Post History

As a newcomer here, I'd like to suggest two additional issues that weigh in favor of closing unworkable questions.

First, a site that wants to grow its community needs to moderate its content.  If not, prospective users will get one look at a pile of garbage questions with no activity and turn right back around for another site, convinced that the community has no time for them, or doesn't have anybody around who wants to help.  Moderating them to a private space resolves that.

Second, if "unclear, therefore closed" sounds harsh to a new user, wait until a dozen people show up to explain why they won't answer their question, in a space where everybody can see that reprimanding.  That makes it look like the community has much more of an interest in arguing the validity of a question than fixing anybody's problem.

That said, I haven't lived through the process of closure, but I have to imagine that it could probably stand some improvement, like making it clear(er) that it's more of a "workshop" space to reorganize the question to make it easier for people to answer it than a rejection.