[pc86]

There's a world of difference between "I want to learn Perl or Python, what are the pros and cons of each?" and "What's your favorite programming cartoon?"

I think moderation efforts would be much better spent directing the answers to the open-ended questions away from monoglotist flame wars and toward an honest discussion (there's that word again) of something.

I don't think anyone would complain about aggressively closing questions like the one you posited.