At the time I write this meta question, half the questions on the front page are marked on-hold. I have read every "Asking" document in the Help Center, and I am completely baffled why so many questions are held or closed (while other questions that seem to fit the same criteria are allowed). The instructions are clearly not clear enough.
Edit for clarity and emphasis:
IMO, when compared to the rest of the StackExchange network, You're Doing It Wrong. An SE Questions page shouldn't have that amount of active moderation unless it's under an acute deluge of newbies, like if it somehow became a viral fad. The fact that it's a chronic condition indicates that the problem is in the system, not the users.
A few possible ways to fix this:
- Explicit warnings on the Ask Question page for first-time askers, maybe a popup onLoad or a mandatory two-stage submit, that questions MUST be concise, on-topic, and objectively answerable, or they will be blocked.
- Just stop doing it. Write a comment with the same suggestion instead of placing a hold.
- A separate "website help" SE with lax rules, leaving this site to be pro-only. Actually, make it the other way around, change this site to the lax one, then add WebOverflow for pro-only questions.