgroup$– amoebaMay 18, 2017 at 21:38
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1 Answer
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I would not delete such questions, as I don't enjoy broken links. I would not lock them either, as I don't enjoy incorrect content (locking prevents from editing). I would simply add some warnings that such questions are off-topic nowadays.
answered May 6, 2017 at 17:39
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$\begingroup$ Clarification: do you mean standard closing as off-topic or do you mean something else? If something else, then what exactly? If such functionality does not exist, then it's not a viable approach. $\endgroup$– amoebaMay 7, 2017 at 14:13
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1$\begingroup$ @amoeba What's the upside of closing the question? (one could add a warning without closing the question) $\endgroup$ May 7, 2017 at 16:17
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5$\begingroup$ Well, what's the upside of closing any off-topic questions? We close off-topic questions, that's how SE works. Why should we make an exception for a question just because it's old? $\endgroup$– amoebaMay 8, 2017 at 7:33
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1$\begingroup$ Hi Frank, I came across this thread again; would you mind clarifying your position (last sentence in this answer) in light of the comments above? $\endgroup$– amoebaAug 1, 2017 at 12:06
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$\begingroup$ @amoeba I don't have a strong opinion. If the question is closed but of interest to me, I'll post it somewhere else and link to it. Closing is much better than locking or deleting. $\endgroup$ Aug 1, 2017 at 12:50