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I asked a question, which I believed was with a very simple answer and then it got on hold as too broad. None of the "too-broad" voters actually gave a reason why it would be too broad. And only one of the answers given fits all the clues (the accepted one). I even added two more hints after the first close vote - to make it clearer for the readers, even though the additional hints are not really necessary to solve the riddle.

I am referring to this question: Question

I have read the answer to this question, here on Meta, and I believe the situation is similar and the close-voters didn't really think on the riddle.

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    $\begingroup$ It's important to distinguish between intent and communication. I totally accept that, in your mind, the scope of answers is well-limited - but it's equally important to recognize that a large number of people aren't seeing it that way. People here can give you feedback on why they find it too broad, but the only way to truly fix the problem of how the question is perceived is to improve it. $\endgroup$
    – user20
    Aug 21, 2016 at 3:45

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That is the whole problem with riddles. You might have thought of a certain answer but you will find lots of different answers, many of which will make sense because riddles usually are "think out of the box".

And looking at your question, if you see the answers, from a neutral perspective, many of the answers make sense. Fame, pokemons(OK, maybe a little too out of the box) are not that bad answers.

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  • $\begingroup$ I agree, but they do not fit all the clues. Fame is something you may want in real life, pokemons - too. If there weren't any people who wanted to be famous, there wouldn't be that many movies, songs, etc. About the pokemons - just because they are dangerous, it is not reason enough - people have lions for pets. But none would actually want a tick (it would be strange if they do). So yes, I do believe that the answers do no fully cover the clues. Unlike my other question which I voted to close as too broad as the answers there did fit perfectly. And it is still not closed. $\endgroup$
    – Maria Ivanova
    Aug 20, 2016 at 13:54
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Your riddle, if I understand correctly, works on a simple principle, namely two different meanings of the same word. While this is a nice principle, the implementation is, IMHO, a bit weak: there are too few constraints on the desired answer, which broadens the list of possible answers. For example, I can think of at least three other answers, which I believe satisfy all the clues:

Hypothetical Answer 1:
I think the answer is :

Puzzle.

Because:
You may want it here,

We want good puzzles here on PSE.

But if you get it real,

You'd surely want it gone,

For it has no place at home.

Because I don't want to be puzzled in real life.

Hints:

I am hard to get/catch.

Puzzles are hard to get (solve).

You will like me here, you will never want me/like me real.

Explained before.

Hypothetical Answer 2:

Is it

fun?

You may want it here,

I do want to have fun here.

But if you get it real,

You'd surely want it gone,

For it has no place at home.

fun+real=funeral=sad :(

Hypothetical Answer 3:

Maybe it's

gold?

You may want it here,

You want gold badges.

But if you get it real,

You'd surely want it gone,

For it has no place at home.

Because then it might be stolen; you'd keep it in a bank instead.

I'm not saying that was a bad puzzle; I simply want to suggest why it might have been put on hold as "too broad".

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  • $\begingroup$ Right. Other things that match the clues IMO: a fire engine (every child wants one but if one arrives at your house then the house is on fire and that's bad), an elephant or any other exotic / dangerous / large pet (for obvious reasons), superpowers (didn't work out too well in Heroes or X-Men), a yacht (should not be in a house), a spaceship (also should not be in a house) . Really anything that people desire but that is impractical to actually have or to keep in a house in real life. $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Aug 20, 2016 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ @AE, but do you really want these stuff "here" as opposed to "real"? And all of the 3 answers of Ankoganit are not really stuff you would never want, so all of these are a bit of a stretch. Anyway, it wasn't my intention to create a puzzle that could be misinterpreted like this and I am not even sure how to fix it. $\endgroup$
    – Maria Ivanova
    Aug 20, 2016 at 18:37
  • $\begingroup$ @MariaDeleva 'Here' is ambiguous. So is 'get it real'. It sounds as though you intended 'here' to mean 'here on the puzzling.se website', which is fine, but it's not obvious that that's the intended meaning. The fact the whole thing is in fairly broken English makes it more ambiguous, I'm afraid - as JonathanAllan has pointed out already. $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Aug 20, 2016 at 21:54
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    $\begingroup$ @AE, I changed the wording - a lot. Hopefully, it is less ambiguous now. $\endgroup$
    – Maria Ivanova
    Aug 21, 2016 at 6:57
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I asked a question, which I believed was with a very simple answer and then it got on hold as too broad.

The problem is that unless specific clues are given, many different things under the Sun can fit as an answer to a riddle, thus making it a bad one.

And only one of the ... I even added two more hints after the first close vote - to make it clearer for the readers, even though the additional hints are not really necessary to solve the riddle.

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."  Albert Einstein (probably)

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