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I am starting to wonder if we should close questions that are asking for tutorials.

These questions often lead to either link only answers or an extremely long answer. Should we close these questions?

Example question: Using NodeJS, socket.io and Adafruit HUZZAH CC3000 breakout board to control Arduino wirelessly?

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  • Just wondering, what is considered (extremely) long answer? 200 words long? 400?
    – Avamander
    Feb 29, 2016 at 18:54
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    @Avamander I don't think there's any formal size; more than a page or two on the screen would probably be pushing it (excluding images/one word lists that have low screen space to information density). If you need more than two pages or so to completely answer question, that's too long. Now, if it's a page or two elaborating on stuff, that's an entirely different matter.
    – Anonymous Penguin
    Mar 1, 2016 at 0:19

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I've noticed quite a few questions of that style, where people are basically asking for links/resources. I think that kind of thing is outside the scope of the site, so it should be closed as Too Broad or Off Topic (whichever is most appropriate in the context).

(As a side note, perhaps we need an additional Off Topic reason to cope with such circumstances. Currently, the only Off Topic reason is "not about Arduino".)

The aim of pretty much any SE site is to become a resource in itself rather than a collection of links to other resources. Links may be included for background information or further reading, but they shouldn't form the primary content of any answer. We also shouldn't be posting long-form tutorials, as that doesn't fit the Q&A format well.

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