I think the question fails on criteria #1:
Are they specific and detailed, enough so that answers will explain "how" and "why" and be more than someone's stated opinion?
Not really. List-type questions are sometimes OK, because even though answers may be motivated subjectively, the question itself still has an objective interpretation.
In this case, the question is really subjective and it could be interpreted in a myriad of different ways. Absolutely nothing is made clear:
- What is a "sandwich?"
- Does it have to be two slices of bread? Open-face OK? Au jus?
- What types of bread? Is pita OK? Tortillas?
- What ingredients are available?
- What preparation equipment is available (panini grill, regular grill, fry pan, vacuum sealer...?)
- Will it be eaten immediately or left sitting in a fridge or cooler for several hours?
- What does "in a rush" mean? How much time is actually available to make one?
- What do the terms "inexpensive" and "breaking the bank" mean? What sort of budget is available?
- What do the terms "boring" and "spice up" refer to? Taste? Variety? Something else?
If you start thinking about how you'd answer a question like this, it really does begin to sound like a "What's your favourite sandwich?" poll. There's just nothing specific enough to make it more than that. A "sandwich" could be practically anything - it could be a burger patty wrapped in lettuce.
Much like a recipe poll, the number of different combinations of ingredients and preparation methods that could be posted as answers is practically infinite. Due to the incredible scope of the question, I would actually classify this as a recipe poll itself, which puts it firmly into off-topic territory. Any true "expert" answers to a question like this would almost certainly be lost in a sea of noise.
Now, normally, if a question is almost specific enough but not quite, I would leave a few comments first or even try to edit the question. There's too much ground to cover here, though. It sounds like the author doesn't really know what he wants, or if he does know, has done an exceptionally poor job of communicating it (no offense, if you're reading this). Questions that vague are the kind that eventually attract hundreds of "meh" answers and end up being no more useful than a Google search for "sandwich recipe."
Geek analogy follows: Non-programmers please ignore.
An analogy for Jeff: Try to imagine a question asked on Stack Overflow asking this:
- "I develop a lot of corporate apps that end up being pretty bad. What are some ways I could make them better?"
That's a terrible question. It can be answered in a thousand different ways by anyone with more than 10 minutes of experience - and it the same time, it can't be answered at all. Compare to:
- "I've been investigating CouchDB and it looks very interesting; I'd like to try using it but I don't really know where to start. What kinds of projects is this product best-suited for and why?"
That's a better question. It's still an open question and should obviously be wiki, but at least it's dealing with a specific technology and encourages expert answers with reasonable detail.
Just substitute "CouchDB" for "BBQ sauce." It's less advanced, but basically the same thing.
