Closed question as unclear but has good answer

Question

I posted this question Which classic ruleset monster description might give information to use for complete home-brew game rules? for which I got a very good answer for which I'm happy I asked this question here. Now my question has been closed. I don't know how important that is I just wonder where I did wrong so I don't repeat the same error.

Since my question got closed I tryied to figure out what I could have done wrong, I figured that my tag homebrew was wrong since it is only meant for adaptation of existing systems and I changed it to game-design, since my question was about my own rules. However the question was not closed as off topic but as unclear. I got a perfect answer from SevenSidedDie, which couldnt be more on the point, so how can my question be so unclear to be closed.

One idea would be that people don't want specific questions about homebrew systems, but then why have tags related to this?

Ps: do I need to save a copy of the answer since the whole question might be errased?

Answer 1

First, just because somebody puzzled out enough of what you were asking to give a correct answer doesn't mean it's clear to a general audience. One person gave you a good answer; five people voted to close it.

Second, I suspect (though I can't speak for the voters) that the clarity problem lies in presentation rather than content: your question is buried at the end of your third full paragraph out of more than ten, with nothing to direct attention to it. Not even a question mark. Only a very attentive reader (like SevenSidedDie has worked hard to become) would easily figure out what you're asking for. A simple re-working of the format to emphasise your actual dilemma would probably go a long way toward making the question more clear. I like to re-state my question in bold at the end of my own questions, and always make sure the title's on point.

Second-and-a-half, five votes for any kind of close reason will get a question closed, but it'll only show the close reason that the majority voted for. Two out of those three might have had a different reason to close it, and if so I hope they chime in on this meta.

Lastly, no, questions are not deleted unless they're egregiously inappropriate. "On hold" or "Closed" just keeps people from answering it until whatever issue has been cleared up--then people will vote to re-open it. A question that stays closed is only deleted if it gets a lot of negative votes and no positive feedback at all or has something seriously wrong like being abusive, or is just spam.

Answer 2

I was one of the users who voted to close this question.

The reason I did so was twofold. First, I don't think your description gives enough system detail to let us know what kind of scale your monsters are operating on. I can't tell from your description how or even if monsters scale in power over the course of a campaign, and one of the biggest reasons to use premade monster stat blocks is to make sure the challenges you're building match with your characters' growing abilities.

Second, I don't think there's going to be an answer that explains why any specific ruleset will be best that doesn't just boil down to 'I like this system best'. The fact that the only answer that you have is basically a frame challenge is a bit telling, in my opinion.

I think your question is a good one, I just don't think it fits the SE format. I think it would fit better in a forum, where you could have a more in-depth discussion while staying in-format.