2

I just voted to close What is the difference between delete and block user from a list?; since closing questions is apparently a sensitive issue, I thought I should bring it up for discussion. This is one of several questions I've seen where the tester is asking how some sort of term in something they're testing should be defined, or what sort of behavior should be expected. Another example is How do I test time zone scenarios?.

I'm not referring to questions about "What does integration test mean", but "What should happen when I do x?" I don't think those questions are in scope for us, because they're opinion based, and might well mislead the person asking the question. There's either a design document or something similar somewhere that answers the question they are asking, in which case that's where they should be looking for answers, or there isn't an answer documented somewhere, in which case that's something they should work out with their developers/designers/stakeholders. Some of the questions might well have legal implications as well, depending on the jurisdiction of the asker, and I again don't think we should be answering such questions. http://ux.stackexchange.com might be a good place to ask those questions, but by a developer, not by a tester.

1
  • 1
    I think you are absolutely right about the "delete vs block user" since this is too much context-specific, too "narrow" of a topic - difficult to provide a good answer. The question about testing time zones looks better from my point of view since testing from different time zones is generally an interesting and challenging issue for our general audience. Right, closing questions is definitely a pressing issues on SQA nowadays - I'm personally still trying to figure out what is on and off topic and what would be the best course of actions for a mod..Thanks.
    – alecxe Mod
    Aug 22 '17 at 16:07
1

To propose an answer: We should answer questions about "How do I test x?" We should not answer questions about "What should happen in the program I'm testing when I do X?" because that's a question about the design of the program under test, not about testing.

3
  • 1
    Agreed: I try to answer any question on these lines as a generic "What things would a tester need to consider in this situation no matter what the application rules are" - an example would be my answer to this zip code question: sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/17046/…
    – Kate Paulk Mod
    Aug 22 '17 at 18:41
  • 2
    In that case, should we edit the question/ask the asker to edit the question to make them reflect how we're answering them? That's the way I answered sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26322/… as well, but strictly speaking, it's not answering the question being asked.
    – Kevin McKenzie
    Aug 22 '17 at 19:34
  • 2
    @KevinMcKenzie Yes, we should edit the question to make it a good question, and then answer that question. If the asker has a problem with the edit, they can edit it further, but of course as you edit you're making it clear WHAT you're editing and WHY so when they improve it further they don't just undo your change.
    – corsiKa Mod
    Aug 22 '17 at 19:57

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .