Inconsistent treatment of open, list, or subjective questions.

Question

While some quested have been summarily executed, received close votes, or received down votes as being off topic based on being too open, not specific enough, no "right" answer, and open to list answers, other falling into that category have had no such response and are already getting large lists of answers. I'll paste them into this question as I find them:

• list When traveling to a country with a different currency, how should you take your money?
• list Which European cities have bike rental stations for tourists?
• no one right answer How to overcome the language barrier when visiting France and Spain?
• list What are the best ways to avoid data roaming fees when travelling abroad?
• no one right answer What are some good ways to find things to explore on-site in an unfamiliar place?
• list What seasonal work can fund travel?
• list Is there a list of free accommodation resources?
• no one right answer How do you avoid "tourist traps" when traveling to a country where you do not speak the language?
• not specific How can I travel between US towns without flying?

We could use this list to help decide the exceptions to the rules or where to find the flexibility or whether some other closures need to be reexamined. Are we being consistent? Does consistency matter? Are we being too easy on these questions? Are we being hard on some closed/downvoted questions?

Answer 1

Lists themselves are not necessarily bad. Itemized lists are bad. This is where each answer is a singular point, often a single sentence. Some of those fit this definition -- for example, the seasonal work question. An answer that includes more than one is still incomplete, and there are virtually unlimited answers.

Questions without one right answer should not be closed. I suspect questions that have been closed as such were deemed unanswerable. Sometimes unanswerable questions are perfectly "answerable" but provide no real criteria for evaluating the answers; if all answers are equally valid, then it's a pointless endeavor.

I think the three questions you listed are answerable, and could in fact have great answers. A particular answer may not be perfect and work in all circumstances, but that's not the point. The point is to help the question asker in their circumstances as much as possible.

Answer 2

I feel that Travel.SE is going to be one site where a bit of leeway will have to be given in allowing 'more than one right answer' questions because that's the nature of travelling. Some like 'When to buses start in Istanbul' will have a single factual answer, but for many other things there won't be. Instead of moderators stepping in swatting out questions, let the community choose using close votes what questions it feels are ambiguous. Meanwhile, we all contribute towards the FAQ.