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Yesterday a put quite a bit of effort in answering a question on HwRecs. Now the question has been deleted for no apparent reason.

I did mention a specific retailer, clearly stating that I was using them as price reference - this can be easily edited out and I don't believe it was a reason for deletion anyways.

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    I was wondering the same. I intended to write an answer to that question today, but it's gone. I agree with you, I see no apparent reason why the question should be deleted.
    – user13807
    Apr 20, 2020 at 11:06
  • @MechEng you are probably better qualified for that answer, especially regarding CPU and AVX512 stuff. Specialized software benchmarks are notoriously hard to find. I just hope a mod can do this - I don't think we have anyone active with enough rep to do this otherwise.
    – jaskij
    Apr 20, 2020 at 12:01
  • Maybe not better qualified for answering the question as a whole, but I have some experience in the CAE software department. Both of our answers combined would have been the complete picture.
    – user13807
    Apr 20, 2020 at 13:03
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    As it turns out, questions about whole PC builds are off-topic by default: hardwarerecs.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/464/… So only one component per question...
    – user13807
    Apr 20, 2020 at 15:29
  • @MechEng I'm curious now: hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/q/13332/1873
    – jaskij
    Apr 20, 2020 at 16:55
  • probably relevant here xkcd.com/356 I still answered your question
    – user13807
    Apr 23, 2020 at 20:42

2 Answers 2

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Andy hit the nail on the head:

I suspect the reason it was closed/deleted though was because it is a very broad question.

The question fits both our specific close reason of "requirements too broad", and our general policy that build requests are off-topic. It's also long-standing policy on HR that questions that don't meet the required quality standards are closed and deleted, because of the nature of a recommendations site and its propensity to attract exactly this sort of thing - folks looking for general advice or tailored service, which is not what we're here for.

I'm sorry your answer got caught up in that; it was an excellent answer. The only thing I can recommend is to read up on what's likely to be closed/deleted, and spend your effort elsewhere :)

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    I don't see an accept button in my mobile app somehow. Dura sed sed lex. There are no hard feelings. As for elsewhere - I do it partly to satisfy my intellectual itch, and most questions I could answer here are either off-topic or too simple to scratch that itch so I'll likely return to lurking and see how it turns out.
    – jaskij
    Apr 23, 2020 at 11:42
  • I spent recent days on Reddit and I feel like redirecting whole build questions there somehow...
    – jaskij
    Apr 23, 2020 at 11:45
  • @JanDorniak There's a section at the top of the help center that we can edit; it currently points to /r/techsupport for tech support questions, but we could add a line for build requests if there's somewhere they can go?
    – ArtOfCode
    Apr 23, 2020 at 11:47
  • r/pcmasterrace seems a decent place despite the name, there are some quite knowledgeable people, although they focus on gaming
    – jaskij
    Apr 23, 2020 at 11:49
  • I'm sure I've seen dedicated PC building subs too... I'll have a poke around too and see what I can come up with on top of that.
    – ArtOfCode
    Apr 23, 2020 at 11:50
  • Great, thank you.
    – jaskij
    Apr 23, 2020 at 11:51
  • The site has tags "pc" and "desktop". I assume this must mean that questions about pre-built computers are not off-topic by default. What is the reason to draw the line here? The decisions about the individual components must still be made. I can't just state "get an HP Z8 G4" as a proper answer. The loadout still needs to be specified for most components individually, similar to a custom PC.
    – user13807
    Apr 23, 2020 at 18:22
  • @MechEng The question you linked in the comments above goes through this. Custom builds are off-topic; requests for pre-specified products are on-topic.
    – ArtOfCode
    Apr 23, 2020 at 19:44
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    For me personally, this still seems like an arbitrary line to draw. Based on the most up-voted and accepted answer in said link, the question could have been on-topic with an example of a build? And don't get me started on the proposed workaround, asking one question per component. But it's all probably a moot point anyway. There are better sites to get recommendations for PCs. And this discussion is itself becoming off-topic ;)
    – user13807
    Apr 23, 2020 at 20:38
  • Unless we want to restart the Q of what's on topic
    – jaskij
    Apr 23, 2020 at 20:45
  • And rules on electronics are similarly arbitrary... Sorry for multiple comments
    – jaskij
    Apr 23, 2020 at 20:45
  • @ArtOfCode: there's r/buildapc too
    – jaskij
    Apr 25, 2020 at 8:03
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I started to answer this, and completely missed that it was the question not the answer that was deleted. I didn't see any indication why the answer would have been removed - no flags, not votes to delete. So I undeleted your answer.

Then I re-read the question you asked here and realized you are asking about the question itself. That stuck your answer in a weird state because the question was deleted but the answer was not. I've fixed that by re-deleting your answer.

Now that I've cleaned up the mess I unintentionally made, I'll leave the question to Art and I'll bow out. Sorry for the undelete, redelete.

I suspect the reason it was closed/deleted though was because it is a very broad question.

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    That's subject to closure rather then deletion, isn't it? And sometimes broad questions are answerable if you put some ifs in the answer (as I did).
    – jaskij
    Apr 20, 2020 at 13:18
  • For a question about a whole PC build, it was rather on point as far as I am concerned. There were clear requirements, even with specific software to be used. And a budget. If this is still too broad, then PC build questions in general will have a hard time on this site. I will leave it to the more experienced users if that is the right direction for Hardware Recommendations to be heading.
    – user13807
    Apr 20, 2020 at 13:49

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