Ironically, if you posted the same question on stackoverflow you'd probably be directed (or have it moved) to programmers.stackexchange.

Frustratingly, I can't find anything in the FAQ which would indicate why the thread (and countless others) have been closed: http://programmers.stackexchange.com/faq

Questions which are similarly open ended and perhaps more subjective are still left open ( http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/99445/is-micr... ). If anyone has more insight into how/why questions get closed on programmers.stackexchange I'd love to hear it!

Honestly I'm not a huge fan of programmers -- in the beginning I thought it would be a good place where we could have these debates and talk about general programming/programmer issues. Stack Overflow was the place for specific technical questions, "how can I do X?" -- programmers could be a good site to have a Socratic debate on the virtues of various programming methodologies - "Why should I do X over Y?". Honestly we need a good forum for debunking the various cargo-cult ideas or at least presenting all sides in a debate in one location.

I understand the stack overflow format may not be the most appropriate -- after all these questions may not have a "best" answer, or that best answer may change over time. To counter that, perhaps the person asking the question could just pick the answer they went with and offer some context why it worked for them.

If all the questions must have a specific answer, then I fail to see what the difference is between SO and Programmers -- I would follow the DRY principle and remove the duplicate code.