"What software was used for this"-questions and how to deal with them

Question

We have had a number of questions lately asking what application was used for X (here and here for example). While it's true that getting the answer may help some people to make a choice, I have following objections to the question structure.

• It is quite impossible to know from the result what application was used. Only asking the author will get the definitive answer.
• It is the wrong question in a way. It does not matter one bit what application was used. But rather what application you know how to use and have some idea of how to do the same thing in it.
• It contains the implied idea that it was done with one application. This may or may not be true. In 3D animation for example you often end up using at least 3 separate applications to begin with.

Also these seem to get the same answers over and over again. So can we make some effort to close these questions or do you guys see these as being like font identification questions?

Ammendum: Why do i take this up. I feel that these questions could be handled somewhat better as a general rule. I just dont want to be the only one that regularily handles them.

Answer 1

I completely agree.

Your first point; the fact that it's mostly impossible to find out what software was actually used means that the OP is asking the wrong question. What they most likely want to know is what software they can use to create something similar...

In which case the question should be a software-recommendation

So I propose we...

1. Edit the questions and tag appropriately (software-recommendation)
2. Request more information from OP so that the question isn't too broad^*. Otherwise...
3. Close the questions as Too Broad.

^*I think we also need some better guidelines for recommendation questions more generally... Right now, we have nothing specific to tell anyone what they need to add to their questions to make them narrow enough to be answerable. Software Recommendations have some quality guidelines for questions and answers which I think we should adopt and enforce here (or at least use as a base to craft our own guidelines).

Answer 2

I'm not an old member here so maybe my opinion is not that relevant. I also may not have a complete understanding of the long term purpose of this board. Is it quality or quantity preferred when it comes to the questions? I am also aware most good graphic design questions have already been answered, but I will say this regardless.

These software identification questions are too broad and should always be closed. Struggling to understand what the OP means and then posting a similarly broad answer just sounds too polite. It is everybody's job to do his own reseach, learn the tools and then come up with good questions that remain relevant in time.

I have also seen many many low quality posts in the font & style identification and a lot of tech support disguised as "graphic design" questions.

To avoid spending too much time on these subjective and/or low quality questions, I would say, when in doubt, close it.

I also think the 5 votes needed to close a question is too high. Many low quality questions remain open with 3 or 4 close votes. I suggest lowering this limit from 5 to 3 votes.

Answer 3

The underlying issue with these kind of questions is that the questioner assumes that they will be able to replicate the artwork/logo/animation/... if they have the exact same software setup. As if the professionals have secret software with a Magic Button™ that will spit out exactly what they want.

If someone has to ask about software, they're nowhere near ready to replicate something awesome they've seen. In that case, it's of no use to direct them to the right software*, one needs to direct them to a book titled "Getting started with X" (where X is the discipline of choice).

My point is: these questions cannot be answered meaningfully. There's only two options:

• Either you answer the actual question, but that will not fundamentally help the OP.

• Or you answer the underlying question, but then the OP will just feel frustrated because that's not what they want to hear.

_{* The matter whether there is such a thing in the first place is another discussion.}