Not infrequently, a given user will ask a large number of questions that all clearly pertain to a specific legal issue upon which the user would like specific legal advice, issue by issue.
What is the best way to address this practice?
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1Do you mean those questions do not pass the test for "clearly asking legal advice" and so do not get closed? If so, then I don't see any issue: if the questions are shaped valid and on topic, how the OP uses the answers is up to them.– GreendrakeCommented Jan 18, 2023 at 3:15
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1 Answer
What is the best way to address this practice?
Just let contributors answer those posts as they see fit. This approach advances the LawSE's educational purpose that is stated in the upper right portion of every LawSE post. The rest of that disclaimer is devised to prevent OPs from mistakenly implying something about the character of the answers provided.
Developing a rationale about some topic of law has the same educational value regardless of whether or not an OP sounds like asking for legal advice, writes in third person, or includes boilerplate such as "This is a hypothetical scenario".
Unfortunately, very often those questions are downvoted and/or closed under the pretext of being "off topic". Insofar as they obviously entail concepts and/or sources of law, it is odd to label them as "off-topic" merely because of how those questions originated (i.e., someone's personal, specific matter). The very notion of topic refers to subject, theme, or branch of knowledge. An OP's circumstantial motive for posting a question does not change the extent to which his questions are about the law.
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2I think this is mostly the correct approach. I usually don't vote to close unless (1) it's a high-stakes matter (e.g., serious criminal offenses, immigration) where OP could easily be led into catastrophe; or (2) the OP is looking to second-guess an actual lawyer who is actually familiar with his case.– bdb484Commented Jan 17, 2023 at 16:32
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4I’ve thought this or something quite similar for a while and have often been surprised at the swiftness with which some questions are closed.– A.fm.Commented Jan 18, 2023 at 23:17
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1I've personally asked quite a few questions about subsets of things I am considering seeking legal remedy for. I'm absolutely not considering any of the answers to be legal advice, but it is really useful to be able to find out before one starts seeking actual legal advice what the general lay of the law is things like "Is it legal for X to do Y?– AlanCommented Jan 29, 2023 at 8:34