<p>Stack Exchange jargon often uses common English words but with different meanings.<br />
New users, and sometimes even we older ones, are often confused by situations like:</p>
<ul>
<li>If one asks something about X on X.SE, how can it possibly be &quot;off topic&quot;?</li>
<li>If one quotes some authenticated facts and asks a question about them, how can the question be &quot;opinion based&quot;?</li>
<li>And what does &quot;focused&quot; mean when the question doesn't even include an image?</li>
</ul>
<p>Whenever I vote to close (and sometimes for already closed questions), unless someone has already given a good explanation, I usually add a comment explaining why it was closed.<br />
In particular, I point out specifically what was wrong and how the question could be changed to correct the problem:</p>
<ul>
<li>The question asked is different from the summary question in the Title.</li>
<li>Three related questions should be posted separately.</li>
<li>Hearsay is posted as well-known fact where quotations and citations are required.</li>
<li>It's much too long with far too many irrelevant details.</li>
<li>It violates a restriction (specifically describe it) that is listed in the site's tour (include link).</li>
<li>Etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>For instance, just yesterday, a post on Skeptics.SE was looking for examples of claims of spinal-cord faith healing, presumably because the OP was skeptical that such claims were real.
The question certainly looked reasonable for a &quot;skeptics&quot; site, but it was closed for being &quot;off-topic&quot;.</p>
<p>So I added this comment:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To be an acceptable question for this site, it must contain a quotation either from a well-known person or from a well-known publication.
In this case, it would have to be a quotation that explicitly reports a specific case of spinal-cord damage being healed through faith healing.
Without such a quotation, there isn't any notable claim here to be skeptical about.
(And yes, I know you are trying to find such claims, but that isn't what this site is for.)<br />
— <a href="https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/55865/has-faith-healing-ever-repaired-spinal-cord-damage">religion - Has faith healing ever repaired spinal-cord damage? - Skeptics Stack Exchange</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is a very steep learning curve on Stack Exchange sites, and I'm sure many new users are turned off by this attitude and give up.</p>
