Are "what should I do" questions on topic here?

Question

Over at Workplace.se, they have an off-topic close reason for "what to do" questions, because it attracts opinion-based answers.

Are these kind of questions on topic here?

Answer 1

I think questions of the form: "here's my tale of woe; what do I do now?" are too broad and opinion-based on many sites, especially here. You need to get askers to focus on the goal -- are you trying to avoid having to deal with that person in the future, are you trying to repair the relationship, are you trying to prevent rumors from spreading, what?

We realized recently that there was a problem with our "what to do" close reason and just fixed it on The Workplace. "What to do" is a terrible close reason. Aren't all questions really, at their core, about what to do?

That was shorthand for "don't ask us what job to take and stuff like that". We just (today) rewrote that reason after lots of input. Here's the current text:

Questions asking for advice on a specific career choice, such as what job to take or what skills to learn, are difficult to answer objectively and are rarely useful for anyone else. Instead of asking which decision to make, try asking how to make the decision, or more specific details about one element of the decision. (More information)

Your question is hard to answer in the abstract, without some examples of the kinds of questions you have in mind. If this site decides to write a custom close reason for this type of question, I hope our experience on The Workplace will help IPS avoid some pitfalls. (Click through to see more history, including the wording that included the phrase "what to do".)

Answer 2

Yes! Make a decision for me questions should be off topic.

The close reason on The workplace that was "What should I do" was intended to cover all make a decision for me questions, but not the "I want to do X, how can i do that" questions.