Are there grounds for getting an extra custom reason close slot?

Question

LessPop's close reason was rejected recently by Shog for being too generic and catch-all, but we can only do so much with our three given slots. Here's what we cover(ed) in our close reasons again:

1. No piracy, no speculation about future, no unreasonably private betas
2. No game design, no game development, no speculation about lore
3. No game/hardware requests, no catalogues, no historical trivia, artifacts bitte

...and here's potentially more stuff we don't address:

• mod requests (I thought we handled them differently?)
• speculation about future of gaming hardware
• ???

Here's the question: dear SE team, are we using all of our three slots enough to consider getting a fourth close reason? Dear community, how'd we arrange our do-not-wants across four close reasons?

Answer 1

Well, then, in light of Shog finally giving us the greenlight to go Four-on-the-Floor with Closure, it's time to do some closure-writing.

I'll take a crack.

1. Questions that ask for recommendations of games, software, or hardware are off topic. For more information on why these sorts of questions don't work here, see "So, what actually is a Game-Rec?" and "Q&A Is Hard. Let's Go Shopping!"
2. Questions about unreleased or illegal content are off topic on Arqade. We only support questions about games available to the general public through legitimate means.
3. Questions about Game Design and Development are off topic. This includes speculative questions about developer intent, with respect to both mechanics and narrative. You might want to ask over at GameDev.SE, but be sure to read their FAQ
4. Questions asking for help identifying a game, whether based on a description, or feature list, or any other set of criteria (i.e. "What was the first game to...") are off-topic. This blog post has some great tips for remembering those old forgotten favorites. We allow an exception for identifying games based on an actual piece of the game, such as screenshots or audio clips.

Answer 2

My (now old - see Shog9's and LessPop_MoreFizz's answers) take at the close reasons with links are below. I think there are grounds for 4th reason having tried to fit them in 3.

1. Close reason against pirated content:

   Questions about piracy and illegal content are off topic. We only support questions about playing games through legitimate means.

2. Close reason against speculative content:

   Questions requiring speculative answers are off topic. This includes questions about unreleased games and game design as well as speculation about lore.

3. Close reason against ITG/recommendations/shopping lists:

   Questions asking for games or other products meeting certain criteria are off topic. This includes identifying games without an audiovisual artifact. See if the question can be rephrased to ask about a problem you're facing.

4. Close reason against questions unrelated to playing games:

   Questions about historical trivia unrelated to an actual problem you're facing in a game and game development as well as topics unrelated to gaming are off topic. We are interested in playing games, not which game was the first to do something or how to make a game.

Answer 3

Here's a graph of the off-topic reasons used during the past 20 weeks, by week:

It seems pretty clear that a distinct ITG reason is needed. I don't care for the idea of lumping this in with game recommendations though; they're not that similar, and frankly the results of trying to create a reason that covers both have been... Really awful. Rather than arguing this point, I'm going to just list all of the custom off-topic reasons used at least twice on a question since I removed the "meet specific criteria" reason:

Uses Reason                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
---- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
5    This question is off-topic because it does not include an artifact from the game itself.                                                                                                                                                                                       
5    This question is nothing more than trivia with no real lasting impact on gameplay.                                                                                                                                                                                             
5    this question doesnt seem to be about games, but rulings on speedruns (which we don't know/oversee)                                                                                                                                                                            
5    This question appears to be off-topic because we only accept game recommendation questions that include screenshots or audio clips                                                                                                                                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because the listed system requirements are not sufficient to run the game.  We cannot troubleshoot when those requirements are not met.                                                                                                  
5    This question appears to be off-topic because no artifact has been provided.                                                                                                                                                                                                   
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it requires in-depth knowledge outside our expertise.                                                                                                                                                                            
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is soliciting service recommendations, not asking about gaming.                                                                                                                                                               
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is requesting assets.                                                                                                                                                                                                         
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is requesting an identification without an accompanying artifact.                                                                                                                                                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is cross-posted at SU, and has an answer there.                                                                                                                                                                               
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking, "Can I run it?"                                                                                                                                                                                                    
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking whether a specific PC can run a game or not.  We do not allow, "Can I run it?" questions.                                                                                                                           
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for off-site resources.                                                                                                                                                                                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a website recommendation.                                                                                                                                                                                       
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a software recommendation.                                                                                                                                                                                      
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a site recommendation, which is off-topic.                                                                                                                                                                      
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a save file.  A better question would be to describe what problem you are having.                                                                                                                               
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a game identification without an accompanying screenshot or other artifact.                                                                                                                                     
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about website development, not playing games.                                                                                                                                                                              
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about trying to play a game around the EULA of the game in question.                                                                                                                                                       
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about troubleshooting an operating system. See our meta post regarding SteamOS: https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8086/which-is-the-right-stackexchange-site-for-steamos-question                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about setting up a PC and not gaming.                                                                                                                                                                                      
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about setting up a JVM, which is a computer configuration issue.                                                                                                                                                           
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about server management not directly related to gaming                                                                                                                                                                     
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about server maintanence reasons, not gaming.                                                                                                                                                                              
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about people or groups involved in software piracy, not about playing games.                                                                                                                                               
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about one specific system.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about mod development.  Game Dev stack exchange may be able to help, though I'm pretty sure the answer to this particular question is no.                                                                                  
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about map recommendations.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about locating a violence free let's play                                                                                                                                                                                  
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about hardware recommendations.                                                                                                                                                                                            
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about general video recording.                                                                                                                                                                                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about general networking, not gaming                                                                                                                                                                                       
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about general computer issues that are not specific to gaming.                                                                                                                                                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about configuring SteamOS itself, and our [Meta post has deemed questions about the OS itself off-topic](https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8086/which-is-the-right-stackexchange-site-for-steamos-question)   
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about comparing video cards.                                                                                                                                                                                               
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about asking for product/site recommendations.                                                                                                                                                                             
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about asking "Can I run it"?                                                                                                                                                                                               
5    This question appears to be off-topic because it is a shopping recommendation.  Questions need to be able to stand the test of time, and asking whether or not something is still being sold does not meet that test.                                                          
5    This is a legal question. We are not lawyers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
4    This question appears to be off-topic because you are not asking a question about a problem you're facing, and will not help future visitors.                                                                                                                                  
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is spam.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is requesting a link for a specific version of Minecraft. We are not an asset location service.                                                                                                                               
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking to identify a game without an accompanying artifact.                                                                                                                                                                
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a link to a mod.  We are not an asset location service.                                                                                                                                                         
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is an extremely localized question that will no longer be relevant within the next hour.                                                                                                                                      
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about selling your own merchandise.                                                                                                                                                                                        
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about identifying a game. If you can provide an image/sound/video of the game, we could help you.                                                                                                                          
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about identifying a game without an audio/visual artifact.                                                                                                                                                                 
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about external tools.                                                                                                                                                                                                      
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about drug usage.                                                                                                                                                                                                          
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about computer hardware and configuration.                                                                                                                                                                                 
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about asking for a straight mod recommendation.                                                                                                                                                                            
4    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a 3rd party website.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about video games.                                                                                                                                                                                                     
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about gaming.                                                                                                                                                                                                          
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking to find other players, and not about playing the game.                                                                                                                                                              
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a mod recommendation. See the [latest meta post](https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8147/the-community-is-closing-mod-rec-questions) on the subject for the most recent community consensus.        
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about food, rather than gaming.                                                                                                                                                                                            
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about an event that is now over.                                                                                                                                                                                           
3    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a Facebook plugin that has nothing to do with gaming.                                                                                                                                                                
2    Welcome to Arqade. Questions asking for identifying games without an audiovisual artifact are off-topic. If you can provide one, we'll gladly help.                                                                                                                            
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is asking for a list of games that fit certain criteria.                                                                                                                                                                      
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about real-world race drivers.                                                                                                                                                                                             
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about racing, and not the video game kind.                                                                                                                                                                                 
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about nonsense.                                                                                                                                                                                                            
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about history and not video games.                                                                                                                                                                                         
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about hex editing save files, which is well beyond our expertise.                                                                                                                                                          
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about asking us to locate assets.                                                                                                                                                                                          
2    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about an operating system recommendation, which is off-topic because it is not about gaming, and we don't do recommendations here because the SE system does not do well with that kind of question.                       
2    This looks like spam. Could also be a stage for sockpuppets.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
2    This is spam... what happened to the close cause its spam option?                                                                                                                                                                                                              
2    Product and service recommendations are considered off-topic for this site, as they do not work well in a Q&A format. [Here is a link to a related StackExchange blog post about these types of questions](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/) 
2    Can be found on the wiki, too lazy to check it         

Yes, there are a respectable number of ITGs in that list. There's also a bunch of stuff that has no business being lumped in with either ITG or shopping (seriously, someone thought there was a close reason for spam?!!)

Conclusion

You can have four site-specific off-topic reasons. I recommend they cover the following topics:

• game/hardware recommendations
• identify this game questions lacking specific artifacts
• Game dev speculation/rumors/trivia
• Illegal content

Of the suggestions posted so far in this thread, I like 3ventic's the most: they're direct, explicit and well-formatted (and they have links!) However, he breaks up game dev and gossip while lumping together recommendations and ITG - this really doesn't seem to be warranted by the relative numbers. Indeed, it may make more sense to drop "game dev" as a distinct item entirely and focus specifically on speculative / rumor-mill questions.

P.S.

Contributing a good set of OT reasons would be a great way for someone to show off their deep understanding of the community here, should they wish to do so for any reason.

Answer 4

Here's my imperfect take: (I have not checked length constraints or link targets; am on tablet)

• We don't allow questions that can't be answered without speculation; we are not a news site. Please don't ask us questions about unreleased games or hardware (private betas are okay). Please also don't ask us to speculate about game plot and lore.
• We don't generally allow questions asking for games or other products; we are not a shopping site. Please don't ask what you should play next. Please don't ask us to compile list of games satisfying some criteria. Please don't ask us to identify a game without something concrete from it (a screenshot, a piece of music, ...)
• We don't allow questions asking about game design, development or historical trivia; we are not a game makers' site. Please don't ask us why games behave the way they do. Please don't ask us how to write your own games or mods.
• We don't allow questions about piracy; we are not a warez site. Please don't ask us where to find pirated games. Please don't ask us how to make them work.