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In this thread: Two announcements: new "FAQ" and new "closure rules" we had strong agreement for an additional reason in the "close" dialog box. Please add this reason to the dialog.

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  • $\begingroup$ Carl: Sorry I've been a bit behind on this. But can you (or someone else) help trim the text a little? As I mentioned in that answer we have only 400 characters to work with. It would be a great help to me if someone else can look over the text and distill it so it is more concise. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong Mod
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 15:41
  • $\begingroup$ @Willie Wong: I have now created a community wiki answer for that purpose. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 17:11
  • $\begingroup$ To anyone who happens to read this: it would also help if we can flesh out meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/9959 a bit. (But no rush; the "context" part of that post is already in a decent state.) $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong Mod
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 5:12
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @Carl for the CW. $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong Mod
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 5:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Willie Wong: ping $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 9, 2013 at 17:18

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...is missing context or other details: Please improve the question by providing additional context, which ideally includes your thoughts on the problem and any attempts you have made to solve it. This information helps others identify where you have difficulties and helps them write answers appropriate to your experience level.

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    $\begingroup$ Here is a community wiki post. I took the text from meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/9956/… and shortened it while trying to keep the same general concept. Please feel free to edit it. The link goes to "How to ask a good question". I think there is benefit to having only one link, and making it count for inexperienced users. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 17:11
  • $\begingroup$ There is something about the last sentence that I don't quite like: "This information helps others write answers appropriate to your experience level and targeted at your specific areas of misunderstanding." Would it be more clear if one wrote something along the lines of: "This information helps others write answers appropriate to your experience level and helps them target your specific areas of misunderstanding."? $\endgroup$
    – Thomas
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 2:42
  • $\begingroup$ @Thomas: I edited a bit. I don't think it is fair to assume that questions must come from a "misunderstanding". (Right now it is 378 characters... looking good lengthwise.) $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong Mod
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 5:10
  • $\begingroup$ @WillieWong: Would it be possible then to insert helps here: "This information helps others identify where you run into a problem and $\color{red}{\text{helps}}$ write answers appropriate to your experience level."? $\endgroup$
    – Thomas
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:16
  • $\begingroup$ @Thomas: that would destroy the parallelism. At the very least you have to insert "helps others" instead of just "helps". $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong Mod
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:37
  • $\begingroup$ @WillieWong: I am not claiming to be good at English, but I just think that the sentence sounds a bit strange. I think my problem is that for people with a very bad short term memory it sounds like "you run into a problem and write". So, it sounds like the "you" is going the writing. Does that make sense? Would it be acceptable with "help them"? $\endgroup$
    – Thomas
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:47
  • $\begingroup$ @Thomas: ahh, I see. Thanks. How about now? $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong Mod
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:55
  • $\begingroup$ @WillieWong: That's great. $\endgroup$
    – Thomas
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:56

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