My question here was closed for being too broad. As defined in the help center, this entails that
there are either too many possible answers, or good answers would be too long for this format. Please add details to narrow the answer set or to isolate an issue that can be answered in a few paragraphs.
I do not deny my question is broad. I do not deny that there could be several good answers. And I do not deny that an answer to my question could be long-winded. However, these latter two possibilities can occur in any question. And other than being more broad than my other questions, I don't see much difference.
There are two questions I have.
1) It seems to me that questions that get posted with the
[big-list]tag necessarily foresee a multitude of possible answers. If this goes against the question format we want, why is this tag an option?
There are certainly questions on this site that have broader scope than mine. Some of the most well-received questions on this site are of this form:
- Examples of mathematics that had unintended useful applications
- Conjectures that were disproved with extremely large counterexamples
- Open problems in General Relativity (I'm shocked this one passed the "OP did enough work" requirement that has unfortunately slipped into our zeitgeist)
Looking at these specific examples, I'm puzzled why mine was closed.
More pertinent to my current predicament:
2) I am still interested in receiving answers to my question. If others agree my question is outside of the ideal format, how could I alter it to fit it into the question format of this site but still maintain the same spirit?
The help center definition seems to be mostly concerned about the inability of a question to be answered fully in a reasonable length, and those questions which cannot be answered thus should be removed.
I do not believe my question fits that requirement. I would be completely satisfied if someone wrote up a small list of other examples and pointed out how these observations are used in some proof. Should I specify my expectations of a good answer? Should I do more?
