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Every now and then, there appear some questions that are simply just off-topic for this site since they are not:

  • Questions about math related to computer graphics,
  • Questions about a specific graphics programming or debugging problem,
  • Questions about a specific graphics API,
  • Questions about a specific graphics algorithm or concept.

as specified by the on-topic help page.

The possible ways to flag or vote on such questions are:

  1. Questions asking us to recommend or find a book, tool, software, tutorial or other off-site resource are off-topic for Computer Graphics as they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam. Instead, describe your problem or need and the steps, if any, you've taken to solve it.

  2. Questions about creating artwork or using graphics software as an end-user are off-topic for this site. Consider if your question might be re-written to fit on Graphic Design. If your question is about Blender, it might fit on Blender.

  3. This question belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network

  4. Other - add a comment

The first 2 options are too specific to cover all (the majority of?) possible off-topic questions. The third option is also kind of obsolete for some reasons. So I have to use the fourth "custom" option. While I usually add a comment when raising a flag or casting a close vote anyways, I am still wondering why there is no "Blatantly off-topic" flag/vote like on other sites like StackOverflow and Game Development SE. I see that there is no absolute need for this due to the "custom comment" option, however, I think it would be much more useful and frequently used than option 1-3.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think you mean "Blatently off-topic, still off-topic tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow." ;-) But I would agree to the short form. $\endgroup$
    – Olivier
    Jun 25, 2020 at 15:58
  • $\begingroup$ Additional context: Blatantly off-topic for all $\endgroup$
    – Andrew T.
    Jun 25, 2020 at 19:16
  • $\begingroup$ @AndrewT. Thx for the link. That explains in context of the beta status of this site why it is "missing" for me. $\endgroup$
    – wychmaster Mod
    Jun 26, 2020 at 7:16
  • $\begingroup$ @Olivier Yeah... I know what you are pointing at ;) - got deleted anyways. $\endgroup$
    – wychmaster Mod
    Jun 26, 2020 at 7:18

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I'm not sure how much of an answer this will be but I will make an attempt. First, to me, "blatantly" off topic would be someone asking about gardening, plumbing or the like. I have yet to see this happen so I don't think it's a common problem.

Questions which are off topic but still somewhat related to computed graphics (eg. "how do I increase the fps in [whatever game]") are probably best served with a non generic comment so the user gets at least some idea of why they are off topic. Otherwise, they risk asking same off topic question again under a slightly different form, as I think we've recently seen, and which likely prompted your question.

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  • $\begingroup$ Well, let's call it the "generally off-topic" flag/vote. An example would be this one. It is not that far away from computer graphics but I still think it is off-topic here. The best flag would probably be "belongs on another site", but we can only select meta as target (at the moment). $\endgroup$
    – wychmaster Mod
    Jun 26, 2020 at 7:26
  • $\begingroup$ I totally agree about commenting on why you think a question is OT. However sometimes somebody else has already done this but might not have cast a close vote or flag, so it is rather pointless to add another comment with the same content. Speaking of pointless, due to the link in the comment of Andrew T., I think the discussion should be moved there since it seems to be a general StackExchange topic. $\endgroup$
    – wychmaster Mod
    Jun 26, 2020 at 7:32

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