Are 'What am I' questions too localised? [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• Is there a title for that? 2 answers

Recently we have been getting a lot of questions like this and this.

The first has been closed and the second is on its way there too. Both as too localized, and i agree!

I don't think we should be allowing questions like this because if we do does that mean we will be accepting questions that are any combination of any role and we just have to give them a title?

I was certain that's not the sort of Q & A format we were hoping for. I bring this up because the first one is being re-opened and is getting comments from people who disagree that it is too localized.

So to clarify i think we need a community consensus, should these types of questions be deemed valid as surely anyone who does those jobs has that title, or should we be closing them off as too localized to prevent hundreds of varying combinations of questions that help no-one but the asker.

As far as i am aware most companies don't let you pick your own title, they tell you what it is depending on what you do for them or depending on what you agreed on at the time of your hiring. Giving straight out answers to people could even be detrimental to them if they assign it to themselves and later find out the company disagrees, its a very person by person, company by company basis as to what your title is, that's why i think they are too localized and that's why i think we should still be closing them off as too localized.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Answer 1

No.They are off topic because they are about a specific job not about the general workplace.

A question of my job title is not reflective of my function, would be fine and could be done in general on "how do I approach having my title corrected?"

I can even see a question of my job title does not match function "How should I determine if I want to persue changing it?"

But anything that is about a specific job is off topic. All what title should I be questions are going to be about a specific job.

Answer 2

For this question, Job titles in the web business... What do you call yourself if regularly work with multiple disciplines?, I'm not 100% convinced this is an extraordinarily narrow situation that no one else on the worldwide Internet will face. Too localized is for situations that are so incredibly narrow that no one else will ever face the same problem.

However, lots of people do both development and design. Sure, most programmers and designers only do one or the other, but there is still a significant number of individuals who possess the talents to do both. While there are some specifics in the question -- important when one has a real, actual problem -- there are also some elements that could be applied to other similar situations. I'm not sure I'd reopen it, but I'm not sure I would have closed it either.

As for, What's the role/position of person who does almost every tech stuff in a small Digital Agency?, the question asked for "advice from people with experience", which I edited to try to clean up a bit. Like the first question, I'm not sure too localized fits here either, since there are likely many digital agencies throughout the world who are getting started, and there are likely many other organizations similar to a digital agency to where answers could be useful to future visitors.

In short, I'm not 100% convinced that, as a community, we're using the too localized close reason correctly. This close reason is perhaps the most difficult to understand, and I only use it in situations that are just so narrow that no search terms in Google could land a person on that post.

What's more, many answers could also be detrimental to an asker if he or she blindly applies the answer without evaluating the impact it might have in his or her situation. This applies to hiring, negotiating with management, or resolving disputes with co-workers. The fact is that every person, as well as their relationships, is also different, yet these tend to be some of our most valuable questions.

Like the first question, I'm not sure I'd close it as too localized, but before my edits, the not constructive close reason came to mind. I'm not sure I'd reopen it either without more editing.