10

One user, michelemarcon, asked the questions:

  1. Where can I find tutorials for Gimp?
  2. Where can I find tutorials for Inkscape?
  3. Where can I find tutorials for Photoshop?
  4. Where can I find tutorial for Blender?

All of these had identical content: a repeat of the question title itself and nothing else.

Questions #1 and 2 are now both community wiki.
Question #3 was closed as "not a real question."
Question #4 was closed as "off topic."

Are tutorial questions welcome or not?

Why would Photoshop tutorials be "not a real question," but Gimp & Inkscape tutorials are both still open and getting answers (and votes)?

Edited to add:

Current status of the above:

  1. Closed as "not a real question"
  2. Open as community wiki
  3. Closed as "not a real question"
  4. Closed as "off topic"
2
  • Aww. I'm all for a tutorial question but can't it be just one for all of them? #
    – Pekka
    Jan 7 '11 at 22:51
  • I was curious about why the Photoshop question was closed too, but its Gimp and Inkscape clones live on. Are we, as a community, subconsciously promoting open source software?
    – Alinium
    Jan 8 '11 at 0:57
5

I would vote #1-3 of those questions to be closed as "not a real question" and the 4th "off-topic". In my opinion, tutorial questions should be welcome, but "Where I can find tutorials for X?" is too broad and too vague to be a real question or a beneficial community wiki.

Example questions and what I think they should be:

  • Tutorials for GIMP ⇒ Not a real question (answers could be anything from saving the file as png to enhacing skin tones with curves)

  • Tutorials for Blender ⇒ Off-topic and Not a real question

  • Filigree tutorials for Inkscape ⇒ Community Wiki

  • HDR Merging tutorials for Photoshop ⇒ Off-topic (and moved to photo.stackexchange)

  • Scripting tutorials for Photoshop ⇒ Tricky one, but I'd consider it on-topic because it can significally boost graphic designers workflow. Community Wiki nevertheless might need further specifying: what kind of scripts, what to achieve with them? Scripting basics tutorials for specific program probably should be moved to Super User and closed as off-topic.

4

Blender is off-topic, but I think #1-3 should be allowed as CW. Resistance is futile against these questions.

3
  • I'm afraid this is probably the way it is. :)
    – Pekka
    Jan 9 '11 at 15:30
  • 1
    You need to attract people, and get some stats. IMHO is not so hard to just put, ie, gimp.org/tutorials (and have this general line for other matters) , with the added gentle short comment in the answer that the question is a bit too open (vague is what one has in mind). Is what I do in other sites when this happens, I just don't work hard on this, unless I am in the mood. But other times a user can feel motivated for it and makes an answer which becomes the All Time Reference for gimp tutorials ,and can become comunity wiki or just sit there for newcomers to check before asking.
    – S.gfx
    Jan 10 '11 at 8:37
  • 1
    Unfortunatly, you're right. Those are general enough to be closed. But CW should save a lot of time in the future. Anyway, we should warn people to ask more detailed questions than those...
    – Shikiryu
    Jan 10 '11 at 9:36
0

In my opinion, "super-beginner-tutorial-search" questions all fail the following criteria:

Jeffy decision tree

  1. If you do a web search, is the answer up top? Yes.
  2. Is the answer in need of improvement? No.
  3. Is the answer trivial or complex? Trivial.
  4. Close as general reference.

"General Reference" isn't there any more, but the principle remains the same.

I don't mind helping with beginner photoshop/illustrator/whatever questions (in fact that's most of my answers, since the rest of the time I'm trying to learn from Alan Gilbertson :-) ) - but "where do I start" always feels like the asker should be on Google instead of this site.

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