I do a lot of closures on the main Stack Overflow site so I've seen more than a few recommendation requests. While DIY is a different subject set, I've been increasingly baffled by people wanting to close questions for product recommendations for what is arguably an open request for a DIY solution.
Case in point: Central supports for bed (Close queue)
It even has this comment
VTC - Questions seeking product recommendations are off topic here
The problem is I don't see a product recommendation request. In fact, the accepted answer mentions no specific products at all. Compare it to this question, where the product recommendation is explicit.
We need to have a better standard of closure here. I am proposing we have this as our standard
- Questions directly asking for a service or product should be closed
- Questions describing a problem should be left open
I'm basing this on Community Manager guidance for Stack Overflow
"Recommendation question" is shorthand for "you didn't describe a problem, you just asked for a list of things."
Most DIY questions need a push in the right direction, and mentioning and linking products to a general question. If we're going to close all the DIY questions where a product would solve the problem we're not going to have many questions left to answer.