No, this isn't really what was meant by a shopping question. The author of this question is wondering if there is a way to do {x}, where {x} just happens to be something they will likely have to go out and purchase. That is very different than asking a photographer (for example) which camera they should buy.

Sometimes when we offer this type of general guidance, it is in response to a specific behavior we are trying to avoid. But oftentimes when these lessons get passed on, the underlying application gets lost and all we remember is the trigger word which says (in this case) "shopping = bad".

In the context of this community, a shopping question might be something like "What is the best sound add-on pack?" There are a lot of them out there, so unless the author narrowed down their problem statement so there is only one (or very few) possible answers, the community is only guessing what will help that user specifically. That's what we're trying to avoid here.

It's a tough balancing act; trying to decide if a question is good for the site, versus learning from the past about what doesn't work for a community. Sometimes you simply have to see if this becomes a problem in actual practice, rather than anticipating problems that may never materialize. All I can suggest is, for now, to judge the individual question on its merits. Is it a useful questions for your community? And then circle around down the road if it turns out that this type of content does not work for your site.

Good question.

No, this isn't really what was meant by a shopping question. The author of this question is wondering if there is a way to do {x}, where {x} just happens to be something they will likely have to go out and purchase. That is very different than asking a photographer (for example) which camera they should buy.

Sometimes when we offer this type of general guidance, it is in response to a specific behavior we are trying to avoid. But oftentimes when these lessons get passed on, the underlying application gets lost and all we remember is the trigger word which says (in this case) "shopping = bad".

In the context of this community, a shopping question might be something like "What is the best sound add-on pack?" There are a lot of them out there, so unless the author has narrowed down their problem statement so there is only one (or very few) possible answers, the community is only guessing what will help that user specifically. That's what we're trying to avoid here.

It's a tough balancing act; trying to decide if a question is good for the site, versus learning from the past about what doesn't work for a community. Sometimes you simply have to see if this becomes a problem in actual practice, rather than anticipating problems that may never materialize. All I can suggest is, for now, to judge the individual question on its merits. Is it a useful questions for your community? And then circle around down the road if it turns out that this type of content does not work for your site.

Good question.

No, this isn't really what was meant by a shopping question. The author of this question is wondering if there is a way to do {x}, where {x} just happens to be something they will likely have to go out and purchase. That is very different than asking a photographer (for example) which camera they should buy.

Sometimes when we offer this type of general guidance, it is in response to a specific behavior we are trying to avoid. But oftentimes when these lessons get passed on, the underlying application gets lost and all we remember is the trigger word which says (in this case) "shopping = bad".

It's a tough balancing act; trying to decide if a question is good for the site, versus learning from the past about what doesn't work for a community. Sometimes you simply have to see if this becomes a problem in actual practice, rather than anticipating problems that may never materialize. All I can suggest is, for now, to judge the individual question on its merits. Is it a useful questions for your community? And then circle around down the road if it turns out that this type of content does not work for your site.

Good question though.

No, this isn't really what was meant by a shopping question. The author of this question is wondering if there is a way to do {x}, where {x} just happens to be something they will likely have to go out and purchase. That is very different than asking a photographer (for example) which camera they should buy.

Sometimes when we offer this type of general guidance, it is in response to a specific behavior we are trying to avoid. But oftentimes when these lessons get passed on, the underlying application gets lost and all we remember is the trigger word which says (in this case) "shopping = bad".

In the context of this community, a shopping question might be something like "What is the best sound add-on pack?" There are a lot of them out there, so unless the author narrowed down their problem statement so there is only one (or very few) possible answers, the community is only guessing what will help that user specifically. That's what we're trying to avoid here.

It's a tough balancing act; trying to decide if a question is good for the site, versus learning from the past about what doesn't work for a community. Sometimes you simply have to see if this becomes a problem in actual practice, rather than anticipating problems that may never materialize. All I can suggest is, for now, to judge the individual question on its merits. Is it a useful questions for your community? And then circle around down the road if it turns out that this type of content does not work for your site.

Good question.