I think they're a direct result of the "anti-shopping" policy. We don't want people asking "what's the best X". For the most part helping people help themselves is a good thing, and pointing someone to a site that reviews hardware and/or apps gives them such a tool.

But I think you're right. All too often it's a situation of "I do not know how (or I am too lazy) to craft a good web search. Please won't someone do it for me?"

In a lot of cases, we should probably be pointing people to http://meta.android.stackexchange.com/questions/371/where-can-i-ask-questions-that-arent-android-enthusiast-questions/ (Assuming we're still keeping that up to date.)

I suppose a consideration is "will this question and its answers be useful to anyone in three months, six months, a year?" If the answer is "no" then it should be closed as too localized. But then each question needs to be evaluated on its own merits. I'm not sure if we can come up with a blanket policy.

I think they're a direct result of the "anti-shopping" policy. We don't want people asking "what's the best X". For the most part helping people help themselves is a good thing, and pointing someone to a site that reviews hardware and/or apps gives them such a tool.

But I think you're right. All too often it's a situation of "I do not know how (or I am too lazy) to craft a good web search. Please won't someone do it for me?"

In a lot of cases, we should probably be pointing people to Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions? (Assuming we're still keeping that up to date.)

I suppose a consideration is "will this question and its answers be useful to anyone in three months, six months, a year?" If the answer is "no" then it should be closed as too localized. But then each question needs to be evaluated on its own merits. I'm not sure if we can come up with a blanket policy.