Beta sites like *robotics* have three custom close reasons.

We have been using the current custom close reasons for some time, so I think now might be a good time to review them and collect suggestions for revisions or replacements.

Current custom close reasons
----------------------------

The current custom close reasons [here](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/190/37), [here](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/196/37) and [here](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/195/37) are:

> 
> Questions on **Electronics**, **Arduino** or **Raspberry Pi** which are **not specific to robotics** are off-topic, so please try [Electrical Engineering](http://electronics.stackexchange.com), [Arduino](http://arduino.stackexchange.com) or [Raspberry Pi](http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com). Even questions which *are* on-topic here may still receive quicker and better answers on their own sites.
> 
> 
> **Life Questions** are off-topic. Questions about choosing how to spend your time (what book to read, which class to take, what robotics project to construct, what career to pursue, etc.) may be about difficult decisions, and they are often important, but they are too specific to your own situation and are unlikely to help future visitors to the site. They would be better off asked in [chat].
> 
> 
> **Unbounded Design Questions** are off-topic because there are many ways to solve any given design problem, so questions that ask for a list of approaches or a subjective recommendation on a method (for how to build something, how to accomplish something, what something is capable of, etc.) are off-topic.
> 
> 
> 

We have also have the following [Default Off-Topic Close Reason](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/194/37):

> 
> This question does not appear to be about ***robotics***, within the scope defined in the [help center](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help). Please read [What topics can I ask about here?](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic) and [What types of questions should I avoid asking?](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask)
> 
> 
> 

Concerns
--------

Although I am happy with the first custom close reason†, we might be able to find better options for the other two.

As evidenced by the related [copy-pastable comment text](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/177/37), the **Unbounded Design Questions** close reason could be either *Too Broad* or *Primarily Opinion Based* depending on the question, and closing it as one of those reasons, with a suitable comment could actually work better than the current close reason.

Similarly **Life Questions** are invariably *Primarily Opinion Based*.

As discussed [here](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/191/37), I don't think there is any value in using up one of our custom close reasons on **Shopping questions**, it is fairly clear now that they should be closed as **Primarily Opinion Based**.

Taking a quick look now, I see that over the last 90 days, half of all closed questions were either *primarily opinion-based* or *unclear what you're asking* (even split), a fifth were were *too broad* and the rest were fairly evenly split across all of the other close reasons.

If you wish to review closed questions youself, anyone can use the [`closed:1` search term](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/search?q=closed%3A1), but mods and users with over 2k rep (during beta, 10k rep normally) have access to moderator tools (for [instance posts closed in the last 30 days](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tools?tab=close&daterange=last30days)).

For lots of good advice on creating and choosing close reasons, see [this answer](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/185097/138432) to [How do moderators make changes to the site-specific closed question reasons?](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/184637/138432) over on [meta stackoverflow](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/).

Proposals
---------

Ideally suggestions should include the specific text of the close reason, just as I have done above. Also bear in mind that there is a 400 character limit for custom close reasons, including links and other mark-up.

Alternatively, suggestions to improve the current close reasons, such as adding better explanations or links to other resources would also be appreciated.

Finally, please keep each suggestion to it's own answer, so we can keep any discussions separate.

† I would love to add other Stack Exchange sites, but it is already exactly on it's 400 character limit.