Using this Data Explorer query, I searched for comments that contain the string close on questions. I went through them manually, and took a snippet from each relevant comment.
This is just a reference post (in the same spirit of July 2020: survey of the on/off-topic posts on Chinese.SE meta as part of Streamlining question closure: approximate roadmap).
Points:
- I think there's an underlying on-topic-ness principle here: the reader can learn something about the Chinese language from the question and (potential) answers.
- I feel like we're behind on on/off-topic meta posts partly because users would just declare things as on/off-topic without creating a meta discussion.
- A lot of people independently created a "not about the Chinese language" close reason; it makes me feel strongly we should add this. (Although we have made exceptions, e.g. IME, so this needs to be acknowledged.)
- It seems we need to make sure close reasons are simple to understand, so people don't hesitate to use them.
- We should discuss alternative sites for "what does this say?" questions. If we can point users towards such sites, maybe we won't feel so bad about closing such questions.
- We should discuss if Chinese-to-English translation questions are on-topic. There was a lot of (inconsistent) close votes on these.
- We should discuss if "writing critique" questions are on-topic. There were some close votes on these. Some people declaring "we are not a proofreading service".
- Some users say "too long" is a reason to close. I don't understand why: nobody is obligated to answer it, they can just leave it for someone else (some users prefer challenging questions). I worry it would block more advanced questions.
- Some users say words to the effect of "it's off-topic because it's on-topic at another sites", but questions can be on-topic at multiple sites, so this logic has a hole.
2020
- 7 July 2020 one question per question
- 23 June 2020 a question without much shown effort is easily closed
- 21 June 2020 this question allows for transient answers
- 21 June 2020 it can't be answered and includes the user's personal information [I expect this question will be autodeleted tomorrow]
- 23 May 2020 it comes from a misunderstanding of the character structure
- 11 May 2020 the question is not related to this site
- 21 March 2020 it's not about Chinese language
- 16 March 2020 this kind of question need far more effort on behalf of the asker, it tends to attract undue attention; the question is How would you write the years 1951 and 1964 in Chinese characters?
- 10 March 2020 there's a close reason which includes "Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once."
- 13 January 2020 it's not about the Chinese language (it's not a Chinese quote)
- 4 January 2020 it's inviting speculation
2019
- 16 December 2019 There's also a close reason "needs more focus" which includes: Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once.
- 16 December 2019 the OP was referring to too many in one post, as per the close flag "Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem ..."
- 9 September 2019 this question is asking for a French translation
- 17 June 2019 this is a historic question; the question is What was money worth during the Republic of China (1912 - 1949) era?
- 4 May 2019 You need to show some effort otherwise your question will get closed. [The OP subsequently showed effort, so I deleted the comment (obsolete).]
- 25 April 2019 off-topic because this is a technical question; the question is What can I do about "Written Chinese"?
- 19 March 2019 off-topic because this is not a question on language.
- 8 March 2019 OP has shown homework ... there’s no need to close the question.
- 6 March 2019 Might as well just leave it as an answer, then we can close this question down. [Odd: closing questions deliberately prevents answers.]
- 18 February 2019 this site is not a transliteration or translation service, unless the question shows some effort
- 4 February 2019 it has nothing to do with Chinese studying
- 15 January 2019 I guess somebody flag to close because this is opinion base.
- 5 January 2019 IMO not the type of questions to get closed at all.
- 5 January 2019 not the type of questions to get closed at all [There was an issue with the title; I tried to fix that problem with an edit]
2018
- 30 November 2018 it has nothing to do with languages
- 28 November 2018 I like an openly discussion forum. My similiar questions in the ELL section always are closed
- 28 November 2018 off-topic because it has nothing to do with studying Chinese
- 21 November 2018 StackExchange is not a pure "ask for help" website, questions and answers are supposed to provide useful information to the whole community. That is why some type of questions are closed on stackexchange
- 17 November 2018 This site is ... is unsuited to opinion-based, broad questions like this one, which will very likely be closed
- 6 November 2018 the site is not for image recognition
- 4 October 2018 Unlike other "unfriendly" community, no questions will be closed [A complaint---hopefully we can fix this.]
- 18 September 2018 this isn’t about the Chinese language
- 16 September 2018 this is not related to learning Chinese
- 8 September 2018 I don’t see the need to close this, thinking in a foreign language is a fairly common hurdle for learners. and there was the response I am not sure what is the question.
- 31 August 2018 It's sad that this interesting question is closed; the question is How To Go About Learning Tangut
- 3 July 2018 you need to give some methods that you’ve tried (OCR, google translate, etc.) to assure these questions don’t get closed
- 1 April 2018 off-topic because this question is about music, not Chinese language
- 27 March 2018 Prior research effort is clearly indicated, no need to close this question.
- 19 March 2018 looks like this question is going to be closed as "unclear what you're asking," to avoid this please clarify your specific problem
- 5 March 2018 Please show your attempt at translation in your question and state which area you are having difficulty with. Without homework this question is very quickly going to be closed.
- 3 March 2018 Please show your attempt at translation in your question and state which area you are having difficulty with. Without homework this question is very quickly going to be closed.
- 3 March 2018 Please show your attempt at translation in your question and state which area you are having difficulty with. Without homework this question is very quickly going to be closed.
- 28 February 2018 I really hope it does not get closed. This question might be more related to the Chinese history, but I believe that surnames themselves have linguistic implications
- 28 February 2018 I’m not sure that this is a language question per se and it might get closed as such.
- 16 February 2018 This Q will be closed soon.the question is Can you please help me translate this title and signature?
2017
- 13 November 2017 usually stack exchange requires that you show some homework ... Otherwise your questions are gonna get downvoted and closed real quick
- 7 September 2017 off-topic because it's about understanding an English sentence, not learning Chinese
- 6 September 2017 off-topic because it seems to be asking about the origins of an English phrase
- 31 August 2017 voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about political concept
- 3 August 2017 off-topic because it concerns the google "translate" translation into English from Chinese
- 26 July 2017 sounds a duplicate. Sorry for overlooking it. I closed the question
- 30 May 2017 We generally close translation questions that don't show previous effort
- 8 May 2017 off-topic because it's about a work of fiction and not Chinese language
- 18 January 2017 voting to close this question as off-topic because it's discussing the actual Chinese etymology of the word "manhua", which would require someone versed in Chinese followed by voting to leave this open. Questions regarding Manhua have been allowed as on-topic, and I don't think the fact that the language in question isn't Japanese is enough of a reason to close it
2016
- 19 October 2016 off-topic because it's not about Chinese language
- 24 September 2016 off-topic because this seems to essentially be a question about understanding English from the perspective of a Chinese speaker
- 12 August 2016 off-topic because it is about food identification followed by Precedent. Zero votes but has an answer and has not been closed
- 4 August 2016 voting to close as this currently reads like a question that requires comprehensive knowledge of English (i.e. "how do I effectively express this in English")
- 4 August 2016 This should be closed. You cannot ask a Chinese two syllable word without tones and context
- 28 July 2016 voting to close as this is essentially a proofreading request as the OP has not indicated what they believe to be potential issues with their text
- 12 July 2016 off-topic because this website is not a proofreading service, and the OP has not stated what they believe to be potential issues with their piece
- 12 July 2016 off-topic because this website doesn't provide a proofreading service
- 7 July 2016 This should be closed as it is too general and is not likely to be useful for anybody in the future, it also does not add value to the site in overall
- 14 May 2016 I will certainly close the question, I feel like I've made it stray way too far away from the original question
- 29 May 2016 The question needn't to be closed
- 25 May 2016 off-topic because this is essentially a proofreading question, and the OP has made no indication of what they believe to be suspect here
- (13 May 2016 I'm not sure what's going on here: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17974/opening-a-mahjong-business-does-熬云-sound-like-a-business-name-have-no-idea-wha)
- 8 May 2016 off-topic because this question is focused on finding English words to express the meaning of Chinese terms that are already known, and thus is more suited to a site about English
- 22 March 2016 voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about Japanese
- 17 March 2016 good question, I don't know why people vote to close
- 12 March 2016 I think it would be better if the answers were merged and one of the questions closed.
- 4 March 2016 voted to close your question because it reads as a translation question for which no research effort has been shown
- 27 February 2016 maybe someone with a higher rep can close/flag my question as already answered?
- 14 February 2016 voting to close this question as off-topic because this question is largely concerned with English
- 4 February 2016 voting to close this question as off-topic because this reads as a question about expressing Chinese concepts in English, and thus the focus of the question seems to be on English
- 28 January 2016 voting to close this question as off-topic because it's a question about English language that doesn't require any knowledge about Chinese language
- 7 January 2016 voting to close this question as off-topic because the focus of this question is on improving an English translation
- 7 January 2016 this question is not about the Chinese language but iOS settings, it will be closed soon as per the "off-topic" rules followed by voting to close this question as off-topic because it should belong to the Ask Different website
- 3 January 2016 this question should not be closed because the off-topic rule says "... We do maintain a list of generally-useful resources for learning Mandarin ..." but this question is not about Mandarin
2015
- 31 December 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because this appears to be a question about Chinese "literature", rather than about Chinese language per se
- 31 December 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because we aren't here to provide a proofreading service, and the OP has not stated any specific questions about their text
- 2 December 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because it is asking for translation from other language
- 7 September 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because this is not about Chinese language
- 12 August 2015 There are many (mostly closed) questions here that just ask for a translation, and it would be a waste of the community's time to answer them.
- (6 January 2015 complications with the length of this question: Hakka song "kam-thung sim": character approximation and translation required for a part)
- 8 August 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because this question appears to ask what "town hall" means in English
- 21 June 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because this is not about Chinese language
- 19 June 2015 Sorry that your question got closed. This kind of topic is a better fit for our chat site
- 10 May 2015 If you see a duplicate, vote to close. You have the reputation to do it.
- 9 May 2015 voting to close this question as off-topic because it is too narrow and is not really about Chinese language or culture
- 5 May 2015 I flagged to close this question as too broad although I do like the question ... Your question is broad enough to write a PhD thesis followed by This is an excellent question. No need to close it.
- 1 May 2015 I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because your question appears to be in English
- 3 April 2015 I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it has nothing to do with Chinese Language. This question should be moved to another SE site, perhaps history.
- 18 March 2015 I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is too local to be helpful to other Chinese learners.
- 26 February 2015 But you've been to a wrong place, this question will be closed.
- 29 January 2015 Also according to the rules, posts asking for translations will get closed.
2014
- 29 December 2014 Nah I reckon it should be closed. This Q will not provide any benefit to anybody else coming to chinese.SE, so the request could be made in Chat
- 28 December 2014 Voting to close as "off-topic -- translation request".
- 7 September 2014 This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about the Chinese language
- 23 August 2014 Voting to close. Google translate, hand writing option is the correct tool for this.
- 5 August 2014 the question seems straight-forward, the close votes are occurring because you did not show such research
- 30 June 2014 Closed as too localized? Unlikely to help anyone? Nonsense, The question's already been viewed 400 times
- 15 June 2014 I would've closed it as offtopic/general reference because no effort's shown in looking the word up
- 15 June 2014 What convinced me to close was your question: ... This is opinion-based and should be avoided.
- 30 May 2014 this question should be closed because it's too broad
- 26 May 2014 Voted to close as 'looking for learning resources'
[Character limit reached.]
