What exactly are the "easy questions" that should be avoided?

Question

I committed to beta website as a new learner. But the private beta guidelines state that we should ask only "expert" questions, not easy ones. What this basically means for me, is not to ask anything, and of course I can't answer anything!

What I think, is that asking questions that is general enough to match a broad range of new learners is good for the community, even if they are not a question that experts ask from each other.

So, what is considered an "easy" question that should be avoided in building the community? Is questions about ways (or resources) to better learn french considered "easy"?

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Update:

Here's an example: What movies or TV series can I use to improve my French?

Answer 1

Why don't you just ask some questions?

The worst thing that can happen is that they get closed, although it would be much better if they started a discussion.

This is what private beta is for.

I find it impossible to discuss this in the abstract. Post your questions and link them here in the question, so that we can discuss them.

Answer 2

I think the most relevant criterion for so-called “easy” questions is better formulated as “general reference” questions. If I may copy a diagram from Meta Stack Overflow, at the time the “general reference” close reason was introduced:

Answer 3

I support rejecting general reference questions, though my definition of “general reference” is not quite the same as Borror0's.

My take on this is: if you can look it up in a dictionary or encyclopedia, then the question is not interesting. It will be just as fast for you to look it up, you don't need someone else to do it for you. On the other hand, if your question fundamentally requires help for a human being, or if you've looked up the answer in a dictionary and not found it, or if you don't understand what you found in your dictionary, then it is a worthwhile question.

It is especially important to be strict about quality and expertise during the private beta, because it is a lot harder to drive quality up afterwards (quality has a tendency to go down if left unchecked). It would be better for the site not to be dominated by questions that are easy for a native speaker, especially for a native.

Strive to ask questions that invite explanations and not just facts. Facts can usually be looked up; explanations invite expertise. For example:

• When to use connaître and when to use savoir? — Of course you can look up the words in a dictionary, but the distinction is subtle and not easy to grasp from the dry definitions. French natives have no trouble knowing which word to use in each context, but explaining it is a challenge.
• Que choisir, « de plus » ou « en plus » ? — There are cases where I prefer one or the other, but I'm unable to come up with criteria for deciding.
• Est-ce qu'écrire « ça » au lieu de « cela » est si grave que ça ? — Degrees of formality are always difficult to convey.