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So, I just got the "subjective" warning:

The question you're asking appears subjective and is likely to be closed.

when asking about a game system for an EVE Online based campaign.

It appears to me that this is formulated in an unnecessarily harsh way and may scare off new users, especially on a site like RPG.SE that is more open to subjective questions than e.g. SO or SF. Would it be possible to change the message to something like:

The question you're asking appears subjective. Since subjective questions are often difficult or even impossible to answer you should take a look first at the [guidelines for asking subjective questions] and the [FAQ]. You can still ask your question but make sure it fits with the site or it may get closed.

This way the problem was more clearly communicated and the user was directly pointed to the subjective-question-guidelines, making it easier for him to ask a good subjective question from the start instead of having his bad subjective question closed and then pointed to the guidelines.

Note: this question is not about the system of displaying the warning or how it works at all, but rather about how the warning is worded and how it could help the user with additional information to ask a good question instead of scaring him.

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    \$\begingroup\$ As far as I know, it's a hard-coded feature of SE and can't be change on a site-by-site basis. (It's also a really simple heuristic, so it's more about trigger words than any meaningful measure of subjectivity.) \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Mar 6 '11 at 2:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie: I've read the answers about how the feature works (Regex and that it's a global setting). I'm just suggesting a change to the wording of the message because currently I don't find it very helpful. It just tells the user that he's done something that will likely get his question closed, but doesn't offer any help on how to make it better. \$\endgroup\$ – user660 Mar 6 '11 at 3:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ I would think that there would be no advice appropriate to every site. What would be good advice here would be inappropriate at SO, and what would be good advice there would be far too strict here. \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Mar 6 '11 at 17:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ See determine question likely to be closed and What algorithm does StackOverflow use to determine if a question may be subjective? on meta.stackoverflow \$\endgroup\$ – LeguRi Mar 7 '11 at 3:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ I thought there was a speicific meta.stackoverflow question about that warning message on other area51 sites... but I can't find it. Perhaps someone (an rpg.stackexchange mod perhaps) should escalate this issue there. \$\endgroup\$ – LeguRi Mar 7 '11 at 3:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ What's more, the message is poorly written. What it means is that the question "appears subjective and (therefore) likely to be closed". What it asserts is that the question "appears subjective" and "is likely to be closed". The second part is far more definite than a crude algorithm has any right to be! \$\endgroup\$ – Dave Hallett Mar 7 '11 at 21:51

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