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I asked Must magic be tied to medieval tech? back on day 1 or 2, when site scope had only loosely started to form out of the primordial glop. A new answer bumped it again today, prompting me to take another look.

While I try to avoid writing questions that are too opinion-based or too broad, let alone ones based on faulty premises, I don't always succeed. (The diamond does not come with that particular superpower. :-) ) The question has been bumped several times over the years but has only ever attracted one close vote, which aged away after three reviewers voted 'leave open' in early 2016.

Are y'all shy with close votes because a moderator asked the question? (Don't be.) Or is the question ok? I've found the answers to be valuable, but that doesn't necessarily mean it should stay open and I don't know how objective I can be with my own question.

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  • $\begingroup$ I agree, close it, it's not a good question $\endgroup$
    – Kilisi
    Jun 8, 2017 at 6:14

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Duplicate - impossible.

off-topic - definitely not.

unclear what you're asking - seems clear to me.

too broad - you're asking a single question, and you've essentially provided the two possible answers. An answer to the question would choose one of those answers and provide evidence, which seems pretty clear-cut to me.

primarily opinion-based - "answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise" does not seem to apply here. People can answer with opinions, but those would not be good answers.

Overall, this seems to me like the kind of question we should have more of. We've turned into much more of a "what-if" site recently, so I can see why you might think this question is close-worthy, but I much prefer questions about the fundamental concepts of worldbuilding. In this specific case as in others, it's possible that a lot of opinion-based answers will be given (which is why the question was protected), but I don't think that's the fault of the question itself.

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    $\begingroup$ This is kind of my thinking. I liked some of the really older questions, in part because they're useful to a lot of different people. Are geographically typed planets realistic? is another one in this vein. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868 Mod
    Jun 7, 2017 at 22:18
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I think the question is subjective, but I think it falls on the right side of good subjective, bad subjective as demonstrated​ by the answers you received. It may be somewhat opinion based, but not too opinion based to be succinctly answered and the answers look as though they've been useful to others.

I would say leave it, but thanks for the reminder that the diamond doesn't make moderators infallible.

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