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According to the "close" box, "too localized" means:

This question is unlikely to ever help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet.

However, topics in separated branches of math are usually "only relevant to a small geographic area" and "extraordinarily narrow situation" to the worldwide audience of the internet. But they also usually have high value so are not "unlikely to ever help any future visitors". Thus should not be treated as "too localized".

So is it impossible a question "too localized" in MSE?

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    $\begingroup$ Certainly it's possible. Questions like "What's a good Ph.D. program in Israel?" is very localized. Also, don't read too much into the description of the closing reasons. It is often just the lack of custom reasons which drive people to choose the "least incorrect" reason. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Apr 6, 2013 at 9:32
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    $\begingroup$ There was a post on Meta.SO about too localized reasons that I found particularly instructive. I'd like to add that I think Asaf's suggested topic is actually only applicable to a small geographic area, whereas few MSE questions suffer from this. $\endgroup$
    – davidlowryduda Mod
    Apr 6, 2013 at 10:03
  • $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila Yes, I agree. $\endgroup$
    – Popopo
    Apr 6, 2013 at 10:14
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    $\begingroup$ As a matter of fact, a question such as "How do I find the $x$ and $y$ in $x+y=3x-y=10$?" might actually earn the "too localized", but if the asker had been able to even formulate a more general question such as "How can systems of linear equations in two unknowns with rational coefficients be soved?", he probably wouldn't need help with the given question in the first place. $\endgroup$
    – Hagen von Eitzen
    Apr 6, 2013 at 17:01

2 Answers 2

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Here are some examples of canonical use of the "too localized" close reason.

As Asaf mentions, sometimes there is reason to want a post closed but none of the other options fit, so "too localized" is chosen as a catch-all. For example, this is sometimes done if a user is posting massive amounts of homework questions with no motivation, as a "punishment". (I am not, necessarily, saying that this is what should happen; only that it does.)

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I just flagged an obvious homework question, (simply!) solvable using standard techniques and reference to the textbook/class notes, with absolutely no work shown, for closing as too localized. A solution to it won't do anybody but the OP or their classmates any good (it might get them a passing grade, but if that is good is at best very questionable). As long as there is no "Obvious homework, no effort at all shown" reason for closure, this is right on the money IMHO.

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  • $\begingroup$ Interesting; I just recently had the idea that this could be the right and correct thing to do as well. I was prompted to think this by metawalking to here: in particular, the response to "I want to do something very complicated: "Just do it for me"" Although the situation covered there is somewhat different, the core idea that questions should be about abstract issues rather than getting answers to the specific problem still applies. $\endgroup$
    – user14972
    Apr 8, 2013 at 4:05

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