Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Please provide a way to flag a question You can do those with prose. Explain that you know what you're doing. Give an underlying reason that shows that your X is an X. Answerers can only act on a) the information you provide b) heuristics they have based on seeing many other questions. If you do not provide a) then they'll have to fall back on b)
that invites a debate about the premise. i shouldn't need to justify my constraints. i should be able to pose a problem and STATE the constraints. if you don't believe that my constraints are real then you can feel free to not answer my question but the SO regulars always feel the need to interact even when they have nothing to add.
If you're asking people for free help and to spend their time understanding how their relevant but not identical experiences may adapt to your different-but-related problem, then yeah, you might.
If someone, even someone I respect, know personally, and work alongside, comes up to me and says "I need to install a nearly-20-year-old version of MySQL next to a modern software stack; help!" [0], I'm going to ask "why?" and maybe "are you sure there's no other way to approach your goal?" first. Not presumptuously or because I'm sure I know better, but because a) the answer will help me better understand the problem and goal, and b) because sometimes extremely competent, rational people really do overlook the obvious solutions, sometimes for days/weeks spent beating their head against the wrong problem.
Sometimes the justification is as simple as "it's a business constraint imposed from above". Sometimes it's a more complex story. Either way, wanting to know that isn't asking too much.