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Other SE sites have custom close reasons - specific options to be used when closing a question. For example, Worldbuilding has one for "Idea generation" questions. Astronomy has one for questions better suited for Earth Science. What should ours be - if we even need any?

If you post an answer, please make it community wiki so others can edit the phrasing.

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The focus of this question is not about the historical basis or focus of an issue, but rather on the concept of the theory, or the personal details of the person involved.

This is admittedly some pretty poor wording, but I'm stuck for anything better. Any suggestions? I think you get the idea, though.

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  • $\begingroup$ MO has a "help center" where the scope of the site is described. And one of the reasons for closure is that "the question is not about research level mathematics within the scopea defined in the help center". $\endgroup$ Dec 31, 2014 at 15:52
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexandreEremenko Thanks a lot; I'll go through some of the others and see if they have similar stuff. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868 Mod
    Dec 31, 2014 at 15:56
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    $\begingroup$ I agree that this can be folded into the standard OT close reason, which should probably be something like "This question is off-topic because it isn't a question about the history of science and/or mathematics". $\endgroup$
    – Logan M
    Jan 1, 2015 at 23:16
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On my opinion, one reason for closing should be that the question is trivial. (But it should be explained somewhere what "trivial" exactly means. For example, if entering some key words from the title of the question into Google brings a Wikipedia article whith a clear and well explained answer.)

Another reason for closing should be that "it is not clear what is asked". MO has such a reason. many poorly stated questions will qualify.

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    $\begingroup$ The "unclear" close reason comes with every site, which is quite handy in some cases. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868 Mod
    Dec 31, 2014 at 16:03
  • $\begingroup$ I think the essence of this answer is that askers should show sufficient effort (in the form of prior research). I think that could make for a good custom closing reason. $\endgroup$
    – Danu Mod
    Jan 10, 2015 at 9:13

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