How do I learn to pick my battles a little better?
Oh the sweet, terrible irony of having to argue about this one...
This question, my question, was closed as being too broad. A few users seemed to think that people were even hesitant to vote to close because I (a more experienced users) posted it.
I'm having trouble making sense of what was really wrong with asking about a specific issue without including what would seem to be distracting examples that demonstrate the issue. I guess it was obvious to me that had the question focused on any one argument the answers would also focus on that one argument. I wasn't asking about one specific argument and answers written that way wouldn't have been helpful.
I've certainly noticed a pattern of exactly this kind of derailment of topics here on meta. Many questions about scope or site etiquette quickly devolve into arguments about the pros and cons of a specific example post that was included, rather than addressing the actual issue being asked about...
I realize that we're uncomfortable with broader questions on Stack Exchange, most of us started out on more academic or technical sites where specificity is really very important. But I think we need to remember that IPS, by the nature of the subject matter, will be a little different.
So... Could we think about this question again, and possibly reopen it?
I finally realized that I was exhibiting the same behavior I was trying to learn to avoid. I've edited the original question to reflect that, I still think that slightly broader questions should have a place here, and that specific examples shouldn't always be strictly required, but this probably wasn't the best place to make that stand.
Sorry about that.