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Broken Windows for Review Week #4

As part of our efforts to help fix closed questions on our site, below are approximately ten Workplace SE questions posted for community review. We'll leave this post open until Sunday, October 26th, and then we'll handle whatever remains.

Tools at your disposal include editing, voting to delete or voting to reopen, and you may discuss the questions in chat and on meta.

If you wish to start a meta discussion about one of the posts, please use one answer below per question, and then use the comments underneath that answer to discuss that post. This helps keep information about a post in one spot:

Too broad

  1. How do I sell to the company I'm employed something I have previously made

  2. interview Role Play

  3. What is the point of a video call interview as opposed to a telephone interview?

Off-topic - not "practical answerable questions" or "Real Questions Have Answers" close reason:

  1. Pressured to take work home by colleagues?

  2. How to cope with multiple rejections

  3. How to perform well at work when I am discouraged and demoralized by company politics?

  4. I've been short changed during 'contract negotiations.' What should I do?

Off-topic - legal/ethics, regulations

  1. How can I determine if I can reward points for a purchase made with company funds?

  2. Some comments have been made about me in the exit interviews of people in my department, Do I have right to see them

Primarily opinion based

  1. How much does a first job in software development matter

Unclear what's being asked

  1. How to react when boss is disappointed in you because of a technical error you have no influence over?
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4 Answers 4

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Re 3,4,8 (and I'm biased as an accepted answerer for 8).

The fact that the questions are highly rated, and there are are several highly rated answers on those questions would suggest to me that the community found them helpful.

I appreciate that in a new community there is a fine line between generating visitors and maintaining a pure vision - but I think that there is a little too much zealotry over what constitutes a good question.

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  • 1
    high rating per se doesn't reliably indicate usefulness, see eg The Trouble With Popularity
    – gnat
    Oct 20, 2014 at 16:27
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    I think especially for #8 it would be pretty easy to make a minor edit to change it from, "is it ethical?" to "how can I determine if I can?" which basically means all the answers there are 95% relevant still.
    – enderland
    Oct 20, 2014 at 16:28
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    General comment (not about those questions in particular): one tool we have available is the historical lock, which keeps a question on the site but (a) adds a notice saying "this was good then but it doesn't match our current scope and (b) prevents further changes. If that makes sense for any of the questions under review, please suggest it.
    – Monica Cellio
    Oct 20, 2014 at 21:09
  • As enderland mentioned, sometimes just a slight edit can fix a problem or at least make a stronger case for reopening. If something is closed, if a slight edit bumps it into review queue where you and 4 other like minded individuals reopen it, then we've made the Internet and our site better.
    – jmort253
    Oct 20, 2014 at 21:51
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    The goal of these reviews is to weed out unsalvageable content and also bring attention to things worth fixing. Hope this helps clarify.
    – jmort253
    Oct 20, 2014 at 21:53
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    I think the edit that was made to #8 (presumably as a result of this review) makes it fit this site. I see three reopen votes there right now; can we get more?
    – Monica Cellio
    Oct 21, 2014 at 3:42
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    #8 has been reopened.
    – Monica Cellio
    Oct 23, 2014 at 18:56
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  1. How do I sell to the company I'm employed something I have previously made

I made some edits to this question that I think address the problems. Is more needed, or is this suitable now?

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    I think this is no longer too broad. The problem is now well-defined and Wesley's answer is great and still pertinent after your edits. Some of the other answers might need further work, but that should not prevent this from being reopened. I'd vote if I had re-open privileges.
    – Matt Giltaji
    Oct 27, 2014 at 23:17
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    I'm going to make the executive decision that Matt, Wesley, another reopen voter, possibly some others (depending on who voted for this), and I, in combination with the edit, are enough to reopen.
    – Monica Cellio
    Oct 28, 2014 at 3:28
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Can I sell to the company I'm employed something I have made

I disagree with the question being "too broad." It is a very specific set of circumstances that can arise to anyone who has worked in software development. It's happened to me, twice. The question also qualifies the circumstances, well. I believe the question could be closed to prevent "Me, too," but I believe the question itself is valid and should remain. You will notice the question has received a lot of upvotes, as well.

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Re (9): Depends on where you are, what laws you're under, what company policies are... but in general the direct answer is "No, that's considered confidential/personal information and you have no inherent right to see it. Which is just as well since someday the tables may be turned and you may want to say things you'd rather not have attributed."

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