What makes a question too broad?

Question

Comparing these two questions:

1. Fun experiments I can do with my bridge camera?
2. What apertures are required to enable autofocus, including cross-type or high-precision focusing, on Canon DSLR cameras?

The first one got closed for being too broad. I agree that it is very broad. The second question is also broad, covering many cameras, lenses, modes etc. I don't say that it is as broad as the first question, because the number of cameras sure is finite.

What bothers me is that an extensive list of technical details is well received, while a list of techniques/creative processes doesn't even come to existence.

Is this community for gearheads?

Answer 1

The first one is a few hours old, the second one is almost 4 years old. Taking examples from the extreme ends of the site history is probably not realistic because the direction on this front is something that changes over time. What is seen as a good question is an evolutionary process here and, as one who has been here from the start, I can say that it's been a slow process. I'm okay with that, in the end it really is the current community deciding if the question can be reasonably answered within the context of the site. That changes.

Answer 2

I think you are confusing "broad" with "broad and answerable". Your question was broad and no best answer could possibly be selected, it is a good question for a discussion forum or chat room, and not a Q&A site that strives to pick "the best answer".

The first question you linked to is the type that can often turn into a "community wiki" where no best answer is chosen. But this particular SE site has really moved away from community wiki questions for the reasons that have previously been discussed on this meta site(here among others)

The second question you linked to is broad in that it requires a very detailed answer to be complete, but it is not a discussion as a definitive answer is possible.

They are two very different types of questions, even beyond what Joanne C mentioned(vast gap in when the questions were asked).