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This is a discussion that's been partially addressed on the stack exchange meta with regards to "Too Localized" closure, but the particular issue of simple typographical errors is unresolved there...

Given this question, answered a couple of hours ago, I think it would be worth discussing.

How should we handle "questions" when the "answer" is that a user has a simple typographical error? Those questions don't appear to me to be "off topic" necessarily, but are (in my opinion) not very useful as part of a body of knowledge.

To be clear: I don't think "trivial" questions should be discouraged at all, people have different levels of skill, questions can still be good and accommodate that. But that isn't really the case I'm pointing to in this question; I'm asking specifically about typographical errors: "oops I forgot a semi-colon", "it's getById not getByID", or in this case "I used a smart quote instead of a regular quote (somehow).

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They are rather trivial in the broad context, but in the micro, it was a problem someone was having that was resolvable. No matter how big or small, simple or complex, if we are getting people to ask and contribute, that is all we can ask for.

Some of my first questions on MSDN and here were very trivial by someone's skill level, it doesn't diminish the validity of the question to the asker. Look where it got me, eventually into moderation.

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  • edited question to address this concern
    – John-M
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 16:10
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    I still think this is a valid answer. Typos are, in the SharePoint scripting world, very real. Javascript is a case sensitive language so it is entirely plausible that new scripter into the SharePoint arena can overlook these things. They are trivial questions and do solve the author's problem.
    – Eric Alexander Mod
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 16:14
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Q: How should we handle "questions" when the "answer" is that a user has a simple typographical error?

A: In Programming typos make a huge difference and there are no room for errors. That's why computers are so bad at translating human language. Ever had the guts to translate your CV with Machine Translation Services and send it to a future employer (or contractor) and not read it before hitting Ctrl + Enter on your keyboard?

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  • Your answer doesn't contain an answer, just a new question ;)
    – Robert Lindgren Mod
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 7:49
  • @RobertLindgren Oh but the first sentence is the answer. The rest is just reasoning which is OK on meta :)
    – Benny Skogberg Mod
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 7:51

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